《I Became the Demon King of Lust》


 Chapter 1: Awakening ceremony

    "y all the demon kings and save this world, chosen heroes!"


    With that one sentence appearing in the minds of everyone in the world, the world suddenly changed.


    There were dungeons that appeared all over the world and in those dungeons, there were people who awakened their powers.


    Ten yearster, the world waspletely different from the world of the past.


    ¡­


    "This is myst chance¡­" I said with a heavy sigh as I looked down at the sheet of paper in my hand.


    My name is Lin Fan and today is my final awakening ceremony.


    Since the world had changed, everyone was allowed to take an awakening ceremony that would grant them supernatural powers from the age of 16-20. That was the age that scientists had dered as the period where humans had the most potential.


    If one couldn''t awaken during that age period, then there was no chance that they would ever awaken powers.


    So if I didn''t awaken my powers at this ceremony, then I wouldn''t have a chance.


    Those that didn''t awaken any powers in this power based society were treated as second ss citizens. They would never be able to get any good jobs and would be treated like ves by those that had awakened.


    But I had failed in every single attempt that I had taken so far, so it was very likely that I wouldn''t be able to pass this awakening ceremony either.


    There were just some people that didn''t have what it took to awaken an ability and that just had to be epted. I was most likely one of those people who couldn''t awaken an ability¡­


    It was just that I couldn''t help trying still since I didn''t want to let my parents and little sister in heaven down.


    They had died when one of the dungeons had suddenly experienced a dungeon break.


    In the ensuing wave of monsters that came out, they had been caught when my little sister had fallen over. My parents had rushed back to protect her and they had been trampled by the monsters.


    When I had been called in to identify their bodies¡­it had really been hard for me to look at them.


    That was why I at least wanted to let them know that I could take care of myself as a power awakener.


    So even if the chances were slim, I had to do this.


    With these thoughts in my mind, I took a deep breath and pped myself on the face to calm myself down. Then I headed into the awakener center in front of me to register for my ceremony.


    But before I could reach the reception desk, I was stopped by a group that were standing in the hall.


    These people were people that I knew since I used to go to the same school as them. However, I had to drop out in the end to work full time to earn enough money to even take these awakening ceremonies on top of my living expenses.


    When these people saw me, they immediately stopped to talk to me¡­but it wasn''t as if we were friends.


    After all, these were the people who used to bully me.


    When they saw me here, they immediately revealed smiles like predators who had just found prey.


    It took them no time to surround me and bring me away to a hidden corner.


    As for resisting, it was impossible since they were all awakened. They all had the support of their families, so they were able to take as many ceremonies as they wanted. Though they didn''t need it in the first ce since they were all talented people who had awakened their first time.


    "Thump."


    With this heavy sound, I fell to my knees as I was punched in the gut.


    "Ha, he even feels so good to punch!" Wang Bing, the leader of this group said as he punched me.


    "Shi, shi, shi. Make him jump a bit too, I like to see him jump." Mei Tang Tang, Wang Bing''s girlfriend,ughed as she pointed at me.


    The rest of them were all jeering along with this.


    Wang Bing gave a nod and said, "Alright, you heard Tang Tang, start jumping."


    I could barely stand at this moment, so jumping really was hard¡­


    But with how they threatened me, it wasn''t as if I had a chance¡­


    So I tried to force myself to stand up and jump for them. Unfortunately, my legs couldn''t handle it and I copsed under my own weight, falling to the ground.


    When the bullies saw this, they beganughing again.


    Wang Bing came forward to grab me, but before he could, there was a cold voice that said, "Leave him alone."


    The moment that this voice rang out, everyone turned to look in that direction.


    Standing there was Yue Ling, my childhood friend and current A Ranker awakener.


    When the bullies saw her, they couldn''t help taking a step back because they were no more than D Rankers. The only one among them that was a C Ranker was Wang Bing.


    After being caught off guard, Wang Bing gave a cough and said, "Ling Ling, are you still hanging out with this trash? You should know that he isn''t someone that someone at your social standing should hang out with."


    Yue Ling gave a cold snort before saying, "Get lost."


    Hearing this, Wang Bing was caught off guard again since he never expected Yue Ling to be this direct.


    But she was an A Ranker¡­so it wasn''t as if he could say anything.


    He just red at me and mouthed, "You''re deadter." Then he and his group of bullies quickly left this ce.


    After they were gone, Yue Ling came over to help me as she asked in a gentle voice, "Big brother Fan, are you alright?"


    Seeing the way that she looked at me, I couldn''t help¡­feeling inferior.


    She was my childhood friend, I should have been the one to protect her¡­but it was the other way around.


    This feeling of inferiority ate me up on the inside, so I just curtly said, "I''m alright."


    Yue Ling knitted her brows when she heard this before turning to look in the direction that the bullies had gone off in. She muttered under her breath, "I really should have taken care of them earlier¡­"


    I didn''t hear exactly what she said, but it felt like she had said something, so I asked, "Did you say something?"


    Yue Ling looked back with a smile and shook her head to say, "Nope, nothing."


    Then she changed the topic by saying, "It''s finally your time today, big brother Fan. When you awaken, we''ll be able to go into dungeons together."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile before saying, "I might not even be able to awaken."


    After hearing this, Yue Ling pouted her lips out and said, "Big brother Fan, if you keep acting negative like this, Ling Ling will get angry."


    Even if I wasn''t in the mood, seeing her acting cute like this dragged it out of me in the end. I reached out to pat Yue Ling on the head, a right that only I had been given before saying, "I''ll do my best."


    Yue Ling gave a nod with a wide smile as she said, "Un, I believe in big brother Fan."


    ¡­


    "F Rank, Suggestion."


    The moment that I heard this, it felt like my world was copsing.


    I had been ecstatic when I heard that I had awakened a power, but¡­then I heard that it was a F Rank skill and it was like falling from heaven to hell¡­


    F Rank, it was the lowest possible ranking for a skill and every skill that was ranked F Rank was considered trash. There was no practical use for any F Rank skill, so even if one was an awakener, a F Ranker would be treated like a non-awakener.


    Aftering back to my senses, I quickly grabbed the person in charge of the ceremony and said, "No, this has to be a mistake! It can''t be a F Rank!"


    Seeing the way that I looked, the staff looked at me like I was trash. He didn''t hold back either as he pushed me back into my chair and said, "F Rank is F Rank! I guess those with trash powers have trash manners as well!"


    Without even waiting for me to say anything, he threw me a piece of paper and walked off.


    I picked this piece of paper off the ground and looked at what was written.


    Suggestion: F Rank


    Has the ability to make suggestions to people that will cause them to act a certain way for a short period of time. Sess rate depends on the will of the target. If the target has a stronger will than the user, then the skill will fail.


    When I finished reading this short description, I couldn''t help breaking out inughter.


    It was over, it was all over¡­


    This kind of trash skill, who would ever want this kind of trash skill?


    My life was over.

 Chapter 2: Desires

    I walked out of the ceremony hall in a daze.


    Standing there in the main hall of this awakener center waiting for me was Yue Ling.


    When she saw mee out, she excitedly came over and asked, "Big brother Fan, what rank are you?"


    She didn''t even ask if I had awakened or not, she just directly asked me for my rank. If I hadn''t been so depressed, I would have been moved by the confidence that she had in me¡­but I really couldn''t be.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything in response, Yue Ling revealed a worried look as she asked, "Big brother Fan, what''s wrong?"


    I looked at her with those eyes filled with despair and then handed the piece of paper in my hand over to her.


    "F Rank, Suggestion?" Yue Ling said in a slow and confused voice.


    But then her expression fell as she turned to look at me with aplicated look. There were many changes to her expression, but in the end, her expression became serious.


    There was a silence that followed since everyone had been watching because it was Yue Ling, the A Ranker.


    But then there was augh that rang out through the hall.


    Since it was silent due to Yue Ling being there, it rang out even more clearly than it would normally.


    When everyone turned in the direction that theugh came from, they saw that it came from Wang Bing.


    Wang Bing couldn''t control himself when he heard that Lin Fan had only awakened a F Rank skill, so he burst intoughter. But seeing everyone looking at him, including Yue Ling, he quickly covered his mouth.


    After all, there was no knowing what Yue Lan would do¡­


    She had defended Lin Fan before, so it was unknown what she would do to him now that he hadughed at him.


    But to his surprise, Yue Ling didn''t do a single thing.


    She just turned back to look at the piece of paper in her hand with a strange andplicated look on her face.


    Finally, after a long time, she looked up and handed the piece of paper back to me before saying, "Mister Lin Fan, I have to excuse myself. There''s something else I have to take care of now."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling that something was strange¡­it was like she was much colder than before¡­


    After all, she was no longer calling me big brother Fan.


    So I couldn''t help reaching my hand out and saying, "Ling Ling¡­"


    Before I could even say anything else, Yue Ling suddenly said, "Mister Lin Fan, please do not speak to me in such a familiar manner. We are not that close."


    Then without giving me a chance to say anything, she suddenly turned to leave.


    I was stunned on the spot after hearing this.


    After all, Yue Ling was thest person that I was close to in this life and now¡­she was also abandoning me.


    I wanted to chase after her and ask her what this was all about, but before I could¡­I was suddenly surrounded by Wang Bing and his group. Wang Bing himself quickly wrapped his arm around my shoulder and stopped me from moving, as he looked at me with a wide smile.


    The rest of his group also looked at me with wide smiles.


    However, I didn''t feel any kind intentionsing from those smiles.


    There were only bad intentionsing from them¡­


    Yue Ling hadn''t gone that far yet and she could see everything, but she didn''t turn back once as she walked away.


    It was as if I didn''t exist at all¡­


    Seeing this, the smiles on the faces of Wang Bing''s group became even wider.


    They grabbed me as I tried to run after Yue Ling and Wang Bing said to me with that wide smile, "Friend, let''s go and hang out."


    When I saw this, I felt a chill run down my spine.


    I tried to resist in the end, but Wang Bing and the rest of his group dragged me out of the awakener center. Even though there were plenty of people around, not a single person stepped forward to help me.


    Seeing this, there was a small part of me that died.


    This was a small part of me that had believed that there was still good in people¡­


    They dragged me all the way down to the river, to the ce that was under the bridge that no one went.


    This was their secret hideout and the ce that I had been brought to many times before back when we were in school together. Back in those days, they had brought me here to beat me up and take my money.


    But now¡­


    The moment that we arrived, the first thing that Wang Bing did was punch me in the gut.


    This was a powerful punch that knocked the wind out of me and brought me to my knees.


    Wang Bing was a C Ranker and he had a physical type of power, so it buffed his strength. That allowed him to punch much stronger than a normal person would be able to.


    It took me a while to catch my breath again.


    By that time, I found that I waspletely surrounded by their group.


    All of them had looks on their faces like they were about to do many things to me.


    But it was normal since¡­they had been suppressed many times by Yue Ling because of me.


    Every time that they had tried to bully me before, Yue Ling was there to stop them.


    So that resentment had piled up inside of them until it erupted like today¡­


    But I had also be empty today.


    After what had happened with Yue Ling and my awakening, it felt like my entire world had copsed.


    It felt like there really wasn''t anything that was worth living for in this world¡­


    A life of being suppressed by others because of this weak power¡­perhaps it was better to take charge now and end my life in my own way.


    So all of a sudden, I looked up at Wang Bing.


    Wang Bing had been looking down at me, so our eyes met the moment that I looked up.


    Wang Bing wanted to say something, but he couldn''t help being taken aback by the look in my eyes.


    After a pause, he gritted his teeth and said, "What are you looking¡­"


    Before Wang Bing could finish what he said, I suddenly charged at him.


    With what little strength I had in my body, Inded a punch right to Wang Bing''s face.


    He had been caught off guard, so he was pushed back by this punch even though it was weak.


    When he reacted, his face twisted with rage as he looked at me.


    My heart filled with fear when I saw this, but it was already toote to back down. So I gathered up all the courage that I had left and swung my fist again.


    It was just too bad that I waspletely outssed¡­


    So Wang Bing''s fistnded before my fist could evene close to him.


    Wang Bing punched me right in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me again.


    After that, he grabbed me and lifted me up.


    As he held me, he said through gritted teeth, "You piece of shit. This is thest time I have to deal with you."


    Then without any warning, he suddenly threw me into the river.


    This was a deep river, so I immediately sank down under the surface of the water.


    With the wind knocked out of me by that punch, I wasn''t able to swim up at all and I could only let my body sink deeper into the river.


    I knew that this was it for my life¡­


    If reincarnation was real, I hoped that I would be able to live a happy life next time¡­


    "Strong desires have been detected. A suitable host had been found."


    "Huh? Where is that voiceing from?"


    That was my only thought in response to this voice.

 Chapter 3: Demon King of Lust

    There was no response that answered my question as the voice that had spoken before remained silent.


    But that didn''t matter since I was slowly losing consciousness from drowning.


    So in the end, I just assumed that I was hearing voices because I was dying.


    I was about to forget about it when I suddenly heard something else.


    "Integration with the host has finished. The host has been selected as the Demon King of Lust."


    Once again I couldn''t help wondering where this voice came from, but it was toote as I lost consciousness.


    "The host is currently in a dangerous situation. The host will now be saved."


    After this, it felt like there was something warm and soft that had taken me in their embrace. As they held me, it was as if they were lifting me up out of the water.


    I didn''t know what happened, but it didn''t take long before I was able to breathe again.


    With the water gone and air taking its ce, I didn''t hesitate to gasp for that air.


    I fell to the ground and took deep puffs of that sweet air.


    I was on all fours just sucking as much air into my lungs as I could.


    Finally, after taking deep breaths for a long time, I was finally able to catch my breath.


    I slowly looked up to see Wang Bing and his cronies looking at me with a strange look. It was as if they looked at me like I was some kind of monster that had just sprouted a second head.


    After a long moment of being dazed, Wang Bing said, "How, how did you do that?"


    I couldn''t understand what he was saying, so I didn''t answer. But there was a voice in my head that said, "Look at this fool and his cronies, you should get rid of them."


    I looked around myself, trying to find the source of this voice, but I wasn''t able to find a single thing.


    There was nothing around this area except for me and Wang Bing''s group who were standing here looking at me with shocked looks.


    There wasn''t anyone here that should have said what I had just heard.


    Could it be that I was going crazy?


    After a long silence, Wang Bing finally snapped out of his daze and came forward towards me. I couldn''t resist at all as he suddenly grabbed me by the cor and lifted me up off the ground.


    As he red at me, he said, "How did you get out of the river alive?"


    There was genuine confusion and shock in his voice, but the strongest emotion was anger that things didn''t go the way that he nned.


    When I heard this, I really didn''t know what to say since I didn''t know what had happened either.


    One minute, I had been drowning and the next, I had been pulled out of the water with some strange power.


    Seeing the dazed and confused look on my face, Wang Bing surprisingly became even angrier.


    It was almost as if he thought that Lin Fan was making fun of him.


    Wang Bing raised his fist again and gathered his power before saying, "If you won''t tell me, then you can just tell the king of hell when you see him!"


    Without hesitation, he punched out with that raised fist at me.


    This time, he hadpletely lost himself in his rage and he didn''t hold back at all. With the power that he had gathered, it was likely that my head would have popped like a grape the moment that it hit me.


    But before it could¡­the voice spoke again.


    "This lowly human, daring to insult the demon king. You should just kill them all. Just tell them to stop and they won''t be able to do anything."


    I was very confused when I heard this, but I didn''t see any way out, so I decided to follow the instructions of this voice.


    "Stop!"


    I suddenly shouted.


    Wang Bing''s fist had been about to hit my head when all of sudden¡­it stopped.


    The moment that his fist stopped, Wang Bing couldn''t help knitting his brows.


    He just froze there for a few seconds before his arm started to shake and there were veins that popped out on his neck.


    It was as if he was doing all that he could to move his arm, but his body wouldn''t listen to him.


    No matter how hard he tried pushing, he couldn''t move a single inch, almost as if the muscles in his body were frozen.


    After struggling for a bit, Wang Bing finally turned back to me and roared out, "What did you do to me!"


    I looked at him in a daze as I didn''t know what had happened either.


    I had just shouted "stop" and then it seemed that he really did stop.


    But why would he do that?


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying anything and he still couldn''t move a single inch, without turning back, Wang Bing roared out, "Come and help me! Beat him up and I''m sure that I''ll be able to move again!"


    After hearing this, his followers who had been standing there in a daze finally came back to their senses.


    "Oh." That was what most of his followers said before they started moving towards him.


    When I saw this, I knew that this situation was still bad for me and I wanted to break free from Wang Bing''s grip, but I found that he was firmly holding onto my cor. No matter how I struggled, I wasn''t able to break free at all.


    It seemed that whatever was holding Wang Bing in ce was also holding his hand in ce, turning it into an iron grip on my cor.


    Seeing this, Wang Bing couldn''t help revealing a hint of schadenfreude in his eyes.


    He didn''t know what misfortune had befallen him, but at the very least, this punk wouldn''t be able to run away.


    Seeing that I was trapped and the others wereing over to beat me, I couldn''t help feeling worried and afraid.


    I quickly looked around for a way out of this, but there wasn''t a way out that I could see¡­until the voice that spoke before spoke again in my mind.


    "Just tell them to stop as well."


    This time, the voice was no longer the same as before. This time, the voice seemed like it was filled with exasperation with me.


    I didn''t know where this voice wasing from and why it felt this way, but I knew that the voice was helping me.


    So without hesitation, I said in a much louder voice, "Stop!"


    The moment that my voice rang out, all of Wang Bing''s followers suddenly stopped moving.


    Even Mei Tang Tang who had been standing there with a smile on her face couldn''t help knitting her brows as she found that she wasn''t able to move at all.


    All of Wang Bing''s followers revealed looks of struggle on their faces as they tried to break free of this bind, but they found that they weren''t able to move a single muscle.


    I didn''t know what was happening, but I was certain of one thing¡­


    The reason that they had all suddenly frozen like this was rted to me.


    At this thought, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.

 Chapter 4: Status

    When Wang Bing saw this smile on my face, he didn''t know why, but there was a chill that ran down his spine.


    But his pride quickly pushed down that chill that he felt as he couldn''t believe that this spineless weakling could make him feel this way.


    He became angry out of shame and roared, "What are youughing at, you little piece of shit? Do you really think that you''re safe just because something strange is happening? Just wait until I get free and then I''ll show you!"


    When I heard this, I flinched out of instinct, but then I remembered that he couldn''t do a single thing to me right now.


    So I looked right back at Wang Bing and stared right into his eyes.


    Seeing the way that he just stared at me like this, my mentality really couldn''t help changing.


    He was just a person like me and now that he was frozen like this, why was I still scared of him?


    It wasn''t as if he could do anything to me right now, so why did I flinch?


    As these thoughts passed through my mind, I couldn''t help feeling angry at the way that my life had gone. I felt angry at how nothing ever went my way and how everything that I loved abandoned me¡­


    But I really didn''t know who to me¡­


    After feeling depressed for myself for a bit, I finally said, "Let me go."


    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, his hand that had been frozen on my cor released and I fell down to the ground.


    With this, it made it clear what had just happened.


    I had only been guessing, but it seemed that my guess had been correct.


    They had all stopped because I had told them to stop, that was why they were all frozen like this.


    Wang Bing realized the same thing the moment that he saw this and he realized that what had happened wasn''t an ident. Even if he was a fool, he would understand that I had caused this when he saw what I just did.


    Wang Bing''s face twisted with a strange look before he said, "What did you do?"


    I really didn''t know what to say when he said this since I also didn''t know what happened.


    Just why were they listening to me like this?


    I didn''t seem to do anything special¡­


    At this, the voice once again rang out in my head to say, "Say status."


    "Status?" I couldn''t help repeating out loud.


    But at that, there was a panel that appeared in front of me.


    Name: Lin Fan


    Age: 19


    Gender: Male


    Level: 1


    Experience: 0


    Job: Demon King of Lust


    Skills: Hypnosis, Time Stop, Eyes of Lust


    Strength: 5


    Agility: 5


    Intelligence: 7


    Vitality: 5


    I couldn''t stop a surprised look from appearing on my face when I saw this status screen.


    This¡­was a very strange one.


    This was nothing like the status screen that I had heard about before, this one was much more detailed than anything I had heard about.


    Awakeners would have a status that would show them what powers they had and what rank it was, but he had never heard of it showing all of these other things before.


    Not to mention¡­there wasn''t a rank with any of the skills that he possessed.


    Three skills¡­he had heard of people possessing multiple skills before, but that was only at most two. He had almost never heard of anyone possessing three like he currently did.


    At the same time, the skill that he should have awakened hadpletely disappeared.


    Just what was going on right now?


    But if he had to mention the worst thing of all¡­it would be the skills that he had received.


    Hypnosis, Time Stop, and Eyes of Lust¡­


    It would be a lie to say that he didn''t do any research at all since he was still a man, so he did have his needs.


    These skills were the skills that were the most popr portrayed in the research material that he studied. Most of the protagonists in the research material that he studied had one of these skills.


    That was why these three skills were regarded as some of the worst skills that one could have because of how easily they could be abused.


    The Hypnosis skill, that should have been what had stopped Wang Bing and his followers just now.


    When I had told them to stop, the hypnosis of the skill should have convinced them to stop which forced their bodies to freeze like this.


    When I looked closely at the Hypnosis skill, I found that it didn''t seem to have a time limit or limit on its powers. So as far as I could tell, it should be possible to use this on anyone that I chose to use this on¡­


    Wasn''t this too broken?


    Then there was the Time Stop skill as well.


    I really couldn''t help wondering just how powerful this skill was¡­


    But before I did any of that, I needed to figure out just what to do with Wang Bing and his group¡­


    So I looked away from the window in front of me and looked at them.


    Wang Bing and his followers had been struggling against this thing that had frozen them in ce, but when my eyes fell onto them¡­they didn''t know why, but there was a chill that ran down their spine.


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Wang Bing couldn''t help saying in a shaky voice, "What, what are you looking at?"


    As I stared at Wang Bing, all that I could remember was everything that he had put me through over the years. All the suffering that hade from his hands and even the fact that I had almost died because of him¡­


    All of this surged inside of me and my rage came up.


    At the same time, I remembered what had just happened at the awakener center, how Yue Ling hadpletely tossed me aside after my awakening ceremony¡­


    I had nothing left¡­


    So what was the point of being a good person in this world?


    It seemed that all that good people were destined for was to suffer, so why should I let myself suffer like this?


    Since I had gained the power as a demon king, why don''t I act like a demon king as well?


    There was no need to be a good person in the end¡­


    As these thoughts passed through my mind, the way that I looked at Wang Bing had changed and he could see that.


    The chill that Wang Bing felt became stronger and he finally couldn''t take it anymore as he said, "You! If you don''t let me go right now, I swear that you will never see the light of day again!"


    I would have been afraid of him in the past, but seeing him act this way now¡­it was like a little dog that was trying to act tough.


    He waspletely trapped and he still wanted to act tough, it really wasughable.


    It was soughable that I suddenly burst out inughter after hearing him say this.


    Wang Bing couldn''t help shaking when he heard this and he was about to open his mouth to say something else.


    But I cut him off by saying with a faint smile on my lips, "What do you n to do then?"

 Chapter 5: Revenge

    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, he looked at me in a daze as if he couldn''t understand my words.


    At the same time, he felt like he was about to be frozen because of the chill that he felt.


    That was because the moment that he saw this smile, he didn''t feel like it was the smile of a human¡­


    He felt that it was the smile of a demon.


    Though he technically wasn''t wrong since Lin Fan had now be the demon king.


    "You¡­"


    "Silence."


    Before Wang Bing could say anything else, I immediately shut his mouth.


    Wang Bing''s eyes opened wide in shock after this happened because no matter how he tried to open his mouth, he wasn''t able to move it at all. It was as if something hadpletely stapled his mouth shut.


    At this moment, even the followers and Mei Tang Tang realized that I had something to do with this.


    Seeing how easily I controlled Wang Bing, they all revealed looks of terror.


    Was this the same wimp that they had bullied throughout all those years?


    Was this the same wimp that they had been able to do whatever they wanted with?


    Why did he look so terrifying now?


    Seeing Wang Bing acting this way in front of me, I couldn''t help breaking out inughter again as I muttered to myself, "What was I afraid of all this time? He''s just a pitiful fool who uses the little bit of power that he has to bully others."


    Wang Bing''s face twisted the moment he heard this, even breaking the fear that he had felt when his pride had been provoked like this.


    With the way that his face was turning red, it was almost as if he was about to explode at any moment.


    So in the end, I said, "Speak."


    The moment that I said this, Wang Bing exploded by saying, "You son of a bitch, do you really think that you can get away with this? This is a society withws and what you''re doing now breaks those veryws! If you think that you''ll have a good life after this, then you''re dreaming! Just wait until my father is done with you!"


    Wang Bing''s father could be considered someone with a bit of influence since he was someone who worked for the Awakener Association, the group that managed awakeners all over the world.


    But the moment that I heard this, I couldn''t help breaking out inughter once more since his words were just soughable.


    Wang Bing red at me as he said, "What are youughing at, you bastard? Do you really think that you''ll get away with¡­"


    Before he could finish, I cut him off by saying, "Do you really think that you''ll get out of here alive today?"


    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, his expression suddenly froze and his mouth opened wide. He looked at me with a look of shock and disbelief, as if he couldn''t believe what I had just said.


    But seeing the look on my face, he knew that I wasn''t joking¡­


    At this, the expression on his face changed several times as if he didn''t know how to react to this.


    The others who had been listening in on our conversation also had strange looks on their faces as if they were trying to process this.


    Then Wang Bing suddenly said, "Do you think that you''ll get away with this? If you even touch a single hair on me, do you know what will happen to you?"


    I looked at him like I was looking at an idiot before shaking my head and breaking out inughter.


    The more that Iughed, the more Wang Bing''s nerves were irritated.


    He couldn''t help getting more and more irritated until he finally couldn''t take it anymore.


    With what was almost a snarl, Wang Bing said, "What are youughing at?"


    I looked at Wang Bing with a calm look and said, "Well, it is interesting what an idiot is capable of. At the same time, I find it funny how you keep trying to act like a tough guy in this situation."


    All of these words hurt Wang Bing''s pride, so with the same almost snarl he said, "You¡­"


    But before he could say anything else, I suddenly said, "Silence."


    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, he found that his mouth had¡­stopped listening to him.


    No matter how he tried moving it, he wasn''t able to say a single thing. He was only able to remain frozen there, staring at Lin Fan.


    Seeing the effect that I had on him with just a single word, I couldn''t help giving a satisfied chuckle.


    However, I held myself back in the end.


    After all, Wang Bing would be the main course and before that, there were a few appetizers that I could nibble on first.


    Ignoring the look that Wang Bing gave me, I turned my gaze to his followers that were frozen not far away.


    The moment that my gaze fell onto them, these followers couldn''t stop the shiver from running down their spines.


    They looked at me with wary looks, waiting to see what I would do¡­but as I came closer and closer, they couldn''t help feeling unnerved.


    Finally, they couldn''t take it anymore.


    One of them suddenly asked, "Lin Fan, what are you nning on doing? Don''te over here!"


    I just looked at that person with a smile and said, "What do you think I''m nning on doing?"


    To them, this smile was like the smile of a demon that sent a chill down their spines¡­though this technically wasn''t wrong since I was now a demon king.


    Seeing this, they immediately started giving excuses even though they had no idea what I was nning on doing. They just knew that it must be something bad if I had this kind of smile on my face.


    "We didn''t mean to do it!"


    "It wasn''t our fault!"


    "Wang Bing forced us to do it or he would have done the same to us!"


    All of these excuses came out, but they fell onto deaf ears.


    No, they weren''tpletely deaf ears since I did hear all of it and¡­it just made me more and more angry.


    Seeing these people who had helped Wang Bing bully me before, making all of these excuses for their behaviour before just made me feel¡­disdain and anger.


    The way that I looked at thempletely changed as my eyes filled with hatred and vengeance.


    However, before I could do anything to them, there was a voice that said, "Please, just let me go."

 Chapter 6: Humiliation (1)

    When I heard this, I was snapped out of this hatred and anger.


    I turned my head to look at Mei Tang Tang who I hadpletely forgotten about.


    Then I realized that this wasn''t just about these bullies, but rather to take revenge on Wang Bing who had tortured me this entire time.


    The best way to take revenge on him was to¡­


    So I ignored the followers who had been making excuses and begging for mercy and I started making my way over to Mei Tang Tang.


    But they just wouldn''t shut up and they kept getting louder and louder when they saw that I was ignoring them. It reached the point where they were starting to get annoying with the way that they were shouting at me.


    So I just simply turned to them and said, "Silence."


    When I said this, all of them immediately fell silent.


    It was the same thing that happened to Wang Bing. They found that no matter how hard they tried to open their mouths, they weren''t able to open them or say a single thing.


    They could only just stand there and watch in fear as I walked past them.


    Seeing that I was walking towards her, Mei Tang Tang tried to move back, but she found that her body wouldn''t move at all. Then when the fear took over her heart, she started crying as she screamed, "Don''t! Don''te over here! I didn''t do anything! I didn''t do anything!"


    But all of these words once again fell onto deaf ears as I continued walking in her direction.


    Finally, when I was standing over her, I said, "Do you really think that you''ve done nothing wrong?"


    Mei Tang Tang fervently shook her head and said, "It wasn''t me! It was all that Wang Bing''s fault! He was the one that wanted to do all of this!"


    When Wang Bing heard this, his expression immediately sank.


    As I walked over, I had been secretly looking back at Wang Bing from time to time to gauge his reaction.


    Seeing the expression on his face as I walked towards Mei Tang Tang, it was clear that he cared about her to a certain extent.


    So when she cursed him out like this without hesitation, it was like driving a stake into his heart. There was no doubt that he had been crushed by this.


    This was exactly what I wanted to see, but just this was far from enough to be considered revenge. I had to go much further than this before I would be satisfied.


    As for the way to do that¡­


    I looked at Mei Tang Tang with a smile, as if I wasn''t moved at all by the way that she begged.


    I then came right up in front of her and stood there without saying a word.


    Being unable to move, Mei Tang Tang could only stand there facing me, looking into those eyes that she considered to be from hell.


    In a shaky voice, she said, "What, what are you nning on doing?"


    I just had the same smile on my face as I said one simple word, "Strip."


    Mei Tang Tang''s eyes opened wide and she had a look of disbelief on her face when she heard this, but she found that her hands were slowly moving towards her body.


    "No! What''s happening!" Mei Tang Tang shouted out even though her hands kept moving towards her body.


    No matter how she tried to stop it, she couldn''t stop those hands from slowly taking off her clothes.


    It didn''t take long before she was just standing there in her underwear¡­but the hands weren''t stopping.


    I peeked back at Wang Bing during this time and the look on his face seemed like he was about to explode from rage. The vein on his forehead almost looked like he was about to pass out from an aneurysm.


    For some reason, this filled my heart with joy seeing him like this.


    All at the same time, I just ignored the tears streaming down Mei Tang Tang''s face as she begged for me to stop.


    Soon, she was standing therepletely naked and she wasn''t even able to use her hands to block her body. She found that after she took off her clothes, her hands went to the same position as before and she was frozen there like a statue.


    Seeing her like this, I couldn''t help¡­reacting.


    But it wasn''t my fault since I was a virgin and this was my first time seeing a girl naked like this.


    When Mei Tang Tang saw this, she quickly calmed herself down and stopped the tears from streaming down her face. She then tried to give her best seductive look as she said, "If you let me go, I''ll let you do whatever you want with my body."


    As she said this, I couldn''t help taking a closer look at her body.


    Those round peaks that weren''t too big or small, those plump and round legs, that perfectly smooth skin¡­there was no doubt that she was an attractive woman.


    But the disgust in my heart quickly drowned out any of these feelings of attraction that I had.


    That was because once upon a time, she had put me in the same position as this.


    She had once forced me to strip in front of them all¡­but luckily I had been saved by Yue Ling.


    When the words Yue Ling appeared in my mind, I couldn''t help thinking of what had happened before at the awakener center.


    At this, all other feelings disappeared as I all could feel was anger and hatred.


    I took a step back away from Mei Tang Tang at this.


    When she saw me moving away, she started to panic and quickly said, "Wait, wait, I''ll let you do whatever you want with my body! I''ll also be your woman and I''ll never tell anyone about what happened here today! As long as you spare me, I''ll do whatever you want!"


    Perhaps this would have moved another man, but all I could feel was disgust when I saw her like this.


    So I turned away to look at Wang Bing''s followers.


    All of them trembled when they saw me looking at them and they wanted to hide, but they still couldn''t move their bodies.


    Looking at them, I suddenly said, "Come over here and surround Mei Tang Tang."

 Chapter 7: Humiliation (2)

    The followers couldn''t do a thing as their bodies listened to Lin Fan''smand.


    At the same time, their mouths werepletely shut by Lin Fan''s previous orders, so they couldn''t even make a sound.


    It didn''t take long before they hadpletely surrounded the naked Mei Tang Tang.


    Seeing the beautiful Mei Tang Tangpletely expose herself in front of them, it was only natural that their bodies reacted.


    When Mei Tang Tang saw all of the tents that had been pitched, the only thing that she could feel was shame.


    In the past, she would have felt pride if others admired her beauty like this, but the way that they were admiring her now waspletely different from how others admired her beauty in the past.


    She really wanted to cover her body with her hands, but she couldn''t do a single thing.


    So Mei Tang Tang wanted to say something to Lin Fan to make him stop this.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan had other ns.


    "Strip."


    That was the simple word that Lin Fan said, but these followers couldn''t resist at all as their bodies started moving as well.


    They took off their clothes, starting from the top even though they had clearly unwilling looks on their faces.


    And then¡­they took off the bottom parts, revealing their dicks to Mei Tang Tang.


    Seeing all of these naked men surrounding her like this, Mei Tang Tang wanted to scream, but Lin Fan was already ahead of her.


    "Silence."


    With this simple word from me, Mei Tang Tang found that she wasn''t able to make a sound.


    She wasn''t even able to open her mouth anymore.


    The only thing that she could do was¡­cry.


    While this was happening, I was watching Wang Bing out of the corner of my eyes.


    If gazes could kill, there was no doubt that he would want to rip me into pieces with just the look in his eyes.


    Seeing the girl that he loved being vited like this, he really wanted to rip them all to pieces. That included the ones that he had considered brothers because they were a part of all of this.


    When the followers felt Wang Bing''s gaze on them, they only felt bitterness since they were being wrongfully med.


    After all, it wasn''t as if they could do a thing right now.


    No matter how they tried to resist, they weren''t able to fight against the thing that was currently controlling their bodies.


    Once they were all standing there with their dicks out pointing at Mei Tang Tang, I kept going.


    After all, I wasn''t about to let it end there.


    "Start masturbating in front of her."


    All of them revealed shocked looks when they heard this, but then their bodies started moving on their own.


    They couldn''t stop themselves from bringing their hands down to hold their dicks and start masturbating to Mei Tang Tang''s body.


    Seeing them all rub their meat like this, Mei Tang Tang revealed a look of terror as she tried everything that she could to get out of this. However, the only thing that she could really do was close her eyes and pretend that she wasn''t here.


    But this made me dissatisfied since I wanted to see her suffer.


    So I said, "Everyone else is doing it, so you shouldn''t be left out too."


    I deliberately paused to torture her more, but then I found that her hands started moving on their own.


    With the tremble to them, I could see that they were moving against her will as they moved down in between her crotch.


    Once they reached that special ce, they started moving as well.


    Mei Tang Tang''s eyes opened wide when she felt this and there was an unwilling look that appeared on her face, but before long, she couldn''t stop the moan of satisfaction that leaked out of her mouth.


    But during this, I couldn''t help being lost in thought at what had happened.


    I hadn''t given an order and had only teased her, so why did she suddenly do this all on her own?


    No, she should have understood what I was implying with those words¡­so could it be that the hypnosis even worked indirectly?


    As long as they understood what I was implying for them to do, they would still do it while under the control of the hypnosis skill?


    If that was the case, then that meant that this hypnosis skill was much more useful than I thought.


    If that was the case, then that meant that there were so many more things that I could do with this skill.


    After thinking this, I started thinking about all the different ways that I could use this.


    "Mmmmh!"


    This sudden moan pulled me out of my thoughts and I turned to see that it was one of the followers who made this sound.


    With the way that he was trembling and the way that his face twisted, I could tell that he was close to finishing.


    Since that was the case, I said, "You should receive their loads properly. Squat down and open your mouth. Also make a double peace sign to show how much you love it."


    As soon as this order was given, Mei Tang Tang immediately stopped ying with herself and started moving down.


    As her mouth opened wide, she had a look of absolute terror in her eyes.


    She kept looking in my direction as if she was begging me not to do this, but Ipletely ignored the way that she looked at me as I watched it all happen.


    When she squatted down, she was right in front of all the dicks that surrounded her.


    Then her hands came up and she gave a double peace sign, just like the scene in the research materials that I had seen before.


    When they saw her like this, all of the followers couldn''t help stroking themselves even faster¡­


    And then, the first one suddenly shot their load right into her face.

 Chapter 8: Humiliation (3)

    The aim on him really was something else as the first shot hit her right in the eye.


    Then the second shot that he tooknded right in her mouth and on her tongue.


    The moment that Mei Tang Tang tasted this, she felt like throwing up.


    This was a taste that she had never tasted before because¡­she was actually still pure.


    She had been saving herself the entire time for the one that she truly loved, even though she clearly used her body and her beauty to get what she wanted.


    But she found that she couldn''t move her mouth at all to spit it out¡­so the only thing that she could do to get right of that taste was to swallow.


    With no other choice, she swallowed it which made her want to gag even more.


    However, it was at this moment that the other three also couldn''t take it anymore and shot their load on her as well.


    The two on the sides hit her right in the ears before their second shot fell down onto her body,nding right on her breasts.


    As for the one that was behind her, he shot his load right into the back of her head. It sttered all over her long hair, coating it with each shot he took until it was finally dripping down the back of her head.


    Even though they had finished shooting their loads and their dicks had gone limp, they were still stroking it. This was an action that they had been hypnotized into doing and they weren''t able to stop themselves.


    Seeing that they had finished shooting their loads on her, I said, "You can stop now."


    When I said this, they finally stopped stroking their dicks and returned to their normal positions.


    But there was no hiding the shame that was on their faces.


    At the same time, Mei Tang Tang had apletely dead look on her face as if she just wanted to kill herself.


    But the way that she was still in front of thempletely naked like this made their dicks stand up once more.


    When I saw this, I said, "It seems like you''re ready for round two."


    When the followers and Mei Tang Tang heard this, they all looked at me with shock and despair.


    Through their eyes, they tried pleading with me to let them go, but I ignored it all.


    I just calmly said, "All of you, vite her."


    I didn''t give them any specific instructions on what to do since I wanted to see if orders like this would work, but I did have an idea of what I wanted them to do in my mind.


    Then they all started moving.


    The one that was behind Mei Tang Tang grabbed her by the waist and then took a step back, pulling her back along with him. Then the one in front of her suddenly grabbed her head and forced her upper body down so that her mouth was in front of her dick.


    The two that were on the sides grabbed her hands and forced her to take their dicks, holding her hands as they made her stroke them.


    The one who was holding her waist didn''t move at first and the one who inserted into her first was the one holding her head. He held her head for a bit before suddenly pushing his dick into her mouth.


    It was only after this that the one behind her suddenly pulled on her waist as well, pushing his dick as deep as he could into her.


    Just like this, he prated her, causing her to let out a loud muffled scream.


    She would have screamed out loud, but she found that her mouth still didn''t listen to her.


    The five of them just kept going like this with looks of shame and wanting to die on their faces, but it also didn''t take long before they started letting out moans of pleasure.


    Since they couldn''t fight it, they decided to drown their brains with the pleasure to numb themselves.


    Seeing them like this, I turned and walked over to Wang Bing who had been frozen watching this whole thing.


    I came right up beside him and even wrapped my arm around his shoulder.


    When this happened, Wang Bing finally noticed my presence and looked at me like he wanted to tear me to pieces.


    I could also see that his eyes were bloodshot from the tears that he was shedding and it looked like he was about to cry tears of blood at any moment.


    If looks could kill, this definitely was a look that would rip me apart.


    But he couldn''t even say anything¡­


    The only part of his body that he could move was his head, so he started trying to bite at me like a wild dog.


    It was just too bad that there was a limited range of movement for his head and he couldn''t reach me in the end.


    I just revealed a wide smile when I saw him in despair like this because the more despair that he felt, the more joy that I felt.


    But letting him move his head like this was dangerous¡­not so much to me since he would never reach me, but to himself since he might rip a muscle at this point.


    So I said, "Freeze."


    When I said this, Wang Bing''s head suddenly froze and he couldn''t move a single inch.


    Then I said, "Speak."


    Wang Bing found that his mouth was listening to him again even though his head was now frozen, so he didn''t waste any time in saying, "You''re a dead man! When I get back, I''ll make sure that you and everyone that you love will be raped and killed! Just you wait!"


    I shook my head and gave a sigh before saying, "Like I said before, why do you think that you''ll get out of this alive?"


    Wang Bing had been too filled with rage at first to process this, but then a chill ran down his spine when he saw the serious look on my face.


    My smile had disappeared because I saw that I hadn''t broken his spirits yet, so I was a bit annoyed at all of this. Even though I did all that, he still was filled with confidence at getting out of here alive.


    Just what did I have to do to show him that I was serious?


    When Wang Bing saw this, the words that I said sunk in and he slowly said, "You''re, you''re really going to kill me?"

 Chapter 9: Killing each other

    When he started to hesitate, that was when I struck.


    I revealed a smile and said, "What makes you think that I won''t?"


    Wang Bing felt another chill run down his spine when he heard this.


    There was a part of him that thought that this Lin Fan wouldn''t daremit something like murder in broad daylight like this since they lived in a society ofws, but now¡­he was saying somethingpletely different.


    He started regretting dragging Lin Fan here where there were no cameras or surveince¡­


    But not for a single second did he think that he had brought him here because he had been nning on killing Lin Fan as well. For him, his murder of Lin Fan was justified because he was on a higher level than Lin Fan, so he could do whatever he wanted with Lin Fan.


    But if Lin Fan tried to kill him¡­then things likews started to matter.


    He really didn''t think about how hypocritical he was.


    I could see the fear that he felt, so I said, "Did you really think that I would let you go after what you did? Not to mention, even if I let you go, wouldn''t you just try to cause more trouble for me? So why would I do that?"


    Wang Bing opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but he found that he wasn''t able to say a single thing.


    It wasn''t because there was something strange that stopped him from talking like before, but rather because he found that there was nothing that he could say.


    There was nothing that he could refute Lin Fan with.


    As I saw his face like this, I just couldn''t help revealing a smile before saying, "It seems like you really are an idiot. You only know how to act tough when you''re in control, but once you''ve lost that control, you''re a coward."


    Wang Bing wanted to deny this, but there was once again nothing that he could say since he knew that he was powerless right now.


    What he cared about the most now¡­was his own life.


    Seeing him like this, I really enjoyed this feeling of having the shoe be on the other foot.


    But there was a sound that interrupted this.


    There were moans of pleasure that came from in front of us as the five engaging in the gangbang had finally reached their climax.


    All four of them climaxed at once,pletely covering Mei Tang Tang in their cum.


    But even after they had climaxed, they didn''t stop moving.


    Since they had been given the order to vite her, even though their dicks had turnedpletely soft, they didn''t stop ying with her body.


    Still, I was done with torturing them like this, so I said, "Stop."


    As soon as I gave this order, all of them suddenly stopped moving and moved away from each other. They all released their grip on Mei Tang Tang and she fell to the ground with eyes that werepletely dead.


    It was clear that her spirits had beenpletely broken¡­


    But that didn''t bother me at all.


    After giving this order, I said, "I think it''s about time to end this."


    When they heard this, Wang Bing and the followers all looked at me with shocked and confused looks, as they didn''t know what I was nning on doing.


    Only Mei Tang Tang justid there with the same dead eyes, not reacting at all to what I had just said.


    All of them seemed like they wanted to say something, but it was only Wang Bing who was able to speak in the end.


    Wang Bing stuttered out in a broken voice, "What, what are you nning on doing?"


    I looked at him with a smile before ignoring him and walking over to the four followers.


    I didn''t even look at Wang Bing as I walked past and made my way over to the four followers.


    They wanted to flinch or move back, but they found that they were trapped in ce and couldn''t move at all.


    When I was standing right in front of them, I looked at them with the same smile and said, "Choke each other."


    All four of them opened their eyes wide, but they couldn''t resist the force that was controlling their bodies as they started choking each other. They all reached their hands out forward and choked the person in front of them, creating a chain where they were choking each other.


    If one looked closely, they could even see the veins that were popping out from their necks as they choked each other.


    It was clear that not a single one of them was holding back when choking the other person.


    It was as if they were all determined to kill.


    This caused all of their eyes to fill with despair.


    They wanted to look at Lin Fan to beg for mercy, but they couldn''t move with how they were choking each other.


    So they could only try to open their mouths to make a sound, to beg for their lives.


    But as time passed, they could feel that they were losing their breath anding closer to fainting. It seemed that there was only a few seconds left before their deaths, which made them start wondering where it had all gone wrong¡­


    Wang Bing, that was the conclusion that they all reached.


    If they hadn''t chosen to follow Wang Bing, none of this would have happened¡­


    But then before they did lose consciousness, I suddenly said, "Alright, release each other."


    As soon as these words were said, all of them immediately let go of the neck that they had been choking.


    All of them started panting for breath once they were able to breathe again.


    All of them started thanking whatever it was that had saved them from this fate of choking to death.


    They turned to look at me with hopeful looks that I would spare them, but all that they were met was the smile of a demon.

 Chapter 10: Ending it all

    They seemed like they wanted to make some sound to beg for their lives, but I didn''t give them that chance at all.


    "Three of you, go and choke Wang Bing. The other remaining one, go and choke Mei Tang Tang."


    Before they could do or say anything, their bodies were already moving.


    Three of them moved towards Wang Bing while the other one turned to look at Mei Tang Tang on the ground.


    Mei Tang Tang had been out of it, but seeing this person turn to look at her, she felt a shiver go down her spine.


    She did all that she could to struggle, but she found that she couldn''t move her body.


    Once themand had been released, she was frozen on the spot just like before.


    She wasn''t even able to say a thing as the follower approached.


    The only thing that she could do was look up in terror.


    As for Wang Bing, he was still able to talk because he had been released.


    As he saw his followersing closer and closer to him, he snapped out of his daze and said, "What are you doing? Don''te over here!"


    But they didn''t listen as they walked over with their hands raised.


    The target of those hands¡­it was Wang Bing''s neck.


    Then all three of them suddenly grabbed Wang Bing''s neck as the other follower started choking Mei Tang Tang.


    Neither of them were able to do a single thing as they just gasped for breath.


    Both of them were certain that this was it for them, but then¡­


    "Stop!"


    As soon as this was said, all of them stopped choking Wang Bing and Mei Tang Tang.


    But unlike before, they were still in the same positions, getting ready to choke them if need be.


    Seeing the marks that were on their necks, I gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Wang Bing, fight back a bit and rough them up. Mei Tang Tang, scratch your attacker."


    As soon as they received their orders, they started following them.


    Wang Bing picked up one of the followers and threw him aside before punching at the other two. These two weren''t able to fight back at all as they received Wang Bing''s full power punches.


    He had wanted to hold back, but he found that he wasn''t able to control his power at all as he started wailing on his followers.


    As for Mei Tang Tang, she used her sharp nails to scratch the person who was still over her. She scratched up his face, his arms, and his chest, but he didn''t resist at all.


    Rather, it should be said that he couldn''t resist as all he could do was wince in pain over being scratched like this.


    I just kept watch over this the entire time, waiting for a certain moment before once again saying, "Stop!"


    Once that was said, they stopped once again.


    This time, they werepletely covered in blood from being beaten and scratched, but they still couldn''t do anything as they just stood there in pain.


    Seeing them like this, I once again gave a satisfied nod.


    Then I gave my final order.


    "Choke Wang Bing and Mei Tang Tang while drowning yourselves."


    This was thest order that I would give them, so as I was saying this, my voice couldn''t help shaking a bit.


    It wasn''t that I was scared, but rather I felt a bit emotional about finally cutting my long ties with these bullies of mine. After all, after today, they would all be dead.


    Finally, Wang Bing put it all together and understood what I had been doing.


    "You''re making it seem like we fought each other and then killed each other!" He said in a shocked voice.


    When I heard this, I revealed a faint smile as I looked at Wang Bing who was being pushed into the river by his followers.


    It seemed that I didn''t give Wang Bing as much credit as he deserved.


    It seemed¡­that he wasn''t as dumb as I thought he was.


    That''s right, everything that I had done before was to create evidence that they had fought each other and then killed each other by pushing themselves in theke.


    That way, I wouldn''t be med for the murder.


    After all, even if there were no cameras here, there were still cameras in all other ces.


    The police would be able to easily find that I was thest one with them after they had disappeared. So there was no doubt that the police would interrogate me over this matter.


    So before that, I had to make it seem like they had killed each other.


    That way, I could just pretend that I didn''t know anything about what happened after I left so that I would get away without any me.


    Wang Bing looked at me like I was a demon as he was being pushed into the river.


    For hisst words, he said, "Did you have to do that to Tang Tang? Do you have no shame?"


    After that, there was only the sound of gurgling as he had been pushed into the river.


    On the other side, Mei Tang Tang couldn''t help trembling when she heard this.


    She had thought of Wang Bing as one of the men that she used and dumped, but hearing him care about her over himself in hisst moment touched her heart.


    She couldn''t stop the tears that formed in her eyes before she too was dragged down into the water.


    But when it came to me¡­I was also affected by his words.


    That was because this was the one thing that I had hesitated over¡­


    I didn''t think it was necessary, but at the same time, I didn''t want to make a mistake that would cause me to be identified as the killer¡­


    The best way to fake a fight was if someone was sexually vited, so I decided to push it over the edge.


    But this was my first time doing all of this, so it was a lie to say that I wasn''t shaken.

 Chapter 11: Police (1)

    Once I saw the bubbles disappear from the surface of the water, I didn''t hang around this ce any longer.


    I knew that the most important thing now was to get out of here as soon as possible.


    The longer that I stayed here and didn''t appear on any public cameras, the harder it would be for me to sell my story.


    So I rushed out from under that bridge as soon as possible and quickly returned home.


    I knew that for the first day, the most important thing now was to stay home to portray the image of a victim who had been bullied.


    But at the same time, that would only work for a single day.


    After all, I had another identity which was as a poor part time worker who has not awakened yet. Though I had awakened now, I still couldn''t change the poor part since I was only a F Rank Awakener.


    Still, that meant that I had to keep up the role and do things that a F Rank Awakener would do.


    Tomorrow, I will be heading into a dungeon to earn some money.


    This was without a doubt a very dangerous decision, but for some reason¡­I didn''t feel nervous.


    I even felt a bit excited that I would have a chance to test out my new abilities as the Demon King of Lust.


    ¡­


    At the police station.


    "Yue! I have a case for you!"


    Ling Yue who had just sat down and closed her eyes for a minute suddenly opened them again to see that it was her captain who was calling for her.


    So even if she was tired, she knew that she had no choice but to stand up and follow the captain into his office.


    When she arrived, she found that another detective was already sitting in the office.


    She recognized him since he was the detective that he was closest to in this precinct, Xia Tian. But even before working with him as detectives, they had grown up as childhood friends who had even entered the police academy together.


    Seeing him there, she gave him a secret look asking him what this was about.


    Xia Tian just gave her a look showing that he didn''t know either.


    So she had no choice but to sit down in front of the captain.


    Once they were both seated, the captain put a folder on the table in front of them and said, "I need you two to take care of this case for me."


    The two of them looked at each other with confused looks before picking up the folder together and taking a look at the papers inside. As they read them, they couldn''t help knitting their brows more and more.


    After a while, they finally said, "Captain, this case is¡­"


    They didn''t finish, but it was clear what they were implying with this.


    The captain shook his head and gave a sigh before saying, "My hands are tied here as well. The rtives of one of the victims is one of the managers from the Awakeners Association and they pulled some favours from their connections to force us to investigate this matter."


    Both of the detectives knitted their brows when they heard this.


    After all, it was clear that this was nothing more than a case of kids running away for some fun¡­and yet they were involving the police.


    It hadn''t even been 24 hours since the kids had disappeared, so it couldn''t even be considered a proper case yet.


    Yet their captain was forcing them to investigate this instead of using their time to investigate something more important.


    As police detectives, they had their own pride and their sense of justice, so doing something like this went against both of those things.


    But since it was an order from the captain, they had no choice¡­


    So the two of them took the folder and headed off to take a look at this case.


    Once they were back at their desks, they opened up the folder and started going through this case in detail.


    After a few minutes, Xia Tian said, "Since the family members said that they disappeared this afternoon after going to the awakener center, how about we start from there. Since the family member has connections to the Awakener Association, they should be able to get us the footage from the awakener center."


    Ling Yue looked at the case in front of her with narrowed eyes for a bit before giving a nod of agreement.


    An hourter, they had received the footage that they needed from the awakener center and they started going through it.


    "Wait, stop it there!" Ling Yue suddenly said, causing Xia Tian to jump slightly before he pressed the pause button.


    She pointed at a spot on the screen and said, "Look there, we can see them leaving the awakener center and it seems that they''ve brought someone with them. But it looks like¡­"


    The more that they looked at this screen, the more that they knitted their brows.


    As detectives, they noticed things that others didn''t, so they were able to see how Wang Bing was holding onto Lin Fan in this footage.


    It was clear¡­that they were bullying Lin Fan.


    After figuring this out, Ling Yue knitted her brows deeply before saying, "I can''t believe that we have to be assigned this kind of case. These kids are the worst kinds of people that will be even worse in the future because they''re spoiled by their parents."


    Xia Tian also agreed with this, but this was an order that came from the top¡­so they didn''t have a choice in this matter.


    After giving a sigh, Xia Tian said, "The rest of it is public footage, so let''s see where they are going."


    With a few taps of the keys of hisputer, he started pulling up several different videos from several different perspectives. The one thing that all of these videos had inmon was that they had Wang Bing''s group on them.


    They continued through the streets until they finally reached the bridge, but that was where the footage ended.


    Ling Yue looked at Xia Tian with a confused look and asked, "Don''t you have any other footage?"


    Xia Tian shook his head and said, "That bridge is a dead spot, there''s no footage from under there."


    Ling Yue deeply knitted her brows since she knew what this meant¡­


    But then she said with a sigh, "Fast forward the footage and see if we can find when they left. Perhaps we can keep tracking them from that."


    Xia Tian nodded and soon the video on the screen started speeding forward.


    In the end, they were only able to see Lin Fan leaving the ce, but they were never able to find Wang Bing''s group leaving.


    Ling Yue said with a frown, "Only the bully victim is seen leaving, but their group never left the area¡­"


    Xia Tian nodded before saying, "It seems like we need to go and investigate the area."


    Ling Yue had a hesitant look at first, but she still nodded in agreement in the end.


    But before either of them could leave, there was someone that suddenly ran into the room that they were using.

 Chapter 12: Police (2)

    This was another one of the detectives that they worked with.


    Xia Tian and Ling Yue both looked at this person with confused looks, but that detective said, "Detective Ling, Detective Xia,e quickly! There were bodies that were found!"


    Both of them slightly knitted their brows, but they still had confused looks on their faces as Ling Yue asked, "What does that have to do with us? We''re already working on a case."


    The other detective revealed a bitter smile before saying, "The bodies that were found are the missing kids that you were trying to find."


    When Xia Tian and Ling Yue heard this, they immediately revealed shocked looks. But then they looked at each other with frowns before following that detective out.


    An hourter, they arrived at the scene of the crime.


    This was a bank that was further downstream of the river that flowed under the bridge.


    When they arrived, they found that there were people on the side with inclothes officers.


    It seemed that they were the ones who had found the bodies or were nearby when the bodies had been found, so they were currently getting their statements taken.


    The two detectives ignored this since they could always get the statementster.


    Instead, they turned their attention to the area covered in police tape which was clearly where the bodies were.


    They moved past the police tape and couldn''t help looking away when they saw the crime scene.


    Dead bodies didn''t faze them, but this one¡­was just too tragic.


    The other five didn''t matter, but the sixth corpse was a girl who waspletely naked and had strangle marks on her neck. As well, when they looked carefully, they could see that there was congealed blood under the nails of this girl.


    It was clear what had happened to her, but it was still hard for them to watch.


    So they took a deep breath to calm themselves before going forward to examine the corpses.


    With the clues that they found, it was very easy for them to make a deduction as to what had happened.


    It was clear that the girl had been raped by some of the boys and that had caused a struggle.


    At the same time, there was one of them who had fought against the others to save the girl from them.


    In the end, they ended up killing each other.


    But based on the information that they had received from the family members, this shouldn''t have been. After all, these were kids that had been friends ording to them for many years now.


    This wasn''t something that would suddenly happen, so there must have been some form of catalyst¡­


    In short, there was something that smelled fishy about all of this.


    But there was no denying that there were facts in front of them, so they had to properly do their jobs and investigate the corpses.


    After they were done, they brought all the evidence that they had just obtained back with them to the police station.


    The rest would be taken care of by the forensics team who would give them a detailed reportter.


    Once they were back in the investigation room, they found that their captain was waiting for them. The captain had a very ugly expression on his face which made it clear that he had bad news.


    When they sat down, the captain gave it to them straight, "The higher ups are very displeased with how this matter has turned out. They want you to make an arrest immediately or at least identify a murderer or else we''ll all be fired."


    Then with a sigh, he added, "Basically, the one who works for the Awakener Association is putting pressure on us to find his son''s murderer so he can take his own revenge on them."


    When the two detectives heard this, they both revealed angry expressions.


    This was a clear abuse of the justice system, but they weren''t able to do anything about it. So not only were they angry at themselves for being helpless, they were also angry at how useless the justice system was.


    But in the end, there was nothing they could do since this was how things were.


    The captain could see the looks on their faces, so he knew that it was better to leave them alone.


    The captain stood up and walked over to their side to pat them on the shoulder before saying, "I can hold them off for 48 hours, but past that¡­our asses will be on the line."


    Both of the detectives revealed heavy looks again, but as the captain walked out, they still remembered to thank him.


    After all, it wasn''t the captain''s fault that they were in this situation and he was even covering for them as much as he could. He was doing everything that he could for them, so they could only be grateful towards him.


    After a long period of silence, Xia Tian went back to hisputer to pull up a video on the screen.


    This was the scene of Lin Fan being brought under the bridge by Wang Bing and the others.


    After looking at this screen for a bit, Xia Tian said, "We should go and interrogate this person."


    When Ling Yue heard this, she immediately knitted her brows and said, "He''s a victim, how can you drag him into this?"


    Xia Tian shook his head and said, "We don''t know if he''s a victim or not. All we know is that he was thest person that was seen with them. It is our duty to talk to this witness and see if he knows anything."


    Ling Yue looked at Xia Tian with narrowed eyes before saying, "Is this all that your justice is worth?"


    Xia Tian''s face twisted when he heard this, but he didn''t have a response for this. Instead, he said with a sigh, "This is the only option that we have right now."


    Seeing the look on Xia Tian''s face, Ling Yue knew that he was right¡­


    So in the end, she also said with a sigh, "Fine, we''ll go talk to him. But we are talking to a witness, not a suspect. Do you understand?"


    Xia Tian gave a nod, but it was clear by the look in his eyes that he thought otherwise.

 Chapter 13: Interrogation (1)

    Early the next morning, when I was about to head out, I heard a knock on the door.


    When I looked out the peephole, I found that it was two people who looked like detectives that were waiting outside for me. I could also see the badges that were hanging on their bodies, showing that they were indeed cops.


    As soon as I saw this, my body couldn''t help start trembling.


    But then I quickly forced myself to calm down since I had already expected this to happen.


    I took a deep breath to calm down as much as I could before opening the door for them.


    When they saw the door open, they immediately turned their eyes to look at me.


    It was a pair of detectives, one female and one male.


    When they looked at me, it was clear what they were thinking since they didn''t even hide it in their gazes.


    The female detective looked at me like I was the victim and the male detective looked at me like I was the culprit.


    I didn''t know why they were acting this way, but I already knew who to focus my power on.


    After a moment of silence, I asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?"


    The two of them didn''t say anything at first before the female detective took the lead to bring out her badge. As she showed me her badge, she said, "I am Detective Ling with the city police. May wee in and ask you a few things?"


    "Po-police?" I stammered out before pretending to gather up the courage to say, "Is there a problem?"


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "We just have a few questions to ask you, it''ll be very quick."


    I hesitantly looked at Xia Tian who was still ring at me.


    When Ling Yue saw this, she elbowed Xia Tian in the stomach before saying with a smile, "I apologize for him. He was just born with a natural mean face, so it''s just the way that he looks."


    I revealed a doubtful look, but in the end, I still said, "Alright, pleasee in."


    I led the two of them into my small apartment and then seated them on the chairs in the living room while I sat down on the floor. This was a small apartment and I lived alone, so there were only two chairs in the first ce¡­though the second chair only came to be because of Yue Ling¡­


    After we were seated, Ling Yue asked, "Mister Lin, can you please tell me where you werest afternoon?"


    When I heard this, I immediately said, "How do you know my name already? I haven''t told you anything."


    Ling Yue just said with the same smile on her face, "Mister Lin, we are the police. We have already checked your information beforeing here since it''s our job."


    I revealed a surprised look before saying, "Oh."


    Then I calmed down and said, "Well, after my awakening ceremony yesterday¡­I was dragged under the bridge by some bullies¡­"


    The way that I said it almost seemed like I was ashamed of what had happened, which would be the normal reaction.


    When Ling Yue and Xia Tian heard this, both of them immediately knitted their brows. But Ling Yue reacted first by calming down and revealing a smile again to say, "Can you please tell me what happened when you were with them?"


    I revealed an embarrassed look when I heard this, but I still said in the end, "They¡­they brought me down there to bully me and then they suddenly decided to try and kill me by throwing me into the river."


    Both Ling Yue and Xia Tian knitted their brows again when they heard this, but I had stopped at this point. I was acting as if I was too scared and embarrassed to say what had happened next.


    But both Ling Yue and Xia Tian needed to know what happened next, so Ling Yue pushed me by saying, "Mister Lin, can you please tell us what happened next? It is very important."


    I looked up at her with mist in my eyes when she said this and didn''t say anything else.


    However, seeing this caused Ling Yue to reveal a look of worry while Xia Tian knitted his brows even more.


    Ling Yue softened her tone and said, "It''s ok, take it slow and just tell us simply what happened. Nothing will happen to you."


    I didn''t react at first, but then I gave a slow nod in response to this before saying, "Alright, I''ll try."


    Ling Yue''s hand trembled for a second, but she kept it by her side.


    After taking a deep breath, I said, "After they tried to throw me into the river, they suddenly started fighting. I ran to the side when this happened hoping that they would forget about me, but I could hear a few things that they said. It seemed that the leader''s girlfriend had been cheating on him with one of his followers and they had started fighting because of that.


    As they kept screaming at each other, it didn''t take long before fists started flying as well. During themotion of this, I quickly escaped since they hadpletely forgotten about me. It was a good thing that I escaped when I did¡­or else they might have started hitting me too¡­"


    Both Ling Yue and Xia Tian once again knitted their brows after hearing this.


    But this time, it was Xia Tian who recovered first by asking in a gruff voice, "So you''re saying that you don''t know anything else? You ran away even though you''re a man?"


    I flinched when he said this and just covered my head with my arms.


    Xia Tian was surprised when he saw this, but then he scoffed.


    But because of this, Ling Yue red at him before standing up toe to my side. As she stood beside me, she patted me on the shoulder to calm me down.


    Eventually, I calmed down and looked back at them.


    Ling Yue said, "It''s alright now, it''s alright now. You''ll be fine now."


    I looked up at Ling Yue when I heard this before suddenly asking, "You keep asking a lot of questions about Wang Bing and his followers, it seems like you''re very interested in them. Could it be that your investigation is about them?"


    Neither Ling Yue or Xia Tian said a word in response to this, but that didn''t matter to me.


    I suddenly revealed an excited look and said, "I knew it, it was rted to them. Could it be that they''re being investigated for their bullying? Or could it be that something finally happened to them? If it did, theypletely deserved it!"

 Chapter 14: Interrogation (2)

    Both Ling Yue and Xia Tian looked at me with different looks after they heard this.


    Ling Yue was looking at me with a look of pity and understanding after hearing what I said.


    Xia Tian¡­was looking at me with narrowed eyes filled with suspicion, almost as if he doubted everything that I said.


    After a long silence, Xia Tian finally said, "You know¡­what you said just now could be considered a confession of guilt, right?"


    I revealed a shocked look the moment that I heard this as I looked at him in a daze.


    But before I could say anything, Ling Yue had already gone over to Xia Tian''s side and punched him in the arm before ring at him.


    Under the pressure of this re, Xia Tian had no choice but to back down and turn his gaze away.


    Then she came back to my side and to my surprise, she took me in her arms. She patted me on the back as she said, "It''s alright, it''s alright. I know that it feels like sometimes the world is against you, but you can''t give up hope."


    I just had the same surprised look on my face for a bit before letting myself sink into her embrace and give a small ''un'' sound.


    After hugging me for a bit, Ling Yue realized what she was doing and she quickly let go of me with a blush on her face.


