The Sword Saint cut his bolts down as Jake also fired his arrows while trying to avoid taking damage himself. The occasional explosion made some space as Jake consumed his resources at high speed. His opponent seemed to not be in a rush either as the occasional raindrop was fired from his blade and hit Jake, or the blade extended to land a cut.

Jake smiled under his mask as he found an opening. He had bought time to channel an Arcane Powershot as Gaze activated, and the bolts closed in on the Sword Saint. Naturally, the Sword Saint focused on the Powershot as he only swiftly moved his blade as an omnidirectional cut came out from his body, making all of the bolts break.

Preparing to block the Arcane Powershot, he noticed the liquid coming out of some of the bolts too late. For the first time since his transformation, Jake saw the man open his eyes display a hint of fear as his body was splashed with four bottles’ worth of uncommon Necrotic Poison.

He reacted fast as he channeled his abilities to get the liquid off as rainwater gathered and revolved around his body to wash it off while also blocking the Powershot. Jake pressed his advantage as he fired more exploding arcane arrows.

As a final thing, he activated something he had been waiting to use. Throughout their entire fight, arcane energy had been building up within his Mark of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter. Even before his transformation, it had been building up – and the transformation hadn’t made the charge disappear either.

Jake activated it as the area flashed with arcane energy for a brief moment, further amplified by his Arcane Powershot exploding as Jake felt himself be pushed back. He felt the damage done to his opponent and prepared to keep attacking as a crescent wave made him abandon the idea.

A circular explosion of water pushed away all of the arcane energy as the Sword Saint’s form was revealed. His chest and shoulders were covered with signs of necrosis and wounds leaking blood, with faint arcane energy coved every inch of his skin. He was breathing heavily as he stood there, his blade raised. The only part nearly untouched was his face that still had the same confident look.

Signs of aging were also far more evident now as he looked almost middle-aged. The black hair had clear signs of graying, and many wrinkles covered his body and face. Jake felt like he was beginning to get an advantage, but the moment that thought appeared, it was crushed.

“As spring comes to an end, we enter the longest days. May we embrace the blessing of the sun, but never shun the gifts of the sky as we welcome the great treasure:-”

Jake felt the temperature faintly increase around him as the mana intensity did too. The rays of sunlight became brighter as the clouds changed color and became darker than before as the rainfall increased.

“Summer Rain.”

Warm droplets fell upon him as Jake felt the mana density around him only grow. He did not fully understand what the Sword Saint had just done as he looked up and saw the now middle-aged man simply stare at the sky as sunlight and rain hit him. That is when Jake noticed something… the rain was rejuvenating him.

Meanwhile, Jake noticed his body begin to feel worn down and he felt heavier as the rain continued to fall on him. It felt tiring to stand there in the warm rain, even if it was also soothing.

Shaking his head, Jake nearly smacked himself as he exited his stupor. No, now was not the time to relax as the Sword Saint was slowly healed. He pushed his arcane energy within his body further to make himself properly wake up as he drew his bow again.

Every moment he felt slightly slower than before, and even his mana and stamina didn’t move as fast as before. Gritting his teeth, he still fired a Splitting Arrow of exploding arrows towards the Sword Saint, finally forcing the man to no longer just bask in the sunlight and rain.

The swordsman teleported and appeared to Jake’s side just like before. Jake tried to also react like before, but his body just didn’t move as he wanted it to. He was off by a few centimeters as he took a cut in his side, and when he tried to block, he was also slightly too slow as he was cut on his arm.

This is…

Jake used One Step Mile to try and get away but found himself only traveling roughly half the distance he had wanted to. It didn’t take long for the swordsman to catch up and force Jake even further back in a desperate struggle to not have his limbs cut off.

…Like being underwater.

He got flashbacks to being submerged deep underwater in the Vault as he tried to fight off the effects of the rain. Arcane mana whirled around him as Arcane Limit Shatter was pushed as far as he could take it. He managed to shrug off a bit of the suppression from the rain but still found himself pushed back by the Sword Saint, who relentlessly attacked.

I just need to buy time, he told himself as he narrowly dodged the blade, only to see himself caught by a follow-up attack. Each wound was small and barely did any damage, but they accumulated as he lost more and more ground.

He tried to summon some more arcane magic but found it far more difficult as the rain seemed to corrode the arcane energy. One massive difference between the Vault and here was that in the Vault, the water was just there. It was a natural part of the environment and was entirely neutral. But the rainwater? The rainwater was so full of intent and will that Jake found it suffocating.

With him being slowed down, Jake failed again and again to get enough distance between them. He tried to use more magic, threw bottles, and whatever else he could quickly think of, but every move was thwarted.

Jake was slowly absolutely clear on one thing… I’m losing.

Losing to someone two levels below himself.

Losing to someone who should at most be his equal.

Losing to another human.

THUMP!

Jake was cut again as the blade managed to swipe down his arm and through his thigh, leaving a long gash.

THUMP!

He was stabbed in the shoulder, and upper arm as his eyes slowly began shining more than before. Jake failed to hold back a massive grin beneath his mask. He refused to lose.

The Sword Saint tried to follow up as he saw a huge opening purposefully made, allowing Jake to lean in as he headbutted the Sword Saint in the chest.

More power.

Jake closed in as he forfeited his blade and instead punched the Sword Saint with his arcane-infused gloves, making the man block with his own hand. Not letting up, Jake kicked him as he bent his body in an impossible shape to avoid a counter as he moved with bestial intent.

More.

Arcane energy began whirling around Jake as he pushed all of his energy even further beyond as slowly pink-purple fissures formed on his skin and scales, and the remnant arcane energy flowed out of him. He had pushed Arcane Limit Break to above what it should be capable of as he was overflowing with power at the cost of his own health.

More!

Jake felt his own body inside and out as he superimposed Pride of the Malefic Viper to contain the energy within his body as he controlled it. He refused to see his own arcane energy run rampant when it was his damn energy. If it was going to destroy him, it would damn well be with his own consent.

MORE!

The effect of the rain was pushed away as a faint layer of pure arcane energy covered the dark green scales and whatever skin was visible. Jake’s entire body exploded with energy and sent the Sword Saint flying back, blocking with his blade as the now middle-aged man looked up with surprise. The Sword Saint had barely stabilized himself in the air when an arrow hit him in the shoulder, sending him spinning through the air.

Jake stood there, looking down as his entire body burned. The bow and arrow he was nocking glowing with arcane energy as remnants of it left his body and fused with his weapon. The fissures of arcane energy emanated arcane-infused stamina as it was contained close to his skin instead of simply flowing away. The rain hit the shield and slid down it without having the slightest effect.


“The Andromeda Galaxy has, for all intents and purposes, been wholly taken over by the Holy Church. Even before the Prima Guardian event, it was mostly conquered using the Prima Alliance system, and after the system event, I believe the takeover will be complete,” Jacob explained. “Some other factions do also retain a presence there, but the one officially ruling everything will be the Holy Church, of that there is no doubt.”

“I guess I can’t get rid of you entirely quite yet, huh,” Jake muttered semi-jokingly. “I assume you’re also going?”

“Of course,” Jacob nodded before letting out a sad sigh. “I will miss Earth, but I also know going there would only be cause for trouble.”

“You could always sneak in,” Jake shrugged.

“I have absolutely no stealth skills, am publicly known by many people, and entering without permission will no doubt only lead to even more problems,” Jacob shook his head with a chuckle. “I can see that Miranda has her work cut out for her.”

“She does complain,” Jake confirmed. “Anyway... I think rather than me, discussing the details of the Holy Church’s surrender would be better done with her.”

“I expected as much. I just need us to agree on the basic facts,” the Augur said.

“Sure. I already told you earlier. The Holy Church is to leave the Milky Way Galaxy as soon as possible, and you’ll be banned from the galaxy going forward. Even if we go by your story that the head priest was some traitor who lost his way, you’ll still have proven with this meeting that the Holy Church isn’t a trustworthy faction,” Jake began. “Oh, and until the moment of evacuation, Holy Church members are not to leave for any other planets. All other details you can figure out with Miranda, as you already said.”

“Alright,” Jacob nodded, things being as he expected from the looks of it.

The Augur sighed loudly as he looked toward the sky a moment before speaking again. “I guess there is still one important thing left to do.”

Lifting his hand, a lantern appeared in it. Without any huge fanfare, he channeled energy into it and out came... something. It was wrapped in energy for a brief moment as it exited, but this energy soon dispersed naturally.

Jake intuitively knew it was the end. Without the protection of Jacob, the Truesoul of Ell’Hakan, the Celestial Child, disappeared and returned to the system where it belonged. With that, the Bloodline was gone from the multiverse, and Jake felt a wave of relief knowing it was finally all over.

In what was almost a poetic end, the Desolate and Celestial Child met their ultimate end side by side... so perhaps, in some way, the False God did fulfill its purpose as the two of them were now one with the system.

“Let’s go,” Jake said, not seeing any reason to be any more sentimental than necessary. He had far more important things to do than waste any more mental energy thinking about a dead asshole.

1068 chapter - Only A Few Loose Ends Left

In the end, Jake’s trip to the Holy Church’s planet didn’t conclude as he’d expected. He had fully assumed it would result in Jake and his faction having an all-out war with the stubborn Church, and he was genuinely relieved it hadn’t gone that far, as it would just have been so damn pointless.

That was also why Jake cut Jacob some slack in this entire scenario. He was still annoyed at his old boss, but it was hard being angry at someone who genuinely just wanted to do what he thought was best for others. With how utterly fucked up the internal politics of the Holy Church were, his life definitely couldn’t be easy either, and honestly... things had kind of turned out pretty okay. And Jake had to give Jacob at least some credit for the ending turning out acceptable despite how fucked the middle had been.

