Perhaps this was why Ell’Hakan hadn’t bothered much with placing defenses at the Pylon. He didn’t expect anyone to be able to cause it any harm, especially not before he would notice. As the owner, he would naturally be notified the second anyone messed with it, putting into risk any long-term ritual. The only times such rituals were useful tended to be with the World Leader missing or put out of commission, neither of which were true here.

All of this is to say that Jake had planned on just killing Ell’Hakan as his primary goal for a reason. Now, things had changed, and he now had the confidence to take on the Pylon due to a certain new skill.

As a reminder, when Jake reached level 260 in his profession, he got the skill called Chosen’s Offering of the Malefic Viper. A skill he hadn’t touched a single time ever since getting it despite its legendary rarity. The reason for this was because of the other skill he was offered alongside it… one he had now picked after reaching level 290 during his Villy roasting session above Primordial-4.

[Heretic’s Offering of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] – To infringe upon the domain of the Malefic Viper and rob the Primordial’s Records is a great achievement. Allows the alchemist to make an offer to the Malefic Viper and be granted an Offering Fragment. Based on the value of the innate Records in the offering, you will be rewarded with a better Offering Fragment. The Offering Fragment contains Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper and can help empower other sources of Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. All offerings must surpass a certain threshold to be submittable, and to hide your heretical actions from the Malefic One, there is an internal cooldown of the skill dependent on the value of the Offering Fragment received.

It was a skill practically identical to Chosen’s Offering of the Malefic Viper, except for some changes in wording and whatnot. What the skill would do was effectively allow Jake to offer stuff to Villy and get a catalyst for alchemy in return. At least, that’s how he read it.

Jake had very purposefully not used the Chosen’s Offering skill because he assumed doing so would mean losing the ability to pick the Heretic’s Offering one. Alright, there was a risk he would cut him off from the other skill merely by picking the first one, but things had gone the way he’d hoped.

Especially after he picked the second one… and what he’d hoped for happened. The two legendary skills that were so damn alike they might as well have been one turned out to indeed be part of a greater whole. Well, Jake assumed they were, based on how they’d instantly merged with one another. This merge of skills had given Jake something he wasn’t sure how worked, but it had to be good based on the fact it was mythical. Right?

[Divine Bargain of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)] – In your eyes, to make an offering is an act of subservience you refuse to take part in. No, to you, the Malefic One is an equal you deem yourself worthy of bargaining with. Allows the Heretic-Chosen to initiate a Divine Bargain using an entity he wishes to use for negotiation, forcibly creating an equal exchange between himself and the Malefic Viper. Upon successfully performing a Divine Bargain, the Heretic-Chosen will, by default, receive a Malefic Bargaining Fragment but may be granted other benefits based on the nature of the Divine Bargain. Malefic Bargaining Fragments contains Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper and can help empower other sources of Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. Under certain conditions, the Malefic One can actively take part in the Divine Bargaining. Laws of equivalent exchange must be upheld to a certain standard. All bargained entities must surpass a certain threshold of Records to be submittable. This skill has an internal cooldown based on the nature of the Divine Bargain performed.

Right off the bat, it was a really long skill description. Jake did like it a lot more than the previous ones, though. Divine Bargain also sounded a lot more appealing than making an offering, as it was something one did between equals. Well, as equal as a god and mortal could become.

As for the skill itself, it was indeed quite complex, but it had the same concept as the offering ones for the most part. It would allow Jake to give Villy stuff, and Villy would give him a Malefic Bargaining Shard back in return, at least most of the time. With this version, he could also get other benefits, it seemed, with neither the system nor the innate knowledge he’d been granted telling him what these other benefits were.

What the innate knowledge did let him know was how to do a Divine Bargain. More accurately, it let him know how many ways there were to do it. It also included what he could offer and do with the skill. The more he studied the innate knowledge, he also realized that the skill had some rather unbalanced features, in his humble opinion, one of which would become clear once he was done setting up his ritual in the core chamber.

He also felt as if his decision not to use the skill had been good based on the first section of the skill. At least, it would have been very weird if it spoke about not agreeing to give offerings if he had actually used the skill to ever give any. Getting stuck with just the Chosen’s Offering skill would have sucked majorly, and more likely than not, even ended up hurting Jake’s Path as a Heretic-Chosen down the line as merely possessing the skill could be viewed as an act of subservience.

Oh, also, small side note… Jake found it really funny that both Chosen’s Offering and Heretic’s Offering had actual explanations for the skill’s cooldown period. Meanwhile, with the Divine Bargain, the system just straight-up told him it had a cooldown, borderline admitting it was entirely system-imposed and nothing else. Then again, based on all his talks with Villy, the system likely had its reasons for placing such a cooldown on a skill, and he should actually be happy he couldn’t use it constantly, as doing so would have fucked him up long-term somehow.

Anyway, there was still a lot to unpack with the skill, and Jake felt like it would need quite a few uses to fully understand it. For now, he had to prepare to initiate his first Divine Bargain, which was why he needed a ritual circle.

Starting a Divine Bargain wasn’t as simple as pointing at something and going: “Villy, I’ve come to bargain!” but you had to actually set up proper conditions. The simplest way of doing this was to set up a ritual circle, but other things like having a permanent altar or something like that would also work, a bit like how Miranda had her permanent ritual site below her office in Haven.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Jake preferred to just go the ritual route, though, primarily because he was actually pretty good at rituals by now. Continuing to work on the ritual circles, he prepared to create a spherical magic circle wrapped around the Planetary Pylon to initiate everything.

Now… before, it was touched upon how a C-grade couldn’t realistically destroy a Pylon. Jake couldn’t destroy one either, but he knew instinctively he could bargain with it. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as just initiating the bargain. No, he also had to claim ownership during the bargaining process.

In other words, the ritual would set into motion Jake laying claim on the Pylon with the intent of offering it to the Malefic Viper. This would put Ell’Hakan on a timer, with Jake getting the Pylon if either too long time passed or, preferably, he killed Ell’Hakan. 𝙍ᴀ₦Ȏ฿ƐŚ


This had resulted in Sandy being an utterly lopsided existence that, quite frankly, was borderline useless in battle. All the big worm could do was ram people or try and eat them, and based on all Jake knew, Sandy could only really eat those a lot weaker. The purpose of eating them also wasn’t to kill them but to use them as “resources” within the worm’s internal world.

Besides eating, all of Sandy’s other abilities had gone into the art of escape and durability. While this kind of Path was rarely one that worked out well in the multiverse due to the lack of self-defense… well, Sandy seemed to be doing pretty well for themselves when Jake used a quick Identify as he, Meira, and Irin walked outside the talk to the worm that was wiggling on the grass.

[Juvenile Cosmic Genesis Worm – lvl 242]

“Hey Jake!” the worm yelled telepathically the moment Jake walked outside. “Oh! Succubus and the elf are also here! Or should I call her a high elf now? Speaking of, why is it even called a high elf? Did she even get taller? Oh, wait, I ate this thing called a Highmountain-something, and that one was from a high mountain, so that name made sense… oh, I know, maybe high elves originally come from big mountains? Hey, high elf, that isn’t actually that high; why are you called a high elf?”

Meira just stared with a confused expression for a moment before muttering. “I… don’t know exactly why we’re called high elves… but it’s probably to signify it’s a higher race of sorts compared to usual elves? While the stats aren’t different compared to regular elves, we do have different racial skills.”

“I guess that can make sense, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) too,” Sandy readily accepted the answer that was frankly way more serious than Sandy’s question deserved. “Anyway! Jake! I heard you’re back, and you are now an even bigger deal than before because you did some stuff on a Leaderboard!”

“I am back indeed, and I did do stuff on a Leaderboard,” Jake smiled, honestly happy to see Sandy again. The big worm was always interesting to be around, even if it did feel a bit weird talking to the giant mound of wiggling flesh on his lawn.

“That’s great! Speaking of great, am I the only one who’s starving?” Sandy said as Jake felt the expectant attention of the cosmic worm on him.However, before he could even say anything, Irin spoke up.

“I do believe we could all do with a snack, and while I’m not sure if Jake has anything you find appealing, I hope my offering can at least help please the Chosen of the Lord Protector.”

With these words, she waved her hand as a bunch of lockboxes appeared, making Jake throw her a look.

“Items given to me by the top brass should I encounter the Chosen of the Lord Protector,” she quickly clarified with a telepathic message as she smiled at him. Jake definitely did notice how she very heavily implied all this stuff was from her alone…

“Oh! That does smell good… just a second, I’m on a bit of a diet and have to watch what I eat, so I’ll just have my dietitian take a look at things,” Sandy said happily as the worm wiggled a bit and floated into the air as they opened their mouth.

Space distorted as a man wearing an expensive-looking suit appeared.

“Wh… where am I!? What happened, wh-“

“Oops, wrong guy!” Sandy said as they sucked the man back in before spitting out another suit-wearing man, this one far more put together.

“Does Lord Sandy require my services?” he asked the second he oriented himself.

“Yep! That stuff over there!” Sandy said, the man somehow knowing where Sandy mentally pointed.

Turning around, the man spotted Jake and the others before his eyes opened wide as he bowed. “I greet the Chosen of the Malefic One, as well as the Chosen of the Grand Elder.”

“Hey there, don’t mind us and attend to your matters,” Jake quickly said, Meira nodding in agreement. With their approval, and while dealing with the pressure of being in the presence of three Chosen, the man went over to the offering and began to go through them with a clipboard. While that was interesting in its own right, Jake was more interested in what had happened before.

“Who was that first guy?” Jake asked, confused as he turned to look at Sandy.

“Oh, that was just Tom.”

“And who is Tom?”