    As she did this, Xia Tian looked over at us with a very strange look, but that look also quickly disappeared. If I hadn''t been peeking at Xia Tian out of the corner of my eyes, I definitely would have missed this.


    But this told me that¡­Xia Tian''s feelings towards Ling Yue weren''t normal.


    After another long silence, Ling Yue suddenly gave a cough and said, "Mister Lin, I think that we have everything that we need. Thank you for your cooperation and we hope that you will have a nice day."


    With this, she red at Xia Tian who stood up and followed her to the door.


    I also followed them to send them off even though Ling Yue told me that there was no need.


    As I stood there at the door sending them off, I had a smile on my face. But when they were gone and the door was closed, that smile instantly disappeared as I revealed a serious look on my face.


    After a while, I said to myself, "I think they bought it¡­"


    But I still couldn''t help feeling unsure about this, so I opened the door again.


    ¡­


    In the lobby, Ling Yue suddenly stopped before turning around to look at Xia Tian with a look of me in her eyes. Then she crossed her arms and asked, "What was that?"


    Xia Tian didn''t say anything as he just stood there with a calm look on his face.


    Ling Yue knew him better than anyone since they had grown up together, so she said, "You can''t get out of this one with silence. Tell me what that was about."


    Xia Tian still didn''t say anything, but seeing the way that Ling Yue red at him, he said with a sigh, "He''s clearly guilty, you could see it in the way that he spoke."


    Ling Yue red at Xia Tian even more when she heard this before saying, "You''re just trying as hard as you can to make him seem guilty so that we have someone to pin this on. Do you really think that I can''t see through that?"


    Xia Tian looked at her for a bit, but seeing the way that she red at him, he turned away in the end.


    Ling Yue just calmly said, "Is this really all that your justice amounts to?"


    Xia Tian gave a sigh before turning to say, "My instincts tell me that he was the one that did it. All of that talk about how they got what they deserved, doesn''t that seem suspicious to you?"


    Ling Yue''s eyes suddenly filled with pain as she looked at Xia Tian. Then she said in a slow and shaky voice, "You have no idea what it''s like to be bullied¡­"


    Xia Tian suddenly revealed aplicated look as well since as childhood friends, he knew what she had suffered through.


    But he also knew that it would just bring up more bad memories if he were to bring it up¡­


    So he said with a sigh, "Let''s go back to the station and look over the files one more time. Perhaps we''ll be able to find another lead."


    Ling Yue''s eyes lit up when she heard this and she looked up with a smile before saying, "Un."


    Like this, the two of them left this building, but what they didn''t notice was that the inte in the lobby was on.


    In the apartment, I had heard the entire conversation between the two detectives through the inte.


    That was all a result of me using my Time Stop ability.


    After they had left my apartment, I had been following them with the Time Stop ability.


    Of course, I didn''t keep using the Time Stop since they wouldn''t move if I had used the Time Stop the entire time. I just followed them and only activated the Time Stop when it seemed like they would see me.


    Like this, I was able to follow them through the halls until the lobby where I dialed the inte to call my unit, immediately picking up so that it wouldn''t make a sound.


    All of that practicest night before they came had really paid off.


    Listening in on them like this had allowed me to understand just what I needed to do.


    That male detective¡­he might need to disappear depending on what he did.


    Because it was clear that he wasn''t going to let this matter go¡­


    But that female detective, it seemed that the Hypnosis training fromst night had also worked.


    After all, I had been able to influence her with just indirect statements.


    It didn''t work for the male detective since his guard was up, but at least it had worked with the female detective. This would make it much easier to cover up what had happened.


    But that wasn''t the only thing that I had to do today.

 Chapter 15: Entering the first dungeon

    I still had to go to a dungeon today since this was what I should be doing as a poor F Ranker.


    I had to keep up appearances so that they wouldn''t suspect me for what happened.


    But in reality, I did have to make money as well since I was getting close to running out of money.


    I could have used my new powers to make money, but that wasn''t a good choice either since most of the things that I could do with these powers¡­were considered illegal. I didn''t want to pile on more crimes on top of what I had already done.


    So I headed to an E Rank Dungeon.


    There were F Rank Dungeons, but they werepletely for beginners and wouldn''t earn me any money at all. The only things that were in those dungeons were trash monsters that wouldn''t drop anything worthwhile at all.


    So I had decided to head to an E Rank Dungeon.


    If I was a normal F Ranker, this might be considered suicide.


    After all, the monsters in E Rank Dungeons were much stronger than normal people who hadn''t awakened. Even D Rankers would find it hard to deal with some of the elite monsters that spawned there.


    As for why it was considered an E Rank dungeon, it was because in theory, a group of E Rankers should be able to clear it.


    A group of awakeners was different from a single awakener since they had different powers. Working together, they would be able to exert power far beyond what just a single one of them would be able to do.


    Tank, DPS, and healer, those were the three main roles that awakeners were divided into. There were also smaller roles as supporters to a party that some awakeners and non awakeners yed.


    With the power that I had received, I would fit in that role of supporter.


    After all, Suggestion wasn''t considered a power that any of the three main roles would have.


    So when I arrived at the entrance of the E Rank Dungeon, I didn''t even bother looking around for a party.


    There were plenty of awakeners that were at the entrance looking for people for their parties, but I knew that it would be meaningless for me to try. If I were to try, I would just be ignored by them because of the power that I officially had.


    The other reason I didn''t bother looking for a party was¡­because there was no need for me to find one in the first ce. I was more than capable of taking care of the things in this dungeon on my own.


    When I reached the entrance of the dungeon, thedy who managed the entrance looked at me with a raised brow after seeing my Awakener License.


    She was clearly doubtful of my chances of surviving in this ce, but she didn''t say anything as she opened the entrance to the dungeon for me.


    There were no rules about what rank one needed to be to go into dungeons, so there was nothing restricting me from entering this ce.


    But everyone knew that if a single F Ranker entered a ce like this alone, it would be like seeking death.


    Still, in the end, she said with a sigh, "Good luck."


    And then she still opened the door for me.


    In front of me was a swirling blue thing that seemed like it was made of energy.


    It was without a doubt a very strange thing to see, but I wasn''t surprised by this since I already knew what this was. Everyone who wanted to be an awakener knew what this thing was.


    It was the entrance to a dungeon.


    Dungeons were spaces that existed outside of the space of Earth that contained monsters. If they weren''t cleared out regrly, there would be dungeon breaks that happened.


    Dungeon breaks were when the monsters inside of the dungeon spilled out into Earth.


    When the dungeons first appeared, dungeon breaks had happened quite often because people didn''t go into these dungeons to clear them.


    In those days, people were more interested in learning how to use the new powers that they had received instead of risking their lives fighting monsters.


    But nowadays, with the Awakener Association managing these awakeners, there were almost no dungeon breaks at all. Other than a few dungeons that appeared in uninhabited ces where people didn''t find them until dungeon breaks happened, most dungeons were cleared out regrly.


    That was because each monster that was killed would drop some kind of loot and this loot would always be worth money.


    So in a sense, dungeons could be considered gold mines if you were strong enough.


    But if you weren''t, they were abysses of death that had danger around every corner.


    However, that was where I was heading now.


    Taking a deep breath, I thanked the receptionist before taking a step through the portal.


    When I walked through, I saw a bright sh of light before it felt like I was walking on air. When my footnded on something, I found that I was inside of a cave.


    But I wasn''t surprised to find myself here since I already knew what I was getting into.


    This was the E Rank Dungeon, the Beginner Cave.


    This was a dungeon that was filled with monsters that were perfect for a beginner to fight, which was how it had received its name.


    But one shouldn''t make a mistake in thinking that this ce was easy.


    After all, this was still an E Rank Dungeon for a reason.


    The ce that I arrived in was filled with people and was well lit because this was a dungeon that was managed by the Awakener Association.


    So they had already built up infrastructure inside of the dungeon for all those that came.


    But of course, that was only at the entrance where awakeners entered.


    Once one went further in, it became a more and more natural dungeon.


    With that, I took a deep breath and walked out into the dungeon.


    What I didn''t notice was that there had been a few pairs of eyes on me as I walked out.


    The look in them¡­certainly wasn''t kind.

 Chapter 16: First monster

    As I headed away from the entrance, my surroundings started to change.


    There werenterns that were hung on the wall at first, but the further I went, the darker it became.


    It was a good thing that I had already brought a heamp with me and when it became darker, I turned it on to light the way in front of me.


    Even if I had be a demon king, that didn''t mean that I had gained night vision.


    This heamp was a special one that was created for awakeners that explored the dungeon. It used a small magic stone that was gathered from the monsters of the dungeon as a power source.


    With this magic stone, it created a magic light that didn''t just illuminate the area in front of me. This magic light was like a torch that lit up the entire surrounding area, but unlike a torch, I was able to use it without encumbering any of my hands.


    While heading deeper in, I didn''t encounter any monsters.


    It seemed that they had already understood that this was the pce where their enemies, the awakeners, gathered so they didn''te near this ce


    But once I got far enough, I could hear the sounds of things moving around me.


    At this, I reduced the light''s range around me so that I wouldn''t attract too much attention and I started moving slower just in case anything came at me.


    It didn''t take long though for me to encounter my first monster.


    I could hear the sound of something bouncing towards me, so I stopped moving and waited for this thing to show itself.


    When it came into the range of the light, I was able to see what it looked like.


    This was something that seemed like a sack of water that had a small blue bead in the center of it.


    This was a monster that everyone knew because it was a famous beginner monster.


    This was a slime.


    The slime seemed to be bouncing along at its own pace, but when it came closer to me, it suddenly started moving faster. It was clear that this slime had found me and wasing to attack.


    I didn''t know just how the slime detected me when it didn''t have any parts of its body that could detect people, but I didn''t have time to think too much about it since the slime wasing.


    It just bounced up and down as it came closer, but then once it had reached a certain range, it suddenly stopped bouncing.


    The slime suddenly contracted on the ground, contracting its body together as if it was building up tension.


    Then all of a sudden, the slime jumped up once more.


    This time, it was different from when it bounced up and down. This time, the slime suddenly shot forward with all of the contracted force that it had built and shot out like a bullet.


    Since I had been prepared, I was able to dodge out of the way at thest second, but it was without a doubt dangerous. If I had let my guard down for even an instant¡­I would have ended like the stgmite beside me.


    This thing had its tip shattered to pieces by the force of the slime mming into it.


    This was just like a cannonball as it shot out with the force that it had gathered.


    Even though these things had been called a beginner monster, they were still monsters in the end.


    However, I didn''t have too much time to think since the attack of the slime wasn''t over yet.


    The slime mmed into the wall of the cave behind me, creating cracks in it before suddenly shooting back.


    It was like a ball with how it suddenly bounced off the wall like this.


    I had already been moving, so I was able to dodge out of the way again. But since I was already moving, I was able to also sh out at this slime as it passed by.


    It was just too bad that I wasn''t able to do anything to it.


    My sword bounced off the slime''s blue skin and I was even pushed back by the force.


    When Inded on my butt on the ground, the slime was already bouncing back at me.


    This seemed like it was over, this seemed like I would have my bones smashed by this slime.


    But before it could hit me, I suddenly said, "Time Stop."


    The moment that I said this, it was as if this slime froze in the air.


    But it wasn''t just this slime that had been frozen.


    Everything around me seemed to stop.


    Even the drops of water that fell from the stctite around me were frozen in the air.


    The only thing that wasn''t frozen was the light of the heamp on my head since that was attached to me. Since it was attached to me, it was considered a part of me and wasn''t affected by the Time Stop.


    I slowly got up off the ground and then moved in front of the slime that was frozen in the air.


    After admiring this strange creature for a bit, I suddenly stabbed out at it, but¡­my sword bounced back.


    It seemed that I still couldn''t prate this thing''s skin¡­


    But I didn''t give up as I stabbed at it again and again at the same point.


    Eventually, I was able to do enough damage that I pierced through the skin of the slime and stabbed it right in the core.


    There was no resistance at all as I stabbed right through the core and when I pulled out, it didn''t seem like the core had been affected at all.


    But when I looked closer, I found that there was a cut on the core.


    So I moved away from the slime and then released the Time Stop.


    The moment that the time stop was released, the slime suddenly burst apart and the liquid inside sshed onto the ground. The moment that this liquid touched the ground, there was a sizzling sound as smoke came up from it.


    That was because the liquid inside the slime was actually acid.


    But then, all of that disappeared and it was reced by a few items that justid there on the ground.

 Chapter 17: First drops

    As soon as these items appeared, I didn''t hesitate to pick them up.


    These were the drops that came from defeating this monster.


    No one knew just where these drops came from, but they just knew that monsters would drop items after they were defeated.


    It was one of the unsolved mysteries of the world and people hadn''t been able to figure it out even after all this time. So most people just stopped thinking about it and epted it as the norm.


    The one thing that I was surprised about was how many items had been dropped.


    This was much more than the normal amount that I had heard about.


    However, that didn''t stop my enthusiasm as I went over these items.


    The first things were a few copper coins that I just put in the special pouch that was on my bag.


    These copper coins were dungeon coins, the currency of the dungeon.


    They weren''t used in our world since we still had our own system, but they were used in the dungeon shops that appeared. These dungeon shops appeared randomly and they only epted the currency that came from the dungeon like these copper coins.


    Though whether these copper coins were able to buy anything from the dungeon shops was apletely different question.


    After all, those dungeon shops only sold the highest quality items that even the top rankers were after.


    So dungeon coins weren''t used on Earth, but there was a market for them.


    It was just too bad that the exchange rate was very low since it was something that could be farmed quite easily. The only ones that actually bought them were the high rankers who needed a lot of dungeon coins to buy something special.


    Still, they were worth money, so there was no reason not to keep them.


    I moved on to the second item which was the standard magic crystal.


    This was something that every monster dropped as well since this was something that every monster had.


    Magic crystals had be the new power source in our world after discovering that they were a safe and clean source of energy. These were crystals that contained all of the mana that a monster had before it died.


    Scientists had found that this mana was a clean energy that could be used without limits, so it had be the energy that had reced all fossil fuels. This had reversed climate change on Earth and had ushered in a new age of clean energy.


    Nowadays, most things run on magic crystals instead of any other form of energy.


    So magic crystals were always in demand.


    The third item was a vial of some kind of liquid.


    When I looked at it, there was a screen that popped up to show me what it was which surprised me.


    After all, normally one would need to bring these items out to an appraiser before they were able to find out what they were. Only those that had appraisal skills would be able to appraise these items dropped by the monsters in the dungeon.


    I didn''t have this appraisal skill, but I had¡­the demon king system.


    Could it be that the demon king system allowed me to appraise things like this?


    This really was a pleasant surprise since appraisal skills were rare and well in demand.


    But I realized a problem¡­


    I had already awakened and my power had been recorded. So if I suddenly appeared to have some kind of appraisal skill¡­that would attract a lot of attention and that would be very bad.


    After all, I was a demon king¡­the enemy of humanity.


    The moment that I was found, I would be hunted by every human out there.


    So it seemed like I had no choice but to keep silent about this.


    But still, for now, I could use this appraisal ability.


    [Slime Acid]


    A vile of acid from a slime. Has a strong corrosive ability.


    It seemed that this vial was filled with the acid that made up the inner fluids of a slime.


    I had already seen how powerful it was when I killed that slime earlier, so there was no doubt that this would be a useful item in the future.


    Then I turned my attention to the fourth and final item.


    Once again, as soon as my eyes fell onto it, there was a screen that popped up.


    But this time, it was different from before.


    [Strange Orb]


    Unknown use.


    That was all that was written on the screen that had appeared.


    So I pushed that screen aside and looked carefully at this thing, but all that I saw was a ck orb that seemed to have some kind of mist swirling inside of it. I couldn''t find anything special about this and it felt like it was just a normal orb.


    Well, the one thing that I did find was that it was quite fragile and it seemed like it would crack with just a bit of force.


    Of course, I didn''t crack it since I had no idea what this thing was.


    The appraisal of the demon king system had said that it had an unknown use, so there was no way that I was going to risk this while I was in the dungeon. There were still other monsters here, so I didn''t waste any time putting these drops in my bag and heading off again.


    But before I could go far, I heard the sound of more things bouncing in front of me.


    This was a very familiar sound, one that I had heard not that long ago.


    There was mistaking this since if there was one, there would be others, so I was certain that these were slimes.


    I had already taken care of one slime, so there was no reason for me to fear these ones even if there were more than before.


    So without hesitation, I headed towards the sound of the bouncing with an excited look on my face.


    After all, each monster killed meant money gathered.

 Chapter 18: Killing spree

    As the sounds came closer and closer, I finally saw how many there were.


    Three of them.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief.


    As they came closer and closer and the sounds became louder, I started getting worried that there might be too many of them because of all the sound that they made. But in the end, it was only three of them which was still in the realm of what I could handle.


    After all, the Time Stop skill wasn''t an omnipotent skill.


    It was still a skill that had restrictions.


    The Time Stop skill was currently at level one and at this level, I could only use it for ten minutes at max. Then for however long I used it, I would have to recharge that time by letting that amount of time pass without using the Time Stop skill.


    In short, there was a banked time for this Time Stop skill and every time I used it, I would drain from that banked time.


    It was like a battery for the Time Stop skill.


    Based on the time that it had taken me to kill the slime from before, I should be reaching the limits of the Time Stop skill by taking care of these three slimes.


    So I didn''t activate the Time Stop skill right away when I saw the three slimes approach.


    Instead, I started moving towards them on my own.


    The distance between me and the three slimes slowly decreased until they were in range to attack.


    Then just like the slime from before, these three slimes all stopped bouncing and tightened their bodies on the ground. All three of them were gathering tension to shoot at me like a cannonball.


    I stopped moving when I saw this and carefully watched these three slimes.


    Then all of a sudden, the three slimes shot out all at once.


    All three of them were aiming at me, but it seemed like there was some kind of coordination between them. Not all of them were aimed at the same spot.


    One was aiming at my head, one was aiming at my stomach, and thest one was aiming at my leg.


    It seemed that they knew that they wouldn''t be able to hit the same spot, so they divided their parts equally.


    I didn''t understand how these slimes knew to cooperate, but they were able to work together in the end.


    I didn''t have time to think about this since they were quicklying at me.


    Seeing this, I finally didn''t hold back and released the Time Stop skill.


    The moment that it was released, all three of the slimes were frozen in the air. It was just like before with the other slime.


    But I hadn''t remained idle like before.


    I knew that they would freeze, so I had already started moving the moment I released the Time Stop skill.


    I didn''t hesitate to stab at the nearest slime again and again until I was finally able to pierce through its skin. Then in one smooth move, I stabbed my sword right into the core of the slime.


    Then in one more smooth move, I pulled the sword out of the slime and turned to the second closest slime.


    Wasting no time, I started stabbing at this slime too.


    Just like this, I was able to stab through the core of all three of these slimes.


    But to my surprise, I found that I had only taken around eight minutes to do so. I had thought that it would take at least nine minutes to do so, but it seemed like that wasn''t the case.


    It seemed that I had gotten better at this.


    At the same time, I had forgotten about the fact that I had acted without hesitation this time. This has saved me quite a bit of time since I didn''t waste any time dying my actions.


    I also didn''t waste more time after stabbing the core of thest slime. As soon as I stabbed it, I quickly moved away and released the Time Stop.


    The moment that the Time Stop was released, all three of the slimes exploded at the same time and dropped their acid innards onto the ground.


    After a while, all of the things left behind by the slimes disappeared and they were reced by drops.


    It was only then that I rxed my body and let out a sigh of relief.


    I had been prepared just in case anything changed, but it seemed like I had been worried for nothing.


    But of course, I didn''t waste any time in picking up the drops that had fallen to the ground and put them all away in my bag.


    Then I wasted no time in dimming the light on my head and finding a ce to rest.


    I need to recover the time that I had spent taking care of these slimes.


    Only after all of that did I finally go find more slimes to take down.


    Just like this, I went on a killing spree of the slimes.


    ¡­


    Close to an hour had passed and I had gotten much better at killing the slimes.


    I had found that there were certain parts of the slime that were much weaker than the rest of the slime.


    These were parts of the skin that were thinner, making them more flexible which allowed the slime to contort its body like this.


    But since they were thinner, they were easier for me to cut through.


    Like this, I was able to increase the number of slimes I could take care of at the same time since I didn''t need to spend that much time on each of the slimes.


    I had gained quite a bit of loot this way, it seemed like I would make quite the killing when I got back.


    As I was preparing to hunt some more slimes after resting, I suddenly heard somethinging from in front of me.


    "Help!"

 Chapter 19: Damsel in distress

    The moment that I heard this voice, I immediately knitted my brows.


    I could recognize that it was a female who was calling out for help, but I didn''t start heading in that direction right away.


    After all, there was nothing safe about the dungeon¡­


    But in the end, I still started moving in the direction that the scream for help came from.


    It wasn''t just a single scream for help, but several screams for help that came at irregr intervals.


    As I got closer, the screams became louder.


    But at the same time, as I got closer, I saw that there was some lighting from in front of me.


    Seeing that there was another source of light, I immediately turned off the light on my head.


    I cautiously made my way over using the cover of darkness and I was slowly able to see what the situation was.


    It was a ssic damsel in distress.


    There was a beautiful girl who was being surrounded by ugly looking men. The leader of these ugly men had his hand around her arms and it seemed like he was trying to force himself onto her.


    This was one of those cliches that almost everyone had heard about.


    But I didn''t make a move when I saw this.


    After all, we were currently in the dungeon and it was a very dangerous ce. Not to mention, while these men seemed ugly¡­they were armed with sharp looking weapons and they seemed quite strong.


    They seemed stronger than me at least¡­


    It would be smarter to just leave them be and let whatever happened here happen. I didn''t know any of them after all, so there was no need for me to get involved.


    But when the leader started reaching his hand towards the beautiful girl''s chest, I suddenly thought about what I had done to Mei Tang Tang.


    The bit of guilt that I felt towards the now deceased Mei Tang Tang filled my heart¡­so in the end, I couldn''t stop myself from moving forward.


    Using the cover of the dark, I made my way behind these men without attracting their attention.


    Then using the fact that they were focused on the beautiful girl, I made my way behind the leader.


    I smoothly brought my sword up to the leader''s neck and when they realized what had happened, I was already holding the leader hostage.


    Even though he had a sword to his neck, the leader still said, "Who, who are you?"


    Though he was able to keep himself calm enough to speak, it was clear that he was nervous since his voice was shaking and stuttering.


    Of course, I wasn''t much better since I wasn''t used to doing things like this. At the very least, I was holding out better than the leader who had a de to his neck.


    I gave a cough to calm myself down before saying, "I''m not looking for any trouble. As long as you back down and leave, I won''t escte this matter. So how about it?"


    The ugly men around me all had their weapons raised, but not a single one of them dared to swipe at me.


    It seemed that they valued their boss'' life at the very least.


    After a long and tense silence, the leader said, "If you let me go, we''ll leave."


    The men were surprised to hear this, just as surprised as I was that this man would back down that easily.


    But then I said, "How will we do this?"


    After all, it was just as likely that he was lying to me so that he could attack me as soon as I let him go.


    The leader said, "My men will leave first and I''ll unarm myself. Once they are gone, you can let me go and leave this ce."


    I looked at him with a doubtful look, but in the end, there was no better choice here¡­so I said, "Alright."


    The leader tossed the sword he was holding to one of his men and then waved his hand for them to get out of here.


    Once they were gone, I slowly released the sword that was around his neck. While doing this, I was prepared to release the Time Stop skill at any moment just in case this man tried anything.


    But to my surprise, he didn''t do a single thing and just walked off. As he did, he suddenly turned around to look at me and said, "This isn''t over yet."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile since this was the most cliche line that he could have said.


    However, he didn''t give me a chance to say anything as he quickly disappeared.


    Once he was gone, I couldn''t help being surprised since this all seemed like it was too easy¡­I was honestly expecting something else to suddenly happen.


    But nothing happened at all.


    I was just standing there lost in thought until something suddenly hit me.


    It wasn''t some kind of thought that suddenly hit me, but rather a pair of something that hit me in the chest.


    This was a really soft pair of something¡­


    At the same time, there was a pair of arms that came around me while I heard someone start to cry.


    At this, I was pulled out of my thoughts and remembered that there was someone else here.


    As she cried, she kept saying, "Thank you, thank you for saving me."


    I felt very awkward since I didn''t have much contact with girls before, especially beautiful girls like this.


    So when she held me like this, I couldn''t help feeling awkward.


    But I calmed myself down and said with a cough, "Let''s get out of here first. They mighte back at any time and we don''t want to be here when that happens."


    The girl looked up at me with tearful eyes before giving a nod.


    I turned on my light a bit so that we could see what was in front of us before quickly making our way out of this ce.


    As we walked off, the girl held my hand and followed behind me.


    It wasn''t just her body that was soft¡­her hands were soft too.

 Chapter 20: Hero saving the beauty

    When we had gotten far enough, I turned on the light of my heamp again.


    We were lucky enough to not run into any monsters in the dark and at the same time, it seemed like we were in a safe area.


    I didn''t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing since this safe area was much deeper in the dungeon than where we were before.


    After taking some time to settle down, I took out some water for the girl.


    She didn''t seem to react at first, but then when I tapped her face with it, she couldn''t help jolting.


    Seeing the water bottle I was holding out to her, she thanked me before taking it. After taking it, she started takingrge gulps from this water bottle, as if she hadn''t had water in forever.


    But thinking of what had happened to her, that was most likely the case.


    I took this time to get a proper look at this girl.


    She was a beautiful girl, there was no mistaking it.


    With her beautiful long orange hair, her big green eyes, and her fair skin, she was a beauty that would make other girls jealous.


    I almost thought to myself that it was no wonder they had wanted to vite her, but I quickly corrected myself.


    It was a good thing that I hadn''t said that out loud.


    After she had finished chugging the water and she had calmed down, I asked, "So what happened?"


    She looked up at me in a daze and just remained silent for a bit.


    But in the end, she started telling me her backstory and it turned out to be quite the tragic one.


    She hade into this dungeon with her party, a group of four.


    They had thought that they would be able to earn a jackpot, but what they had never expected was tragedy.


    It had started before they had even encountered the group that had assaulted them.


    They were a group of E Rankers and they should have been able to deal with anything in this dungeon, but they had suddenly been ambushed by a group of goblins.


    Goblins were only considered E Rank monsters, but there had been too many for them to deal with. They had beenpletely swarmed by all of the goblins that appeared and it even seemed like more of them wereing out of the walls.


    So they had tried running away from the goblins.


    But in the end, there were variant goblins that appeared using both magic and bows. These variant goblins had sniped her party members and she had been the only one that had escaped in the end.


    Afterwards, she had run into that group of ugly men who had said that they would help escort her out of the dungeon.


    But it turned out that they just wanted to take advantage of her¡­


    After she had finished her story, she broke out in tears over everything that had happened.


    As I watched her, I didn''t know how to react since I had never had to calm a crying girl down before.


    In the end, I reached out towards her and patted her on the back tofort her.


    After crying for a bit, she finally looked up at me with a hesitant look before asking, "Can you escort me back to where my party died? I want to at least bring back their bodies for their families¡­I know that this is asking a lot of you, but seeing as how you''re so big and strong¡­"


    Her voice trailed off, but she looked up at me with those expectant eyes.


    It was just too bad that they didn''t have any effect on me at all.


    I shook my head and said, "It''s too dangerous to do that. We don''t know what will be waiting for us if we try to do that."


    The girl revealed a disappointed look and didn''t say anything, almost as if she was waiting for something.


    But I didn''t say anything further.


    So in the end, she just gave a sigh and said, "You''re right, it''s too dangerous¡­"


    After a long silence, she asked, "Then can I ask you to escort me out of this dungeon? I just want to leave this ce now and nevere back."


    Once again, she looked at him with an expectant look, waiting for his response.


    This time, I wasn''t as opposed to this since I was nning on leaving this ce as well. It didn''t matter if I helped bring her out as well.


    In the end, I had saved her, so I should do my duty and take care of her to the end.


    So after a moment of hesitation, I gave a nod in response.


    When she saw this, her eyes lit up and she jumped forward to hug me.


    As she hugged me, I could feel two soft things pressing up against my chest and I couldn''t help looking down.


    Because they had been tugged on early, her clothes were now a bit loose.


    So when I looked down, I could see right into the valley in front of me.


    This girl¡­she had a very good figure along with her beautiful appearance. This was a body that could even entice a monk and she was now unting it in front of me.


    So for me who had never been with a girl before, I couldn''t help myself.


    It was just a good thing that she didn''t notice in the end.


    After she let me go, she said with a serious look, "Thank you for everything. I promise that I will repay you once we get back to the surface."


    I just waved my hand and said, "It''s fine, you don''t need to worry about it."


    She was about to say something else, but then she realized something was wrong.


    She looked at me with an awkward look and said, "I never even asked your name¡­I don''t even know the name of the person that saved me¡­"


    I realized that she was right.


    We had been so focused on other things that we had never introduced ourselves to each other.


    So I simply said, "I''m Lin Fan."


    "Sasha." She said in response.

 Chapter 21: Curry

    I was about to say something else, but then I heard a strange sound.


    I didn''t recognize this sound since it didn''t sound like anything that I had heard before, but then I saw that Sasha''s face had turned red.


    I didn''t understand why she was acting this way, but I saw that she was holding her stomach.


    Could it be that she had some other injury that I hadn''t noticed earlier?


    So I immediately asked, "Is there something wrong with your stomach? Are you hurt somewhere?"


    Hearing me ask this, her face turned even more red and she lowered her head as if she was hiding something.


    Finally, she said in a small voice, "It was my stomach, but I''m not hurt¡­It''s just that I haven''t eaten anything since this morning, so¡­"


    When I heard this, I finally realized what that sound was.


    It was from her stomach, but it wasn''t one that came from pain. It was a sound that was made because she was hungry.


    Since that was the case, it was much easier for me to solve.


    I sat back down and pulled the backpack off my back. Then I reached in and pulled out two bowls, some utensils, and a few bags that I ced on one of the t rocks in front of us to show her what it was.


    Sasha looked up and her eyes lit up when she saw this, but then she hesitated a bit before asking, "Is it really alright for me to have some? This is the food that you brought in, so you don''t need to share anything with me."


    I shook my head and said, "It''s fine, I got plenty so I don''t mind sharing. I had prepared too much since I thought I would be in here longer, but it seemed like it was just too much for one person."


    Sasha lowered her head again before saying, "I''m sorry for ruining your ns."


    I shook my head and said, "No, it''s not because of you that I''m leaving early. I''m leaving early because I''ve already filled up my bag with loot. I can''t carry anymore even if I wanted to carry more."


    She lowered her head again as if she was apologizing, but she also muttered in a low voice, "Thank you."


    I was able to hear it and it brought a smile to my face, but I didn''t say anything since I knew that would just make it worse.


    The meal packs that I had brought with me were curry packs, so all that I needed to do was heat up some water for the curry packs and heat up the rice and we would be able to eat.


    I brought out the gas stove, but before I could turn it on, Sasha suddenly took a step forward.


    She caught me off guard by doing this and I couldn''t help looking at her with a strange look as I asked, "What''s wrong?"


    She didn''t say anything at first as she lowered her head in a shy manner, but then she suddenly looked up and said, "Can you let me prepare it?"


    I was confused why she asked this, but then she said, "You rescued me and you''re even sharing your food with me. If I don''t do anything at all, I just can''t ept this kindness."


    I raised a brow as I looked at her, but in the end, I handed over the stove and the ingredients to her.


    After taking it, she bowed and said, "Thank you. I promise to make the best meal for you."


    I just waved my hand and said, "It''s fine, it''s just curry. You don''t need to put in that much effort."


    But Sasha shook her head and said, "No, it''s a must! I have to put my heart into this and give you a proper love filled meal."


    I was taken aback by this sudden confession that she made and I didn''t know how to respond.


    Sasha had a confident look on her face when she said this, but then¡­she slowly started realizing what she had just said. As she realized this, her face started turning more and more red until she covered it up and said, "That''s not what I meant!"


    I just turned around and said, "I''m looking forward to it."


    At this, her eyes opened wide before she gave a soft ''un'' sound.


    Like this, I walked over to the side to rest while Sasha heated up the curry and rice.


    At the same time, I started checking the area around us just to make sure that it really was clear.


    If we were suddenly jumped by something in the middle of our meal, there was no doubt that it would be fatal.


    It didn''t take her long to prepare the meal since it was a premade meal.


    When it was done, she called out to me, "It''s ready."


    I came back over to the t rock and found¡­that there was one dish that clearly had much more food than the other.


    When I saw this, I knitted my brows before picking it up to pour some of the curry and rice into her te. But she quickly stopped me by saying, "No, no, it isn''t that I gave you more because of anything. It''s just that I can''t eat that much, so¡­"


    Her voice trailed off, but she was also looking at her stomach as she said this.


    Seeing this, I immediately understood what this meant and didn''t force it any more.


    After all, any topic rted to weight was forbidden when it came to girls.


    So to cover up for this mistake, I picked up my spoon and took a sniff of the curry before saying, "It smells delicious."


    Hearing this, Sasha revealed a happy look before looking at me with an expectant look.


    In response to this, I took a spoonful of the curry and put it into my mouth before saying, "Um, it really is delicious."


    At this, Sasha''s face turned red and she lowered her head before tucking into her own curry.

 Chapter 22: Big surprise

    I lifted my spoon to take another scoop of the curry rice, but before I could, I suddenly felt that the world was getting dizzy.


    I tried holding onto the spoon, but soon my hand couldn''t take it anymore and the spoon dropped to the ground.


    I looked around myself to find the reason for this dizziness, but I couldn''t find a single thing.


    When Sasha saw this, she immediately came forward to ask, "What''s wrong?"


    I tried opening my mouth to say something, but it was just too numb to say a single thing.


    In the end, I fell face forward andnded on the ground.


    The curry that had been in my hand sshed to the side and created arge mess.


    At the final moment, I tried looking up as I lost consciousness.


    ¡­


    Watching him finally lose consciousness, Sasha let out a sigh of relief before saying, "It''s finally done. He just wouldn''t y along no matter what I did. If I didn''t make the excuse that I was hungry, he might have never let his guard down."


    After she said this, there were several figures that appeared around her and there were sources of light that appeared.


    With these lights that appeared, the appearances of the figures were revealed.


    They were the men that had tried to assault her before.


    Once they appeared, the leader of the group revealed a wide smile that was quite ugly and said, "Still, you did a good job. I''m sure that we can get quite a bit off of him. He was skilled enough to even sneak up behind me without getting caught, so he must have some skills."


    The others all nodded in agreement to this since they also hadn''t been able to detect Lin Fan when he snuck up on them.


    Sasha looked down at Lin Fan sleeping on the floor and gave a snort as she said, "Hmph, take care of this perverted man for me. I just can''t stand the way that this virgin acted around me."


    The leader of the group said with a smile, "What''s wrong? You didn''t like ying the role of the damsel in distress?"


    Sasha revealed a disgusted look as she said, "Damsel in distress? Just being close to this pervert made me feel disgusted."


    She looked back down at Lin Fan and said, "You can tell right away that this guy is a virgin. He got hard just from me hugging him and whenever I came close, I could tell that he was doing his best to sniff me. I also didn''t miss all the looks that he gave me when he thought that I turned away. It''s clear that he''s never had any experience before."


    The leader''s smile became even wider as he came over to Sasha. Then he reached his arm out over her shoulder and then wrapped it around her body while his hand came down to grab her breast.


    This was like when she was about to be assaulted before, but this time¡­instead of fighting it, she revealed a look of pleasure and gave a moan.


    With a slight blush on her face, she turned to the leader and said, "Master, you''re still the best! I can''t live without you and your magical touch!"


    The leader gave a proudugh before saying, "Just keep doing your job and I''ll give you what you want." Then after a pause, he added with a dark undertone, "Of course, remember that your body is mine and mine alone. If you ever forget¡­"


    He let his voice trail off, but the implications that he was making were very clear.


    Sasha''s blush became stronger and her eyes lit up as she said, "Master, I will always be yours and only yours." After that, she jumped up into his arms and started fervently kissing him.


    The leader just went along with it, but it was clear that he liked this judging by the smug look on his face.


    The rest of the men all revealed envious looks, but they didn''t dare act on the envy that they felt.


    After all, their leader was much stronger than them.


    Even if he had backed down very easily early, that was all an act. Their leader was in reality a powerful E Ranker with the skill Super Strength. If he wanted to, he could rip them all apart with his bare hands.


    After they kissed for a while, Sasha finally released the leader and came down.


    As she came off him, her clothing that had already been loose became even more loose, showing off more of her skin. On the skin that she showed were tattoos that had been hidden previously.


    These tattoos made it very clear what kind of person she was.


    After Sasha let go, the leader came forward and grabbed her breasts with both hands, causing her to let out a moan.


    With the look in the eyes of the leader, it almost seemed like he was going to take her right here.


    But before he could, one of his men gave a cough and said, "Boss, shouldn''t we take care of the target? We shouldn''t stay in this ce too long."


    After hearing this, the leader red at the person who spoke, causing them to flinch at this. However, he knew that this person was right, so he calmed himself down and said, "Kill him and take his things. Then we get out of here."


    Since they had been given their orders, there was no need for them to hesitate anymore.


    The men all turned back to Lin Fan with their weapons raised and were prepared to slit his throat.


    But before they could do anything, they suddenly heard someone say, "You really do need to work on your acting. Otherwise, you make it just too obvious what you are nning on doing."


    When they heard this, all of them, including the leader and Sasha turned to look in the direction of this voice.


    They found Lin Fan just sitting there on the floor, looking up at them.

 Chapter 23: Monster (1)

    There was only a moment of being dazed before the leader suddenly said, "Take him out now!"


    As soon as the leader gave this order, all of the men suddenly charged out at Lin Fan who seemed to be sitting there without a care.


    Even though he could see that all of them were moving towards him, Lin Fan just had a calm smile on his face. It was almost as if he didn''t see them, or rather didn''t care that they were all charging at him.


    It was as if¡­they were nothing more than air to him.


    The men were all angered by this, but they remained focused as they surrounded him to make sure that he couldn''t run away. Then once he was surrounded, they all shed out at him with their weapons.


    But right before their weapons to make contact, Lin Fan seemed to disappear.


    With the way that he disappeared without a trace, it was almost as if he had never been there in the first ce.


    They all quickly looked around to try and find him, but they couldn''t find a single trace.


    That is until they heard a voice say, "Over here."


    Then they all turned in the direction of the voice and found that Lin Fan was standing behind the leader once more.


    The leader also wanted to turn to look at Lin Fan, but then he felt a bit of paining from his neck which caused him to stop turning his head. When he looked down, he found that Lin Fan had once again put a sword to his neck.


    The rest of them also saw this and they were about to move forward to surround him, but Lin Fan simply said, "Freeze."


    The moment that he said this, all of them found that they weren''t able to move a single inch. It was as if there was some kind of strange force that had frozen their bodies and they could only stand there in ce.


    Seeing this, Lin Fan then said, "Drop your weapons."


    At this, all of the men looked on with shocked and confused looks as their hands released the weapons that they had been holding.


    Seeing this, the leader shouted, "What do you think you''re doing? Why are you listening to him?"


    But not a single one of them was able to give an exnation.


    They were all too focused on their own hands, looking at them with looks of confusion and shock.


    After all, not a single one of them could understand what had happened just now.


    There was some kind of uncontroble force that hadpelled their hands to open and drop the weapons that they had been holding. It was just as strong, or even stronger than the force that was freezing them in ce.


    Since they couldn''t understand what was happening, they couldn''t say a single thing in response to this.


    Seeing that they weren''t saying a thing, the leader roared out, "Surround him and don''t let him escape! What do you fools think you''re doing!"


    All of them wanted to flinch, but their bodies wouldn''t listen to them. The only thing that they could do was reveal a scared look as they were frozen in ce.


    The leader looked like he was about to explode when he saw that they didn''t do a thing, but Lin Fan just said, "Calm down, they can''t move even if they want to. Plus, all this yelling is hurting my ears."


    The leader''s face twisted when he heard this and he was about to turn his head to roar at Lin Fan even though there was the de at his neck, but he found¡­that he wasn''t able to move at all.


    So instead, he opened his mouth to roar out again.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan had already expected this. He just calmly said, "Silence."


    As soon as he said this, the leader found that he couldn''t make a sound. In fact, he couldn''t even open his mouth as he was just frozen in ce.


    At this, even if he was a fool, he understood what had happened.


    Everything that was happening now was all because of Lin Fan.


    The reason why they couldn''t move, the reason why his subordinates had dropped their weapons, the reason why he couldn''t say a thing¡­


    It was all because of Lin Fan.


    As he realized this, there was a shiver of fear that ran down his spine.


    He did all that he could to open his mouth and ask Lin Fan what he wanted, but he couldn''t open it no matter how hard he tried.


    Lin Fan just casually stood there behind the leader, but he no longer kept the sword at his neck. After all, it wasn''t as if the leader could do anything even if he didn''t keep the sword there.


    After taking a step back, he looked at the others with a smile on his face and said, "I bet all of you are wondering how I figured it all out, right?"


    They didn''t give a response, but it was clear by the look in their eyes that they were indeed curious about this.


    But then Lin Fan''s smile became wider as he said, "Is there a reason I should tell you? After all, you''re all going to die here."


    At first, they looked like they wanted to shout at him for ying him like this, but then thetter part of his words sank in.


    They all looked at him with shocked expressions, as if they couldn''t tell if he was serious or not.


    But just seeing that smile on his face and the way that they looked at him, they could tell that he was indeed serious.


    They wanted to say something, but they also couldn''t open their mouths at all.


    When Lin Fan had forced the leader into silence, they had also heard him say it, so they were also forced into silence along with the leader.


    So there really wasn''t anything that they could do now¡­

 Chapter 24: Monster (2)

    I didn''t care about the way that they looked at me or the things that they wanted to say.


    Instead, I just said to myself, "Now, what should I do to you all?"


    As soon as they heard this, all of them revealed looks of terror.


    But in reality, even though I had said this, there was another thought in my mind.


    I wanted to test the limits of my Hypnosis skill and I knew that I would need people to use in the future, so why not use the ones that were in front of me. They were a bit rough, but I was sure that I would be able to train them.


    Before dealing with these men though, I turned my attention to Sasha, the one who thought that she had honey trapped me.


    She had no idea how I had figured it out, but it was easy for me to use my Time Stop ability to see the things that she did to the curry. Then it was a simple matter of pretending to eat it and hiding the food that I faked eating to trick her.


    She really didn''t suspect a thing¡­but that didn''t mean that I couldn''t use her either.


    After all, if it was anyone else, they would have fallen for this kind of honey trap.


    That''s right, I just wanted to use her for abilities and not because I was interested in her appearance at all.


    Though I said this, I moved closer and closer to her body while she looked at me with a terrified look. She had also been frozen and had her mouth silenced just like the rest, so she was just as scared as them.


    As I stood there in front of her, I just looked down at her, who was sitting on the ground. She had fallen down when she had seen everything that had happened and then she was frozen on the spot because of my words.


    With how loose her clothes were, I could see even more of her skin.


    Seeing this, there was a faint light that appeared in Sasha''s eyes.


    After a moment of silence, I finally said, "Speak."


    As soon as I said this, Sasha found that she was able to move her mouth once more.


    She quickly said, "Please let me go. I was forced into this by them, they said that they would kill me if I didn''t go along with them."


    When the men heard this, they all looked at her in disdain.


    That was because they knew that¡­half of this n had been thought out by her.


    She was a duplicitous woman who had many faces and the face that she had on now was just one of the few faces that she had.


    After seeing that he wasn''t saying anything, Sasha then said, "I''ll even let you do whatever you want with me, as long as you let me go."


    The more he didn''t say anything, the more anxious she became¡­


    But then I suddenly said, "I am your master now."


    Sasha revealed a surprised look like she didn''t understand the words that had juste out of my mouth, but then she revealed an obedient look as she said, "Yes, yes, you are my master now. I will serve you however you wish."


    She thought that she would see a happy look from him, but all that she could see was a disappointed look that she couldn''t understand.


    Didn''t men like being treated like this?


    Like they were the one in charge?


    But all I felt was disappointment when I saw this because I could tell that the Hypnosis that I tried using had failed. Her eyes showed that she was still very much in control of her own will and she would betray me if she wanted to.


    It was clear that thismand hadn''t worked like I had wanted it to work.


    But I wasn''t all that surprised either since I knew that this was a different kind ofmand than the ones I had used before.


    The ones that I gave before were all physicalmands that forced their bodies to stop. This didn''t directly sh against their will, so thesemands weren''t resisted as much by the target.


    But thismand was to change their fundamental thoughts.


    So as long as they had their own willpower, it was impossible for thismand to take effect.


    So to make her think that I was actually her master¡­I would have to crush her will first.


    It was a good thing that I had chosen to test this skill on these people first. After all, if I had been forced into a situation where I had to use this skill to survive and it failed¡­that would be it.


    It was better to improve my skills while I still could so that I could save my life when the time came.


    The Hypnosis skill''s description had said that skill sess would depend on the free will and resolve of the target. So to increase the sess, I would have to crush her free will and resolve to increase the chance of sess.


    She was a beautiful woman who used her body and charm to get the things that she wanted, but she was a woman in the end¡­


    The best way topletely crush a woman''s mind was¡­


    Sasha was about to open her mouth and try to please Lin Fan again with her words, but then she found herself looking right into his eyes.


    When she looked into his eyes, she couldn''t help feeling a strange feeling.


    It was like those eyes were piercing right into her and they reached her very core. Once they reached her core, it was like a fire had been ignited inside of her.


    This fire quickly spread all over her body, but it spread to one specific ce¡­


    The ce in between her legs.


    She didn''t know what was happening, but she was starting to feel turned on.


    Unfortunately, she wasn''t able to relieve this feeling at all since she was frozen in ce.

 Chapter 25: Monster (3)

    Sasha did her best to resist this feeling that was filling her body, but no matter how hard she tried, she found that she couldn''t stop it.


    It didn''t take long for her to lose control of her breathing.


    As the burning sensation inside of her became stronger and stronger, her breathing also became heavier and heavier.


    She felt like she couldn''t take this anymore and that feeling was about topletely take over her mind. She didn''t care who it was, but she just wanted someone to help her relieve this feeling.


    So she looked up and said, "Please, help me relieve this feeling."


    But I didn''t do a thing as I kept staring at her.


    I had been watching her closely as her cheeks started turning more and more red and her breathing became heavier. I wanted to see just how much these eyes of mine would affect her.


    After all, I was using the Eyes of Lust on her right now.


    This was the only skill out of the three that I had received when I became the Demon King of Lust that I hadn''t used yet.


    It was a skill that couldn''t be used that easily, but in a dungeon like this where no one else was around, I didn''t have to worry about using it.


    So I had exerted the full force of the Eyes of Lust on her and I could say that I wasn''t disappointed. It was clear how turned on she was getting because of these Eyes of Lust, it was even faster than I thought it would be.


    Sasha looked up at me again with her face that had turnedpletely red now.


    As she stared into those eyes, she could see that there was some kind of strange pink hue to it.


    Then she said, "It''s you isn''t it? You''re doing something to my body aren''t you?"


    I didn''t say anything in response, but she didn''t care either as she continued, "Please stop it or at least do something to me to relieve this feeling! Either use my body or put me out of my misery!"


    When the men around us heard this, they all revealed strange expressions. That is except for the leader whose eyes were filled with rage and his face was twisted in anger, almost as if he wanted to rip someone apart.


    It was just too bad that looks couldn''t kill.


    I ignored them anyway and brought my hand forward.


    After a moment of hesitation, I grabbed one of Sasha''s breasts.


    This was a very soft feeling, one that I had never felt before.


    Her breasts weren''t too big and they weren''t too small, they were just the right size that my hand could perfectly cup around them.


    But after grabbing them, I didn''t move my hand in any way since¡­I was in too much of a daze.


    The moment that she felt his hand on her chest, it was like there was something burning hot that suddenly grabbed her. But this wasn''t a bad sensation as the heat that came from his hand holding her breast went all the way to her core before spreading through her body.


    Just this touch along was enough to fill her with pleasure.


    It was just too bad that this heat from his hand quickly disappeared since he wasn''t moving it at all.


    Once it was gone, she was tortured by the burning sensation that filled her body again.


    Sasha couldn''t take this and said, "What are you doing? Keep going? Why are you stopping your hand?"


    She looked up to find that I was staring at her in a daze before asking, "Could it be that you''re really a virgin?"


    When I heard this, it snapped me out of my daze and I couldn''t help turning my head to give a cough. Then when I turned back, I suddenly grabbed at her breast and pulled at it before letting go.


    All during this time, Sasha let out moans of pleasure even though I was treating her this roughly.


    At this point, she was just too numb from being turned on that she could only feel pleasure, regardless of how harsh I was being.


    Finally, when the feeling of pleasure disappeared again, she said in a desperate voice, "Do whatever you want with my body. I don''t care if you''re a virgin, you can have my body now!"


    I was surprised by how desperate she was sounding, but then I revealed a faint smile.


    It seemed that these Eyes of Lust really was the best way to break someone''s resistance.


    She no longer had the same look in her eyes as she had before. It was clear that there was only one thing that was on her mind now.


    Since it was being offered to me, I wouldn''t be much of a man if I didn''t take it.


    Not to mention, I could see the look on the face of the leader.


    It was clear that he would rip me apart with his teeth alone if he was able to do so.


    That was just how enraged he was right now.


    After all, Sasha was someone that he considered his property and she was being vited by someone else in front of him. If he didn''t get angry at this, he really wouldn''t be much of a man.


    I took a step forward, but I didn''t lean down and grab her chest like I did before.


    Instead, I went behind her and sat on the floor so that I was right up behind her before reaching my arms forward. I reached them past her sides and then brought them up to her chest before suddenly grabbing at them with both hands.


    This time, I didn''t stop as I started groping these breasts, squeezing and tugging at them.


    There was no experience at all, it was just tugging and groping from pure enthusiasm, but that was enough for Sasha who waspletely taken by the hold of lust.


    She let out moans of pleasure as she felt these hands on her chest, each grab gave her such pleasure that she came closer and closer.


    But then I suddenly stopped since¡­I had an idea.


    She was still wearing her shirt and I was just groping her chest through it¡­wouldn''t it feel better if I took off that shirt?


    So I reached out and pulled her shirt over her head. Her breasts had been caught by the shirt and when they were released, they bounced up and down beforeing to a stop.


    I waspletely mesmerized by the scene of her bare chest bouncing up and down like this.

 Chapter 26: Monster (4)

    But then I was pulled out of my thoughts again by her soft voice saying, "Please, stop teasing me and give me what I want."


    I couldn''t help revealing an evil smile when I heard this and I suddenly pinched her nipples.


    "Yi!" She let out a cry of surprise that quickly faded into moans of pleasure.


    The moment that I had grabbed her nipple, it was like there was an electric shock that had filled her. Her body had started to tremble and she wasn''t able to control herself as a flood almost flowed down her legs.


    But this time, that feeling didn''t stop as I continued ying with her nipples and her chest. I pinched and pulled on one nipple while groping and ying with the other one.


    The more that I did this, the more that she moaned with pleasure.


    At the same time, the more that I did this, the more her body started to tremble.


    Finally, she said, "I can''t take it anymore!"


    As she said this, her body started to shake, especially her legs.


    She opened them wide and there was a sudden spray that came out from in between them.


    This spray flew out in front of her and sshed all over the ground.


    Then her body went soft and she fell back onto me, not moving a single inch as sheid there.


    Even if she wanted to move, it wasn''t possible for her since¡­she had already used up all her strength.


    But at the very least, the burning sensation that had been inside of her had started to calm down. She was slowlying back down to a normal temperature and was no longer suffering from that unbearable heat.


    That is until my eyes fell onto her again.


    The moment that my eyes fell onto her, the same heat as before filled her body in an instant.


    "Ah, ah, ah, why?!" Sasha suddenly shouted, "Why is this burning sensation filling me again?!"


    I just didn''t say a word as I looked at her with that same evil smile on my face.


    Sasha''s body started to shake as she tried to use her hands to alleviate this feeling, but nothing she did worked. No matter how hard she tried to move her body, she wasn''t able to do a thing.


    Finally, she had no choice but to say, "Please give it to me again. Please help me alleviate this burning feeling."


    I just said with the same evil smile on my face, "You''re the one asking."


    But of course, as I said this, I turned my face slightly so that I was facing the leader.


    The moment that he saw this, he started shaking.


    It wasn''t that he was afraid, but rather he was trying to forcefully break out from the binding of the Hypnosis skill. One could see the various veins that were popping out from all over his body.


    It was as if he pushed himself any further, he would explode.


    But I didn''t care as I turned back to Sasha''s body.


    I suddenly stood up, but as I stood up, I also grabbed Sasha''s legs and lifted her up.


    So when I was standing up, she was in my arms with her legs up and legs spread open.


    The only problem now was that she still had her pants on.


    Of course, that was easily solved with a single rip of her pants.


    To my surprise, I found that just like with her upper half, she wasn''t wearing any underwear down there.


    It waspletely revealed the moment that I ripped her pants.


    Without any hesitation, I opened the zipper of my pants and pulled my thing out as well. But I didn''t thrust into her right away as I just held her over it.


    Being held like this, Sasha could feel the heat that wasing from it and it drove her even more insane.


    It was like having something be right within your range and not be able to get it.


    This feeling was just like torture for her and she couldn''t take it anymore.


    So she begged, "Please give it to me. Please put it deep into me and mess this slut up! I''m begging you, I don''t care anymore!"


    With this, I revealed an evil smile and brought her down atop my dick.


    As soon as I pushed her down, I couldn''t help being shocked by the pleasure that followed.


    She was right, I was a virgin, so I didn''t have any experience at all.


    So the first time¡­was just too much for me.


    I didn''t know what I was doing since it was my first time, but I at least knew to push it in and pull it out.


    But after pushing it in just a bit, I couldn''t control myself.


    I was alreadying close to climaxing¡­


    It was just too much for a virgin like me¡­


    She was someone who had clearly done it many times, but it was still so tight inside of her. As I pushed my dick in, I could feel the walls of her pussy wrapping around me tightly, giving me pleasure with each inch I moved in.


    It was finally too much for me and I was about to climax.


    It was just a good thing that she also couldn''t control herself with all the lust that I had instilled into her with my Eyes of Lust.


    So when I came all of a sudden, she said, "Ah, it''s so hot! I''m cumming too!"


    Since I was holding her up like this, she released a spray right out in front of her that almost seemed like it would create a rainbow.


    One of the men was unlucky enough to be standing in that direction¡­so he was hit by a bit of that spray which made his face twist.


    After I finished pumping my load into her, I pulled my dick out and there was a white liquid that dripped down from between her crotch, falling to the ground.


    I let her go and she dropped to the ground, falling face first, but Sasha didn''t care at all since she had been lost in the pleasure of that climax.


    I ignored her and turned to look at the leader, but I found that there was a faint smile on his face.


    I couldn''t help being confused when I saw this, so I said, "Speak."


    After saying this, the leader found that he was able to move his lips again, so he said with a smirk, "You onlysted that long? You came right as soon as you put it into her, you really are a virgin."


    He didn''t say anything else as he startedughing.


    It was almost as if he was using thisughter to drown out the pain in his heart.


    But all this did was serve to enrage me even further.


    So what if I was a virgin?


    Was that something to be ashamed of?


    Everyone had their first time and even if mine was a bitte, it had stille!


    Since he wasughing at me like this, it seemed like he could take even more punishment¡­


    So with a simple "silence", I ignored him and turned my attention back to Sasha lying there.


    When the leader realized what I was going to do, the look of joy in his eyes disappeared and his eyes opened wide again.


    I grabbed her by the hair and said, "Rest time is over."

 Chapter 27: Monster (5)

    Again and again, I made Sasha cum in front of the faces of these men.


    At first, I wasn''t able to do much with my technique and made up for it with the Eyes of Lust.


    But as I became more and more familiar with her body, as well as what she enjoyed, I was able tost much longer and longer. Though that was also because I was slowly running out of cum in the first ce from doing it so much.


    With each time that I made her cum, the more the face of the leader twisted.


    It was clear that his heart was being ripped apart as he saw this girl that he thought was his being vited like this.


    His rage was slowly consuming him and he was losing his mind.


    Whether he broke or not¡­that was uncertain, but there was no doubt that his mind was being pushed to the edge like this.


    Finally, I stopped when I felt like I was running out of stamina.


    I could see that these people were about close to being drained, so there was no need for me to continue.


    So I just tossed Sasha onto the ground and stood up to walk over to the leader.


    As I stood there in front of him, I looked closely at his face. I looked right into his eyes to see if he was in the right condition for what I wanted to do and it seemed like it was about right.


    So I said, "Speak."


    The moment that I did, the leader immediately roared out, "You and that slut are both dead! I swear, I will rip you all to pieces!"


    Even though he threatened me with such a powerful voice, I didn''t feel any fear at all,


    That was because I knew that he wouldn''t be able to do a thing to me.


    I just ignored the shouting of the leader and said, "From now on, I am your master."


    The roaring suddenly stopped as the leader looked at me with a confused look before he suddenly shouted, "What kind of nonsense are you saying? You want to be my master? I will rip you to pieces!"


    I knitted my brows when I heard this.


    I had thought that anger would be enough to break his mind, but it seemed that this anger had actually strengthened it instead.


    Now there was only the focus that the anger gave him that made him want to rip me apart with his bare hands.


    I thought that he would be a broken man because of this anger, but it seemed that it had backfired.


    So should I try something else?


    But before I could think of anything else to do, there was a sharp howl that cut through the air.


    The moment that this howl rang out, I immediately turned in the direction of it to find that there was arge wolf that was there.


    This wolf¡­was bigger than any wolf that I had seen before. At the same time, I could feel that sense of danger that wasing from this wolf.


    It was clear that this wolf wasn''t a normal monster.


    So without hesitation, I used the Time Stop.


    I picked Sasha off the ground and quickly disappeared from this area.


    When I released the Time Stop, we had already moved over a hundred meters away.


    I could still see the faint outlines in the distance.


    As for the leader, when he saw that I had suddenly disappeared from in front of him, he couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    He had also seen the giant wolf that had appeared and he could feel the danger that came from it.


    The problem was¡­they still couldn''t move their bodies¡­


    So the leader immediately shouted out, "Wait! Let us go!"


    But there was no one to respond to this.


    All that this did was draw the attention of the giant wolf to them.


    The giant wolf had been looking at Lin Fan, but when he suddenly disappeared, the giant wolf had tried to find him.


    But then, the leader shouted out at this time which drew the giant wolf''s attention back to him.


    At this, the giant wolf decided to forget about Lin Fan and focus on the meal in front of it.


    The leader realized his mistake and closed his mouth, but it was already toote.


    The giant wolf was already moving towards them with its jaw open and drooling out of it.


    It was clear that the giant wolf was nning on eating them¡­


    The leader knew that there was no point in closing his mouth anymore, so he shouted, "Save us! We''ll do anything you want if you save us!"


    But there was no response that came.


    The leader quickly looked around with his limited vision to find Lin Fan and eventually, he was able to see him in the distance.


    With his strengthened eyesight, he could still see Lin Fan''s face while he was standing so far away.


    A smile, the smile of a demon was on Lin Fan''s face.


    At this, the leader realized that they had provoked a monster¡­


    He was someone that didn''t care about what happened to them, he was just using them for his own purposes¡­


    In the end, they could only me themselves for picking on the wrong person.


    Thest thing that the leader saw was the fangs of the wolf closing in around his head.


    With one bite, the giant wolf bit off the leader''s head and his decapitated body fell to the floor, sshing blood all over.


    ¡­


    In the distance, I was able to see the bloody deaths of these thugs.


    I did feel a bit nauseous seeing this since it was my first time seeing this kind of gruesome death, but there was no guilt in my heart at all.


    After all, these people were bad people that robbed others.


    They would even drug and kill people, so there was no need to feel guilty about cleaning up this trash.


    But one thing that I realized was why this ce was a safe zone.


    That giant wolf was a hidden elite monster of this dungeon, so this ce was its territory. Because of that, the weaker monsters didn''t approach this ce, which was why I hadn''t met a single one while resting there.


    The sound that we made must have awakened this giant wolf in the end.


    For now though, I shouldn''t stay here any longer.


    So I once again activated the Time Stop skill and walked off with Sasha in my arms.

 Chapter 28: Domination

    I made sure that I couldn''t see the giant wolf anymore before finally releasing the Time Stop skill and settling down.


    I found another safe area for us to hide in before setting Sasha onto the ground.


    During the entire time, she had a dazed look on her face as if she had no idea what had happened.


    She didn''t even seem to care that the people that she had worked with had all been killed by the giant wolf.


    There was only that look of pleasure that was on her face.


    But I didn''t mind this since this was what I had wanted to see in the first ce.


    After setting her down, I looked at  her for a bit before leaning in to p her on the face.


    With that p, she was snapped out of her daze and asked, "What''s going¡­"


    Before she could finish her words, I suddenly said, "I am your master now."


    Sasha''s mouth froze and her eyes suddenly dimmed before she said, "Yes, master."


    Seeing the empty look in her eyes, I immediately recognized that I had seeded. It was clear that her will had been broken and she hadpletely fallen under the control of the Hypnosis skill.


    So it seemed that I could use the Hypnosis skill to induce personality changes in people, it all depended on how I broke their will or influenced them before giving the suggestion.


    Of course, I wouldn''t be able to do the same thing as I did with Sasha each time, but this possibility gave me many ideas.


    It was impossible to achieve my goals in this world by myself, so I would need to get more and more people on my side.


    With this discovery, it would be much easier for me to do what I wanted in the future.


    If I were to take control of some awakeners, I would be able to protect myself even if my identity was exposed.


    I even started having dreams about taking over A Rankers and S Rankers in the future.


    But I quickly snapped myself out of that dream.


    It was still quite far away in the future, so I shouldn''t let myself get lost in this fantasy. After all, just a single misstep right now would mean death for me if my identity was discovered.


    So I shouldn''t be dreaming about these big things and should be focusing on the small things I should do right now.


    For example, I should figure out a way to hide what had happened with those men just now.


    Sasha would be leaving with me and we needed toe up with some kind of cover story to exin how she looked.


    So I looked at her and moved a few steps back before saying, "Come over here."


    Sasha stood up in an almost mechanical manner and walked over to me like a robot.


    I slightly knitted my brows when I saw this.


    If she acted this way, it would make it very clear that something was controlling her. If this was discovered by the people from the Awakener Association guarding the entrance of this dungeon, they would immediately detain her.


    They would suspect her of either being controlled by some kind of monster¡­or being controlled by me.


    I couldn''t let that happen, so I said, "Act more like the way that you used to."


    When Sasha heard this, she froze on the spot. Then her body shook a few times before she finally revealed a wide smile.


    I was surprised by this sudden transformation since it waspletely different from before.


    I quickly gave her a few orders to test her out and I found that she was acting like a normal human once again. She wasn''t like that mechanical doll that I had ordered around just a few minutes ago.


    This would without a doubt be enough to fool the guards that were outside, but to make sure that everything went smoothly, I would need to take a few more precautions. At the same time, I wanted to run a few more tests to see how useful this kind of mind control would be.


    So I said, "Alright, here''s the n¡­"


    ¡­


    When she woke up, Sasha found that she was in apletely empty space.


    She looked around herself, trying to find a way out of this pitch ck world, but she found that she wasn''t able to find a single thing around her.


    After a while, she finally said, "Hello? Is anyone there? Can you please tell me where I am?"


    Her voice echoed off into the distance, but there was no response that came.


    There was only silence that met her questions.


    Since there was nothing here, she tried her best to remember what had happened.


    Thest thing that she remembered was that¡­she had been drowning in pleasure.


    No, it wasn''t just that.


    It was that strange person that she had met, the one that she had tried to rob with her man.


    But then everything had changed when he used those strange abilities.


    She had been filled with a fire that she hadn''t been able to control and she had allowed him to do whatever he wanted with her body, drowning her in pleasure.


    After all of that pleasure, she had lost consciousness and when she woke up, she found herself in this ce.


    What had happened when she had lost consciousness?


    Once again, her attention was drawn back to this empty world around her.


    But then she suddenly realized something.


    Since this was a pitch ck world, just why was she able to see anything?


    Shouldn''t it be pitch ck?


    However, there was this faint light that filled this world that allowed her to see still.


    Where was this faint lighting from?


    She looked around herself again for the source of this faint light, but she wasn''t able to find a single thing¡­that is until she suddenly looked up above her and found the screen that was above her head, lighting up this world around her.


    But what was this screen?

 Chapter 29: Questioned (1)

    After discovering the screen, Sasha looked carefully at it to see just what was on this screen.


    She couldn''t see it clearly at first, but the more she looked at it, the clearer the picture became.


    It was a scene of the dungeon and in front of her was¡­that terrifying person.


    He just looked at her as he mouthed something, but she couldn''t hear any sounding from the screen.


    She tried her best to read his lips, but she wasn''t able to understand a single thing.


    All she saw was that after he said something, the field of view would change and there would either be a pair of arms or some legs that appeared in this field of view..


    With the way that these limbs appeared in the field of view, it was clear that they belonged to whoever this field of view belonged to.


    Sasha didn''t understand what was happening at first, but then she saw something that made her understand.