The Holy Church would retreat from the Milky Way Galaxy peacefully. All their elites were slain, and Jake even came out of it looking merciful and reasonable after having not gone all out despite finding himself ambushed by a corrupt head priest and False God.

Miranda would definitely also be happy with the result, and even Carmen had gotten some benefits from killing such a powerful False God, and, despite how much she countered it, it was still a massive feat. All in all, Jake returned to Earth pretty satisfied, even doing so through the capital’s teleportation circle in full view of every random Holy Church citizen watching.

Jacob naturally ensured the set dressing was proper, making it evident that Jake was the winning party and that even if the Holy Church had lost, they still maintained some of their dignity. More than that, though, it was all to show everyone that the Holy Church and Chosen of the Malefic Viper could still be diplomatic despite everything.

Returning to Earth, Jake couldn’t help but let out a massive sigh as he looked at Carmen, who had returned with him. “Could you imagine having to navigate that much political bullshit all the time?”

“Pretty sure I would end up beating a few people to death within a week,” Carmen fully concurred. ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) “But... I guess it’s kind of necessary at times? Even Valdemar and Valhal have Gudrun, and every single large faction has a bunch of political folk walking around. Shit, you have Miranda, and I got Sven and Bobby, who are pretty good at handling all the scheming and politicking.”

“True,” Jake nodded with a sigh as he considered it a bit more. “But having a faction that’s good at politics doesn’t really matter if you aren’t powerful enough. You need that power as a base requirement to even be allowed at the big boy table.”

“You also need power to have a figurehead,” Carmen pointed out. “The average person doesn’t really respect those so-called political masterminds. It’s too damn abstract compared to someone truly powerful, and when shit really goes down, it’s the one holding the biggest stick who shows up to solve everything. Barely anyone respects and fears the Malefic Viper for being a good schemer and a really smart guy... they remember him for wiping out a tenth of a universe. Everyone, even a child, can understand why the Viper is worthy of his notoriety when they see the wasteland he created that still persists to this day.”

“Maybe it’s a lot simpler than we think. People simply don’t respect political masterminds because no one respects politicians,” Jake grinned.

“They totally do!” Carmen countered, acting offended. “They trust the good and honest kind.”

Jake and Carmen locked eyes before both laughing at the notion, Jake shaking his head. “Yeah, sure, because those unicorns tend to really climb that hierarchical ladder. Shit, even Jacob, who has a Path all about just helping people, has to do at least some scheming to have any influence. If he didn’t, he would just be used and manipulated by others... something I feel like he kind of still is half the time.”

“Some things don’t change no matter what,” Carmen agreed. “It’s so dumb. We have fucking dragons now, and people still care about how someone holds a goddamn teacup or if they remember to use the right titles to call others.”

“It is what it is,” Jake sighed again as the two of them teleported one more time, returning to Haven.

Jacob had stayed back with the Holy Church to properly solidify his newfound leadership position while also fully selling the story that the head priest was a traitor and all that other bullshit. He likely wouldn’t even be meeting Miranda, but instead, they would communicate using magic to hammer out all the details surrounding the Holy Church’s total retreat.

Upon reaching Haven, Carmen went back to Jake’s lodge while Jake headed off to meet Miranda. However, to his surprise, he didn’t find her back in her office, and after asking around, he learned she was at Haven’s prison.

Jake didn’t know Haven had a prison.

In his defense, it was definitely a new addition, and while Jake could scan everything using Pulse of Perception, that didn’t mean he fully understood the function of every building. Moreover, the prison wasn’t actually in Haven but a good distance away, likely in case any problems arose there.


Jake came to learn after the fight that no one had ever rejected this proposition from the Benevolent Monk outside of the first few matches. His act of benevolence was to offer the possibility for a spar and not a true fight. However, should one reject this benevolence, the match would turn from a spar into a true battle… and when fighting for real, there was no room for mercy or benevolence, but what Jake could only describe as pure, unabashed violence.

Everyone there had likely expected the fight to be roughly equal, and while it did look that way in the first thirty seconds, things quickly changed. The defenses of the dwarf crumbled, and even as he pulled out more and more attacks and spells, nothing seemed to work as the monk proved himself far more deadly than Jake had seen him be during their fight.

Every move was one that aimed to kill, and he gladly took minor injuries himself to land blows on his opponent. Moreover, his body was clearly far more durable than it had any right to be, and after a while, Jake spotted a potential reason. While it was hard to see, even when Jake had fought him, odd energy patterns covered his body from head to toe. Like an invisible tattoo, Jake theorized these tattoo-like patterns perhaps functioned as replacements for equipment, as he did know that was possible, albeit extremely rare.

As more time passed, the fight became more and more one-sided, and while the monk was covered in wounds, big and small, he never lost momentum. By now, the dwarf was also clearly unable to escape through the sand anymore.

That was when Jake learned something more. Something quite frankly terrifying as fuck. At the end of the battle between the two anomalies, the monk moved in for a finishing strike as he peeled away the final line of defense of the dwarf, which was when Jake realized. That hit Jake had been struck with when he ”won” the fight against the monk – the one that had left him feeling half-dead for several days - was not some ultimate attack… it was the first strike in the series of a combo attack.

The first punch broke the stone armor and several ribs of the dwarf. The second ruptured his heart, the third destroyed his brain, the fourth burned away all remaining vestiges of his soul, and the fifth obliterated what was left of the body.

An eerie stillness overtook the arena as the monk stood with an outstretched fist covered in blood, droplets slowly dripping from his red fist.

”May you continue to serve the earth, even in death,” the monk said in his usual respectful tone as he bowed toward the huge fan-shaped blood splatter, which was all that remained of the Earthborn Faithful.

That day, it became clear as day… should you reject the benevolence of the Benevolent Monk, there would be no mercy, only death.

”Dude, I’m so glad you didn’t fight that monk for real,” Owen muttered as they watched the monk slowly walk out of the arena, leaving drops of blood in his wake, both from his own wounds and his fists.

”Yeah,” Jake nodded in agreement. ”The rematch will be quite exciting, though from the looks of it, only one of us will be walking out alive.”

This wasn’t just Jake wanting a fight to the death. He felt the pure killing intent and bloodlust from that so-called Benevolent Monk, and he knew that should he want a serious rematch with the monk, there really was only one way it could go. If the monk wanted a life-and-death battle, Jake wasn’t going to reject it.

”It… it isn’t sure you’ll meet him again, right?” Polly asked, worried. ”You already met and beat him once, and repeat matchups are incredibly rare.”

Jake just smiled at her. There was no fucking way there wouldn’t be a repeat matchup.

He just hadn’t expected it would be so soon.

755 chapter - Nevermore: Paragon Preparations

Jake had expected his rematch with the Benevolent Monk to be during a promotion match or at least another highlighted event, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. After watching the very-much-not Benevolent Monk fight, Jake did his last match as a Warlord before his promotion the week after, and when he signed up for the promotion match, he was naturally once more met with another anomaly… just not the one he had expected.

”Look, by now, we both know this is all a setup, alright? But hey, you can’t expect any easy fights anymore, being a Warlord possibly about to be a Paragon, so I guess it shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise. Either way, next up is another person who has yet to lose a single match and is considered quite the monster by pretty much all opponents that have faced her so far,” the Battlemaster said. Jake was honestly surprised when he heard the Battlemaster say “her” as he had totally expected to meet the Benevolent Monk… but then again, could he even meet him with how ranks and such worked?

Either way, it didn’t matter. Jake was still confident they would meet sooner or later.

“So, any information on this mystery opponent?” Jake asked.

“Yeah… she may be the toughest fighter you have faced yet. You need to understand not a single opponent has even managed to land a single scratch on her clothes so far,” he said, shaking his head.

Jake found his interest peaked. “Sounds strong. Do you have any tips or tricks? Maybe just some basic information on her?”

“I can’t tell you much, but I can say she is one of the most feared types of mages in the world: an illusionist. The world itself is altered in her presence, and in her own promotion match to Paragon, she won within a minute by simply walking up to her opponent and cutting his throat… You may actually consider skipping this one,” the Battlemaster said with some genuine concern. “But if you do plan on fighting, you better fucking plan for it properly, even if you only have a day.”

“Sign me up for it,” Jake just grinned. An illusionist, eh? Poor gal to meet someone like Jake.

“Are you sure? She is also known to be very ruthless and kills most of her opponents,” the Battlemaster asked clarifyingly.

“I’m sure,” Jake smiled.

“Alright then.”

Bonus Objective gained.

Your rapid ascension through the ranks of the Colosseum of Mortals couldn’t have been swifter. If you wish to keep this streak going, you will have to defeat an opponent with power out of the ordinary for this ranking.

Failing this bonus objective will lock out many similar future bonus objectives.

Bonus Objective: Defeat the Living Nightmare

The Living Nightmare, huh? Sounded scary, but Jake didn’t feel the slightest sense of fear.

Due to his Bloodline, Jake had automatically not taken her seriously. Over the last thirty years, Jake had encountered many who used illusion magic, not to talk about those he faced before Nevermore. Due to how Bloodlines worked, Jake’s Sphere of Perception entirely ignored all illusions, and his own intuition filtered out all the false information automatically, making Jake arguably the biggest counter to illusion magic in the entire multiverse.

He still went and checked her out, with Polly also gathering some sparse information. Apparently, she was some odd fairy-like humanoid Jake didn’t remember ever encountering before, and he was honestly surprised that if creatures like them existed, they were born in F-grade.

[Fae]

What Jake did learn was that fae or fairies, or whatever one wanted to call them, were very magically inclined creatures with downright horrible physical stats by default. Based on what Polly said, they also varied widely in size and appearance, with some the size of a finger and others several meters tall.