“A guy I ate.”

“Why did you eat Tom?”

“A better question is: why wouldn’t I eat Tom?”

Jake just looked at Sandy as he sighed. “You know what? Fair enough. Why do you need a dietitian anyway?”

“Eh, something about eating more quality over quantity and stuff like that. Basically about me not wasting time digesting stuff that isn’t worth digesting,” Sandy said.

“I see,” Jake nodded, that making a lot of sense to him. It was probably like how Jake shouldn’t waste his time hunting weaker prey. He could totally see Sandy only benefitting from certain kinds of natural treasures by now as they got stronger. There was definitely also a Records aspect to it.

No matter the case, Jake was sure the Lord Protector had this handled. The Boundless Hydra was very good at eating stuff himself, so Jake felt confident that if anyone was qualified to give Sandy advice on the Path of devouring, it was him.

With the dietitian hard at work, Jake changed the subject a bit. “What are your plans regarding this Prima Guardian system event, by the way? Are you heading back to Earth with the rest of us?”

”Maybe?” Sandy responded. ”Not sure I should. The rules about the Prima thing said that beasts who consumed unique system-given stuff in the early days aren’t allowed to fight against the big boss, only alongside it, and, well, I ate a lot of system-given stuff back then.”

“I… hadn’t really thought of that,” Jake muttered. “Then again, can you even fight? Say, what if you just help doing stuff that isn’t directly related to fighting, like helping people travel around faster or something? I doubt the system would force you to fight for the Prima Guardian, so indirect help may be allowed.”

“Based on what I know of these system event bosses, I believe Jake’s assessment is correct,” Irin chimed in. “Historically, in cases like these, the system-empowered entities won’t be controlled or forced to do anything, but they may be punished if they choose to go against the event boss. It’s also equally possible this Prima Guardian will have a unique ability supressing anyone who consumed these system-provided items, making it near-impossible for them to fight against the boss.”

“Hm, if the succubus who brings me tasty snacks is right, I guess I should return. Maybe I can even find some good stuff to eat in the ninety-third universe. I have heard people talking about how new universes tend to have a lot of tasty stuff in their infancy…” Sandy seemingly agreed after thinking a bit.

“Actually, can you even go? What about the people you ate? Will they be able to go to the ninety-third universe with you?” Jake suddenly had a thought.

“Good question that I already thought about all on my own! They totally can; I just can’t let them out. Like, I already tried it once for funsies, kind of thinking that the person would go boom or something, but nope, they just won’t come out no matter what I do. Ah, but don’t worry, Tom can come out; he is from our universe,” Sandy gladly explained.

“… good to know?” Jake muttered. “Did you eat Tom on Earth?”

“No? What a silly question; there’s no way Tom would be from Earth!” Sandy said, wiggling in laughter.

Jake really wanted to ask more about Tom but stopped himself as he sighed. “In that case, will you return with me when I head back? I plan on going… actually, probably just later today. I don’t think I have a lot I have to do at the Order; I mainly came by to say hi to these two.”

He said the last part while motioning to Irin and Meira. Alright, he had not come specifically to see these two, but the people he knew in the Order. Seeing as everyone else was away, he only really had these two he wanted to check in on.

“You’re leaving already?” Irin said in a downtrodden tone, with Meira not looking happy at the news either.


Julius felt his heart race a little bit when he saw how confident she looked. Perhaps, they would have to spar a little bit in the near future. He wanted to know if she could back up her words.

However, that was an idea for later. For now, he would just enjoy their time together and worry about that stuff another day.

A note from l-Ryn-l

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Chapter 540: Opening the Life Mana Manual

Julius and the others took a while to catch up. Anna hadn’t returned for almost an hour. By then, Julius had explained virtually everything that had happened in the realm. However, that only took up a small portion; the rest of the time was spent just talking about what they had been doing.

When Anna returned, she wasn’t alone. To Julius’s concern, Crown Prince Jaxson was there as well. The young man stood there, expressionless. Despite his youthful appearance, an aura of authority radiated from his body.

It was a different feeling he had gotten from the Emperor at the beginning of the tournament. He wondered why there was such a big difference. Perhaps Prince Jaxson was merely more combat-focused than the Emperor.

“You had enough time, Reinera?” Prince Jaxson suddenly asked Reinera with a softened gaze.

“Yeah, it’s like what we suspected. They were trapped inside an isolated space with the chimera. The other attack on the realm seemed to be related, but ultimately served a different purpose,” Reinera stated with a thoughtful expression.

“There was another attack?” Julius asked curiously.

Derek nudged him gently, as if to tell him to be quiet.

Reinera didn’t seem to care and nodded. “Yes, the attack on you guys seemed to be a secondary goal of the attackers. The true purpose was to destabilize the connection between the realm and us. They also appeared to have stolen something from the realm.”

“Reinera,” Crown Prince Jaxson said warningly.

“What? It’s only fair they know. They shared what they knew; I am just reciprocating.”

“There is no need to reciprocate. That information is sensitive, and the fewer people who know, the more we can control what information leaks out,” the prince said calmly.

“What? You don’t trust them to keep a secret?”

“I trust House Zenith’s loyalty to the Empire, but that doesn’t mean that word can’t spread somehow regardless of someone’s good intentions."

“Fine. My bad,” Reinera said with a slightly apologetic nod.

Crown Prince Jaxson then turned his gaze to the four of them. “I don’t have to remind you guys that this needs to stay secret, correct?”

Derek bowed elegantly. “Of course not, your highness. We won’t speak a word about this matter.”

“Good,” Crown Prince Jaxson said, and with one final look at all of them, lingering on Julius’s form for a split second longer than the others, walked out of the room, leaving Anna standing at the door.

“Hmm. So what was this thing that was stolen?” Aubrey asked curiously.

Reinera shook her head apologetically. “Sorry, but I might actually get in trouble if I told you guys.”

Aubrey waved her concerns away. “Don’t worry about it. We understand. I was just curious.”

Reinera was about to respond when the door suddenly slammed open.

“There you are!” A familiar voice rang out through the room.

“Honey, you are yelling again,” another familiar voice said scoldingly.

“Sorry, I’m just excited.”

“That’s great, honey, but remember the last time you got too excited?”

“That wasn’t my fault. They should have made that building stronger. How was I supposed to know it would collapse that easily?” Cain said with an offended scoff as he strolled into the room.

Julius held back his amused smile and went over to Cain and Freya. He surprised Freya with a warm hug.

“Oh!” Freya said with a soft smile, rubbing his head lovingly.

“What about me?” Cain asked, disgruntled by Julius’s apparent favoritism.

He ignored the brute and shook his head with exasperation when he felt Freya’s concerned senses wash over him. He could already feel her examining his condition, and he knew she was agitated by what she saw.

“I’m okay. I promise,” he said, letting her know he was alright.

She grabbed his shoulders so that he was arm’s length away. “You absolute buffoon of a boy. I blame Cain for this,” she said with a dark look at her husband.

“What did I do? I’m the victim here. Julius is my disciple, and yet he hasn’t even greeted me yet,” Cain muttered before suddenly appearing in front of Julius with one swift step, slapping his meaty hand across Julius’s back.

“It’s good to see you, though. I saw your fight against Valis’s disciple. It’s nice to see that you have at least a little bit of competition,” Cain said with a laugh.

Julius stumbled forward and glared at Cain. He suspected that Cain had hit him a little harder as a form of revenge. He was petty like that.

“Thanks, I learned some interesting things from him too, so it was worth it,” he said once he healed his bruised back.

Cain grinned and gave him a soft squeeze on the shoulder. Cain wasn’t like Freya, but this was his way of showing affection.

“So who is this young lady?” Cain asked with a teasing grin. “Another girlfriend?”

“She is Reinera Luminous, princess of the Luminous Empire. Please mind your words, Cain Steelborn,” Anna spoke up.

Cain ignored her entirely.

“So are you done here? Or do you want more time to catch up with your princess? I remember you said something about missing her,” Cain said to Julius, loud enough for Reinera to hear.

Julius rolled his eyes and slammed his fist into Cain’s shoulder with as much force as he could, implementing some of the improvements from the recent fight. “Shut up.”

He did notice that Reinera had turned away and looked almost shy upon hearing that. He wondered what that was about.

He shook his head. He could figure that stuff out later. At the moment, he was more concerned about the recent incident and what that meant for the Empire as a whole.

***

Shortly after Cain and Freya showed up, they decided to leave the arena and head back to House Zenith’s estate.

Unfortunately, Reinera wasn’t able to come with them. There was just too much going on at the moment, and she had responsibilities as a member of the Royal Family. At least they got to talk for a good hour or so. It was a pleasant surprise.

“Missing her already?” Cain teased him as they sat on the couch.

Julius didn’t bother to acknowledge the man and kept on weaving several pieces of mana together, trying to recall Riven’s own techniques by memory and feel.

Julius was initially surprised at how easily they managed to come and get him. At first, he had thought that Cain and Freya had forced their way through the Empire’s soldiers. However, he learned that they had gotten through with a more peaceful method. Apparently, Derek’s family had shown up, and, being a Ducal House, they had some nice privileges, so they were let in without much issue. Cain and Freya were allowed access alongside them.

Derek’s father had arrived, and while Cain and Freya were talking with Julius, he had been talking with the prince about something important.

“Okay, I think this thing is the real deal,” Freya said to him with a sigh, handing the worn-out book to Julius. “I don’t know what the exact contents are; it seems like it has been locked to your aura signature, but from my deep scans, it is the genuine artifact.”

“You make it sound like it is a bad thing,” Julius noted.