    On the arm of the person this field of view belonged to¡­there was a tattoo that she recognized. That was because this was the tattoo that she had gotten when she had turned eighteen, the first tattoo that she had ever gotten.


    She looked more carefully at the other limbs and found that the other tattoos on them were also ones that she recognized¡­


    All of these were her tattoos!


    That meant that the field of view that she was currently looking at was her own field of view.


    However, she wasn''t able to control a single thing about it.


    It was like she was locked up from the outside world.


    After taking a moment to think about it, she slowly began to realize what was happening¡­


    She had been trapped in her own mind.


    She didn''t know how that Lin Fan had done it, but she was now trapped in her own mind and he was controlling her body like a puppet!


    "Let me out!" She shouted at the screen when she realized what had happened, but there wasn''t a single response.


    When she saw that it was all useless, she started running around, looking for a way out of this ce. However, no matter how she ran, nothing seemed to change. Even the screen above her was still the same as before, almost as if it was following her.


    Slowly, she became exhausted from running and fell to the ground panting.


    Once she caught her breath, thest string of tension cut and she broke out in tears as she cried, "Please let me out! I''ll do whatever you want! Please let me out!"


    But there was only silence that met these cries.


    ¡­


    When we came out of the dungeon, as one had expected, we were immediately detained by the guards from the Awakener Association.


    After all, Sasha''s appearance made it clear that something had happened.


    It was just a good thing that I was able to find a piece of cloth for her, or she would have had toe out with her ripped clothes.


    As for where that piece of cloth came from, that was the biggest surprise.


    When I had been going through Sasha''s things, I found that she had a Storage Ring hidden.


    This Storage Ring wasn''t just a normal item, it was a super item that would make countless people drool over it. That was because it was the ultimate luggage item that one could have.


    As the name suggested, it was a ring used for storage, but it wasn''t just any normal form of storage.


    It was spatial storage.


    These were special rings that were brought back from the dungeons that had special extradimensional spaces in them. This allowed one to hold many things that would be hard to carry if they had to carry it themselves.


    The Storage Ring that Sasha had had a storage of two square meters and was already filled with things that she had put in.


    Since there was limited space, she didn''t put that much stuff in and she didn''t have a second outfit. Luckily, there was this cloth in there that should be a face washing cloth that I used to cover her lower half up.


    Once we came out, the guards immediately came forward to ask if we were alright before asking us to follow them for questioning.


    As we walked to the guard station, I could feel the gazes that were on me.


    Even though we both looked ragged, Sasha''s clothes had been ripped. One would think that I was the one that did this to her, which was why everyone looked at me with sharp gazes.


    Even the guards peeked at me with sharp gazes from time to time.


    But I just ignored all of them and followed the guards to the guard station.


    Once we arrived, we were brought into separate questioning rooms.


    It seemed that they were afraid that I was the perpetrator and Sasha was the victim, so they wanted to separate us to allow Sasha to confess freely.


    This was made even more clear when the guards who came to question me came in with a bowl of katsudon.


    This was a move that was seen quite a lot in Japanese detective dramas, but to see it in real life really was something else.


    After the guard set the katsudon down, he said, "Let''s not make this long. Just tell us what happened and we''ll be sure to help you. If you confess now, I''ll make sure you get a lighter sentence."


    With a bitter smile, I said, "I think there''s some kind of mistake here."


    The guard pped the table and said, "What kind of mistake could there be when there''s a beautiful girl in that state?"


    The bitter smile on my lips became wider. After a pause, I said, "Shouldn''t you try to listen to what I have to say beforeing up with these judgments?"


    The guard realized what he was doing, so he gave a cough and said, "Right, let''s hear what happened then."

 Chapter 30: Questioned (2)

    Over the next half an hour, I gave them an ount of what had happened in the dungeon.


    Or rather, I gave them an ount of the story that I hade up with for what happened in the dungeon.


    The guards just knitted their brows as they listened to my story and by the end of it, they just looked at me in silence.


    During this time, the katsudon hadpletely gone cold, but no one paid any attention to it.


    When I was done with my story though, I felt that I was a bit hungry again since it was already gettingte, so I turned my attention to it. However, when I tried reaching for it, the guard that had sat down in front of me reached out to take it away from me.


    I looked at the guard and saw that he was looking at me with narrowed eyes, as if he was trying to size me up.


    We just sat there in silence for a bit before this guard suddenly stood up and said, "Wait here. We''ll go confirm a few things before deciding what to do with you."


    Without even giving me a chance to say anything, this guard and the other two guards who had been in the room suddenly turned around and walked out. I was left all alone in the room and even the katsudon had been taken away.


    So the only thing that I could do was wait.


    However, I wasn''t worried at all since I had already nned for everything.


    I had made sure that everything they could check on had already been covered. They wouldn''t be able to find a single thing wrong with my story.


    Well¡­it was possible that they might find out that Sasha was under my control¡­


    That was the one and only thing that I was worried about, but there was nothing else I could do about this. If I didn''t control her, she would reveal everything¡­so all I could do was hope that she would remain under my control and it wasn''t discovered.


    For now, all I could do was sit here and wait in silence.


    After they left the room, one of the two guards beside the guard captain who came to interview Lin Fan asked, "Sir, do you believe his story?"


    The guard captain had his brows knitted the whole time as they walked out, so they thought that he had noticed that something was off.


    But the guard captain just said, "We''ll know when we double check with the girl''s story. Also, the group that was sent into the dungeon should be reporting back soon."


    The guards couldn''t help revealing strange looks when they heard this because they could hear that something was off in the guard captain''s voice.


    The guard captain noticed the way that they were looking at him, so he said, "There''s something off about the way that he said it. It didn''t seem like he was lying, but it also didn''t seem like he was telling the truth¡­"


    He let his voice trail off as he said this.


    Then he said, "Come, let''s go see what the other witness has to say."


    ¡­


    An hourter, the guards finally came back to my room.


    The two guards moved to the side to stand on guard while the one in the middle sat down again.


    When he looked at me, it was clear that his expression was different.


    It was as if there was more trust in his eyes now and even a bit of admiration.


    I revealed a confused and surprised look when I saw this.


    The guard reached out and patted me on the shoulder before saying, "We''ve already checked everything and you''re free to go. You''ve done a very good job saving her and escaping from the dungeon."


    The confused and surprised look on my face became even stronger, but the guards didn''t mind.


    The guard waved for me to stand up and I was led out to the front of this guard station.


    There I found that Sasha was waiting for me, but she had been given new clothes.


    When she saw me, she came over without hesitation and hugged me.


    The moment that they saw this, the other guards that were standing around in this ce all narrowed their eyes to look at me.


    I could feel the sting that wasing from their gazes, but I ignored it all.


    I just took advantage of this and moved closer to Sasha to say, "Come find me tomorrow at the address I told you. Don''t attract any suspicion and just follow your normal routine until you cane and see me."


    After that, I moved away from her.


    When I did, I heard a soft voice say, "Yes, master."


    At the same time, there was a blush that appeared on her face after I moved away.


    When the guards around us saw this, they all couldn''t help ring at me again, but I ignored all of these res and just turned to walk out.


    Sasha was about to follow behind me, but then she stopped and stood there as she watched me leave.


    When the guards saw this, they red at me even harder until I left the guard station.


    There were a few of them that had wanted to go up to Sasha tofort her, but she left before any of them could do a thing.


    All that was left was a sad feeling in the guards as they watched her leave.


    It seemed that the heroes who saved beauties would always get the girls and they would be lonely dogs forever¡­


    After we left, the guard captain picked up the report on the table and said, "Who would have thought that such an event would have happened today?"


    One of the guards beside him said, "It''s not that rare, but it sure isn''t a good sign."


    The guard captain gave a nod before saying, "It''s just another report for the system."

 Chapter 31: Police report

    Xia Tian suddenly burst into the room that Ling Yue had been using and dropped a report down on the table.


    Ling Yue looked at the report before looking up at him with a confused look and asking, "What is this?"


    Xia Tian didn''t give an answer and just mysteriously said, "Read it and you''ll find out."


    Ling Yue revealed an even more confused look, but she still picked up the report and read it.


    She had a calm look on her face at first, but she couldn''t help slightly knitting her brows after reading it.


    Once she finished reading it, she put the folder down and sat there in silence.


    Xia Tian just kept his eyes on her, waiting for her reaction.


    After a long silence, Ling Yue said, "What happened to him? Is he alright?"


    Xia Tian couldn''t help being caught off guard by this response since it was one that he never expected. He then knitted his brows and said, "Didn''t you read the report properly?"


    Ling Yue just calmly said, "I''ve read it, that''s why I''m asking this."


    Xia Tian knitted his brows even more when he heard this, but he still said, "I called and they said that he was released without a problem."


    Ling Yue let out a sigh of relief when she heard this, but that just went to making Xia Tian knit his brows even more, causing a big frown to appear on his face.


    After a long moment of silence, he asked, "Why are you acting like this? Can''t you see the bigger picture?"


    Ling Yue looked at Xia Tian with a confused look before asking, "What do you mean bigger picture? All I see here is a dungeon ident report."


    The report that Xia Tian had brought to her was the dungeon ident report for Lin Fan and Sasha.


    This was the report that the guard captain had mentioned putting into the system.


    This system was shared between the police and the Awakener Association just in case they needed to investigate matters in the dungeon. So the police would be able to ess the reports that were made after any idents in the dungeon like this.


    Xia Tian had been suspicious of Lin Fan since thest matter, so he had asked a friend for a favour.


    Now if anything rted to Lin Fan reached their system, he would immediately get a notification.


    After a long pause, Xia Tian said, "It''s too much of a coincidence that two reports rted to him came in after two days. It''s clear that he must be involved in both this matter and the previous matter. Why can''t you see this?"


    The moment that Ling Yue heard this, she immediately knitted her brows.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at Xia Tian before saying, "Why are you like this? Why do you keep insisting that he''s guilty? No matter how you look at it, this boy is quite pitiful since he keeps getting involved in these kinds of incidents."


    Xia Tian knitted his brows again when he heard this.


    Then he mmed his hand on the table and said, "I''m going to revise the report right now. It''s clear that he''s the one who caused the incident."


    The report that he was referring to was the report that they had submitted about the Wang Bing murder.


    In the end, they could only report that it was fighting amongst themselves that had caused that matter. That was why Wang Bing and his followers had all died.


    While they weren''t happy about this since it seemed like this was just an easy way to tie up loose ends, they had no choice on this matter. It was either turn in the report or lose their jobs.


    Plus, they had more than enough evidence to support this, so they were justified in doing this.


    But they both felt that this crime was almost too perfect that it seemed like they were missing something.


    That was why Xia Tian kept trying to prove Lin Fan guilty.


    But Ling Yue didn''t feel the same.


    She pped the table and said, "Xia Tian, is this all your sense of justice is worth? You would rather frame an innocent person than find the actual culprit?"


    Xia Tian also pped the table and said, "How can you still not see this? It''s clear that he''s the culprit!"


    Ling Yue narrowed her eyes and moved right in front of Xia Tian before saying, "If you do this, I will do all that I can to go against you. I don''t mind if we both get fired."


    Xia Tian couldn''t help trembling since he had never heard such a fierce tone from Ling Yue before. Even as childhood friends, he had never heard her take this tone with him.


    When he heard it, he couldn''t help feeling a tinge of pain in his heart.


    So after a long silence, Xia Tian finally said with a sigh, "Alright, I''ll go over the report again and see if I can find anything."


    Without waiting for Ling Yue to reply, he quickly left the room.


    He was afraid that if he said anything else, he would just make her angry and that was thest thing that he wanted.


    But of course, in his mind¡­he still considered Lin Fan guilty.


    Once Xia Tian was gone, Ling Yue also gave a sigh before picking up the report from the table.


    She went over it again before putting it down with another sigh.


    She couldn''t help thinking of Lin Fan and how he had acted when she had seen him this morning.


    In the past, Ling Yue had been in a simr ce as Lin Fan, so she knew what he had been feeling.


    That was why she had felt pity for him when she had met him and heard his story.


    But for some reason that she couldn''t understand, he had been on her mind the entire day.


    It was as if there was something about him that drew her in.


    She suddenly said, "Maybe I should go and check on him tomorrow¡­"

 Chapter 32: Sudden visit

    When I finally got home, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh of relief.


    It was only when I finally entered my apartment that all of the strings of tension were cut and I was able to rx again.


    There wasn''t a single moment where I thought that this was how this trip to the dungeon would turn out.


    After all, no one would ever think that they would be targeted by humans when they entered the dungeon. They would expect monsters toe after them, but humans¡­


    It seemed that human hearts really were the darkest sometimes.


    For now, all I wanted to do was sleep and that was what I did. The moment that my head hit the pillow, I immediately entered thend of sleep.


    When I woke up in the morning, I didn''t wake up on my own.


    But rather, I was woken up by the ringing of the doorbell.


    I opened my eyes to look at my phone and found that it was way too early. It was only five in the morning and someone was already ringing at my doorbell.


    I had thought about ignoring them, but it didn''t seem like they would give up¡­


    So I had no choice but to open the door to see who it was.


    When I did, I was surprised to find that Sasha was standing there.


    She was about toe forward and hug me, but I raised my hand and asked, "What are you doing here so early?"


    She just replied with a smile, "Master said toe as soon as I could, so I came as soon as I could."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows even more when I heard this before asking, "Did you really think thating this early wouldn''t raise suspicion? What would the people who know you think?"


    Sasha just said with the same smile, "There''s no one like that in my life."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this.


    I had assumed that her life was bad because of thepany that she had and the lifestyle that she chose, but I never thought that it would actually be that bad.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Alright, you cane in."


    With the same smile on her face, Sasha walked into my apartment.


    Once the door was closed, her hands came up and she started loosening her clothes before saying, "So master, are we going to have some fun now?"


    I couldn''t help being taken aback again by this sudden proposition from her, but then I quickly said, "Stop it."


    When I gave this order, Sasha seemed to suddenly freeze before a nk expression appeared on her face and she stood at attention in front of me. With that expression on her face and the way that she stood, it was almost as if she was some kind of doll.


    I looked at her with a surprised look when I saw her acting like this before suddenly understanding why she became like this.


    I gave a sigh before saying, "Just act normally, but stop ying around."


    With this order, the smile returned to Sasha''s face and she walked over to the sofa to sit down. As she sat there, she didn''t forget to sit in very specific positions that would reveal parts of her body, almost as if she was provoking me.


    I gave a sigh seeing this before thinking, "This girl really is hard to control."


    But there was nothing that I could do about this. I had already risked so much to control this girl and if I didn''t get something back from it, it would all be a waste.


    So I just took a deep breath to calm down before saying, "Tell me what happened yesterday after we were separated."


    Sasha''s provocative look disappeared from her face and she revealed a calm look as she told me everything.


    It was just like what had happened with me, the guards had taken her to a separate room and they had questioned her about what had happened in the dungeon. She told them the story that we had already agreed upon and they left without saying much.


    But there were also a few things that were different.


    One, since she had lost her identification card, they had used a drop of her blood to check her identity.


    This was a special item that each Awakener Association branch had since they were the ones that issued Awakener licenses in the first ce. So they were able to quickly find her identification.


    Second, because she had registered going in with those men who had died in the dungeon, they had reported to her that they had found their corpses in the dungeon.


    They had offered her condolences for this and she had acted out her part as the grieving ally, but that was it.


    After hearing all of this, I suddenly asked, "Did the guards act in any special way while questioning you? Did they look at you in a special way?"


    Sasha tilted her head to think for a bit before saying with a shake of her head, "They didn''t seem like they suspected anything. In fact, they just looked at me with looks of condolence."


    I gave a nod before falling silent.


    It seemed that they didn''t suspect anything, but I wouldn''t let my guard down that easily.


    I knew that before all of this settled, it would be better if I didn''t attract any more attention.


    After all, these were two separate incidents in just two days¡­people might get suspicious at this rate.


    Seeing that I was just sitting there silently, Sasha suddenly got off the couch and came over to hook her arms around me before saying, "So now that we''re alone, what should we¡­"


    Before she could finish saying this, the doorbell suddenly rang.


    I turned to look at it before looking at Sasha who was also staring at me. I asked her, "Are you expecting anyone?"


    Sasha shook her head and said, "It''s your house, so why are you asking me this?"


    I just gave an ''oh'' before standing up to look through the peephole.


    I was surprised to find a familiar face through it.

 Chapter 33: Take care of you

    It was Ling Yue, the police detective from before.


    But what was she doing here so early in the morning?


    Was it because of the Wang Bing case from before, or was it because of something else?


    Could it be because of what had happened in the dungeon yesterday?


    Since she was a part of the police, she should be able to ess information rted to this incident. Or it could be said that it should have been directly reported to them just in case they needed it.


    After all, the Awakener Association and the police did work closely together.


    So was she here to investigate me because she was suspicious that I was responsible?


    I couldn''t help feeling fearful, but I also knew that I had to calm myself down.


    If I didn''t, I would make mistakes. At this crucial point, mistakes were thest thing that I could make.


    So I took a deep breath to calm myself down.


    When I moved away from the peephole, Sasha had taken this opening to move forward to take a look through it.


    After seeing who was on the other side, she puffed her cheeks out and pouted her lips before saying, "Master, who is that?"


    I had been pulled out of my thoughts when I heard this, but I realized another problem as I looked at Sasha.


    It was Sasha herself.


    I couldn''t let her stay here while I met the detective, so I had to find a way for her to leave. But the door was blocked by the detective and I lived on a high floor, so it wasn''t as if she could jump out of the window.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying anything, Sasha said, "Master, are you avoiding the¡­"


    Before she could finish, I suddenly covered her mouth and said, "Be quiet. That is a detective outside, she might be here to investigate what happened yesterday. If she sees you with me¡­"


    I didn''t finish the words, but it was clear what I was implying.


    Even if Sasha was yful, she could understand how serious this situation was, so that yful smile on her lips disappeared and it was reced with a serious look as she asked, "What do we do then?"


    I looked around my small apartment before finally saying, "The closet. Go and hide in the closet."


    "Eh?" Sasha raised a brow as if she was doubtful of this n


    Even I was doubtful that this would work, but this was the only thing that would work at this point.


    In truth, I could have used the Time Stop to bring Sasha out of here and I did think of this after the detective left. But I found that I was someone that panicked and couldn''t think as clearly when I was under stress.


    This was definitely something that I would need to fix in the future, but for now¡­


    Back in the present, I pushed Sasha over to the closet and then threw something random on her in an attempt to hide her just in case before saying, "Stay quiet. Understand?"


    Sasha just gave a slight nod before hiding herself away.


    Once she was hidden, I stood outside the closet and took another deep breath to calm myself down.


    However, in the middle of this, the doorbell rang again.


    It seemed that I had no way of avoiding this, so I walked back over to the door and opened it.


    When it opened, I found that the detective had been about to push the doorbell again.


    Seeing that the door opened, Ling Yue pulled her hand back and said with a smile, "Good morning."


    I raised a brow when I heard this before rxing my expression and saying, "Good morning. Is there something that I can help you with?"


    Ling Yue nodded and said, "I heard about what happened yesterday."


    The moment that she said this, I couldn''t stop a shiver from running down my spine. My body was about to jolt, but I was able to control it at thest second.


    Could it be that she really was here to investigate what had happened yesterday in the dungeon?


    If that was the case, should I try to use the Hypnosis skill on her or should I do something more drastic?


    After a pause, Ling Yue said, "Can Ie in and talk to you for a bit?"


    There was another silence that followed before I opened the door fully and said, "Alright, pleasee in."


    As Ling Yue came in, I said, "I''m sorry about the mess. I was dead tiredst night after what happened, so I didn''t have time to clean. I just woke up, so I didn''t have time to tidy up this morning."


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "No, no, it''s my fault for bothering you this morning."


    Yes, it was very early, but this was the only time that she coulde since she hade in her private time. She wasn''t on duty as a police officer, but she hade to meet him on her own ord.


    She didn''t know why she did this¡­but there was something that hadpelled her to do that.


    After Ling Yue sat down, I said, "Do you want some tea or something?"


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "No, no, there''s no need to trouble yourself like that. I just came because I wanted to have a small talk with you."


    "Oh." I said before sitting down in front of her.


    There was an awkward silence that filled the air after I sat down, but Ling Yue broke it in the end by saying, "So how are you feeling after yesterday''s incident?"


    I was caught off guard by this sudden question, but I still said, "I¡­I''m alright."


    Because I had been caught off guard, there was a slight stutter to my voice.


    When Ling Yue heard this, she couldn''t help knitting her brows as a bit of worry appeared in her eyes.


    At this, she took a deep breath before suddenly saying, "Can I ask you one thing?"


    I was once again caught off guard by this, but I gave a slight nod and said, "Alright."


    Ling Yue looked right into my eyes before saying, "Can you let me take care of you?"

 Chapter 34: Big sister

    "Huh?" That was the only response that I could give in response to this.


    Ling Yue saw the confused look on my face and quickly waved her hand as she said, "It isn''t anything strange at all. I just simply want to take care of you."


    Though she said this, she didn''t exin any further what she meant by this.


    But the look on her face made it seem like she didn''t know how to exin this any further either.


    There was a long and awkward silence that filled the air until I finally asked, "Um, can you exin what you mean by taking care of me?"


    Ling Yue revealed an awkward look as she tried to figure out what to say, but in the end, she just said, "It''s taking care of you, kind of like a big sister."


    "Huh?" I was even more confused when I heard this.


    Finally, Ling Yue seemed to have thought of something as she said, "You know how you keep getting caught up in these events. I''m sure that they have affected you mentally in some way or another, right?"


    I was even more confused, but I still gave a nod since it seemed like the easiest way to handle this.


    Seeing this, Ling Yue''s eyes lit up as she said, "So basically, what I''m saying is that I''ll be checking up on you from time to time to see how you are doing. This is just part of my job as a police officer, so it isn''t anything weird at all."


    I couldn''t help raising a brow as I looked at her with a doubtful look.


    When Ling Yue saw this, she revealed an awkward smile, but she didn''t turn away from my gaze.


    Finally, I said, "Alright." Then with a bow, I said, "I''ll be looking forward to working with you in the future."


    Ling Yue quickly gave a nod and bowed to me as well before saying, "I''m looking forward to working with you too."


    After that, she turned to the side and couldn''t help letting out a secret sigh of relief as she patted her chest.


    She didn''t know what hade over her to make her say these things, but it was just a good thing that she had figured out a way to exin her actions. If she didn''t¡­it would be very hard for her to see this young man again and she didn''t want that.


    She didn''t know what it was, but there was a small part of her that wanted to see this young man she had just met two days ago more.


    Was it because she wanted to protect him, or was it something else?


    As for me, I couldn''t help letting out a secret sigh of relief as well.


    It seemed like she wasn''t here to investigate the fact that I was involved in the incident yesterday. It seemed that she was here for something else, which was confusing to me, but it didn''t seem like it was a bad thing.


    After all, building a rtionship with the police was always a good thing.


    It would not only be a good source of information, it would also be useful when I was in danger.


    So I already had the idea of putting this female detective under my mind control as well.


    But before that, I had to take it slow since I couldn''t use the same extreme methods that I had used with Sasha.


    So first, I had to figure out a way to contact her.


    I took out my phone and said, "Should we exchange contact information then?"


    Ling Yue was caught off guard by how forward I was, but she didn''t waste any time in taking out her phone and nodding her head.


    Just like this, we were able to smoothly exchange contact information.


    When we did so, I could see that Ling Yue was peeking at my phone, as if she wanted to see how many contacts I had.


    I didn''t have anything to hide since I only had a few contacts in the first ce.


    Also, I hadn''t added Sasha to my contacts yet.


    I would have if Ling Yue didn''t show up, so it was a good thing that she showed up early instead ofte.


    Once we had exchanged contacts, the first thing that she did was call me.


    As soon as it rang, she hung up right away and took my phone out of my hand. Then after pressing a few buttons, she gave it back while saying, "I''ve set myself up as your number one speed dial. You just have to dial one and it''ll call me."


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a very strange look after hearing this, but I still gave a nod in response.


    Seeing this, Ling Yue''s eyes lit up and she revealed a wide smile.


    Then after hesitating a bit, she said, "Can I ask you for something?"


    I couldn''t help feeling very strange when I heard this, but against my better judgement, I still gave a nod.


    Ling Yue looked at me with shining eyes as she said, "Can you call me big sister?"


    I really didn''t know how to react in this situation, but seeing the passionate way that she looked at me, I really didn''t know how to say no¡­


    So I just said in a small voice, "Big sister."


    Ling Yue didn''t hold back at all as she suddenly came forward to take me in her arms, pressing my face up against her chest. The soft feeling that came from it really was something else¡­


    She was by no means small, so it was like being pressed into an airbag¡­


    But what I paid attention to was something else¡­


    "Don''t worry, big sister will protect you. That stinky Xia Tian, he wants to betray his sense of justice and frame an innocent victim as the criminal. I won''t let things go his way." Ling Yue muttered this, but I was still able to hear it since I was so close to her.


    It turned out that the other detective from before, the male one, still thought that I was guilty¡­


    It seemed that I would have to do something about it¡­

 Chapter 35: Next steps

    After hugging me for a bit, Ling Yue suddenly realized her mistake and let me go.


    She quickly said, "I''m sorry, I was too excited that I couldn''t control myself. I didn''t mean anything by it¡­"


    As her voice trailed off, there was a blush and an awkward look that appeared on her face.


    At the same time, there was an awkward silence that filled the air.


    But I broke that awkward silence by saying in a soft voice, "It''s alright."


    Then after a pause, I said, "I''ve also wanted a big sister, but I''ve never had one¡­"


    My voice slowly trailed off, but it was clear by the tone of my voice what I meant.


    When she heard this, Ling Yue looked at me with a surprised look. Seeing the look that was on my face, her eyes lit up and she said, "Really?"


    I didn''t answer right away, but after another pause, I said, "My family passed away when I was young¡­so I''ve always been alone. So that''s why I''ve always wanted a big brother or a big sister¡­"


    Before I could say anything else, she suddenly came forward and took me in her arms again as she said, "That''s great! I''ve always wanted a little brother too, but it never happened."


    She just held me in her arms like this and I couldn''t help feeling awkward¡­


    After all, there was a very soft feelinging from in front of me¡­


    When she finally let go, Ling Yue said, "From now on, you can take me as your big sister. If there''s anything you need help with, you can always call your big sister. Even if I don''t look like it, I am quite the reliable person."


    I didn''t react at first, but staring at her smiling at me like this, I eventually gave a slight nod.


    All that did was me another soft hug.


    Since she had finished with her business here, there was no reason for Ling Yue to stay here any longer.


    Not to mention, she hade early in the morning so that she coulde here before work. But with the time that she had already spent here, it was time for her to get back or she would bete for work.


    As she left, she waved her hand at me and said, "Big sister is heading off to work now. If there''s anything that you need, don''t hesitate to call me. I''lle visit you another day."


    I just waved my hand at her with a smile as she walked off.


    Only when she entered the elevator did I go back into my apartment.


    As I stood there in front of the door, I didn''t do a single thing for a few seconds before suddenly letting out a long sigh.


    After all, this was definitely not the way that I had thought this would go.


    I had thought of many different ways that this situation could develop, but this definitely wasn''t one of the ways that I thought this would go¡­


    But the fact that she wanted to be my big sister this badly¡­no matter how I looked at it, it should be because of the Hypnosis skill¡­


    It seemed that even with unconscious actions, I was able to activate the Hypnosis skill against people who interacted with me. With the way that I acted, it gave her this sense of wanting to protect me. However, that was even more amplified because of the Hypnosis skill.


    It seemed that there was still more experimentation that I needed to do with the Hypnosis skill.


    While I was lost in thought, Sasha came out of the closet and walked up to me. However, I didn''t notice her even when she was standing there in front of me since I was so deeply lost in thought.


    She then asked, "Who was that?"


    When I heard her voice, I was pulled out of my thoughts and remembered where I was.


    I looked at her and said, "It was no one special."


    Sasha puffed out her cheeks when she heard this, but Ipletely ignored it as I said, "Give me your phone."


    Sasha was caught off guard by this, but she still took out her phone.


    I then added my contact information in her phone while adding her contact information in mine.


    Since I would be using her in the future, we needed a way to contact each other and the best way was to have each other''s contact information.


    Once I was finished, I casually handed the phone back to her.


    When Sasha took the phone, she quickly opened up her contacts and her eyes lit up when she saw my information. She didn''t waste any time in changing the name for that contact and when I saw that she had changed it to ''master'', I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    But I also gave a cough to calm myself down before saying, "Alright, from now on, you shouldn''t contact me unnecessarily. Also, I''ll need you to¡­"


    ¡­


    After I had finished giving Sasha her orders, she left my apartment.


    As she left, she puffed her cheeks again and teased, "But we didn''t get to have any fun."


    Without any hesitation, I mmed the door in her face without even sending her off.


    This girl¡­she really didn''t think about the neighbours at all.


    Sasha didn''t mind it and just happily walked off while humming a tune. I could hear it from my apartment as she walked off to the elevator.


    Once she was gone, I gave another sigh before saying, "What should I do now?"


    I couldn''t go into another dungeon because of what happened yesterday.


    If I did go into another dungeon and attracted another problem like this, wouldn''t that be casting even more suspicion on me?


    But I just couldn''t do nothing since I still needed money


    At the same time, I wanted to see if I could find a way to get closer to stronger Awakeners.


    If I were able to control them like I did Sasha¡­would I have anything to fear in the future?


    I took out my phone and looked at the job ads as I said, "What should I do now?"

 Chapter 36: Porter

    "Lin Fan, can youe and help over here?" The team leader called out to me.


    When I heard this, I immediately looked up and waved my hand while saying, "Got it! I''ll be there right away!"


    Then I dropped off the monster corpse that I had been carrying and walked over to the team leader.


    In front of the team leader and several other members of the team was arge orc.


    This orc was much bigger than any of us, so naturally it took a lot of us to carry.


    In fact, this orc was even bigger than normal orcs, which was why it took so many of us.


    "One, two, three!"


    On three, all of us suddenly lifted the orc up and we carefully carried it onto the butchering table. Once we set it down, the butchers grabbed their knives and set off to work while we headed off to carry the next load of monsters.


    The team leader came over and pped me on the back as he said whileughing, "Lin Fan, you really are something else! When others join our team, they always ck off, but you''re just always ready to work and help others! It''d be great if you could work for us forever."


    I just nodded with a smile on my face and just casually responded with a few polite words.


    The work that he was talking about was as a porter.


    That was the part time job that I had taken.


    Porters were those that carried monsters or drops for Awakeners after hunts.


    It was a very important support job, but since porters didn''t fight, or rather most porters weren''t able to fight, people looked down on them.


    Still, the porter job was a well paying one since it was still working with monsters and there was a factor of risk to it. Unless one was given properpensation, there wouldn''t be that many people who would be willing to take this job.


    However, this was a job that only required physical strength, so anyone was allowed to do it. Even those that didn''t awaken or those that had terrible skills like me were allowed to take this job.


    It all depended on how hard one worked.


    As we walked over to the next batch, the leader put his hand over his eyes to block the sun before looking at the pile of orcs that were in front of us. He gave a sigh before saying, "Those Awakeners really don''t hold back at all. They don''t care about us porters and just tell us what to do. It seems like we have another day of overtime ahead of us."


    After he said this, the other porters on our team all gave a sigh.


    Seeing this, the team leader said, "Alright, alright, let''s notin. At the very least, we''ll get overtime pay and I''ll make sure to get some proper takeout for everyone."


    When they heard this, the porters all revealed excited looks as they cheered for the team leader.


    I also looked at the team leader with a look of admiration.


    In the week that I''ve been on this job, I''ve seen many different teams of porters and team leaders.


    The team leaders of the other teams werepletely different from our team leader.


    Some of them just kept their heads down and did their jobs without caring about their team. Others let their positions as team leaders go to their head and they started looking down on their subordinates, acting just as badly as the Awakeners.


    The former was better than thetter, but those teams were not good to work for.


    I had seen the bitter looks on the faces of the members of those teams, it was clear that they didn''t enjoy working here. The only reason they didn''t quit was because they needed the money, so they sucked it up and worked hard even if they weren''t appreciated.


    We were about to go pick up another orc corpse when a voice suddenly said, "Yo, look at all of these bottom feeders here. They''re just collecting scraps from the monsters that we killed."


    When we heard this, our team members knitted their brows.


    But the team leader revealed a smile as he turned to the one that spoke and said, "Sir Awakener, it''s an honour to talk to you."


    The young man who was in tank armour looked down at the team leader from the pile of orc corpses and said, "Ha, look at that smile. I bet I could cut off one of his arms and he would still thank us."


    The other young Awakeners who were with him all startedughing at this.


    I could see that it wasn''t just me who was getting angry, but all of our team members endured this. The team leader also just gave a smallugh to go along with this young man.


    The young tank suddenly jumped down from the pile of orcs andnded in front of the team leader. He pulled his sword out of his sheathe and then brought it up so that it was right above the team leader''s right shoulder.


    With a smile, the young tank said, "How about we test it out? Let''s see if he still keepsughing if I actually cut his arm off."


    The other awakeners keptughing at this, but the team leader couldn''t keepughing anymore. After all, it was his arm that was being threatened right now.


    The team leader wanted to say something, but the young tank just threatened him with the sword when he was about to say something. It was as if he did say something, the young tank wouldn''t hesitate to cut off his arm.


    So the team leader could only remain silent.


    The young tank was about to do something, but before he could, there was a cold voice that said, "What do you think you''re doing?"


    When the Awakeners heard this, they immediately jolted before turning in the direction the voice came from.


    There was a beautiful young girl with long blue hair and piercing blue eyes standing there with a frown on her beautiful face.

 Chapter 37: Ice Princess

    When they recognized this beautiful blue haired girl, the Awakeners all stood there in a daze.


    However, it was clear by the anxious look in their eyes that they were afraid of her.


    Seeing that none of them said a single thing, the beautiful blue haired girl said again, "I said, what do you think you''re doing?"


    This time, the Awakeners had no choice but to respond.


    The young tank immediately said, "Team leader, we were just giving the porters here a few instructions about how to handle the monster corpses"


    The other Awakeners quickly nodded in agreement to this.


    When the beautiful blue haired girl heard this, she immediately narrowed her eyes to look at the young tank.


    When the young tank felt this gaze fall onto him, he couldn''t help feeling a shiver run down his spine. It was like he had suddenly been cast into a block of ten thousand year old ice that froze him on the spot.


    He didn''t understand why she was looking at him like this, but he did want to get out of this situation.


    Still, since she didn''t say anything, there was nothing that he could say.


    There was an awkward silence that filled the air for a while before the beautiful blue haired girl finally said, "Then why do you have your sword drawn?"


    When he heard this, the young tank couldn''t help revealing a confused expression.


    He didn''t know what she was talking about at first until he remembered that he had been holding his sword at the shoulder of the porter team leader the whole time.


    Since he was so shocked by her appearance, he hadpletely forgotten that he had done this earlier.


    The young tank wanted to pull back the sword he was holding out, but he froze once again when he felt the pressure from the beautiful blue haired girl fall onto him. It was as if she wouldn''t let him move unless she gave him her permission.


    The young tank could only stand there with an awkward look on his face, but his eyes showed that his brain was turning. He was trying his best to think of some kind of excuse for this.


    Then his eyes suddenly lit up as he said, "Team leader, this porter here said that he admired Awakeners and wanted to see my sword. That was why I had my sword out to show him."


    The young tank turned to look at the porter team leader before saying, "Isn''t that right?"


    There was an underlying threatening tone to his voice as he said this.


    The team leader knew what he had to do, so he was about to open his mouth to speak.


    But before he could say anything, the beautiful blue haired girl said in a slow and deliberate voice, "Is that so?"


    The young tank couldn''t help trembling again when he heard this and he opened and closed his mouth several times, but he wasn''t able to say anything in the end.


    The beautiful blue haired girl gave a cold snort and said, "Instead of wasting time here, why don''t you go and kill a few more monsters?"


    When the Awakeners heard this, they couldn''t help revealing a bitter look on their face.


    In fact, they had juste out of the break zone and had been nning on getting some rest. But in the end, they couldn''t defy the order of this beautiful blue haired girl since she outranked them¡­


    So the other Awakeners couldn''t help ring at the young tank when they heard this.


    As for the young tank, there was no one that he could vent to, so the only thing that he could do was re at the porter team leader.


    The porter team leader also couldn''tin to anyone since he knew what the young tank was thinking. The only thing that he could me was his own poor luck to bump into this young tank and the beautiful blue haired girl who made it worse.


    But at the same time, he couldn''t me the beautiful blue haired girl since if she didn''te, he might have lost an arm or worse.


    Seeing that they weren''t moving at all, the beautiful blue haired girl said, "Do I have to talk to the guild master about this?"


    When the Awakeners heard this, they immediately jolted and the young tank said, "Team leader, we''re going!"


    Without saying anything else, the group of Awakeners quickly ran back through the barricade and headed back into the break zone.


    As they were running off, the young tank didn''t forget to re at the porter team leader.


    The porter team leader also didn''t miss this, but there was nothing he could do since the other side was an Awakener while he was a porter.


    Once they were gone, there was another awkward silence that followed since none of the porters knew what to say.


    The one that broke this silence was the beautiful blue haired girl who turned to the porter team leader and asked, "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"


    The porter team leader shook his head in a daze before suddenly reacting and bowing his head to say, "Thank you for your help."


    The beautiful blue haired girl revealed an emotionless look before saying, "It''s nothing, you don''t have to worry about it. It''s their fault that such a thing happened in the first ce." Then after a pause, as if she remembered something, she said, "I''ll send in a report on this matter so they won''t dare try to get revenge on you."


    The porter team leader was taken aback when he heard this before he tried to bow again to thank her, but the beautiful blue haired girl was already walking off while waving one hand back at them.


    The porters all stood there in a daze watching her as she walked off before the porter team leader said, "As expected of the Ice Princess?"


    I couldn''t help asking in a confused voice, "Ice Princess?"


    The porter team leader looked at me like I was crazy for asking this question, but seeing the confused look on my face, he asked, "Do you really not know the Ice Princess?"


    I slowly shook my head.


    The porter team leader gave a sigh before saying, "You really don''t know the famous Ice Princess of our guild¡­" Then he gave another sigh before saying, "Young Lin Fan, you really should learn more about the ce you''re working for beforeing on the job."


    I just revealed an awkward smile and scratched the back of my head, but I had a curious look as I waited for him to exin.


    The porter team leader turned back to look in the direction that the beautiful blue haired girl had walked off in and said, "That person is the pride of our guild, Bing Xin, the Ice Princess. She is a famous B Ranker who is said to have a chance to be an A Ranker in the future. There are even people who think that she can be a S Ranker in the future."

 Chapter 38: Opportunity

    As the porter team leader said this, his eyes were sparkling as if he was bragging about himself.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile when I said this, but then I turned back to look in the direction that the beautiful blue haired girl had walked off in.


    At the same time, there was a faint sparkle that appeared in my eyes as well.


    Wasn''t this the target that I was looking for?


    This was the main reason that I hade to work as a porter in the first ce.


    It did allow me to make money while hiding myself, but the real reason was that I wanted to find some famous and powerful Awakeners. That was why I had chosen to work as a porter for a guild instead of just as a general porter.


    Now that I found the perfect target, shouldn''t it be time to put my n into action?


    I needed to find some way to approach this Ice Princess and slowly use my Hypnosis on her.


    Of course, I was also worried that it might not work, but that was something for me to deal withter. For now, I needed to find some way of approaching her in the first ce.


    As this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help already imagining what it would be like to have a B Ranker or a possible A Ranker subordinate in the future.


    When that time came, wouldn''t I be untouchable?


    ¡­


    A weekter.


    I still hadn''t found a chance to approach the Ice Princess.


    I had thought that I would be able to find some chance to talk to the Ice Princess by working here. I thought that I would eventually be assigned to a porter job for the Ice Princess, but that didn''t seem to be the case at all.


    After all, there was arge difference in status between the two of us.


    The Ice Princess had her own personal porters assigned to her by the guild and I was nothing more than a general porter that did everything.


    So even if we worked in the same ce, we had no chance of ever meeting.


    During lunch break, I couldn''t help feeling more and more frustrated by this situation.


    I was even contemting quitting since there was no longer a need for me to hide out like this and I had made quite a bit of money from just these few days of work.


    Speaking of which, I really had to appreciate the amount of money porters were paid. There was a reason why people took this job even with the disdain and danger that came with it.


    The money paid really was something else.


    I had other ns that I wanted to enact, so staying here as a porter definitely wasn''t something that I could keep doing.


    But while I was thinking this over, the team leader suddenly walked over to our group with a distraught look on his face.


    When the other porters noticed this, especially the veteran porters on our team, they could already guess what was going to happen.


    The team leader stood in front of all of us and suddenly gave a sigh before saying, "I have some bad news."


    As they had expected, it was indeed bad news.


    But they braced themselves and waited to see what it would be.


    The team leader gave another sigh before saying, "They want us to send one of our porters over to help with an expedition."


    The moment that the team heard this, they all revealed looks of despair.


    After all, this was no different from a death sentence.


    Seeing that everyone had looks of despair on their faces and not a single person said anything, the porter team leader didn''t me them. After all, he knew why they were feeling this way.


    The expedition was a trip into the break zone with the Awakeners to hold things for them.


    That meant heading right into the danger zone instead of working outside of it.


    So he understood why not a single one of them wanted to go.


    But I raised my hand and asked, "Uh, do we know which Awakener we''ll be going in with?"


    When I asked this, I suddenly became the center of attention as everyone looked at me with strange looks. Even the team leader couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    But he still said, "It''s the Ice Princess."


    The moment he said this, everyone''s expression sank once more.


    After all, if it was the Ice Princess, there was no doubt that they would be heading somewhere dangerous. This was even worse than they thought it would be.


    The team leader didn''t keep them in suspense anymore and said, "One of the Ice Princess'' porter was injured on herst trip, so she needs a new one. We were the unlucky ones that were chosen to send someone her way."


    Everyone just revealed bitter looks on their faces when they heard this.


    Since they had been ''chosen'', there was nothing that they could do about it since this was out of all the porter teams out there, so they could only me their bad luck for being chosen.


    But that didn''t mean that any of them wanted to volunteer for this job¡­


    That is except for me.


    When I heard that it was working for the Ice Princess, my eyes couldn''t help lighting up.


    After all, wasn''t this the opportunity that I was looking for?


    I had been trying to find a way to approach the Ice Princess all this time, but the guard around her was just too strong that I had never been able to talk to her.


    Now that this golden opportunity had fallen down in front of me, would I really let it go?


    So I quickly raised my hand before anyone else could and said, "I want to volunteer for this task! I''ll go with them on the expedition!"


    There was only silence that followed.

 Chapter 39: Good guy card

    Everyone was looking at me with a strange and confused look, but I just kept my hand up with a firm look on my face.


    This was what they wanted to see since they didn''t want to go themselves, but seeing this young person volunteer to take their ce like this¡­they really couldn''t help feeling awkward.


    Lin Fan was the newest member of their team and was the youngest member here, along with only being a part timer.


    If they as veteran porters allowed the newest member to take their ce like this, where would their face go as senior porters?


    But they really didn''t want to go since it would be very likely that they would die from going on this trip.


    The porter team leader also looked at Lin Fan with aplicated look, but his position was different from the others. He was the team leader, so it was his job to take care of the others more than the senior porters.


    After a long moment of silence, the porter team leader asked, "Are you sure about this? Have you thought about how dangerous this will be? You shouldn''t make a rash decision like this."


    The others didn''t say anything, but they gave a nod to show their support.


    Since they were a team, they wouldn''t sacrifice one person just so they could survive.


    It was better if they chose the person with a draw or something that was more fair.


    But I shook my head and said, "I''ve already thought this out, that''s why I want to volunteer to go."


    The porter team leader knitted his brows when he heard this.


    No matter how he looked at it, this was a clear case of overconfidence because of youth.


    This youngest porter on their team waspletely underestimating what this trip was. He was young and he wanted excitement in his life, but that didn''t mean that he should throw his life away for this excitement.


    If he didn''t correct this young man''s thinking, it would be something that he regretted for the rest of his life.


    The porter team leader revealed a serious look and said, "The break zone is beyond anything you can imagine. It''s filled with danger in every corner and isn''t a ce that you can y around in. If you''re just going in to have fun, you''ll die before you even realize what happened."


    Seeing the serious way the porter team leader spoke, I couldn''t help being touched.


    After all, I could see that he was saying all of this because he cared for me.


    But I had my reason for going and no matter what, I wouldn''t give up on that.


    So I also revealed a serious look and said, "You should all know that I''m also an Awakener."


    The porter team leader gave a slight nod in response to this.


    This was something that was easily found because it was listed in the paperworks that had been sent with Lin Fan on the first day. In fact, Lin Fan had even admitted it himself and had demonstrated his power to them on the first day.


    So this was a well known fact among their team.


    Seeing this, I continued, "I also want to be a famous Awakener one day and this is my chance to follow a high ranking Awakener into a break zone. This is my chance to learn from a high ranking Awakener first hand. I am not doing this just to have fun, but for my own ambition."


    When the rest of the porters heard this, they couldn''t help being taken aback.


    When they saw the determined look that their youngest gave, they all realized that they were wrong.


    This youngest wasn''t ying around, but rather he knew exactly what he was doing.


    It seemed that they hadpletely underestimated this new youngest member of their team.


    So they had no choice but to ept his determination, even though they still felt a bit guilty about having him take their ce.


    The porter team leader gave a sigh before saying, "I understand, it seems that I had been mistaken about you. Since you''re so determined, we''ll let you go."


    My eyes lit up when I heard this and I went to bow to the team leader, but before I could, the team leader came over to stop me as he said, "There''s nothing to thank me for. In fact, you''re doing us a favour."


    I was surprised when I heard this since in my mind, this should be a task that everyone wanted to do.


    After all, this was a chance to get close to one of the top Awakeners here and a chance to explore the break zone, which would surely earn a lot of money. This seemed like a golden opportunity to me.


    But that was only for me¡­


    The rest of the porters also looked at Lin Fan withplicated and guilty looks.


    After a moment of silence, the porter team leader took out a ball that he ced in my hands and said, "Take this with you. It''s a special smokescreen that you can use to escape the monsters if anything happens."


    This was the special item that his wife had bought for him just in case anything went wrong, but he was sure that his wife wouldn''t me him for giving it to their youngest since he was taking this risk for everyone.


    Seeing this, the other porters all started taking out things that they handed to me that they thought would help me.


    I didn''t mind epting them since these things were indeed helpful, but I couldn''t help feeling confused as to why they were giving these to me. After all, some of these things were just too expensive for them to be considered simple kind gestures towards a fellow team member.


    What Lin Fan didn''t know was that in the minds of these porters, he had be a nice guy¡­


    So even before he had gotten a girlfriend, he had been given a bunch of good guy cards from these porters.


    Though technically¡­he also wasn''t a virgin anymore.

 Chapter 40: New team

    The next morning, I followed the instructions the team leader gave me to find my new team waiting there for me.


    In the center of the team, I could see the same beautiful blue haired figure that I had seen before.


    But before I could go over to greet her and introduce myself, I was caught by a group of tough looking men.


    However, they didn''t have any ill will towards me.


    These tough looking men with all their bulky muscles were porters just like me. They were the special porter team that worked for the Ice Princess full time, so they were my new team as well.


    The one who put his arm around my shoulders was the leader of this team, he was a man named Su Chen.


    Su Chen pulled me over with the others and we soon arrived at a pile of equipment.


    I didn''t need to guess to know that these were the things that we would need to carry. There were even bags on the side for us to put everything in.


    Since we were here¡­we might as well start packing.


    As we packed, the team introduced themselves to me. It turned out that even with their rough appearances, they were actually quite good guys.


    It just went to show that one couldn''t judge a book by their cover.


    Soon, Su Chen was patting me on the shoulder andughing as he said, "Little brother Lin, you really do have a good mentality. How about joining our team full time in the future?"


    I revealed an awkward look when I heard this before giving a polite rejection, "I''m sorry, I''m just doing this temporarily."


    Su Chen wasn''t offended at all by this as he revealed an understanding look. He pped me on the shoulder and said, "I understand, I totally understand. You''re still young and you have ambitions, so there are probably things you still want to do. You should definitely pursue these things while you''re young, but know that there''s a spot here for you if you ever want toe back."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this.


    After all, I didn''t think that I had made such a good impression that he would be this firm about epting me.


    But then I understood why.


    Su Chen came over and grabbed my arm. He squeezed my bicep as his eyes lit up and he said, "I knew it! I knew that there was something special about you!"


    I couldn''t help being a bit scared when I saw him acting this way. But for the sake of my n, I had to befriend them, so I didn''t pull back even though I had wanted to.


    Su Chen didn''t stop with just my bicep, he started going all over my body, poking different parts of it. Finally I drew a line when his eyes went to my waist.


    Seeing my refusal, Su Chen revealed an apologetic smile before saying, "Sorry, I got a bit too excited. However, your body really is something else."


    I couldn''t help revealing a confused and slightly disgusted look when I heard this.


    Su Chen could see the way that I was looking at him, so he said, "It isn''t what you think it is. I''m talking about the quality of your muscles."


    Seeing the still confused look on my face, Su Chen exined, "I''ve been training all my life and I''ve trained many other people so I can tell with one look. Your muscles have a tone and density to them that other people just can''t match. I can tell that there''s no limits to the training that you can do for these muscles."


    I really never thought that Su Chen would want me to join the team just because of this, but looking at how muscr the other members of the team were¡­it seemed like it was about right.


    But before we could continue this talk, there was a group of people that walked over


    Judging by the equipment that they had, it was clear that they were Awakeners.


    But these were not Awakeners that would being on our trip.


    Since we were still in the base camp outside of the break zone, there were many Awakeners working for the guild that were just walking around.


    When these Awakeners saw us porters packing up, they came over with a wide smile on their faces. Just based on this, it was clear that they were new Awakeners that had arrived in this camp not long ago.


    They wanted to show off and when they had seen these porters packing up, they had thought that it was the perfect chance.


    So these Awakeners came over and ''identally'' kicked over some of the things that we had been packing up.


    Then the leader of this group came over to grab me since I was the smallest one here before saying, "Hey, what do you think you''re doing? Why are you justying all of this junk on the ground like this?"


    When Su Chen heard this, he immediately narrowed his eyes.


    He came over and grabbed the arm of the Awakener which made him turn to look at Su Chen, but the Awakener couldn''t help being surprised.


    After all, there were few people as big and muscr as Su Chen, so he couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    But still, he was an Awakener, so he said, "What do you think you''re doing? Do you know who you are grabbing?"


    Su Chen narrowed his eyes to look at this Awakener and was about to say something.


    But before he could, there was a cold voice that rang out, "What do you think you''re doing?"


    The moment that everyone heard this, they couldn''t help looking in that direction because they all recognized this voice.


    There was a beautiful blue haired figure that was standing there with her arms crossed, watching all of this happen.


    The Awakeners wanted to say something, but they suddenly felt a chill run over them.


    It was like they had been thrown into ice in an instant.

 Chapter 41: First contact

    The leader of this Awakener group opened his mouth to say something, but all he could do was open and close his mouth like a fish.


    No matter how he tried to say something, he wasn''t able to get a single word out.


    The pressure of the blue haired girl in front of him was just too much for him to say anything.


    Even if he wanted to, his mind went nk and he didn''t know what to say.


    So all he could do was stand there like an idiot.


    Finally, it was Su Chen who broke the silence by speaking, "Miss Bing, these people came over to provoke us. We were about to teach them a lesson."


    The beautiful blue haired figure just gave a simple nod as if she was giving her permission.


    The Awakeners couldn''t help being shocked when they saw this. After all, no matter how they thought about it, this porter wouldn''t be able to do anything to them.


    However, since the Ice Princess was watching, it wasn''t as if they could hurt them too badly.


    So no matter how they looked at it, this was a loss for them. There was no upside no matter what they did.


    Since that was the case, the leader of this Awakener group said, "How about we just leave it here today? I''ll even apologize for causing trouble."


    But Su Chen didn''t seem to hear this at all as he moved towards the Awakener.


    Seeing this portering towards him, the Awakener raised his hands before giving a sigh, as if he didn''t want to do this.


    But there was a sharp glint in his eyes for those who had a sharp gaze. They could see that he was nning on creating an "ident" as revenge for causing this mess.


    It was just too bad that he never expected what happened next.


    Before he could even react, Su Chen was already right up in front of him. His right hand was raised in the shape of a fist.


    The Awakener tried to dodge out of the way, but he wasn''t able to move before Su Chen punched him.


    It was a simple jab, but it hit the Awakener right in the stomach.


    There was a single "oof" sound that came from the Awakener before he suddenly leaned forward. He fell right onto Su Chen''s shoulder and stopped moving.


    When the other Awakeners saw this, they all revealed looks of shock.


    It was clear that not a single one of them had expected this.


    This was an Awakener against a porter, it should have been like an adult fighting a child. However, what had just happened was like the child jumping up and punching the adult right in the jaw, knocking the adult out.


    It didn''t make any sense at all.


    But from what I could see, I could tell that the two of them were onpletely different levels.


    I knew for sure that Su Chen wasn''t an Awakener since he had told me this himself.


    However, there was a clear difference in physique and experience between the two of them.


    Su Chen was someone who trained his body day and night. Even if an Awakener received a boost to their physique when they awakened, it wasn''t as if they would be supermen just because of that unless they had a power rted to it.


    Based on what happened just now, it was clear that this wasn''t the case with this Awakener.


    The second deciding factor was the difference in experience between the two sides.


    Su Chen wasn''t someone who had little experience in fighting like this Awakener in front of him. He was someone that had followed the Ice Princess to many different dungeons and break zones, so he was someone that was already used to fighting.


    With this, he was able to easily see through the attack of the Awakener and even get into his blind spot to punch him.


    With this knockout punch, the fight was over in an instant.


    However, that didn''t mean that Su Chen was going to let this matter end so simply.


    He lifted the Awakener off his shoulder and then¡­there was another punch that went into the gut of the Awakener.


    I was surprised since I never thought that Su Chen would go this far and that even the Ice Princess would stop him, but she just silently watched over everything as if she was giving silent approval.


    The Awakener woke up from this punch and then tried to say something, but Su Chen was already mming his body with even more punches.


    After a few more punches, Su Chen finally let the Awakener fall to the ground before turning to bow to the Ice Princess.


    She gave a nod in response to this before saying to the Awakener, "If you behave properly, this will never happen again, understood?"


    The Awakener didn''t know what to say, but it wasn''t as if he couldin to the Ice Princess¡­So the only thing that he could do was give a nod. Though the look in his eyes made it clear that he wouldn''t forget what happened today.


    The Ice Princess didn''t care as she said, "Get back to work."


    With this, the other Awakeners came over to help this Awakener off the ground and they walked away.


    But before they could leave, the Ice Princess said, "Also, they are not normal porters, they are my personal porters."


    At this, the Awakeners couldn''t help stopping and turning back to look at Su Chen''s group.


    This time, there was a bit of fear in their eyes.


    After all, personal porters meant that they were the Ice Princess'' people which was apletely different case than if they were just normal porters.


    Normal porters were below Awakeners, there was no doubt of this, but the personal porters of the Ice Princess meant that they were her people. Since they were her people, she would protect them no matter what happened.


    It was also no wonder that this random porter was so strong that he was able to fight an Awakener like this.


    Now instead of thinking about how to get revenge on this porter, they were thinking about¡­how to protect themselves.


    They knew that the Ice Princess wouldn''t just drop this matter here and making enemies of the Ice Princess was a path of death since in their guild, the Ice Princess was very influential¡­


    So they had to think of a way to protect themselves now.


    Once they were gone, Su Chen bowed to the Ice Princess again before saying, "Miss Bing, thank you for saving us."


    The Ice Princess just waved her hand and said, "Su Chen, when have you been this formal with me?"


    Su Chen also revealed a smile before saying, "Miss Bing, we are in public now."


    The Ice Princess gave a nod before turning to look at me and asking, "This is?"


    Su Chen said with the same smile, "This is our new member, the one that they sent to help us."


    The Ice Princess gave an ''oh'' sound before saying, "Thank you foring to help us and I hope that we can work well together."


    I was surprised that she would say something like this to me, who was just a porter, but I quickly said, "No, no, it''s an honour for me to be working with you."


    The Ice Princess was about to say something, but then someone called, "Bing Xin, can youe and help with something."


    With this, the Ice Princess had no choice but to say, "Coming!" Then she turned back to Su Chen and said, "I''ll go take care of something. I''ll see youter."


    Su Chen nodded before sending her off with a wave.


    As I watched her leave, I couldn''t help revealing a disappointed look.


    But then Su Chen ced his arm around my shoulder and said, "Are you that disappointed that you couldn''t talk to her?"


    I was caught off guard and was about to exin, but before I could, Su Chen said, "There''s no need for that. We are all fans of Miss Bing here, so we understand how you feel. But we will be working with herter, so you''ll have plenty of chances to talk to her. There''s no need to feel so disappointed now."


    I hesitated for a second, but I gave a nod in the end.


    That was right, this was just the beginning.


    There was still plenty of time left.

 Chapter 42: Setting out

    It didn''t take long for us to pack up everything, especially since people left us alone after seeing what had happened to those Awakeners.


    It had happened in quite an open ce, so it was impossible for people not to see what had happened.


    Knowing that the Ice Princess was the one backing us really was a big boost to our prestige and it kept those that had bad intentions away.


    Once we had finished packing, we didn''t stay in the camp for long since the group that we were heading out with was already prepared. When we arrived at where that group was gathering, the first thing that we saw was a beautiful blue haired figure.


    The second thing we saw was that this beautiful blue haired figure was surrounded by other people, but that wasn''t surprising. After all, with how famous she was, it would be strange if she wasn''t surrounded by others.


    But when she saw using over, she waved for us toe to her.


    Su Chen took the lead and when he arrived, he gave a bow to the Ice Princess who just epted it with a wave of her hand. Then the Ice Princess said, "Su Chen, go and get things ready for departure."


    Su Chen nodded before leading us away.


    But this time, the people around us looked at us differently.


    Just with this alone, it was to establish that we were the people of the Ice Princess.


    If anyone wanted to cause trouble with us¡­they would have to see how the Ice Princess felt.


    In a way, this was her way of protecting us.


    Su Chen brought us over to a spot that was out of the way before exining a few things to us.


    In truth, there wasn''t anything that we needed to prepare since we were already carrying everything. The majority of what he had to exin to us was how to stay out of the way and make sure that no one caused any trouble.


    While we weren''t afraid of trouble because we were backed by the Ice Princess, it was best if we didn''t cause any.


    After all, we were heading into the break zone with danger around every corner.


    Staying out of the way and making sure that we didn''t do anything harmful to the rest of the group was the way to go.


    This was the break zone that we were about to head into.


    The break zones, they were different from the dungeons that had appeared.


    These break zones were actually areas where a dungeon break had happened before.


    This meant that there was an event where the mana in the dungeon had built up so much that it had exploded, releasing the monsters of the dungeon onto Earth. This was a disastrous event since not all humans were powerful awakeners that could fight against the monsters.


    It would be better if this happened in areas without people, but if a dungeon break happened in a ce that was filled with people like the city, it would cause unimaginable damage.


    So that was why dungeons were carefully managed by the Awakener Association.


    But the break zones were the opposite of that.


    The break zones were areas where a deliberate dungeon break had been allowed to happen.


    That was because there were more benefits to be gained from this than to just maintain a dungeon.


    The break zone allowed monsters that once lived in the dungeon to appear on Earth, but there was one major difference between these monsters in the break zone and the monsters in the dungeon.


    It was the difference of loot.


    In the dungeon, the monsters that were defeated would be automatically turned into loot by the dungeon. The essence of the monsters would be reabsorbed by the dungeon to create new monsters while the ones who defeated the monsters would be rewarded with loot from the dungeon.


    But when they were outside of the dungeon, this monster corpse didn''t disappear.


    While that meant that there wasn''t any loot gained from killing the monsters, there was instead the monster corpse to harvest from.


    For things like orcs, like the ones that Lin Fan had been carrying before, they were carved up for their meat, skin, and even their testicles.


    The meat of the orcs was delicious, being on par with the best raised pigs.


    The skin of the orcs was tough, so it could be turned into strong leather armour.


    And as for the testicles¡­they had a strong aphrodisiac effect, so there was always a customer for these things.


    So there were pros and cons to each method of killing a monster and humans had decided that it would be more fruitful to create these break zones to get monster corpses from.


    But there was the danger of monsters leaving the break zone, so there were strong barricades put around the break zone to prevent monsters from leaving.


    In short, everything came with a price.


    Since they were heading into this break zone where monsters lived, they would need to be careful since they could be ambushed at any moment.


    But there was still one thing that I was curious about.


    After Su Chen had finished giving his warning, I couldn''t help asking, "Why is Miss Bing going into the break zone this time? Is there a special reason for this?"


    Su Chen gave a nod and exined, "You''re new, so you don''t know this. But there''s been reports of an Orc King being born in this break zone. The Orc King is a powerful monster that can control all of the other orcs and if they gather like this, there will be the possibility of them breaking the confines of the break zone.


    That was why a powerful ranker like the Ice Princess was called to take care of the Orc King."


    "Orc King." I couldn''t help being surprised.


    Of course I had heard of this monster before because it was one that had caused arge disaster in Europe before, but I never imagined that I would be facing one so soon.


    Su Chen could see the look on my face, so he patted my shoulder and said, "Don''t worry, we have the Ice Princess here. As long as we have her here, there''s nothing you need to worry about."


    I knew that he had misunderstood the look on my face.


    It wasn''t that I was worried about the Orc King since I was still confident in escaping with my abilities.


    I was just worried that it would make it harder for me to approach Bing Xin¡­


    But since Su Chen took the initiative tofort me, I said, "Un, it''ll be fine as long as the Ice Princess is here."


    Su Chen pped me on the back before saying, "It''s good that you know."


    After that, there was a voice that rang out. It wasing from the front of this group.


    It wasn''t a voice that I was familiar with since it was a random Awakener that was there.


    But I learnedter that this was a C Rank Awakener who was in charge of this group.


    As for why the Ice Princess wasn''t in charge, it was because she was the secret weapon for dealing with the Orc King. She wouldn''t be fighting until we found the Orc King, so it was better for someone else to lead this group.


    The C Rank Awakener said, "Let''s set off."


    With that, we headed into the break zone.

 Chapter 43: Princess carry

    Once the C Ranked Awakener leader said this, all of us headed through the gate of the break zone.


    This was arge group that was going in, so naturally it had attracted a lot of spectators.


    In the crowd, I found my former team of porters watching as we headed in and since I had noticed them, I raised my hand to wave at them.


    However, all they could do was look in my direction with worried looks and looks that were wishing me luck.


    It was as if they were sending someone off to their execution.


    I didn''t mind it since I could understand what they were thinking, I just focused my mind on what woulde next so that what they thought would happen wouldn''t happen.


    After entering the break zone, the surrounding area suddenly became silent. Or at least there were still the sounds of nature and animals around us, but there were no sounds of humanity at all.


    It was like going back to nature once we entered the break zone, but that was to be expected since the only things living here were monsters.


    We didn''t pause for a single second and just followed the C Ranked Awakener leader deeper into the forest.


    With the way that he was heading forward, it was clear that he knew where he was going.


    But it wasn''t just him who knew where they were going, all of the members seemed like they knew which surprised me.


    I looked over at Su Chen and he seemed to be focused on something as we headed in. I couldn''t help moving closer to see what it was and I found that it was a map of the break zone.


    Su Chen naturally noticed me walking over, so he looked up and was surprised to see that I had that surprised look. So he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I pointed at the piece of paper in his hand and asked, "Where did you get that?"


    He looked in the direction that I was pointing in and seeing that I was referring to the piece of paper in his hand, he revealed a confused look as he said, "What do you¡­"


    Then all of a sudden, he revealed a look of understanding before saying, "Oh, that''s right! I forgot about that."


    He reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper for me before saying, "Ipletely forgot to give you this. You fit so well into our team that I already took you as a full member and forgot that you''re only a temporary member."


    I took the piece of paper from him and found that it was a map of the break zone, simr to the one that he had been studying just now.


    After seeing this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile, but I didn''t mind it and focused on the map.


    After handing me the map though, Su Chen reached into his bag to pull out a pen and waved for me toe back over.


    When I went over to him, Su Chen used that pen to make a few marks on the map that he gave me. As he made those marks, he kept looking back at his own map which I could see had these marks as well.


    Once he was done, he said, "This is the route we''re taking and the destination for this trip. Study it well so you can make it back to base if something happens."


    I gave a serious nod in response to this.


    This was a very important thing, so of course I wouldn''t ck off.


    After all, getting lost in this break zone was thest thing that I wanted to happen.


    Seeing the serious way that I studied the map, Su Chen gave a satisfied nod before turning back to his map.


    But not long after this, there was the sound of leaves rustling that came from around our formation.


    When this happened, the entire formation immediately stopped as a whistle rang out.


    With this, Su Chen led our group into the center of the formation where there were other people there as well. When I looked closely, I found that these were Awakeners that had healing and support powers.


    It seemed like they were taking a defensive position around us to make sure that we were kept safe.


    Not long after this, there were monsters that came out of the brush around us.


    Since this break zone was a habitat for orcs, naturally the monsters that attacked us were also orcs.


    But these orcs were weakpared to the formation that we had.