It was a weird race, that one. The one Jake was fighting was at least human-sized. If not, the battle would have been incredibly awkward. Oh, and as Jake also saw she had small transparent wings, he also made sure to check if she could fly. She couldn’t, so that was good to know.


”I told you, True Royals are monsters. Rigoria is a Primordial, yes, making her a powerful as fuck god, but even she failed to invade the heartlands of the Endless Empire more than a handful of times, and every time she tried, dozens of peak S-grade True Royals would face her. Individually, Rigoria was, of course, superior, but when outnumbered, she would eventually lose out, and her avatar be destroyed. However, there was still a huge gap in power, and the True Royals did begin to fall one by one. The war effort also meant that many regular ectognamorphs died by the billions every single day, and the variants at the vanguard were those made for combat. Such as the wasps led by their Vespernat Hive Queen. As part of the vanguard, it should not come as a surprise she died despite her combat power being ranked top five of all True Royals,” the snake god gave Jake a history lesson. ”Things stabilized a lot after that as some True Royals managed to reach godhood, but the war is still ongoing to this day, having only grown in scope.”

Damn, Jake thought, noting one particular thing. Top five, you go, Vesperia!

”Now, let’s get down to the crux of now that you have some context. Do you know why True Royals are so important to the Endless Empire?” Villy asked

”They are powerful and can help lead their race?” Jake guessed

”Technically true, but not the entire story. The Endless Empire does include all variants of ectognamorphs; some are not part of the faction at all. One of those types of variants is the vast majority of wasps and bees spread throughout the multiverse. The largest hives perhaps still maintain working relationships with the Endless Empire, but they don’t join it. Can you guess why?” the Viper asked leadingly.

”Pride and nature?” Jake assumed. ”True Royals would not want to give a non-True Royal the proper respect, and a leader of a hive that isn’t respected will not recognize them as their leaders due to their nature as Hive Queens not recognizing them as their True Royals. From what I gathered, they are all hive-first, so why would a Wasp Hive Queen make sacrifices for the Endless Empire due to orders from some foreign True Royal?”

”Right on the money. The reason why True Royals are so important is that they are respected innately. A Quasi-Royal wasp will not recognize a True Royal ant Hive Queen as superior to themselves, but at most as an equal despite their status as cousins. But if a True Royal wasp was to appear… even a Godqueen Quasi-Royal Wasp or Bee Hive Queen would follow them unquestionably. It is simply how their race works, a fundamental law of their state of being,” Villy explained.

Vesperia nodded in confirmation, making Jake frown as he was beginning to get the picture. However, it only truly sank in with the next part.

”Throughout the history of the multiverse, severed Lineages have only reappeared thrice, and every time due to some Hive Queen getting its hands on an item granted by the system directly, allowing it to become a True Royal,” Villy said with a smile. ”Oh, and now the fourth time is from you doing some fun-time experimenting while barely in C-grade. But tell me, Jake, what do you think the Endless Empire did the first three times? What lengths do you think they are willing to go to? How much value does Vesperia’s existence truly hold to them?”

Jake stared at the ground as he processed things. He now truly got it. He had kind of assumed that the Endless Empire wanted Vesperia because of historical reasons and maybe due to some odd sense of pride… but it was far more than that. Vesperia had mentioned she would be recognized as a leader of wasps and bees, but Jake had not thought it was so… universal and absolute.

For the Endless Empire, recruiting Vesperia was not a matter of gaining a powerful C-grade that could potentially reach godhood in the future and allow a new Lineage to reemerge:

She was a direct way to recruit every single hive of bees and wasps in the entire multiverse into the Endless Empire and expand their power significantly.

624 chapter - A Long Overdue Decision

Jake, by now, realized: he had fucked up. At least he felt like he had fucked up. But upon looking at Vesperia sitting beside him, calmly drinking her tea while Villy explained, he couldn’t say he regretted what he had done. Despite only meeting that day, he liked Vesperia. Who couldn’t like someone with a damn stinger gun?

”This is… kind of bad, isn’t it?” he finally asked, making Vesperia look at him confused.

”Why would it be bad that you managed to sire a True Royal? The Endless Empire, no, any faction would welcome you with open arms, and no one will dare attempt to kill you for fear of the Malefic One choosing to strike back. That is not even mentioning the many other factions who will also desire your protection and growth,” Vesperia asked.

”Yeah… the thing is, I am not really public with this entire Chosen of the Malefic Viper thing,” Jake scratched his head.

Vesperia looked at him weirdly for a few seconds. ”I… don’t understand?”

”Jake here is weird; we agree on that, right?” Villy asked Vesperia with a grin. The True Royal nodded, Jake, choosing not to take offense as she clearly just agreed with the god to be nice and because he was a Primordial. Right?

”Well, part of his weirdness is a constant fear of recognition and having people suck up to him. I do kind of get it, as having armies of annoying insects running after you constantly is less than ideal, and it is made worse for Jake by his preference for people to treat him like a person rather than a symbol,” the snake god explained.

Jake confirmed with a nod. ”Can you blame me for just wanting normal interactions with other people and not them constantly walking on eggshells or treating me like royalty?”

Vesperia now looked even more confused. ”But… you are, aren’t you? You have helped birth a True Royal, and I recognize you as my sire and parent. You are a being above nearly all others.”

”Not disagreeing that I am awesome, just that I don’t want to be treated based solely on some perceived status people think I have. The problem is that others don’t seem to be able to respect that I want to be treated like a person and not some semi-divine figure based on their preconceived notions of who and what I should be,” Jake tried to explain.

The True Royal nodded, though Jake had a feeling she didn’t quite get it. Which was kind of fair. As a True Royal, it was innate of her to be treated like royalty by others; it was simply how things were supposed to be.

”Anyway, let’s get back on topic,” Villy cut in. ”My point here is that hiding what you have done is… not possible. While I am also awesome, and while Shroud of the Primordial can block nearly all things, there are gods out there capable of piercing through it. I know of at least one of the leaders in the Royal Council that would be able to trace you if she ever examined Vesperia here, and no amount of cloaking on my end can stop that. It will make her unable to find you, but she will know who you are. Ultimately, Shroud of the Primordial is about hiding things about you, not the fact that you even exist.”

”The Odonstrom Hive Queen,” Vesperia nodded.

”Dragonfly True Royal, leading the Odonata Lineage,” Villy clarified for Jake. ”They are Perception-focused, so you may like them, and their senses are wicked. The True Royal has a compound eye on her forehead, able to see things not perceivable to nearly any other visual organ I know of. Karmic threads, mana, emotions… she is even able to view different fragments of time through her eye, observing both past and future. A real scary one.”

”Hm,” Jake said with a frown. He had to admit, he had kind of banked on Shroud of the Primordial being perfect… but he had clearly miscalculated on that one. However, there was also one other issue.

”Wait, does that mean she already located Vesperia?” Jake asked, not sure if he should be worried or not.


Julius had all four of the limbs splayed out as he used the dredges of his mana to heal himself and tried to recover as much mana as he could.

Nothing went according to how he thought things might go. He had expected that he would have to fight the big bad troll chieftain in the end, but honestly, it was hard to believe that even it could survive that catastrophe.

Julius stayed on the ground for over an hour. He had already completely healed by now and his mana had recovered a decent amount in that time as well. He had checked his notifications as waited.

[Savage Dance lvl 11 -> lvl 14]

[Arcane Construct lvl 5 -> lvl 8]

[Pure Compression lvl 4 -> lvl 7]

[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 5 -> lvl 9]

[Kinetic Augmentation lvl 1 -> lvl 5]

It was the greatest improvement he had seen while in the rift. Numbers-wise, it might have not been the largest increase, but considering that all of his skills were rare, the improvement was significant.

He even got a new skill offered.

Would you like to learn the skill [Fighter’s Will] (Uncommon)?

Julius didn’t know what to expect from a skill like that. He didn’t even know why he got offered it. Was it from participating in so many dangerous fights? Or maybe it was because of his dumb stunt? He didn’t know. However, he didn’t see any reason not to accept it.

He almost thought about not choosing it just because it would mean his status would no longer have all rare skills, but quickly whacked himself over the head.

Congratulations, skill [Fighter’s Will] (Uncommon) acquired.

Even after he acquired it, he still didn’t have any idea what the skill did. He guessed it would take some experimenting to find out. Julius had bigger problems to solve though.

For one, he was expecting some sort of exit would appear. Most times when a rift was cleared, a portal appeared, taking the delvers back to the real world. However, Julius had not seen any signs of a portal yet.

Could there still be other trolls in the valley? Or maybe the chieftain is still alive.

Julius knew that some rifts were only considered completely cleared once the “boss” was killed. But looking at the mess of the aftermath, he could not even begin to guess how or where the boss might be.

Getting back to his feet, Julius made his way to the destroyed remnants of the mountain. He had always planned to create some sort of landslide as a contingency but nothing on this scale. He thought it would be useful in getting away, but it was way more effective than he could have dared hoped for.

He was lucky that the direction of the landslide wasn’t where he was blasted off. If it was, it was very possible that he would have been buried alongside the trolls.

Once he made it to the base of the mountain, he used [Spatial Perception] to its limits, trying to sense anything living underneath. The skill was undoubtedly one of the most useful skills he had, but he was having a difficult time picking up anything through so much rock. It was hard to differentiate what was rock and what wasn’t.

It was only when he was almost directly over a troll, that he could sense it. It was also very tricky navigating through the rubble. Julius had to climb over boulders and be careful not to slip on the uneven terrain. A twisted ankle was funnily enough, not a big issue for him anymore, but it still didn’t mean he could just run across the debris.