“I don’t have much experience with this kind of stuff. I can’t really help you beyond a certain point,” she admitted, though it sounded like it hurt her to do so.

“Would it suit his path?” Cain asked.

Freya chuckled softly. “Yeah, it is a really good fit for his current path. It would also address many of his issues with his overwhelming, ruinous aura. Especially now that he got that dangerous little thing,” she said while pointing at his crown.


“Potentially,” Jacob nodded. “However, even that would be low unless this event is truly aimed at the elite and the elite only. Additionally, these creatures with Prima in their name are not that easy to find, but I believe it will be possible to locate quite a few.”

That is when Jake realized something. While he had confidence in killing Primas, he still needed to find them. Meanwhile, he had a living cheat in front of him when it came to finding stuff. Something he clearly knew.

“I shall focus my efforts on locating these Primas and ensure that we can get as many keys as possible in the next three months,” Jacob smiled. “For all of us. The vote was for us to become an Unusual Union, was it not?”

“And I assume you are doing this out of the kindness of your heart?” Caleb asked with a wry smile.

“Now, while there may be much kindness in my actions, using my divination abilities does not come cheap for me. I simply cannot justify sacrificing for others and burdening my faction without proper cause,” Jacob said, returning the smile in kind.

“Man, you remind me of those damn soothsayers on the streets looking for naïve tourists,” Carmen commented.

“Except my abilities are real,” Jacob answered. “We can discuss potential partnerships for any who wishes to enter one. I will be in Sanctdomo waiting.”

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea; let me just enter a city that literally burns me to be within,” Casper commented sarcastically.

That turned the mood a bit awkward as Jake learned Risen got burned by entering a holy city. It was almost like those old tropes. “Better avoid holy water,” Jake joked.

“Well, yeah, holy affinity liquid does sound an idiotic thing to touch,” Casper said with a deadpan face.

“Anyway, it’s been nice seeing you all again,” Carmen said as she turned to the Fallen King. “Besides maybe you, as I am still not sure if you are some evil entity who plans to lead the world into ruin.”

“I believe such would be meaningless, and I would face all those gathered here, something which I have no interest in doing nor believe is a wise choice. Not that more than the hunter is needed,” the King answered, not properly getting Carmen was semi-joking.

“Yeah, if he gets out of line, I got this,” Jake answered as he gave a thumbs up. “His weakness is so obvious you will all kick yourselves for not realizing it earlier.”

“Overwhelming power?” Casper asked.

“That would work,” Jake approved.

The mood after that was a bit more relaxed as Carmen left with the former King of the Forest disappearing soon after. Eron left hastily, too, as he still seemed uncomfortable after spending time around the King. Caleb and the Sword Saint also bailed as they had some stuff to attend to, leaving only Jake, Bertram, Jacob, and Casper.

That is when Jacob did something Jake had not seen coming.

“Casper, the Holy Church is going to advocate for the expulsion of the Risen from Earth and not allow them into any kind of unions. It may result in an outright attack with the goal of pushing you off the planet or annihilating you outright,” Jacob said when it was only the four of them.

“Huh?” Casper said, a bit surprised.

“The Holy Pantheon is determined. They place a lot of importance on Earth due to the presence of so many powerful factions here. The Court of Shadows, Valhal, the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, someone with a Divine Blessing given by Stormild, another by Aeon, and of course a Transcendent… now also a Unique Lifeform. To give up the planet would be moronic. The Church can accept the presence of all these, but the Risen are the mortal enemies of the Church, and co-existence is not acceptable to the leadership at all,” Jacob explained.

Jake also stood surprised as Jacob just said a lot of things he had not expected to come out of the Augur and leader of the Holy Church on Earth.

“Why are you…?” Casper asked, equally confused.

“Within a system event such as this, we are entirely cut off from the rest of the multiverse. There are no observers, and they have no control over us, so I need to say it here where we can speak truly freely. You need to be prepared, Casper. And while I am the leader of the Holy Church on Earth, I am not the leader of the faction. My protests will do nothing but make me lose influence, and it may even result in losing my position,” Jacob answered.

“Still doesn’t answer why you are telling me all this to begin with,” Casper frowned.

“Because I’m not a complete asshole, and even with my position in the Church, I don’t need to agree with everything that is happening. Publicly I will need to be against the Risen and even lead a campaign against them, but privately I honestly don’t care. In fact, if I actively helped to destroy a friend, that would go directly against my Path,” Jacob sighed. “Casper, you may now be Risen, but you are still a friend and the same lazy employee who spent more time complaining about being unable to get a good date than actually working.”

“Now that is just harsh…”

“You once told me you liked hanging out with Jake because he couldn’t get a girl either,” Jacob continued.

“Wait, what?” Jake blurted out.

“It wasn’t like that! You know I just liked hanging out with someone who didn’t always go on and on about their perfect relationships,” Casper said, a bit embarrassed.

“Anyway, Casper, I just wanted to warn you. Be ready, for something will come. The Church will likely order assassins soon to go after you and other influential people, spread more propaganda against you, and try to insert people into your cities to cause civil unrest. In fact, many are already in your cities. Once the universe opens up more and people can be brought here, forces will likely descend. Even if it isn’t possible to bring outside help, the forces of the Holy Church grow every day,” Jacob explained further.

“Will the Church really go to war?” Jake asked. “Don’t they fear the consequences?”

“There will be a justification. Perhaps claims they are killing and forcing people to become undead. That they murder the living to fuel themselves. Essentially slander to make the living side against them. At the same time, they assume you and others will stay out of it as the Malefic One never tended to get involved in other conflicts. He isn’t involved in the one that is currently going on. As for Valhal and the Court of Shadows, it is entirely possible they will be hired. For Valhal, we just need to hire individuals as mercenaries, and the upper echelon of the Church may negotiate with the Court of Shadows and force your brother to side with us.”

Casper looked grave for a moment as he sighed. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Jacob nodded. “Just take care of yourself. Please don’t spread anything about our talk. Needless to say, this is not approved by the Church in any way and may even be considered treacherous.”

The last part was also partly directed at Jake, and he, of course, nodded. Casper also nodded as he muttered: “Well… I guess I need to speed up that project a bit.”

William sat in meditation atop the block of metal as he slowly absorbed the energy within. He was thrown out of meditation and lost his focus when the system message suddenly appeared and informed him that he had just received a quest.

“Master?” he asked as he felt the presence of Eversmile descend upon his mind. It felt like his head was on fire from the pressure, but he resisted and gritted his teeth as his Master spoke.

“Such an event is not right for you. Seeing a second potential Path will only confuse you and risk making you stray from your current one. The right one. I have said it before, but all these system events are nothing more than distractions that will ruin you down the line. Just keep walking the Path paved before you, and you will find what you seek, my dear disciple.”


None of them had a level above 50, making Jake and the hawk ignore them entirely, but as they kept flying further and further up, that started to change fast.

At eight and a half kilometers, they encountered a not-so-friendly giant wasp that tried to sting Jake. This resulted in Jake just catching the stinger and with his hands on the thing, spreading death through it with Touch of the Malefic Viper. It had only been level 61, so Jake honestly didn’t know where it got the guts to attack him from.

At 10 kilometers, they had to avoid a brawl between two giant flocks of birds. Thousands of birds in each flock were ripping into each other. They were relatively weak individually, most still not in E-grade yet, but their sheer sizes made up for it.

Jake felt tempted just to use Gaze of the Apex Hunter but decided against it pretty quickly. It was pointless to do, and he quite honestly wasn’t keen on the idea of committing bird-genocide for no reason.

This kept up as they flew upwards. The hawk had clearly been up here many times before as it swiftly dismembered any bird that attacked it while avoiding flocks and stronger-looking monsters. Jake felt more like a tag-along but had no complaints.

He was blown back by the sights he saw. It indeed was an entirely new world up there. But he did wonder why it was like this. The hawk had clearly shown a need to land once in a while. To rest. While he didn’t doubt that some monsters could rest while remaining in the air, he seriously doubted any of the more common-looking birds could.

At 15 kilometers, they encountered their first challenge – the word challenge being said relatively lightly. It was a small group of three hulking birds. They looked like vultures that had gone to the gym 6 days a week, never forgetting wing or talon day - all of them the same level at 87.

It was a bit novel to encounter such strength-focused birds. They attacked the pair as one of them went for Jake and the two others the hawk. The hawk danced around them effortlessly as the wind cut into them, while Jake met the brute in melee.

Luckily for him, it didn’t even try to dodge but just smashed into him, trying to pierce him with its sharp talons. He summoned his sword and dagger, blocking the foot with the sword as he plunged the dagger into the leg of the vulture.

They kept tussling for a while before Jake managed to get in a few good blows to its stomach and lower body. The wounds didn’t look lethal, but they sure as heck were. The dagger was releasing its innate venom with every stab, only further amplified by Jake coating the blade with his blood.

The hawk had managed to finish off one of its vultures when Jake’s failed to keep itself airborne. It began falling to the ground as he flew over and helped the hawk finish off the last vulture. The one he had been fighting dying half-way through as it succumbed to the poison before even hitting the ground.

It had been a relatively easy and fast fight, which was why he was surprised as the message popped up with the death of the last vulture.

*’DING!’ Class: [Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 84 - Stat points allocated, +4 free points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 77 - Stat points allocated, +5 free points*

It was his first level in his class since returning to Earth, and he had a feeling that the sky would be the source of a lot more levels and unique experiences.

“Of course, my lord,” the first sister quickly agreed to the Viper forbidding them from speaking of the mortal. Her two sisters were nodding along fervently.

“All is good then. Now, on to official business,” The Malefic Viper said, getting up off the bed while summoning a robe. The women following his lead as they, too, conjured a dress each.