    Since this was a special mission, the weakest Awakener that was here was in the D Rank, so they weren''t weak. The line of Awakeners was able to easily hold back the orcs that charged at us.


    The orcs weren''t able to reach us who were in the center of the formation at all.


    That was until the situation suddenly changed with a loud orc roar.


    When we turned in the direction the roar came from, we saw an orc that was much bigger than the rest push through the brush.


    I recognized this orc with a single nce, this was an Orc General.


    This was an orc variant that was much stronger than the average orc and was even skilled in using weapons.


    In the hands of the normal orcs, there were only clubs, but this Orc General had a proper iron sword in his hand.


    With the appearance of this Orc General, the Awakener line was thrown into a tizzy and there were orcs that broke through. Most of these orcs were taken care of by the Awakeners behind the initial line, but there was one that broke through.


    I don''t know if it was bad luck, but this orc was running right at me¡­


    Seeing me standing there, the orc raised his club to attack me.


    I was debating whether to use my Time Stop skill, but before I coulde to a decision, there was someone that grabbed my cor.


    They easily evaded the orc while lifting me off the ground.


    When I reacted, I found that it was Su Chen who was holding me in a princess carry¡­


    I couldn''t help feeling very strange when I saw this and I really wanted to get out, but he was just too strong for me. During this time, Su Chen had been focused on the orc that had broken through, so he didn''t see that I wanted to get out of his embrace.


    To the side, there were quite a few people who were giving me and Su Chen strange looks¡­


    Please, it wasn''t what you think!

 Chapter 44: First demonstration

    But of course, there wasn''t that much time to think about that.


    There were cries of pain that rang out not far away, along with the sounds of weapons shing.


    When I looked in that direction, it seemed that the Awakeners of our group were struggling with the Orc General that had suddenly appeared.


    These Awakeners that made up the outer lines were only D Rank Awakeners, so they were the weakest members of our group in the first ce. However, in a ce like this, that should have been enough to deal with the orcs.


    It was the appearance of the Orc General that changed everything.


    The Orc General by itself was only considered a D Rank monster, but when it was with all of these orcs, its rank increased. It was only able to show its true power when it had minions tomand after all.


    The ''general'' part of the Orc General''s name was not empty.


    When this Orc General appeared, the orcs had started moving in a much more coordinated fashion which made it hard for these Awakeners to fight them. After all, most Awakeners only worked in parties and only inrge groups like this. So in terms of coordination, the Awakeners were weaker.


    It seemed that with just the D Rankers, we wouldn''t be able to take care of these orcs and the Orc General.


    So there were a few C Rankers in the center of the formation that were about to move.


    But before they could, there was an icicle that cut through the air.


    Before anyone could react, that icicle had mmed into the Orc General''s sword and pushed the Orc General back several meters. At the same time, the icicle exploded into ice particles that quickly covered the Orc General''s sword, causing ice to form over the sword itself.


    The Orc General couldn''t help revealing a slightly fearful look when he saw his sword being frozen like this, but then the Orc General mmed the sword down on the ground and shattered the ice surrounding it.


    It was just too bad that the icicle that had flown out was only a casual attack.


    The Ice Princess stepped out from the formation and said, "I''ll take care of this myself. The rest of you will clean up the orcs."


    The C Rankers were surprised to hear this order, but they quickly reacted and said, "Yes!"


    At this, the C Rankers spread throughout the formation that we were in. The C Rankers moved separately and to different parts of the formation, backing up the D Rankers as they fought the orcs.


    With the C Rankers helping, the D Rankers were able to push back the orcs without any problems even if the orcs were working together better.


    Back at the Orc General, the Ice Princess didn''t waste any time.


    She raised the sword in her hand and there was a world of frost that appeared around her.


    The water in the air condensed into ice crystals that just floated there around the Orc General.


    The Orc General knew that he was in a dangerous position, so he didn''t make a rash move. Instead, he called out in the orc tongue, as if he was giving some kind of order.


    Then all of a sudden, the orcs that were behind the Ice Princess suddenly turned and raised their clubs at her.


    The Ice Princess had flown over the orcs and the D Rankers fighting to face the Orc General. This had put her in a position where she was in between the orcs and the Orc General.


    But once the orcs turned, the D Rankers and C Rankers immediately started cutting them down from behind.


    In fact, seeing that these orcs had wanted to attack the Ice Princess, they started fighting even harder as if they were her personal knights.


    One of the C Rankers even shouted, "We will never let youy a single finger on our goddess!"


    It was clear that these D Rankers and C Rankers were fans of the Ice Princess as well.


    The Ice Princess had never turned back once during all of this.


    Even when the orcs were about to attack her from behind, her eyes were still focused on the Orc General.


    It was as if she already knew that the D Rankers and C Rankers would have her back.


    Seeing that he wouldn''t be able to count on the orcs to provide backup, the Orc General knew that he had no choice.


    The Orc General suddenly raised his head and let out a loud roar.


    As it roared, there were red veins that appeared on its green skin.


    It was clear that this Orc General was using some kind of buff skill to increase his power.


    However, the Ice Princess just stood there without doing a thing. It was as if she was even waiting for the Orc General to finish buffing himself before attacking.


    Finally, the Orc General brought his head back down and looked right at the Ice Princes.


    She looked back at the Orc General with ice cold eyes while still seemingly waiting for it.


    The Orc General couldn''t help feeling a trace of fear when he saw this, but he suppressed that fear and raised his sword to point right at the Ice Princess.


    Then with another roar, the Orc General started to move.


    But before it could take more than two steps, the Ice Princess suddenly pointed her sword at the Orc General.


    When she did, the ice crystals that had been floating there in the air suddenly started to move. They cut across the air, creating cold streaks as they flew right at the Orc General.


    The Orc General panicked when he saw this, swinging his sword out at the closest ice crystal.


    There was no resistance at all as his sword cut through the ice crystal, but after it had cut through the ice crystal, there were bits of ice that started forming on the surface of this sword.


    The Orc General didn''t notice this at first since he was too busy dealing with all the ice crystalsing at him. He kept swinging his sword out to cut through each of the ice crystals as they came closer.


    As he did, more and more ice started to form on the surface of his sword.


    And with more ice that formed on the sword, the Orc General''s movements started getting slower.


    At the same time, there were more and more ice crystals that started appearing around the Orc General. There were just too many of them for the Orc General to cut them all down.


    So these ice crystals that made it past the Orc General''s swings started clinging to his body.


    The moment that the ice crystal made contact with the Orc General''s body, ayer of ice started forming on the Orc General''s skin. Each ice crystal didn''t create that much ice, but there were plenty of ice crystals to make up for that.


    The Orc General did all that he could to avoid these ice crystals after seeing what was happening, but there were just too many for him to avoid.


    Eventually¡­ayer of ice formed over the Orc General and he stopped moving.


    What reced the Orc General¡­was an ice sculpture that was shaped just like the Orc General.

 Chapter 45: Raising morale

    Once the Orc General had been turned into an ice sculpture, the Ice Princess flicked her sword to get off the ice that had formed on it before putting it back into its sheath.


    Without even caring about the rest of the orcs, she flew back into the formation andnded where she had been previously.


    It seemed like she wasn''t going to bother with the rest of the orcs at all, but the other Awakeners didn''t mind. After all, if she wasn''t going to take them, then there was no reason why they shouldn''t take them.


    Loot in this group was determined on merit, so the corpses would be given to the one that defeated the monsters.


    Based on that, the Orc General''s corpse and the expensive parts that came with it would go to the Ice Princess.


    For the rest of these Awakeners, the orcs that were easy picking were now piles of walking money. So if the Ice Princesspeted with them for these orcs, then the money that they earned would decrease.


    Her showing that she wasn''t interested in these orcs won the praise of these Awakeners and they put in more effort to take down the orcs.


    With this renewed vigor, it didn''t take long for them to cut down the rest of the orcs.


    Once the orcs were taken down, all that was left was to butcher them and pack them up.


    They could have left the orcs here, but there was no doubt that these corpses would have attracted scavengers which was even more dangerous. Once those scavengers finished off the corpse and wandered around, it wasn''t impossible that they would run into their group.


    So they needed to clean up after their fight to make sure that nothing was attracted over.


    But there was the matter of the Orc General¡­


    The Ice Princess didn''t waste any time to say, "I don''t need it. You can just divide the spoils among the group."


    When everyone heard this, they couldn''t help revealing a surprised look.


    But at the same time, there were looks of joy that appeared in their eyes at the same time.


    For a B Ranker like the Ice Princess, the materials from the Orc General weren''t worth much, but that wasn''t the case for them. The Orc General materials sold for much more than the normal monsters that they hunted since it was considered a variant and a boss.


    Not to mention¡­the testicles of the Orc General worked much better than the testicles of ordinary orcs.


    There were many rich people that were willing to pay extra just for this¡­


    So even if it was a portion of the total amount, it was more than enough to repay them for this trip. Not to mention, there was arge bonus that woulde at the end when they finished off the Orc King.


    So they couldn''t help feeling excited about this decision.


    The C Rank leader naturally knew the situation the best and immediately gave a slight bow to the Ice Princess before saying, "Thank you for your generosity."


    When the others saw this, they all bowed to her as well and started ttering her.


    But the Ice Princess just waved her hand as if this didn''t matter to her at all.


    During this, Su Chen had already understood what was happening and was moving towards the Orc General. He pulled out a knife and hatchet out of his bag as he walked over.


    At the same time, he waved at me to follow him so he could show me how to butcher up monsters.


    I had never done something like this before, but it definitely wasn''t a bad skill to have.


    But my main focus was still the Ice Princess.


    I had been carefully watching her to see what kind of person she was and I could tell that her move just now was very intentional. At the same time, it was a bad sign for what woulde.


    The C Rank leader and the Ice Princess, neither of them had expected the Orc General attack just now.


    They had made it clear with the surprise that they had shown when the Orc General had appeared.


    It seemed that whatever was happening in this break zone was going against what they had expected¡­which meant that what followed definitely wouldn''t be easy.


    Of course, that didn''t matter to me since I had been trying to find a way to appeal to the Ice Princess.


    If I was able to help her or even save her in the end, there was no doubt that I would be able to get closer to her. So the more chaotic this mission was, the better it was for me.


    I had no fear for my life after all since I had a way of escaping no matter what.


    That was just how powerful the Time Stop skill was.


    As for the Orc General being given to the other members of the party, it was just a way of raising morale. The best way to raise morale is always money and the money from these Orc General material was not small, so the excitement that fell over the group was almost palpable.


    It was just too bad that most of them would be sacrificed when the fight came and they would never even see this money.


    Or at least that was what my impression of this situation was.


    As I worked with Su Chen to dismantle the Orc General, I had to admire how much strength it took to dismantle it. At the same time, I understood why Su Chen worked so hard to build up all this muscle.


    Without that strength it would be impossible for him to cut through the hard monster flesh and skin.


    These monsters really were different from humans¡­


    Of course, it wasn''t just us alone who were cleaning up the battlefield. There were also general porters and personal porters of C Rank Awakeners that were here working with us to clean up the orcs.


    In no time, all of the orc corpses had been cleaned up and we were heading deeper into the forest.

 Chapter 46: Setting up camp

    That one ambush was the only outlier of this trip, the rest of the trip was almost too quiet.


    When we arrived at the area that was on the map, the C Rank leader immediately stopped our group and sent out the scouts to check the surrounding area.


    Not long after, they came back with reports of an orc camp.


    No one was surprised by this since this was what they had been looking for.


    An orc camp, that was the sign that an Orc King had appeared.


    The orcs would live in small groups or just live on their own, only gathering with their mates and children. If they suddenly started living together in a camp like this, it meant that there was something that had gathered them all together.


    An Orc General wouldn''t be enough for that.


    Only an Orc King would be able to gather up orcs on this scale.


    So that meant that the Orc King was surely in the orc camp as well.


    Since their target was here, there was no reason for them to run around like headless chickens looking for that target.


    The only problem was that the Orc King was deep in the orc camp and the orc camp was filled with many orcs. Even if they had brought many Awakeners, it would be too much for them to fight.


    They had to figure out a way to lure out the Orc King and kill it, while also scattering all of the orcs that had been gathered in the camp.


    At the same time, they were certain that it wouldn''t just be a single Orc General that was in this break zone. There should be other Orc Generals there as well, so they had to figure out how to fight them as well.


    In short, they needed more information before they could start doing anything to the orcs.


    So for now, the C Rank leader came to the decision to set up camp nearby.


    The orc camp was much bigger than they had expected and if they handled this rashly, it would result in many casualties.


    As the leader, the one that everyone trusted with their lives, he couldn''t ept this kind of loss.


    Instead of charging in, they would take some time to observe the orcs and see if there was something about the camp that they could exploit.


    Of course, none of that had anything to do with us.


    There were those that had special abilities for that, so it was better to leave it to them.


    For us porters, our job was to take care of the camp itself.


    The camp was set up in a cave not far away from the orc camp. This ce was well hidden with a cave providing shelter and a source of clean water nearby in the form of a pond.


    With all of these things, it was easy for us to set up the camp.


    As for the things that we needed to set up camp, they were in my bag.


    The others were carrying things for other situations and were carrying material from the Orc General, I was the only one that was carrying the things that we needed to set up camp just in case.


    This was their way of taking care of the newbie.


    But what they didn''t know was¡­I had been cheating.


    In the bag that had been given to me, there was the Storage Ring.


    While it looked like I had packed my things in my bag, in reality, I had put it all in the Storage Ring that I had also ced in the bag.


    The Storage Ring was different since it was a different space, so the weight wasn''t transferred. It was as if I wasn''t even carrying those things and just carrying the Storage Ring, so it was much easier on me than the other porters.


    Still, I pretended to reach into the bag and pulled out the items that we needed.


    These items were also bigger than the size of the bag since the bags we were given were special bags that had the space inside of them widened. It was a form of spatial magic, but it was on a lower level than the Storage Ring since it was just a simple expansion instead of creating a separate space.


    Once the camp had been set up, Su Chen took the lead by cooking for us.


    It turned out that one really couldn''t judge a book by its cover.


    After all, a rough man like Su Chen definitely didn''t seem like he was someone that could cook. However, I was surprised to find that he not only knew how to cook, he was a masterchef.


    I couldn''t stop my hands as I ate the dishes that he put in front of me.


    I was so focused on eating that I didn''t notice the one strange thing that had appeared.


    Only when I started feeling full did I see¡­that the Ice Princess was sitting by me, eating Su Chen''s food with a happy smile on her face.


    Su Chen didn''t seem to mind at all that the Ice Princess was here and was even taking orders for more dishes from her.


    Seeing the way that I looked at her, the Ice Princess just said with a smile, "It''s good, isn''t it?"


    When I heard this, all I could do was nod in a daze.


    The Ice Princess then said with the same smile, "This is why I can''t give up Su Chen as my personal porter! I''ll die if I don''t get his food."


    Su Chen couldn''t help blushing when he heard this, but then he said, "Miss Bing, you won''t get any more for praising me. You know that we only have so much food and we have to ration it."


    The Ice Princess pouted out her lips and puffed her cheeks when she heard this, but she didn''tin since she knew that he was right.


    As for me, I just sat there with a bitter smile on my face.


    I did want the chance to talk to the Ice Princess, but I never thought that I would be talking to her like this¡­


    It really was a surreal feeling.


    I guess one really couldn''t judge a book by its cover.

 Chapter 47: Orc camp

    This rxing dinner time didn''tst long as the C Rank leader and some others came to find the Ice Princess.


    Though he was the leader of the group in name, everyone knew that it was actually the Ice Princess that was in charge.


    So they came to find her to discuss what to do tomorrow.


    They also wanted to move to a more secure location, but the Ice Princess rejected this.


    "I''m still in the middle of eating and I won''t move until I''m finished."


    The C Rank leader and the others looked at her with a helpless look since they knew that they wouldn''t be able to change her mind. So in the end, they had no choice but to sit down and discuss it here.


    However, there wasn''t ack of disdainful looks directed in my direction and in the direction of the other porters.


    Seeing this, I was about to stand up and leave. However, before I could, the Ice Princess suddenly grabbed my hand and said, "Sit and finish your meal."


    All of us couldn''t help looking at her with surprised looks. I was the one that was the most caught off guard by this.


    However, it didn''t seem like she would back down on this.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to sit down and the C Rank leader and the ones following him also sat down.


    This time, theypletely ignored me as they reported on the situation of the orc camp.


    As I listened to the report from the side, I couldn''t help slowly knitting my brows.


    What I didn''t notice was that the Ice Princess had been secretly watching me out of the corner of her eyes. When she saw that my brows had knit after hearing about the situation of the orc camp, there was a faint sparkle that appeared in her eyes.


    The situation of the orc camp was worse than we had thought.


    The orc camp was at least three times as big and had four times as many orcs as predicted.


    With all of these orcs, it was impossible for the scouts to sneak in to find out the situation of the camp. After all, there were just too many orcs and there was a limit to their stealth ability.


    So in the end, they weren''t able to find the Orc King inside of the camp.


    The C Rank leader then said, "We should take another day to watch the camp and see if we can pick them off one by one. We have plenty of people that we can surround the camp with and attack them from all directions so that they have no idea what''s happening."


    The Ice Princess didn''t react to this suggestion from the C Rank leader which made him sweat a bit.


    But in the end, the Ice Princess said, "Let''s talk about it tomorrow. I''m sure that everyone is tired, so let''s all get a good night''s rest before deciding."


    The C Rank leader and the others with him were surprised by this, but they agreed to her suggestion since they knew that she was right. They had been trekking through the forest the entire time and watching over the orc camp, so even they were feeling a bit tired. They could only imagine how the D Rankers were feeling.


    Since they had time, there was no need to rush and it was better to rest while they could.


    With this, the C Rank leader and the others bowed to the Ice Princess before leaving the tent.


    Once they were gone, the Ice Princess revealed a look of disdain.


    Not a single person here dared to say a word as they waited for her to say something.


    Since I had already finished my food, I didn''t want to get involved in this matter any longer and stood up to leave.


    But once again, before I could, the Ice Princess stopped me.


    She said, "Wait, let me ask you something."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this. I even looked around myself to make sure that she wasn''t talking about anyone else.


    But she was looking right at me, so it was clear that she was talking to me.


    After a moment of hesitation, I asked, "Is there something that I can help you with, Miss Bing?"


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "What do you think we should do about the orc camp?"


    Once her voice fell, everyone here couldn''t help looking at her with a shocked and confused look. The one that had the most confused look on their face was me since I couldn''t understand why she was asking me this.


    However, the Ice Princess just looked at me as if she was waiting for an answer.


    I didn''t know what to make of this situation at first and I began hesitating on what to do.


    But in the end, I came to a conclusion that this was my chance to make an impression on the Ice Princess.


    While it would be like walking on thin ice since I didn''t know what she wanted to hear from me, it was still a chance to show off. I believed that I would be able to leave a good impression with my intelligence.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "I think that we shouldn''t waste any time in taking down the orc camp."


    The Ice Princess gave a nod when she heard this before saying, "But how do you n on taking it down? It isn''t that easy to take down this orc camp after all."


    I gave a nod of affirmation before simply saying, "We burn it down."


    When the people around me heard this, they all revealed confused looks as they couldn''t understand what I was saying.


    However, the Ice Princess'' eyes lit up when she heard this.


    "It seems that I was right about you. Alright, let''s hear your n."

 Chapter 48: Burning the camp

    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this and I wasn''t able to react right away.


    However, I was pulled back to my senses when the Ice Princess said, "What''s wrong? Tell me what you have in mind."


    I saw the way that she looked at me and I could tell that she was serious about hearing my n. As for her reason why, I naturally didn''t know, but since she was willing to hear me out¡­then there was no reason to hesitate any further.


    I calmly said, "We have one advantage over the orcs which is our intelligence. With this intelligence, we can outsmart the orcs and force them in a situation where they won''t be able to escape. While it is dangerous to burn this orc camp since we''re in the forest, as long as we use our abilities to fall some trees to create a stopping zone, we should be able to avoid a full forest fire.


    When that timees, the orcs will burn to death inside of the fire trap that we set. If there are any that survive, then they will be too weak to fight back in the first ce."


    The Ice Princess nodded along to my n before suddenly taking out a piece of paper that she put on the table in front of us. Then she looked at me while pointing at the map and saying, "Show me the area."


    I was once again surprised, but I took out a pen from my bag and started drawing out an area on the map.


    This map already had the orc camp marked on it, so based on that, I was able to segment out an area that I believed would be a good stopping area for the fire. As long as we cut out the trees in this area, the fire shouldn''t spread that far and we should be able to trap the orcs inside.


    The Ice Princess had been silently listening to me as I outlined this n and drew this area.


    Only when I was done did she finally give a nod and say, "This n is good. Let''s go with this n."


    Then she looked at me with a smile and said, "I knew that I wasn''t wrong about you. When they mentioned the camp earlier, I could see that your eyes changed. You''re clearly someone who has intelligence and ambition, but it''s just that your abilities limit you. I really want to keep you as my permanent porter now."


    I was about to say something, but she quickly cut me off by saying, "But not right now. Right now, we should focus on the task at hand. Let''s talk about this in the future."


    I couldn''t help revealing a bit of a bitter smile when I heard this.


    I had thought that I had left enough of an impression on her to achieve my goal, but it seemed that she still needed to watch me a bit more before that happened.


    Still, I knew that I had at least left a good impression on her, so that was still better than nothing.


    The Ice Princess gave a nod before saying, "Alright, let''s leave it here for tonight. I''ll tell the others that this is our n tomorrow. Get a good rest tonight, we still have plenty to do¡­"


    Before she could say ''tomorrow'', Su Chen suddenly said, "There''s a problem with this n."


    Both the Ice Princess and I immediately looked at Su Chen.


    Su Chen had been looking over the map the entire time with a serious look on his face as if he was thinking about something.


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes to look at him before asking, "What is the problem?"


    There was no malice in her voice, rather she sincerely wanted to hear what Su Chen had to say.


    After all, there was a reason why she had chosen him as her personal porter and had worked with him all this time.


    As for me, I couldn''t help ring at Su Chen, wondering if he was specifically targeting me with these words. After all, someone else who caught the Ice Princess'' attention would be bad for him.


    But when I heard what he had to say, I realize that this wasn''t the case.


    He was actually giving proper advice.


    "You forgot to ount for the weather. There will be a westerly wind stirring tonight, so by tomorrow, there will be a powerful gale. Once that happens, you have to ount for the embers carried by the wind and adjust the zones ordingly." Su Chen slowly exined.


    After he said this, he pointed at the western part of the camp and said, "You have to make this area bigger or else you won''t be able to contain the fire."


    Then he also pointed at some parts of the map to the north and south of the orc camp before saying, "You should also consider expanding out these parts just in case since the wind will cause trouble there."


    I went to the p of the tent and peeked my head out to see that there was indeed already a breeze that was stirring.


    When I came back into the tent, I couldn''t help looking at Su Chen with a look of surprise and admiration.


    Su Chen just said with a smile, "You can''t be in the business for as long as me and not know things like this. A porter is responsible for supporting the Awakeners, so the things that we need to know are not just limited to carrying things. We need to know many different things that will be able to help those that we support."


    He said this with a proud look on his face that really made him seem cool.


    After a while, the Ice Princess said, "Alright, we''ll make the changes to the zones as proposed by Su Chen." She looked at the two of us and everyone else in the tent before asking, "Is there anything else?"


    None of us said a thing in response to this.


    Seeing this, the Ice Princess gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Get some rest, you''ll all be busy tomorrow."

 Chapter 49: Cutting trees

    The next morning, the C Rank leader and the ones he brought all had shocked looks on their faces when they heard the n that the Ice Princess gave them.


    They looked at each other before the C Rank leader said, "Vice guild master, doesn''t this n seem like it''s too much trouble? Are we really going to go through all that trouble when we can just as easily find and kill the Orc King? As long as we take down the Orc King, the rest of them won''t be able to do anything to us."


    When the Ice Princess heard this, she immediately knitted her brows as she looked at the C Rank leader.


    The C Rank leader couldn''t help slowly stuttering his words until he finally stopped talking.


    The Ice Princess then looked at them with narrowed eyes as she said, "You care more about profit than you do about human lives?"


    When this heavy usation came down, the C Rank leader and the others all quickly shook their heads.


    When such a heavy usation was thrown down, they were naturally terrified and went out of their way to deny it.


    But the Ice Princess still said, "Don''t think that I don''t know what you''re thinking. You don''t want to go through with this n because it''ll ruin the corpses of the normal orcs. You wanted to cash in on all of the orcs and even the Orc General, right?"


    All of them couldn''t help giving a gulp when they heard the Ice Princess'' usation and they slowly lowered their heads, as if they didn''t dare look right at her.


    However, her words had hit the target.


    Indeed, that was the main reason why they didn''t want to go through with this n.


    There was a bit of concern about burning thisrge area in this break zone and how dangerous it would be, but it was mainly because of profit.


    After all, people only became Awakeners because of the money. Being an Awakener was a way to easily make money and many Awakeners were all about maximizing their profits.


    If they burned the orcs, they wouldn''t be able to sell their corpses or even salvage anything from them.


    So it was thest thing that they wanted to do.


    The Ice Princess didn''t stop there as she continued to say, "You should know that this isn''t just about clearing out the orcs and stopping the Orc King. This is also about protecting the people of the world. If the orcs gather too much power here and break out of this break zone, who do you think will suffer the most? Of course it will be themon citizens."


    They couldn''t stop their faces from turning red when they heard this since the logic that she used was airtight.


    In the end, they had no choice but to ept the n.


    It wasn''t just because of her logic, but also because of the fact that she was the vice guild master. If they offended her over this, it was certain that they wouldn''t have a future in the guild.


    Even if they wanted to change guilds, with the vice guild master against them, they wouldn''t have a good time.


    It was simr to how if a worker at a normalpany had a boss that they offended, they wouldn''t be able to easily find another job.


    In a way, being in a guild was like working for apany.


    Or at least it was like working for apany when it came to the culture.


    Since they had epted this n, all that was left was distributing the tasks.


    The Ice Princess knew that it would be hard for the D Rankers to ept this, so she personally came out to give them orders.


    If it was the Ice Princess giving the orders, there was no one that dared to disobey.


    So even if they didn''t like the n for the same reason as the C Rank leaders and his followers, they still went to cut down the trees.


    Even though we wouldn''t be helping with cutting down the trees, us porters were still required to help out with transporting the wood that was cut. At the same time, we helped with cutting the wood that was cut into smaller kindling that we spread out across the forest.


    This would be used to make the mes burn stronger topletely smother the orcs in mes.


    Of course, it was impossible topletely hide this since the orcs dide out from time to time.


    So the orcs that came out were taken out by the scouts that were hiding in the trees. They watched the orcs in the camp and whenever a bunch of orcs came out, they would follow them and take them out silently so as not to attract attention.


    It could be said that these scouts had the hardest jobs in all of this.


    We just had to cut the trees, but they had to fight orcs and do it silently which made it harder. Especially since it was much easier to cut trees with the special abilities of these Awakeners.


    It was also because these Awakeners had special abilities that we were able to cut the trees down so quickly. It took no more than two hours to finish cutting the ring of trees around the orc camp.


    Once this was done, the main group gathered in front of the entrance of the orc camp. Of course, we didn''t remain out in the open and stayed in the forest near the entrance so that the orcs couldn''t see us.


    We were here because we knew that the orcs woulde running out the entrance in an attempt to escape. If they ran in any other direction, all they would face is a wall of mes.


    After onest check, the signal was given to the Awakeners that were waiting.


    These were Awakeners that were scattered in the forest around the orc camp with torches in their hands.


    Once the signal was given, they dropped the torches in their hands onto the kindling in front of them.


    It took no time at all for the kindling to catch on fire and even with the strong winds, the fire soon spread to the surrounding trees.


    In an instant, there was a ring of fire that had been created around the orc camp.


    Just like that, the n was set into motion.

 Chapter 50: Inferno

    As soon as the trees were set on fire, the orcs in the camp immediately started to react.


    At first, the orcs wandered around in chaos since they had no idea what was happening. But of course, that couldn''t be med on them since the forest around them had suddenly been set on fire.


    To make things worse, there were fire arrows that came out of nowhere thatnded in their camp, setting the buildings on fire.


    The orcs were only trying to survive at this point, they didn''t care at all what had caused this fire.


    But since there was chaos, it was hard for them to escape.


    This was made worse since the line of fire was all around them.


    The only ce that didn''t have fire was the entrance of the orc camp which was strangely free of any mes. So following their instincts to survive, they started running at the entrance.


    With how many orcs there were, it was inevitable that a stopper was formed since there was only so much space in the camp. In no time at all, they were all blocked from leaving the camp and many orcs were facing the mes that were encroaching around them.


    The ones that were at the front of the stopper, the ones that were able to leave the camp didn''t fare any better.


    That was because as soon as they came out of the camp entrance, they were hit with a volley of arrows. Before they could even react, there were several arrows that pierced through their thick skins and into their vital points.


    Before they could even find the attackers, the orcs dropped dead on the ground.


    There were more orcs that came after the orcs that died, but they also met the same fate of being stabbed by arrows.


    It didn''t take long before the orcs realized that there were enemies hiding in the burning forest in front of them, sniping them with bows. This made them more hesitant to run out¡­but they had no choice but to run out since behind them was a wall of mes.


    It was like being trapped between a rock and a hard ce.


    With this blocking the flow of orcs, there were more and more orcs that were trapped by the burning mes encroaching from behind them.


    The ones in the back did all that they could to put out these mes, but they lived in a camp that waspletely made of wood, sticks, and leaves. There was no way for them to control this zing inferno when there was so much kindling avable to the mes.


    So their attempts were in vain as they were swallowed by the mes.


    The orc killing went very smoothly, so smoothly that they couldn''t believe that it was this easy.


    However, that changed when a roar suddenly rang out through the camp.


    There were orcs that were picked up and thrown out of the way, as well as orcs that quickly moved to the side to create a path.


    The one that took this path and came out of the orc camp was an orc that was bigger than the others. This was an orc that was holding arge iron sword.


    It was another Orc General.


    But of course, those that were shooting the arrows didn''t dy when they saw this Orc Generale out. As soon as it came out of the entrance, there were arrows that flew out through the trees at the Orc General.


    The Orc General swung his sword out to cut down these arrows, but there were just too many arrows for the Orc General to deal with.


    As soon as the Orc General appeared, the arrows stopped flying at the other orcs and werepletely concentrated on the Orc General alone.


    So even if the Orc General cut down a few of these arrows, the rest of the arrows stabbed right into the Orc General''s body.


    But this Orc General was a higher tier monster for a reason.


    Even with all of these arrows stabbing into him, he was still able to move and fight. This Orc General was like a rampaging monster as if continued to head towards the forest in front of him.


    That is until a sudden arrow of ice came out of nowhere and stabbed that Orc General right in the head.


    This arrow was disguised amongst the rain of arrows, so the Orc General wasn''t able to react to it until it was toote.


    With this arrow of ice stabbing through his head, the Orc General staggered for a second before copsing onto the ground.


    Once the Orc General was dead, the arrows once again focused on the orcs that were escaping from the camp.


    The orcs that had used the Orc General as a distraction to escape the arrows found themselves being shot at once again. That was because they had been unable to escape while the Orc General was causing the distraction.


    They werepletely surrounded in mes, so there was nowhere for them to run in the first ce.


    If they had charged at the ones who were shooting the arrows while the Orc General was causing the distraction, perhaps they might have found a way out¡­


    It was just too bad that these orcs didn''t have this intelligence.


    So with the rain of arrows and the mes behind them, the orcs were trapped inside of this burning camp.


    The camp continued to burn for around an hour and the struggling stopped after half an hour. At that point, all of the orcs were being consumed by the mes inside of the camp and no more orcs ran out.


    Since there weren''t any orcs left, the arrows naturally stopped as well.


    Finally, after an hour, the kindling ran out and the mes slowly started to die down.


    The only things that were left was the burnt husk of the orc camp and the smell of burning orcs in the air.

 Chapter 51: Orc King

    When the mes had settled, the Awakeners looked at the camp with looks of shock on their faces.


    They had never expected this n to go this well.


    All they had to do was hide in the forest and shoot arrows at the orcs from a distance. Just with that, they had been able to wipe out an orc camp that was three timesrger than what they had been expecting.


    If they had fought the orcs hand to hand like the original n, perhaps many of them would have been injured and there would have even been some deaths. But with this n, there wasn''t a single casualty.


    There wasn''t even a single minor injury.


    The only thing that they felt regret over was the fact that all of the orc corpses had been burnt to a crisp like this.


    There was no way that they would be able to find anything that they could sell like this.


    So their hearts ached from the pain of losing this money.


    But they still understood that this was a major victory without any major injuries, so they should be happy about this. Even if they wouldn''t be able to earn anything from the corpses of these orcs, the guild would pay them handsomely for such a fine achievement.


    So in the end, there really wasn''t a loss for them.


    The only thing that was on their minds now was¡­to search the battlefield.


    Even if thend looked like it had been razed by mes, there was still a chance that there was something here for them. So they wanted to search this area to see if there was any loot for them to take back with them.


    Since they used mes to burn down the orc camp, it meant that it would be a free for all when it came to loot. Whoever found the loot first would be the one that would keep it.


    However, before they could go, the Ice Princess said, "Wait, it''s not over yet."


    When they heard this, all of the Awakeners couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    They looked at her with a strange and confused look.


    What was she talking about?


    Didn''t she see that the orcs had been burnt to ashes already?


    How could this not be over yet?


    But before any of them could say anything, there was a crumbling sound that came from in front of them. This crumbling sound was then followed by arge mass of something ck shattering apart.


    There were cracks that appeared on this ck mass before a hand suddenly poked out of it.


    Then following that hand, there was thisrge green thing that came out of this ck mass on the ground.


    The moment that this thing appeared, all of the Awakeners couldn''t help feeling a chill run down their spines. The moment that this thing appeared, it was like all of their hairs suddenly stood on end.


    That was because they could feel the energy and pressure that wasing from this green mass.


    It was clear that this thing wasn''t a normal monster.


    If they had to guess what this was¡­it was most likely the Orc King!


    But just how had this Orc King survived being surrounded in mes like this?


    Even if it was them, they wouldn''t have been able to survive in this kind of environment with all of their powers.


    In fact, even the Ice Princess wouldn''t have been confident to survive this situation.


    But then the Ice Princess said something that answered all of their questions.


    "This beast, he used his subordinates to form a living wall around him and used that to block the mes." As she said this, there was a tone of disgust that filled the Ice Princess'' voice.


    When they heard this, everyone couldn''t help looking at the ck things that were around the Orc King.


    When they looked carefully, they found that these ck things weren''t just charcoal formed from the burning wood, but also the bodies of the orcs that had been gathered around the Orc King as a shield.


    It seemed that this Orc King really was ruthless, he didn''t even care about his subordinates and treated their lives like they were nothing.


    Even if they were orcs, they couldn''t help feeling sorry for them.


    Still, they didn''t have time to think that much about this since the Orc King was still there.


    The Orc King had only suffered minor burns from the fire, so it was still able to fight.


    This was a monster that was considered B Rank because of its abilities tomandrge legions of orcs to do its bidding. But without these orcs, the Orc King was actually only considered a C Rank Monster.


    However, when the C Rank Awakeners were in the face of this Orc King, they realized that even if it was C Rank like them, this thing was much stronger than them.


    Even if they were all in the C Rank, this Orc King was at the peak of the C Rank and they were at the very bottom.


    If they were to fight this Orc King themselves, they would never have a chance of winning against it.


    But it was a good thing that they didn''t have to fight this Orc King since there was someone else here that would do it for them.


    Not to mention, it was one of the strongest Awakeners in their guild.


    The B Rank Ice Princess, Bing Xin!


    As they had expected, after seeing the pressure that this Orc King released, Bing Xin said, "Everyone stand back. I''ll take care of this thing."


    When they heard this, they happily took steps back to create space for Bing Xin to fight this Orc King.


    The Ice Princess then said, "Create a perimeter and make sure that nothing disrupts my fight with this thing!"


    All of the Awakeners immediately gave serious nods before spreading out across this area. With the way that they stood guard, it was as if they wouldn''t let a single thing past them unless they died.


    The Orc King however didn''t care about this since he could feel the pressure that wasing from the Ice Princess as well.


    He knew that unless he defeated this Ice Princess, he wouldn''t be able to escape from this ce.


    So the Orc King pulled out a sword from the ground and pointed it at the Ice Princess.


    When the Awakeners saw this sword, they couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    As Awakeners, they were naturally sensitive to mana. They could feel the magic power that wasing from this sword.


    But they never expected that this Orc King that had been born in this break zone would have a weapon like this. After all, magic weapons were rare items that were only created with great skill and precise magic control abilities.


    They weren''t things that were that easy to find.


    And of course, this Orc King wouldn''t know anyone that would be able to create a magic weapon like this.


    So this magic weapon was most likely a naturally formed magic weapon which made it harder to deal with.


    Those naturally formed magic weapons were always more powerful than forged magic weapons since they were formed from the magic of nature.


    The Ice Princess naturally knew this as well, so she knew that this wouldn''t be an easy fight.


    But even so, she didn''t back down.


    She even had a trace of excitement in her eyes.

 Chapter 52: True Ice Princess

    Neither the Orc King or the Ice Princess made a move even though both of them had drawn their weapons.


    With the way that they were looking at each other, it was clear that they were sizing each other up to see how to best cut down the other side.


    It was a battle of both patience and intelligence.


    But in the end, it was the Orc King that moved first.


    The Orc King had less patience than the Ice Princess, so it charged forward while swinging its sword out. This swing was much too early to be considered an attack on the Ice Princess, but it was a different story because this was a magic weapon.


    When the Orc King swung this sword out, there were vines that suddenly appeared in the air around the Orc King.


    These vines were aimed right at the Ice Princess.


    They came in different directions, as if they were targeting different parts of the Ice Princess.


    At the same time, using these vines as a cover, the Orc King started running right at the Ice Princess. He lifted the magic sword in his hand high up as if he was preparing to sh down at her.


    To everyone''s surprise, the Ice Princess didn''t make a single move as she watched the vines approach.


    Even when they were right in front of her, she didn''t move.


    In the end, the vines were able to wrap around the arms and legs of the Ice Princess,pletely trapping her. They were even able to lift her up right in the air in front of the Orc King, giving him the perfect target.


    The Orc King didn''t hesitate at all when he saw this and brought the magic sword in his hand right down on the Ice Princess.


    When the sword made contact with the Ice Princess, there was no resistance at all as it cut right through her.


    Her body was cut in half from her shoulder to her waist and it crumpled to pieces as it fell to the ground.


    The Awakeners were all shocked when they saw this, while the Orc King had a look of triumph on his face. That was until they saw the real form of the Ice Princess'' corpse on the ground.


    It was just a bunch of ice.


    What the Orc King had just shed was nothing more than a bunch of ice that had been formed in the shape of the Ice Princess. All that the Orc King had cut apart was an ice statue.


    The Ice Princess was already behind the Orc King with her sword raised.


    In one swift sh, she cut both of the Orc King''s arms, causing them to droop down in front of him.


    "So firm." She muttered under her breath.


    Even though she had used her full strength, she hadn''t been able to cut off the arms of the Orc King. She had only been able to make small cuts in the skin of the Orc King that made his arms go weak.


    But at the same time, she could see that¡­


    "Such strong regeneration." The Ice Princess muttered again.


    In front of her eyes, she could see that the wounds were closing at a visible rate. Even though she had frozen the arms of the Orc King with her ice power, it still wasn''t enough to stop the regeneration.


    "What monstrous regeneration powers¡­this b*stard¡­" The Ice Princess cursed under her breath.


    It took no time at all for the Orc King to regain the power in his arms and he turned back to face the Ice Princess.


    The Ice Princess had naturally also sensed this, so she had already moved away from the Orc King.


    But as she jumped back, people with sharp eyes could see that there were ice crystals that had formed where she was standing previously. At the same time, there were ice crystals that formed in the air in front of the Orc King.


    The Orc King didn''t see any of this and charged at the Ice Princess without a care.


    Then as expected, the ice crystals on the ground suddenly formed spikes in front of the Orc King that it could no longer avoid with the speed that it was going at.


    As for the ice crystals that were in the air¡­they clung to the Orc King''s skin and formed ayer of ice that quickly spread across the Orc King. Thisyer of ice went over the Orc King and seemed like it was about topletely freeze the Orc King.


    However, before it could, there seemed to be something that was resisting the spread of this ice.


    Eventually, the ice stopped spreading and even shattered apart.


    There were some parts of the Orc King''s skin that had turned a bit pale because of being frozen, but it was recovering at a visible speed.


    It seemed that regardless of what attacks she used, the Orc King would be able to recover from it.


    Unless she used an attack that was too strong for the Orc King to recover from, she wouldn''t be able to permanently hurt the Orc King with his monstrous regeneration.


    The Ice Princess bit her lip before saying, "Fine, I''ll fight you seriously then."


    The Orc King didn''t care about any of this until there was a sudden burst of energy that came from in front of it.


    Feeling this burst of energy, the Orc King finally stopped moving. At the same time, there was ayer of frost that appeared on the Orc King''s skin.


    When the Awakeners saw this, the C Rank leader immediately shouted, "Move back! Everyone move back!"


    He recognized this move from the Ice Princess and unless they moved away, they would be caught up in the fight.


    As soon as they heard this, all of the Awakeners evacuated quite a bit away before they finally no longer felt the chilling from the center.


    In the center of this circle, the Ice Princess was standing there surrounded in cold mist.


    Her hair had gone from that ice blue colour topletely white.

 Chapter 53: Sudden burst of energy

    The moment that the Awakeners saw this, they couldn''t help taking a deep breath of admiration.


    All of them knew what this form was, it was the special form that the Ice Princess took when she was fighting seriously.


    This was the True Ice Princess form.


    As for what the skill was called, it was called Ice Time.


    During this Ice Time skill, the Ice Princess would receive a buff from the skill that would increase her overall power by at least 20%. At the same time, it would increase the power of her ice attacks by 100%.


    But the downside was that this form couldn''t be kept up for long.


    It had a limit of however long her mana wouldst, draining her MP every second that this form was active. She could keep it up longer if she didn''t userge spells, but if she did and drained her MP with them, she wouldn''t be able to keep up this form for long.


    Once she was in this form, it meant that the Ice Princess was serious.


    It could be seen that as soon as she entered this form, the Ice Princess raised her sword and gathered several icicles around her.


    With a wave of that sword, the icicles immediately flew out in the direction of the Orc King.


    The Orc King had wanted to dodge, but he had found that it was just too fast for him to dodge¡­


    No, when one looked closely, it wasn''t that the icicles had gotten faster. Rather, it was because there was this white mist that was floating around the area where the Orc King and the Ice Princess were fighting.


    If they could touch this mist, they would find that this mist had a coldness to it that was unmatched.


    Whatever this mist touched, it could create ayer of frost over it.


    This was a special skill that came with the Ice Time called the Ice Domain.


    Whenever the Ice Princess entered the True Ice Princess form like this, the Ice Domain would appear.


    As for what this Ice Domain did¡­it was an area slow.


    In the area around the Ice Princess, anyone that was deemed an enemy by her would be slowed by the Ice Domain.


    So that was why the icicles seemed much faster to the Orc King.


    It had been frozen by this Ice Domain and wasn''t even moving half as fast as before.


    But the icicles didn''t hit the Orc King''s body, but rathernded on the ground around the Orc King.


    The Orc King had his arms up in a futile effort to defend against these icicles, but he found that he wasn''t pierced by them at all. When he did, he let out a roar of anger, almost as if he was being looked down on.


    After all, the icicles had been much faster than him and could have easily pierced into his body.


    But for some reason, they had all missed him.


    He knew that it wasn''t because he had dodged these icicles, but because the Ice Princess had done this on purpose. If this wasn''t looking down on him, then he didn''t know what was!


    But the Ice Princess didn''t care about the Orc King''s rage as she pointed her sword at the Orc King and said, "Ice Tomb!"


    The moment that she said this, there was a bright glow that suddenly appeared around the icicles that had surrounded the Orc King.


    The moment that this blue glow appeared around these icicles, they suddenly started to spread the ice that they had created on the ground. It wasn''t a slow spread, but an instant spread towards the center where the Orc King was standing.


    In an instant, the Orc King''s lower half had been covered in ice.


    The Orc King saw this and knew that he was in danger, so the Orc King started to swing his sword around in a futile attempt to shatter the ice.


    However, no matter how much of the ice that the Orc King shattered, it was immediately reced with more ice from the icicles.


    No matter what the Orc King did, it wasn''t able to stop the ice from spreading up to his upper half.


    Finally, the ice spread to the Orc King''s arms and he found that he was no longer able to move his arms. He tried to move his body in an attempt to shatter the ice, but he found that he wasn''t able to move at all.


    It took no time for the ice to spread all the way to the Orc King''s head before finally¡­the Orc King was entombed in this ice.


    When they saw this, the Awakeners all let out a sigh of relief.


    This was also the case for the Ice Princess since if this didn''t work¡­she would have to use her true final card, but that would leave her weakened and she had no idea what else could happen.


    But when she was about to release the True Ice Princess form, she suddenly knitted her brows.


    She looked at the Orc King that was encased in ice and knitted her brows even more.


    "This monster¡­even encased in the most powerful ice that I have, it''s still alive. It''s even still regenerating and slowly looking for a way to break out¡­It seems that I have to finish it off after all." The Ice Princess muttered to herself.


    Once she made this decision, she raised her sword and a blue glow appeared around it.


    But before she could release the power of this sh that she was clearly condensing, there was a loud ''boom'' that rang out.


    After that, everyone couldn''t help turning in a certain direction.


    That was because they could feel the flow of magic power in the air.


    There was something that had disrupted the magic power in this area and was currently creating some strange flows.


    After knitting her brows to look in that direction for a bit, the Ice Princess suddenly opened her eyes wide in shock and shouted, "Dungeon break!"

 Chapter 54: Thank you for your hard work

    But as the Ice Princess was caught off guard by this, there was a sudden cracking sound.


    When she turned back, she found that the Orc King covered in a green light had broken free of the Ice Tomb.


    This green light came from the magic sword and spread out all over the Orc King, giving him a power that she couldn''t see the bottom of. It was as if this Orc King had tapped into the power of nature itself to strengthen his body.


    But the worst part of it all was¡­that the Orc King was already charging at her.


    The Ice Princess had been distracted by the fluctuations that came from the Dungeon Break, so she hadn''t been able to react in time to the Orc King charging at her.


    At the same time though, the Orc King was clearly much faster than before now that he had this green glow around him.


    She had no idea what this green glow was, but she could tell that it wasn''t just his speed that was faster. She could feel the magic power fluctuationsing from the Orc King getting stronger.


    It was clear that this was a buff that increased the Orc King''s overall power, just like her Ice Time buff skill.


    But she didn''t know the extent of this buff¡­just how strong was it and how long would itst?


    With these unknown, she didn''t dare do anything rash.


    So the Ice Princess quickly brought up her sword to block the swing of the Orc King.


    She had been caught off guard, so the guard was hastily raised and she had underestimated the Orc King in the end.


    When the sword of the Orc King made contact with the Ice Princess'' sword, she couldn''t block it at all as she was suddenly sent flying back from the force of the Orc King''s attack.


    The Orc King revealed a wide smile when he saw this and even raised his chest as if to boast about this.


    When the Ice Princessnded, it was not a gracefulnding.


    She fell on her back on the floor and bounced a few times before finallying to a stop.


    When she came to a stop, she didn''t hesitate to stand up. But halfway up, she couldn''t help bending her body as she gave a cough.


    Though she tried to cover her mouth with her hand, she wasn''t able to stop the blood that trickled out through the slits of her fingers.


    It was clear that she had been seriously injured because of that blow from the Orc King.


    But the Ice Princess forced herself through this and stood firm as she raised her sword again.


    When the Orc King saw this, he revealed a displeased look before charging forward with a roar. This roar was even fiercer than his previous roar and it even shook the ground under it.


    The Ice Princess wasn''t affected by this at all as she stood firm with her eyes on the Orc King.


    It seemed that she wouldn''t back down no matter what came her way.


    The Orc King raised his sword and prepared to sh the Ice Princess once again.


    It was just too bad that the Orc King''s sword was never able to reach the Ice Princess.


    There had been a blue glow around the Ice Princess'' sword the entire time, this wasn''t something that was there for no reason. This had been the sign that she had been gathering her energy for her final move.


    In one swift sh, the Ice Princess released a wave of blue light that suddenly transformed into a wave of ice.


    This ice sh came right at the Orc King and even though the Orc King tried to block it with his sword, it didn''t matter. It was too fast for the Orc King to bring his sword down in time, so itnded right on the Orc King''s chest.


    Then¡­without any resistance, it cut right through the Orc King.


    In the end, the Orc King looked down at his body before the top half suddenly fell off.


    The bottom half had still been running, so thest thing that the Orc King saw was his own bottom half running forward in front of him before his eyes dimmed.


    After taking a deep breath, the Ice Princess fell to her knees.


    It was clear that she wasn''t in good shape, but at the very least, it didn''t seem like she was too heavily injured. It seemed more like she was suffering from having exhausted her mana.


    But she didn''t let herself rx too much since she could still feel the energy fluctuations that wereing from the distance.


    There was still a Dungeon Break that she had to worry about.


    The problem was that with the people that she had here, it would be impossible for her to take care of the Dungeon Break. So the only thing that she could do was bring this Orc King corpse back as soon as possible and gather rankers from the guild.


    With this determination, the Ice Princess stabbed her sword into the ground and shouted, "Clean up the area quickly! We need to head back!"


    But before anyone could move, the C Rank leader came forward and raised his hand for them to stop. He came right up to the Ice Princess and said, "Leader, we shouldn''t be in a rush. What if there are monstersing from the dungeon that are wandering around here. With you in this state, we won''t be able to fight them properly."


    The Ice Princess deeply knitted her brows when she heard this, but in the end, she gave a nod to show that he was right. So she changed her order, "Clean up the area and scout a way back."


    The C Rank leader gave a nod, but he didn''t turn around to leave.


    Instead, he came forward with his hand raised as if he wanted to help her while saying, "Leader, thank you for your hard work."


    The Ice Princess'' hand was about toe up to wave him away, but before she could¡­


    She felt a sudden pain in the side of her waist.


    She looked down to see that there was a dagger that was now stabbing into the side of her abdomen.

 Chapter 55: Unlikely help

    The Ice Princess just looked at the dagger that was stabbed in her waist in a daze as if she couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    But then she suddenly looked up at the C Rank leader and said, "What is the meaning of this?"


    The icy tone of her voice was more than enough to freeze anyone that heard it, but the C Rank leader just calmly looked at her as if he wasn''t bothered by this at all.


    Seeing that he wasn''t going to answer, the Ice Princess wanted to raise her sword to threaten him with, but¡­she found that she wasn''t able to move her arm like she wanted to.


    She looked down at the dagger that was stabbed into her again and found that there was a strange purple hue to it¡­


    Poison?


    It was poisoned!


    As soon as she realized this, she felt a wave of weaknesse over her body and she fell forward once again. If it wasn''t for her reacting in time to stab the sword in the ground, she would have fallen face first into the ground.


    Seeing this, the C Rank leader revealed a smile and said, "To see the great Ice Princess in this state of weakness, this really is something else."


    The Ice Princess was about to ask something, but before she could, she heard cries of pain from around her.


    She looked up to see that the other C Rankers were currently chasing and cutting down the D Rankers.


    It seemed that there wasn''t just one traitor, but multiple spies that had entered their guild and had made their way into her team.


    She wanted to say something, but she found that it was even hard for her to raise her voice.


    The Ice Princess didn''t know what kind of poison this was, but she knew that this was a powerful one that was even hard for her to resist.


    Even with all her mental will, she could feel how strong of an influence it had on her¡­


    The C Rank leader naturally saw this as well, so he said, "Even the mighty Ice Princess can be like this. It seems like we really got some high quality stuff."


    The other C Rankers allughed when they heard this, but they didn''t stop killing the D Rankers for a single second.


    They were cutting away whileughing along with the C Rank leader.


    The C Rank leader didn''t make a move as he faced the Ice Princess.


    Then all of a sudden, there was a dagger that appeared in his hand.


    With a lewd smile he suddenly made a cut on her shirt, exposing the bra that was underneath. Seeing this milky white skin appear, he said with the same lewd smile, "Look at this beauty, she truly is deserving of the title Ice Princess."


    The others all gave lewdughs along with the C Rank leader.


    But the Ice Princess'' face copsed when she saw this.


    She had been trying to stay firm, but for the first time, there was a trace of fear that appeared in her heart.


    After all, she was still a virgin.


    She didn''t want this to be the way that she lost her virginity, raped by a bunch of men in the middle of the forest.


    So gripping the sword in her hand as tightly as she could, she raised it up in an attempt to face the C Rank leader. But all she could do was lift it halfway and then she couldn''t lift it any further.


    Seeing her raise her sword like this, the C Rank leader suddenly burst intoughter before shing at her sword with his dagger.


    The Ice Princess wasn''t able to keep her grip on the sword at all and it was sent flying to the side. It spun a few times in the air before stabbing into the ground.


    The C Rank leader raised his dagger up to his mouth and licked the de before saying, "It seems like our princess here still hasn''t given up yet. It seems that we need to punish her a bit before she bes more obedient."


    When the C Rankersughed along this time, the Ice Princess felt another wave of fear fill her heart.


    The C Rank leader didn''t waste any time in moving towards her.


    There was the dagger in one hand and the other hand had nothing, but it was raised and moving towards her.


    The way that his hand was moving¡­she didn''t like it at all.


    She could see what he was thinking just based on the way that his hand moved¡­


    But the Ice Princess wasn''t able to move an inch.


    Right before the C Rank leader was able to reach his hand out to touch her, there was a figure that suddenly appeared between the two.


    The C Rank leader couldn''t react at all as that figure suddenly swung their sword down at him. By the time that he reacted, he found that there was arge cut on his chest and blood was spurting out.


    The C Rank leader took a step back before sputtering out, "You, you, how did you¡­"


    He wasn''t able to finish his sentence in the end as he realized that there was another swinging at him.


    This time, the C Rank leader was able to raise his dagger to block this attack, showing his skills as a C Ranker. However, he was still injured and because of it, he wasn''t able to use his full power.


    He was pushed back by this sword swing, stumbling back a few more steps.


    The Ice Princess had slowly looked up when she saw this figure appear and when she saw the face of this figure, she couldn''t help revealing a shocked look as she said, "It''s you?"


    When I heard this, I said, "Just leave this to me. I won''t let them do anything to you."


    The Ice Princess didn''t know why, but she couldn''t help feeling assured by this.


    As that feeling of assurance filled her, she started to tip forward before losing consciousness.

 Chapter 56: Time to take care of you

    I quickly turned around to grab the Ice Princess as she fell forward.


    When she fell into my embrace, I could feel a soft feeling on my chest which made me blush a bit.


    She really was big and soft¡­


    But I quickly shook that thought out of my mind since I was in a dangerous situation right now.


    Even if I had pushed back the C Rank leader, that didn''t mean that he was finished yet.


    He was still a powerful C Rank leader that normally someone like me wouldn''t be able to handle.


    That was right, the ''normal me'' wouldn''t be able to handle it.


    But that didn''t mean that I wasn''t able to handle it at all.


    That was why I was happy to see that the Ice Princess had fainted.


    If she hadn''t, then I wouldn''t be able to use my full powers.


    I lifted her up and held her in my hands as I started walking towards the forest.


    The C Rank leader and the other C Rankers were caught off guard seeing how calm I was.


    During the time that I had pushed back the C Rank leader, the C Rankers had already finished off the rest of the D Rankers or had chased them off. Those D Rankers didn''t stand a chance against the C Rankers, so they couldn''t do anything against them.


    They did their best to scatter in every direction and only a few of them had escaped.


    But there was also a poison that was in the air, which was why they weren''t afraid to let these D Rankers escape.


    They would die eventually from the poison, so there was no need for them to personally take care of them.


    They turned their attention to the one that had sent their boss flying. But when they saw who it was, they all started teasing the C Rank leader.


    "Boss, aren''t you letting your guard down too much?"


    "Even a kid like this can sneak up on you like this?"


    They beganughing, but the C Rank leader had his brows knitted the entire time.


    That was because he knew that Lin Fan wasn''t as simple as he seemed.


    Even though he looked like an amateur that couldn''t threaten him at all, there was something off about him that gave him a sense of danger.


    Not to mention¡­he hadn''t seen how Lin Fan had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, catching him off guard. It was almost as if Lin Fan had appeared out of thin air, but that shouldn''t be possible¡­


    As far as he knew, there wasn''t any power that would allow a person to do that.


    So even if his men teased him, the C Rank leader narrowed his eyes to look at Lin Fan before saying, "Who are you?"


    The other C Rankers all looked at him with a strange look since they recognized Lin Fan as the porter that had been with the Ice Princess. They had been with him for so long that they didn''t think that there was anything special about him.


    He had only caught the C Rank leader off guard to blow him away like this.


    With the poison in the air, it was a matter of time before he fell, so they didn''t even need to do anything to them.


    When I heard this question, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.


    I could tell from the looks on the faces of these C Rankers that they werepletely looking down on me. The only one who actually thought I was a threat was the C Rank leader.


    And he was right.


    I just calmly said, "Freeze."


    The moment that I did, all of the C Rankers couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    They finally realized why their leader had been acting the way that he had been acting.


    It wasn''t that he was being paranoid¡­but rather there was a valid reason for him acting this way.


    They found that after hearing what Lin Fan had said, they weren''t able to move an inch.


    There were some that tried to resist this, but all that happened was that they started twitching. It was them trying to go against the strange force that was holding them, but they weren''t able to move at all in the end.


    The C Rank leader was one of the few who didn''t try resisting since he knew that it was impossible in the first ce. Instead, he looked at Lin Fan and asked, "Who are you and why are you doing this?"


    When I heard this, I shook my head with a smile before saying, "Why are you attacking the Ice Princess in the first ce?"


    The C Rank leader was confused at being asked a question in response to his question, so he didn''t know how to respond at first.


    But in the end, he said, "Does that matter?"


    I just calmly said, "Then why does it matter who I am?"


    The C Rank leader didn''t know how to respond to this since he still had the mentality of someone who considered themselves superior.


    After all, while Lin Fan was freezing them all here, he was someone that had the pride of being a C Ranker.


    That was like someone who drew the winning ticket in the game of life. So he had the pride of someone who considered himself a winner.


    That pride was not something that was shattered easily, so it didn''t matter if Lin Fan had caused them to be frozen in ce like this. He would still act the same way that he did before.


    So I gave a sigh and said, "I think that it''s time for me to take care of you now."


    "Huh?" The C Rankers all revealed confused looks on their faces when they heard this as they had no idea what Lin Fan was talking about.


    I picked up the sword that the Orc King dropped and then walked over to one of the C Rankers.


    Then in front of the rest of the C Rankers, I lifted the sword to that person''s throat and slit it.


    As that C Ranker bled out, he looked at me in disbelief as he couldn''t understand what had just happened.


    But I ignored him and turned to the rest of the C Rankers with a smile.


    At this, the C Rankers felt a chill run down their spines as they realized what I meant.

 Chapter 57: Being chased

    When she woke up, the Ice Princess found that she was being carried by someone.


    She slowly started to remember what had happened and when she did, she suddenly started to struggle.


    When I noticed that she was struggling on my back, I immediately said, "Wait, calm down! I''m not going to hurt you!"


    The Ice Princess was surprised by this voice and when she looked down to see who it was, she stopped struggling. But she quickly asked, "What happened back there?"


    I gave a sigh and said, "I could sneak up on that C Ranker, but I''m just a porter so it isn''t as if I could defeat him. All I could do was grab you and your weapon and run."


    The Ice Princess didn''t say anything at first, but then she slowly gave a nod of agreement as she epted what I had said.


    What I said did make sense since she knew what kind of power I had. It definitely wouldn''t have been enough to defeat the C Ranker.


    But the thing that she couldn''t help finding strange was how I had managed to sneak up on the C Ranker in the first ce. After all, from what she could see, it was as if I had suddenly appeared out of nowhere when I had arrived in front of her to save her.


    So she did have some suspicions about me¡­


    But in the end, she knew that what was important was getting out of her.


    At the same time, she didn''t feel any ill intent from me, so she could ept that I was trying to help.


    In the end, the most important thing was that she could still feel the poison inside of her body.


    Even after resting for a bit, she still didn''t have full control of her body and she knew that she wouldn''t be able to move if it wasn''t for me carrying her.


    However, there was still something that she had to do¡­


    So the Ice Princess said, "Wait, we need to go back and see what happened to the others. If there are any people that we can help, we need to go back and help them."


    I shook my head right away and said, "There''s no time for that."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows as she said, "Why? Isn''t it important that we save¡­"


    Before she could finish, I said, "We''re being chased, so we need to get out of here alive first."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows even more when she heard this and she focused her senses on our surroundings. It took her no time at all to find that I was telling the truth.


    She could sense that there were two people who were currently following us and they were getting closer and closer.


    As soon as she realized this, she immediately said, "Put me down and run. It''s clear that they''re after me."


    I just said with a bitter smile on my face, "How could I do that after I went through all of that to save you?"


    The Ice Princess said with a frown, "If you leave me now, you''ll have a chance to escape. If you don''t, you''ll die with me. I think you know what you should do."


    I shook my head and said, "Who knows? I like to believe that things aren''t destined in this world. As long as we do everything that we can, there''s a chance that things will change."


    The Ice Princess looked at me with aplicated look before saying, "You really are a strange one."


    I just revealed a smile without saying anything else, but I did pick up the pace.


    In the end though, the ones that were chasing us still caught up to us.


    There was a difference in physiques in the first ce, so it wasn''t as if I would have escaped while carrying the Ice Princess.


    These were two of the C Rankers that had been with our group.


    When they came through the woods, they didn''t waste any time in running forward to block us from moving any further.


    Both of them had weapons in their hands and stood there in the way before one of them said, "You can leave if you leave her with us."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows when she heard this, but in the end, she still said, "Leave me here and go. You don''t need to get involved in this matter."


    I just revealed a bitter smile as I said, "Would they actually let me go now that I''ve helped you? The moment that I run off on my own, they''ll just hunt me down and kill me to tie up any loose ends."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows even more, but she didn''t deny this since she knew that I was right.


    As she knitted her brows, I could feel her gripping my shoulder even tighter.


    So I said, "I''m going to put you down for a second, is that alright?"


    There was a trace of disappointment that appeared in the Ice Princess'' eyes when she heard this, but she gave a nod to show that she agreed with this.


    I went over to one of the trees and set her down, which the C Rankers allowed me to do.


    But to their surprise, instead of running away, I pulled out a sword and faced them head on.


    When the Ice Princess saw this, she had a shocked look appear on her face before she said, "What are you doing?"


    I didn''t answer this as I moved closer towards the C Rankers.


    Both of them also looked at me with surprised looks before one of them asked, "Are you serious? Do you really think that you will be able to do anything to us?"


    I didn''t say a thing, but I did take another step towards them.


    Seeing this, the C Rankers gave a sigh before they moved towards me with their weapons raised as well.

 Chapter 58: ‘Surprise’ ending

    No matter how one looked at it, it didn''t seem like this would be a fight.


    After all, it was a porter versus two C Rankers.


    This seemed like it would end in a one sided ughter¡­


    Because of that, the Ice Princess couldn''t bear to look at first¡­but then she still opened her eyes since she knew that it was because of her that this porter was in this situation in the first ce.


    No matter what happened, she would see this through to the end with her own two eyes.


    But the result wasn''t what she had thought it would be¡­


    The two C Rankers easily moved to both sides of Lin Fan with their superior speed and skill. Once they were on his side, they moved from different directions to attack both of his sides.


    Even one of them was able to easily take him down when it came to the difference in physiques, so the two of them acting this way was almost considered overkill.


    But right before one of them could reach Lin Fan, he suddenly stumbled.


    The C Ranker knitted his brows as he stumbled, but he quickly forced himself to stand firm with his other foot.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan didn''t miss this opportunity.


    As if by magic, Lin Fan suddenly started moving faster and at the same time, there was a green glow that appeared around the sword that he was holding.


    The moment that the Ice Princess saw this, she couldn''t help saying, "That sword!"


    Just based on that green glow, she was able to recognize the sword that Lin Fan used right away.


    After all, she had been fighting against the one who had owned this sword previously.


    It was the Orc King''s sword, the magic weapon that the Orc King used previously.


    The C Ranker wasn''t able to react in time to this sudden increase in speed and waspletely caught off guard. Lin Fan suddenly made his way into the C Ranker''s space and in one swift swing, he cut the C Ranker.


    Then there was only a single C Ranker left.


    This C Ranker had seen everything that Lin Fan had done, so he didn''t dare act too rashly.


    Instead of charging right at him, this C Ranker created several balls of light in the air.


    These balls of light released the aura of magic as they floated there in the air.


    The Ice Princess was surprised by this since she knew that this person wasn''t just a swordsman, but rather a magic swordsman.


    As far as she could remember, she didn''t remember there being a magic swordsman among the group that she had chosen.


    It seemed that the enemies had hidden themselves much better than she had thought.


    She wanted to say something to Lin Fan to warn him off the approaching magic missiles, but she wasn''t able to gather the strength to raise her voice. It seemed that the poison was still heavily affecting her body.