Not surprisingly, he ended up finding some living trolls buried deep underneath the rock. He put them out of their misery with a wedge of mana or sent an additional blast of kinetic mana on the rock burying them, and smushing them for good. The trolls were persistent, he would give them that. But still had not found the chieftain or the mage.

Julius spent several hours picking through the ruins but still had zero luck. At this point, he was almost certain the chieftain had made it out alive. He found that there were a lot more trolls who survived than what he originally thought. It really highlighted their impressive survivability abilities. However, there was still no chieftain or mage and it worried him.

Even after constant searching, Julius came up empty-handed. But he at least was able to take care of the many stragglers stuck in the landslide, so that was a plus.

It was getting close to early morning and Julius was tired from the stress of the day, so he headed back to the ravine.

He was casually enhancing his body with [Kinetic Augmentation] jogging back as he thought about the day’s events. He still didn’t quite understand some of his actions. During the heat of the moment, he had decided to completely derail from his carefully made plans.

With that being said, he did not regret it. He still believed that he did the right thing. It wasn’t like these monsters had done anything to Julius. If they were the assassins or some sort of slavers, then Julius wouldn’t have felt as bad cutting their throats in their bed. However, it was technically Julius who was intruding. They didn’t deserve such a brutal execution.

No, what bothered him so much was his proclivities to self-destructive actions. He could rationalize putting himself in danger and taking unnecessary risks to improve his skills, but he realized that he would have still done it even without the skill improvement.

He had always been a weird, some might even say crazy, person. He didn’t deny that. What type of person would willingly blindfold themselves for several years? A genuine weirdo, that’s who. But he had never been suicidal. However, his actions since he entered this rift had been pushing the limits of what was normal even for him.

He was glad that he didn’t continue to slaughter the trolls in their bed, but why the fuck did he detonate a bomb instead? He could have easily slipped away unnoticed and figured out another plan. But rather than that, he decided to just break in, and snitch himself out to a bunch of monsters who he just killed. It made no sense.

He needed to be better in the future. He knew better than anyone what death was like, and he also knew how valuable life was. He should not be so willing to throw his away.

Maybe, what happened to Lukas and Edwin had been affecting him more than he wanted to admit. It was something that he had been avoiding up to this point. But his careless attitude up to now was similar to how he acted when he lost his other family.

I should think ab–

Out of nowhere [Spatial Perception] picked up a fast-moving object coming straight at his back. His body was already throwing itself into a dive, getting out of the way, feeling a gust of wind as the object passed over his head. However, when he got back to his feet, a leg was already heading straight at his chest. This time, he didn’t have time to dodge and tried to block it while enhancing his body to the limit with [Kinetic Augmentation]. It felt like getting hit by a speeding semi-truck.

His arm was completely smashed to the side and the kick pummeled him in the shoulder, launching him off into the distance. If not for the recently evolved [Kinetic Augmentation], that kick would have shattered him like a piece of glass. Even with the skill, almost every rib was split in half, his organs ruptured, and his right shoulder turned into a paste.

I think I found the chieftain, Julius thought to himself through clenched teeth.

Julius got to his feet as quickly as he could, because the troll was already charging right at him, and unlike the other trolls, this one was way faster.

The chieftain made the other trolls look like the fat kids in gym class. It was so fast Julius could barely track its movements with [Spatial Perception]. Julius flooded his body with kinetic energy and blasted himself as far away while simultaneously throwing out a condensed spike right at the troll. The troll ducked underneath it and proceeded to dash straight at Julius.


”Now, who will win!? Will Doomfoot be crushed, or the Crushing Edge meet his doom? Let’s find out! Lower the gates!”

As commanded, the horizontal mesh of bars first disappeared before the vertical ones lowered into the ground. Right when there was enough space to go out, Jake’s opponent began jogging toward him from the other end of the arena.

Casually, Jake placed the bow on the ground as he stepped into the arena.

Jake began walking forward slowly at first, as he slowly picked up pace and began running. While running, a shiver of energy went down his right leg. Stamina tinged with his arcane affinity infused every vein, every muscle. If one could see beneath his pants, one would see faint veins of pink-purple covering his skin, surging with destructive potential.

Applying arcane energy to his physical moves was extremely easy, even with his reduced stats. In fact, it was far easier now than before, as there wasn’t as much to control, while his pure level of skill in controlling energy was virtually unchanged compared to before the Challenge Dungeon. His energy control as a C-grade was already viewed as monstrous, so having that same level of control as a level 0 G-grade was complete and utter overkill.

Also, while Arcane Supremacy was gone, he still remembered the sensations of increased control, and even if he didn’t have skills, Jake rarely ever used skills when he used his mana to begin with.

So to infuse parts of his body with extra stamina and wrapping his foot in a faint shimmer of protective arcane energy and the rest in pure destruction? Easy as pie.

The two of them approached each other as the crowd went even wilder than before. The half-ogre roared as he swung his giant axe toward Jake.

Jake, still running at full speed, jumped into the air as he spun his body around. A trail of arcane energy swirled around his foot, leaving a trace of color as he kicked, delivering a spinning roundhouse kick.

His foot connected with the head of the half-ogre as a metal helmet met leather boots. A small localized explosion of arcane energy rocked the arena as metal spikes from the helmet flew everywhere. The giant half-ogre was sent airborne and flew nearly five meters before hitting a pillar, his neck broken and head crooked.

Jake landed on the soft arena floor, feeling the sand between his toes on his right foot. The leather boots were shredded to pieces upon impact, leaving him with only one shoe left.

More powerful than expected, Jake noted as he checked and saw that the half-ogre was still alive, though, without healing, it was doubtful how long that would be the case.

Deafening silence filled the entire arena for a few seconds before Jake turned around and began walking toward the exit. As he moved, the arena came back alive. Medical staff ran toward the half-ogre, and the crowd began screaming, with the announcer also finally doing his job again.

”Doomfoot does it again! With a single kick, the Crushing Edge had his dreams crushed by a debutant! But I am sure you are all asking… what was that!? What power does the kick of the Doomfoot truly hold? Has he been hiding his power all this time? Suddenly had an epiphany? What is the true depth of his power? Ha! Who cares!? The only real question is… when will Doomfoot ever meet his match!”

Jake didn’t know if he should be happy or annoyed that the announcer made it clear no one cared if you hid your power. Owen would definitely still ask, but at least he wouldn’t face questions from others. Not like it would have mattered even if he did – this entire Challenge Dungeon was just about arena fights, nothing more, nothing less.

Walking out of the arena to the cheers of the audience, remembering to pick up the bow on the way, Jake walked straight to the Battlemaster, who somehow seemed to be aware of everything that had happened in the arena despite not having moved a single step from where he stood when Jake accepted the match.

After some praise and a backhanded compliment, Jake went outside of the Gladiator training area as he waited for Polly and Owen, who predictably came over right away. After stalling for a bit, Jake finally went to a nice little corner where the questions began. Polly was the first to go.

”That… magic… what was it?” Polly asked with wide eyes. ”I… I’ve felt powerful spells before, but that mana, that power, I-”

”My own magic,” Jake simply answered. ”Asking me about it will not help. It is innate to me, and even if you trained from now till the day you die, you wouldn’t ever be able to learn it.”

”Why did you hide it?” Owen questioned, just as Jake had expected. Also, he really wanted to point out the hypocrisy of that question but assumed the guy had his reasons. Same as Jake had his.

”What would it have helped if I revealed it earlier outside of making the fights even more boring? It would also have been too much and risked killing several of my prior opponents. Unless my previous opponents disagree… hey, Polly, would you have liked for me to have used that kick on you?” Jake asked the mage.

She stared at him with even wider eyes. ”I… I would be dead…”

”Exactly,” Jake nodded. ”As I said, all shall be revealed in time. Just assume that as the level of challenge increases, so shall more be shown. And we’re still in the early stages of these revelations.”

”Can I ask… how are you this powerful?” Polly questioned. ”Do you have a great master or something?”

”You can ask, sure. But I won’t answer. Anyone that may or may not have had an impact on my Path is not anywhere near here and will not show up in or around the Colosseum, so no reason to even think about it,” Jake tried to explain everything away.

Going into detail on how he was so strong also wasn’t that interesting and not something that could be replicated. The truth was that he was actually a C-grade. The true difference all came down to one simple thing:

Conceptual power. The sheer power and depth of the concepts in Jake’s arcane affinity made it far more powerful than it had any right to be. It wasn’t as simple as an Arcane Awakening-level powerup… it went far above that during the moment of kicking.

Through sheer control, he could stabilize destruction and stability until, at once, he would unleash it all into one wave of pure destructive force through his foot. In prior fights, Jake hadn’t even actively controlled his stamina during the fights, but now it was time to get a bit more serious.

What’s more… that one roundhouse kick wasn’t even close to Jake’s limits. If he wanted to, he could pour every single shred of mana he had into one singular attack. Doing so wouldn’t make much sense, though.

It wouldn’t just have killed the half-ogre if he did that. There wouldn’t even be a head left, as all would have been consumed by pure arcane destruction.

Jake was genuinely looking forward to facing an opponent he could go full-power on. Alas, he had a feeling it would still be quite a while before that happened. Especially now that he was limited to one ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) match a day.

However, there was at least one positive change in the points department. Based on Jake’s math, then every win as a Gladiator should have rewarded 56 points, but he instead saw his points had increased by 250 from one victory. That was frankly a massive jump… then again, if he could only fight once a week, it had better give more points. It did also give some hope for this Show Matches, though.

Checking the menu, he saw how many points he had, and it was starting to add up.

Current objective: Be promoted from Gladiator to Veteran Gladiator

Current rank: Gladiator (1/10)

Colosseum Points: 2990

Lives remaining: 10

”Enough talk about how awesome I am,” Jake put a stop to Owen’s and Polly’s questions. ”Didn’t you two want me to go look at equipment before the match? Let’s do that now since we got the time. Can’t walk around like this forever.”