“My Order has turned to shit in my absence. I don’t blame anyone but myself for this. I wallowed in self-pity for long enough,” he said with a big sigh before continuing.

“I plan on getting shit in order. With only a single hall right now, we are confined to only a small part of this universe. I fear that my name has begun to be forgotten. Time to change that.”

“What are you planning, my lord?” the second sister asked, excitement in her voice.

“I don’t care for expansion much. Faith is not a big part of my path anyhow, and I couldn’t give less of shit about how many faithful believers I have. No, I want to consolidate our power in this part of the universe first. Make it like the good old days. Then we can expand from there.”

“You mean?” the third sister asked, stars in her eyes.

“Exactly. Send out warnings to every single faction and deity within this sector. Give them a week to either pack up and get the fuck out or to come here and swear allegiance. Make my word echo through the multiverse, so all know my message. Those that don’t listen… well,“ the ancient Primordial said, with a big smile, “a show of force has never done any harm either.

“Additionally, I want you three to formally return to the Order once more. Having only Snappy and I as known gods is a bit too little. I want each of you to take a leadership position to help get this entire organization back on track.

“Once the Hall Master, as well as the branch leaders, return from Nevermore, I want one of you to take charge and guide her and lead the Order. She is your descendant, so that part should be easy enough. Another one of you takes charge of the academy, while the last takes care of managing the governed area of the Order and assisting me in taking any newly conquered land under our wing. You decide between yourselves who does what. Any objections?”

“We are more than willing to serve,” the first sister said, talking for all three of them.

“Good. I already informed Snappy to bring back the other leaders, so you may as well begin preparing now,” he said, nodding at the three women.

Looking at the messy bed, however, he added. “Though I guess we do have a bit of time.”

A request none of them had to hear twice. A few hours and plenty of ‘exercise’ later, the Viper walked out of the chamber, leaving the three women resting in the bed. He felt quite proud if he had to say so himself. Tiring out gods to the point of exhaustion was no easy feat.

Teleporting, he stepped into a giant laboratory with only a single old man in it. He was currently tending to a giant tree that appeared to be wholly rotten yet gave out an overpowering amount of life-affinity mana.

“Duskleaf, my dear disciple,” the Viper said with a big smile, the old man not reacting at all.

“Come on, old pal, don’t be mad,” he tried again, only to continue to be ignored entirely. So he tried something else.

“My, quite the tree you have made here. Your own creation, I presume? Very impressive.”

This time he got a reaction. “A tree someone, especially my so-called ‘master’ would be fully aware of if he didn’t keep breaking his promises actually to do some – any – alchemy with me.”

“Look, I know I fucked up, but I just had too much to deal with,” he tried to explain, being quickly cut off.

“Like sleeping with those witches? Or staring at Jake creepily? Or have you found a new deplorable hobby?” Duskleaf sneered. Clearly still mad.

“Okay, okay. Jeez. I even came here with something I thought you would want to hear,” the Viper muttered.

“We are doing an experiment?” Duskleaf beamed, all his anger momentarily forgotten.

“No, not that,” the Viper said, Duskleaf instantly deflating. “But! It is still a good suggestion. I plan on doing a bit of restructuring and improvements around here, and I want you to come out of hiding and take up a more official position in the Order.”

“How can that in any way be construed as good for me?” Duskleaf sighed.

“Listen, I want you to take the position as principal of the academy. One of the witches will help you do all the boring stuff; I just want you to have the title. The only work I will ask of you to do is to be involved in the next enrollment of alchemy students in a few years,” the Viper explained.

“I still don’t get it,” the old alchemist said, clearly not keen on the idea. “Why the heck would I want to be involved in enrollment of all things?”


The only bad part was that it was over so quickly. They had arrived back in Peralt in a matter of a few minutes. In a place where spatial transportation was heavily limited, if not outright impossible, a faster method of traveling was nice to have. He was a little jealous that Kuro had a familiar with such usefulness.

All Julius had was a cute green spirit the size of his hand who ate and slept all day. Drasil wasn’t going to be giving him a ride anytime soon.

“You enjoyed it?” Kuro asked with a knowing look on his face.

Julius grinned widely and gave Syla a grateful scratch. “Absolutely. She is wonderful.”

He got a soft nudge of appreciation from her in return.

“Well, let me know if you want to get a ride from her again. I run a lot of errands for my master in the forest. If you want me to take you to or from one of the bases inside the forest, it wouldn’t be much of an issue. Also, it would seem that Syla has taken a liking to you, which is not something I can say for everyone.”

Julius smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate it. I might have to take you up on it. If not just to experience flying on Syla again.”

They talked as they approached the entrance to the town. When they entered through the tall walls of Peralt, they exchanged information and Kuro told him that he had to report back to his master. Apparently, he was already supposed to be back but had taken a detour to explore that rift.

He also told Julius that he could take the lich’s core to the guild if he wanted to sell it. Apparently, now that there was so much of the undead’s essence inside of it, the core was practically on par with a Tier 4 core. This made it much more valuable, and the guild would pay good money for something like it.

Kuro also mentioned that this core could possibly rank him up to the next rank if he was lucky. The core was proof that he had closed an undead rift and if he answered some of their questions, it was likely they would either increase his rank or get him close to the next one since the core was so powerful.

Honestly, Julius believed his chances of ranking up were high. He was only E-rank which meant he didn’t have much further to go in order to rank up. Plus, after that gathering mission, he had already gathered a good amount of points.

Thus, Julius found himself standing in line at the guild, looking around at all of the other people who were in there either submitting their completed missions or for some other reason. Thanks to Syla, he had returned to Peralt much earlier than he had initially expected.

When it was finally his turn he went up to the lady receptionist. However, when he started to explain his situation, he was directed to a back room where someone would come and inspect the core.

To his surprise, he was welcomed by the same man who had done his examination earlier. He believed his name had been Ashton.

“I see you have been busy already. Taking on that Flowing Ginkon mission and now this?” The man said to him with an amused shake of the head.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. But coming back with such a unique item poses a lot of questions. It’s not every day we see such a pristine lich core. I am also curious how you managed to come across the rift and clear it by yourself,” Ashton said with an attentive look at Julius.

“Oh, I didn’t clear it by myself. I have a Tier 4 right alongside me. He was the one who actually defeated the lich. He was also the one who removed the core. He said that I should take it to you guys and that you would find good use for it,” Julius said honestly.

“Who was this Tier 4? Was he a friend?”

“No, he was just a guy I came across randomly. I am not sure if he would want me to tell you his name, but he didn’t seem like a bad person,” Julius explained.

Ashton looked at Julius for a little while with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Would you be willing to come with me so I can verify your words?” He eventually asked Julius.

When the man saw Julius’s look of hesitation, he added, “Don’t worry, you won’t have to tell us who the man was. But we need to make sure you didn’t just buy this core and are using it as a way to deceive your way to a higher rank. It’s just guild policy.”

Julius had expected something like this, especially if he was looking to increase his guild rank using the core as proof. The fact that they didn’t seem to need Kuro’s name was reassuring as well. Which is why he nodded and followed Ashton to verify his statement.

However, as they were heading down the hall to the same room that Julius had first gone through for his examination, Ashton turned to him with a weird look.

“I actually wanted to speak to you about an opportunity that came up recently. I think you might find it interesting. Curious about it?”

Julius narrowed his eyes but couldn’t find a reason not to hear it out at the very least, and nodded his head slowly. But in the back of his mind, he hoped it was something exciting.

A note from l-Ryn-l

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Chapter 370: Rift Expedition

The good news was that he got the points needed to rank up. He was now a proud D-rank adventurer. However, that wasn't the only thing that occupied his mind. Ashton’s offer was still tumbling around in his brain.

There was a newly discovered rift deeper in the forest. Unlike most of the higher-tiered rifts, this one was meant for Tier 3s. It was also a very unique rift. Unlike most of the rifts found in the forest, this one had some restrictions. Much like how the Sacred Realm in the capital worked, the rift would only allow Tier 3s to enter.

This posed a problem for the Adventurer Guild because this rift wasn’t easily cleared. Despite their best efforts, this rift hasn’t been cleared for a long time. Because of the risk of overflowing, they were making the information about the rift public.

At least that was what the guild was telling everyone. He didn’t know if Ashton should have been telling Julius this, but the man mentioned that the rift location had already been leaked to other guilds and organizations. This was just their way of keeping some semblance of control.

An interesting detail of the rift was that there wasn’t a limit to how many could enter. It didn’t matter because it was a solo rift. This meant that each time someone entered, it initiated an independent instance. This severely limited the teams the guild had specifically procured to clear the rift.

Most of the time, rifts were cleared by an entire team. Since this rift was a solo rift, it meant that the supporting members of a team found themselves quite useless. Of course, there were still solo adventurers that the guild had already let attempt the rift, but according to Ashton, this failed as well.

Just this fact alone made Julius want to try it. He liked a challenge. And this seemed like a good way to do it. As mentioned before, he wouldn’t be hiding his strength entirely. Not when it might cost him opportunities.

Ashton was also kind enough to give Julius some preliminary information to help him make a decision. The rift was very similar to a challenge rift in that it had a challenge upon entering. As for the challenge, it was quite unique.

There were ten floors total, each of which you needed to complete before heading off to the next one. The problem was that nobody had been able to get past the eighth floor—at least that was what Ashton said.

On the bright side, you could exit the rift whenever you wished, even if it meant leaving in the middle of a floor. This has significantly reduced the casualties a rift like this might usually have. There were also rewards for how many floors you cleared. Just because you didn’t fully clear all of the floors, didn’t mean you got nothing.