    But even without her warning, Lin Fan was able to suddenly charge at the other C Ranker.


    Since he had turned, she was able to see his face this time.


    When he suddenly sped up, she could have sworn that she had seen his mouth move.


    Then when he approached the C Ranker, his lips moved once more.


    After his lips moved, the C Ranker knitted his brows just like the other C Ranker had done before stumbling a bit. He didn''t fall over, but it was clear that he had been affected by something with the way that his body wavered.


    The magic missiles that had been gathered in the air also shook when the C Ranker shook. Then after that, they suddenly disappeared without a trace.


    Taking advantage of this gap, Lin Fan suddenly came forward and once again ignited the green glow of the sword.


    With one sh, he cut the C Ranker across the chest and the C Ranker fell like the other C Ranker.


    When it was over, Lin Fan stood over the two of them with blood dripping down his sword.


    The Ice Princess just looked at Lin Fan with a look of shock on her face, but at the same time, there was a trace of doubt in her eyes.


    Lin Fan flicked his de to get the blood off before turning to walk back to the Ice Princess. But when he came close, he could see the look of distrust in her eyes, so he asked, "Is something wrong?"


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes to look at Lin Fan before asking, "Just who are you?"


    Lin Fan revealed a confused look as he asked, "What do you mean by that?"


    The Ice Princess looked at the two C Rankers lying on the ground and asked, "Do you really expect me to believe that you''re just a normal porter after everything that you''ve done?"


    Lin Fan revealed an awkward smile when he heard this, but he simply exined, "Well¡­I know that it''s a bit hard to believe, but I really am just a normal porter."


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes again to look at him, but her eyes rxed soon after as she said with a sigh, "Alright, I guess that you have your circumstances. But you have to tell me what they are after we head back."


    Lin Fan narrowed his eyes a bit, but he still gave a nod in the end.


    The Ice Princess wouldn''t have believed him if not for the sincerity that he had shown in his eyes.


    She could tell that he didn''t have any ill intent towards her and in fact had admiration for her¡­It was almost a bit too much that she was actually a bit embarrassed about it.


    She couldn''t help thinking to herself, "Does he like me?"


    Lin Fan didn''t notice all of this as he came forward to help her up again before saying, "We should head back now."


    But the Ice Princess said, "No."

 Chapter 59: Being selfish

    Lin Fan looked at the Ice Princess with a confused look before asking, "What do you mean by ''no''?"


    The Ice Princess calmly looked at him and said, "We need to go back and rescue as many people as we can."


    Lin Fan deeply knitted his brows when he heard this before saying, "No."


    This time, it was the Ice Princess'' turn to look surprised and confused.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at Lin Fan before saying, "This isn''t a time to y around. There are people''s lives at stake here and we need to do all that we can to save them."


    But Lin Fan just calmly said, "I should be saying the same thing to you."


    The Ice Princess'' eyes opened wide in shock when she heard this before she revealed a confused look as she couldn''t understand what he was talking about.


    At the same time, there was a bit of a lost look in her eyes.


    She didn''t even know why she felt this way¡­but seeing Lin Fan who had acted humbly in front of her before acting this firmly now, she felt that there was something that was different¡­she felt like there was something that had been lost between them and she didn''t like it.


    Lin Fan took a deep breath and said, "I know that your heart is in the right ce, but is it really the right thing to do in this situation? You should know that it isn''t just their lives that are in danger right now, but the lives of many other people. If we don''t go back and report the Dungeon Break, there will be many lives that will be lost when they try to subdue it."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows when she heard this before saying, "The guild is closely monitoring the situation and will make adjustments based on what they find. They''ll have already noticed the Dungeon Break and will send people to take care of it. There''s no need for us to do anything."


    Lin Fan shook his head, "But do they know about the traitors?"


    The moment that the Ice Princess heard this, she deeply knitted her brows.


    After all, he was right and she couldn''t refute it.


    Even if they detected the Dungeon Break, they wouldn''t know about the traitors that had been in her group.


    While she wasn''t certain, she could guess that they were most likely rted to the Dungeon Break. After all, their betrayal and the appearance of the Dungeon Break had been too coincidental for her to ignore.


    So while she didn''t know how they had induced the Dungeon Break, she was certain that they had a reason for it.


    That would mean that they would act against anyone who came to subdue the Dungeon Break.


    If they didn''t know about these traitors, there was no doubt that they would fall into some kind of trap prepared by those traitors¡­


    So she knew that he was right and she couldn''t go against it¡­


    But after a while, the Ice Princess still said, "We can split up. With your abilities, you should be able to reach the camp by yourself and warn them. I''ll go and save the¡­"


    Before she could finish, Lin Fan suddenly raised his voice and said, "Stop being selfish."


    The Ice Princess couldn''t help flinching a bit when she heard him say this. Seeing the serious look on his face, she shrunk back even more.


    It was almost like a child being scolded when she faced this kind of Lin Fan.


    She pouted her lips, but she didn''t say anything.


    Lin Fan continued by saying, "I think that it''s admirable that you want to help people, but you need to think about yourself as well. You should know what will happen if we go back to try and save them."


    The Ice Princess deeply knitted her brows when she heard this, but she had to acknowledge that he was right with a sigh.


    In the state that they were in, there was no doubt that they would be hunted down by the traitors. At that point, everything would be meaningless since they would be dead.


    But she had hoped that with the power that Lin Fan had demonstrated, he would be able to change this.


    Lin Fan could see this hope in her eyes, but he crushed it by saying, "I can''t use that power for long and I''ve already gone over my limits."


    When she heard this, the Ice Princess revealed a very disappointed look. But that look disappeared quickly since she knew that she couldn''t me him for this. After all, he had risked his life just to save her.


    If it wasn''t for him stepping in, she would have already been vited and killed¡­


    So she couldn''t keep being selfish like this¡­


    The Ice Princess took a deep breath before saying, "You''re right. I can''t be selfish anymore and I need to do what I need to do."


    Lin Fan gave a nod and revealed a smile when he heard this.


    When the Ice Princess saw this smile on his face, she couldn''t stop her heart from skipping a beat. She didn''t know why she felt this way, but for some reason¡­she felt happy just seeing him being happy like this.


    Lin Fan turned around and got down so that she could get on his back again before saying, "Shall we?"


    The Ice Princess looked at this back and for some reason, she couldn''t help feeling assured.


    She didn''t know what it was about this back thatforted her like this, but she felt that things weren''t as bad anymore when she saw this back. She leaned forward andid on his back, which gave her an even stronger sense of assurance.


    As sheid there on his back, she gave a soft ''un'' sound.


    With that, Lin Fan stood up and headed off, moving in the direction of the entrance to this break zone.


    ¡­


    What she never would have known was that my heart had been racing this entire time.


    Even if I was in control of this situation because I had already given instructions to the C Rankers, if I couldn''t convince her of the dangerous situation¡­it would have all been for nothing.


    So when she finally conceded and decided to follow me, I couldn''t help letting a secret long sigh of relief.


    Then when she was on my back, she didn''t see the secret smile that appeared on my face.


    With this, I was certain that I would be able to aplish my goals once we returned to the base.


    While there would beplications, I wasn''t worried about them since I knew that I had already moved the heart of the Ice Princess. As long as the Ice Princess was by my side, there was nothing that they would be able to do to me.


    At the same time, I could hear from the Ice Princess'' voice that she was starting to treat me differently.


    Rather than thinking of me as a subordinate, she was thinking of me more as an equal.


    That would go a long way in the future.


    As I walked off, I secretly said in my heart to the C Rankers who had died chasing us, "Thank you for your hard work."

 Chapter 60: Return

    When we returned, what was expected to happen happened.


    When the guards at the gate saw me carrying the Ice Princess back, they immediately raised their weapons and shouted, "Stop where you are and raise your hands!"


    Naturally they immediately suspected that I had done something to the Ice Princess.


    But if I had really done something, would I have carried her back like this?


    The Ice Princess quickly stopped the guards from doing anything rash and then quickly reported the situation.


    After they finished listening to her story, they looked at me with strange looks.


    Of course, I ignored them and just pretended that I didn''t see anything.


    In the end, the guards went to report this while a few of them stood by to watch over us. Though, it was said that they were watching over ''us'', it was clear that they were here to watch over me.


    Whether it was to make sure I didn''t do anything or run away, I couldn''t tell, but I once again ignored it.


    When more people came, I was separated from the Ice Princess and¡­put in jail.


    It wasn''t really a jail, but a temporary holding cell that they had created.


    From what I could see, this was actually a cell that had been created to hold live monsters that they wanted to transport back. After all, there was always some rich person that would want something like that¡­


    But now, it was being used to hold me.


    Still, I didn''t panic since I had already expected this to happen.


    This was all a part of my n, so all I had to do was wait for what came next.


    However, now that things had settled, I really couldn''t help letting out a long sigh of relief.


    The trip this time had really been dangerous and there had been too many surprises.


    If I hadn''t adapted to the surprises as they came, I really might have died this time¡­No, I wouldn''t have died, but I would have been put in a very dangerous situation. Being exposed would be the same as dying¡­


    So I was d that I was able to save the Ice Princess as a cover for myself.


    It was worth manipting those C Rankers with my hypnosis.


    ¡­


    After killing the first C Ranker, all of the other C Rankers looked at me with eyes filled with fear.


    But I didn''t kill them right away since I had something that I needed for them to do.


    I chose two of them that seemed like they would make good pursuers and gave them their instructions. They would chase after me and the Ice Princess, always keeping their distance until the Ice Princess woke up.


    Only when she woke up would they slowly get closer and closer until they caught up to us.


    This would give me enough time to talk to her and catch her up on our situation. That way, I could make an even bigger impact when I saved her.


    As for the others¡­


    "You will go and fight the monsters thate out of the Dungeon Break. Don''t let a single one of them past you, even if you have to sacrifice yourself for it. If someonees to subdue the Dungeon Break, you will throw yourselves at the monsters and let them kill you before they arrive."


    When the C Rankers heard this, all of them revealed looks of shock.


    However, that didn''t stop their bodies from moving forward.


    The moment that I had finished giving the order, they all started to move in the direction of the Dungeon Break.


    But as they moved, they started shouting out.


    Some of them cursed me, some of them demanded to know what was happening, and there were some that even begged me to let them go.


    But I just calmly watched as they left.


    Before they did leave, I suddenly remembered something.


    If they made too much noise, wouldn''t they be able to attract the attention of the ones that came to subdue the Dungeon Break?


    So I had to make sure that they wouldn''t be able to say anything to reveal my secrets.


    Before they could leave my range, I suddenly said, "Silence."


    As soon as my voice fell, all of them fell silent.


    They had still been shouting while they had been leaving and I had let them keep shouting because I thought that it would attract more monsters. But now it seemed like being silent was better.


    The noise that they made wasn''t worth letting my secret be revealed.


    As for trying to find out who had sent them in the first ce¡­that wasn''t for me.


    After all, I didn''t want to get caught up in more things than I needed to. I just needed to care about myself and not about the ns of others.


    I turned to look at the two C Rankers who were still waiting and said with a smile, "Come and chase us after we''ve left for five minutes."


    Without caring about how they would react to this, I went over to the Ice Princess and put her on my back before heading off.


    With the map, I was able to easily find the way back to the camp.


    As for the rest¡­it was history.


    ¡­


    Now that I was sitting here in the cage, the only thing that I could do was wait.


    I could see that the sky was getting darker as I sat here, so I should have been here for several hours already. Of course, I had no way of knowing since they had already confiscated my phone and everything else that I could have used to contact the outside world.


    But before the sun set, there were a few guards that approached my cage.


    They opened up the cage and pointed their guns at me.


    One of the guards who seemed like they were the leader of this group said, "Stand up and follow me."


    I didn''t resist at all as I followed their order and was led off to the main tent in this camp.

 Chapter 61: Questioned

    When I was brought into the tent, I found that there were people waiting for me.


    The Ice Princess was sitting there as expected, but she was sitting far away from the center.


    As I walked past, she looked at me with an apologetic look as if she had done something wrong that I couldn''t understand.


    In the center of this tent, there were several people sitting there waiting for me. But the only one that really stood out was the woman sitting right in the center.


    She stood out because not only was she very beautiful, she also looked very simr to the Ice Princess.


    They had the same beautiful features, but she had fiery red hair and fiery red eyes instead of blue hair and blue eyes like the Ice Princess. At the same time, she seemed a bit more mature than the Ice Princess, which gave her more of a sexy mature beauty look.


    It was clear that the two of them were rted in some way.


    After being brought in front of them, the red haired beauty gave a nod to the guards who released my shackles to my surprise. Though when I felt the pressure that came from in front of me, I realized why they had done it.


    The red haired beauty was more than confident in subduing me if I ever tried to run.


    So there was no meaning in leaving me shackled like this.


    At the same time, I knew better than to run away. I could feel the pressure that came from the red haired beauty, she was definitely not someone that I could face even with my demon king powers.


    I also wasn''t a fool.


    I could tell that there was no malice behind this pressure, but rather a hint of curiosity, so there was no need for me to be rash.


    I just waited to see what they would do with me.


    After a long silence, the red haired beauty said, "So you''re the one that saved Xin''er?"


    I couldn''t help revealing a slightly confused look when I heard this since I didn''t know who she was talking about when she mentioned Xin''er.


    But after thinking about it, I suddenly remembered that the Ice Princess'' name was Bing Xin.


    For her to address the Ice Princess in such an intimate manner, it was clear that she was rted to her in some way.


    So I just gave a simple nod in response.


    After seeing this, the red haired beauty said with a smile, "Then I have to thank you for that. If it wasn''t for you, I wouldn''t know what would have happened to my darling Xin''er."


    I was about to rx after hearing this, but her next words made me tense up again.


    The red haired beauty''s voice suddenly became sharp as she said, "But how do you expect me to believe that a part time porter like you would have the ability to save Xin''er from some C Rankers?"


    After saying this, the pressure that fell onto me was even stronger than before.


    It was almost so strong that I was crushed into the ground.


    It seemed thatst time was just a greeting and this time¡­was the warning.


    But with my will, I was able to stand firm and look right up at her.


    When the red haired beauty saw this, there was a trace of admiration that appeared in her eyes since she knew how hard it was to face her pressure. However, that didn''t mean that she released that pressure.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "I might be a porter, but I''m also an awakener. I used my powers to save her."


    The red haired beauty gave augh when she heard this, but theugh was very cold. After thatugh, she said, "You expect me to believe that a F Rank Awakener had the power to fight several C Rank Awakeners?"


    Then her eyes narrowed as she looked at me, causing a chill to run down my spine. At the same time, she said, "That''s like expecting me to believe that you aren''t working with them."


    The suspicion in her voice was very clear, but it was also very justified.


    After all, the idea that I was working with the traitors was a very valid one and it would exin how I was able to get away.


    A F Ranker surrounded by C Rankers and still being able to escape, that sounded suspicious no matter how one looked at it.


    But I didn''t back down as I looked up at her and said, "I have a special way of using my power that allowed me to catch them off guard. That was how I was able to escape."


    The red haired beauty narrowed her eyes to look at me without saying a thing.


    After a bit of silence, she finally said, "Well, Xin''er did tell me that you showed some strange powers, so I already knew that. However, that still shouldn''t exin how you were able to escape, does it?"


    I shook my head and said, "I''ll demonstrate my powers and show you, would that be enough?"


    When she heard this, the red haired beauty couldn''t help revealing a surprised look.


    It seemed that she hadn''t expected me to actually offer to do this even though it was clear that she was trying to force me to demonstrate my powers. She had thought that I would try to hide it to the end instead of offering to demonstrate it like this.


    But she didn''t let herself be tripped up for long as she gave a straightforward nod and said, "Alright, let''s go and see what your powers can do."


    She suddenly stood up and prepared to walk out of the tent while all the others that had been sitting around her looked at her with shocked looks.


    The Ice Princess took advantage of this gap toe over and say with an apologetic look, "I''m sorry."


    I understood why she had that apologetic look earlier.


    It seemed that she had no choice but to tell this red haired beauty about what had happened in the break zone. That included the powers that I had used to fight the C Rankers with, which had led to this questioning.


    But I was fine with it since I also nned for this.


    After all, this was the only way to show how useful I was and to find a way to join their guild.


    So in a sense, the Ice Princess was doing me a favour.


    I just said with a smile, "It''s fine, I''m sure that you had no choice."


    When she saw this smile and heard what I said, the Ice Princess couldn''t help turning her head away.


    I could have sworn that I saw a blush appear on her face at the same time.


    But I didn''t think too much about it.


    I focused my mind instead on what was about toe.


    I had been given a chance to demonstrate my powers and prove how useful I was.


    As long as I could impress them, I would have a choice to join their guild and be connected to even more high ranking Awakeners.


    When the time came, it would be easy for me to bring more high ranking Awakeners under me.


    So I would be giving it my all in this demonstration.

 Chapter 62: Demonstration (1)

    But as we were heading out, I saw that the people that had been with the red haired beauty were currently surrounding her,ining to her.


    "Guild master, you can''t do something like this. It''s too dangerous."


    "That''s right, guild master, who knows what kind of abilities he has? What if he suddenly attacks you with them?"


    "Guild master, please just hand him over to the authorities and let them handle him."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried.


    But then, the red haired beauty said with a snort, "Hmph, do you really think that I can''t protect myself against a new Awakener?"


    When she said this, all of them suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.


    They all revealed difficult looks as if they were put in between a rock and a hard ce, but in the end, one of them said, "Guild master, we didn''t mean that¡­It''s just that this is a very tense situation and we should act carefully."


    The red haired beauty gave a nod as if she was agreeing with them which made them feel a bit better, but then she said, "So you''re saying that we should ignore our jobs and hand him over to the authorities without properly checking him? What if he does something to them and we''re med for it?"


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard them talking about me like this¡­but I tried to act like it didn''t bother me at all.


    To the side, the Ice Princess revealed an apologetic look when she heard all of this.


    In the end, the red haired beauty was able to talk down all of the people who had been trying to convince her of going through with this.


    As we were following her, the Ice Princess said, "I''m sorry about all of this¡­I couldn''t keep it a secret when my big sister asked me."


    "Big sister?" I asked back.


    The Ice Princess nodded and pointed at the red haired beauty as she said, "That''s my big sister and the guild master of our guild, Elementia, Bing Lan."


    I turned to look back at the red haired beauty with a surprised look.


    It wasn''t because she was the guild master, but rather that she was the Ice Princess'' big sister.


    As we followed them, the Ice Princess told me more and more about Bing Lan, including her powers and her nickname.


    I was even more surprised to find that Bing Lan was actually a¡­S Ranker who was known as the me Empress because of her fire controlling abilities.


    One sister controlled ice and the other controlled fire¡­they really were opposites. Even down the personality with one being as cold as ice and the other being as fiery as mes.


    For some reason, when the Ice Princess saw Lin Fan looking at Bing Lan the way he did, she couldn''t help feeling a bit ufortable. She didn''t know exactly what this feeling was, but she knew that she didn''t like it.


    Instead of another tent, there was a building that was ced here instead.


    Based on the outside of the building, it seemed like it was quite the sturdy building.


    This ce was either hiding a secret, or it was built sturdy for a reason.


    When we came in, I realized what this ce was for.


    It was a training building.


    This was a ce that was built sturdy so that Awakeners could use their powers at will, not having to worry about destroying the area around them. After all, some Awakeners had abilities that could destroy cities if they wanted to.


    So a ce like this was absolutely necessary when they wanted to train or test things with their abilities.


    After entering this training building, Bing Lan turned around to me and said, "Go ahead, go in and let''s see what kind of abilities you have."


    I gave a nod and started heading into the training area, but then I realized that I didn''t have a weapon. So I suddenly stopped and turned around to say something.


    But before I could say anything, Bing Lan already said, "You''ll get a weapon when you go in. It''s loaded with every kind of weapon that you could want, so you''re free to choose whatever you want to use."


    I was caught off guard by how it seemed like she had read my mind, but I gave a nod and walked into the bubbled training arena.


    Even though the building was already very sturdy, there was another protective ss bubble around the arena itself. From what I could see, this should be ayer of bulletproof ss, so the defenses were quite strong.


    After walking in, there were two panels that opened up in the ground before two weapon shelves suddenly came out of those panels.


    It was just like Bing Lan had said, this training arena was equipped with all kinds of weapons.


    There were many different kinds of weapons here, from traditional weapons like swords and des to more unconventional weapons like chakrams and karambits. It was almost like a disy that gathered the weapons of the world.


    But for me, the thing that I was mostfortable with was the sword.


    It was what I had trained with before I became an Awakener, so it was the thing that I was the mostfortable with.


    Seeing that I had chosen a weapon, Bing Lan''s voice rang out again, "I''ll set up the practice target now."


    With the press of a button, there was another panel on the floor that opened before a wooden doll came up. This was a basic wooden doll that one would see in any movie training scene.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit disappointed.


    After all,pared to the rest of this facility, this seemed a bit too basic¡­


    Still, I didn''t let myself be affected by this that long.


    I took a deep breath and raised my sword.


    This was my chance to demonstrate my power, so I would take it.

 Chapter 63: Demonstration (2)

    However, before I started my demonstration, I suddenly turned to look at the group who was watching me.


    They were surprised to see me looking their way, but they calmly waited to see what I had to say.


    I gave a cough to clear my throat before saying, "I''m sure that everyone here already has an idea of what my awakened power is. Before I make this demonstration, I just want to remind everyone that it never says that my awakened power cannot affect myself."


    Then without waiting for a response, I turned back to face the wooden puppet.


    The others who hade with the guild master revealed confused looks, but Bing Lan herself revealed an interested look. It was clear that she understood what I meant with these words.


    And if they were true¡­then it would mean that she had found a true talent.


    The Ice Princess also had a strange look on her face.


    It wasn''t one of interest, but a look of slow recognition.


    It was as if she was slowly understanding something¡­something that she should have already understood.


    Back then in the break zone, when he suddenly appeared in front of her¡­could it be that he was using¡­?


    Facing the wooden puppet in front of me, I took a deep breath before suddenly saying, "Faster."


    Then with a single step, the scene in front of me suddenly changed. I had been a few meters away from the wooden puppet, but then I was suddenly in front of the wooden puppet.


    But before swinging down at the wooden puppet, I suddenly said, "Stronger."


    After that, I swung down at the wooden puppet with all my might.


    For the spectators, most of them couldn''t see what happened clearly. Even for me, I could barely keep up to the speed of my own swing.


    When the sword made contact with the wooden puppet, there was no resistance at all.


    The sword cut right through the wooden puppet and split it right in half. But there wasn''t a reaction from this wooden puppet at first.


    Only after a while did this top half of the wooden puppet slip off the bottom half and drop to the ground.


    There was a ''thud'' that came from the top half of the wooden puppet falling to the ground before silence followed after it.


    Not a single person was able to say a word as they stared at the wooden puppet halves that were in the arena.


    That was because while I didn''t know how strong these wooden puppets were, that didn''t mean that they didn''t know. They were from the guild that had built this training building, so they knew exactly what these wooden puppets were.


    These wooden puppets were strong enough to even resist the power of a rocketuncher¡­yet a single sh was enough to cut it in half like this.


    Didn''t that mean that this person''s sh was even stronger than a rocket?


    This person was clearly F Ranked, but this kind of power was definitely C Ranked.


    Could it be that the Awakener Association had made a mistake in this person''s awakening?


    Could it be that they had assigned him the wrong rank?


    That was the only thing that they could think of as they stared at Lin Fan who was standing in the center of the arena.


    But Bing Lan had a different look in her eyes.


    She narrowed her eyes as they filled with interest while she stared at Lin Fan.


    It was as if she had noticed something interesting about him.


    Then she suddenly said, "So you used your ability to remove the limits of your body?"


    I was surprised when I heard this, but I turned back to give a nod.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan broke out inughter as she said, "That really is a creative way to use your power, it definitely isn''t something that has been done before." Then after a pause, she stoppedughing as she looked at him with a serious look and said, "But that wasn''t your full power, was it?"


    When they heard this, all of the others around her couldn''t help looking at her in shock.


    This F Ranker was disying power equal to a C Ranker and she was saying that wasn''t his full power?


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a wry smile before nodding again. Then before she could ask why I didn''t use my full power, I raised my hands and let the sword drop before saying, "I''m limited by the condition of my body."


    After letting go of the sword, my hands started to tremble.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan gave an understanding nod.


    Since his power was releasing his limits, that meant that he was hurting himself to use this power. After all, there was a reason why his body would put these limits on in the first ce.


    He was using power that his body couldn''t control, so it would hurt his body whenever he used it.


    To the side, the Ice Princess suddenly revealed an understanding look.


    That was what he had meant by he couldn''t use this power for long.


    But when she thought about it, she couldn''t help feeling that he had been faster when he had rescued her from the C Rank leader.


    No, she answered her own question.


    It was because he had been injured saving her that he wasn''t as fast as he had been in the break zone.


    At this, she couldn''t help feeling a warm feeling fill her heart.


    After a bit of silence, Bing Lan said, "You have this kind of power and you''re willing to take this risk to show it, that shows that you have ambition. Someone with this kind of ambition wouldn''t work with those two bit chumps on a plot like this, so you can''t be with them."


    When I heard this, I let out a sigh of relief¡­but that was a bit too hasty.


    Bing Lan suddenly gave a p and said with a smile, "Very good! I want you!"

 Chapter 64: Joining the guild

    "Eh?" That was all I could say in response to this.


    But then after a moment of silence, the others with Bing Lan suddenly exploded.


    "Guild master, what are you saying?"


    "Guild master, do you understand what kind of things you are implying right now?"


    "Guild master, please restrain yourself!"


    "Big sister, what do you mean you want him?"


    Thest one was the Ice Princess.


    She surprised herself when she said this, but there was something that forced her to say it. It was as if she didn''t say it, she felt like she would regret it.


    So she worked up the courage to say this in the end.


    Bing Lan ignored her subordinates who were all trying to convince her otherwise to look at the Ice Princess with a surprised look.


    This was different from her calm and cool little sister who was also a bit shy. The little sister that she knew wouldn''t be this agitated or speak like this unless it was something that she really cared about.


    She couldn''t even help revealing a bit of a knowing smile when she thought this, but that smile quickly disappeared before the Ice Princess could see it.


    Bing Lan just flicked the Ice Princess'' forehead and calmly said, "Xin''er, what are you thinking? I''m just saying that I want him to join our guild. With his powers, he will definitely go far. I''m sure that you can even see that."


    "Huh?" The Ice Princess revealed a stunned look when she heard this before a blush suddenly came over her face.


    She quickly gave a cough and adjusted her emotions before saying, "Oh, right, that''s what you meant. I knew that. I wasn''t thinking about anything else."


    Bing Lan saw her cute little sister like this and she couldn''t help teasing her a bit, "But now that you mention it, he''s quite the handsome man. You should know that your big sister still hasn''t¡­"


    Before she could finish, the Ice Princess quickly said, "Who says that big sister is old? I''ll fight them right now!"


    If there was anyone else that called her old, Bing Lan would never forgive them. But when she called herself old, she was happy to see her little sister stand up for her like this, even if she had ulterior motives.


    Still, she knew that this wasn''t the time to tease her, so Bing Lan said, "Alright, let''s stop ying around."


    After that, she turned her eyes back to look at Lin Fan standing there.


    When I saw her gaze fall onto me, it almost felt like I was a piece of meat and she was the predator staring down its prey.


    I gave a gulp when I felt this gaze on me and it was definitely not a pleasant look, but I endured since this technically did mean that I had seeded in achieving my goal.


    I had already heard what they had said since everything was being broadcasted into the dome through the mic. They hadn''t turned it off while they had been talking the whole time.


    Of course, Bing Lan also knew this, so she said, "So how about it, do you want to join our guild?"


    Before I could even say anything, her subordinates had already recovered enough to startining.


    "Guild master, we can''t just let him join us. We still don''t know if he''s rted to those people that caused the Dungeon Break or not."


    "That''s right. Even if he isn''t rted, he''s still a F Ranker. If the other guilds knew that we were even recruiting F Rankers, wouldn''t that hurt our prestige?"


    "If it was known that we''re even recruiting F Rankers, we won''t be able to raise our heads in front of the other guilds. Guild master, you have to reconsider this for our guild''s prestige."


    Though they were begging, they did raise some valid points.


    A F Ranker¡­that was considered the lowest of the low and definitely not someone who was suited for their guild.


    Elementia was considered one of the top guilds since it was a guild with a S Ranker.


    So a F Ranker¡­really would seem out of ce and even worth ridiculing.


    But Bing Lin didn''t care at all as she said, "Does it matter if he''s a F Ranker if he has that kind of ability? I''m willing to invest in his future."


    The subordinates all wanted to say something, but they couldn''t see anything when they saw the look on Bing Lan''s face. When they saw this look, they already knew that she had made up her mind and it didn''t matter what they said, they wouldn''t be able to convince her otherwise¡­


    At the very least, Bing Lan then said, "As long as we have him take the Irregr License Test, it''ll be fine."


    When they heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up.


    That''s right, there was still that option!


    If he was able to pass the Irregr License Test and be a D Ranker or even a C Ranker, then there wouldn''t be a problem to let him join the guild.


    But before that¡­


    So they immediately threw another fuss saying that before he passed, he shouldn''t be allowed to join the guild.


    This time, Bing Lan didn''t make it hard on them and agreed with this.


    She said, "Only when he passes the test will we allow him to officially join our guild."


    Hearing this, all of the subordinates let out sighs of relief.


    Bing Lan ignored them and turned back to the mic to say, "So how about it? Do you want to join our guild even with those conditions?"


    I didn''t hesitate to give a nod in response to this.


    This was what I had been expecting and even if there was a condition to it, it was still an offer to join this S Ranked guild.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan said with a smile, "Then wee to the guild, or rather wee to the guild temporarily. We''ll officially wee you once you pass the Irregr License Test."


    Beside her, the Ice Princess revealed an excited look that had a few strange emotions in them.

 Chapter 65: Unbelievable physique

    After this was settled, Bing Lan said, "For now, let''s get you out of there and test your physique. Since your powers depend on your body''s ability to resist, I want to see how your body holds up."


    With a press of the button, the door to the ss dome opened for me.


    Seeing this, I walked out and headed back over to where Bing Lan''s group was.


    There were still looks of suspicion that came from the subordinates, but at the very least, they no longer looked at me with disdain. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn''t be able to since most of these people were only C and D Rankers.


    In terms of power, they might not even be able topare to me.


    But of course, that was only the fake ability that I showed them.


    That F Rank Suggestion ability should have been a form of trauma for me, but I knew that I couldn''t avoid it forever. I knew that it was better to use every single card that was avable to me, so I didn''t resist and deny this F Rank skill.


    Instead, I thought of a way to use this F Rank skill as a cover just in case I needed to show a bit of my power.


    Of course, the F Rank Suggestion alone wouldn''t have been enough to show this kind of power, so I had actually supplemented it with a bit of my Hypnosis skill. If it wasn''t for the Hypnosis skill, the effect wouldn''t be as great.


    But of course, in a real fight¡­it wasn''t as if this was my only ability.


    Bing Lan led us out of this building and towards another tent.


    Since she was surrounded by her subordinates that kept trying to convince her otherwise of this decision, she didn''t have any time to talk to us.


    So taking advantage of this, the Ice Princess came over to me and said, "I never thought that you would have this kind of amazing ability."


    I revealed a bitter smile and said, "It can''t be considered amazing since I''m hurting myself each time I use it. Not to mention, there are all kinds of limitations to using it."


    But to my surprise, the Ice Princess shook her head and said, "No, just the fact that you never gave up after receiving a F Rank ability is amazing enough. There are countless people who have given up in simr situations to yours, but you''re the first one that I''ve known that has worked so hard to change that. In that sense, you are amazing."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback by this suddenpliment from her.


    However, there was a warm feeling that appeared in my heart because of thispliment.


    Maybe it was because I had received too fewpliments or maybe it was because I could hear the sincerity in her voice¡­


    So I awkwardly said, "Miss Bing, th¡­"


    She suddenly stopped and turned to me, causing me to stop speaking. She then looked up at me and said, "It''s Bing Xin. Call me Bing Xin."


    I was once again taken aback, but then with a cough, "Miss Bing Xin."


    She shook her head again and said, "It''s just Bing Xin, understand?"


    "Yes, miss¡­No, yes, Bing Xin."


    She suddenly revealed a bright smile and said, "Good."


    The two of us just stood there in silence for a bit, but that was suddenly stopped by Bing Lan who had turned around to see why we had stopped. She just simply said with a smile, "Hey, you two, stop flirting and let''s go."


    A blush appeared on both of our faces and we jolted before taking a step back after hearing this.


    Bing Xin turned and pouted her lips to say, "We''re not flirting!"


    Bing Lan just looked at her with a knowing smile before waving her hand and saying, "Let''s go. We''re here."


    We followed Bing Lan into this tent and when I saw what was inside, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    It was a vat, arge ss vat.


    This seemed like one of those things that was used for human experimentation that one would see in movies¡­


    As I looked at this thing, I couldn''t help pointing at it and asking, "Do¡­do I really have to get in that thing?"


    Bing Lan revealed an amused look when she saw me like this before asking, "What''s wrong? Are you scared of going in?"


    After a pause, I shook my head and said, "Not so much scared as worried¡­How will I even breathe in that thing?"


    After all, this was a vat that waspletely filled with some kind of strange liquid. It wasn''t as if I had the ability to breathe underwater, so I was pretty sure I would suffocate if I went in.


    "Oh." Bing Lan casually said before pointing at the mask that one of the staff members was holding, "Just put that on and you''ll be fine."


    She walked over and pped me on the shoulder before saying, "It''ll be quick, so there''s no need to worry."


    I looked at her with a skeptical look, but then I gave a sigh and said, "Alright."


    With that, I walked over to the ss vat and went into it from the top. Before going in, I put on the mask that they gave me and found that I was able to breathe without a problem.


    After entering the vat, I found that trying to open my eyes would just irritate them because of the liquid that was inside, so I kept them closed.


    For a few minutes, there was only silence around me as I waited for them to tell me that I could get out.


    "Al, alright, you''re, you''re done."


    A voice suddenly rang out before a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the vat.


    When I came up, I opened my eyes to see a staff member helping me out, but I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because this staff member was looking at me with an amazed look.


    Earlier, his voice had also trembled when he said that I could get out of the vat.


    What happened that he acted this way?


    Could it be that I had amazing results?


    After getting out of the vat, I was going to ask for a rag to wipe myself off, but I found that it was unnecessary. The liquid that soaked my clothes started to evaporate on its own.


    It was no wonder they had said that it wasn''t a problem for me to go in without changing clothes first.


    Looking around, I found that everyone seemed to be gathered in one spot, so I walked over to see what they were gathered for.


    As I came closer, I found that they were gathered around a singleputer.


    So it wasn''t hard to guess that what they were looking at was most likely the results of the test.


    I walked over and asked, "So? How is it?"


    When they heard this, the ones that had looked down on me looked at me with looks of disbelief.


    Even Bing Lan and Bing Xin looked at me with strange looks.


    After a moment of silence, I couldn''t help asking, "What''s wrong? Is there something wrong with my body?"


    Bing Lan slowly shook her head before saying, "It''s not that¡­It''s just that your physique is unbelievable."

 Chapter 66: Unlimited potential

    I looked at her with a confused look when I heard this before walking closer to take a look for myself.


    But since they were all standing there stunned, it took me a bit of time to push through to get closer to the screen.


    When I saw the report on the screen, I immediately understood why they were acting this way.


    Strength: 8/???


    Agility: 10/???


    Vitality: 8/???


    These were the same values on the status screen that the Demon King System showed me, but there were these strange question marks that followed after each of these stats.


    At the same time, there wasn''t an intelligence stat that came with it, but that wasn''t strange. After all, this was a machine that measured physical capabilities and didn''t measure things like intelligence.


    If I had to guess, it was most likely the question marks that were causing everyone to react this way.


    I looked over at Bing Lan and asked, "What are these question marks?"


    She looked at me with a strange look and opened and closed her mouth a few times, almost as if she was trying to figure out exactly what to say.


    In the end, she took a deep breath and calmly exined, "As you can see, this machine can measure your physical capabilities. The number in front is your current measurement based on human standards. A normal adult would have a measurement of five, so all of your measurements show that you are above average for a person, but that''s normal since you''re an Awakener."


    Five was the average?


    Then that meant that I was already at the average when I first awakened¡­


    I had thought that the average would surely be ten, so I had always thought that I was still weaker than normal people. But it seemed that I had been wrong.


    So¡­did that mean that I had above average intelligence in the first ce since my intelligence was at seven?


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit proud at this realization, but I quickly focused my mind back on the matter on hand.


    I pointed at the question marks and asked, "What do those question marks mean then?"


    At this, Bing Lan revealed a strange look again and she fell silent.


    After a moment of silence, she said, "Well, the numbers in the back represent¡­the potential that one has. Or rather, the physique potential that one has. As long as they''re willing to keep training, that is how strong their bodies can be."


    My eyes lit up when I heard this as I asked, "Then for these question marks to appear¡­"


    I didn''t finish my sentence, but the meaning left by this hanging statement was clear.


    Bing Lan looked at me with a strange look before giving a nod to confirm it. She then said, "Normally, there would be a value, but since there''s no value and only question marks, the safest thing to say is that the machine can''t measure your potential. The highest that I''ve seen from this machine is 999 and if yours is filled with question marks, that means that you can break through that limit.


    So it could even be said that your potential has no limits as long as you''re willing to keep training."


    After she said this, everyone looked at me with strange looks.


    But I didn''t care about any of this as I was lost deep in thought.


    It was the Demon King System.


    That was the reason why my body was like this.


    When it had saved me and bound to my body as I was drowning in the river, it had stated that it had changed my body to suit the system.


    Since it''s a system that had levels and such, it should mean that there was the possibility of infinite growth.


    That meant that it wasn''t strange to see these question marks being a disy of my potential.


    I really had to thank my Demon King System for this, but at the same time¡­it was kind of digging a hole for me.


    If I hadn''t created this persona of a genius in the first ce, then people would have definitely been suspicious of my physique''s potential.


    It seemed like I had really dodged a bullet there.


    No one said a thing as they looked at me with strange looks¡­that was until Bing Lan suddenly broke outughing and said, "Ha, ha, ha, I''m really d that I brought you into our guild before anyone else found this out. You definitely have the potential to be someone big, but how far you go¡­will depend on how much effort you''re willing to put in.


    But I''m definitely someone willing to invest in this kind of potential."


    Her subordinates looked at her with a strange look, but they slowly began to nod along.


    After all, this Lin Fan was just too much of a freak that they weren''t able to argue with her. If he was able to awaken this physique of his, he would definitely be a monster one day.


    Bing Lan then stoppedughing and moved closer to Lin Fan. She leaned in close and said, "You''re so excellent that I even want to have you for myself."


    Bing Xin immediately jolted out her shock when she heard this and she quickly came in between the two of them. She raised her hands to push Bing Lan away as she said, "Big sister, stop joking around. What if other people heard this joke?"


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes in a teasing manner and said, "Who said that it was a joke? I''m being serious. If I miss out on such a good man, who knows when I''ll find another one?"


    Bing Xin''s chin dropped when she heard this before she started pushing Bing Lan away from Lin Fan.


    I just couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I saw all of this.


    It seemed like these two sisters really did like ying around with me¡­


    But I couldn''t help being moved by Bing Lan''s words.


    After all, she was a top grade beauty and she had a mature air to her that made her even more beautiful.


    I was still a man, couldn''t I dream?

 Chapter 67: Dungeon Break plans

    After testing my physique, they brought me back to the first tent that we had been in before.


    Only this time I wasn''t forced to stand in front of them all and this time, I was allowed to sit with them.


    It was almost like how the cool kids would only let you sit with them after you''ve proven that you were cool too¡­


    After sitting down, the first thing that we did was sign a contract.


    The contract was quite simple and there wasn''t much for me to read over. However, in the fine print, there was the condition that was mentioned before.


    It stated that I would only be a probationary member until I passed the Irregr License Exam. And if I failed, I would only remain as a probationary member until I passed in the future.


    It seemed that they were quite lenient in this matter, they were even giving me a second chance to try the exam even if I failed.


    I had really thought that they would take this chance to add a use that I would be kicked out the moment that I failed this exam. Or at least that was what I thought Bing Lan''s subordinates who didn''t like me would do.


    If I had to guess what had changed¡­it was most likely because of the results of the physical exam.


    They had been moved by the results and they had to admit that Bing Lan was right.


    I was a once in a lifetime genius that they couldn''t miss out on.


    Since they were being this generous, there was no reason for me not to sign this contract.


    Especially with thepensation rate that they offered.


    Even though I would only be a probationary member, thepensation rate seemed much higher than a normalpensation rate.


    At the same time, I could see that I had privileges that were the same as a regr member¡­


    So it could be said that this probationary title was just for show.


    This was even more clear when they allowed me to sit in on the meeting regarding what they would do with the Dungeon Break.


    At this meeting, the current situation of the Dungeon Break was presented.


    There were a few monsters that had broken free of the blockade around the break zone since there were just too many monsters that swarmed out from the Dungeon Break.


    The fact that it was so few was already a testament to how prepared the blockade lines were. If they hadn''t been as strong, then they would have been broken and waves of monsters would havee out when the Dungeon Break came.


    Of course, it helped since the Ice Princess came back and reported on the matter of the Dungeon Break.


    With her influence, they immediately raised the highest level of alert and reported back to the guild.


    With that, the guild had sent reinforcements just in time to take care of these monsters that came out.


    As for the remaining few that had made their way through the blockade line, there were also Awakeners that were chasing them down. With how remote this ce was, it was impossible that these monsters would be able to cause any chaos before they were tracked down by the Awakeners.


    So all in all, this problem had been contained.


    Now the only thing left that they had to deal with was to find someone to clear the dungeon.


    A Dungeon Break would continue until a group of Awakeners cleared out the dungeon, so they needed to find a raid team to take care of it.


    The dungeon that they had been guarding was a D Rank Dungeon, so it wasn''t that powerful in the first ce. However, a Dungeon Break usually also meant that the concentration of magic in a dungeon would be greater, which would increase the grade of a dungeon.


    Human scientists that studied dungeons had no idea why this happened, but it was something that had been proven time and time again.


    So it would be safer to call this a C Rank Dungeon instead of a D Rank Dungeon.


    And in a dangerous situation like a Dungeon Break, it was best if they called for a B Ranker to take care of this rather than sending in a group of C Rankers.


    The real problem was that the B Rankers of the guild were too far away to get here in time before the next wave of the Dungeon Break came.


    Bing Xin said, "I''ll do it. I''ve recovered enough, I can take care of it."


    Though she said this, it was clear by the slight pale tone to her face that she wasn''t ready for this.


    They had been able to cure her of the poison that she was inflicted with, but she had been weakened because of that poison and it wasn''t that quick to recover from. She still needed a few more days of rest before she could fully recover from this.


    But she knew that the situation was bad which was why she volunteered to go.


    Of course, Bing Lan wouldn''t allow this.


    Bing Lan shook her head and said, "No, you need your rest."


    Bing Xin revealed a strong look and said, "But the people will suffer if we dy too long. If I go, I should be able to take care of it if I have a group of C Rankers with me."


    After saying this, she turned to look at the ones that were sitting at the table with us.


    All of them jolted when they heard this, but then they took a deep breath and calmed down to say, "It''s an honour to go with the vice guild master."


    Bing Lan still shook her head and said, "No, there''s no need for you to go. I''ve already called someone who will take care of this."


    All of them looked at her with surprised looks as she said, "I''ve already called an A Ranker, so there''s no need for you to worry."

 Chapter 68: S Rank Treaty

    The subordinates all let out a sigh of relief when they heard this.


    An A Ranker, that was just one step off from bing a S Ranker, but A Rankers were all monsters still.


    As for S Rankers, they were equal to nukes.


    But after Bing Xin heard this, she couldn''t help knitting her brows as she asked, "Big sister, who did you call?"


    "It''s Tie Gang." Bing Lan said with a knowing look on her face.


    When she heard this, Bing Xin let out a sigh of relief before saying, "It''s big brother Tie. Then that should be alright."


    Bing Lan gave a nod before turning to her subordinates and saying, "Go and prepare for the dungeon raid. You''ll all be going in with Tie Gang."


    When they heard this, all of them revealed excited looks.


    One might think that they would be afraid, but that was just how reassuring the title of A Ranker was. As long as they were with an A Ranker, there was no need to fear this C Rank Dungeon.


    In fact, they would be able to pick up a few tricks from him and get closer to an A Ranker. This was actually a reward for them rather than a life threatening mission.


    So the subordinates all ran off to prepare for the raid, leaving only the three of us at the table.


    Once they were gone, Bing Lan gave a sigh and said, "If it wasn''t for the S Rank Treaty, I would go myself¡­"


    The S Rank Treaty, that was a famous treaty that everyone in the world knew about.


    Since Awakeners became a representation of power in this new world, they were equal to nukes in the world before the world changed. Back when the world still didn''t have Awakeners, there were already treaties in ce to prevent the proliferation of nukes.


    Now that there were S Rankers that were equivalent to nukes, there were naturally treaties to prevent them from causing mass destruction as well.


    So in the cases of S Rankers, unless there was a treaty in ce that prevented them from taking action unless it was a matter of absolute crisis.


    Unless it was a matter that threatened the very extinction of the human race, S Rankers were not able to freely take action.


    Of course, that didn''t mean that S Rankers were unable to do anything.


    For a S Ranker to move, they had to submit a formal written request to the Awakener Association that would require a council''s approval. This was a long and tedious process since S Rankers were treated as important resources, so they weren''t moved that easily.


    But for small things like clearing out S Rank Dungeons, approval was gained fairly easily since the Awakener Association also benefited from those.


    In this case where there was a Dungeon Break at this D Rank Dungeon that was in a remote ce, this was not considered an emergency and Bing Lan couldn''t act. Even if she were to put in a request, it would take too long for it to be approved.


    Sometimes, the system didn''t work, but that didn''t mean that it was a bad system.


    Sometimes, these inconveniences were necessary to keep the greater poption safe.


    Bing Xin gave a sigh as well before saying, "Big sister, it''s not worth receiving the punishment. Big brother Tie will be here soon, so let''s just leave it to him."


    Bing Lan gave a nod in response.


    The punishments that came with breaking the S Rank Treaty weren''t light.


    S Rankers were powerful, but it wasn''t as if they had the power to go against the world itself.


    There weren''t that many S Rankers out there, but there were still quite a few.


    All of these S Rankers had signed this treaty along with the governments of the world and the Awakener Association.


    Any S Ranker that was found breaking this treaty would be punished by all of these people.


    First, the S Ranker would be sanctioned by the Awakener Association, making it hard for them to obtain resources.


    S Rankers were still human in the end, so they still relied on others for things like food, housing, and other basic necessities.


    If they broke the S Rank Treaty, all of that would disappear.


    At the same time, most S Rankers were part of guilds and these guilds relied on the Awakener Association for resources. So the guilds that the S Rankers were a part of would also be punished if they ever broke the S Rank Treaty.


    Not to mention, they would face the siege of many different S Rankers condemning them for their actions.


    For a small matter like this, it wasn''t worth it for Bing Lan to break the S Rank Treaty and personally clear this dungeon.


    So all they could do was wait for this A Ranker Tie Gang to arrive.


    After half an hour, he arrived with a group of supporters.


    To my surprise, there was even a B Ranker among these supporters.


    It seemed that these supporters and Tie Gang formed a party to raid dungeons with.


    Since he had brought his party along, it should be easy for Tie Gang to clear out this dungeon.


    With his rank as an A Ranker, Tie Gang was naturally very popr.


    He was quickly surrounded by many of the C and D Rankers from the camp who wanted to build a rtionship with him. After all, for these C and D Rankers, if they could hug his leg, then they would have a firm backer.


    But Tie Gang just politely sent them on their way before looking around as if he was looking for something.


    When he saw Bing Lan and Bing Xin standing on the side, he waved at them with a smile on his face.


    When they saw this, the two of them waved back with smiles on their faces as well.


    Based on this, it was clear that there was a close rtionship between the three of them.

 Chapter 69: A Ranker

    I didn''t know why, but there was a bit of an astringent feeling that filled my heart.


    Seeing the three of them like this bugged me for some reason¡­


    But I suppressed that feeling quickly as Bing Lan and Bing Xin brought Tie Gang over to greet me.


    When they came over, Tie Gang suddenly bowed his head and said, "You''re the one that saved Xin''er? Thank you for saving her."


    There were no fake emotions in his voice, there was only sincerity as he said this.


    But that just went to prove just how close they were¡­


    I suppressed that feeling again and said, "No, it''s what I should have done."


    Tie Gang looked up at me before suddenly revealing a smile. He reached his hand out to p my back before saying, "Good man! You''re a good man!"


    Eh?


    Did I just get a good guy card from this guy that I had just met?


    Seeing that I had an awkward look on my face, Bing Lan came to my rescue by saying, "Big Brother Tie, let''s go to the conference room to discuss the raid."


    But to her surprise, Tie Gang shook his head and said, "Wait, I want to test him first."


    This time, it wasn''t just me who was surprised. Everyone looked at Tie Gang with a confused look as they didn''t understand what he was doing.


    In front of everyone, Tie Gang pulled out his sword and took two steps back. He lifted the sword up and pointed it right at me before saying, "Come at me."


    I looked around as if I was looking for help, but all I got were helpless looks.


    It was as if they were just telling me to go along with him.


    I didn''t know what to do at first, but then I just gave a sigh before saying, "I need a sword as well."


    The sword that I had been using was the one from the training arena, so I had left it back there.


    Tie Gang was the one that spoke first. He turned to Bing Xin and said, "Lend him your sword."


    Bing Xin was taken aback hearing this, but then she gave a nod as a blush appeared on her face. It was as if she was starting to understand what Tie Gang was nning on doing.


    She walked over to me and drew her sword to hand to me.


    I looked at her with an unwilling look like I didn''t want to take it, but she just kept offering it to me.


    So with a sigh, I took the sword from her and faced Tie Gang.


    Seeing that I took the sword, heughed and said, "Show me what you have!"


    At the same time, I could have sworn that I saw a glimmering from his body as he stood there. It was almost as if he had activated some kind of power.


    An A Rank power¡­that really would be hard to deal with.


    But with this sword in my hand, I might be able to do something against him.


    The moment that Bing Xin''s sword entered my hand, I knew that it wasn''t a simple sword. There was a cool feeling to this sword that slowly became colder and colder until it felt like it was about to freeze my hand.


    However, that feeling reached a peak before slowly bing weaker.


    It was almost as if the sword was slowlying around and epting me.


    Holding it firmly in my hand, I raised it up before saying, "Faster."


    Then all of a sudden, I disappeared from the view of most people. However, those that were stronger were still able to follow me with their eyes.


    That included Tie Gang who I was charging at.


    But even though he could see me, he didn''t move at all as he waited for me to approach.


    Seeing this, I just calmly said, "Stronger."


    Then in one swift move, I shed down at Tie Gang who simply raised his sword to meet my sh.


    At first, it didn''t seem like my sh had any effect on Tie Gang, but he was still forced to take two steps back in the end.


    That was because I had suddenly said, "Be dizzy."


    Tie Gang''s eyes had twitched a bit before he was pushed back a bit, but then his eyes focused as he suddenly swung out.


    I felt an immense force from in front of me that I couldn''t resist at all.


    This immense force carried me off the ground and sent me flying away.


    I flew through the air a bit before finally sliding to a stop on the ground.


    Tie Gang had already started moving after sending me flying, so he appeared in front of me as soon as Inded on the ground.


    His sword was raised so that it was pointing right at my throat, so I wasn''t able to move a single inch. I could tell that if I did move even the slightest, he would be able to stab me right through the throat.


    So I could only release my grip on the cold sword and raise my hand to show that I surrendered.


    I couldn''t help being worried when I saw the way that Tie Gang looked at me with those sharp eyes, but then I let out a sigh of relief when I suddenly saw the smile appear on his face.


    Tie Gang took his sword back and said whileughing, "That was quite the strong blow, I can even still feel my hands trembling. Whoever said that you were weak definitely didn''t know what they were talking about, I even had to get a bit serious there."


    He reached his hand out to help me up before pping me on the shoulder and saying, "You''re good, you''re very good! You''ve passed my test!"


    "Test?" I couldn''t help asking.


    Tie Gang nodded before bringing me over to where Bing Xin was standing. He said with a wide smile on his face, "You''re someone I can trust to take care of Xin''er."

 Chapter 70: Death flag

    When we heard this, both of us couldn''t stop the blushes from appearing on our faces.


    Bing Xin then gathered blue energy in her hand as she started punching Tie Gang on the chest.


    Tie Gang didn''t seem to react at first, but then seeing the angry look on her face, he started to act like it hurt for him to be punched.


    During this whole time, I could still see some kind of glimmering from him. It was almost like the sheen of metal with the way that it shimmered.


    Finally, Bing Xin stopped punching him and she brought her hands in front of her to blow on her fists. After blowing on them for a bit, she said, "Iron punk, you really are too hard to hit."


    I looked at Tie Gang with a confused look when I heard this.


    Tie Gang saw this and exined, "My power is Metallization. I can turn all or parts of my body into metal. What I was doing just now was turning the surface of my skin to metal, that was why my defenses were so hard."


    After a pause, he added, "Though just turning into metal isn''t good enough. You have to be smart with your powers, which is why I only turned the surface of my skin into metal. That way, I can remain flexible while also gaining the toughness of metal without letting it be a drain on my mana stores."


    Bing Lanmented from the side, "Is it alright for you to tell him all of this? Isn''t that part of the secret of your power?"


    Tie Gang said with a smile, "It''s fine, Little Brother Lin is a part of the family, so it doesn''t matter if I tell him this."


    Bing Xin''s face once again filled with a blush after she heard this and she shyly lowered her head, no longer angrily ring at Tie Gang.


    Bing Lan just gave a sigh and said, "If you''re done ying around, we have a job to do."


    At this, Tie Gang revealed a serious look and gave a nod before following Bing Lan in.


    Bing Xin hesitated a bit before also heading in while waving at me to follow, so I went along with her.


    As we were walking at the back of the group, I kept the expression on my face neutral, but there was a bit of a displeased glow in my eyes.


    Bing Xin had been peeking out of the corner of her eyes and she could see this, so she asked, "What''s wrong? Are you unhappy that you lost against Big Brother Tie? You have to know that he''s an A Ranker, most people aren''t even able tost more than a few seconds against him. You were even able to push him back."


    "Un, it''s not that¡­" My voice trailed off as I didn''t know what to say next.


    Bing Xin looked at me with a confused look at first, but seeing the look of struggle on my face, she slowly started to understand what I was feeling.


    Then there was a blush that appeared on her face as she shyly lowered her head again.


    After a bit of silence, she said, "Big Brother Tie already has a fiancee, they will be getting married in a few months."


    "Huh?" I said in a surprised voice.


    I couldn''t help slowly looking at her with a surprised look as I slowly started to understand what she was saying.


    Then I couldn''t help looking down as well with an awkward look on my face.


    But there was no denying that slightly relieved feeling in my heart.


    However, after calming down, I couldn''t help thinking¡­


    "Isn''t this a death g?"


    A Dungeon Break that had suddenly happened out of nowhere like this and an A Ranker that was about to get married being called in to clear the dungeon with the Dungeon Break¡­


    No matter how I looked at it, I couldn''t help thinking that this was some kind of death g¡­


    So I couldn''t help turning to look at Tie Gang with a look of pity.


    After reaching the tent, we all sat down and they started discussing the dungeon raid n.


    To put it simply, the n was to have the C and D Rankers gathered to create a path to the dungeon and then to have Tie Gang lead his team to clear it.


    Tie Gang''s team was considered an A Rank team not just because of Tie Gang''s strength alone. They had been working together for a long time now and they supported Tie Gang as he cleared out many A Rank Dungeons.


    So the A Rank team title that they had was not something that was undeserved.


    Of course, the biggest part of this n was that it depended on Tie Gang being able to clear the dungeon.


    When everyone looked at him for confirmation, he said with a confident smile, "It''s not a problem! Something like this is easy for me!"


    The moment that I heard this, I couldn''t stop the three ck lines from appearing on my forehead¡­


    Can you please stop setting up more death gs for yourself?


    No matter how you looked at it, being confident like this when you''re about to enter an unknown dungeon was just asking for trouble!


    But everyone just apuded and praised Tie Gang when they heard this.


    Not a single one of them doubted his words.


    I really couldn''t help giving a sigh when I saw all of this.


    I even started to feel sorry for Tie Gang with the way that he was setting up all of these death gs for himself¡­


    So when the meeting was over and it was time for him to head into the dungeon, I walked over and patted him on the shoulder as I said with a sigh, "Good luck."


    Tie Gang revealed a confused look at first, but then he said with a smile, "It''ll be fine! I don''t need luck!"


    I just shook my head and gave another sigh.


    This man really liked setting up death gs for himself!

 Chapter 71: Present

    In the end, it turned out that I was thinking too much.


    Tie Gang and his group had no problem clearing the dungeon in the end.


    They easily swept through the orcs that came out, even taking care of several groups led by Orc Kings.


    When they brought back all the corpses of these Orc Kings, it shocked all of the people at camp. It was so shocking that many of them forgot about all the Orc General corpses that had been brought back.


    It made the fight that Bing Xin had gone through almost seemughable, but that was just the difference between a B Ranker and an A Ranker.


    Tie Gang stood there in the center of the crowd with a happy smile on his face, but I couldn''t help feeling strange about this.


    After all, no matter how I looked at it, he had clearly set up his own death gs.


    No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like he should have died in this dungeon raid.


    Of course, I''m happy that he didn''t since that meant that there was another powerful person that I could rely on¡­but it didn''t seem like his death gs were over.


    It even seemed like he would be facing even more death gs in the future.


    But for now, this matter had been settled and everyone was allowed to leave.


    As the hero, there were many people that wanted to get closer to Tie Gang. So he was carried off by a group of people that were only interested in getting closer to him and I wasn''t allowed to say a thing to him.


    Bing Xin who waspletely forgotten still stayed with me.


    She had stayed with me the entire time and we had waited in silence for Tie Gang toe back.


    But now that he was back and the dungeon had been cleared, she couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief.


    Even when Tie Gang was being pulled away, she still stayed by my side.


    At the same time, now that Tie Gang was back and pulled away by the others, Bing Lan also came over to see me.


    She waved at us with a hand and then walked off towards the main tent of this camp.


    She didn''t say a thing, but it was clear that she wanted us to follow her.


    This time, she wasn''t surrounded by those subordinates from before, so it was just the three of us in the room.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried seeing that it was just the three of us, but it would also be a lie to say that I wasn''t a bit excited. After all, I was a man who was in a room alone with two sisters¡­that was a dream scenario for any other person.


    But I was disappointed in the end.


    Bing Lan turned on theputer at the desk and said, "Let''s talk about your remuneration."


    She tapped a few keys before turning the screen for me to see.


    When I saw the amount that was on the screen, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    After all, this was countless times what I would have received for all my work as a part time porter.


    I didn''t remember doing anything to deserve this since I hadn''t done anything during the fight against the orcs. I shouldn''t have been entitled to anything other than a share of the Orc General as promised by Bing Xin and even then, it should have been a small portion of the total since I was just a porter.


    So it should have been nowhere near the amount on the screen.


    Bing Lan could see the look on my face, so she said with a smile, "This is the amount thates from defeating those two C Rankers."


    I tilted my head to think for a bit before realizing that she was talking about the two C Rankers who had ''chased'' me and Bing Xin.


    It wasn''t a surprise that Bing Xin had already told her everything, but I was surprised that I would get paid for ''defeating'' them.


    Once again, Bing Lan exined after seeing the look on my face, "Those thatmit crimes naturally will receive the punishment that they deserve. As soon as we found out that they were the ones behind all of this, we reached out to the Awakener Association to add them to the bounty list. Since you have defeated them, naturally you''re entitled to receive this bounty."


    When I heard that, I understood where this money wasing from, but I was surprised that it was prepared this quickly.


    Bing Lan exined once more, "We''re presenting you with the money right now and we''ll get reimbursed by the Awakeners Association in the end, so you don''t need to worry about a thing."


    Then after a pause, she added with a sly smile, "You can just consider this an incentive or even a bribe so that you''ll look at our guild even more positively. As for how it''ll affect our guild, you don''t need to worry since it''s just a small drop in the bucket for us. Elementia won''tck this kind of money."


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this before saying, "Thank you."


    Bing Lan waved her hand before suddenly saying, "That''s not all that I have for you."


    She pressed a button on an inte and not long after, there was someone that came in with arge wrapped package. They walked forward and ced that package on the table before leaving with a bow.


    She gestured to it with her hand and said, "Go ahead, take a look."


    I was a bit confused when I heard this, but I still opened up the package as she had suggested.


    When I opened it and saw what was inside, I couldn''t help looking at her with a stunned look.


    Bing Lan just casually said, "It''s a present to wee you to our guild."

 Chapter 72: Finally over

    The package that was on the table was the magic sword that the Orc King had used.


    This had been brought back by me, but it had been taken away by the guards when they had arrested me.


    I had thought that I would never see it again, but here it was in front of me.


    I turned to look at Bing Xin, but she just gave a nod when she saw me look over to show that she agreed with this. However, I wasn''t surprised by this since I knew that this wouldn''t have been brought here without her approval.


    By all rights, this thing should have been her loot since she was the one that had killed the Orc King and she was free to do whatever she wanted with it.


    Whether she sold it or used it for something else, it was her right to do so.


    But giving it to me was¡­considered wasteful.


    After all, I was nothing more than a F Ranker. Giving me this kind of precious magic weapon was considered arge waste since technically I shouldn''t be able to draw out its full power.


    I looked at her for a bit before asking, "Is it really alright? Isn''t this a¡­"


    Before I could finish, Bing Xin said, "This is my loot, so I can do whatever I want with it and I want to give it to you since you saved my life."


    I opened and closed my mouth a few times before saying, "Thank you."


    Bing Xin just revealed a bright smile before she said, "But there is a catch to this."


    I was caught off guard by this sudden twist, but I wasn''t surprised by this since this seemed about right. There was no way that she would just give something as precious as this to me without expecting something in return.


    So I calmly asked, "What is it?"


    Bing Xin looked at me with a serious look and said, "Why did those C Rankers suddenly stop while they were attacking you? It seemed like there was something that had caused them to stop like that. Did you do it?"


    I revealed a faint smile when I heard this since I had already expected her to ask me this.


    Since I had expected her to ask me this, naturally I already had an answer prepared.


    I just calmly said, "I''ll demonstrate to you what I did if you want."


    Bing Xin was surprised before she gave a firm nod.


    I looked at her and softly said, "Be dizzy."


    The moment that I said this, Bing Xin couldn''t help shaking a bit even though she was sitting down before deeply knitting her brows.


    All of a sudden, there had been a strong wave of nausea that had run through her that had almost made her fall out of the chair. If it wasn''t for her strong will, she might have actually fallen out of the chair.


    However, she was able to keep herself in the chair in the end.


    With this, she understood what had happened to the C Rankers that had chased after them.


    Lin Fan had used thismand to incapacitate them at thest second so he could catch them off guard and cut them down.


    That was why they had suddenly stopped in the middle of the fight.


    But she couldn''t help looking at him with a strange look at the same time.


    After all, this was a F Rank power that had even affected a B Ranker like her.


    This wasn''t something that should have happened¡­


    Could it be that there was something else that he was hiding or was there something special about his power?


    Bing Lan was the one that exined in the end.


    Based on the context clues, she had already been able to figure it out, so she said, "You should look carefully at the description of his ability again."''


    Bing Xin was confused when she heard this, but she still followed Bing Lan''s suggestion in the end. However, she wasn''t able to figure out a single thing even after staring at it for a bit.


    Bing Lan said with a smile, "It says that it depends on the willpower of the user and the target, doesn''t it?"


    There was a look of slow recognition that appeared on Bing Xin''s face after she heard this.


    She had already seen Lin Fan''s willpower when he had done everything he could to save her, so she didn''t doubt that.


    But it really seemed incredible that he had enough willpower to even affect a B Ranker like her.


    When I saw the way that she looked at me, I added with a bitter smile, "It''s only because it''s a smallmand like this. There''s less resistance to smallmands like this as opposed torgemands. If it''s argemand like ''kill yourself'', you can be sure that it wouldn''t work."


    Hearing this, the two of them gave understanding nods.


    With this, Bing Xin revealed a satisfied look as if she had finally gotten the answer that she had been looking for.


    This was the one thing that had been bothering her the entire time, but now that it had been exined, it was like a weight being lifted off her shoulders.


    Bing Lan could also see this, so she revealed a happy smile, but she also quickly went back into her guild master mode as she turned to me. With a serious look, she said, "For now, you''re free to do what you want, but I would focus on getting ready for the Irregr License Exam."


    I gave a nod in response to this.


    Passing the Irregr License Exam was my key to entering the guild formally, so that was what I had been nning on focusing on in the first ce.


    Bing Lan gave a nod too before adding, "I''ll be assigning someone to take care of you, so you''ll be getting your instructions through them. They should be contacting you in a week after you get some time to rest."


    I once again nodded in response to this.


    Bing Lan also gave another nod before saying, "Alright, that''s all I have for you. You should see the money being deposited into your ount by the end of tomorrow."


    With that, I was dismissed from the camp and allowed to go on a week long vacation.