Jake showed off his bare right foot, which was already plenty dirty from wandering around after the fight. Plus he had sand everywhere, and everyone knows the bad rep sand had, being all coarse, rough and irritating.


He had the advantage of using his Severing Will Concept to help him, but his ability to manipulate aura still fell short of hers by a lot. If he didn’t have Severing Will, he suspected she would have already had him dozens of times. Now that he was paying attention to her aura really closely, he had an inkling that she also had a Concept of her own that she was using to help her. However, instead of making her aura like a sharpened blade, it acted like his aura skill, [Empowerment of Will]. It just made her aura overall stronger in every way.

Eventually, no matter how hard he tried to keep her out, she was better. She slowly ground him down in a battle of attrition and had been using large spikes of aura to spear his compressed aura. The opening she would then exploit by prying it apart and invading his aura.

She had his aura in a vice grip and it felt like she was choking his soul. He gave the spiritual equivalent of a tap of conceding and she let him go right after.

Julius was sweating like crazy and he turned to look at Lily with a wild grin on his face. He had a blast, fighting with aura like that was a very entertaining way of practicing aura. And by the similar maniacal grin on her face, he would say that she agreed.

The others were looking at them expectantly.

“Well…?” Aubrey said to them.

Lily looked at Julius with an incredulous grin. “That Concept of yours works great with aura. What did you say its name was?”

“It’s called Severing Will, why?” Julius answered.

“I can see why it's called that. It certainly severs aura like nothing I have quite seen,” she said in awe.

Aubrey got in between them with an impatient frown as she hopped on both feet. “I don’t know if you guys know. But we weren’t privy to whatever happened with your guy’s auras. What happened?”

Edgar spoke up as well. “I agree. Normally, I would tell Aubrey to calm down, but I find myself impatient to know as well.”

Lily looked over at Julius as if asking for his permission to share what she had learned about him. He scanned over the other’s faces quickly. He saw everyone, even Kyle who had taken a break from whatever he was thinking about regarding Julius’s perception skill looking on very intently.

He gave a small nod to Lily, letting her know that he was okay with it.

“Julius has a very interesting set of skills and abilities that give his aura a considerable boost. His Concept in particular allows him to cut apart my aura far more easily than someone should be able to. He also has an admirable amount of control over his aura, something one wouldn’t expect from someone of his Tier. However, I am curious about one thing,” she said while turning to look at Julius.

“Why does your soul feel like a Tier 3?” She asked in wonder.

Julius had an awkward look on his face. He hadn’t had the time to tell the others about his newly acquired epic skill yet, nor was he able to tell them about the soul evolution he went through.

With a hesitant expression, he came clean. “I actually had something I wanted to tell you guys.”

“Again?” Aubrey asked exasperated. “What did you do this time?”

“Well, you know how I just learned my Concept right? I wanted to use that to acquire an epic skill for the past week right?” He told them.

He saw them all nod, following along patiently.

“Well, I was able to achieve it last night.”

He was barely able to finish before Aubrey said, “And let me guess, you forgot to mention it again.”

“That’s why you had the cake last night…” Lily softly commented more to herself than anyone else.

“No, I just didn’t really find the right time with everything that went on today,” he explained. “And yes, that’s why I had the cake.”

“While that was faster than many acquire their epic skills after learning a Concept, I can’t say I am that surprised considering what we know of you. But what does this have to do with your aura?” Edgar asked.

Julius scratched his head. “I don’t really know for myself. But I got a notification telling me about a reward for a soul evolution.”

They all simultaneously turned to look at him. “Already?” Lily asked excitedly.

He tilted his head and looked at them curiously. “You know what happened to me?” Julius asked.

“Of course. It happened to all of us immediately after we advanced to Tier 3,” Lily explained to him.

“Yeah, it is sort of a thing that almost every single elite Tier 3 will go through once they advance. If you don’t go through it, it often means you didn’t have a solid enough foundation and enough skills at rare,” Aubrey added.

“Do you think that I was able to do it early because I got an epic ranked skill?” Julius asked them. He watched as they all thought about that for a moment before he got a mixture of headshakes and shrugs.

“Honestly, there are many factors when it comes to soul strength. It's a combination of skills, natural-born talent, the kinds of tribulations, what tier you are at, and many other things. Some nobles even feed expensive soul-strengthening treasures to their children, even though they are wasted on someone at that Tier. For you to go through it already, even with an epic skill, means that you must have had an increase from one of these other factors. An epic skill is not enough alone to get you past that threshold,” Derek explained.

“So what happens when I advance again?” Julius asked them.

Derek looked up in the sky in thought. “I don’t know,” he honestly told Julius. “I doubt you are the only person who has ever achieved it. But I don’t know what happened to those people. They probably kept it a secret.”

“You did choose the additional skill slot option though right?” Aubrey asked worryingly.

“What? Was I supposed to?” Julius asked, pretending to be worried, and smiled internally when he saw the horror bloom on Aubrey’s face.

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Chapter 138: Why Is She Staring?

Aubrey walked up to Julius and grabbed his shoulders forcefully. “What did you choose? Please don’t tell me you chose the skill evolution option,” Aubrey started to panic.

“What? That’s not the best option?” Julius tried his best to sound genuinely ignorant.

“You fucking idiot. In what world does that sound like the best option,” Aubrey reprimanded him while vigorously shaking him like a rag doll.

He looked over to see the other's reactions. Derek and Edgar both looked equally upset and slightly disappointed. Kyle and Lily on the other hand didn’t seem particularly worried at all.

Lily even had a slight smirk on her face as she watched Aubrey shake him apart in frustration. She was most likely picking up on his emotions at the moment, so she probably knew that he was teasing them.

Kyle on the other hand had always been a good predictor of Julius’s behaviors. He was the most perceptive person outside of Lily when it came to Julius’s actions. It would be of no surprise that Kyle had guessed that Julius was messing with Aubrey as revenge. He even gave Julius a little amused nod when they met eyes for a moment.

Eventually, Derek seemed to pick up that Lily wasn’t worrying like she would have if she thought Julius was telling the truth and released his tense shoulders. He walked over to Aubrey who was still shaking Julius and scolding him. “Calm down, Aubrey,” Derek told the irate girl trying to pry her fingers from Julius but ultimately failing.

“Calm down? I can’t believe he would be this stupid. I know nobody had probably explained it to him yet, but still, I would like to think that he would be smart enough to know that out of all of the options, that one was the worst. Literally, any other reward would have been better,” Aubrey exclaimed loudly.

Julius turned to Lily with curious eyes. “How many options did you guys have? And how many is normal?” He asked her casually.

Lily just gave him a half-chastening look but answered him regardless. “We got four options. The skill evolution option, the soul-nourishing option, the Concept enlightenment option, and the skill slot option. Most people usually get all of these options. They are pretty standard.”


His smile wavered for a second. Then fell off his face completely as a barrage of massive stones soared toward his forehead. He didn’t even flinch as he created a barrier in front of him that shielded him. He also made sure to absorb as much kinetic energy as he could from these rocks. So when they slammed against his barrier, they didn’t have that much momentum left.

He gave the trolls a disappointed shake of his head.

“So this is what I get for trying to be peaceful?” He muttered more for his benefit than anyone else.

He sighed as he spotted the large troll, who ordered the attack. The troll picked up a spear and channeled mana throughout its body. It coiled its lower legs and placed the spear behind its head before throwing it with impressive force at Julius.

He shook his head with disappointment before reaching out with his kinetic energy and absorbing the spear's force, slowing it down just enough for him to snatch it out of the air with his hand. He gave it a little experimental twirl and infused as much kinetic energy into it as he could.

The wood of the spear was surprisingly good at channeling mana, but he gave it a little help with his own mana and aura. This heavily enforced the shaft and let the spear contain more kinetic energy than it otherwise would have.

Then, in the exact same way the troll threw it, he coiled his legs and cocked back the spear in his right hand. Then, like a crossbow, he slung the spear back at the troll. The moment he released it, he felt a shockwave from the air, and the troll could barely react as the spear tore right through its chest and sent it flying backwards into one of the thatched buildings.

He sighed loudly. He had been half hoping that the defeat condition meant he didn't actually have to kill the trolls. He guessed he must have been thinking too optimistically.

This seemed to be a signal to the rest of the trolls because he watched as the dozens of trolls dashed toward his position, anger radiating in their green eyes. He let out a grin and rolled out his shoulders as he met them head-on.

The first troll he met had a big hammer and was swinging it right at Julius’s torso. Julius calmly stepped into the swing and siphoned the kinetic energy. He then proceeded to jump up and slam his palm into the skull of the troll with a loud crack. A big chunk of flesh was torn from its cheekbone and left a bloody hole in its face.

He knew immediately that the strike wouldn’t be enough to kill it, not if these trolls had healing abilities like the previous ones he had faced. And he was right.

As he was in the middle of kicking another troll in the face, he watched as the first troll’s skull quickly regenerated its missing flesh.

He took this opportunity to use his Sharpness Concept. He infused his kinetic energy with Severing Will and smashed his fist into another troll. This time, he was excited to see that the wound he caused lasted much longer.

As he had suspected, the Concept made the wound much more difficult to heal, much like his own prior experiences when dealing with an attack infused with a Concept.

Regardless, these trolls clearly had Concepts of their own, and the wound, albeit more slowly, still healed given some time.

He didn’t really care that much. He was much too busy not to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of trolls currently attacking him. The fact that he wasn’t able to easily kill any of them made it much more difficult. He wasn’t able to slowly put them down. By the time he got a chance, he was already getting mobbed by three other trolls.