On the contrary, people were still rewarded as long as they completed a single floor. He had a feeling that the guild would have loved to keep this rift a secret for as long as they could have, they could have sat on this treasure trove of a rift to use as a special reward for their own people or exclusive members.


He had gotten a level, though, reaching 47 in his Ambitious Hunter class, so the time wasn’t wasted entirely, but it was far less efficient than the dungeon. He had briefly considered grinding to level 50 in his class before entering the next dungeon but decided against it. It would take far too long, and besides, he felt like he could handle the next dungeon.

Feeling ready, he looked up towards the second smallest volcano-like mountain. The location of the second dungeon and Beast Lord if his assumptions were correct. And, hopefully, also the location of a damn shirt.

76 chapter - Lucenti Plains

The path up to the mountain wasn’t as easily traversed as he had hoped. Unlike the badger valley, he didn’t find any easily accessible way forward.

Instead, he was met with a wall of stone – a steep cliffside. He tried climbing it a few times but quickly found that his climbing skills, coupled with the smooth stone surface, made it improbable that he could climb up there. He tried to use his weapons to climb, but it was more than a little unwieldy… Venomfang was too strong, and the cold from his sword made it break the stone as it cooled down.

After walking back and forth for a few minutes, trying to find a spot to climb, he got an idea. Could he use his mana strings?

He had made several strings over time and even used it to retrieve dropped weapons and such. In theory, he should be able to make a rope of his strings and climb up the cliffside.

Thinking it was quite a shot in the dark, he was surprised when he quickly strung together an invisible rope of mana. After practicing for a few minutes, he managed to make it longer and sturdier and even managed to hoist himself up in a tree using it.

Damn, I am good, Jake thought to himself as he marveled at the immense progress he had made in his mana control. He had slacked a bit recently, but with his stat growth and alchemy skills improving, he had gotten quite good without even noticing.

It still hadn’t materialized as a skill, discounting Spectral Hand. He remembered that his focus on the practice came from those few words given to him by the Malefic Viper during their first meeting. Those words had opened him up to the possibility that mana control was possible outside of using it for skills.

By now, he was sure that many others had also caught on, but he still felt like he had an early-starter advantage compared to many others.

With this new mana rope, Jake managed to attach it to small protrusions on the cliffside. Climbing to those protrusions, he made another rope attached further up and slowly made his way up the cliff.

Granted, it would have likely been faster just to go back the way he came and find {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a more direct path, but he believed that he hadn’t wasted his time in the grand scheme of things.

Finally, reaching the top, he smiled triumphantly. The ropes had dispersed already as they turned to nothing whenever they lost contact with his body. He felt like controlling mana outside the body, without him touching it, should be entirely possible. He just wasn’t sure how to do it yet.

Having gotten out of the valley, he didn’t delay as he rushed to the dungeon entrance.

The layout was incredibly similar to the other mountain, and he quickly reached the long passageway leading into the hollow volcano. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was in for another mountain filled with long passages whenever he entered the dungeon itself.

Only a few raptors were in his way, but they were swiftly handled with a few barrages of Splitting Arrow.

Reaching the mountain’s inside, he quickly spotted the door to the dungeon and wasted no time rushing to it, placing his hand on it.

Tutorial Dungeon Discovered!

Dungeons throughout the universe offer groups and individuals a chance to pursue strength and treasures through exploring the pocket dimensions known as dungeons. This variant is only found within the Tutorials provided by the system to newly integrated races.

Requirements to enter: N/A

Requirements to enter met.

WARNING: Only 5 challengers allowed per party attempting the dungeon. Only one party allowed at a time. Note that dungeons can be entered and exited at your own discretion.

Enter Dungeon?

Y/N

The message was exactly the same as when he entered the badger dungeon. He accepted the prompt and felt his vision and body shift.

Totally gonna be another shitty cave, Jake joked with himself.

His sphere was the first to register his new surroundings, and it made him aware he was in a rather large open space. The next thing he felt was… a breeze? In a cave? But as his vision returned, he found himself not standing in his anticipated cave but instead on a small hill surrounded by a broad plain.

You have entered the dungeon: Lucenti Plains

Objective: Defeat the Great White Stag

He was quite honestly taken aback. The change of scenery was far more extreme than he had anticipated.

Every dungeon he had entered so far had been enclosed spaces - one an ancient temple and another a cave. But this… this was a god damn open plain - the sky above, with a large open space before him.

On his small hill, he could see a large number of beasts running around. They were groups of deer with a stag or two generally leading each small group.

The plains themselves were a mix of tall grass and open ground. The grass was easily three meters tall, where it was tallest.

Looking behind him, he saw that perhaps this space wasn’t as large as he had first imagined. While it looked enormous, it soon became apparent that it was, in fact, quite limited. He saw that only a hundred meters or so behind him, the plains suddenly stopped, and it turned to stony ground.

Activating Hunter’s Sight, he peered into the distance and saw only nothingness. It was like he was in an oasis in the middle of a desolate world - an oasis consisting of a plain with herds of deer running around.

Turning his attention back towards the beasts, he used Identify on one of the groups.

[Lucenti Deer – lvl 61]

[Lucenti Deer – lvl 60]

[Lucenti Deer – lvl 62]

[Lucenti Stag – lvl 65]

Just like Badgers Den, it was the same beasts but with higher levels. The levels themselves were only slightly higher than the badgers had been, making Jake feeling quite confident.

But he quickly identified a few problems. The biggest of them soon entering his sight.

[Great White Stag – lvl ??]

The beast was… majestic. He honestly had no other way to describe it. It stood drinking from a pond in the middle of the plains. It had antlers that looked like they were made out of the most delicate ivory, the purest white color covering its entire body, making it appear albino.

A bit further away were tens of deer, all split into smaller groups. Each group had a few does and a stag or two in them. They all seemed to keep a reasonable distance from the Great White Stag.

But that didn’t mean it was alone. Around it were three nearly equally beautiful creatures.

Also pure white, but without the antlers. They seemed almost to give off an aura of gentleness as they stood by the stag.

Identifying them, it became clear that they were also far from ordinary beasts.

[White Doe – lvl ??]

[White Doe – lvl 72]

[White Doe – lvl ??]

The levels were higher than any of the other beasts besides the stag itself.

On a side-note, this identification did help confirm a theory he had about the Identify skill. He had wondered where the line between it showing question marks and the actual level appeared.

He noted that he could see the level 72, but not any of the others. This made him guess that this was likely the maximum. His current level in his race was 48, making those with quick math realize it quite easily. He had already kind of theorized it before, but now he felt pretty sure.

Jake believed that he could identify things up to 50% above his level. Meaning 72 was his current limit. But he would have to test it further to fully confirm it. If he was lucky, then one of the other does would be level 73. Of course, he needed to level up for that to matter.


Yet just before he disappeared, he heard a single ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) word echo out from the epicenter of the explosion.

“Rainblade.”

346 chapter - Summer Rain

Jake felt the arcane energy wash over him from the explosion, even if he was a kilometer up in the air as it completely destroyed the Mistless Plains beneath him. It had to have done a lot of damage, and Jake was already preparing a follow-up as he heard the voice of the Sword Saint.

“Rainblade.”

A feeling of dread spread up his back as he suddenly felt the arcane energy move. It began spinning around itself as it gathered contrary to Jake’s will. His eye opened wide as he finally saw the Sword Saint stand there, his body covered in even more wounds. But, he had the same stable and confident stance as before while he spun his blade in his hand, making the arcane energy spin along with it as he saw millions of raindrops guide and control it.

He pointed the spinning blade up towards Jake, and he saw all of the arcane energy be gathered in the middle of what looked like a whirlpool of water. He stared into the eye of the storm that was his own destructive energy as his danger sense reacted.

*BOOM!*

A massive blast of arcane energy and rainwater was blasted up towards Jake as if fired from a canon. Jake reacted by teleporting away, narrowly dodging the projectile of pure energy fired after him. Then, with shock, he looked at it fly into the air as it blew up several kilometers above him, sending a wave of force down that destabilized him in the air for a moment.

Turning his head, he looked down at the confidently smiling Sword Saint as Jake became utterly aware.

He didn’t need to do that… he just wanted to see if he could.

Smiling, Jake nearly failed to hold back a laugh as he dove straight into continuing his attack. He shot down a Splitting Arrow as the Sword Saint also responded by swinging his blade. Jake believed he was doing it to block Jake’s arrows… he was wrong.

A crescent wave of water was fired up towards him, and contrary to what he would expect, it only grew in power as it flew through the air and absorbed any and all rainwater it encountered. By the time it reached Jake, it was more than fifty meters in length while still as thin as a string of hair.

Jake avoided it but felt like he was being subtly pulled towards the attack as the rainwater impacted his body and softly pushed him. That is when Jake noticed something else. His Scales of the Malefic Viper had been active from the start, but now after the Sword Saint had used Rainblade, he felt his scales slowly begin to absorb mana.

What did this mean? It meant that even the damn rain had become a passive effect that slowly began dealing damage or some other adverse effect. It was ridiculous but far less ridiculous than what the Sword Saint did next.

The old man pointed his sword upwards, aiming at him. Jake expected him to maybe extend it or something like that, but his danger sense activated from all around him. In a swift move, Jake spread out his arms as he formed an arcane barrier around himself and poured in as much power as he could before the attack arrived.

“Torrential Droplets.”

Every single raindrop with dozens of kilometers reacted as they all began glowing with mana and moved according to the swordsman’s will. Millions of drops headed towards Jake faster than the speed of sound, and he knew his current defenses would in no way be enough.