    It was finally over and in the end, it had ended the way that I had wanted it to end.

 Chapter 73: Strange voice again

    After getting home, the first thing that happened was that I fell onto my bed and entered a deep slumber.


    I didn''t even bother eating anything or taking a shower, I just fell asleep as soon as my face hit the bed.


    When I woke up, I found that it was already morning.


    The first thing that I did was check my bank ount and I found that as promised, the money had already been transferred over.


    Seeing all that money in my ount, I couldn''t help revealing a silly smile.


    A few weeks ago, I barely had enough money to sustain myself. But now¡­I was rolling in the money.


    It really was strange how all of this could change in the matter of a few weeks, but I was very grateful to the Demon King System for bringing this change into my life. Without the Demon King System¡­it would be hard to imagine where I would be¡­


    "At least you know to be grateful."


    When I heard this, I immediately snapped out of my thoughts and started looking around for the source of this voice.


    However, I wasn''t able to see a single thing in this small apartment of mine.


    This was a small apartment, so it really would have been hard to hide in here.


    After making sure that there was nothing here, I slowly asked, "Who are you?"


    "Who am I? Who do you think I am?"


    That voice rang out again, but this time I had been looking at my apartment the whole time. This time, I was certain that this voice wasn''ting from anywhere inside of the apartment.


    Rather since I was listening to it closely, I could tell that it seemed like this voice wasing from inside of my head.


    Could it be that I was going crazy from exhaustion and the stress of this whole situation that I was now hearing voices?


    "Humph, even if you are crazy, that doesn''t mean that I''m a voice from your imagination. Think carefully and remember whose voice this is."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this, but I did follow this instruction and started to think carefully about this voice. After all, it did seem quite familiar to me¡­it was just I couldn''t put my finger on where I had heard this voice before.


    But then all of a sudden, I remembered who this voice belonged to.


    This was the voice that I had heard when the Demon King System had first awakened.


    This was the voice that had guided me when I had first awakened as a demon king.


    I had thought that this voice would keep talking to me afterwards, but it had suddenly disappeared after the incident with Wang Bing.


    "You finally remember me? Took you long enough." The voice rang out in my head.


    Slowly, I asked, "Where have you been this whole time? You''re the one that suddenly disappeared."


    The voice gave a snort before saying, "Humph, it''s all your fault! If it wasn''t for you being so slow in gathering the demon king''s power, then I wouldn''t have taken so long to awaken. What kind of virgin are you that it takes you this long to gather enough power to wake me up?"


    I couldn''t help being stunned when I heard this, but in the end, I could only counter with, "I''m not a virgin¡­anymore."


    The voice gave another snort before saying, "I know, I''ve been watching the whole time. It''s just that I wasn''t able to do anything about it. I can''t believe that you''ve been holding back your desires the whole time and haven''t done anything like the demon king of lust at all. You should have taken both of those sisters when you could."


    I was shocked when I heard this before saying, "All that would do is cause more trouble for me! You should know what would happen if the world were to find out that I was a demon king."


    "If you gather enough power, is there anything to fear?"


    I didn''t say anything in response to this. Instead, I changed the topic by asking, "Who are you?"


    "Who am I? Who do you think I am?" The voice suddenly asked in a teasing voice.


    I was taken aback by this and just sat there in bed in silence.


    "Alright, I''ll stop ying around then." The voice said after seeing this, "I am the Aspect of Lust, the one that gave you this Demon King System. I am the origin of the demon king of lust."


    I revealed a shocked look when I heard this as I tried to process what I had just heard.


    Slowly I said, "Are you some kind of invader from another world? Or are you something else?"


    After all, the dungeons had suddenly appeared when that voice had told everyone to y the demon kings¡­No one knew exactly where these dungeons came from, but the general guess was that they were from another world.


    The voice didn''t respond right away, but it still said in a slow voice.


    "I¡­don''t really know. I just know that when I gained consciousness, I was to find someone that suited the Demon King System that could be the demon king of lust."


    I knitted my brows when I heard the voice say this, but I knew that there was nothing else to gain from questioning the voice.


    Before I could say anything else, the voice suddenly said, "That''s right, it really was hard trying to find someone that would fulfill the role of the demon king of lust. That is until I found you."


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit ttered when I heard this, but then the voice quickly shut me down.


    "I had thought that someone whosest thoughts before dying was that they wanted to lose their virginity would act much more like a demon king of lust instead of being hesitant like you¡­But in the end, I was disappointed."


    The voice even gave a sigh after saying this.


    All that I could do was reveal a bitter smile after hearing this.

 Chapter 74: Walking doll

    The voice didn''t hold back at all as it continued, "From the dungeon until now, everything that you''ve done is disappointing. You''ve already gotten a sex ve and you rarely use her. Also the detective, you didn''t do anything to her even when you had a chance. Then there''s the sisters, you just let them slip through your fingers. You really are a disappointment to the title of demon king of lust!"


    The bitter smile on my face became even more bitter after hearing all of this¡­but I still kept myself calm.


    Once the voice had finally finished its rant, I said, "If I did do all of that, then what would have happened next? Would I have been able to resist the police that came after me once they figured out what I was doing? Would I have been able to stop the Awakeners of the world from hunting me down once they realized that I was a demon king?"


    The voice didn''t say anything in response to this right away, but then it said, "If you acted like a demon king, you would have gained the demon king''s powers and would have nothing to fear."


    I shook my head with a bitterugh before saying, "That''s such a foolish way to look at things. There''s nothing to gain from rushing to reveal my true identity. In fact, that''s nothing more than a one way trip to the underworld since it would just get me killed. I can''t resist the entire world by myself, so I have to slowly increase my power and my followers.


    I am not a fool like you who just rushes headfirst into everything."


    The voice didn''t say anything else in response, but since it rang out in my head, I could hear the mumbling of the voice.


    "Humph, you have all those broken skills and you''re still saying this. As long as you properly used the skills I gave you, it wouldn''t be a problem at all. Especially since they be stronger the more you act like a demon king."


    Ipletely ignored this even though it was true.


    After all, it was because I had leveled up as a demon king and gained a skill point to add into Hypnosis that I had been able to confidently use it on Bing Xin and even Tie Gang, the A ranker.


    But I would never admit that this was true since it was clear that I wouldn''t agree with this voice.


    So instead of arguing with the voice even more, I calmly asked, "What are you here for? I''m sure that you wouldn''t be here just for a courtesy call, right? You must want something from me."


    Once again, the voice didn''t speak right away.


    But after a moment of silence, the voice said, "I do have something that I want from you. I need you to get a body for me."


    My chin dropped when I heard this before I asked, "Are you telling me to go¡­kill someone and bring their body back for you?"


    Killing people, I had already done that, so it wasn''t as if I was against it.


    But killing people and bringing the body back was just asking for trouble. After all, it was very easy to track people in this modern society with cameras all around.


    The moment that I tried bringing a body back, I would be immediately discovered and sent to jail.


    The voice quickly said, "No, I don''t need a human body¡­though that would be for the best. But since I know you''re too scared to do something like that, I''ll just take an inanimate object as a body."


    Then the voice suddenly became haughty as it said, "Of course, it has to be something that fits my beautiful image. I need a body that''s nice and slim, as well as very enticing if you know what I mean. I won''t ept anything less than that."


    I had to take a moment to process what this voice had said before slowly asking, "So you''re saying that you can take a doll as your body?"


    The voice said, "That''s right, but only a beautiful doll, do you understand?"


    "Eh?" That was my only response to that.


    After all, as a single male who lived alone, it wasn''t as if I had things like that just lying around.


    Hearing my response, the voice said, "What''s wrong? I''m sure that you have a sex doll or two lying around right? You''re that kind of desperate person, aren''t you?"


    I couldn''t help doing a spit take when I heard this before saying, "Why would I have something like that? I could barely afford my basic necessities, so where would I have gotten enough money for that?"


    "Eh?" This time, it was the voice''s turn to be surprised by this.


    After a pause, the voice said, "But you''re such a horny young man who even thinks about sex as hisst thoughts. I really would have thought that you would have had several sex dolls just lying around."


    There were three ck lines that appeared on my forehead when I heard this.


    Seeing this silence, the voice continued, "Alright, fine, just give me whatever doll you have."


    Once again, I remained silent.


    The voice trembled a bit as it said, "You''re telling me that you don''t have anything? No figurines or anything like that?"


    I just asked with a bitter smile, "Where would I put something like that in here? You would have seen it right away if I had something like that."


    The voice just said, "Then go and buy something right now, I don''t care what you do¡­"


    There was a sudden pause from the voice before it became much louder and much more anxious, "Go and find something right now! I don''t care what it is, find something beautiful for me right now!"


    I was confused when I heard this as I had no idea what was going on. I just took a deep breath and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    "There''s no time! Get me a body right¡­"


    Before the voice could finish, there was a sh of light that came from my closet as the voice fell silent.


    When the sh of light disappeared, the closet door slowly opened to reveal¡­a bunny doll that was standing there.


    This bunny doll looked down at its hands before looking back up at me and saying, "What have you done?"

 Chapter 75: Planning the future

    I just stared at this bunny doll standing there in a daze.


    Naturally I recognized this bunny doll since it was one of the few possessions that I had remaining after my family had died. This bunny doll was the favourite toy of my little sister that I had kept for sentimental reasons.


    But seeing it standing there looking at me, I really didn''t know how to feel.


    But that bunny doll didn''t take this.


    Seeing that I was just staring at it without saying a thing, the bunny doll suddenly said, "Hey, what are you sitting there in a daze for? Hurry up and help me with this!"


    Hearing this, I snapped out of my daze and got out of bed.


    I slowly walked over to where the bunny doll was standing and just stood over it.


    Standing over this bunny doll really was a strange feeling since this bunny doll was so much smaller than me. Not to mention¡­the fact that it was a sentient bunny doll that was looking up at me.


    After looking at it for a bit, I bent down so that I was facing it and said, "What do you want me to do about this? How did you even get stuck in this bunny doll in the first ce?"


    The bunny doll opened its mouth, but there were no words that came out.


    With the way that it was acting, it almost looked like even it didn''t know what had happened.


    After a long silence, the bunny doll said, "I think that it''s because I overestimated how much lust energy you had. I thought that there would be enough to sustain me for a while after waking up, which is why I chose to wake up at this time¡­However, that doesn''t seem to be the case."


    I raised a brow before asking, "What happens when you run out of lust energy?"


    The bunny''s face twisted in a way as if it was revealing an angry look before it suddenly came forward to punch me in the shin. However, since it was a bunny doll that was made of cloth and stuffing, I didn''t feel anything as it punched me.


    The bunny doll said in an angry voice, "What do you think? I was forced to find some other form to conserve energy, which was why I ended up like this. I was forced out of you and pushed into the nearest suitable form, which ended up being this children''s toy!"


    Though the voice was angry, seeing a bunny doll act this way wasn''t that terrifying at all.


    Rather, it was more cute than it was scary.


    I couldn''t stop a smile from appearing on my face as I watched the bunny doll acting this way.


    Of course, the bunny doll wouldn''t miss this smile on my face, so it became even more angry as it started punching my shin again and again. While it was punching my shin, it said in the same angry voice, "What, are, you,ughing, at?"


    It said these words in sync with the punches, so they came out one after another.


    The smile on my face grew wider seeing this, but I still forced myself to put that smile away.


    I picked up the bunny doll and stood up to walk over to the table before putting the bunny doll on it.


    Like this, I was able to have a proper talk with the bunny doll without destroying my legs by squatting the whole time.


    Sitting down, I asked, "What can I do to get you into the body that you want?"


    In the end, this thing was the one who had given me the Demon King System.


    So it could be said that I owed this thing my life.


    As such, I should try to repay it for everything that it gave me.


    Seeing this sudden change in attitude, the bunny doll revealed a look like it was raising an eyebrow in doubt. But seeing the serious look on my face, the bunny doll said, "The only way that I can change my body now is if you develop as the king of lust. As long as you increase your power, I will be able to free myself from this form and take over another body."


    I gave a nod before asking, "How much are we talking about?"


    The bunny doll looked up at me and said, "At least level ten. Once you have that much power, it should be easy for me to change bodies."


    I could even hear a bit of hope in the bunny doll''s voice as it said this.


    Level ten¡­Everything that I had done had only leveled me up once and this bunny doll wanted me to level up to level ten.


    That didn''t seem like it would happen anytime soon.


    As if it could read my mind, the bunny doll suddenly said, "That''s because you take too long and you''re too timid! As long as you use your power to act like the demon king of lust, you''ll be able to level up in no time!"


    I shook my head when I heard this and said in a firm voice, "No, I refuse to do that. I will not do anything that will put my life in danger."


    The bunny doll opened and closed its mouth a few times before looking at me like it was exasperated.


    Finally, it raised its hands into the air and said, "Fine! Fine! Do whatever you want! I''ll just be stuck in this body forever!"


    I couldn''t help revealing a smile seeing this before slowly reaching out to pat the bunny doll on the head.


    If it was acting like normal, it definitely would have tried to swat my hand away, but it was sitting down and holding its knees in depression right now. It didn''t even notice when I started patting its head.


    After a bit of silence, I asked, "What should I call you? Do you have a name? Or should I give you one?"


    The bunny doll snapped out of its depression and said, "Of course I have a name! Even if I didn''t, I wouldn''t want an idiot like you naming me!"


    I just smiled and said, "What''s your name then?"


    "Lilith." The bunny doll said in a serious voice.


    Lilith, the original demon of lust¡­that really was a name that suited something that was known as the Aspect of Lust.


    But I couldn''t help realizing another issue after hearing this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at the bunny doll and slowly asked, "Then does that mean that you''re female?"


    The bunny doll looked up at me and said, "Of course I am! What did you think I was?"


    I looked at the bunny doll and couldn''t help revealing a smile since I couldn''t find anything that could connect this bunny doll to the sexy demon that was Lilith.


    As if she could guess what I''m thinking, the bunny doll said, "You! You! You! Let me tell you, if I had my actual body, a virgin like you would bepletely knocked out by me! If it wasn''t for¡­"


    Hearing her rant like this, I just revealed a faint smile and silently listened.

 Chapter 76: Store

    After a few days ofying low and resting up, I finally headed out.


    Today I was going to a special ce.


    I was going to the business that I had a share in.


    After traveling for a bit, I arrived at that business.


    When I walked in, there were beautiful girls that turned to greet me. However, most of them just turned away after looking at me since they could tell that I didn''t have much money.


    I was dressed in the same clothes as before since I hadn''t gone out to shop other than for groceries during this time.


    These were the same clothes from when I had been dirt poor, so it wasn''t strange that they looked down on me.


    But I didn''t care since I was here for a different reason.


    Without caring for anyone, I just walked towards the back.


    When I reached the bar and was about to head into the back, some of the girls tried to stop me.


    However, the bartender behind the bar said, "Stop bothering him and get back to work. Don''t you even recognize your own boss?"


    The girls couldn''t help revealing a confused and surprised look when they heard this.


    Then slowly, they turned to look at me with looks of amazement and doubt.


    But I just ignored it all.


    I simply gave the bartender a nod before heading to the back.


    I had to admit that this bartender really was professional. With his sleek looks and his professional manners, I would happily call him ''master''.


    When I reached the back and closed the door, Sasha came right up and wrapped her arms around me. She looked up at me with a teasing look and said, "What took you so long? Or have you been avoiding little old me?"


    I kept a stone cold face when met with this.


    Seeing this look on my face, she just pouted her lips and said, "You''re no fun at all."


    I didn''t say anything as I just walked over to the desk with her before sitting down across from her. Once we were seated, I asked, "How''s business going?"


    Sasha revealed a smile as she asked, "How do you think it''s going?"


    I shook my head with a smile before saying, "Guess it''s going well."


    When I had walked through the store, my eyes hadn''t been idle. I had been looking around the store, noticing everything that was happening.


    It was clear that she was very good at running this store with all the customers that were here. But then again, with all of these beauties, it would have been hard for her to fail.


    The store that Sasha had opened was a hostess bar since that was what she did best.


    She knew all of the tricks about tricking men and she had taught them to all of the girls that worked here. With these tricks, they were able to easily draw in the men and take all of their money.


    Hearing what I said, Sasha revealed a seductive look and said, "It''s your store master, naturally I have to do all I can to make it seed."


    ''My'' store¡­that really was a funny thing.


    That was because the money for this store actually came from¡­the life insurance of those men that died in the dungeon.


    The leader had taken arge life insurance policy and had named Sasha as his beneficiary, so after some time of dealing with the insurance people, she had used all that money to start this store.


    Of course, since I was a shareholder, I had invested a bit of money into this ce.


    However, the amount that I had invested was almost negligiblepared to the overall cost. At the same time, most of that money had already been sent back to me as cash so that it couldn''t be tracked down by the tax agency.


    So it was funny hearing that this was my store when it was bought with the lives of those men who died in the dungeon.


    But still, they were the ones that had targeted me in the first ce.


    Since they had decided to be my enemies, there was no reason for me to show any mercy.


    I would dly take whatever their life was worth and use it for my own purpose, along with their woman.


    After taking a moment to adjust my mind, I gave a nod and said, "Keep up the good work then."


    Sasha''s eyes lit up when she heard this. Then she leaned forward on the table and said, "Then is it time for my reward?"


    While saying this, her eyes had already started moving downwards. She didn''t even try to hide it as she looked at my crotch with a meaningful look.


    But of course, I wasn''t in the mood for that right now.


    There were still many things that were on my mind with what was about toe up, so I just couldn''t get into the mood.


    I distracted her by saying, "The bartender out there was quite the good find, wasn''t he?"


    Sasha revealed a disappointed look, but she still said, "Un, it was hard to find someone as professional as him, but I have my connections. That''s how I found all of those beautiful girls as well."


    I gave a nod in agreement to this.


    The girls that were in this hostess bar were much more beautiful than normal girls at a hostess bar. It seemed like Sasha really had quite a few seedy connections to arrange something like this.


    I was about to say something else, but before I could¡­


    "What kind of trash establishment is this? The girls are this clumsy! Do you know what you''ve done? Can you even begin to repay this!"


    "Call the manager out right now! I want to talk to the manager!"


    Their voices were so loud that we were even able to hear it in the back.


    Sasha knitted her brows before standing up and saying, "I''ll go and take care of this. I''ll be back soon."


    But I also stood up and shook my head to say, "I''lle with you. You might not be able to deal with this alone."


    Sasha was surprised, but then a blush came over her face as she softly said, "Alright."

 Chapter 77: Rowdy ‘customers’

    When we came out, we found that there were a bunch of men who were currently standing up while a bunch of our worker girls were lying on the couches.


    Some of these girls even had red cheeks to show that they had been hit by these men.


    At the same time, there were shattered bits of bottles on the ground.


    It was clear that these were the men who had caused amotion.


    But I didn''t go forward to deal with it. Instead, I looked at Sasha and gave her a look.


    Sasha couldn''t help being surprised and a bit disappointed when she saw this, but she still went forward to deal with this.


    After she walked over, she said, "I''m the manager here. Is there a problem?"


    When those men heard her, they turned to look in her direction. The one that seemed to be the leader was about to say something, but then they saw what she looked like and their mouth stopped opening.


    They just looked at her with surprised looks for a bit before the leader said, "So you''re the manager here? Not bad, not bad."


    Sasha slightly knitted her brows, but she didn''t say anything in response to this.


    Seeing that she didn''t react at all, the leader wasn''t offended. Instead, he revealed a smile as he said, "I like girls who are feisty."


    Sasha once again ignored this as she waited to hear what he had to say.


    When the leader saw that she wouldn''t react to his taunting, he stopped ying around and said, "I want toin about your business. What kind of business are you running here where your girls can''t even service the customers properly?"


    Sasha just said with a calm look on her face, "Sir, this isn''t that kind of establishment. This is a ce where peoplee to drink and unwind, it isn''t a house of lust. If that is what you''re looking for, there are plenty of other ces for you to go."


    The leader''s face twisted when he heard this, but he didn''t back down as he said, "Is that so? But this is such a dirty ce that I thought that it was that kind of ce."


    The leader turned around to point at the table before saying, "Look at that! There''s even bugs in the food that you serve us! And you''re saying that this isn''t a dirty ce?"


    Sasha looked in the direction that the leader was pointing in and she found that there was indeed a cockroach that was in the fruit tter that had been brought out.


    This was a real cockroach, but it was a dead cockroach.


    The strange thing was that this cockroach didn''t have a single sign of being injured, so it was clear that it had been dead for a while now. It shouldn''t have been squashed by anyone here.


    Sasha turned back to the leader and calmly said, "I''m sorry, I didn''t know your brother hade as well. If I knew, I would have offered a family package."


    The leader was confused when he heard this, but then there was a look of slow understanding that appeared on his face.


    He realized¡­that the family package was her indirect way of calling him a cockroach!


    With this, the leader''s face twisted in rage and he raised his fist as if he was about to punch Sasha.


    The bartender saw this and was about toe out, but before he could, I had already grabbed his wrist to stop him beforeing out myself.


    I walked right up in front of Sasha and caught that fist before saying, "Sir, please don''t cause a ruckus in the store."


    The leader looked at me with his face twisted in rage, but then he couldn''t help revealing a strange look as he said, "Oi, you bunny b*stard, what do you think you''re doing?"


    As for why he was calling me a bunny b*stard, that was because of the bunny mask that was on my face.


    This was a mask that I had randomly grabbed from the back, but with the nature of this store, there weren''t that many masks to choose from in the first ce.


    This mask was a bunny mask that was used for the cosy events held at the store.


    I just calmly said, "If you wish to make a ruckus, please take it elsewhere."


    The leader slowly overcame the surprise that he felt from seeing the bunny mask before saying in a low voice, "And if I don''t?"


    "Then I have no choice but to escort you out of our store." I said in a calm voice.


    The leader gave a lowugh before saying, "You and what army?"


    As soon as his voice fell, he twisted his foot and started pushing forward with his fist. However, he found that he wasn''t able to push me back at all.


    It was almost like he was pushing against an iron wall.


    "You¡­" The leader started to say, but he didn''t have a chance to finish this.


    That was because I had already punched him in his stomach and he had already crumpled down.


    I let go of his fist and he fell to the ground. Then I turned to the other men and looked at them as if asking if they wanted to go as well.


    All of them couldn''t help taking a step back when they saw this.


    With this, the situation entered a stalemate where neither side dared to do anything¡­


    That was until Sasha pointed at the leader on the ground and said, "Take him and get out of my store."


    The men hesitantly looked at me after hearing this, but seeing that I didn''t do anything, they came forward to help the leader off the ground.


    After lifting him up, they quickly backed away from us.


    Only when there was some distance between us did they turn around to say, "You just wait and see! You''ll definitely regret this!"


    The way that they said this was just like what a two bit viin would say when they were defeated.


    But they didn''t stick around to back this up as they quickly ran out of the store.

 Chapter 78: Red Gang

    Once those men were gone, there was an awkward silence that hung in the air.


    Even if they were gone, the happy atmosphere that they had destroyed wasn''t going to fix itself.


    So Sasha suddenly revealed a smile and said to everyone, "I''m sorry about that disturbance just now. To make it up to everyone, we will be offering a 50% discount for the rest of the night."


    There was silence that followed at first, but then there were cheers that came before the sounds of orders being made rang out.


    With that, the happy tone of the store was restored.


    I looked at Sasha and was about to ask something, but she shook her head and mouthed, "Not here. There''s too many people here. Let''s talk in the back."


    I gave a nod in response to this before following her to the back.


    As we passed by the counter, Sasha gave a nod to the bartender before saying, "Please take care of the rest."


    The bartender just gave a simple nod before going back to polishing the cups.


    At the same time, he gave a look of admiration in my direction before turning back.


    While we were walking to the office, I looked down at my own hand before revealing a faint smile.


    Earlier when I had caught the leader''s attack, that had been done with just my body alone. I hadn''t used any of my demon king powers at all, I just relied on my physique to catch that blow.


    If it was the me from before, I definitely wouldn''t have been able to receive that blow.


    This leader was strong enough to lead this group, so he definitely wasn''t weakpared to a normal person.


    But my physique had improved during this time off.


    After recovering from ripping my muscles in that demonstration, I was surprised to find that my physique had improved.


    It seemed that this was a form of extreme muscle training¡­though I wouldn''t want to do it often since it did hurt and it wasn''t a good idea to injure myself like that on a regr basis.


    Once we entered the office and sat down, the first thing that Sasha did was let out a sigh.


    It was clear by the look on her face and the way that she was giving a sigh that there was a story here. So I just calmly waited for her to calm down before asking, "Was it alright to use such a rough method to get rid of them?"


    What I was talking about was how she had directly provoked the leader of the group.


    If she hadn''t done that, perhaps there would have been a different way to settle things.


    Sasha just shook her head and said, "They would have caused trouble regardless of how I handled them. They were paid toe and cause trouble for my store in the first ce."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It seemed that the circumstances were much deeper than I had thought.


    Sasha gave another sigh before continuing, "They came from the Red Gang, the gang that recently took over the area from the Wild Gang."


    After that, she started exining the entire situation to me.


    It turned out that this Red Gang had destroyed and absorbed the Wild Gang that had once ruled this area. Now, they were looking to get protection money from the businesses that were in this area.


    Sasha didn''t have to pay before because she had known people in the Wild Gang, but even then, she didn''t want to pay since she knew that the Red Gang wouldn''t follow through. She had already learned through her contacts that the Red Gang was a greedy and vicious gang that didn''t hesitate to do bad things for money.


    She knew that as soon as she gave in, they would make demands that were worse and worse until they forced her to submitpletely to them. Once that happened, there would be no escape for both her and the girls in the store.


    If it was before, she would have closed this store and run away¡­but she couldn''t do that since she was running this store for Lin Fan.


    After she finished her story, she said, "I''m looking into a way to deal with them, so there''s no point showing any fear right now. If theye, I have to show a fierce side or else they''ll just get even more excessive with their demands."


    Then she let out a sigh after saying this.


    I gave a nod to show that I understood where she wasing from, but I didn''t give any response beyond that.


    However, Sasha didn''t mind in the first ce since she wasn''t expecting anything in the first ce.


    She had just told me all of this to report this matter to me, but she already had her own ns of handling it. Or rather, it should be said that she was trying in her own way to prove that she was useful.


    I had other things to worry about too, so I wouldn''t interfere too much in this matter.


    Though I would keep this in the back of my mind to see if I could find some kind of solution.


    No matter what, this store was mine and I couldn''t let other people take my things.


    After a long silence, I stood up and said, "Good work managing the store."


    Then without any hesitation, I turned around and walked out of the office.


    Sasha just sat there without following me out since she knew that there was no point in following behind me.


    She was just worried about what he was thinking, so she was trying to figure out how to handle this matter with the Red Gang.


    But what she didn''t know was that I was also thinking about a way to handle this.


    In the end, it turned out that I was quite the greedy person.


    If something was mine, no one should think about taking it away.

 Chapter 79: Surprising comrade

    A few more days passed after this and I just waited to be contacted like they said.


    Then one day, I suddenly received a call asking me toe down to Elementia headquarters. They said that they would even be sending someone to pick me up.


    When the time came, there was a limo that was waiting outside of my apartment.


    Since I lived in a crappy apartment, this kind of limo really stuck out like a sore thumb.


    While it was parked outside my apartment, everyone came to take a look at it.


    With how many people had gathered, it was almost like a festival. There were even some street vendors that hade over to take advantage of this crowd, so it could almost be considered a festival.


    When I came down, the person driving the car came out and walked over to me. That person suddenly gave a bow and said, "Master Lin, I havee to pick you up."


    As soon as he did this, everyone''s eyes suddenly looked at me.


    There were many different gazes that were directed at me. Some of them were filled with envy, some of them were filled with confusion, and there were even some that seemed like they were targeting me.


    After all, I was someone that could get this kind of luxurious limo to pick them up, so they misunderstood that I was someone very important.


    Before I could say anything, Mrs Li, who was one of my neighbours came over and asked, "Xiao Lin, what kind of trouble did you get yourself in?"


    Mrs Li was one of the friendlier neighbours in our apartmentplex, though she did have a habit of gossiping. So hering over to ask this was half out of care for me and half because she wanted to get gossip right from the source.


    But before I could answer, the driver suddenly said, "This missus, I think there''s been some kind of misconception. Master Lin isn''t in any kind of danger, but rather I''m here to pick up the newest recruit to our guild, Elementia."


    The moment that the word ''Elementia'' was said, everyone couldn''t help revealing shocked looks.


    After all, this was one of the top guilds in the world that even had a S Ranker personally watching over it. There wasn''t a single person in this crowd that didn''t recognize this name.


    As soon as ''Elementia'' was said, the looks that were directed my waypletely changed. Now these looks were filled with admiration and curiosity¡­but there were still those looks of passion.


    In fact, the eyes of the girls that wanted to hook someone rich became even more passionate and I almost felt like I was prey targeted by them¡­


    When Mrs Li heard this, she couldn''t help revealing a blush.


    After all, this driver was a handsome and clean middle aged man, the kind that was hard for a housewife like her to resist.


    After taking a moment to calm herself, Mrs Li turned to me and said, "Xiao Lin, you really are something. You can even join a big guild like Elementia. I''ll bring some dumplings over to celebrate."


    Then without giving me a chance to say anything, Mrs Li quickly headed off.


    But from time to time, she kept peeking back at the handsome middle aged driver.


    Once she was gone, the handsome middle aged driver opened the door and said, "Master Lin, shall we?"


    With a sigh, I entered the limo.


    In this situation, the sooner I got out of this ce, the better.


    After all, it would just be worse and worse if more people gathered and people would definitely gather with the crowd that had already been drawn in.


    With a bow to the crowd, the handsome middle aged driver got in and drove off.


    Once we were alone in the car, I said, "That was a sly move."


    The driver looked at me in the mirror and just revealed a smile without saying a thing before turning his eyes back on the road.


    I just gave a sigh and enjoyed the feeling of riding in a limo.


    I had to admit that there really was a special allure to this limo that normal people like me couldn''t resist.


    It was the feeling of having made something of myself that made this ride so enjoyable.


    After a short ride, we were able to reach Elementia headquarters.


    As for why it was such a short ride, we were able to use the special Awakener roads to get there sooner. These were roads that had been speciallyid aside for Awakeners so that they could get to where they needed to go quickly.


    This was a measure that had been taken at first for emergencies only so that Awakeners could quickly reach the disaster zone to handle these emergencies, but afterwards, they had been turned into a privilege for high ranking Awakeners.


    The powerful guilds all had special passes that allowed them to take these roads and this limo was one of the high grade vehicles of the high ranking Elementia guild, so naturally it had a pass to take this road.


    After arriving, the handsome middle aged man bowed to me and said, "I hope that I will be able to be your chauffeur again one day."


    Him saying this was naturally his high expectation for me.


    I just simply gave a nod and walked in without saying anything.


    When I arrived in the lobby, I found that Bing Lan and Bing Xin were there waiting for me.


    There was a crowd gathered around them, but it seemed that no one dared to move closer to talk to them.


    But what I was more surprised by was the person that was with them.


    It was Su Chen, the leader of Bing Xin''s personal porter team.


    It seemed that he had been able to survive that ordeal as well.


    Bing Lan waved at me as soon as she saw me and I walked over with a bitter smile on my face as I became the center of attention once again.


    Seeing that Bing Lan was waving to get my attention, the crowd around us naturally switched their attention to me. They looked at me with looks of doubt and disdain, but I just ignored them as I walked over.


    Aftering over, Bing Lan said, "You''re finally here, I didn''t think that it would take that long for you to get here."


    I just revealed a bitter smile before saying. "Well, your driver decided to y a trick on me which was why it took so long."


    Bing Lan just revealed a smile without saying anything, but that alone was enough to know that she was the one who had instructed the handsome middle aged man to do that.


    While I didn''t know what her motives were, I had some guesses.


    It was most likely rted to keeping me safe by making sure that everyone knew that I was part of Elementia.


    After this exchange, Bing Lan looked at Su Chen and said, "I''m sure that you two are acquainted."


    I nodded before saying, "Team Leader Su, I''m really d that you survived."


    Su Chen said with a smile, "I''m d I survived too¡­but I never expected a performance like that out of you."


    The two of us just caught up for a bit before Bing Lan interrupted by saying, "From now on, Su Chen will be working with you as your handler and porter."


    "Huh?" I said with a surprised look on my face.

 Chapter 80: Getting experience

    After processing this, I slowly turned to look at Bing Xin.


    When she saw me look over, she tilted her head slowly to nt it up before saying, "You know how much I depend on Su Chen and I''m willing to let him go just because it''s you. You better be grateful."


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help revealing a smile before saying, "Un, thank you."


    I turned back to Bing Lan and asked, "Then what should I do now?"


    Bing Lan calmly said, "Now? You get experience before you take the Irregr License Exam."


    "Experience? How?" I asked in a confused voice.


    Bing Lan shook her head and gave a sigh, "How else would you get experience? You have to go into the dungeons and break zones for experience."


    I was fine with this since I wanted to go into them in the first ce to get money and increase my abilities in the first ce.


    However, then Bing Lan said something that caught me off guard.


    "Su Chen will bring you to your new team and you can work with them to see where you go."


    "Team?" I couldn''t help asking.


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying with a smile, "I know that you might prefer to go at it alone, but you should know that there are benefits to going with a team as well."


    I knitted my brows when I heard this, but I couldn''t deny that she was right.


    The only problem was that¡­I didn''t want to get caught up in having to manage rtionships between groups.


    In most groups that were assigned to work together like this, there would be some kind of power dynamic or some kind of special rtionship that would ruin it. So if I was going to make a group, I really wanted to make a group with people that I already knew.


    Bing Lan could naturally see what I was thinking, so she said, "I''ve personally handpicked this group for you. It''s a group of our best talents from this year, so I''m sure that you won''t be disappointed. Unless that is you don''t trust me."


    As expected of a guild master of one of thergest guilds¡­she really was shrewd.


    As soon as she added the line at the end, I had no choice but to ept.


    After all, if I still rejected at this point, it would be like insulting her to her face since she had put her name on it.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Alright, since you''ve strong armed me into this¡­I guess I have no choice."


    Bing Lan came forward and actually grabbed my arm before twisting.


    I found that I wasn''t able to resist at all as she twisted my arm, so I could only bend forward as she pushed me down.


    Then she said with a smile, "Now it can really be considered strong arming."


    I just revealed a bitter smile when I heard this.


    It seemed that this guild master of ours really liked to y around and didn''t hold back even against new members¡­


    But the fact that she could act this way around even new members showed that she was a friendly guild master and that this guild must run the same way.


    This was the kind of guild that I wanted to join since it would be easier for me to take advantage of them in the future.


    After teasing me a bit longer, the two sisters finally let me go with Su Chen.


    Su Chen just waved at me to follow him and we headed to the elevator.


    Instead of going up, he pressed a button to bring us to one of the basement levels.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help thinking¡­was I about to get initiated into something?


    But that worry wasn''t necessary as when we arrived, I found that he had brought us to a gym.


    I couldn''t help asking, "Aren''t we going to meet the other members of the group and then heading to a dungeon or a break zone?"


    Su Chen shook his head before saying, "It''s not that easy to arrange a dungeon raid as a guild. We need to prepare everything and set up the appointment, so it''ll take at least a day or two before we can go."


    I was surprised by this, but when I thought about it, it seemed right.


    A guild sending people into the dungeon was very different from an unaffiliated Awakener entering a dungeon.


    Guilds had much more resources and cared about their members, so they would prepare all the things that they needed. This would be much better and thorough than anything that unaffiliated Awakeners could prepare for themselves.


    After all, there was arge support team with each guild.


    But this did take time since there was a lot to gather, so waiting was inevitable.


    At the same time, sending notice that a guild team was going to raid a dungeon would mean being treated more preferentially than going alone.


    So it was all worth the wait.


    But that still didn''t answer why they were here in the gym.


    So I asked, "Why are we here then?"


    Su Chen looked at him with a smile and said, "You know what my specialty is, right?"


    As he said this, he also made sure to flex his muscles.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    With how buff he was, it was hard to not understand what his specialty was. The only problem was why was he flexing this now?


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Su Chen continued by saying, "I already said that you had a beautiful physique. Now, all we need to do is help it blossom."


    When I heard this, I realized what Su Chen was nning on doing here.


    in and simple, he was nning on having me work out.


    The cover that I used was that my Suggestion skill allowed me to remove my limits and make myself stronger. The limit to this was my body.


    If my body couldn''t withstand my limits being removed, then I wouldn''t be able to use my ability.


    I finally understood why Bing Lan had set Su Chen as my personal porter.


    He was here to be my personal body trainer.


    After all, I had a physique that didn''t have any limits. As long as I kept working out, my physique would be better and better.


    Since they had gone this far for me, I had no reason to object.


    This would help me grow stronger and what I needed now was strength.


    So I looked at Su Chen with a determined look and said, "I''ll be counting on you."


    Su Chen revealed a wide smile when he saw I understood what he was implying. He then rxed his muscles and came over with that same smile on his face as he said, "Don''t worry, I''ll be sure to work¡­you¡­hard."


    I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine when I heard this, but I still said with a nod, "Please take care of me."


    Who knew that this would be the worst mistake in my life.

 Chapter 81: First meeting

    When I woke up the next morning, I couldn''t help rubbing my body that was sore all over.


    Su Chen¡­really was a demon when it came to being an instructor.


    The exercise that we did yesterday definitely wasn''t something that a normal person would do.


    However, what he had told me at the end was the most shocking thing¡­


    "This is just a warm up today. I wanted to test you and see what you are capable of, so I made sure that you were still able to walk tomorrow. Be sure to expect worse in the future."


    He had said all of this with a wide smile on his face¡­


    It made him look like a demon instructor from hell¡­


    But the worst part of it all was that I wasn''t even able to rest today.


    He had said that the only reason why he had held back so that I could walk today was because we were heading into the dungeon.


    The group had been contacted and everything had been arranged, so we would be heading to a D Rank Dungeon today.


    It was a D Rank Dungeon since the rest of the group were all D Rankers.


    I would be the only one at F Rank, but the others hadn''t been informed of this yet.


    Since he had been assigned as my handler, Su Chen was the one that picked me up.


    When he saw the way that I limped out of the building, he gave a satisfied nod with a smile that made me want to p his face. But I held back the urge in the end and just got in his car.


    It was different from yesterday when they sent a limo to pick me up.


    Today, we were taking Su Chen''s personal car.


    Yesterday was a special circumstance where they were putting on a show, but today, it was the normal thing from now on.


    As we were driving away, I could see the disappointed look on Mrs Li''s face as she stood outside the apartmentplex.


    It seemed that she had been quite taken by the handsome middle aged driver.


    Since Su Chen was a handler, he had the same special passes as the limo and was able to take the Awakener roads.


    It took us no time to arrive at the dungeon which was just outside the city.


    There were quite a few people gathered outside the dungeon, way more than normal. Or at least that was what I thought based on the number of people that had been gathered outside the dungeon that I visited alonest time.


    However, I could also see that many of them weren''t actually going in and just standing around.


    I could guess what was happening, so I made Su Chen park far away from the dungeon before walking over with him.


    Like this, I was able to sneak into the area without much attention.


    As I walked among the crowd, I could hear a few things that they were saying amongst themselves.


    "Did you hear? I heard that there was a group from a big guilding today."


    "Really? If it''s from a big guild, they must be insane monsters¡­but if we can talk to them while they are here and get closer to them¡­"


    "You think that you''re the only one that thought of that? Don''t you see everyone else here? Do you think that anyone will give you this chance?"


    As I had expected, the news of using to this dungeon had been leaked.


    I didn''t know who leaked it, I didn''t even know if it was done intentionally, but the information was out there.


    However, drawing attention was thest thing that I wanted.


    So I wanted to see if I could get into the dungeon before anything else could happen.


    It was just too bad that before I could do anything, there were people that started drawing attention.


    It was clear that these people were my teammates with the way that they came up in their fancy cars and their personal handlers/porters.


    It seemed that Elementia treated all of their important hires the same way.


    They would give them a handler and personal porter to ensure that they were taken care of.


    Based on the way that they arrived, it was clear that these other members of his group enjoyed this kind of treatment. They were most likely kids who were new on the scene and enjoyed showing off their powers.


    They werepletely different from me who knew that gaining attention wasn''t a good thing.


    It was only one of them at first, but then there were four separate groups of people that were formed.


    At the center of each of these groups was an Awakener with a handler following them.


    Together, they came over to the entrance of the dungeon and gathered together.


    Once they came together, people found it hard to go over since they knew that they would be bothering them.


    As the four of them met for the first time, they started gauging out each other.


    In the end, there was a bit of a bnce that formed between the four of them as they all started doing their own thing.


    When I saw this, I knew that it would be troublesome going with these kids.


    Bing Lan had said that she had found some good people for him, but now he knew that it wasn''t a good idea to trust her words¡­


    It seemed that she had found some troublemakers for him and she was hoping that he would be able to mellow them out.


    I really didn''t want to do this, but it was already toote to back down.


    So I had no choice but to walk over to where they were standing.


    When people saw me walking over, they thought that I was being crazy at first.


    Then when they suddenly turned to look at me, they thought that I was done for.


    But one of them said, "You''re finally here."

 Chapter 82: Troublesome kids

    When the crowd heard this, they realized that I was with them and they started to look carefully at me too.


    However, there was a clear tone of disappointment that came over this crowd.


    It was clear thatpared to the other four, my appearance was disappointing.


    After all, I only had a normal appearance and I was much older than the rest. I really didn''t seem like I fit in with this group.


    While the crowd was taking their time to look me over, I also took my time to look over these kids.


    There were two boys and two girls in this group.


    Out of the two girls, one was a blonde girl and the other was a ck haired girl.


    As for the two boys, one had red hair and the other had an unnatural green colour to his hair.


    The one that had spoken was the green haired boy.


    After I had walked over, the blonde haired girl said, "Uncle, why did it take you so long to arrive? Can''t you see that we''ve been waiting for a long time?"


    The ck haired girl put her hand over her mouth and said, "Don''t be mean to this uncle. I''m sure that it takes him a while to get up in the morning at his age."


    These two were the very definition of mean girls with their snidements, but I''ve heard much worse before. After all, I had endured years of bullying under Wang Bing''s group, so there was little that I hadn''t experienced before.


    Seeing that I didn''t react at all, the two girls couldn''t help revealing disappointed and antagonistic looks on their faces.


    It was as if I didn''t react, I would be an enemy of theirs.


    But I just ignored them and turned to look at the two boys.


    Both of them were looking at me with arrogant looks on their faces.


    Once again, it became clear that they were troublesome kids.


    With a sigh, I said, "How about we introduce ourselves first?"


    The four of them all looked at me with disdain after hearing this, but the handlers behind them whispered a few things to them. After that, they became a bit more well behaved and introduced themselves to each other.


    It seemed that they understood that they would be working together, so the basic amount ofmunication was required.


    The blonde haired girl was named ire Starling.


    With her twintails and her figure, she was without a doubt a foreign beauty.


    For some reason, I couldn''t help thinking that she would look good with a cheerleader uniform and a chainsaw¡­but then I couldn''t help thinking to myself, "Why a chainsaw?"


    The ck haired girl was named Qin Yue Ru.


    She was a beautiful girl in her own right with jet ck hair, fair white skin, and a pair of eyes as clear as a pool of water. The only w that she had¡­was her figure, but with her age, it would develop over time.


    For now, it was a bit small.


    The red haired boy was named simply ze.


    When asked about hisst name, he just simply said that he didn''t have one.


    This young man was a handsome young man with fiery red hair, but the most eye-catching part of him had to be those fiery red eyes. They burned with passion and they seemed like they could see right through people.


    Finally, the green haired boy was named Hayato Hanzo.


    He was another handsome bishonen and he also had a pair of shocking green eyes.


    All four of them had very unique appearances that made me, who had a very normal appearance, seem dull in their presence.


    That was most likely why the crowd were justpletely disappointed with the dynamic of our group.


    After they introduced themselves, they went back to the same arrogant appearances that they had before and there was no chance to discuss strategies at all.


    In no time, we were shown to the entrance of the dungeon.


    However, before we were allowed in, we still had to show them our Awakener Licenses.


    The Awakener Association was a global organization that was in charge of managing all of the Awakeners out there. That included managing who was able to enter the dungeons.


    There were dungeons that were controlled by guilds, but even then, they would cooperate with the Awakener Association to manage them to ensure that everything was safe.


    As we showed our licenses, everything seemed normal at first until it was my turn.


    When they asked for my license, I hesitantly handed it over.


    As soon as they saw this license, they couldn''t help revealing shocked looks before looking at me with confused looks. The one who took the license slowly asked, "Are you really¡­F Ranked?"


    The moment that he said this, everyone also looked at me with shocked looks.


    There was still a crowd that was gathered around us since they wanted to see us going into the dungeon.


    At the same time, the four kids of my group looked at me in shock.


    It seemed that they weren''t aware of the fact that I was a F Ranker.


    It was the same with the handlers that hade with them, they didn''t seem to know about this either.


    But what followed was what I had expected.


    They looked at me with even more disdain after they found out that I was only a F Ranker.


    It was like they were ming me for forcing my way into their group and that they would have to carry me in this dungeon.


    I didn''t let myself be affected by any of this as I calmly said, "Yes, can I enter now?"


    The person who was holding my license gave a slow nod before handing it back.


    With that, we were approved to enter the dungeon.


    But it was clear that the mood of our group was not good.


    It was clear that they were already looking down on me.


    It seemed like babysitting these kids wouldn''t be that easy.

 Chapter 83: Rocky start (1)

    After entering the dungeon, they didn''t act up right away since there were still people watching.


    However, as soon as we went a bit deeper, these kids immediately started to act up just like spoiled brats.


    They didn''t work together at all and just fought monsters whenever they wanted.


    There wasn''t a single trace of coordination between them as they just did whatever they wanted.


    I didn''t say a thing as I just observed all of this.


    I had to admit that these kids were worthy of being considered the special geniuses that Elementia had picked up. They all had powerful abilities and when brought together, they really did make for a perfect team.


    ire used both a bow and moved between the monsters with daggers in hand.


    From time to time, she would suddenly start moving faster, making it clear that she had some kind of agility power.


    ze as his name suggested used a fire based power, but he wasn''t a mage as one would think. Instead of shooting out fire magic at his enemies, he wrapped the mes around himself and created an armour made of mes.


    It seemed that his powers made him some kind of tank.


    The me armour blocked every monster that came at him, while also allowing him to damage them with the mes.


    Hayato''s power was more predictable since he used wind magic as one would expect from his appearance.


    He created des of wind that he used to cut down the monsters that came at him, not even breaking a sweat as he released all of this magic.


    Finally, Qin Yue Ru took the position of a healer with her light magic.


    It was just too bad that she didn''t use her light magic to buff or heal anyone, she just used it to create arrows that she shot at the monsters.


    These kids vented all of their frustration at being put in a team like this, especially with a F Ranker on the monsters.


    With how fast they killed them, there weren''t enough monsters to keep up with their killing spree.


    So in the end, they were able to clear out the entire area of all monsters.


    There wasn''t a single one left.


    The handlers that came with them just calmly put the loot that dropped on the ground into their bags.


    I had to note how professional these handlers were, only picking up the loot from the monster that the Awakener that they were in charge of killed. They didn''t fight each other and just calmly did their jobs.


    Only Su Chen and I stood there watching over them.


    I could see that Su Chen had the same look as me on his face.


    It was clear that he was as disappointed as me with these kids.


    Since they had finished clearing out the monsters, the kids came back and said to me, "We''re heading deeper into the dungeon, what will you do now?"


    I just calmly said, "Then let''s go."


    When they heard this, the kids couldn''t help revealing an annoyed look.


    After all, they had seen that he had stood on the side the entire time. He hadn''t done a single thing when they had done all of the work and now he was saying this like he was the leader?


    ze was the one that lost his temper first as he said, "Hey, F Ranker, don''t you think that you''re being a bit too cocky? While we fought, you just stood on the side and watched. Do you really think that you''re a part of our party?"


    The way that he said it, it was clear that he thought that I was only here because of nepotism.


    I had been put on their team even though I was a F Ranker so that I could say that I had cleared a D Rank Dungeon before.


    But I just calmly said, "I was assigned to this party for a reason, so you should just ept it and move on."


    ze looked like he wanted to explode, but Qin Yue Ru stopped him by saying, "This mister, are you sure that you want to keep going with us? There are powerful monsters ahead that we might even struggle with. Are you sure you don''t want to go back?"


    Though her words were a bit arrogant, there was still a trace of concern in them.


    After all, one wouldn''t think that a F Ranker would be able to keep up with them. She was trying to get me to go back so that I would be able to keep myself safe.


    But I just said with a confident smile, "I''ll be fine."


    "Tch." She clicked her tongue and turned around without another word.


    ze also gave a snort before turning around and saying, "Do whatever you want."


    With that, the other two followed them deeper into the dungeon along with their porters.


    Su Chen and I followed behind them, but while we were walking, Su Chen whispered, "They''re hopeless, aren''t they?"


    I just revealed a faint smile and said, "Well, they''re young and they gained a lot of power all at once. It isn''t strange that they would act this way, right?"


    Su Chen shook his head and said, "That''s not what I meant."


    I just gave a sigh and said, "This is their first time in a dungeon, isn''t it?"


    Su Chen slowly gave a nod in response to this.


    Seeing this, I gave another sigh before saying, "I knew it, you did know about this and you chose not to tell me."


    Su Chen revealed an awkward smile before saying, "The guild master told me not to tell you. She said that it would be more fun for you to find out this way."


    I said with a bitter smile, "More like she was just teasing me. Or rather she knew that I would reject it if I did know this."


    Su Chen didn''t say anything in response.


    That woman¡­it really was hard to understand what she was thinking.


    But at least, this showed the trust that she had in me since she assigned me this task.


    If I could do this task properly, would that raise my position in her mind?


    If I could get closer to her and have a chance to be alone with her, then it would be worth it.


    So I just sucked it up and kept going.

 Chapter 84: Rocky start (2)

    As we went deeper into the dungeon, there were fewer weaker monsters that appeared.


    The goblins that they had been killing before were only F Rank mobs that lived at the entrance of the dungeon.


    But now that we had gotten deeper in the dungeon, there were less of these weak goblins around. That was because in the dungeon, the monsters followed thew of the jungle.


    The weaker monsters were nothing more than prey for the stronger monsters.


    If any of the goblins tried toe in deeper, they would be killed and eaten by the stronger monsters here.


    Monsters didn''t care about other monsters, they only cared about themselves.


    That was why there were traces of blood that could be seen around us.


    After heading in for a bit, we finally came up to a monster that we could fight.


    This was a wolf that was standing out in the middle of the dungeon passage, almost as if it was standing in a daze.


    The moment that the four kids saw this wolf, they all moved forward as if they wanted to fight it.


    When they saw that the others had moved as well, all of them red at each other.


    Then without a word, all four of them attacked at the same time.


    It seemed like the wolf wouldn''t stand a chance under their powerful attacks, but before they could make contact, the wolf dodged out of the way. Even ire, who had an agility based ability, couldn''t make contact with the wolf.


    It wasn''t that she was slow, but rather the wolf had read her pattern and had dodged before she could reach it.


    The wolf easily dodged out of the way of their attacks and then started nipping back at them.


    It charged at Qin Yue Ru first since it recognized that she was the weakest in terms of physical strength.


    When facing this many enemies at once, it was best to take down the weakest member first.


    Qin Yue Ru saw this and she raised her staff to gather her light magic in the form of a shield in front of her to block the wolf. However, right before the wolf made contact with the shield, it twisted to the side.


    With a burst of speed, the wolf went around the shieldpletely to arrive behind Qin Yue Ru and it opened its mouth to bite at her.


    Qin Yue Ru tried to turn, but she knew that it was already toote. She wouldn''t be able to make it in time to stop the wolf from biting her. The only thing that she could do was brace for it.


    But before the wolf could reach her, there was a burning figure that appeared behind her. This burning figure was covered in mes as he stood there in between her and the wolf.


    When the wolf saw this, it recognized that it could no longer hurt her, so it jumped back.


    However, as it jumped back, it suddenly flicked its lower legs and kicked some sand at the ming figure.


    ze suddenly raised his hand up to block his eyes as he said, "You little¡­"


    But the wolf didn''t even care about him as it suddenly turned to look at Hayato.


    Hayato gathered two wind des that he threw at the wolf while shouting, "Die!"


    The wolf wasn''t bothered by this at all as it easily dodged these two wind des.


    However, that was what Hayato wanted since he had secretly prepared a third wind de that he threw out at the wolf. The first two wind des were now right beside the wolf and were trapping it.


    The wolf didn''t panic seeing this third wind deing at it.


    Instead, it just jumped backwards andnded on an arrow.


    As for where this arrow came from¡­it was an arrow that ire, who was hiding in the shadows, had shot at the wolf when she found her opportunity.


    The wolf kicked off the arrow and sent it right into the wind deing at it.


    The arrow and the wind de hit each other before being deviated by each other.


    The wind de was deviated so that it flew towards ire in hiding. The arrow was deviated so that it was flying at Hayato.


    Both of them shouted, "You!"


    Both of them had no choice but to dodge out of the way, causing them both to fall to the ground.


    After itnded, the wolf wasn''t finished.


    The wolf suddenly kicked out with its back legs and sent tworge rocks flying out.


    These tworge rocks flew at ze and Qin Yue Ru who had been preparing to attack the wolf when itnded.


    Both of them had to dodge out of the way and they both fell to the ground.


    By the end of this engagement, all four of these kids had fallen to the ground and only the wolf was still standing up.


    As theyid there, they all red at each other as if they were ming each other for their own mistakes.


    Of course, the wolf wouldn''t remain idle while they were like this.


    It turned to look at Qin Yue Ru again who it had deemed as the weakest member.


    Then it suddenly jumped out again, opening its mouth as it prepared to bite down on Qin Yue Ru.


    When she saw this, she found that she wasn''t able to react in time.


    None of the kids were able to react in time to this and they could only watch as the wolf got closer and closer to Qin Yue Ru.


    But before the wolf could snap its jaws down on her, there was a sword that suddenly shed out at it. The wolf tried to dodge, but with a twist of his wrist, the sword suddenly followed the wolf as it moved backwards.


    The wolf wasn''t able to move out of the way in time as the sword suddenly stabbed into its neck and then it fell down to the ground.


    Standing there above it was Lin Fan.

 Chapter 85: Reluctant compromise

    The four of them all stared at Lin Fan in shock at first before Hayato said, "If you were here all along, why didn''t you help earlier?"


    Then as if he was realizing something, he added, "Not that we needed your help in the first ce!"


    But the others didn''t act as rashly as him.


    While Hayato wasn''t able to see it clearly, they had seen it.


    When he had appeared, he had appeared all of a sudden. They hadn''t been able to follow him with their eyes at all.


    Even ire, who was used to stuff like this, couldn''t keep up with him.


    So it was clear that this F Ranker wasn''t as simple as he seemed.


    When I heard what Hayato said, I just calmly said, "Alright, it seems that you don''t need any help at all. Then you''re free to deal with the rest yourself."


    When they heard this, all of the kids couldn''t help jolting as they looked up at me in shock.


    Hayato slowly said, "The rest?"


    I gave a nod before pointing in front of us.


    There were three more wolves that wereing over right now.


    As soon as they saw this, all of these kids couldn''t help revealing terrified looks.


    After all, they hadn''t been able to take down a single one of these wolves by themselves and now there were three of them, they didn''t have any confidence in taking them.


    So they all turned to look at Lin Fan.


    However, I had already started moving away so that they would face the wolves alone.


    Hayato quickly said, "Where are you going? Why are you running away?"


    I calmly said, "Didn''t you say that you didn''t need any help? I''m just moving out of the way."


    The moment that he heard this, he couldn''t help trembling.


    It was a mix of fear and anger that he was currently feeling and he didn''t know which one he felt more strongly.


    But these were the two emotions that were in his heart and he didn''t know how to process them.


    In the end, fear won out when he saw that Lin Fan was really nning on leaving.


    He quickly said, "Wait, help us deal with them."


    Though he was asking for help¡­the tone of his voice was¡­


    I turned back to look at him and shook my head before saying, "Why should I?"


    "Huh?"


    The moment that they heard this, all four of them revealed shocked looks.


    After all, they were technically from the same guild and they were here as a group. Wasn''t it normal that he helped them now that they were in danger?


    I saw the looks on their faces and knew what they were thinking, but it was easy for me to deal with this.


    I only had to say a single thing and they weren''t able to say anything in response.


    "I''m just a F Ranker, shouldn''t I stay in the back where it''s safe?"


    They could only look at him with a shocked look as they opened and closed their mouths, trying to think of something to say.


    But in the end, they couldn''t say a single thing.


    Watching them fumbling around like this, I would have taken more time to let them humble themselves, but time wasn''t on my side.


    I couldn''t just keep acting like this for long because those wolves were slowlying over.


    So I had to do something about them.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "I can help you, but¡­"


    When they heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up, but they still waited for him to finish.


    I calmly said, "You''ll have to listen to what I saw, that is the condition for me helping you."


    As they were about to nod, I said, "I will be the leader for the rest of this expedition, understand? It''s not just until we take care of the wolves."


    There was a hesitant look that appeared on their faces when they heard this.


    But in the end, they still gave nods and said, "We''ll listen to you."


    I said with a nod, "Very good. Now turn and face the enemy."


    "Eh?"


    I just calmly said, "I never said anything about fighting."


    When they heard this, they couldn''t help saying, "You tricked us!"


    I ignored this and said, "By all rights, you shouldn''t be losing to them in the first ce. After all, don''t you have a higher rank than them?"


    When they heard this, all of them couldn''t help revealing awkward looks.


    That was because they knew that he was right.


    The wolf that they had faced before was an E Rank Monster called a Gale Wolf.


    By all right, they should have been able to easily take down this Gale Wolf as D Rankers.


    But what had happened was still fresh on their minds.


    I could see the looks on their faces, so it wasn''t hard to guess what they were thinking.


    So I just calmly said, "As long as you follow my instructions, it won''t be a problem for you to win against them."


    "Huh?" All of them said with shocked looks that also had traces of doubt.


    I just calmly leaned in and started to give them instructions.


    As they listened to me, they couldn''t help looking at me with strange looks like they thought that I was crazy.


    However, I just kept looking back at them with the same calm expression on my face.


    In the end, they all gave a sigh and chose to follow my instructions.


    ze took the lead by facing the wolves head on.


    Both Hayato and ire moved to different sides so that they were nking the wolves.


    And finally, Qin Yue Ru was standing right beside me with her staff raised.


    The wolves stopped when they saw the humans suddenly spread out like this and they revealed cautious looks.


    They had thought that this would be easy since these humans seemed like easy prey, but now¡­


    It didn''t seem as simple.

 Chapter 86: Guidance

    However, it wasn''t as if the wolves could just remain idle.


    Both ire and Hayato were moving to their nks, so it was only a matter of time before they were pinched in.


    At the same time, they couldn''t just turn to the sides and finish either ire or Hayato off since ze was close enough to intercept them at any time.


    They didn''t fear him, but it would be troublesome for them if they were pinched in between them.


    So they didn''t want to put themselves in that situation.


    After looking at each other, the wolves made their moves.


    They didn''t turn to the sides, but rather they rushed straight forward at ze.


    They didn''t fear the me armour that was around him and charged right at him¡­or rather that was what it seemed like.


    Right before they made contact with ze, they suddenly split up and jumped in different directions.


    Their real n was to avoid him by jumping around him and targeting Qin Yue Ru and Lin Fan behind him.


    ze had already expected this since this was in the instructions that Lin Fan had given him. So when it happened, he immediately turned to two of the wolves.


    These two had jumped in the same direction, so he was nning on taking these two down while leaving thest wolf alone.


    But these two had also expected this.


    They had jumped in the same direction for a reason.


    Once ze came closer to them, they suddenly split off in different directions.


    They had been nning on baiting him to chase them and then using their speed to dodge out of the way.


    ze had also been instructed of this by Lin Fan, which was why he pushed his speed to the limit when he saw them split up.


    They had thought that they were safe, so they had let their guards down. It was when one thought that they were victorious that they would be the most vulnerable.


    It was just too bad that ze wasn''t fast enough to catch these two wolves.


    The wolves stopped panicking when they realized that they could still escape before ze would reach them, so they quickly gathered their thoughts and increased their speed.


    Without caring about ze, they jumped out in different directions.


    ze also recognized that he was too slow, so he could onlyment his own abilities not measuring up.


    But before the two wolves could escape, there were two voices that suddenly rang out.


    "Haste!"


    "Faster."


    As soon as these two voices rang out, there was a light feeling that came over his body.


    At that same time, he could see a faint white light appear around his body.


    He found that he was moving much faster than before, so fast that the wolves almost seemed like they were moving in slow motion.


    So ze didn''t waste any time in rushing the two wolves, grabbing them by the waist and holding them in his arms.


    There wasn''t anything else he needed to do once he grabbed hold of these wolves.


    Once these wolves were in his grasps, it was time for his me armour to do its job.


    The wolves tried struggling by biting at him, but they found that they couldn''t hurt him at all.


    Rather, by trying to bite him, all they were doing was burning their own mouths.


    So the wolves in ze''s arms couldn''t do a thing as they burned away into ashes.


    As he held these wolves in his hand, ze had a wide smile on his face as he said, "That''s right! Burn! Burn! Burn!"


    If anyone else were to see him, they really would be scared by the scene that they saw.


    But when I saw him acting this way, I shook my head and gave a sigh.


    These kids really were kids in the end.


    On the other side, ire and Hayato were working together to suppress the wolf that had escaped ze.


    This time, instead of targeting the wolf together, they attacked in turns.


    Once the wolf dodged one attack, there was another attack that flew out at it that kept pushing it back.


    The wolf couldn''t do the same thing as the other wolf where it redirected their attacks since it was continuously being attacked from a blind spot. It wasn''t able to get a single moment to catch its breath and n its next move.


    Finally, the wolf was trapped up against the wall.


    At this point, Hayato gave a roar and summoned a wall of wind that trapped the wolf up against the wall.


    This wall of wind was made with powerful des of wind, so that even touching it would mean being ripped to shreds.


    So the wolf wasn''t able to do a single thing against this wall of wind.


    The problem was that Hayato wasn''t able to move it.


    It took all of his concentration just to pull this wall up, so he wasn''t able to close it in on the wolf.


    The wolf could see this and just waited to see what would happen next.


    After all, the wall of wind blocked it from seeing outside, so it wouldn''t move without knowing what was happening.


    Hayato looked at ire beside him who already had an arrow nocked in her bow.


    With a nod, there was a small hole just big enough for an arrow to pass that appeared in the wall of wind.


    Without any deviation, ire easily shot her arrow right through that hole.


    There was a wolf''s yelp that came before the wall of wind was let down to reveal that there was a wolf with an arrow in between its eyes lying there on the ground.


    Together, they had trapped the wolf and forced it into a single spot for them to finish it off.


    If it wasn''t for Lin Fan''s guidance, they wouldn''t have been able to do this.


    But these two also looked at the wolf just like ze did.


    They walked over to it and started kicking the corpse of the wolf before it disappeared.


    Only when it disappeared and the loot dropped did they stop.


    When I saw all of this, I just shook my head with a sigh and thought, "They really are still just kids."

 Chapter 87: Teamwork (1)

    After they finished off these wolves, they started celebrating.


    ire and Hayato danced around the drops of the wolf they killed while ze held the burning wolves in his hands while dancing.


    Even Qin Yue Ru joined in the celebration with a little dance that went along with ze''s dance.


    With the way that they were celebrating, one might think that they had killed one of the demon kings¡­though there was one that was quite close to them.


    I calmly waited for them to settle down a bit before saying, "What are you getting so worked up for? You''d think that you cleared the entire dungeon with the way you''re all acting."


    All of them couldn''t help revealing an awkward look before settling down again.


    That was right, they weren''t anywhere near finished yet.


    These wolves that they had killed were only E Rank Monsters and this was a D Rank Dungeon.


    The monsters that would be further in were without a doubt much stronger than these wolves and they had already struggled this much with these wolves.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that Lin Fan had been guiding them¡­they might have already been taken out by the wolves.


    Once they realized this, they all turned to look at him.


    When I saw them looking at me like this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a sigh. Then I said, "Do you remember what I said? Will you still follow it to the end?"


    All of them tilted their head for a moment before suddenly realizing what I meant.


    They looked at each other hesitantly before slowly giving nods. Even Hayato who had acted the most aggressively towards me agreed to this.


    That was because they had to admit that what he had done had helped them. It was only because of his advice that they had been able to take care of the wolves.


    Of course, the advice that I had given them was only the most basics on cooperating.


    It would have been even easier to take down the wolves if I had all four of them working together, but I knew that wasn''t possible yet. These kids still didn''t understand the concept of teamwork, so they wouldn''t have been able to do it.


    I had to let them get a taste of it before they would be willing to work on it.


    After getting their approval, I turned to look at the handlers on the side.


    They all nodded to show their agreement without any hesitation.


    But I wasn''t surprised by this at all.


    After all, these handlers had been watching from the side the entire time.


    It was clear that they weren''t surprised by how this situation had developed and had even expected this.


    These handlers were staff members that had been with Elementia for a long time, so they had actual experience unlike these kids. Most likely, they also had the records of what I''ve been through before, so they knew what role I yed here¡­


    Still, since they were going along, it made things easier.


    With that, I called them all over and started asking each of them what their abilities were.