A big reason why he wasn’t in a much worse situation was due to the fact that the trolls weren’t that fast. They also didn’t have many abilities other than their strength and healing abilities to fight with.

He did find himself having fun, though. It was chaotic and brutal. That's exactly what he enjoyed in a fight. He was constantly having to pivot around, and he took advantage of small activations of [Void Step] to reposition slightly. This allowed him not to get boxed in by the trolls.

He still took hits, of course, but each punch he received from a troll powered up his own kinetic attacks. He was also getting a weird feeling regarding his Sharpness Concept. He was trying to take some inspiration from the wraith and how it managed to slice through his mana barriers with such ease. He still didn’t know exactly how the creature did it, but the memory of it fueled his own attacks.

He occasionally used his kinetic restriction technique to hold a troll in place while he attacked its comrade.

It took some time, but he finally managed to kill one of them. He had to use his restriction technique on three trolls at once and use [Void Step] to reposition on top of the troll, but a flying knee with a load of accumulated kinetic energy tore the entire head from the monster’s shoulders.

The Sharpness Concept he infused into his kinetic energy helped him break through the natural defenses of the troll. Otherwise, even with his Force Concept helping, he doubted he would have been able to remove the entire head of the troll in one blow.

He had learned when he had fought the trolls in the past that destroying the head was the only actual way to kill a troll confidently. He didn’t fully understand it at the time, but now that he was a little more experienced, that made fighting them much more annoying. It also didn’t help that these trolls seemed to be quite a bit stronger than the ones he fought before.

His initial thought of them being a more advanced species appeared to be correct.

Of course, he likely could have killed all of them with his constructs, but that wasn’t the point of coming to the Endless Forest. He needed to improve his other abilities. There was so much untapped potential regarding his kinetic energy and other Concepts.

He didn’t just want to rely on his more powerful skills for the rest of his life. Not when a little sweat and effort could fix that.

The trolls were relentless. Much like himself, they had a healing skill that allowed them to exert themselves far beyond what was normal. That was why even ten minutes into the fight, everyone was still going just as hard as they had initially.

Of course, during this time, Julius had thinned them out slightly. But in all honesty, it wasn’t that much. He hadn’t even killed a dozen trolls yet. Their persistence and ability to survive were quite admirable.

While he was focused on not getting mauled, he wanted to try something. With his recent success in infusing his kinetic energy with his Sharpness Concept, he wanted to see if he could infuse his kinetic energy while he was using his restriction technique.

He already did it with his ruinous aura, and it had quite a vicious effect on his enemies. But he was curious if he could physically cut up the trolls as well. That would be interesting to test out.

And that was precisely what he ended up doing. He didn’t care about the punches to the back for a moment as he tried to figure out a way. His body was already covered in bruises at this point, and a couple more wouldn't kill him. It was pretty interesting when he found infusing his kinetic energy with the Concept easier than expected.

This technique already used two of his Concepts, which was why he was surprised at how simple it was. Previously, he had a hard time using more than two Concepts in a single technique. He grinned widely. Perhaps this was a sign that he was improving.

He concentrated and managed to charge the kinetic energy he was using to press against the troll's bodies. It was very similar to how the kinetic energy had been trying to rip apart his body, but against the trolls, it was a lot more visible. It looked like small little shards of glass were ripping their skin apart.

It wasn’t anything too dangerous, though. Their wounds were basically superficial. Even more so when you took into account their ability to heal. The main thing he accomplished was just pissing them off more.


“But I want to show off my new talented apprentice,” Cain said sadly and looked a little downcast. But Julius wasn’t going to be tricked this time around.

“You can show off after I leave,” he said firmly.

Cain looked up. “Promise?”

“Sure.”

Cain perked up, and Julius immediately felt like something was wrong, but couldn’t quite figure out why.

He wanted to ask Cain, but the man quickly got up and ran off. Julius suspected that Freya was going to hear all about Julius’s apprenticeship before he got to tell her. He just hoped that Cain didn’t taunt her too much; otherwise, he might be subjected to a harsh healing lesson.

She could be relentless when it came to training. Absolutely relentless to the point that it made Cain seem like an angel.

He froze suddenly and kicked himself in the butt. On second thought, he should know better. Cain would absolutely go too far and piss her off, just for kicks and giggles.

He let out a sigh full of anxiety as he sprinted out of the room, following Cain’s path and hopefully stopping the man before it was too late. He didn’t even care that he used a little too much kinetic energy, and a small combustion blasted outward. After all, he couldn't be too concerned with that when he was chasing after someone as strong as Cain.

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Chapter 443: Leaving For The Capital

“You got everything?” Freya asked him once again.

He nodded and just to be safe, rechecked his new storage ring. Since neither Cain nor Freya was well-trained in the art of ring breaking, not even they were able to break into the Tier 5s storage ring.

Luckily, they knew someone who was very skilled in that area and asked the man for help. Of course, the man was very busy with other jobs, and although it was someone as powerful as Freya asking, the man had informed them that he wouldn't be able to start on the project until he finished his current jobs.

Honestly, Julius could respect that and wasn’t bothered about waiting. He had been preoccupied with a lot of other things, so it wasn’t a big deal. Eventually, the man finished his other projects and turned his attention to Julius's new ring. The man broke into the ring with some effort.

Julius suspected that he had underestimated the intelligence of the Tier 5 he and Emil killed, because it took Freya’s expert almost an entire week to finally gain access without destroying the contents of the ring.

Despite the long wait, Julius was pleased with the results.

First of all, the ring was absolutely massive compared to his old one. The one he had grabbed from that snooty noble was around the size of a small wardrobe. This new one was at least ten times larger. He could fit a small bedroom inside it.

However, the size was only one of its great features. The additional functions were equally impressive. There was a built-in organizer that allowed him to separate various objects without feeling like he was just throwing them in a large pile. He had been doing this with his old ring more often than he was proud of.

Furthermore, there was a much more powerful and efficient stasis enchantment built in. His old one had a minor stasis enchantment that helped preserve food for a much longer time than it would otherwise last outside. But it wasn’t perfect. There was a limit, as he had learned the hard way when he found a moldy piece of cake hidden away in his ring.

Of course, the extra protections that prevented someone from breaking into it were nice as well. If neither Freya nor Cain were able to break through with brute force, he felt pretty confident that others would have an equally hard time.

With that being said, there was something he was even more excited about than the cool features of the ring.

The actual contents.

Cain, Freya, and Julius gathered to examine the ring's contents. It was a bit like opening presents or an exciting mystery box. Julius had rubbed his hands eagerly, unable to contain his excitement.

However, his excitement quickly dimmed. It wasn’t because there wasn't anything valuable inside the ring. It was mainly because he had zero clue what the hell the items were or what kind of purpose they had.

He found several things that pulsed with powerful mana, but due to his ignorance, he had no idea what they were for. Since the Tier 5 had been a crafter, Julius suspected these treasures meant for a future project, but that was his best guess.

Luckily, Freya was there to help him. She didn’t know what everything was, but she was able to recognize some of the items.

Probably the most impressive part was the sheer amount of cores and money that were hidden inside. Julius hadn’t really worried about money ever since he had gotten to Heston, but he doubted that he would have to worry about it until he got to Tier 5. The vast amount of cores and gold almost took up a quarter of the space.

The cores were meticulously organized as well. Each one was placed inside a box that helped prevent the mana from leaking out and preserve the overall quality of the cores.

The rest of the space was filled out with various sheets of metal and other crafting materials. He spotted some small slabs of what he assumed was the Blightfrost Steel, Emil had mentioned before. That was probably one of the more valuable materials he found inside.

A smaller collection of various natural treasures was sectioned away as well. Unfortunately, Freya gave him the bad news that these treasures wouldn’t be that useful to him. They were mainly for non-combatants with weaker foundations. For example, he found a weird-looking root plant that could be processed to help purify one's body in preparation for advancement.

However, since he had one of the best Concepts and skills for purifying, it was very useless for him. He hadn’t really appreciated it, but [Phoenix Renewal] was the perfect skill for removing impurities from one's body. Thus, he decided to save it for one of his friends who might need it.

Although knowing their families, they likely didn’t need this treasure at all and already had their own ways of purifying their bodies.

There actually wasn’t that much Julius could use inside. He was certain that if he were a crafter, he would be overjoyed at seeing the extensive collection of materials, but since he was nothing but a dumb brute who liked to hit things, he felt a little disappointed. There weren't even a large number of weapons he could use.

Luckily, he had a feeling that Kyle would find a much better use for all of this stuff instead of Julius. Thus, in the meantime, he decided to keep hold of it until he got the chance to give it to the Quincy Scion or to one of the others, who could pass it over to Kyle. Julius didn’t know if Kyle would be attending the tournament.

He knew that Kyle was working under a mentor for enchanting, but he wasn’t sure if that meant he would be allowed to go to the capital.

Just because Julius didn’t find everything in the ring to be of value to him, that didn’t mean he didn’t find anything at all. There was actually a nice pile of clothes that made his eyes brighten with excitement.

They weren’t just regular clothes either. They were clothes that rivaled, and some even surpassed, the quality of his Goldencrest uniform. Multiple complex layers of enchantments were woven into individual threads, and he had a feeling that these clothes would be harder to pierce than some armored chestplates.

They were surprisingly tasteful as well. Simple designs, but elegant at the same time. He had to admit that the Tier 5 had a good eye for aesthetics, too bad he had chosen banditry as his profession. He could have been an excellent clothing designer in another life.

But one thing the Tier 5 didn’t have inside the ring was food. Of course, there was some food, but they were gross rations and basic bread. Things that were easy to eat and didn’t take up a lot of space. Making the stasis enchantments completely useless in Julius's expert opinion.


He lurched forward when Aubrey smacked him on the back of the head. “Stop that,” she said with a disappointed look.