Jake screamed as he fueled his mana and will into Pride of the Malefic Viper as he poured more mana into it than ever before. A domain was established as a purple glow emanated from his body. Barrier after barrier appeared around him, creating a ball of nearly pure arcane energy more than twenty meters across as the raindrops arrived.

A battle between the rain and his arcane energy began as Jake was attacked from all sides, his arcane energy slowly being whittled away from the millions of small attacks. The sphere of arcane energy slowly shrank as it was consumed from twenty to fifteen to ten meters. It kept shrinking by a meter every second as Jake held on until it was only a mere four meters across, still obscuring Jake’s body.

Then suddenly, the attack stopped. Jake momentarily felt a moment of relief before his danger sense reacted again, making him twist his body. A blade of rainwater cut through his sphere as it swept upwards, Jake groaning in pain as his thigh was stabbed into and cut through.

It hurt, but it wasn’t serious enough to impact him. The only bad thing was his mana expenditure which was not insignificant. But at the same time, he had a feeling that the Sword Saint wouldn’t be able to keep up his current power forever.

Because when he stared down and looked at the Sword Saint below him. His body was more damaged than before, but he also noticed something else. A few faint signs of wrinkles had appeared on his face, and a couple of strands of gray hair had appeared. It was subtle, but it looked like he had aged at least a few years since their battle had begun. That meant he was on a timer, and whatever he had done was temporary. Then again, they were kind of both on a timer.

Treasure Hunt will end in: 31:01

Around them, space was slowly compressing and breaking apart more and more, and soon it would encroach upon the Mistless Plains. Their battlefield would slowly begin to shrink as time went by, but at least for now, they still had plenty of space to fight.

Jake stared down at the Sword Saint as he yelled, his curiosity failing to be held back:

“What exactly did you do?”

The Sword Saint simply smirked as he answered: “I do not believe the answer to that question is pertinent right now. What is more important is how long it will last. Spring is but one of four seasons, and as summer approaches, so must fall before we enter winter once more. It is a cycle that forever repeats… so please, as springtime remains, let us fight till the end of summer to our heart’s content.”

Jake shook his head at the non-answer. Good enough, I guess?

He moved as the Sword Saint also reacted, teleporting once more. Jake had finally figured out how the teleportation worked too, and it was honestly bullshit. The Sword Saint didn’t just randomly teleport somewhere. Instead, he switched places… with a fucking raindrop.

And when there was a god damn rainstorm, it made no practical difference if it was just pure teleportation or not. The only real difference was perhaps the forewarning as the Sword Saint infused the drop with mana and then changed places. It was brief but enough for Jake’s keen senses to detect it and react every time.

Jake dodged the sword as he flew backward, flapping his wings as the Sword Saint chased him as they flew through the rain. He wanted to avoid melee more than anything, as he was at a huge disadvantage in every aspect but avoidability.

It wasn’t merely a question of power either. Every exchange they had didn’t result in Jake being injured because he was significantly slower or weaker. No, it was that every single sword swing moved in near-unpredictable ways, and he felt like his scimitar was magnetically pulled to his opponent’s sword whenever he tried to counter, or that it was somehow pushed away whenever he tried to block.

The battle continued as Jake fled back and tried to kite the Sword Saint, but every once in a while, the man still found an opening and landed a blow as Jake’s body got more and more bloody. However, Jake did begin to find ways of fighting back.

Dodging back, Jake summoned four small bottles as arcane mana condensed around them, breaking and destroying the glass entirely, leaving only the liquid within. It was an expensive way to fight but necessary. Jake manipulated the four bolts manually as he also fired his bow, looking for an opening. More bolts soon joined the original four, these ones without any bottles within. His head hurt from controlling them while also fighting semi-normally, but the domain from Pride allowed him to keep up the control.


“We will be certain to keep an eye out for such individuals,” the Sword Saint nodded with determination.

“It is good to see such upstanding individuals,” the guard said with a smile. “Here, take this signet and show it to a guard if you wish to report someone. It will also help other guards not suspect you are one of these horrible people who wish to take advantage of the naivety of a young Courtesan or even a Mistress.”

“Thank you for doing such a splendid job to keep them all safe,” the old man said with a deep bow.

The guard nodded before walking away.

Jake just stood there staring as the Sword Saint had a small signet in his hand that gave off an interesting aura.

“I must admit, this is a lot easier than I had expected,” the Sword Saint muttered.

“Yeah,” Dina nodded.

Jake didn’t wanna comment on the stupidity he had just observed. Though one part of him wished it was that easy to get information out of people in real life.

“Ree?” Sylphie asked.

“As long as you are certain you can stay hidden,” Jake shrugged. “And remember not to kill anyone that Identify marks as Innocent. Actually, probably just avoid killing anyone, period.”

“Ree,” Sylphie agreed as she turned into wind and disappeared.

“Are you certain sending off the Sylphian will end well?” the Fallen King asked. “She is not the most subtle.”

“That is true,” Jake said. “But she has an overpowered ability to make people like her, so I have a feeling she will be just fine. If she will accomplish anything, now that is a total toss-up.”

“Sylphie is pretty smart when it matters,” Dina nodded, approving of the bird.

“Very well,” the Fallen King said. “I am uncertain what my role will be on this floor, but if it is desired, then I can accomplish whatever task is assigned to me.”

“I believe it would be pertinent to first follow the tip given by the guard and investigate the inns to find Courtesans we can form positive relations to, and through them, meet a Mistress. As long as we can speak to one Mistress, it should allow us far more insight into the actual political landscape of this floor and make better decisions from there. I have also checked the fabricated identities we have been given, and nothing links our party together, so splitting up is also a good option. If there are different competing factions – something there always is in a harem - then having a person in each camp would be preferable as often internal information is biased, and we will have to know both sides to make the best decisions,” the Sword Saint said.

Jake slowly nodded, not hearing anything wrong with that. The others also seemed in agreement, probably because none of them knew what to do.

“Would anyone complain if I took Dina with me? If we approach the Courtesans as a group of two, it will make them less suspicious we are trying anything. We can try to infiltrate one faction can try to enter one through another channel, with perhaps even Sylphie getting lucky. Fallen King, I would advise you to try and approach some guards and join them. Considering your status as a Unique Lifeform makes you incapable of reproduction, you will likely be considered a “safe” guard, based on the other’s description of celibate,” the old man continued.

The Fallen King nodded along as the Sword Saint looked at Jake. “What are your plans?”

“I will try to go for a tavern too, I guess, with my target being to reach the Prime Consort as soon as possible, whatever means possible. Chances are we will have to kill her one way or another… and as always, I will take on the job of handling the floor boss,” Jake said.

“We must still bide our time,” the Sword Saint said. “As that old demon warned us, then raising a ruckus will result in making our task a lot harder, and it is likely it will make finding these Secret Scrolls impossible.”

“Oh, I won’t go to fight her directly,” Jake smiled. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t handle her through other means.”

“While Minaga did mention it as an option, seducing the Prime Consort may be a bit difficult for you, but I implore you to give it a shot,” the Sword Saint said skeptically yet encouragingly.

Jake stared at him, trying really hard to see if the old man was joking. He wasn’t.

“I am talking about alchemy.”

“Oh,” the Sword Saint muttered. “I guess that works too.”

675 chapter - Nevermore: Mistresses

It may be difficult to believe, but Jake had barely done any proper dating or really gone to any bars throughout his life. On second thought, it probably was entirely believable, considering he was just coasting through life before the system, with little care about anything, just taking it one day at a time.

Even after the system, he hadn’t really done that much with other people that would be considered “normal.” Due to this, Jake felt far from confident as he entered a bar and looked around the place. It was old and medieval-looking and was filled with people in black hoods, demons, and women and men who wore less than they probably should. Jake Identified a shirtless man currently chatting up a cultist and saw the general level.

[Courtesan – lvl 204 - Innocent]

“Gotta admit, I thought Courtesan was reserved for women,” Jake muttered to himself while still at the door.

“Gender-neutral, actually,” Minaga spoke.

“Really?” Jake asked. “Huh, I guess you learn something new every day.”

“Not gonna lie, I am actually unsure if it is gender-neutral, but if it isn’t, then why did your translation skill translate to it? Definitely couldn’t be my mistake, so let’s just go with it being neutral, alright?”

Jake nodded and smirked, not wanting to get into the most useless argument imaginable.

Nobody in the inn reacted despite the echoing voice of Minaga and Jake standing right there in the doorway. It was as if he was invisible before he made his presence known by speaking to anyone or making too big of an action. Looking at the person the male Courtesan was talking to, he saw a hooded man at quite a lot higher level.

[High-ranking Demonic Cultist – lvl 256 - Undetermined]

It was Jake’s first time running into the Undetermined tag. He would likely have to learn information about the person before he would know if they were a valid kill target or not, but he didn’t really need to. Instead, he chose to just go to the bar and order something to drink. Before he had entered, Jake had taken a break in an alley and dolled himself up a little.

And when he said he “dolled himself up,” he meant that he had used Shroud of the Primordial to change what he Identified as.

Without any idea if it would work or not, Jake had made himself appear as a level 240 Prodigious Demonic Cultist. He had considered adding another tag, like saying he was high-ranking, but had settled on Prodigious instead, as the system already used that word quite a lot for very talented people. He hoped that if these people – or NPCs – could use Identify, then they would find him worth approaching simply due to his tag, while at the same time not expecting him to actually know stuff as he was a prodigy, not some official. It was a gamble, for sure.

Lo and behold, the moment the bartender turned to him, he called Jake “young master,” and within a minute, three Courtesans had taken the seats around him. Jake channeled his inner arrogant and disinterested young master as the two women and one man spoke to him, and he responded with one-word answers.