    While I had a general idea of what abilities they had, I didn''t know the specifics since they never told me.


    I could have just looked at their cards, but I knew that wouldn''t give me all the information that I wanted. Human ingenuity was powerful and people would find new ways to use their power.


    So I wanted to hear from them how they could use their powers.


    After exining all of their powers, they all turned to look at me as if they were expecting something.


    I revealed a smile since I could guess what they were thinking, so I gave them a simple exnation of my power.


    "Suggestion?" They all said at the same time with confused looks.


    But then ze suddenly said, "Wait, was it you that helped me earlier?"


    I just gave a simple nod.


    ze muttered to himself, "Haste is a powerful spell that increases one''s movement speed by 20%, but the suggestion that you gave me¡­increased my speed even more than that. Just how is that possible?"


    All of them looked at me with shocked looks after hearing this.


    I shook my head with a smile before saying, "Don''t be too quick toe to a conclusion, there''s still one more thing to consider."


    They all revealed confused looks before ze suddenly bent over in pain. While he bent over, he said, "What is this?"


    I just calmly said, "My power allows you to break through the limits of your body, but those are the limits for a reason. If I use my powers on you for a long time, your body definitely won''t be able to hold out under my suggestion."


    ze revealed a bitter smile when he heard this.


    He could feel the pain that filled his body, so he knew that Lin Fan was telling the truth.


    Seeing him like this, I gave a satisfied nod before turning to Qin Yue Ru to say, "Heal him. We still need him."


    She gave a simple nod beforeing forward. She raised her staff towards him and softly said, "Heal."


    There was a faint light that appeared around ze and when it was done, he stood up without a problem. He moved his body around a bit before turning to Qin Yue Ru with a smile, "Thanks, it feels just like new."


    Qin Yue Ru gave a nod with a smile on her face, but if one looked closely¡­they could see a bit of a different emotion in her eyes.


    After seeing that he was healed up, I said, "Alright, gather around and let''s talk about our new formation."


    The kids followed my orders and came over, but as they listened to what I had to say, their expressions became more and more strange.


    In the end, we set off once more, heading into the depths of the dungeon.

 Chapter 88: Teamwork (2)

    After heading in a bit deeper, I suddenly raised my hand for them to stop after receiving a nod from Su Chen.


    He pointed in a direction and I turned to focus in that direction.


    I whispered to myself, "Clearer."


    I listened carefully with my enhanced hearing and I suddenly winced when I picked up the sound. After that tinge of pain, I said, "Release."


    When my hearing returned to normal, I let out a sigh of relief but I also reached my hands up to rub my ears.


    Heightening my senses really was different from heightening my abilities.


    After all, heightening my abilities would only affect me physically, but heightening my senses affected me mentally.


    So it was harder to recover from it than from heightening my physical capabilities.


    After recovering, I could see that the kids were looking at me with confused looks, so I said, "The enemy ising."


    They all had surprised and doubtful looks, but then they heard the sounding from in front of them and they immediately went into formation.


    Seeing this, I gave a satisfied nod since they were moving much better than before.


    It seemed like they really had taken the advice that I had given them to heart.


    As the sounds came closer, we were able to see that it was a pack of ten wolves that appeared.


    When the kids saw this, they couldn''t help trembling.


    After all, there were many times more wolves than before here.


    At most, they had only faced three of them at once.


    Even if they had gained some confidence, they weren''t that confident to take this pack on.


    So they all looked at me with looks asking if we should escape.


    But I knew that there was no need.


    As long as they all yed their roles, it would be fine.


    So I said, "Just stay in position and follow my orders, you''ll be fine."


    They all had doubtful looks on their faces, but they still gave nods in the end.


    After all, they had their own pride and they didn''t want to back down that easily. They still remembered the humiliation that they had suffered at the hands of the first wolf.


    As the wolves came closer, they also spread out and took a formation.


    With the way that they were spread, it was clear what the power division of this group was.


    The one in the center was clearly the alpha of this pack and the ones on the side were the betas.


    As for the one at the tail of the pack, that was the omega of the pack. This was the weakest, the scavenger who ate whatever they could to survive.


    This was the one that I was most wary of.


    I knew that while they were weaker than the rest of the wolves, they were the ones that were the most tenacious. It was unknown what they would do if they were pushed into a corner.


    So I wanted to deal with this omegast or not even deal with it at all.


    I was hoping that the omega would run away when it saw the difference in power between us.


    After a moment of silence, the wolves suddenly started charging at us.


    There were two of them that charged much faster than the rest of the pack.


    It was clear that these two were the vanguard that had been chosen to test our group.


    So that meant that these two were most likely the strongest after the alpha.


    They had to be trusted to be put in this position.


    Seeing this, I said, "Wall."


    As soon as he heard this order, ze who was standing at the front of our formation suddenly raised his hands.


    When he raised his hands, the mes spread out from him and they formed a wall to his sides.


    This wallpletely cut the pack of wolves off from the rest of us.


    The moment that the wall came up, the wolves immediately stopped moving and warily looked at ze.


    They had no idea what this human was doing raising this wall of mes, but they didn''t dare let their guards down. So they stopped to see what was going to happen before charging at this human.


    Of course, ze couldn''t do a thing while he was creating this wall.


    This wall used up more mes than he normally used, so it was hard for him to control it.


    He was only able to raise this wall and stand there without being able to move.


    But there was no need for him to move since he wasn''t the main attacker.


    This wall was nothing more than a distraction for the wolves.


    There were des of wind that suddenly broke through the wall.


    The moment that they went through the wall of mes, they suddenly caught on fire, creatingrge des of mes.


    The wolves quickly backed off from this wall of mes, but the two who had been the vanguard weren''t as lucky. They were too close to the wall of mes and they couldn''t dodge in time, so they were cut up by the des of mes.


    Both of them fell to the ground after being hit by the des of mes and couldn''t move anymore.


    ire, who was on Su Chen''s back, said, "Confirmed hits on targets."


    Hayato gave a proud nod when he heard this.


    This was thebination move that Lin Fan had thought out for them.


    ze would provide cover with the wall of mes, ire would get on Su Chen so she could see the targets over the wall, and then Hayato would shoot his des of wind through the wall.


    As soon as the des of wind went through the wall of mes, they would gain a new level of power that they didn''t have before.


    Since the wall of wind covered these attacks, with the speed of the des of mes, the wolves wouldn''t be able to react in time.


    This used all of their advantages in a single attack.

 Chapter 89: Teamwork (3)

    After taking out these first two wolves, ze released the me wall that he had gathered.


    Using the wall was only effective in the beginning to keep the wolves from charging them. That would stop the wolves from gathering momentum, making it easier for them to take down the wolves.


    But once the wolves had been stopped, keeping the me wall up would hurt them instead of helping them.


    After he released his me wall, he gathered all of those mes into a set of armour around himself.


    This time, he even formed a sword and shield of mes as he prepared to face the wolves.


    The wolves recognized that they were in a bad situation and even looked to escape, but they knew that trying to escape would just result in some of them being picked off. With how the humans were keeping track of them, it was certain that they wouldn''t allow them to escape without any harm.


    So if they tried to escape, it was certain that they would lose a few members.


    At the same time, they couldn''t guarantee which members would die.


    So the alpha wouldn''t give an order that would put his own life at risk.


    With a howl from the alpha, the wolves suddenly spread out.


    They made full use of this corridor and spread out so that they couldn''t be hit with arge-scale attack.


    But when I saw them spreading out like this, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.


    This was what I had wanted to see in the first ce.


    So I said, "Formation A."


    When they heard this, the kids couldn''t help revealing bitter smiles, but they still started moving.


    It was just that they were moving in the opposite direction of the enemies.


    Instead of facing the wolves head on, we turned and ran away from them.


    The wolves couldn''t understand what was happening at first, but then they reacted to us running away. But even if they did react, it wasn''t as if they knew what they were supposed to do.


    Do they chase after the enemies or just run away now that the enemies are leaving?


    This was their first time facing someone like this, so the alpha really didn''t know what to do.


    But in the end, the alpha gave the order to chase them down.


    The alpha didn''t know what these people were doing, but he couldn''t risk falling into a trap like before.


    If they let them go now, it''s very possible that there would be a trap waiting for them in the future.


    In that case, it was better to cut off that possibility now by taking out these humans.


    These humans were running away, they were leaving their backs open to them.


    The alpha wouldn''t let this chance go.


    As soon as the order was given, these wolves suddenly had ayer of green light appear around them before they started moving faster than before.


    As their name suggested, they used wind magic to buff themselves and increase their speed, which was what they were doing right now.


    With this buff on them, they were naturally faster than us who didn''t have the buff.


    It took no time at all for these wolves to catch up to them.


    But before the wolves could do anything, I suddenly said, "Now!"


    Then all of us suddenly turned around.


    This time, it was abination move between just Hayato and ze.


    As we had been running, Hayato had been gathering his wind magic inside of his hand. As soon as I gave the order, he immediately turned around and released arge ball of wind.


    Thisrge ball of wind on its own wouldn''t do much since Hayato had focused on increasing the size and speed of this ball of wind. On its own, it wouldn''t be able to do much damage to the wolves.


    That is¡­on its own.


    ze released a me from his palm that he threw out into the ball of wind as it passed by him.


    Once this me entered the ball of wind, the entire ball of wind suddenly became arge ball of fire.


    Thisrge ball of fire was so big that it blocked the entire corridor.


    The wolves had still been in the middle of chasing them when the giant ball of mes suddenly appeared. They weren''t able to stop themselves in time to be able to dodge it, so the only choice that they had was to face it head on.


    But how were they supposed to face this head on?


    This was a giant ball of mes thatpletely cut off all of their paths to escape.


    The only thing that they could do was¡­


    The alpha gave a howl and all of them gathered together.


    Since they were known as Gale Wolves, their specialty was naturally wind magic.


    Once they gathered together, theybined all of their wind magic to create a shield in front of them.


    A normal wind shield would just be swallowed by the ball of mes, so this wind shield was one that was made of wind des.


    They would cut anything that came in contact with it, including a giant ball of me.


    Unfortunately for them, there was a difference in power between the two sides.


    ze and Hayato were both D Rankers while these Gale Wolves were just E Rank Monsters.


    In terms of power, ze and Hayato had the advantage.


    So when the ball of mes made contact with the wind shield, there was only a second where the wind shield was able to cut the ball of mes for a bit before being swallowed by it.


    With the wind shield being swallowed, the wolves had no choice but to face the ball of mes head on.


    They werepletely engulfed in this ball of mes.


    The mes continued to burn for a while before finally dying down.


    When the mes disappeared, only the charred corpses of the wolves were left.

 Chapter 90: Sudden danger

    When they saw this, the kids couldn''t help revealing wide smiles.


    These wolves that had given them so much trouble before were now easily being taken out by them.


    This really was the confident boost that they needed.


    However, while these kids were celebrating, I had been staring at the charred corpses of the wolves.


    Since they were dead, these corpses disappeared not long after and loot dropped on the floor.


    When the charred corpses disappeared, there was a figure that was revealed that made me instantly knit my brows.


    That was because this was the one wolf that I had been cautious of the entire time.


    Seeing that it survived, I immediately shouted, "It''s not over yet! Don''t celebrate too early!"


    The kids snapped back from their festive mood and turned to look at me. Seeing the expression on my face, they quickly followed my gaze to look at the omega wolf as well.


    The moment that they saw this lone wolf that was left, all of them immediately became focused.


    But the omega didn''t give them a chance at all.


    Seeing that its entire pack was dead, the omega didn''t waste any time.


    It wasn''t strong, but it had an ability that the rest of the pack didn''t.


    There was a green light that appeared around this wolf before it suddenly¡­disappeared out of sight. Or rather, it became a speck in the distance in an instant.


    This speed was even enough to catch me off guard, but I knew that it would be dangerous to let this wolf escape.


    So I quickly said, "Shoot it down."


    The others had been caught off guard by this and weren''t able to react in time.


    By the time that they reacted, it was already toote. The wolf had already escaped into the distance and was out of range.


    Even if we wanted to chase it down, we wouldn''t catch it since it was much faster than us.


    So with a sigh, I had no choice but to give up.


    However, I couldn''t help feeling a bad premonition about this.


    Seeing the wolf run off, the kids weren''t as worried. They even went back to celebrating without a care.


    But this time, I didn''t say anything about it since they deserved it.


    Bncing carrot and stick, that was my job as the leader.


    If they deserve it, then I would let them have it.


    After celebrating for a bit, they finally remembered where they were and calmed down. They cautiously turned back to look at Lin Fan, as if they were afraid of something.


    Seeing them look at me like this, I revealed a faint smile and said, "You did well."


    When they heard this, it was almost as if they didn''t know how to react.


    In truth, this was their first time hearing praise from me, so they really didn''t know how to react.


    They opened their mouths as if they wanted to say something, they acted like they were proud and arrogant, but really couldn''t, and they awkwardly stepped side to side.


    It was like a child that had been praised the first time with the way that they were acting.


    I just shook my head with a smile before saying, "Let''s go, we still need to clear this dungeon."


    They gave nods in response as their eyes lit up and their faces filled with determination.


    I could also see Su Chen and the other handlers looking at them with looks of approval.


    Like this, we headed off deeper into the dungeon.


    But my bad premonition was right.


    We encountered a few more wolves, but there were strangely less wolves than there should have been.


    It was almost as if they had disappeared somewhere¡­


    We quickly learned where that was.


    I had called a stop since I wanted to investigate the area when we suddenly heard a howl.


    The kids all prepared to fight, but I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    That was because I could tell that this howling was different from before.


    It was different from the howling of all the wolves that we had met before this¡­


    This was the howling of a wolf that was far beyond any other wolf.


    I wanted to tell them to run, but it was already toote as we were suddenly surrounded by these wolves. I didn''t know how they had gotten around us like this, but theypletely blocked us off from leaving.


    Then there was a wolf that was muchrger than the rest that appeared in front of us.


    It was clear that this wolf was the one that was leading the rest.


    It wasn''t just bigger, it also had a more powerful aura than the other wolves.


    But the thing that I had been paying attention to was the smaller wolf beside it.


    That was because I recognized this smaller wolf.


    It was the omega that had escaped.


    As soon as I saw this omega, I knew that it was the one that had brought thisrger wolf over.


    I only felt regret that I didn''t act sooner to take it down even though I had already been wary of this omega.


    Once they saw that they werepletely surrounded, the kids all turned to look at me with worried looks as they asked, "What do we do?"


    I took a deep breath and calmly looked at therge wolf.


    As I was looking at it, one of the handlers suddenly said, "That''s a Howling Gale Wolf, it''s a special D Rank monster that is considered one of the hidden bosses of this dungeon. We should¡­probably run."


    A special boss?


    It was just like the one that I had met before in that first dungeon that I had gone to¡­but I was a different person from then.


    If I were to take the Irregr License Exam, it was certain that I would face something as bad as this.


    So if I backed down now¡­


    I clutched the sword in my hand and said, "Leave the big one to me, you just keep the small ones back."

 Chapter 91: Display of power (1)

    They all looked at me with shocked looks after I said this.


    After a moment of silence, there were voices that were filled with concern that rang out.


    "Wait, what are you doing?"


    "Don''t go out there by yourself, you''ll be surrounded by them!"


    "Come back here and let''s run together."


    But I just ignored all of them as I continued stepping forward towards therge wolf.


    The wolves that surrounded us just carefully watched over me as I walked away from this formation. They looked at me with wary looks, as if they weren''t certain what to do in this situation.


    From time to time, I could see that some of them were looking at therge wolf, as if they were asking for advice.


    But therge wolf just ignored them as its attention waspletely on me.


    The look in the eyes of therge wolf¡­showed that it was also wary of me.


    I didn''t understand why it would be since in terms of mana, I should have less than any of the members of our group.


    There shouldn''t be a single thing about me that would make thisrge wolf cautious and yet, therge wolf didn''t say a thing as it just red at me.


    I was able to get close to therge wolf before it suddenly gave a howl.


    I prepared myself when therge wolf gave this howl, but I found that the wolves around mepletely ignored me. In fact, they went right past me and formed a line behind me, separating me from the rest of my group.


    At the same time, therge wolf seemed like it was getting ready to fight me.


    It seemed that since it wasn''t able to figure me out, it was nning to use its own power to force me to reveal my powers.


    That meant that it should be very confident in its abilities¡­


    So before it could even do anything, I muttered under my breath, "A bit faster."


    The two of us suddenly stopped moving before¡­therge wolf suddenly jumped out at me.


    There was no hesitation at all in the movements of therge wolf as it jumped at me.


    Thisrge wolf opened its jaws and snapped at me with them, but I was able to dodge out of the way in time.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had buffed myself ahead of time and the fact that I had been watching therge wolf the entire time, there might have been a problem.


    But that didn''t mean that I was out of the woods just yet¡­


    After all, that was an attack with just its physical capabilities.


    Therge wolf hadn''t started using its magic powers just yet.


    There was a reason why it was known as the Howling Gale Wolf.


    Seeing that I was barely able to dodge out of the way, therge wolf revealed what seemed to be a smile. Then with a howl, there was ayer of green light that appeared around it.


    "Cheeky b*stard." I muttered under my breath.


    Since it saw that I was barely able to dodge its attack when it used its physical capabilities alone, it was nning on attacking me with everything so that I wouldn''t have a chance to dodge.


    But that didn''t mean that I didn''t have a trump card either¡­


    Well, I had multiple trump cards, but the one that I''m currently referring to was the sword in my hand.


    Taking a deep breath, I channeled my mana into the sword.


    I had been ying around with this sword yesterday while training with Su Chen and I had found¡­that I was able to incite it. It seemed that I was able to connect with the sword and make it acknowledge me as its master.


    What that meant was that I was able to use this sword''s ability.


    After the sword was incited, there was a green light that appeared around it.


    This green light didn''t stop at just the sword, but went from the handle to my body to cover itpletely.


    I was soon covered in a fullyer of green light.


    When this green light surrounded my body, I could feel power filling me.


    This was the thing that the Orc King had done before.


    This was a buff using the powers of this magic sword.


    After that buff came over me, I didn''t hesitate to make the first move.


    After all, there was a time limit to how long I could stay in this state and I didn''t want to waste any of that time.


    So I dashed at therge wolf head on.


    When therge wolf saw this, it gave a howl before dashing forward as well.


    This time, we moved so fast that the people around weren''t able to follow us anymore.


    They could only see our afterimages shing with each other and hear the sounds of my sword shing with the teeth of therge wolf.


    After a few rounds of shing like this, both of us suddenly appeared again.


    Therge wolf went back to where it had been before, standing beside the omega.


    While I was also pushed back to my starting position.


    But at the very least, there wasn''t a single injury on either of us.


    It seemed that we were even in both speed and strength.


    So unless something changed¡­it didn''t seem like this fight would be decided soon.


    I couldn''t help muttering under my breath, "Do I really have to use that?"


    After all, I knew that it was very likely that my power would run out first¡­


    I could feel the powering from the sword weakening.


    However, I didn''t want to use that unless it was absolutely necessary¡­


    But before I could do anything, therge wolf gave another howl before a whirlwind appeared around it. This whirlwindsted a few seconds before disappearing without a trace¡­


    Well, not without a trace since there were still traces of this whirlwind around therge wolf in the form of scattered wind that blew across its fur.

 Chapter 92: Display of power (2)

    I could feel a bit of pressureing from therge wolf now.


    I didn''t know exactly what it did, but if I had to guess¡­it was most likely that it had applied anotheryer of buff on itself.


    As for exactly what this buff did, I couldn''t tell.


    So all I could do was focus on thisrge wolf and see what happened.


    After a pause, therge wolf suddenly dashed forward.


    It seemed that it was still moving at the same speed, so the buff didn''t seem to be for speed.


    But I didn''t let my guard down for a single second since I knew that it wouldn''t be simple.


    The two of us shed once more, but this time the results were different.


    I blocked the bite of thisrge wolf, but then¡­there was a cut that appeared on my shoulder.


    I immediately pulled back when I felt the pain from the cut and looked at it carefully. However, no matter how I looked at it, I couldn''t understand how I had been hurt.


    I had clearly blocked this attack¡­


    Of course, I didn''t have much time to think about it since therge wolf was stilling.


    Once again, we shed and this time, there was a sh wound that appeared on my other shoulder.


    It was as if there was something invisible that was shing me.


    Invisible?


    The wind that had gathered around therge wolf!


    That was it!


    This time when we shed, I kept swinging my sword after blocking the attack. As I had expected, there was a second impact sound that rang out.


    "So that was it¡­" I muttered to myself as I looked at the wind that surrounded therge wolf.


    The wind that had been gathered around the wolf did have an effect.


    It created a second attack along with the wolf''s physical attacks. It was an invisible wind attack!


    But even if I knew what it was, it wasn''t as if I had a way of dealing with it.


    After all this was an invisible attack and I had no idea what were the limitations of this attack.


    Just how much was therge wolf able to control this and how powerful could it be?


    There were just too many things that were unknown that it was too much of a risk to fight it any longer¡­


    It seemed that I really would need to use that if I wanted to end this quickly.


    So with a sigh, I stepped forward.


    Therge wolf was surprised when it saw this. It was even a bit afraid since it could see the look in my eyes.


    However, it couldn''t back down at this junction, so it had to go forward.


    This time, when the two of us were about to sh, I suddenly said, "Be dizzy."


    Therge wolf''s eyes suddenly narrowed and it swayed a bit, but it was able to stand firm.


    However, its eyes couldn''t help widening as it stared forward. That was because the human that it had been fighting had disappeared.


    It was only an instant where it was hit with a wave of nausea. It was only an instant where its focus had been broken.


    But that one instant was all that it took.


    Then all of a sudden, therge wolf felt a sharp paining from its neck.


    When it turned its head, it saw that the human it lost sight of was beside it and¡­


    The human''s sword had stabbed into its neck.


    Therge wolf wanted to summon its wind magic to fight back, but then it felt the sword stabbing deeper into its neck.


    It lost all of its abilities to gather its mana and the wind around it scattered.


    In its final moments, it stared up at the human with a look of not fear or anger, but rather a look of confusion.


    It couldn''t understand how the human had suddenly disappeared and reappeared beside it.


    That was what it thought about as the light in its eyes faded and it copsed onto the ground.


    The other wolves that had been attacking the kids suddenly stopped when they saw this.


    They all stared at therge wolf on the ground in a daze before slowly looking up at Lin Fan who stood over it.


    I could feel their gazes on me, but I stood firm against all of this.


    During this time, the green light around me was slowly dimming since the power of the sword was reaching a limit.


    There was a long silence that hung in the air before one wolf took a step back.


    As soon as this one wolf took a step back, the others also took a step back¡­


    It was like a chain reaction where they slowly crept back.


    Soon it was like a stampede as all of these wolves scattered.


    But the one wolf that couldn''t get away was the omega from before.


    It had been standing where therge wolf had been standing before, so it was close to Lin Fan.


    After catching my breath, I immediately walked over to the omega while it was still in a daze and cut down.


    That sword cut right through the neck of the omega and cut its head off.


    This omega was only good at running and not good at fighting, so it wasn''t able to resist this sh at all.


    In less than a minute, all of the wolves who had been gathered around had scattered.


    There was only our group left standing there in a daze.


    Only then did my string of tension cut and my legs went soft. I couldn''t stop myself as I fell to the ground, falling on my butt.


    As I sat there, I let out a long sigh of relief.


    That Howling Gale Wolf was much stronger than I had expected, but it all turned out well in the end.


    I could see the way that the kids looked at me.


    At the very least, I had established myself in their eyes.

 Chapter 93: One of them

    Once the Gale Wolves had disappeared, Su Chen came over to help me up before walking back to the group.


    As I stood there in front of them, I could see the looks of admiration that were aimed my way.


    I just revealed a bitter smile as I turned to Qin Yue Ru and asked, "Can you heal me?"


    She was surprised to hear this, so she didn''t do anything.


    Seeing the looks that they gave me, I said, "You should already know about my ability already and the downsides thate with it. I can barely move after using my ability, so I need you to heal me."


    When they heard that, all of them couldn''t help looking at me with shocked looks.


    They never thought that I would face this kind of problem after showing that kind of power.


    However, there was no denying that this was the problem that I currently faced.


    I had to create an excuse to cover up the real power that I had used, so I had used my Hypnosis skill to fake this pain¡­Well, it wasn''t fake since the pain was real, but this wasn''t because of using that skill to defeat the Howling Gale Wolf.


    After a moment of being dazed, Qin Yue Ru came forward and raised her staff.


    When she did, there was ayer of light that appeared around me.


    As thisyer of light appeared around me, I could feel a warm feeling filling me that went from head to toe. As this warm feeling filled me, I could feel the pain that filled my body receding.


    Slowly but surely, the pain disappeared without a trace and I could feel my body being filled with strength again.


    This healing power really was something else.


    If I could have this healing power to revive me every time after Su Chen''s workouts¡­


    But for now, what mattered more was establishing my reputation among these kids.


    So I said, "Is everyone alright?"


    All of them gave a slow nod before revealing excited looks.


    Now that they had calmed down and thought about it, they realized that they had just fought against those wolves that had given them all that trouble before.


    They had even fought against so many of them that they had beenpletely surrounded.


    The only reason that they had been able to fight back against so many of these wolves was because of the advice that Lin Fan gave them before.


    If it wasn''t for this, it was certain that they would have been overrun by these wolves.


    But that showed that they had be much stronger than when they first entered this dungeon.


    Seeing that they were all alright, I gave a sigh and said, "Good, it''s good that you''re all safe."


    When the kids heard this, they couldn''t help feeling a warm feeling fill their hearts.


    Up to this point, their impression of Lin Fan had been of a strict and uncaring person who didn''t seem to worry about them at all. He was just here because he was forced toe along with them and had taken over their group because he found it bothersome.


    But now they realized that it wasn''t that case.


    He had acted that way because a leader needed to be tough, but that didn''t mean that this was his personality.


    Now that they had gone through danger together, they couldn''t help feeling closer to him.


    In the end, they just gave another slow nod.


    Seeing this slow nod, I said with a sigh, "It''s good that you''re fine. That really was tough just now, I didn''t think that we would make it through that."


    After hearing this, the kids couldn''t help revealing strange looks as they realized¡­that Lin Fan was just like them.


    He was just someone who was trying to do his best.


    They had acted tough because they thought that if they didn''t, they would be looked down on.


    But in truth, they didn''t want to act that way either¡­


    With this, the final barrier in their hearts finally copsed and they opened themselves up.


    At first, they felt awkward since they didn''t know what to say, but Hayato took the first step by saying, "Uh, are you alright¡­Lin Fan?"


    That was his first time addressing Lin Fan by name instead of just calling him F Ranker.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a smile and saying, "I''m fine, but I could do with a shower and a change of clothes right now."


    Hearing this, all of them couldn''t help revealing a smile as well.


    After all, fighting was a very dirty matter and with how much of a mess they had caused, they were all covered in dirt. So it wasn''t just Lin Fan who wanted to take a shower and change their clothes, it was all of them that wanted this.


    Slowly, I was able to break the barrier between our two sides and soon they were talking to me without any worries at all.


    Instead of treating me as an outsider, they started to treat me as one of their own.


    This was the atmosphere that I wanted for this party.


    After all, this was the atmosphere that I was able to easily take advantage of.


    Behind each word that I said¡­was my Hypnosis.


    I was able to slowly get closer and closer to them with each word said.


    Finally, when they seemed like they were having difficulty deciding on what to call me, I said, "If you want, you can just call me big brother. After all, I am older than you."


    They hesitated a bit before nodding in agreement.


    With this, I had talked my way into bing the big brother of these talents of Elementia.


    I had seen their abilities, so I knew that in the future, they would be powerful Awakeners.


    In that case, I should take advantage of this.


    While they were still young and weak, I should get them to follow me while I could.

 Chapter 94: Loot

    Once the wall between them had been broken, it was much easier for them to talk.


    Since they were able to talk to him, they were naturally curious about this person that was leading them.


    It took no time at all for me to be bombarded by their questions.


    Most of it was about my life, so I gave them a general summary since there wasn''t much to say. Albeit, I did leave out a few things that I didn''t want people to know about.


    "You just awakened?"


    All of them couldn''t help saying at the same time when they heard this.


    I just gave a casual nod in response to this since this was public knowledge.


    There was no need for me to hide something like this.


    All of the kids couldn''t help revealing strange looks when they heard this.


    He had just awakened recently and he was able to have this much power¡­not to mention that he was only a F Rank Awakener.


    It was different from them who had high ranking abilities that were just dormant right now.


    One thing that the awakener test tested for wasn''t just current rank, but also potential rank. So while they might be D Rankers right now, they had potential to be A Rankers because of their A Ranked skills.


    It was just that their abilities hadn''t developed yet, which kept them in D Rank.


    But Lin Fan''s skill and potential were both F Rank, so he would never grow out of it.


    It could be said that he didn''t have any talent at all.


    Yet he was able to reach this level of power with that F Rank skill that anyone would disregard¡­


    It could be said that he was a genius.


    A genius of hard work.


    ze couldn''t help asking, "How did you manage to control your powers so well?"


    I looked at him with a confused look and said, "All you have to do is keep working hard and you''ll be able to aplish anything you want."


    ze couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when he heard this.


    His powers were different from the other three.


    The other three found it very easy to control their powers since they weren''t as intense, but his mes had been hard to control. He had to work very hard to bring them down to the point where he would be able to use them like he did now.


    That was all the efforts of his hard work and he had been proud of it.


    But he realized today that there was always someone better than him.


    This leader of theirs that he had just met today, he had used hard work to show this kind of power with a F Ranked skill. There was no need to doubt just how much hard work he had put into this.


    At the same time, there was no need to doubt the amount of intelligence that it took.


    So while he didn''t have natural talent in terms of skills, he had talent in terms of intelligence.


    If he could work with someone like this¡­


    After a moment of hesitation, ze suddenly said, "Can I train with you sometimes?"


    I was surprised to hear this, but I just gave a simple nod since this was good as well. This would allow me to get closer to him and give me more chances to bring him under my control.


    At the same time though, I could see that the eyes of Su Chen on the side lit up when he heard this.


    He had been staring at ze and it seemed that he had been quite interested.


    It seemed that ze¡­had already be one of the students in the demon instructors course.


    When I realized this, I could only say a few words to pray for his soul.


    When we had finished chatting, we went to see what loot the Howling Gale Wolf had dropped.


    This was a special area boss monster, so the loot from it definitely wouldn''t be poor.


    At first it was disappointing since the loot that we found was just loot that we could get from the ordinary Gale Wolves. It was a bit better qualitypared to what they had received from the Gale Wolves, but that didn''t mean that it was that valuable.


    Finally, there were a few things that were worth something that came out.


    Two things to be exact.


    One was arge magic stone that was clearly much bigger than all the other magic stones that they had found so far.


    There was no doubt that this thing would be worth quite a bit.


    The other one¡­was a pair of gloves.


    Normally without an appraiser, they wouldn''t be able to see what it was.


    They would be able to use it and feel its effects, but they exact stat increases wouldn''t be known until they were appraised.


    However, I had the Demon King System, so I was able to see the stats of this thing right away.


    Howling Gale Gloves


    A special pair of gloves made from the skin of a Howling Gale Wolf. Contains traces of the Howling Gale Wolf''s wind magic.


    Stats: Agility +20


    Special Active: The user can channel the wind magic of the Howling Gale Wolf to increase their speed by 50% and deal an extra attack with wind magic.


    My eyes lit up the moment that I saw this.


    Magic item!


    It was just like the sword that I used.


    But I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried after seeing the stats of this magic item since¡­things like this were usually the reason why parties broke up.


    There would be infighting because of the loot that they obtained.


    Magic items were rare and valuable items that anyone would want, so it wasn''t strange if they broke up because of this.


    But to my surprise¡­


    "You should have it."


    Hayato was the first one to say this.


    The others then nodded in agreement before ire said, "You were the one that killed it, so naturally it''s yours."


    I waspletely caught off guard by this and couldn''t help being a bit moved.


    It seemed that the seeds that I had nted in their hearts had already started blooming.


    If only I knew the truth¡­


    They weren''t moved since they already had magic items!


    It was what the guild had offered them when they joined, so they didn''t think that much about magic items¡­


    That was the difference between one who was still on probation like me and one who had been fully epted into the guild like them.

 Chapter 95: Dungeon’s end

    Once we settled the matter of the loot, we started heading even deeper into the dungeon.


    Our goal today had been to clear the dungeonpletely, so we were still far from being done with this dungeon yet.


    As we went deeper and deeper, there were less monsters that we encountered.


    Though with the teamwork that we now had, it wasn''t as if we were afraid of any monsters that we encountered.


    As long as we worked together, it would be easy for us to take down any monster that we met.


    Though the reason that there were less monsters was because this ce was filled with powerful monsters.


    The more powerful a monster was, the bigger their territory would be.


    So there wasn''t as much room here for monsters since there were powerful monsters settling here.


    After traveling for a bit, we finally reached thest area on the map.


    This was where the boss of the dungeon was supposed to be.


    As long as we defeated this boss, it could be considered a sessful dungeon raid.


    Of course, even if we defeated the boss of the dungeon, that didn''t mean that we should destroy the dungeon core.


    If the dungeon core was destroyed, then this entire dungeon would copse.


    If that were to happen, then it would mean having to deal with the Awakener Association that oversaw this dungeon.


    They had left this dungeon up because it was a good ce for them to farm materials, which was why they had never destroyed the dungeon core before. As long as they killed the dungeon boss periodically, they would be able to keep the dungeon from breaking.


    So that was why there were these D Rank Dungeons in the first ce.


    As we stood there on the edge of the dungeon boss'' territory, we looked at the map to make sure that we were in the right ce.


    However, it didn''t take us long to find that dungeon boss.


    It was standing there in the middle of this cave area that was considered the dungeon boss'' territory.


    When I saw it, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.


    As expected, it was another wolf.


    This dungeon was filled with wolf type creatures and even the special boss was a Howling Gale Wolf, so it wasn''t strange that the boss would be a wolf as well.


    I turned to Su Chen and he said, "This is a Great Wolf, it''s arge variant of a normal wolf with powerful physical capabilities."


    "Just physical capabilities?" I asked.


    Su Chen gave a nod.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    After all, if the Great Wolf could rely on just its physical capabilities alone to be the dungeon boss in a dungeon that was filled with monsters that could use magic, it was clear that this Great Wolf''s abilities weren''t weak.


    This¡­might be harder to deal with than I had thought.


    So I wasn''t in a rush to deal with the Great Wolf, especially since I could see that it was asleep.


    Instead of rushing into this fight, it was better to scout out the area and see if there was anything that we could use against it.


    I had ire go and scout out the area since she was the best at this.


    When she came back, she said, "There''s a few spots that we can hide and ambush the Great Wolf from. At the same time, there are a few spots where we will be able to use as a vantage point if we need to."


    I gave a nod in response to this before looking at the map that Su Chen had.


    I had to admit that it really was good being a part of arge guild.


    If I hade to this dungeon on my own, there was no way that I would have had this useful map with me.


    This map wasn''t provided by the Awakener Association, but rather it was something that came from the guild.


    Each guild raided each of the dungeons controlled by the Awakener Association and they had their own maps for these dungeons.


    The one that we were using was made by past Awakeners of Elementia who hade to this dungeon before.


    We were using the knowledge of those that came before us to pave the way to the future.


    After thinking for a bit, I pointed at the map a few times as I said, "Alright, here''s the n¡­"


    ¡­


    A few minutester, we were all in ce.


    Beside me was Qin Yue Ru and everyone else was somewhere else in this area.


    We hadmunicators that had been provided to us by the guild, which was once again a benefit of being from arge guild.


    Normalmunicators didn''t work in dungeons since there was something that seemed to stop radio waves.


    However, thesemunicators had been made specifically to work in the dungeons.


    To make something like this definitely wasn''t cheap and it was only a powerful guild like Elementia that could do that.


    So the other Awakeners who came in alone would never have something like this.


    Once we were all in ce, I asked onest time, "Is everyone ready?"


    "Ready."


    There were three of these that came from themunicator and one that came from beside me.


    Unlike before, there wasn''t a single trace of arrogance in their voice anymore and they were fullymitted to working together.


    With this, I felt much more confident that we would be able to take down this Great Wolf.


    After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I said, "Alright, on my mark."


    With that, I started the countdown.


    When I reached one, ze suddenly came out of his hiding spot and ran right at the Great Wolf who was sleeping there. As he ran at the Great Wolf, he started shouting at it to get its attention.


    The Great Wolf suddenly woke up and stared at ze who was running at him.

 Chapter 96: Dungeon boss (1)

    As soon as the Great Wolf woke up, it immediately looked around to confirm that there were no other enemies before using its speed to outrun ze.


    When it stopped, it had already created a good amount of distance between the two of them.


    This Great Wolf wasn''t just strong based on that speed, but also intelligent since it knew to create space right away.


    It didn''t let itself fall into the trap of thinking that there was only a single enemy and attacking only to be ambushed. It knew that by acting rashly, it would give the enemy an opportunity against it.


    So it calmly retreated, creating enough distance so that it could scope out the situation.


    After it looked around the area for a bit, the Great Wolf turned its attention back to ze who was still charging at it.


    Seeing this, the Great Wolf couldn''t stop its wolf lips from curling into a faint smile.


    "This human wants to fight me head on without any help? What a fool."


    That was what the Great Wolf thought before suddenly dashing forward with its great speed.


    ze was barely able to keep up with the Great Wolf as it charged over at him.


    At the veryst second, he suddenly activated his me armour.


    The Great Wolf that had been about to bite down on ze''s shoulder suddenly stopped itself. Then all of a sudden, it jumped back to create space between the two of them once more.


    ze let out a sigh of relief since he knew that he wouldn''t have gotten out of it unhurt if the Great Wolf had decided to go through with biting him.


    He was d that the Great Wolf wasn''t willing to hurt itself to also hurt him.


    But that was only a second of pause before ze charged at the Great Wolf once again while shouting, "Come and get it!"


    As he charged, he even summoned out a me sword and me shield.


    The Great Wolf no longer attacked ze after seeing this and instead ran around the room, almost as if it was kiting ze.


    "This human, it won''t be able to use this ability forever. The moment that it''s gone is the moment that this human dies."


    The Great Wolf was nning on using its speed to outrun ze and wear him down.


    It knew that as long as ze didn''t have this me armour, it would be able to take him down easily with the difference in speed and power.


    So the Great Wolf''s n was to tire ze out before making its move.


    ze just went along with it and the two of them ran all over the room.


    With how it was going, it didn''t seem like this was going to end any time soon.


    That was until the Great Wolf suddenly realized something¡­


    It was surrounded by mes.


    It had been so focused on ze and how it would be able to easily take him down after he ran out of energy that it hadn''t been paying attention to the other thing that ze had been doing.


    As ze had been running around, mes were left behind by him that now filled the room.


    Since they had been running all over, the room was nowpletely covered in mes except for the one area that the two of them were in.


    The Great Wolf realized that it had beenpletely fooled and was now trapped by ze''s mes.


    If it wanted to run, it would have to dash through those mes and it could tell that it wouldn''t get out of this ce unscathed if that happened¡­


    But these mes kept burning like this, they had to be feeding on something.


    As soon as it realized this, the Great Wolf turned to ze.


    "This human, if I take him out¡­then would the mes go out?"


    While it wasn''t a proper idea, it was still better than nothing. At this point, the Great Wolf was desperate to find any solution to this problem.


    At the same time, it would be able to take care of this human that had intruded on its home.


    So the Great Wolf charged at ze.


    As the Great Wolf charged¡­ze actually ran out of power and the me armour around him copsed.


    The Great Wolf''s guesses were right, the mes that were burning around them were fueled by ze''s magic power. As long as he supplied them with mana, they would keep burning.


    He was focused on maintaining these mes that he ran out of mana for his own armour, which was why it copsed.


    Seeing this, the Great Wolf saw a chance and dashed even faster at ze.


    ze knew that he was in a pinch, but he waspletely out of energy.


    Even if he wanted to dodge, it was impossible for him to dodge at this point.


    So all he could do was sit there and watch as the Great Wolf approached.


    The distance between him and the Great Wolf wasn''t that great since there was only so much space that he could leave with the mes. In a matter of seconds, the Great Wolf would be on him and would be biting into him.


    But ze didn''t seem worried at all as he sat there looking up at the Great Wolf.


    Seeing him acting this way, the Great Wolf couldn''t help feeling a bad premonition.


    Like there was something wrong¡­


    But the Great Wolf didn''t have any other choice since it wouldn''t be able to escape this ce unless it took down ze.


    So it could onlymit to the choices that it had made.


    The Great Wolf appeared right in front of ze and was about to clench down with its outstretched jaws¡­


    But then before it could, there was a wind barrier that appeared in front of it.


    This was a wind barrier made of many different wind des that prevented the Great Wolf from passing through.


    The wind des cut against the Great Wolf''s pelt, but there wasn''t a single wind de that was able to draw blood.


    Still, this wind barrier did its job and kept the Great Wolf from reaching ze.

 Chapter 97: Dungeon boss (2)

    The Great Wolf didn''t keep trying to smash itself against that barrier and quickly drew back.


    Though after drawing back a bit, it was nning on rushing forward again.


    It wanted to use its speed to go around this barrier of wind, but it soon found that there was nowhere for it to go.


    That was because this barrier of wind¡­wasn''t just in front of it. This barrier of wind was actually a dome of wind that hadpletely surrounded the Gale Wolf.


    No matter where it wanted to go, it wouldn''t be able to go anywhere.


    It waspletely trapped by this dome of wind.


    The Great Wolf jumped back into the center of this dome of wind and started carefully analyzing this dome of wind. It wanted to see if there was a way to break out of it or if there was a way to wait this out.


    After all, the dome of wind seemed to be keeping the mes from reaching it.


    As long as it could wait long enough, it didn''t believe that this human would be able to maintain these mes for long.


    But there was another question that passed through its mind.


    "Where did this dome of winde from? Does this human have two powers or was it someone else?"


    ze on the other hand waspletely beat as he sat there on the ground.


    But there was a golden light that suddenly appeared around him that started filling him with energy. There was even a hint of holiness that came with this golden light that appeared around him.


    When this golden light appeared, ze let out a sigh of relief as he knew that his job was done.


    When he had dashed at the Great Wolf, it wasn''t because he was being rash.


    Rather, it was because it was all a part of the n that they hade up with.


    They had noted that this room had arge space, so it wasn''t a problem to use mes.


    They sent ze in on his own to distract the Great Wolf and trap it with the mes.


    ze had no problem just setting up these mes since he didn''t really need to control them and they didn''t have any form. mes like this were easy for him to leave behind and then just supply with mana to keep burning.


    Then once he had brought the Great Wolf into the area that they wanted it in, his job was finished.


    During this whole time, ire''s voice had been in his ears, telling him all about the small adjustments he had to make.


    She was afar watching over the entire thing, guiding him to trap the Great Wolf in the area that they needed it in.


    Then when it was over, he was assured since he knew that Hayato would be there with the dome of wind to trap the Great Wolf.


    As he sat there rxing, there was a voice that rang out in hismunicator, "So you managed to survive in the end."


    ze couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when he heard the teasing voice of this team leader of his.


    Then he said with a bitter tone, "With your grace, I was able to survive."


    During the time that he had been chased by the Great Wolf, he had heard this leader''s voice in hismunicator from time to time.


    Whenever he had heard this voice, he would suddenly start to move faster for a bit.


    This had allowed him to move faster at times to make sure that the Great Wolf didn''t escape too far. Otherwise, the Great Wolf would have realized that it was being surrounded by mes instead of focusing on him.


    But he really was surprised that just the voice from themunicator was enough to do this.


    He really was surprised by how flexible this ability of their team leader was, even though he was only F Rank.


    However, he had also put this prejudice towards the fact that he was a F Ranker away a long time ago when he had seen him fight against the Howling Gale Wolf. He firmly believed that Lin Fan was a genius of both effort and intelligence, being able to figure out such a creative way to use his power, even with his limitations.


    There was still a lot that he could learn from him.


    After a pause, Lin Fan''s voice rang out again, "Try to recover your energy as quickly as possible just in case something happens. Hayato will do his best, but we still need you to end it."


    ze gave a nod before closing his eyes to gather more mana.


    On the other side, Hayato wasughing as he said, "Now you get to see my true powers!"


    As he said this, wind blew his hair and made him look truly wild.


    If anyone else saw him, they would have thought that he looked scary, but¡­those that were on the same team as him already knew that he was nothing more than a kid with Chuunibyou.


    He was a kid who enjoyed acting like he was the most powerful.


    In fact, his name for this dome of wind was¡­Dark Prison of Eternal Wind!


    But while the name was cringe, that didn''t mean that this attack was weak.


    It was only a singleyer of wind that had appeared at first, but with him adding more and more mana in this attack, there were more and more des of wind that formed. They formed on the inside of this dome of wind, making theyer of wind thicker and thicker.


    The Great Wolf could see that it was running out of space to move in as the des of wind closed in on it.


    While these des of wind weren''t able to do anything to it, that was only if it only touched those des of wind for a second.


    If the des of wind continued to cut it, they would eventually make it through its pelt and hurt it.


    So it couldn''t just stay still anymore when it saw the des of wind that were approaching.


    It had to figure out a way out of this¡­


    It seemed like the Great Wolf had no choice but to use its final trump card.


    But the Great Wolf had to admit something.


    "These humans, they really did push me to the edge. It''s been a long time since I''ve had a fight like this."


    The Great Wolf didn''t hesitate to raise its head and give a howl.


    Along with this howl, the Great Wolf started to grow in size.


    It was only a small increase at first, but then its body almost doubled in size and its fur grew longer.


    The Great Wolf was already arge wolf, but now that it had doubled in size and its fur danced in the wind, it almost looked like a legendary monster. Like the Fenrirs of legend.


    When it finished transforming, it prepared to fight against the dome of wind with all of its might.


    It was just too bad that the humans that it had respect for didn''t n on fighting fairly.


    ze had stood up and had condensed a me sword in his hand.


    With a smile, he looked at the Great Wolf through the small gaps of the dome of wind and then tossed the me sword at the dome of wind.

 Chapter 98: Dungeon boss (3)

    The Great Wolf had finally stopped howling when it reached double its size and it was about to start charging at the wall of wind in front of it.


    However, before it could¡­


    There was a sudden bright light that came from in front of it that almost seemed too dazzling.


    However, the Great Wolf forced itself to look straight to figure out just what this light was.


    It was able to see that there was a wave of mesing at it. This wave of mes rode on the wind wall and spread in an instant, reaching the Great Wolf right away.


    The Great Wolf didn''t even have time to put up defenses before being engulfed in the mes that came right at it.


    Seeing the dome of wind being engulfed in mes, ze who had thrown the sword of fireughed as he said, "Take that you wolf b*stard! That is for all the kindness that you showed me earlier!"


    Thebination move between them was their n all along.


    That was why he had needed to lure the Great Wolf into this one area.


    If the area was too big, then Hayato''s mana wouldn''t have been enough to fill it with wind des. If the area was too small, the Great Wolf might have noticed and tried to escape.


    So they had to work together to ensure that the area was just right.


    Thisrge bonfire in front of ze was the result of their hard work.


    Afterughing for a bit, ze fell back on his back and looked up while just trying to recover.


    He had really used up quite a bit of energy fighting this Great Wolf.


    It was a good thing that it was all over or else he really didn''t know what he would do.


    After the bonfire burned for a while, the mes finally died out.


    These mes had been powered by Hayato''s mana the whole time instead of ze''s mana, which was why he was finally able to rx and release all the mes around him.


    Hayato had kept this dome of wind going for as long as possible, but there was a limit to his mana.


    So eventually, the dome of mes fell.


    When the mes disappeared, they revealed apletely charred Great Wolf standing there.


    When the Great Wolf was revealed, ze immediately raised his guard just in case anything happened.


    But when he looked at it closely, he found that this Great Wolf wasn''t moving at all.


    This should just be the Great Wolf''s corpse after it had been burnt by the mes.


    However, when the Great Wolf''s body didn''t disappear like the other monsters, he knew that this wasn''t the case.


    All of a sudden, the Great Wolf dashed forward at ze.


    It was already toote for him to raise his me armour and protect himself, so all he could do was brace himself for the impact.


    However, he had to praise the Great Wolf.


    Even when burnt like this¡­it was still able to survive.


    This was just simply too amazing.


    The Great Wolf in truth only had a bit of consciousness left.


    It was filled with pain and it only had one thought in mind, to take down the human who had caused it this pain. Which was why as soon as it could move, it charged at ze.


    Before the Great Wolf could reach him though, there was a figure that suddenly appeared in front of ze that swung out at the Great Wolf.


    The Great Wolf''s ws shed against the sword of that figure and pushed that figure back a bit, but in the end, that figure was able to endure.


    When ze could see that figure clearly, he saw that it was¡­Lin Fan.


    I turned around and said, "Just go rest, I''ll take care of it."


    ze gave a nod before falling back and losing consciousness.


    After seeing him fall unconscious like this, I said in mymunicator, "Yue Ru, heal him."


    Then without waiting for a response, I said, "Stronger."


    With this, I was able to push back the Great Wolf.


    The Great Wolf''s eyes opened wide in surprise after being pushed back like this, but it didn''t give up.


    It resisted the pain and twisted its body to snap at me with its fangs.


    But I had also been prepared for this.


    I had already turned off mymunicator, so they wouldn''t hear what I would have to say next. Not to mention, the only person that might have was already unconscious on the ground.


    With nothing holding me back, naturally I wouldn''t hold back.


    So I calmly said, "Freeze."


    The moment that I said this, the Great Wolf''s head that was stretching out suddenly stopped.


    The Great Wolf''s body was still moving since it was in the air, but the rest of itpletely stopped since it couldn''t move a single muscle.


    With this, it was easy for me to just sh out in front of me.


    This magic sword of mine wasn''t weak, it was very sharp, so it was able to cut right through the pelt of the Great Wolf.


    Before the Great Wolf could react, it had been cut in half.


    As the top part of the Great Wolf flew past me, I could see its eyes that were filled with shock and confusion.


    It didn''t understand what had happened just now.


    One second it had been about to bite this human, but the next, it found that it wasn''t able to move at all.


    Just what had happened?


    After cutting the Great Wolf in half, I just simply looked back at it, looking right into its eyes before walking back to where ze was.


    And then¡­I fell right down beside ze.


    As Iid there, pretending not to be able to move, I said, "Yue Ru, I need a heal as well."


    It didn''t take long before a golden glow appeared on me as well and Su Chen led everyone else over.

 Chapter 99: Dungeon cleared

    After taking some time to rest up and waiting for ze to wake up, we finally got up and headed over to where the Great Wolf''s corpse had disappeared.


    This Great Wolf''s corpse hadsted for quite a while before disappearing, which was quite strange.


    However, we just chalked that up to it being the dungeon boss which made it disappear so slowly.


    In truth, it was because of the immense vitality of the Great Wolf.


    As a physically attributed beast, it had a powerful vitality that had allowed it to remain alive even though it had been cut in half.


    During that time, it had been staring at the group of humans, trying to figure out just what they were.


    After all, it had never met such terrifying beings in its life before¡­


    But in the end, it was impossible for the Great Wolf to hold on after being cut in half like this.


    No matter how great their vitality was, they still died in the end.


    Once they died, the corpse of the Great Wolf disappeared and the loot from it dropped.


    The loot from the boss of a dungeon was naturally different from the loot dropped by the monsters that roamed the dungeon.


    The magic stone alone was more than worth it since it was over five times bigger than the magic stone that they had received from the Howling Gale Wolf.


    The Howling Gale Wolf was a special area boss, so its magic stone was also bigger than the normal magic stones.


    This would certainly be worth a fortune and there was no need to discuss how to divide it since this was a magic stone.


    They would just sell it and divide the money that came from it.


    The other drops were fangs and pelts, but they could feel the mana that came from these items.


    When they tried to stab it with a knife, the knife actually snapped in half.


    That was just how strong these things were.


    So there was no doubt that these things would sell for quite a bit.


    Finally, there was a pair of shoes.


    Once again, it was another magic item and the only thing that might possibly break the harmony of this party.


    But I was surprised to find that they all didn''t want it.


    Once again, they gave this thing to me.


    If only he knew that they had rejected it since they already had magic items and it would sh with the ones that they already owned¡­


    Since the loot had been split, there was no need for them to stay here any longer.


    With the guidance of the handlers, they were able to easily find their way back.


    As for the dungeon core that was near the boss'' territory, they didn''t even look at it once.


    They knew that if they destroyed this thing, they would have the Awakener Association on them.


    Even if they were powerful future Awakeners, that didn''t mean that they could go against the Awakener Association. Going against the Awakener Association was like cutting off the path to the future since they controlled everything.


    So they just left this dungeon core alone.


    When they came out of the dungeon, they found that there were still plenty of people around.


    With the way that these people stood around, it was as if they had been waiting for them toe out this entire time.


    When they saw their partye out, there were many people that looked at them with expectant gazes.


    So exchanging nods, ze and Hayato came forward.


    ze lifted up the magic stone from the Great Wolf while Hayato lifted the Great Wolf''s fangs and pelt.


    As soon as these items were brought out, everyone started to gush over them.


    The people that were allowed to crowd the entrance were all Awakeners or reporters that knew their stuff. So they would be able to recognize how great these things were with just a single nce.


    "It''s the Great Wolf''s pelt and fangs!"


    "Also that magic stone!"


    "As expected of the up anding team from Elementia! I have to write my report on them!"


    Hearing this, everyone except for Lin Fan revealed satisfied smiles.


    This was the reaction that they were hoping to get.


    Normally, they wouldn''t care about things like this, but they had been asked to do this by their handlers this time.


    This was their first time in a dungeon, so they would need to establish their fame.


    Naturally the best way to do that was to show off their achievements with their loot.


    After showing these off, they all turned to Lin Fan with expectant looks.


    Lin Fan gave a sigh beforeing forward with the pair of gloves and the pair of boots that they had obtained.


    Everyone revealed even further shocked looks after seeing these items.


    There was a silence that came over the crowd before someone said, "Magic item!"


    The moment that this was said, the crowd exploded with different gossip.


    But the one that reached Lin Fan''s ears the clearest was¡­


    "Look at him holding the magic items like that¡­he must be the porter for them. Otherwise it just doesn''t make sense that they would bring a F Ranker along with them."


    "That''s right, it seems like the people from Elementia really are different. They can even use F Rankers as porters without care."


    Lin Fan slightly knitted his brows when he heard this, but he didn''t say anything.


    After all, the facts were there.


    It was a fact that he was a F Ranker and he couldn''t change that.


    But to his surprise, ze suddenly went up to the ones that said this and said, "Say another word about our leader and I''ll personally beat you up. Who cares if he''s a F Ranker?"


    Hayato quickly followed behind and said, "That''s right, I''ll go all out with you if you insult our leader like this."


    "Leader?" The ones who had been gossiping couldn''t help revealing shocked looks.


    But with ze and Hayato pressing down on them, they didn''t have time to think that much.


    Since they were facing this pressure, the only way to relieve it was to¡­nder them more and use the crowd to force them back.


    "A F Ranker is your leader? It seems that Elementia really has fallen."


    Both ze and Hayato raised their fists, but before they could do a thing, their handlers had already moved forward.


    As expected, they stood in front of both of them with raised hands to prevent them from doing anything.


    When the gossipers saw this, they couldn''t help letting out secret sighs of relief.


    That was right, Elementia was one of the big guilds, they had their image to worry about.


    So no matter what they said, they wouldn''t attack them in public like this.


    They couldn''t help feeling emboldened by this, but they were quickly shut down by the handlers.


    The handlers both came forward and said, "If you keep ndering our guild like this, I can promise you that our legal department wille for you. When that timees, I hope that you will have a goodwyer to defend you."


    The gossipers couldn''t help being shocked at this.


    They had thought that they would have the upper hand, but now¡­


    Lawyers, that was a terrifying word.


    They really wouldn''t be able to defeat the legal team of arge and powerful guild¡­


    So they couldn''t help breaking down.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit touched.


    It seemed that I had really made a good impression on them.

 Chapter 100: Boys night out

    After that first dungeon, we had been set as a team to raid several more dungeons together.


    Over the next two weeks, it was just going into the dungeon and resting in between dungeon dives.


    Though it was tiring, there was no doubt that this business was very lucrative.


    Especially since the monsters that we took down were all the strongest monsters.


    These monsters were all bosses and area bosses of the dungeons that they lived in, so the loot that they dropped was naturally very powerful.


    It really was satisfying seeing my bank ount fill up like this.


    But seeing it fill up like this really made me aware of another benefit of being in arge guild like this.


    It was very simple, it was the logisticswork of the guild.


    If one was a solo Awakener, it was sometimes hard to find buyers for the loot that they got from the dungeons.


    They wouldn''t have a guild that had connections to sell these items for them.


    Solo Awakeners could hold onto the loot that they got from the dungeon for a long time since it would take a very long time for them to sell it.


    Simply because they didn''t have the same negotiation power asrge guilds.


    Large guilds could use their pressure to force buyers to offer proper prices, but solo Awakeners didn''t have this same pressure. So when solo Awakeners tried to sell, it would be hard for them since they would often get ripped off.


    It was only through trial and error that they would be able to find a buyer in the end.


    Or sometimes it was just luck.


    It was better to be a part of arge guild so one wouldn''t need to worry about that.


    At the end of these two weeks, it was my final dungeon raid with this team.


    It wasn''t that we were breaking up, but rather because I had something else to take care of over the next period of time that I would be stepping down.


    They would be heading off to different teams to fill in during the time that I was gone, so we would all be splitting up for a bit.


    Though going to different teams was definitely a good thing since they would be able to learn how to work with others. Once they came back from that, they would be able to work much better together with their new styles.


    But before breaking up, we naturally had to have a party to celebrate.


    That was why after thest dungeon raid, all of us and our handlers went to a bar and grill to celebrate.


    Of course, there were two that didn''t join us.


    Hayato and ire''s handlers went back to the guild to take care of the matter of reporting. Though by the looks on their faces, it didn''t seem like they wanted toe in the first ce, so we didn''t force them.


    Once we arrived at the bar, it didn''t take long before the party was in full swing.


    As people who lived dangerous lives, we naturally knew how to cut loose and have fun when we could.


    The table that we were at was covered in many different dishes and all kinds of drinks, though there were also non-alcoholic drinks here for the minors.


    The four of them were all minors, so we wouldn''t let them drink.


    However, for me and the handlers, we cut loose and had our fun since we were all above the legal drinking age.


    The kids could only look on with envy since they wanted to see what alcohol tastes like, but they didn''t keep sulking for long as the dishes came in.


    This ce was a top ss Japanese restaurant, so the dishes were all very delicious.


    There was even a fight that happened between Hayato and ze over some of the Karaage, but of course it was all good natured fighting.


    During this time, I received a text from someone.


    I moved to the side and opened my phone to see who it was from.


    When I saw this text, I couldn''t help narrowing my eyes, but then I released that expression and returned to the party.


    The party kept going for a while, but all good things had toe to an end eventually and we started to disperse.


    But before we did¡­I called ze, Hayato, Su Chen, and the other male handler over to have a private talk.


    Once we were together, I said, "How about we continue this with a boys night out?"


    The four of them were surprised to hear this at first, but then they revealed excited looks.


    To my surprise, Su Chen was the most excited about this.


    In training, Su Chen was a demon instructor¡­but it seemed that outside of training, he was quite the fun person to be with.


    Since they all agreed, the only obstacle left was¡­to tell the girls.


    ire and Qin Yue Ru had been watching us gathered like this with narrowed eyes filled with judgement.


    When I came over, they red at me which made it harder for me to say what I wanted to say¡­but I still said it in the end, "We''re going out for a boys night out, so you guys shouldn''t wait for us. We''ll be heading to another ce now."


    As soon as my voice fell, I could feel the judgement that wasing from their gaze.


    Qin Yue Ru turned to look at ze while ire kept looking at me and said, "Where are you going?"


    I couldn''t help looking away when I felt this gaze on me before saying, "Just to another bar for some fun¡­"


    As my voice trailed off, I could feel the judgement that wasing from that re.


    In the end, ire took Qin Yue Ru''s arm and said, "Then we''ll just have our own girl''s night." She turned to Qin Yue Ru''s handler who was also a woman and asked, "Are youing with us?"


    The handler looked at us with the same re of judgement before giving a nod.


    With that, the three of them left in a cab.


    All of us couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief seeing them go, but when we looked at each other, we could see the excitement in each other''s eyes.


    With that, we took a cab to our destination.


    As for that destination, it was naturally Sasha''s club.

 Chapter 101: Secrets at the club

    When we walked in, they couldn''t help revealing shocked looks.


    That was because they werepletely taken aback by the girls walking around.


    Seeing them like this, I shook my head with a smile on my lips.


    The first time that I came in here, I was also surprised by how beautiful the girls who worked here were.


    Though I also couldn''t help being a bit surprised by the girls this second time. It almost seemed like they had be more beautiful in the few weeks that I had been gone.


    Seeing us, a few of the girls came over and led us to our table.


    Though this was that kind of club, it didn''t offer that kind of service. So even if Hayato and ze were a bit young, it didn''t matter that they were here since there weren''t anyws about this.


    But based on the looks on their faces, it seemed like the two of them were quite bashful around these beautiful girls.


    Even if they had acted tough during our dungeon raids, it seemed that they were weak against beauties.


    So why didn''t they react with ire and Qin Yue Ru?


    Both of them could be considered beauties as well, so why didn''t the two of them react?


    Could it be that they just viewed them as colleagues instead of beautiful girls, that was why they didn''t feel anything?


    As for Su Chen and ze''s handler, the two of them seemed like they fit in perfectly in this ce.


    Both of them were single, so it wasn''t strange that they would act this way.


    But they almost seemed too familiar¡­like they had been in a ce like this before¡­


    It seemed that I really couldn''t underestimate these two adults.


    After being shown to our table, menus were brought over to us.


    The other four all looked at me and I graciously said, "It''s on me tonight."


    But then I added, "Of course, spare my wallet a bit. Don''t make it too hard on me."


    They all gave OK signs and started ordering what they wanted.


    Though it wasn''t cheap, it wasn''t considered too expensive either, so they were showing respect.


    But what they didn''t know was¡­I wouldn''t be charged in the first ce.


    After all, this ce was partly mine in the first ce. Sasha would take care of this matter for me.


    At the same time, I had brought them here for a specific purpose, so they would be paying that way¡­


    After the things that we ordered were brought over, we started to cut loose and have fun.


    Even Hayato and ze who had been silent when surrounded by these beauties slowly started toe out of their shells.


    Though judging by the faint blush on their faces, it seemed like they were getting contact drunk which was giving them this courage.


    It seemed that their tolerance was quite low that they were even getting contact drunk just from the alcohol fumes that were in the air. Though it was impossible that there wouldn''t be any fumes at all since this was what kind of a ce it was.


    At the same time, Su Chen and the other handler had ordered quite a bit of alcohol in the first ce.


    Even if this wasn''t that kind of ce, with how much they ordered, it was impossible for there not to be the scent of alcohol in the air.


    I shook my head with a smile and took a sip of my drink.


    I really couldn''t help wondering what these two would be like once they were old enough to drink.


    Would they be able to endure and act in a drunken fashion, or would they be down in one drink?


    Both options seemed like they were viable¡­


    But there was no way of knowing right now.


    One thing that I had to admit was that¡­these girls in this hostess club really were good at getting people to talk.


    As I sat on the side and watched, I could hear quite a few secretsing from Su Chen and the other handler.


    Su Chen¡­turned out to be a cat person.


    One might not think it with his muscr appearance, but he actually had three cats of his own. He couldn''t even help taking out his phone and showing their pictures to everyone around him.


    I also caught a glimpse of his cats and I had to admit that they were quite cute, different from the kind of cats that I thought he would have.


    It was two tabbies and a cute little white furball that he owned.


    As for the other handler, it turned out that he was a closet otaku.


    Even though he seemed very professional while working, once he started talking¡­he didn''t stop.


    He kept talking about magical girl this and ninja that, it really was a bit too much for the girls that were with him.


    It was just a good thing that they were professionals, so they were able to keep a smile on their faces the whole time while listening to him.


    However, the one thing that caught my interest the most was what Hayato said.


    At first, he just responded to the things that the girls asked him about, but¡­once he started getting contact drunk and more bold, he started talking more and more.


    When the topic came to work, he couldn''t help start ranting.


    It turned out that while his handler seemed professional when they were with us, he didn''t take care of Hayato that well when they were alone.


    Hayato''s handler often went off by himself, leaving Hayato on his own.


    There were times where Hayato had to take care of certain things himself because his handler had disappeared.


    He had suppressed it in his heart, but when he was allowed to vent, he didn''t hesitate to vent.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    "He''s going off on his own a lot¡­could it be¡­?"


    But before I could draw a conclusion, there was a loud sound that came from the entrance of the club.

 Chapter 102: You are…(1)

    Naturally the loud sound drew everyone''s attention.


    When they looked over, they found that there were severalrge men that had suddenly burst into the club. Therge sound that was made was from the door being kicked in and a table being flipped over.


    Since this was a ce that saw rambunctious customers from time to time, there were naturally bodyguards hired.


    There were two bouncers that went over, but there was a single muscr man that came forward to face them.


    This muscr man stood in front of both of these bouncers, not taking a single step back.


    The two bouncers couldn''t help looking a bit worried.