“I feel like it is pertinent to mention that during the final years of his life, he changed,” Riven added.

“What do you mean?” Julius asked with a frown.

“He was apparently dabbling in morally dubious techniques in his efforts to reach Tier 7. I heard that he died while doing so, and the sects he had offended along the way made sure to burn every record of the Undying Revenant’s technique. That’s why I am surprised that you have a copy of his personal works,” Riven said with a thoughtful look at the book.

“What type of morally dubious techniques?” Derek asked worriedly.

“Life draining techniques as well as soul conversion abilities that would allow him to use that energy to fuel and empower his own skills,” Riven said with a wince. “I think there was mention of him building an array that drained the life out of an entire city to push him over the edge of Tier 7.”

Julius looked at the book with a completely different look from before, almost burning it right then and there.

Riven must have noticed his disgust. “Don’t worry. This book doesn’t seem to talk about that kind of stuff. It was likely written when he was more sane and humane.”

Julius let out a sigh of relief, though he still didn’t know how he felt about Tezuko now that he had learned more about him. He also couldn’t help but wonder if the trial had something to do with why he was given the book in the first place.

Was he only given it because he hadn’t drained the life out of the villagers? Or was it perhaps a coincidence? He still didn’t know why the woman had talked to him personally. He seriously doubted that she did that for everyone.

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot,” Riven said to him.

He was about to respond when he felt a sudden surge of mana blast out. It felt like it came from every angle, as if the realm was exploding. He quickly channeled strength into his body, preparing for the worst.

He thought it was the other group trying to start shit again. However, he looked over at them and realized that they were just as confused by the explosion of mana as they were.

“What was that?” Aubrey asked loudly.

Julius tightened his lips and extended his senses. He widened his eyes when he felt something large blanket around them. It was like a barrier of some sort, but much more subtle. He only noticed it by chance.

However, he was glad that he did, because it gave him some extra time to deploy a barrier of his own. When this mana collapsed on top of his group, his barrier did a pretty good job at making sure they were safe.

He had no idea what kind of attack it was, but his barrier rippled from it. He thought it would hold, but to his shock, the mana this field was projecting, somehow made it through his barrier.

Once it made it through, it wiped out his technique and dissolved it into mana.

What was worse was that a sudden wave of exhaustion beat down on him. It was like someone had drugged him with sleeping pills. He immediately used his healing skill to counteract this effect, but it had a surprisingly low impact on it.

He could feel the exhaustion fading away, but not as quickly as he hoped. After a few moments of observing this field, he realized that it wasn’t just a normal debuff or curse. This was something else. Something much more dangerous.

He could already feel it affecting his soul, which was why his healing skill was having much more trouble.

However, he was much more concerned about his own friends. He had a skill that helped protect them. They didn’t.

He saw his friends drop to their knees, gasping for air. He ran over to them and started to channel life mana. He also took out Drasil; the little guy took one taste of the air and spat it out in disgust.

Derek was the closest one to him, so he checked him first. To his relief, Derek appeared to be wearing something around his neck. It was glowing with a bright light and must have been protecting him, because Derek stopped gasping for air.

He was still debilitated, but Julius believed he would be fine, and so he went over to Aubrey. He was also glad to see that she had something with her. A small purple gem had appeared over her head, feeding energy to her, allowing her to stumble to her feet.

It was Edgar he was worried about. The other two appeared to have items or skills that helped protect them, but Edgar didn’t.

Julius dropped next to Edgar and started to feed life mana into him. He made sure to focus on his Phoenix Concept. He knew that with the Concept, he could help heal the soul. It wasn’t something that Freya had helped him with yet, but he did the best he could do.

Thankfully, he had Drasil by his side. He didn’t know if it was because Drasil was just that talented or because he had a lot of experience with Julius, but the little spirit seemed to have gotten pretty skilled at soothing soul damage.

He could see Edgar visibly relax when Drasil slapped a tiny hand onto the guy’s head.

Julius calmed down when he saw this. He glanced over at Riven and noticed that the mage had used some skill to fend off this attack. Eva was protecting herself as well. Her cloak was being used as a shield, protecting her from whatever skill or ability this field had. Still, it didn’t protect her completely. He saw her gritting her teeth in pain.

He also looked over at the other participants spread out in front of the temple. They were all in similar states of panic.

He wanted to believe that Garrett had something to do with this, but he saw the scion frantically chugging a potion down his throat. There was fear in his eyes as he whipped his head back and forth. The other members of the group were either on the ground in pain or barely holding on.

Suppose that wasn’t bad enough. Julius stared off into the distance, where he felt an explosion of spatial mana, and a crack in space appeared. Before he could wonder what was happening, he saw a massive head, the size of a truck, squeezing itself through the spatial crack.

Ah shit, he said to himself with a groan.

A note from l-Ryn-l

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Chapter 531: infiltration

As the beast crawled its way through the crack, Julius couldn’t help but notice how intense the creature’s aura was. He could feel the pressure tingling across his skin and weighing down on his own spirit. He knew right away that this creature was powerful.

It was Tier 4 at the very least, maybe even stronger. He was sure of that. If that wasn’t bad enough, he got an ominous notification.

Notice: Infiltration detected…

Protection protocols have been damaged…

Warning: True death is a possibility.

His attention snapped to the message he received. He did not like what he read. Not one bit.

He had a feeling that this damage was caused by whatever field had attacked their souls. Perhaps it wasn’t even a soul attack in the first place, merely a byproduct of it. Whatever it was, Julius didn’t believe it was part of the realm’s trials or plan.

It was most likely an attack by another party or organization—someone who was playing dangerous games.

He grabbed his friends by the arms and started retreating farther from this creature. They were becoming more lucid, so it was easier.

Julius stared at where the creature was squeezing its shoulders out of the crack. Its face was jagged and completely black, as if made of pure darkness. Its red eyes were pulsing angrily as it roared.

Just the shockwaves from its roars were enough to stagger some of the nearby people who were only just recovering from the soul damage they received.

Everyone was in full panic. Some were smart and were already running. It would seem that he wasn’t the only one who had received that message. People were talking about it worriedly and for good reason.

This past week, they had been able to fight with confidence because death wasn’t actually real in this realm. However, from the sounds of it, that no longer applied, and it scared people.


It wasn’t an equal exchange of blows, either, as Jake landed far more minor attacks compared to his opponent. He and the Benevolent Monk had fought once before… but the version of Jake back then didn’t have his equipment. He didn’t have katars that switched up how he fought, and his stats were also lower as he hadn’t used proper gear. In addition, every single blow that meant to pierce his soul also had to go through a bit of armor first, lessening the impact slightly. It wasn’t by a lot, but it definitely played a part.

This ultimately resulted in Jake having a far better feeling for the Benevolent Monk and his fighting style than the monk did for his, giving Jake the initial advantage. After a few minutes, the monk did improve and make the exchanges more equal, but he had already paid the price.

The two of them utilized much of the arena as they switched between retreating and advancing, trying to get the better position or cornering their opponent. Jake once more had the advantage here. While the monk seemed to be able to sense Jake in an uncanny way – probably some kind of soul-sensing – that wasn’t the case for random pillars placed around the arena.

Not that Jake was entirely untroubled, either. The monk had several things he never had to show before, giving Jake quite a few injuries. Outwardly, it didn’t show much, but inside his body, his organs were suffering.

During all this, the referee simply stood back, observing silently. He never showed the slightest inclination to end the fight, even as both of their wounds worsened. Not that this was bad for Jake, because the more time passed, the bigger his advantage would become.

If nothing changed, the monk would run out of energy or simply fall due to blood loss, especially after he tried a risky exchange where he ended up with a shallow stab in the stomach. The Benevolent Monk had tried to use that insane combo he had killed the Earthborn Faithful with and won their first fight, but Jake had been quick and done the only logical thing:

Minimized the damage.

Jake had blocked it as best as he could while also countering as the monk had been left open, allowing Jake to land his stab, truly putting the monk on a timer. In return, Jake did get a nasty palm to the chest that broke a few ribs, but before the monk could combo, he had managed to get some distance.

Jake was happy he had survived the devastating attack that had left him half-dead the last time he took it, but he knew the monk had to at least have one more trump card as he felt some build-up within the monk. Something he had also felt during their first fight. It almost reminded him of Hunting Momentum… and Jake would be ready.

As their fight passed the twenty-minute mark, the sand had been covered in blood all around them. Jake breathed heavily as the monk also looked nearly wholly spent. The spirit-like bracers were pretty much entirely destroyed by now, while Jake’s katars didn’t have a single mark on them besides blood. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of his equipment. Definitely had to file an insurance claim on all of it.

Both fighters looked at each other after another bloody exchange. Jake smirked as the monk also smiled despite his bloody body.

At once, they charged against each other as the monk released the attack he had been building up to all this time. Both went for an attack at the same time as a spiritual projection of the monk superimposed on his own body, words echoing out despite the Benevolent Monk’s mouth not moving.

“Soul-Reversing Fist!”

Energy stored in the monk’s soul was unleashed at once as he punched toward Jake’s chest. It was a strike that seemed based on all the damage Jake had done to the monk during their fight, and it would no doubt prove lethal if it landed. Jake reacted as he used Fear Gaze and raised his left hand to block as he punched with his right, willing to trade blows in a mirror of what had happened in their first duel.

But with a far different result.

Jake’s katar penetrated into the shoulder of the Benevolent Monk as the monk’s blow also landed. Jake twisted his wrist to turn the katar as an explosion of arcane energy sent an arm flying into the air at the very next moment. The monk stumbled back from the explosion with wide eyes when he realized… his attack had done nothing.