The attention was a bit annoying, but Jake wanted to make himself known to catch a bigger fish. Thus he sat at the bar for around half an hour while having people buy drinks for him – something he had never tried before. So that was kind of fun, at least. Finally, after this half an hour, a new courtesan came up to him and handed him a small piece of paper while giving a wink.

Jake quickly checked the note and saw it had an address and a name on it. Jake called it an address and a name… but…

The Ninth Mistress would like to meet you, Prodigious Demonic Cultist, at her home, Residency Nine.


The Viper stood up and went over to the pit of health potions he had failed to make. He knelt down and scooped up some of it to drink, sneering at the horrible taste. Jake himself also faintly tasted it in his mouth, though he wasn’t sure if it was due to shared senses or if he just remembered the time he tried to taste that rancid crap himself.

”Nothing,” the Viper mulled to himself after a few moments, Jake knowing he had used Palate.

Falling onto his back, the Viper stared at the cave’s ceiling. After a few moments, he sat up and, to Jake’s surprise, spat some liquid into the palm of his hand. Jake saw the liquid and felt its toxic properties. Yet he also felt the vitality-based properties and the similarity to the failed health potions. The Viper had consumed some of it and refined it into a potent toxin using his own body.

The Viper shook his head again as he tossed the liquid away. A few more moments passed as slowly a frown formed on his brows. The frown soon changed into a look of realization as his eyes shot open.

”Maybe…” the Viper muttered as he quickly ran over to the cauldron.

Jake was unsure what Villy had realized and observed intently. His intuition told him what he had been waiting for was about to happen.

Villy picked up the cauldron and sat with both of his hands on it as he usually did, but then did something unexpected. His hands began to faintly glow with energy as mana was infused into the cauldron, far more than usual. Sharp fingernails dug into the metal as Jake felt it slowly change - Touch of the Malefic Viper active. Yet he was not transmuting it or even corrupting it, simply… attuning it?

That is when Jake’s point of view changed, and the best part of the vision began. He merged with Villy as the senses of the Viper fully became his own. On top of his usual ones, of course. The moment the merge happened, Jake felt a connection with the cauldron in front of him, and Jake soon realized what the Viper was doing.

He was forcefully soul-binding the cauldron.

It was something that was honestly a bad idea in nearly all cases, but Jake soon came to understand. Because as he Soulbound it, he also slowly emerged a small part of his soul into the cauldron, something he could only do if a proper connection was formed with his soul first.

With both hands still on the cauldron, he summoned the ingredients. Water, flowers, grass, it was all slowly deposited into the cauldron, and it did not take long for Jake to feel a difference. He could detect ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) what was going on inside the cauldron so intimately that it just felt… odd. It was as if the cauldron was actually part of his body, like a second stomach.

A metaphor Jake came to learn in the very next moment was very apt.

Because another skill also responded at that moment. During all crafts, some vapor would be released while the desired energies got extracted, and some minor parts would always go to waste. This just always happened, and there was no way around it. The loss was often negligible, and the lost parts were undesirable, but it was there. There to be consumed.

Palate of the Malefic Viper thrummed to life as the Viper absorbed these unwanted parts of the brew while it was still ongoing. He then did something else unexpected – he directly absorbed parts of the brew through the cauldron walls like it was the walls of his stomach.

Jake felt his own Soulshape – one that was now merged fully with the Viper – and saw that it looked different. The cauldron had become a part of his Soulspace in a similar fashion to a phantasmal limb, and Jake also knew that this technique was insanely risky. Risky… but effective.

For the Viper, it had one especially effective feature. Because Jake, sharing senses with the Viper, instantly felt an aspect of Sense of the Malefic Viper he did not possess. Not because it was a potent application, but because it simply wasn’t one Jake needed: it allowed the Viper to far better sense anything alchemical inside of his body.

In fact, it was probably a pretty normal skill for most beasts to have. Sandy clearly had a skill similar to it so they could absorb natural treasures eaten, and Jake guessed many other monsters did too. How else would they analyze and break down natural treasures they ate if they could not properly sense them?

With the Viper, there was also the aspect of him honing his poison. Scarlett already mentioned how she effectively cultivated to improve her own venom internally, and Jake also knew the Viper could do something similar. In other words, the best kind of alchemy the Viper was capable of in this vision was essentially a form of internal alchemy. A skill he now found a way to transfer to the outer world through the insane idea of partly merging with a cauldron.

Jake felt how the Viper now finally noticed these small missing pieces and nearly instantly put two and two together. The first attempt at crafting failed, and a booklet appeared in front of his head. Villy looked at it as new words were burned into the paper as he added personal notes.

Four crafting attempts later, the Viper had created a new crafting method for healing potions. Jake had been merged with the Viper throughout and focused intensely on how the Viper had managed to fuse with the cauldron.

He felt parts akin to his upgraded Fang there, the part where a weapon effectively became an extension of his body. In fact, it was nearly identical. Aspects from Touch of the Malefic Viper were also present. All in all, Jake began to wonder if maybe a reason he had only gotten this vision now was that he needed to see the others first…

Not that it mattered now.

Jake understood the concept and was confident. The final part of the vision showed the Viper stopping the use of the skill as he unfused from the cauldron.

This resulted in the cauldron crumbling into ash the very next moment. As it did so, Villy felt a wave of exhaustion that Jake shared as the soul energy had effectively been discarded. The lost mental energy was also immense, and Jake felt how the Viper’s natural regeneration had faintly slowed due to his strained soul.

This was what Jake meant when he said risky. It was kind of like using a boosting skill during combat, just for alchemy. There would be a backlash, and so would there for Jake if he used this new application. The thing is… did he really have to go as far as the Viper did? Just with it being Soulbound and some of the concepts Villy applied should yield some results…

Just as he thought that, time rewound, and he started over from when the Viper had his epiphany. Without having to focus on anything else, Jake felt everything. He tried to truly be one with the Viper and experienced what Villy experienced.

It only took one more rewind before he fully got it.

[Sense of the Malefic Viper (Ancient)] – The Malefic Viper’s greed for natural treasures is neverending. You are following his path for your senses to see all that you desire. Your desire to know the suffering you bring upon your foes has brought you even further down this path. Gives a passive ability to detect herbs and poisons in different forms and a strong feeling of their properties and affinities. Allows the alchemist to far more easily detect affinities in the environment and detect areas optimal for cultivating herbs. Massively improves your ability to sense the poison you have inflicted and its effects on any inflicted entities. Adds an increase to the effectiveness of Sense of the Malefic Viper based on Perception. Passively provides 1 Perception per level in Prodigious Alchemist of the Malefic Viper. May your gaze scour the multiverse for all that is rightfully yours.

-->


Jake saw Minaga get to his feet, but he had clearly taken a lot of damage. That hammer had not just hit Minaga’s physical body but directly impacted his Soulshape, rocking it and damaging it. Jake could already imagine the headache one would get if hit directly.

Nevertheless, Minaga was not down for the count yet, as a magical circle appeared below him. It accelerated him forward, flying towards the King as he infused mana into his staff. It began to grow thicker and longer as the King tried to stop the other Unique Lifeform.

Minaga chose to take the golden blast of force directly to the face, sending blood flying everywhere as he swung hard, hitting the Fallen King in the side faster than he could react. The barrier broke, and the Fallen King folded like a lawn chair around the large staff before getting blasted into the wall at the far end of the room.

Dina looked worried and was about to make a move, but Jake held out a hand and stopped her. A second later, a dense golden beam erupted from the broken wall, hitting the now-kneeling Minaga who was missing half of his face. He didn’t move, but the moment the beam stopped, the Unique Lifeform fell over forwards, dead.

”Wow, good job, you killed one of five clones all alone! Truly proud of you, fellow Unique Lifeform!” Minaga’s voice echoed through the hall.

Out of the broken wall, he had been thrown into walked the Fallen King, his right arm utterly broken and his entire mid-section full of injuries. Yet he gave off an indomitable aura and a strong sense of pride. With Minaga’s body dissolving, Dina no longer held back as she took out her staff and fired off green lightning that began slowly mending the King’s broken body.

Soon enough, a portal appeared, this one bigger than any of those prior. On the other side, Jake could see Minaga sitting with his legs crossed atop a raised platform as energy revolved around him.

”You good to go?” he asked the Fallen King, who floated over next to him. He saw the golden lines pulsing through his body, making it clear his boosting skill was going. If not active at full power, then close to it.

”I shall do fine,” the Fallen King said dismissively.

Jake threw Dina a glance.

”The body of the Fallen King is just a vessel… unless it is utterly destroyed, he will be fine,” she explained.

Kind of already knew that, Jake shrugged as he led the others through the portal. This also meant the Sword Saint had succeeded. If not, they would have gotten a notification, so he had to be fine. Well, not necessarily, fine, but still not lethally injured.

Arriving on the other side with the three others, they appeared standing below the newly raised platform Minaga was sitting on. An orb of energy floated above him, nearly ten meters in diameter, radiating with intense power.

Right after they arrived, another portal appeared beside them. Jake looked over as what at first looked like a bloodied rag fell out. However, on his second inspection, he saw it was the Sword Saint who landed on the ground hard, looking like he could barely stand, as he fell to his knees.

The reason he looked like a rag was due to all the blood and tattered clothes. His body was marred with more wounds than Jake could count, nearly no part of his body untouched. Even as he kneeled there, blood slowly dripped from his body, making it clear many of the cuts were incredibly fresh.

Jake stared at the old man with wide eyes.

”What the hell happened to you in there?”

The Sword Saint looked at the ground and smiled slightly as Dina focused intensely on healing him. The countless wounds on his body slowly started to close. Even so, it was clear he had taken significant damage, and he was in horrible shape, especially considering his boosting skill was going at full power.

Yet he smiled to himself.

”I survived a tough lesson,” the old man spoke as he seemed to recall what he had just experienced with an expression of fondness.

705 chapter - Nevermore: A Difficult Lesson

The Sword Saint had found himself in a lesson with quite a difficulty.

To face a superior foe was nothing new to him. Throughout his life before the system, he had fought many people superior to himself as he got better and better. Oftentimes, he also met those who simply had a stronger physique, making their speed and power higher than his own. Even so, he had risen to become one of the most talented swordsmen in the entire world, even before the system. With his many years of continued practice, even as his body deteriorated, he was perhaps the most skilled.

After the system, he had yet to face a single individual around his own level who he would recognize as superior to himself when it came to pure technique. Everyone who he found capable of beating him found their superiority not through sheer skill but by some other advantage. Jake had an instinctive style that surpassed all sense of logic and technique, as one example.

No, the only person that the Sword Saint had fought around his own level, with a level of technique even approaching his own, had been Ell’Hakan. He was still behind, even if he had proved himself a formidable fighter. The fact that he used a trident did contribute, too, as the Sword Saint hadn’t fought people who used those often.

Alas, the point is that the Sword Saint found it difficult to find opponents who could match his skill level. Fighting people of equal or superior skill was the best way to improve, so he felt like the lack of proper foes held him back. He did firmly believe that once he spent more time in the wider multiverse, he would meet many who matched or surpassed him, but for now, he felt starved.

That is when Minaga appeared.

When the Sword Saint asked Minaga to duel him using at least some of his true skill, he had expected it to be with his staff, as that was what Miyamoto had seen the Unique Lifeform display hints of overwhelming skill with. To see him pull out a sword was a welcome surprise, but he did quickly come to realize he had made one mistake.

He had either overestimated his own skill level significantly… or underestimated Minaga’s.

The Unique Lifeform made the first move as he stepped forward. Moving back slightly, the Sword Saint tried to get a read on his opponent. Minaga took another step, entering the range of Miyamoto, making him take the chance to try and land a light attack.

Blood sprayed as the Sword Saint jumped back, a light cut on his arm from the blunt blade. It had moved faster than he had expected, yet it seemed to not have been any more swift than his own sword.

”Good try, but too obvious,” Minaga smiled. ”So try again.”

Not wanting to back down, the Sword Saint moved in again, this time not holding back as his Rainblade activated. Water revolved around his blade, and several raindrops shot out toward the Unique Lifeform. Without Minaga even moving, the raindrops were cut into pieces mid-air, and the Sword Saint missed, stumbling forward.

Miyamoto jumped back as a sword swept up, leaving a light cut on his chest.

”Keep coming.”

Following the encouragement, the Sword Saint did just that as he tried all he could. He used several of the attacks in his arsenal, but no matter what he did, it proved useless. Miyamoto felt like an utter novice. A child fighting against a true master.

And he only felt euphoria from that sensation.

”You have already progressed somewhat. The concept of the blade is embedded within your water, allowing it to cut and act like an extension of your weapon… but it is only that. An extension. Your concept itself still needs work. Most will come with time, but as much shall be from practice. I noticed on the prior floors that your focus recently has heavily shifted to improving other aspects of your powers. Rain and time magic are all well /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ and good but don’t lose sight of the blade,” Minaga explained, blocking dozens of blows as the Sword Saint’s robes were getting more and more flayed from the counterattacks.

”Here, let me show you…”


Each individual fight was displayed right above the match in such clarity. Not only that, but someone must have controlled the image or set up an enchantment because the image was set up so that the audience wasn’t just looking at a stationary position. It was almost like watching from the point of view of someone moving around and filming the fight themselves.

He had no idea how they had created such a complex working, but he had a good feeling that the large and powerful runes he sensed above were a big part of the reason.

If his old world had something similar, he would have been sure that sports events would be forever changed. The projector also did a great job of showcasing the fight to people who might have been too far away to see the fighters up close.

With an excited grin, he headed over to his predetermined spot and saw that his opponent was also making his way to the same area.

He looked around and finally saw Edgar’s match still underway. From what he could see, a good portion of the crowd was watching Edgar’s fight, their eyes glued to the overhead projection.

Edgar looked utterly at ease, and Julius noticed he wasn’t using his more explosive attacks. It was almost as if the older student was purposefully trying to avoid using them.

Still, even with that, Edgar found himself in an excellent position against the other fourth-year, who was also a warrior.

The other boy was quite slim and had a head of really bright blonde hair that sparkled in the daylight. He had two shortswords in his hands as he tried to slash Edgar, but Julius also observed that the blonde was already quite red in the face.

Julius had no clue how long this fight had been happening, but the blonde boy was visibly exhausted. He could see the giant heaves of his chest with each swing, showing that he was running on fumes.

Still, he was fighting with everything he had. Even when fighting on practically empty, he kept on being aggressive, not allowing Edgar to control the pace of the fight. However, considering his current state, he might have been better suited not to do that.

On the other hand, Edgar remained patient and let the other boy come to him. To Blonde’s credit, he was fast, but that was just about it. He didn’t have the level of mastery that Julius had seen from other speed-focused fighters.

His movements showed a distinct lack of control. A lack of control that Edgar was slowly punishing one exchange at a time.

Just as he was speaking, he noticed the boy had wrongly gauged the distance between him and Edgar. Edgar then smashed a single fist into the boy’s shoulder, sending him sprawling once again.

Before Edgar could follow up, the boy used some kind of skill to blast himself away from Edgar’s reach. This must have used a lot of resources because the boy looked even more tired afterward.

Seeing that the fight was practically over, he reminded himself to stop getting sidetracked and headed over to his field.

After passing through the barrier, he was surprised to hear the crowd's sounds muted. The barrier didn’t block out all noise, but it significantly reduced the loud sounds from the outside.

He also wondered how people managed to hear individual fights. He was sure that if they had listened to all of the fights, it must have been a sensory overload for the spectators. What if they wanted to listen to just one fight and ignore the others?

He shrugged to himself as he tried and failed to come up with an answer. It was something he noted to ask Lily and the others later. Actually, Kyle would probably be the best bet. The older boy was quite passionate about enchantments after all.

As he walked onto the field, he made eye contact with his opponent. Julius believed his name was Keldon or something.

Keldon wasn’t what he had been expecting. The older boy was quite small and thin. Julius would have thought he was some kind of mage if not for the lack of magical focus and the light armor covering the boy. By all appearances, Keldon looked like a warrior.

With that being said, appearances could be deceiving, so for all he knew, the smaller boy could still have been a mage.

He was barely paying attention as the official introduced the two of them. He was too busy staring at the fight right next to theirs, where a girl was using some weird magic to cover another girl in a greenish liquid.

At first glance, it looked like the girl was throwing slime on the other poor girl. A thick, mucousy liquid drowned the opposing girl, who was doing everything in her power to stay clean.

He winced as he watched the girl desperately try to avoid the liquid. He didn’t think the opposing girl was worried about losing anymore; it seemed like she only cared about avoiding any more of that nasty goo.

He was so distracted that he almost didn’t hear the official when he started the fight and his opponent came at him.

So he is a close combat fighter, huh? He thought to himself with a grin as he prepared himself.

He blocked the surprisingly snappy leg kick that tried to go for his legs with his own knee. However, when he made contact with the smaller boy’s leg, it was like his leg was being sucked into a whirlpool. He got caught off balance and took a punch in return for his troubles.

However, he looked at the boy confusedly. The actual strength behind the blows was quite weak, especially for a Tier 3. He would have thought that a Tier 3 would have more power. The punch barely did anything except knock his head back.

Frowning, Julius continued to examine Keldon as they exchanged another series of blows. He couldn’t help but grin as the boy showed brilliant skill and mastery. There was no opening for him to counter and he felt like he was being funneled into wherever the other boy wanted him.

Realizing that this was precisely what he had been hoping to experience during this tournament, he totally forgot that he was fighting in front of a crowd and enjoyed himself for the next few minutes.

They danced around one another, each trying to get the upper hand. However, he couldn’t help but feel bad for the smaller student. His opponent had evident skill, and his hand-to-hand combat abilities were well polished. This had been clear from the very first exchange.

However, it was just a shame that his physical abilities were not on the same level. Not even close. This meant that Julius didn't suffer any damage, even if his opponent landed a blow. There was no need to activate his enhancement skill to higher levels to protect himself.

It was starting to make sense why someone of such skill had fallen so low in the rankings.

With that being said, there was much Julius could learn from the boy’s fighting style. He was particularly interested in how his opponent managed to utilize small amounts of force to destabilize his balance and create an opening.

It was a creative technique that must have required immense skill to pull off.

That was why he took the time to patiently observe how the boy used his skill in tandem with his close combat abilities. He imagined himself as a sponge, desperately trying to absorb as much information from the fight as possible.

Like in his fight with Bethany, he was learning that just because he was stronger than these other students didn’t mean they had nothing to teach him or something for him to improve.

His opponent in front of him was proving it firsthand.

Julius threw another kick that flew over Keldon’s head and observed as the other student used his skill to slightly tug on his limb, offsetting his center of balance.

Then, while he was rebalancing himself, his opponent sent out a rare punch covered in water mana, something he had only done when he felt like he had a perfect opening. Like his fighting style, his mana control was polished. He created a vortex of swirling water mana over his knuckles and drove them at Julius’s chest.

Luckily, Julius was still faster and parried the blow with his left hand, but he could feel the vortex around the fist attempting to tear through his skin.