His eyes lowered and saw the two plate-sized aegis’ of stable arcane energy summoned into Jake’s left hand that had been pressed against his chest from the monk’s punch. The monk smiled upon seeing a fist-sized cracked indent on the first of the plates. “I see… a fault in my Path…”

Soul attacks had one crucial weakness: they only worked on souls. It was pretty obvious just from the name, but compared to most other forms of attacks, those on the soul were especially primed to be countered by making them hit a target that wasn’t a soul. Soul attacks still worked against many traditional means, such as armor, but proved incredibly weak against certain other methods.

Such as making the monk hit a two-layered shield of stable arcana mana instead of Jake’s body, turning the blow absolutely harmless outside of cracking the aegis. The two layers had especially sealed the deal, as that meant even the semi-ranged wave of soul-destroying energy released had to try and pierce a second layer… something it had failed to do.

The Benevolent Monk had stumbled back several steps before stabilizing himself. He didn’t even look at the arm now lying on the sand or seemed to care that he had lost an arm, nor the blood actively spewing out of the massive open wound. Perhaps because he knew the fight was over… that his Path was over.

He sighed with melancholy as he stared toward the sky for a few moments before he looked back down at Jake.

His… eyes changed, Jake thought as he frowned.

“Samsara awaits… I would say. Alas, such shall never be my fate,” the monk said in a different tone than he had ever used before. In fact, Jake wasn’t even certain he was talking to the same person. “I acknowledge your Path, even if you didn’t show me all you were capable of. However, even with what you have shown, you are more than capable, and your arcane affinity is certainly something to further nurture. I also see that you do not yet fully grasp the true concepts behind it, and while I doubt you will be able to see through its true nature any time soon, continue reflecting on it. Continue seeking answers. Also, do know that while my true self will never be aware of this encounter, that does not mean the true lord will not, for he sees your Path, and it is for he that I speak.”

Jake frowned. “Who are you?"

“I am Just an old monk asked to pass some sage advice, and I hope to truly meet you one day, Harbinger. So does the lord, who you will come to know, of that there is no doubt. But for now… farewell.”

With those words, his eyes turned blank as the monk’s soul ceased to exist.

“What happened there?” the Viper asked the Wyrmgod and Minaga. The screen had gone black the second the fight had ended, and the monk looked toward the sky, ready to surrender, only for it to turn back on again with the monk already lying dead on the sand.

“Yeah, that was weird… hey, partner, why did you cut off the feed like that? Did the monk have any cool last words?

The Wyrmgod remained silent for several seconds before he muttered: “It wasn’t me…”

757 chapter - Nevermore: Images

”When you say that you didn’t cut the feed off… what exactly do you mean? Did the system interfere directly, or was it something else?” Vilastromoz asked. If it was the first, then he would have many more questions, but if it was the latter… well, he would still have a lot of questions.


As Leo watched, Cale waved the ball of yarn, then threw it off to the side. Leo gaped. What was that going to—

The sphinx pounced, causing the entirety of the labyrinth to shake, and Leo stared in complete disbelief as—against all odds—the sphinx began to purr and play with that ball of yarn.

Flia sighed. She didn't even sound surprised anymore. "I knew I wasn't getting the yarn back," she muttered.

"What... but..." Leo sputtered.

Cale glanced back and raised an eyebrow. "What?" he said, taking in Leo's befuddled expression. "They're still cats."

"But how could you possibly know that would work?" Leo begged.

"Oh, I had a sphinx as a roommate, once," Cale said. "Wouldn't recommend it, but I learned a lot about the rules they operate under. They're allowed to take breaks for playtime, for example."

He paused. "Don't try to pet her, though," he said. "It's disrespectful. And you might have to deal with unreadable riddles scribbled on sticky notes for weeks after."

"Speaking from experience?" Flia asked dryly.

Cale sniffed. "Not saying. Now let's go before she gets bored."

Leo wondered if he should make a note of this in his notebook.

He wanted to, but he was pretty sure no one would ever believe him.

* * *

Cale hummed to himself as they stepped through the exit and found yet another pedestal. This one held what looked like a strange clay sculpture molded into the shape of a wing. He eyed it for a moment, shuddered, then promptly wrapped it in a tight, spherical barrier. "I'll hold on to this one," he said, guiding it to float above a shoulder.

"Is it dangerous?" Damien asked curiously. Cale shrugged.

"I've got a bad feeling about it," he answered, starting to walk down the corridor again. The signature he felt ahead of them had a rather telltale twist in its mana, which meant they were finally coming up on the Labyrinth Seed. "We'll know more once Imrys has had a chance to examine it, but for now, we shouldn't touch it."

"That's not worrying at all," Flia remarked. After a moment of walking in silence, she spoke again, her tone contemplative. "This is why you weren't worried about the labyrinth, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're basically untouchable," she said. "Either you know how to get around something or you can blast through it. You knew you'd be able to get us through the labyrinth unscathed."

Cale snorted and turned back to look at her. "Is that what you think?"

"What else am I supposed to think?" Flia asked, exasperated.

"That I'm dangerous, probably," Cale answered, his voice a little sharper than he intended. "The universe is a big place, Flia, and the multiverse is even bigger. No one person could possibly know every danger it contains. If you think you can rely on me to keep you alive..."

He stopped in his tracks, looking each and every one of the other students in the eye. "I'll tell you this right now," he said. "Not every monster can be beaten back with magic. Not every danger is something you can see coming. If you live long enough, losing is only a matter of time. And if you think I'm always going to be able to step in and save you, you're going to die even sooner than the rest.

"I'm not saying I won't try. I'm not even saying you shouldn't listen to or hang around me. But do not expect me to hold all the answers. Sometimes, those answers don't exist. Sometimes, your knowledge will betray you. And sometimes, when you name a monster, you give it power.

"There is only one rule you need to follow if you want to live long enough to become an archmage. One rule you need to carve into your heart. Nothing else—not knowledge, not perfect barriers, not even unbeatable magic—is enough."

"And what rule is that?" Flia asked, her words uncharacteristically nervous. Cale became vaguely aware that the others had all taken a step away from him during his speech, and that he'd taken a step toward them. He did a quick calculation in his head, measured it against his mana sense and their distance from the Seed.

"Simple," Cale said. He grinned and winked, relaxing just enough to dispel the tension. "Above all else? You need to know when to run."

Then he turned and broke into a sprint. There was a series of startled yelps as the other students followed after him, nearly tripping over themselves in the process. Cale beamed. They were quick learners.

"Damien!" Cale called. "Prepare a decay spell!"

"W-what?" The poor guy didn't sound like he was used to running. "But—"

"Unless you want me to try out [Decay Bite]," Cale called again cheerfully. Damien stared at him, processed the statement, and remembered what happened with [Bestow Light] only eighteen minutes ago.

Decay mana began to gather in his fist. Cale smirked. "Thought so!"

"Just don't try to eat the Seed," Damien pleaded.

"No promises!"

Two minutes before the Seed germinated, by his calculations.

Cale figured they would probably make it.

* * *

They did make it, though only barely. The Seed was beginning to sprout by the time Damien flooded it with his decay magic, but thankfully, that was one of the strengths of the decay aspect—just like the Labyrinth Plague, it had the propensity to spread. The few tendrils of corrupt magic that had managed to emerge fell apart easily, and the labyrinth dissolved around them a moment later.

Professor Imrys beamed at them as if the rest of the classroom wasn't in complete disarray. "Wonderful!" she said. "What a beautiful display of the essence of magehood! You've made me proud today, dearies. Here you go."

The little mouse tottered up to them, holding four gleaming purple gems. Flia, Leo, and Damien all looked stunned, picking one each and holding on to them as if they were priceless artifacts.

Cale squinted at his and wondered if he should try eating it. "I have no idea what this is," he said. There was a dim magical signature from it, but it wasn't anything powerful; it just felt like some sort of anti-counterfeit measure, if anything.

"They're Astral credits," Damien explained quietly. "They're recognized by the kingdom of Orstrahl. They want powerful mages, so if you collect enough credits, you can ask for a sort of... political favor? Like asking to use one of the royal artifacts, or, um... There's a list somewhere. I can find it for you later."

"Wow," Cale said, impressed. Mostly by how bad that system seemed at first glance. Students winning political favors felt like a recipe for disaster. Maybe they had mitigations in place?

Then again, magic academies having outsized levels of political influence was surprisingly common.

"What happened to the labyrinth?" Leo asked, his voice guarded. Professor Imrys chuckled.

"Well, since you all did so well, I decided to reward you," she said happily. "But I think I'll keep that as a surprise, dearie. You are going to report me to the Headmaster, after all. Unless you wish to reconsider?"

"I will not," Leo said steadily.

"Well, not to worry, dears. It isn't a bad surprise," Imrys said, entirely unphased by Leo. "Cale, you pass. You showed exactly the type of adaptive thinking we want from our artifact delvers, and that [Starlight Font] was quite impressive. That was a unique spell, wasn't it?"

"Thank you. And yes," Cale said politely. He didn't miss the fact that Imrys was looking at him like he was one of her artifacts.

"I'm ever so glad all of you are safe, dearies," Imrys said, smiling at each of them. "These classes can be very dangerous, you know."

"Because you make them dangerous!" Flia pointed out, scowling. Imrys slapped another silencing barrier over her.

"Now, now," she said. "You musn't speak out. It's quite rude, really. As for you, Cale, I believe we agreed we would speak after cla—"

A tiny screaming noise began to emerge from Cale's pocket. Cale kept his expression as impassive as possible. "Sorry, ma'am," he said politely. "I think I need to go find my next class."

Imrys stared at him, her eyes narrowing slightly, and Cale responded by floating the artifact he was carrying with him over to her and dispelling the barrier. Imrys's expression lit up immediately as the clay sculpture clattered onto her desk.