    After all, this muscr man was even bigger than them and they were quite bigger than normal people in the first ce.


    After a moment of silence, one of the bouncers came forward. He reached his hand out towards the muscr man''s shoulder and said, "Look, buddy, this isn''t a ce that you can y around¡­"


    Before he could say anything else, the muscr man suddenly raised his hands.


    These hands came right up to the necks of the two bouncers and grabbed them.


    The two bouncers tried to resist, but they found that they weren''t able to do a single thing. They grabbed at the hand that was at their necks, but they found that they were powerless against it.


    It was as if there was an iron vice that was currently gripping at their necks that they couldn''t break free of at all.


    The muscr man didn''t stop there as he suddenly lifted both of these bouncers up off the ground.


    Holding them in the air, the muscr man brought them forward to face them before saying, "Weak ones as weak as you are trying to tell me what to do?"


    He gave a snort before turning to one of hisckeys and saying, "Tell them who I am."


    Theckey revealed a wide smile beforeing forward to say, "Trying to stand in the way of our Brother Tiger, that''s just seeking death. Don''t me yourself for not knowing, but our Brother Tiger here is the assault team captain of our Red Gang. If you stand in his way, all that''ll happen is that¡­you''ll get hurt if you''re lucky and if you''re unlucky¡­you''ll lose your lives."


    Theckey''s smile became wider as he said this.


    The two bouncers looked back at the muscr man named Brother Tiger with eyes wide with shock and fear.


    But Brother Tiger looked like he was bored with them, so he just threw them both in different directions.


    Both of them flew through the air before crashing into the walls around them.


    When they mmed into the walls, there was a spider web of cracks that formed in the wall that showed just how much force they had been thrown with.


    After that, the two of them fell to the ground and they no longer moved.


    There was a silence that filled the air as everyone looked on in shock, but a few of the girls still went over to help the bouncers that had been hurt.


    Brother Tiger gave a snort when he saw this before saying, "Bring out that bunny b*stard that hurt my men and your boss. I''ll take care of some business with them and then you''ll be able to have your fun."


    After he said this, all of his men gave cheers before revealing excited looks.


    Those looks had a lewd tone to them as they looked at the girls that were all around them.


    It was clear what they were nning to do¡­


    At this, the girls couldn''t help giving a tremble and looking afraid.


    But after Brother Tiger said this, no one came out.


    He waited for a few seconds before suddenly knitting his brows and shouting, "Get out here now or else I''ll start destroying this ce!"


    His voice was powerful, making it clear that he wasn''t ying around.


    But even then, not a single person came out.


    Even the bartender just waited there even though he had already secretly pulled out a knife.


    If it wasn''t for the order to wait and see where this went, he would have already stepped in to take care of this Brother Tiger.


    But he had been ordered not to do anything until the situation got out of hand.


    Seeing that no one still came forward, a vein popped out on Brother Tiger''s forehead.


    He narrowed his eyes to look around the club before shouting, "So, are you looking down on me? Or are you just afraid?"


    Once again, there was no answer that angered Brother Tiger even more.


    So he mmed his fist down on a table nearby, smashing it to pieces before shouting, "That''s it! I''m not ying nice anymore!"


    He walked over to one of the tables and reached out to grab one of the girls.


    They tried to move out of the way, but he grabbed one by the neck and lifted her up.


    In his hands, it looked like he could squeeze that girl to death at any moment.


    And it was clear by how much she was trembling just how scared she was at that moment.


    Brother Tiger held her up and said, "I will kill this girl and every other girl here as long as you don''te out! I''ll give you three seconds before I kill her!"


    He gave a pause to see if anyone would react and seeing that no one did, he started counting, "Three! Two! On¡­"


    Before he could finish saying one, there was a hand that suddenly grabbed his arm.


    Brother Tiger couldn''t help knitting his brows when he felt this hand grab his arm.


    It wasn''t because he was surprised that someone came out, but because he could feel paining from his arm.


    This was a kind of pain that he hadn''t felt in a long time¡­


    Brother Tiger narrowed his eyes to look at the one who had grabbed his arm and said, "Who do you think you are?"

 Chapter 103: You are…(2)

    The one who hade forward to grab his arm was¡­ze.


    He had held himself back earlier when these men came in, but when he saw that this Brother Tiger was about to harm one of the girls, he couldn''t hold himself back anymore.


    ze just calmly looked at Brother Tiger, not being scared by the tone of his voice at all. He calmly said, "Let her go."


    Brother Tiger narrowed his eyes when he heard this and he just calmly stared right back into ze''s eyes.


    Then he opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but no words came out in the end.


    Instead of wordsing out, all he could do was clench his teeth and take a cold breath.


    The veins popped out on his arm as if he was resisting something, but his hand slowly opened and the girl being held by him fell to the ground.


    After falling, she started to cough since she had been choking while being held by Brother Tiger.


    But after she caught her breath, she didn''t even thank ze as she ran off to where the other girls were.


    ze didn''t mind this at all and just turned to Brother Tiger to say, "Get out now and I won''t do anything."


    After saying this, he let go of Brother Tiger''s arm and turned around.


    Brother Tiger''s face twisted when he heard this.


    As one would expect, he lost his temper after being treated by an unknown kid like this.


    Brother Tiger took a deep breath before saying, "Kill them all."


    He didn''t roar this out like he did before and instead spoke in a calm voice that had an intense chill to it.


    He kept staring at ze as he said, "Leave this one to me. I want to rip him apart myself."


    Hisckeys all couldn''t help shivering when they heard this.


    While others might not understand what this meant, they as hisckeys naturally knew how terrifying their Brother Tiger could be when he lost his temper.


    So they naturally didn''t dare get in his way.


    They all went around him to take care of the others in this club.


    Since this was a new club, most of the customers were normal people or weak Awakeners that didn''t have any strong powers. Most of them would have crafting abilities or other abilities.


    So there wasn''t anyone that could really fight these thugs.


    With a sigh, ze said, "Do we really have to do this? As long as you leave, we can settle this matter."


    Brother Tiger didn''t answer this with words, but rather with action.


    With a roar, his body started to swell before his muscles exploded.


    They didn''t explode explode, but rather increased greatly in size, almost doubling how big they were before.


    At the same time, ze could feel the pressure that wasing from him.


    It was clear that this Brother Tiger was also an Awakener.


    It seemed like his power was some kind of physical enhancement power, which was what had buffed his muscles like this.


    But ze didn''t panic when he saw this.


    He just calmly said to Hayato, "I''ll leave them to you, I''ll take care of this big one."


    Hayato gave a sigh before standing up and waving his hand.


    As he did, there was a visible gust of wind that appeared around his hand, making it clear what kind of powers he had.


    But before he could do anything, Su Chen came forward to grab his arm.


    Hayato was surprised by Su Chen''s sudden actions, but then he realized why Su Chen was doing this.


    No matter what, they were still considered members of Elementia.


    If they were to get in a fight with these people, there was no doubt that this would affect Elementia''s prestige.


    So as a handler from the guild, he naturally couldn''t allow them to do something like this.


    But he also couldn''t stop now¡­


    Just like ze, he couldn''t stand to watch these people acting like this, hurting the beautiful girls of the club.


    He was a hot blooded young man, so of course he cared about things like standing up for justice.


    After a bit of hesitation, Hayato was about to give a reason for his actions.


    However, what he didn''t expect was Su Chen to say, "Don''t just hog all the enemies for yourself. Leave some for me."


    Hayato''s chin dropped when he heard this as he looked at Su Chen like he was trying to figure out if he had heard that correctly.


    But Su Chen had already ignored him and was heading towards thoseckeys walking over.


    Theckeys had been incited by their fear of Brother Tiger that they still came forward, but when Su Chen was in front of them, they couldn''t help hesitating¡­after all, he was just too muscr.


    He was almost as muscr as their Brother Tiger.


    As they were about to say something to scare Su Chen, Su Chen suddenly punched out.


    This punchnded in the stomach of theckey closest to him.


    The punch knocked the wind out of thatckey and he was picked off the ground. Su Chen''s fist carried him off the ground and sent him flying in the group ofckeys behind him, carrying them all into the wall.


    Just a single punch had created arge gap in the line ofckeys.


    Then when theseckeys came back to their senses and were prepared to attack Su Chen, there were two bottles that had flown out to hit the two foremostckeys in the head.


    This urate shot to the head smashed these bottles on their heads and knocked the two of them out.


    As for who had thrown them¡­it was ze''s handler.


    Even though he wasn''t an Awakener, he was someone that went into dungeons and had plenty of fighting experience.


    So theseckeys who only relied on their muscles to bully people couldn''t match this handler.


    Seeing them like this, Hayato couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile before he waved his hand to send out his wind des.


    Seeing that they had that side covered, ze turned his attention back to Brother Tiger.


    But when he turned back, he found a fist alreadying towards his face.

 Chapter 104: You are…(3)

    Though this fist hade at him at a surprise angle, ze wasn''t tak aback by it.


    He could clearly see the path of the fist, so it wasn''t hard for him to dodge out of the way.


    He could feel the wind that came from this punch which showed that it had power, but the speed of it¡­was just too slow.


    It seemed that it was focused on power rather than speed, so he was able to easily dodge out of the way ev though it hade as a surprise.


    ze had be trained to fight by Elemtia, so this kind of brawl was simple for him.


    With a turn, he used his palm to deflect this punch before using the force from the spin to punch Brother Tiger in the stomach. Brother Tiger immediately crumpled under this punch and fell to his knees.


    It felt like his insides were about toe out after he was punched in the stomach like this, but he forced himself to keep it in in the d.


    As he kneeled there, he looked up at ze who was standing over him with a calm look on his face. With a scowl, he said, "Just who are you? Do you think that you''ll get away with this?"


    ze just gave a sigh wh he heard this stereotypical line from a two bit viin before saying, "We don''t want any trouble. If you just back down, there won''t be a problem here."


    Brother Tigerughed at this before saying, "Trouble? You''ve already gott yourself in plty of trouble."


    Th without warning, he pulled out a knife that he stabbed at ze.


    ze narrowed his eyes seeing this and simply moved his hand forward.


    As he did, there were mes that gathered a his hand. The mes quickly gathered until they took the form of a sword.


    This sword of me cut right through the knife that was stabbing at him. The heat from it and the molt metal formed from the knife melting burned Brother Tiger''s hand, making him cry out in pain.


    But th he realized that there was another problem.


    ze already had the sword of mes right up against his neck.


    If he ev moved in the slightest, it would burn him. So he didn''t ev dare breathe too much out of fear of being burnt.


    But the look on his face made it clear that he wasn''t nning on giving up.


    Gritting his teeth, Brother Tiger suddly roared, "What are you all doing?! Attack him from behind while I''m distracting him."


    ze didn''t move at all wh he heard this, as if he wasn''t afraid of being sured like this.


    Of course, he wasn''t sured in the d.


    Theckeys had all be knocked down already by Hayato, Su Ch, and ze''s handler.


    Brother Tiger looked over ze''s shoulder to see what was happing. Wh he saw that all of hisckeys had be knocked out and were on the g, his chin dropped and the will to fight finally disappeared.


    Wh ze saw this, he pulled his sword away from Brother Tiger''s neck and said, "Take your people and get out of here. There won''t be a second warning."


    There was an exasperated tone in ze''s voice as he said this.


    Brother Tiger looked at him with aplicated look, but he still stood up and brought his people away.


    Wh theckeys saw Brother Tiger stand up, they also immediately stood up. Most of them hadn''t be hit that hard since Hayato and the others had their discretion, but they thought that it was better toy down instead of being hit more.


    So they had be lying there waiting for the situation to change.


    Now that they had be giv the signal to retreat, they naturally didn''t hesitate at all to get up and run.


    The ones that could move helped those that found it hard to move and it took them no time to gather at the trance of the club.


    Brother Tiger''s face was very ugly wh he saw this since he naturally knew what they were thinking, but he couldn''t do anything right now.


    So instead, he turned to vt his anger on ze.


    He pointed his finger at him and said, "Don''t think that this is over yet, just you¡­"


    Before he could finish, his words suddly got caught in his mouth as he looked at ze''s cor.


    On that cor, there was something that he recognized.


    He didn''t see it before since the cor was down, but it had flipped up during the fight, revealing what was underneath.


    That symbol¡­


    It couldn''t be¡­


    After a long silce, Brother Tiger gave a gulp and said, "You¡­that symbol¡­you are¡­from Elemtia?"


    ze was surprised that Brother Tiger knew this, but th he saw his upturned cor and he realized what it was.


    He had forgott to change after the dungeon, so the shirt he was wearing was one that had Elemtia symbol on it.


    Any clothing that had the guild''s symbol was something that the guild considered theirs and as such, no one dared to wear such clothes if they wer''t from Elemtia. So the fact that ze was wearing this shirt with Elemtia''s mark hidd under the cor meant that¡­


    Wh Brother Tiger said this, all of the people in the club couldn''t help giving gasps.


    Elemtia¡­one of the top guilds in the world with a S Ranker in charge.


    This was far from something that their Red Gang couldpare to¡­


    ze just gave a sigh before giving a nod.


    Since it had gone this far, he might as well make sure that he took care of this matterpletely.


    Otherwise, if he caused trouble for the guild because of Brother Tiger''s revge, th he wouldn''t be able to avoid the trouble that came from it.


    Brother Tiger trembled wh he heard this before slowly backing away.


    Th all of sudd, he turned a and ran off without saying another word.


    Hisckeys also followed behind him as he ran off.


    There was only silce that filled the club after this.

 Chapter 105: All planned

    Once the people from the Red Gang had be st packing, everyone stared at ze in shock.


    After all, they had heard what Brother Tiger had said¡­


    This young man who had saved them all actually belonged to Elemtia!


    That was one of the biggest guilds out there.


    If they could somehow grab his leg, th¡­


    But before anyone could do a thing, I was already walking forward.


    I grabbed Su Ch, Hayato, and ze''s handler as I walked past them and pulled them over to where ze was standing.


    Wh ze saw me walking over with them, he couldn''t help revealing an awkward look.


    He looked like he wanted to say something, but I shook my head and waved for him to follow me.


    Like this, before anyone in the club could ev react, we had walked out.


    Wh they came to their sses, they couldn''t help being filled with regret over the fact that they couldn''t react in time.


    That was their chance to get closer to someone from Elemtia and they had blown it by not being able to react in time¡­


    It really was a shame since any connection with Elemtia was surely something that would have great befits, but they had blown it like this.


    At the very least, they could brag about the fact that they had met someone from Elemtia. That was not something that others could brag so easily about because members of Elemtia were hard to meet in the first ce.


    There were many that thought, "So Elemtia members alsoe to a ce like this?"


    That made many of them decide that they woulde back again to see if they could bump into them once more.


    If they could and build a rtionship with them¡­th there wouldn''t be ack of befits for them.


    In short, many things had changed all because ze had idtally be revealed as a member of Elemtia.


    ¡­


    After they had left the club, they wt to find a safe ce first.


    In an alley somewhere, after I had made sure that no one was following us, I turned to look at ze.


    Not just ze, but all of the others also had awkward looks on their faces.


    They realized the mistake that they had made under the influce of alcohol and were ashamed because of it.


    After a momt of silce, ze said, "I''m sorry, I let my emotions get the better of me."


    The others were about to say something to defd him, but I just raised my hand and said, "It''s fine, I know what you were feeling. I know why you did it and I''m not ming you for it."


    ze''s eyes lit up wh he heard this, but they dimmed once again wh he heard what I said next.


    "Of course, that doesn''t mean that we won''t be in trouble because of this."


    I looked at the rest of them and said, "Do you really think that we''ll be able to hide this from the guild? With how many people saw us, there is no doubt that we''ll be called in tomorrow."


    All of them couldn''t help trembling wh they heard this.


    That was because they knew that I was right.


    We had caused argemotion with all of these witnesses, it would be impossible that the guild wouldn''t find out about this.


    ze bit his lip for a bit before saying, "I''ll go. I was the one that caused this mess, so I''ll be the one that will fix it."


    I just gave a sigh before shaking my head and saying, "It''s fine. I''m the leader of the team, so I will take care of this. You don''t need to worry about anything."


    All of them looked at me with guilty and grateful words wh they heard this.


    ze was still biting his lip before he said, "Big brother, I¡­"


    I raised a hand to cut him off before saying, "This is the least I can do as your leader."


    Once again, they revealed touched looks wh they heard this.


    Though they didn''t really know what my real inttions were¡­


    ¡­


    Later that night, I wt back to the club.


    There were still people that had be there earlier during themotion, but they didn''t recognize me since I didn''t step out during the fight.


    I also didn''t waste time out in the hall and wt into the back with the bartder.


    Waiting there for me was Sasha.


    She had be there the tire time Brother Tiger had led his m into the club, but she had stayed in the back without making a sound.


    That was because this had all be a part of our n.


    Seeing mee in, she said with a smile, "Elemtia? That was the card that you were hiding?"


    I just revealed a smile without saying a thing.


    The bartder couldn''t help looking at me with a look of surprise and admiration.


    He had already guessed that ze and the others were rted to me since he had se me pulling them out, but he never thought that it would be such a big card that I would be ying.


    With this, it would be easy for others to misunderstand that our club had received the support of Elemtia, one of the biggest guilds out there.


    As long as there was this misunderstanding, th there would be ayer of protection for their club.


    After all, no one would dare mess with a club that had a connection with Elemtia.


    But¡­there was still a problem.


    Sasha looked at me with a worried look as she said, "Ar''t you worried that someone will find out that you nned all of this?"


    That was right, this had all be inttional.


    The  that I had received earlier was Sasha telling me that the people from the Red Gang wereing.


    She could have handled it on her own, but I quickly st a  back asking her to wait for me and to let me handle it.


    As for the rest¡­


    But she was right, it was impossible that Elemtia wouldn''t be able to find my connection to this club.


    So all I could do was wait until tomorrow to see what would happ..


    I said with a sigh, "We have no choice but to wait and see."

 Chapter 106: Called in (1)

    As expected, I was called into headquarters the next morning.


    This was in the form of the same limo from before waiting for me in front of my apartmt with the same handsome middle aged driver as before.


    He ev came up to my apartmt and almost knocked the door down getting me out of bed.


    Wh we came down, I could see Mrs Li standing over there with dazzling eyes and something in her hands. It was almost like looking at a young girl in love, though she was actually already in herte forties and had childr that were almost as old as me¡­


    It really was something else to see¡­


    But we quickly got into the limo and headed off to the headquarters.


    It was clear by the look on the face of the handsome middle aged driver that this wasn''t just a courtesy call.


    With the look on his face, it was almost as if I was being escorted to an execution.


    I couldn''t help leaning in and asking, "How bad is it?"


    The handsome middle aged driver didn''t say anything about this and just shook his head with a sigh before saying, "The guild master is waiting for you."


    I was surprised to hear this.


    I never thought that ev Bing Lan would be involved in this matter¡­


    It could be se how serious Elemtia was taking this¡­and that was a bad sign.


    Would I be kicked out in just a few days of joining?


    There was more that I wanted to ask, but it didn''t seem like he would say anything, so we just spt the rest of the ride in silce.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at headquarters.


    As I came out of the limo, I heard him saying behind me, "Good luck."


    I was about to turn with a bitter smile on my face, but there was no time as he suddly started driving off. I was only able to see the fumes that came out of the car as he drove off.


    With the same bitter smile, I started heading into the building.


    Wh I walked into the lobby, I found that there was someone that was waiting for me.


    As for how I knew that they were waiting for me¡­it was because they came right up to me as soon as I tered the building.


    This person was a sharp dressed woman who was clearly a very capable secretary of some kind.


    Wh she came over, her eyes swept over me as if she was judging me before she said, "Please follow me, the guild master is waiting for you."


    She didn''t ev wait for a response from me as she had already turned to head to the elevator.


    With a bitter smile on my face, I followed her to that elevator.


    Wh the other people that were heading to the elevator saw this sharp dressed woman heading over, they all stopped and wt in a differt direction.


    Those that knew naturally wt away without hesitation. Those that didn''t were stopped by those that knew and pulled in a differt direction.


    Seeing that I was following her, I could feel the looks of pity that came in my direction.


    Feeling all of these gazes on me, I could only reveal a bitter smile.


    It seemed that this sharp dressed woman had quite the reputation in our guild¡­though it most likely wouldn''t be ''our'' guild for long.


    She didn''t press any buttons wh she tered the elevator, but rather she took out a keycard. She tapped that keycard on the scanner by the elevator buttons and the elevator started moving on its own.


    It seemed that they were pulling out all the stops today¡­that just made me feel more anxious as I was worried about what would being.


    Wh the elevator stopped, it oped up in what seemed to be an office.


    This office was luxuriously decorated, clearly being an office for someone important.


    Sitting at the desk in the office was Bing Lan, but there were also two others with her. These two were people that I didn''t recognize at all, but I could feel the pressure that came from them.


    It was clear that they were powerful Awakers and high ranking members of the guild.


    After seeing mee in with the sharp looking woman, Bing Lan waved her hand at us.


    The sharp looking woman wt over to Bing Lan''s side while I just stood there in a daze at first. In the d, I walked over and sat down in front of the desk that she was pointing at.


    The sharp looking woman put down a packet of papers that she had be holding the tire time on the table before moving to stand on the side of the room.


    After she arrived in her spot, there was a silce that settled in the room as no one said a thing.


    But I could feel that the three in front of me were just staring at me, as if they were checking me out. So all I could do was keep my head down and try to stay out of trouble.


    Though in the first ce¡­I was called here because I was in trouble.


    After a long silce, Bing Lan finally said, "You understand what you''ve be called in for, right?"


    I looked up at them and observed their expressions before giving a slow nod.


    Seeing this, the one on the right, the man with the fiery red hair said, "He knows and he still didn''t stop them. This is clearly an unwillingness to do his duties and ack of responsibility. There''s nothing to discuss at all, we should just sack him."


    I trembled wh I heard this, but there was someone else that spoke first.


    It was the purple haired woman on the left that said, "Wait, don''t be hasty. Let''s hear his side of the story first."


    Bing Lan gave a nod in response before looking at me to say, "Well, let''s hear it."

 Chapter 107: Called in (2)

    Since they were all looking at me with expectant looks, I started telling them the story of what had happed.


    Wh I was done, they were looking at me with knitted brows.


    But at the same time, I could see that Bing Lan, the purple haired woman, and the sharp dressed woman were looking at me with looks of disdain¡­


    It was only the red haired man who looked at me with sympathy.


    I didn''t want your sympathy, I just wanted to get out of this situation!


    Of course, I would never say that out loud and just waited to see how they would react.


    After a long silce, the purple haired woman said, "Well, it seems like it was just a matter of circumstance. They were caught up in something that they didn''t intd to be caught up in."


    There was a trace of disdain in her voice.


    The red haired man th said, "Yes, it seems like he was just caught up in this matter¡­"


    There was sympathy in his voice.


    But through all of this, Bing Lan never said a word as she just narrowed her eyes to look at me.


    After a long silce, she finally said, "Can you go out for a second, I want to talk to him alone for a bit."


    They were all surprised to hear this, but the purple haired woman and the red haired man started to leave with a nod.


    It was only the sharp dressed woman who hesitated a bit before leaving.


    It looked like there was something that she wanted to say before leaving, but she still left after oping and closing her mouth a few times.


    Once it was just the two of us in the office, Bing Lan looked at me and asked, "Is there anything else that you have to say?"


    I was surprised by her suddly asking this question before revealing a confused look.


    As far as I could remember, there wasn''t anything that I had deliberately hidd from her during my story. I should have described everything properly, so there shouldn''t have be a single discrepancy.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying a single thing, Bing Lan picked up the pieces of papers that the sharp dressed woman had giv to her earlier and ced them in front of me.


    She didn''t say anything as if she was waiting for me to read them first.


    I slowly picked these up and looked them over, revealing a shocked look wh I read what was writt.


    It was about the finances of the club, as well as who the owner was¡­including a certain investor who had some shares in the club.


    An investor named Lin Fan.


    I couldn''t help breaking out in a cold sweat wh I read this.


    It turned out that she had already known everything and she was just waiting for me to confess¡­


    It was no wonder the sharp dressed woman had looked at me so coldly the tire time.


    I oped my mouth to exin, but all I could say was, "I¡­this¡­"


    Bing Lan shook her head before raising her hand and saying, "Stop."


    I closed my mouth and just waited for her to speak.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Did you really think that a powerful guild like Elemtia wouldn''t be able to get such basic information?"


    I secretly gave a bitterugh.


    I didn''t think that, it was just I never thought that they would check it this thoroughly.


    This should have be considered a small matter for them, so they should have just checked the basic facts instead of checking everything. But I had underestimated how professional Elemtia''s investigation departmt was.


    But I had no choice in this matter.


    I had to leave a paper trail just to make sure that it wasn''t strange that I had part ownership of this club.


    If I didn''t¡­people might ev suspect me of doing something to Sasha and that was thest thing that I wanted since I had actually done something to her¡­


    Now I had be caught by the tail by the very tail that I had left, I really couldn''t say anything.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying a thing, Bing Lan said, "Since you''re a part owner of this club, can you really tell me that you had no ulterior motives for going there?"


    I oped my mouth for a few seconds before suddly giving a sigh and saying, "I admit that I had ulterior motives. Do what you want with me. Fire me if you wish."


    I knew that it was over, so I could only wait and see how she would punish me.


    Bing Lan raised a brow before saying, "Fire you? Why would I do that?"


    I also raised a brow as I looked back at her.


    She had a guinely surprised look, so it didn''t seem like she was kidding.


    But I had gone against the interests of the guild like this?


    Wasn''t it normal to fire me after something like this?


    After a momt of silce, I slowly asked, "Are you not firing me? I hurt the interest of the guild with this n, so isn''t it normal to cut me off?"


    Bing Lan shook her head before saying, "This is nothing more than a small matter. If you really think that something as small as this could hurt Elemtia, th you''re looking down on Elemtia too much. It''s just a simple PR issue that we can easily handle."


    After a pause, she added, "Though¡­there is the problem of how to handle that club of yours."


    I gave an awkward chuckle hearing this.


    Bing Lan tapped her fingers on the table a bit before narrowing her eyes to look at me.


    Wh she did so, I could feel a strong chill running down my spine.


    Looking at me with this re, she asked with a smile, "So tell me, wh did you op up a ce like this? I want to hear the tire story."


    Though her lips was smiling, her eyes¡­wer''t.

 Chapter 108: Called in (3)

    Seeing that I had no choice, I told her about what happened with Sasha in the first dungeon I went to.


    And by that¡­I meant that I told her the fake story that we had alreadye up with.


    By the end of it, she looked at me with narrowed eyes even though I had finished my story, making me feel awkward. But I didn''t say anything else and just waited for her to say something.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan said with a soft snort, "So it''s a hero saving the beauty kind of situation. You really are something else."


    Though that should have seemed like apliment, the tone of her voice made it clear that it wasn''t.


    I just revealed an awkward smile without saying anything else.


    Bing Lan then said with a sigh, "So you''re saying that there isn''t that kind of rtionship between the two of you?"


    I was a bit surprised and confused to hear this question, but I shook my head in response.


    Bing Lan gave another sigh before saying with a serious look, "Don''t tell any of this to Xin''er."


    When this gaze of hers was on me, it felt like there was another chill running down my spine. It was almost as if she was threatening me here, but it wasn''t as if I would do that in the first ce, so it was unnecessary.


    I just gave a slow nod in response to this strong reaction from her.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan gave a sigh before muttering something to herself.


    I didn''t hear it clearly, but I did hear a few fragments¡­


    "I''m still single¡­Why do I have to care about my little sister''s love life¡­This is unfair¡­"


    I just turned away and pretended that I didn''t hear anything.


    After taking some time to adjust, Bing Lan turned back to me and said, "For now, I''ll let this incident slide since it''s just a small matter." But then after a pause, she said, "Of course, you should know what you need to do, right?"


    As she said this, her eyes once again narrowed as she looked at me.


    This time, she was looking at me as the guild master of Elementia.


    The pressure that she put on me wasn''t small¡­


    But the gist of what she was implying was¡­if I wanted Elementia''s protection, naturally I would need to offer them something that would make it worth it for them.


    So I had already discussed thisst night with Sasha.


    She and I hade up with a number that we could ept to give up to Elementia, but that was of course the worst case scenario. If we could get away with giving less, then we would try to give less.


    I just calmly looked back at her as she looked at me.


    This was not the time to show any fear since this was a proper negotiation.


    If I were to show any cracks, it would mean losing the upper hand.


    After taking a moment to calm myself, I said, "How much do you want?"


    Bing Lan''s eyes revealed a trace of surprise hearing this, making it clear that she didn''t expect me to respond with this.


    In the end, she said, "20%."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I heard this.


    Seeing this look on my face, Bing Lan revealed a faint smile.


    It took me a minute toe back to my senses before slowly asking, "20%, are you sure?"


    Bing Lan said with a teasing smile, "Are you offering more?"


    I didn''t say anything, but the look in my eyes made it clear that I thought that this was very little.


    After all, the number that Sasha and I hade up with in the end was at 50%.


    This was one of the top guilds in the world, so we were certain that their protection wasn''t cheap. 50% might seem like a lot, but with the support that came from being under Elementia, it would definitely be worth it.


    But 20%...this seemed like it was a trap.


    Like there was another catch to it.


    After a long silence, I asked again, "Are you sure that it''s only 20%?"


    This time, I even made sure to stress that 20% part.


    The teasing smile on Bing Lan''s face disappeared as she said with a faint smile, "Don''t think too much about it. It''s because you''re a member of our guild that we''re offering that price, or else it would be much higher. The standard rate for outsiders is usually at least 50% and it''s gone up as high as 80%. That is just how much value and prestige we have as one of the top guilds."


    Hearing this, I couldn''t help slowly giving a nod.


    That was right, this seemed more like it¡­


    If Elementia were to actually support a business, they would deserve far more than just 50% because of all the things that they could offer.


    So 50% was only a best case scenario amount that would only be given to the best businesses that earned them the most money. It was a form of reward for their good business sense and their hard work.


    For other businesses¡­they would most likely have to give up 80% of their business for Elementia''s help.


    20% really was a good¡­no, great friends and family discount.


    Since that was the case, there was no need to hesitate any further on this.


    I said with a simple nod, "Alright, let''s do 20%."


    Bing Lan gave a nod with a faint smile before saying, "I''ll go and call the rest of them in, then we''ll sign the contract for this."


    She was about to stand up when I suddenly remembered something, so I said, "Wait, I have something to discuss with you first."


    Bing Lan had been halfway up from her seat when she heard this, so she sat back down and looked at me, waiting to hear what I had to say.


    I calmly said, "How much do you know about Hayato''s handler?"

 Chapter 109: Called in (4)

    When Bing Lan heard this, she knitted her brows.


    After staying silent for a bit, she suddenly asked, "Why are you asking about this?"


    I didn''t answer this question and instead asked, "Just how much do you know about him?"


    Bing Lan knitted her brows even more, but she opened up herputer in the end and opened up a few files to look at before turning the monitor around to show me.


    I was surprised that she would show me this file that easily, but that didn''t mean that I was against looking at it.


    As I read it, I couldn''t help being surprised by just how thorough the records were.


    There was plenty of personal information about Hayato''s handler, as well as small details about him that most people wouldn''t know.


    Though it didn''t seem like they were watching him 24/7, that was normal since that would vite some human rights.


    After I finished reading this, I shook my head and said, "No, this isn''t what I mean."


    Bing Lan still had knitted brows for a bit, but then she rxed them as she said, "Stop beating around the bush and just tell me what you''re thinking."


    I revealed a bitter smile, but I did do what she said.


    "You''re saying that he''s been sneaking around?" Bing Lan knitted her brows again after hearing this. But then she rxed her brows as she said, "Aren''t you just thinking too much?"


    I shook my head before saying, "I heard it from Hayato when he was drunk."


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes to look at me as she said in a sharp voice, "You got a kid drunk?"


    I jolted when I heard this before quickly correcting myself, "Drunk on the atmosphere in the bar, he didn''t drink a single drop. I promise."


    Bing Lan just kept ring at me for a bit, but her eyes slowly rxed once more before she gave a nod to show that she believed me.


    She turned back to look at the monitor before tapping a few keys and pulling something else up. But this time, she didn''t turn the monitor around to show me as she looked at it with a frown on her face.


    Finally, she said, "Alright, I''ll look into it."


    I was surprised that she would suddenly agree like this, but I didn''t think too much about it.


    After all, it wasn''t as if I wanted to get involved in this matter in the first ce.


    This was something for the guild to deal with, not me.


    I just wanted to use this to distract their attention from me, but I never thought that it would work so well.


    Once we had finished this, Bing Lan called the others back in.


    "So we were just used as a negotiation tool?" The red haired man asked.


    Bing Lan looked at him with a smile without saying anything.


    The red haired man gave a sigh before saying while shaking his head, "Oh well, at least it ended well."


    The purple haired woman didn''t say anything, but the bitter smile on her face told more than enough.


    The only one who seemed like she wasn''t convinced was the sharp dressed woman.


    She looked like she clearly opposed this, but she didn''t say anything out loud.


    After everyone was caught up, Bing Lan introduced me to everyone.


    The red haired man was the guild''s dungeon raid team one leader, Rupert Campbell, an A Ranker.


    The purple haired woman was the guild''s dungeon raid team three leader, Misty Wells, an A Ranker.


    And the sharp dressed woman was Bing Lan''s personal secretary Hua Rong, who surprisingly was also an A Ranker.


    Though they were only the leaders of the dungeon raid teams, this was a position that was just under the vice guild master, so they were considered high ranking members of the guild.


    And of course, there was no need to doubt the authority that these three had in the guild.


    Especially the secretary Hua Rong since she was Bing Lan''s personal secretary.


    Since the matter had been settled, both Rupert and Misty quickly warmed up to me.


    It seemed that they had already heard about me, so they asked me to demonstrate my abilities to them. After experiencing it themselves, they both acted even more friendly, as if they could see my potential.


    Rupert even tried to snipe me for dungeon raid team one, but Bing Lan quickly shut it down.


    But during all of this, the only one that didn''t get along with me was naturally Hua Rong.


    Rupert secretly told me, "The reason why everyone in the guild is scared of her is because of the duties that she takes care of. She''s the guild master''s right hand, so¡­she takes care of some of the dirty business if you know what I mean."


    I trembled when I heard this and both of us trembled even more when we felt Hua Rong''s gaze fall onto us.


    Luckily, Bing Lan came to our rescue by saying, "Hua Rong, bring the contract for business cooperation over. We''ll get him to sign it and then we''ll go from there."


    Hua Rong deeply knitted her brows when she heard this and she hesitated on going.


    Bing Lan saw this and gave a sigh before saying, "Just go and get it."


    Since Bing Lan had even said this, Hua Rong had no choice but to go.


    A few minutester, she came back with a contract for me to sign.


    I just gave it a quick scan before signing it. The only thing that I had to make sure was that the percentage was correct and that there weren''t any hidden lines.


    Of course, I trusted Bing Lan, but with the way that Hua Rong looked at me¡­it was hard to tell if she would y some tricks.


    After making sure that she didn''t, I signed it without any hesitation.


    Once the contract was signed, there was nothing else left¡­well other than my punishment.


    It was simple, I would have to undergo Su Chen''s ''special'' training.


    It seemed that Su Chen''s ''special'' training was famous in the guild since even Rupert and Misty trembled when they heard this.


    It made me even more scared that Hua Rong looked like she approved of this.


    If someone like her even approved of it, then just how terrifying would this ''special'' training be?


    I could onlyment having to go through it, but I thought about dragging ze and Hayato in as well since they were also responsible for this mess. Even though in reality it was all something that I had nned.


    They didn''t have to go and make things much worse by acting in such an eye-catching manner.


    But that was just a bit of silent bitterness and not any realining.


    Since that matter was settled, I walked out of the office while being held by the shoulder by Rupert.


    With the way that he kept talking to me, it seemed like he hadn''t given up the idea of sniping me for his dungeon team. But when we were alone¡­he said to me, "So you own a club like that? How about we go and have a drink sometimes."


    The smile on his face made it very clear what he was thinking, but I was more concerned about the chilling from behind us.


    He didn''t seem to feel it, but I could feel it very strongly.


    It wasing from Misty''s cold gaze¡­


    It seemed that there was a story between the two of them¡­

 Chapter 110: Called in (5)

    Once they left, it was only Bing Lan and Hua Rong who were remaining in the room.


    By all rights, Hua Rong should have shown Lin Fan off since that was her duty, but she abandoned that duty to stay in the room.


    So it was clear that there was something that was on her mind.


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything when everyone else was here, but once they were alone, she asked, "Is something wrong?"


    Though she asked this, Hua Rong still hesitated to speak.


    After a short silence, she took a deep breath and said, "Why did you protect him? There''s no reason to give someone like him special treatment."


    Bing Lan''s expression didn''t change at all when she heard this, she didn''t even bat an eysh in the face of this question.


    Seeing this, Hua Rong couldn''t help asking, "Are you¡­"


    She didn''t finish her sentence, but the tone of her voice was more than enough to fill in the gaps.


    Bing Lan finally reacted when she heard this. She revealed a faint smile as she looked at Hua Rong before saying, "It''s not like that, not one bit."


    Hua Rong didn''t look relieved hearing that, but rather she slightly knitted her brows again.


    Bing Lan saw this, so she said in a slow voice, "He''s useful, that''s all."


    A trace of confusion appeared in Hua Rong''s eyes after she heard this before she turned to look in the direction that they had left in.


    Bing Lan then followed up by saying, "There''s something about him that tells me that he''ll be useful to our guild in the future. I know that you might think otherwise, but you''ll just have to trust my judgement on that."


    When Bing Lan said all of this, it really was hard for Hua Rong to say anything.


    But the look in her eyes made it clear that she still thought otherwise.


    Bing Lan gave a sigh and didn''t continue with this topic.


    Instead, she pulled up the documents that she was looking at earlier on herputer and turned it for Hua Rong.


    Hua Rong didn''t notice at first since she was focused on the Lin Fan matter, but then she came over to see what Bing Lan was showing her.


    When she saw what was on the screen, she couldn''t help being surprised.


    However, she didn''t act rashly.


    She took her time to read through the information on the screen before looking up and asking, "This is?"


    Bing Lan gave a sigh before saying, "There''s something suspicious about this person that I want you to check."


    Hua Rong knitted her brows when she heard this.


    If it was any other time, she might not have hesitated and questioned Bing Lan''s orders, but the timing was just too coincidental that she couldn''t help questioning it.


    After all, Bing Lan suddenly brought this up after she had met Lin Fan alone¡­


    After a pause, Hua Rong asked, "Why are you suddenly bringing this up? Is it because of¡­him?"


    Bing Lan was surprised since Hua Rong normally would have just followed her orders without a word, but this time she had actually said something.


    It was clear just how much Hua Rong distrusted Lin Fan, but that wasn''t strange after all. There were many things that were against him and with this newest incident, naturally she would distrust him.


    Still, that was not a problem that could be solved that easily.


    Bing Lan just calmly said, "He did bring this matter to my attention."


    "Guild master, this is¡­"


    Before Hua Rong could finish though, Bing Lan''s eyes turned cold and she said, "But even if he brought it up, do you think that I would act on that alone? Do you take me for a fool?"


    The moment that Hua Rong heard this, she couldn''t help giving a shiver.


    But at the same time, there was a strange glow that appeared in her eyes.


    It almost seemed like she was¡­excited¡­


    After a moment of silence, Hua Rong slowly shook her head.


    Bing Lan had been waiting for this, so she continued by saying, "Can you tell me that you don''t see anything strange about this? You''re telling me that it all seems normal?"


    Once again, Hua Rong slowly shook her head.


    Since that was the case, Bing Lan just said, "Then just do what I tell you to do. There''s no need for you to question me."


    After receiving this order, there was a faint blush that appeared on Hua Rong''s face and she couldn''t help letting out a soft breath.


    She took a moment to calm herself down before saying, "Guild master, I will handle this. Please don''t worry about anything."


    Bing Lan just gave a nod before waving her hand to dismiss Hua Rong.


    She leaned back in her chair and gave a sigh once Hua Rong was gone.


    It really was hard being the guild master, having to worry about all of these things. Even though she was still single, she had to worry about her little sister''s love, the rtionship between her subordinates, and all these things.


    She really didn''t have any time to think about her love life¡­and she was slowly getting older and older.


    If she waited too long, she might run out of time¡­


    That was something that she was truly afraid of.


    But the problem was that she hadn''t found a good man yet.


    The only one that could be considered good and exciting was this Lin Fan, but he was already imed by her little sister¡­


    So where would she find one for herself?


    Bing Lan gave one more sigh before turning her attention back to her work.


    Since she didn''t have a love life to worry about, she would just sink herself into her work.


    This might be called escapism, but there was nothing that she could do.


    After Hua Rong left the office, she made sure that she was alone.


    Then her legs suddenly gave out under her and she fell on her butt, but there was an ecstatic look on her face as she said, "I didn''t deserve that reward. That pressure just now, it was something else¡­it really made my legs go soft and my stomach churn¡­Ah, I didn''t deserve that reward."


    After she was like this for a bit, Hua Rong''s ecstatic look slowly disappeared as it was reced by an aggrieved look.


    "That Lin Fan, he thinks that he can move into my territory after all these years? After all my years with Lan Lan, he wants to steal her from me? I will never let that happen." There was a trace of hatred that appeared in Hua Rong''s eyes when she said this.


    After that, she slowly took out a pendant from inside of her blouse.


    This was a pendant that she had kept by her heart and was in the shape of a heart.


    When she opened it, it revealed a picture of¡­Bing Lan.


    Looking at this, Hua Rong said with a happy smile, "Ah, Lan Lan, I can''t wait until you''re mine¡­"


    Bing Lan really was unlucky when it came to love¡­


    Not only was she not able to attract a good man, the one that she did attract was this helpless woman with a dangerous side to her¡­


    She really was unlucky in love¡­

 Chapter 111: Heading to the exam

    Over the next week, I really received some ''special'' training.


    At first, I had thought that it would just be normal training, but it turned out that it was anything but that.


    The training that I received as punishment was¡­having to run through a dungeon while pulling Su Chen on a tire. If I ever stopped, I would be punished with a hundred pushups while having to fight monsters at the same time.


    This was training that had put my very life on the line and pushed me to the brink, but¡­I had to admit that it was very effective training.


    After a day of rest, I could feel that my muscles were much stronger.


    Though I could also just look at my status to see that I was at least five times stronger than before.


    This was a very ''special'' method of training, but there was no doubting its effectiveness.


    I even felt grateful that I received this training before the Irregr License Exam which I was currently heading to with Su Chen.


    Though seeing Su Chen now¡­was a bit of a trauma, but he was still my handler, so he was driving me there.


    I had been registered for the exam sincest month, but because of how few people pass this exam in the first ce, there weren''t that many exams being held each year.


    I was lucky that the next exam had been around a month away, which was why I was able to apply for it so soon. If not, I might have had to wait an entire year before I was able to take this exam.


    As we were heading there, Su Chen asked, "How are you feeling?"


    It was a bit hard for me to look at him because of what had happened over the past week, so it was a good thing that he was driving and didn''t notice that I was looking away.


    I took a deep breath and said, "I should be ready."


    Su Chen gave a chuckle before saying, "I would say that you''re ready after all that training."


    After hearing this, I revealed a bitter smile, but Su Chen then said something that made the bitter smile on my face turn even more bitter.


    "If you weren''t and you failed, I might have to start training you from the beginning." There was a hint of coldness that was in his voice as he said this.


    I couldn''t help shuddering after hearing this.


    Su Chen''s training from the beginning¡­would I survive?


    It would be a lie to say that this didn''t motivate me¡­


    After a moment of silence, Su Chen suddenly spoke like he had just remembered something, "Right, I almost forgot to give you this."


    He took out a ring that he handed over to me.


    I looked at this ring and couldn''t help being surprised because I could feel an energy that was familiaring from it.


    After looking at it for a bit, I asked, "Is this¡­?"


    Su Chen gave a nod as he said, "It''s a present from the guild master. It has plenty of things that you''ll need in the examter."


    I couldn''t help revealing a grateful look when I heard this.


    Su Chen revealed a smile as he said, "We can''t let someone from our Elementia guild look too poor, can we? It wouldn''t look good for Elementia if that was the case."


    ?*??¦¥???*?-


    I gave a nod before saying, "Thank you."


    Su Chen shook his head as he said, "You should go thank young miss Bing, she''s the one that prepared most of this for you."


    Bing Xin?


    She had done that?


    It had been a while since he had seen Bing Xin, not since he had joined Elementia.


    They had both been busy with their own work even though they were in the same guild, so they had little time, or rather no time at all to see each other.


    Knowing that she was the one that had helped put this together, I really couldn''t help being touched.


    I was currently in a very strange position with Bing Xin¡­


    I didn''t know exactly what I wanted with her¡­


    I had thought that I would be able to follow through with my n of using my Hypnosis skill to get her under my control, but¡­it would be a lie to say that she hadn''t slowly made her way into my heart.


    So I was starting to hesitate on whether I would be able to do it or not.


    There hadn''t been a chance yet, but I wouldn''t be able to say if I could do it or not in the end.


    I was slowlying to an answer in my heart, but before that¡­I wasn''t willing to face it.


    After all, I had been let down in the past¡­


    Seeing that I felt a bit down, Su Chen asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I quickly snapped out of it and focused on the task at hand.


    Right now, I needed to focus on the Irregr License Exam, so there wasn''t time to think about this now.


    I shook my head and said, "Nothing."


    Su Chen raised a brow, but he didn''t say anything in the end.


    He was an adult and had been through his own matters, so he understood that sometimes people couldn''t talk about certain things.


    So he didn''t ask what was on my mind and just drove in silence.


    After half an hour, we arrived at the location of the exam.


    This was the Awakener Association headquarters for our city and the most important ce for awakeners.


    This was where the Irregr License Exam would be held since it was something that was done by the Awakener Association in the first ce.


    When we arrived, we found that there were plenty of other people that were also arriving at the same time.


    It was clear that these people were also here to take the exam.


    It seemed that thepetition really wasn''t small¡­

 Chapter 112: Irregular License Exam (1)

    When we came into the hall, we found that there were even more people here.


    I had honestly never seen that many people gathered in one ce, but here they were all gathered for this Irregr License Exam.


    I could see that quite a few of them¡­were low ranked just like me.


    This was their only chance to raise their rank, so of course they would try all that they could to do so. Even if there wasn''t much hope that they would be able to pass these exams.


    In fact, the Awakener Association also thought the same, so there was a preliminary that was being held on the spot.


    There were already quite a few people that had failed because of this preliminary test.


    I was just waiting my turn after registering, but that gave me time to scope out the test and thepetition.


    There weren''t many that passed, but those that did showed quite amazing uses of their powers. It was clear that there wasn''t a single person here that was simple.


    The test itself was also very simple, but also quite hard.


    It was a training dummy that everyone was supposed to hit.


    As long as there was enough damage to the dummy, one would pass the exam. It didn''t matter how one aplished it as long as it was registered to have done enough damage.


    I just watched as the others did it.


    There were many that tried with simple attacks and they weren''t able to do anything.


    The ones that were able to pass in the end were those that used special abilities, or rather they put a twist on a normal ability that gave it special powers.


    The creativity of humans¡­really was something else.


    But there was one that I couldn''t see through at all.


    It was a person wearing arge cloak who carried arge scythe.


    They didn''t even seem to do anything before the damage was registered.


    Even the staff had to double check, but they passed that person in the end.


    As they passed by everyone to head into the hall for those that passed, it felt like a chill ran through the crowd.


    Even I felt like a wave of death had washed over me as this person walked past.


    It was like staring face to face with the grim reaper.


    Though with the scythe that they wielded, that wasn''t that far off.


    While I was looking around, I also noticed that there were other F Rankers that were here.


    The first sign of this was the person I checked in with.


    She was surprised to see my F Rank Awakener License, but it didn''t seem like she was too surprised. Like she had already seen F Rankers signing up for this test.


    The second sign was when one of the F Rankers other than me actually took the test.


    This person''s ability¡­was unimpressive.


    All he could do was create a small ball of stone that he threw at the dummy.


    It didn''t register as he hit it with his small ball of stone, showing that he didn''t do any damage at all.


    It was almost embarrassing how weak he was¡­


    But this was just what the norm was with F Rankers.


    There was a reason why they were considered F Rankers.


    Su Chen could see the look on my face when I watched this F Ranker fail, so he patted my shoulder and said, "You''re different. Don''t worry about the others and just do what you need to do."


    I took a deep breath after hearing this before turning to give him a nod. After that, I said, "I''m fine, you don''t need to worry about me."


    Su Chen had a trace of doubt in his eyes when he heard this, but he gave a nod and patted me on the shoulder again.


    The two of us just waited there for my turn while watching the others.


    There were quite a few people that showed powers that were considered creative.


    I made sure to take note of these people since they would most likely be my greatestpetition in this exam.


    The two that caught my attention the most after that cloaked person with the scythe were one girl dressed like a magical girl and one person who had a regent.


    The one who was dressed like a magical girl actually used powers like a magical girl.


    She shot out a beam of light through the wand that she pointed out and when it hit the dummy¡­the dummy was blown away.


    The dummy flew through the air after that beam of light shaped like a heart hit it.


    Everyone had looks of shock on their faces since not a single person thought that she would have such immense power, but the facts were in front of them.


    If someone like this couldn''t pass, then none of them could pass.


    The one with a regent fought like a delinquent like one would think.


    He moved up to the dummy and he just simply punched it.


    The dummy didn''t get blown away like with the magical girl, but it did dip back quite a bit.


    Most of the others that had passed hadn''t even managed to move it which showed that there was quite a bit of resistance to this dummy.


    A dummy like this was blown back with a single punch¡­


    It could be seen how much force was in this punch.


    Other than these two, the rest all showed normal results.


    After a while passed, it was finally my turn.


    "Next up is Lin Fan, F Ranker."


    The moment that they heard that I was a F Ranker, most of the people watching looked at me with disappointed looks.


    The other F Rankers that hade had all put on disappointing disys and not a single one of them passed.


    There were even some people that thought that this was a waste of time.


    However, I just ignored them all and walked up to the dummy with my sword in hand.

 Chapter 113: Irregular License Exam (2)

    After walking up in front of the dummy, I slowly raised my sword until it was pointing right at the dummy.


    Seeing this, everyone started chatting around me.


    It was clear by what they said that they were clearly disappointed and didn''t expect anything out of me.


    "A sword? Isn''t he just trying to act tough?"


    "What kind of power could a F Ranker have?"


    "This is just a waste of time¡­they should just let me go instead of wasting time with this trash."


    A normal person might have been affected if they heard all of this, but I just tuned everything out as I focused on the dummy in front of me.


    This was my chance to prove them all wrong, so why would I let them affect me?


    Taking a deep breath, I gathered all my power before saying, "Much stronger."


    There was an immense power that filled my arms after I said this.


    Then in one swing, I shed out at the dummy in front of me.


    The moment that I shed out, there was a strong gust of wind that was released with me at the center. This gust of wind was so strong that the ones in front found it hard to keep their eyes open and had to take a few steps back.


    Then when my sword made contact with the dummy¡­I found that there was no resistance at all as it went right into the dummy.


    The dummy couldn''t push back my sword at all as it entered its body, cutting it in half.


    When my sh was finished, there was a silence that hung in the air as everyone stared at the dummy.


    When they all saw that the dummy didn''t change at all, they all started tough and point at me.


    "Did you see that? He''s acting all cool, but he couldn''t do a single thing to the dummy in the end."


    "Can''t you see? He doesn''t even have a score."


    "As expected of a F¡­"


    Before thatst person could finish, there was the sound of something being cut that rang out.


    They didn''t need to turn in the direction of that sound because they had all been staring at it the whole time. It was the dummy that suddenly had a cut line appear on it before the top half fell down.


    Everyone''s chin dropped in shock as they couldn''t believe what had happened.


    There were some that had already failed that were still sticking around to watch the fun, so they knew just how strong these dummies were.


    Just moving it was hard enough, but actually cutting it in half like this?


    This was not something that anyone could do¡­


    There was only silence that filled this area after the dummy was cut in half.


    I slowly stood up and waited to see my score, but it turned out that the score didn''t appear at all.


    Unlike before where there would be a screen that popped up with the score, there was nothing that appeared at all.


    No matter how long I waited, nothing appeared.


    I couldn''t help feeling worried when I saw this. ?§ß%§Ö?$?%--¦Ò¦Ô!§ä@--


    The crowd slowly came back to their senses and seeing that the screen didn''t pop, there were a few people that grasped at straws.


    "He must have cheated! Disqualify him!"


    "Look, there isn''t a score at all! He must have done something that even the system isn''t acknowledging him!"


    "I was scared for nothing¡­It turned out that he was nothing more than a dirty cheater."


    As these shouts came out, there was no movement from the staff members.


    That was because they were running around trying to figure out what was happening.


    Even they weren''t able to understand why there wasn''t a score.


    Though they were also shocked to see that the dummy had been cut in half like this.


    This dummy was a special dummy that had been created for this exam and it could even take the full strength attack of a D Ranker¡­


    Unless one had the power of a C Rank power, it shouldn''t have been possible to cut through the dummy like this.


    Then did that mean that this F Ranker actually had the power of a C Ranker?


    They refused to believe that.


    Even if this was a ce where irregrs gathered, this would no longer be considered an irregr if it was the case. If he was really able to do something like this, then he would be considered a monster!


    So they were scrambling to see what the situation was.


    Since there was no one stopping them, the crowd became more and more rowdy.


    It was one part inferiority and one part fear that drove them at this point.


    If there was someone that really was able to cut the dummy like this, then what were they?


    They couldn''t ept this truth since it hurt their pride too much.


    But before anyone could physically make a move against Lin Fan, there was someone that suddenly gave a p.


    As this p rang out, everyone suddenly fell silent and looked in that direction.


    They saw this sharp dressed middle aged man standing there with his hands up.


    There were some that had wanted to say something, but then they noticed the badge that he was wearing.


    He was¡­an examiner.


    This was different from the staff members who were running around like headless chickens.


    This was someone who was in charge of the exam, in charge of the staff. If he wanted, he could pass or fail anyone that he wanted to.


    Not to mention, examiners were powerful Awakeners that were affiliated with the Awakener Association. So even if he didn''t look like much, he was actually quite the powerful person.


    There was nothing to gain from provoking someone like this.


    That examiner ignored everyone and just walked forward towards me.


    When he was in front of me, he suddenly revealed a smile and said, "I never thought that I would see someone strong enough to destroy the dummy. You really are something else."

 Chapter 114: Irregular License Exam (3)

    Everyone was taken aback by what the examiner said since not a single person had expected him to say this.


    The staff members even had awkward looks on their faces since they hadn''t discovered the real cause of what happened yet, but the examiner was already saying that this F Ranker had destroyed the dummy.


    If that was the case, wasn''t that a p to their Awakener Association''s face?


    I couldn''t help being surprised since I had expected something much more usatory, but since he was acting friendly¡­there was no reason not to go along with it.


    I just simply said in a calm voice, "Does that mean I pass?"


    The examiner seemed surprised to hear this, but then he said with a wide smile, "If you don''t pass, then can anyone else here pass? Of course you pass."


    When they heard this, all of the other people here to take the exam couldn''t help revealing ugly expressions.


    The examiner could have worded it much better, but the way he said it basically made it seem like they couldn''tpare to this F Ranker.


    Many of the people here were E Rankers or even D Rankers, but now that the examiner had said that they couldn''tpare to this F Ranker, it really hurt their pride.


    In their minds, F Rankers were the very bottom of thedder, the weakest of the weakest. To say that a F Ranker was better than them was a clear insult which they couldn''t tolerate.


    So after a moment of silence, someone said, "Isn''t it just luck that he encountered this broken dummy?"


    That single sentence was like a stone dropped into a calmke.


    As soon as the others heard this, their minds started to be corrupted by it like ripples on the water.


    "That''s right! It should be nothing more than a simple malfunction that caused the dummy to break. There''s no way that this F Ranker would be able to destroy a dummy like this."


    "Che, if I was up a bit sooner, I would have been able to be this lucky as well."


    "Shh, don''t say that. Didn''t you hear him earlier trying to act cool? He''s clearly just taking advantage of this situation."


    "I say that we kick him out right now! There''s no ce for someone like him!"


    The voices were getting louder and louder, as well as having stronger and stronger opinions.


    It was clear that the crowd had been incited because of what the examiner had said and was getting more and more worked up.


    Finally, the examiner gave a snort and said, "You really think that this is it? Do you really look down on our Awakener Association this much that we wouldn''t be able to recognize a simple malfunction? Not to mention, in the first ce, do you really think that our specially made dummies would malfunction?"


    The examiner turned to the crowd with cold eyes and said, "Are you done ndering our Awakener Association."


    The moment that the examiner released his pressure on the crowd, everyone fell silent.


    I also couldn''t help giving a gulp when I felt this pressure.


    I had faced the pressure from many high ranking Awakeners before, so I could tell that this examiner was at least a B Ranker¡­or maybe even an A Ranker.


    This was definitely not someone that a bunch of D and E Rankers could offend.


    So there was an awkward silence that fell over this crowd as no one could say anything.


    That is until one D Ranker bit the bullet and came forward to speak.


    This D Ranker pointed at the sword in Lin Fan''s hand and said, "That sword is clearly a magic weapon. Even if he was able to destroy the dummy, it isn''t his own power and the power of his equipment. How can you say that this is a fair judgement?"


    When he said this, everyone turned to look at the sword in Lin Fan''s hand.


    This D Ranker was right, they could feel the faint magic energy fluctuationsing from the sword in his hand showing that this was indeed a magic weapon.


    When they sensed this, they all let out a secret sigh of relief.


    That''s right, how could a F Ranker possibly show that kind of power?


    It was only possible if there was something external helping him, like this magic sword.


    So they immediately started totch onto this idea.


    "A magic sword? Isn''t this some rich kid who came out to have fun?"


    "This rich kid can do whatever he wants as long as he has his family''s money buying good equipment for him while we''re all out here trying all we can to rise up. This really isn''t fair."


    "Che, if I could get my hands on a magic weapon or two, I wouldn''t be stuck where I am now¡­"


    Once again, the murmurs of the crowd rang out as they all started criticizing Lin Fan.


    The examiner just watched them go on while listening to them until he finally gave a sigh and said, "What a bunch of fools. You can''t even see something as simple as this and youe to take this exam. This is a waste of time."


    The moment that he said this, everyone once again fell silent with ugly expressions on their faces.


    This time, the examiner didn''t hold back his disdain for them and openly mocked them like this.


    How could they not be angry hearing this?


    There were some that wanted toin since they had proper justification, but they didn''t get a chance as the examiner quickly spoke again.


    "If you even had eyes, you would have been able to see that there were no extra energy fluctuations that came from the sword when he swung it. So how could he have activated that magic weapon during that swing? This is something even an idiot would be able to see." The examiner said in a voice that was just oozing disdain at this point.

 Chapter 115: Examiner chit chat (1)

    There were still some that had looks on their faces like they wanted to argue, but the examiner shut them all down by saying, "It seems like this batch is all filled with idiots¡­Maybe it''s better if I just fail all of you here and now."


    The moment that his voice fell, everyone couldn''t help feeling a chill run down their spine.


    They could hear the seriousness in his voice.


    It was as if he didn''t care at all about them and he would actually fail them all here and now.


    But if he did, who knows when they would have a chance to take this exam again.


    The Irregr License Exam wasn''t held regrly and only held when the Awakener Association wanted to hold one. So unless they were lucky, this might be thest chance that they had to change their fate.


    So not a single person dared to say anything further, other than ring at the person who pointed out it was a magic weapon.


    That D Ranker¡­since he had already taken that step forward, he couldn''t step back now.


    "You can''t do this, this is an abuse of power." That D Ranker said in a shaky voice.


    The examiner just stared at him and said, "I can do whatever I want, that is my right as an examiner."


    Without caring for a response from that D Ranker, he looked at the staff member nearby and said, "Kick him out."


    Just this one line sealed the fate of this D Ranker, but the examiner still didn''t care.


    He just turned to look at Lin Fan and said, "Since you''ve passed, there''s no need for you to stay here any longer. You can just go through the door that everyone that passed went through."


    I was surprised by how frank he was, but I just simply gave a nod before turning to leave.


    However, before I could take more than two steps, the examiner looked as if he had suddenly thought of something. He reached into his pocket and took something out before saying, "Wait, take this too."


    As soon as his voice fell, he threw the thing in his hand at me.


    I was caught off guard, but I was able to catch it instinctively.


    When I opened my hand to see what it was, I saw that it was a token with the number one written on it.


    I couldn''t help turning back to look at the examiner with a confused look as I asked, "This is?"


    The examiner just said with a smile, "I doubt that anyone will be able to surpass your disy here, so this is the prize for the top ranker. It''ll be helpful to you in the future, you''ll know when you can use it." read-more-at-MvLeMpYr


    I had more questions that I wanted to ask after hearing this, but I held myself back in the end since I knew that it would be pointless. This examiner was someone on the side of the organizers and the answers to these questions would be rted to the contents of the exam.


    It was very unlikely that he would answer me, so there was no point in asking.


    I just gave a nod and said, "Thank you." After that, I turned to head towards the door he pointed out.


    As he watched me walk away, the examiner said, "My name is Elliot, if there''s a chance, let''s work together in the future."


    I was once again caught off guard by this before turning back to say, "If there is a chance."


    Then I walked off with a wave back to him.


    The examiner didn''t mind this and turned to leave as well, but there was no hiding the smile on his face.


    Before heading through the door, I turned back to look at Su Chen.


    I saw that he was giving me a thumbs up to encourage me, so I gave him a thumbs up back before stepping through.


    He couldn''te with me since this was an individual exam, so porters/handlers wouldn''t be allowed toe along.


    From now on, it would all be up to me to pass this exam.


    ¡­


    "Did you really personally go to the exam hall? Was there really something that interesting that caught your attention?" A red haired young man asked Elliot as soon as he walked into the room.


    Elliot wasn''t annoyed by this and just looked at the red haired young man with a smile before giving a nod.


    The red haired young man couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when he saw this.


    At the same time, the rest of the people in the room all focused on him when they saw this out of the corner of their eyes.


    They had already found it strange that Elliot would go down alone, but now he even said that he had found something that caught his attention, so of course they would be curious.


    Catching the eyes of this man¡­it definitely wouldn''t be anything simple.


    But Elliot didn''t say a word when he felt these gazes fall onto him.


    All he did was give a simple smile.


    Seeing him act this way, the red haired young man couldn''t take it anymore and said, "Stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us already you old fogey. You don''t have that long left, so stop wasting time."


    Elliot red at the red haired young man when he said this, but the red haired young man just stuck out his tongue like he didn''t care.


    Elliot gave a sigh when he saw this, but then he pushed the red haired young man away before saying, "Didn''t you all get a report just now?"


    The other people in the room revealed confused looks before turning to look at the panels in front of them, pulling up the same report as each other.


    When they read this report, all of them couldn''t help being surprised by this before turning back to look at Elliot.


    One thing that was quite interesting about all of these people was¡­they were wearing the same badge as Elliot.


    That meant that all of the people sitting in this room were examiners just like him.

 Chapter 116: Examiner chit chat (2)

    After reading through the report, the red haired young man couldn''t help asking, "Is it true? Did he really destroy one of those dummies? I even find it hard to destroy those things."


    Elliot gave a nod before saying, "Not only that, he did it without using that magic weapon of his. His power is the real deal."


    But the red haired young man just gave a shrug before saying, "Those kinds of people are normal. It''s not worth going down personally to see someone like that, is it?"


    Elliot shook his head as he said, "Then how normal is it a buff type power?"


    As soon as he said this, everyone in the room looked at him with gazes filled with shock and disbelief.


    After a long moment of silence, the red haired young man asked, "What did you just say? Can you repeat that again?"


    This time, Elliot revealed a smile before saying, "You heard me, a buff type power."


    A buff type Awakener, this was different from the normal support type Awakener.


    A support type Awakener would naturally have abilities to support people.


    However, their powers would have limits and be varied.


    Support type Awakeners weremon and the mostmon type would be a healer.


    They would be able to heal people and increase their stats with their buffs, but those buffs were different from the buffs of a buff type Awakener.


    The buffs of a support type Awakener would only increase one''s attributes by a certain amount. This would normally be limited by the power of the support type Awakener and it wouldn''t go past a 50% increase.


    But it was different for a buff type Awakener.


    A buff type Awakener¡­would be able to increase one''s power by at least two to three times.


    A 50% increase versus a 200-300% increase, this was arge difference.


    Especially when it came to higher rank Awakeners who were already very powerful to begin with.


    The red haired young man and the other examiners turned away from Elliot and pulled out a file.


    This file had Lin Fan''s name on it.


    This was the file that he had submitted when he enrolled in this Irregr License Exam.


    Along with this file, there was also a copy of his Awakener License, so they were able to see what power he possessed.


    "Suggestion¡­" The red haired young man muttered to himself with a thoughtful look on his face.


    After a pause, he suddenly said, "Could it be that he has the ability to remove one''s limits with his Suggestion power? This is a double edged de, but if it is used properly¡­"


    His voice trailed off as he had the same thoughtful look on his face.


    The other examiners were also nodding along as if they thought the same thing as the red haired young man.


    After another silence, the red haired young man turned to Eliott to ask, "How much of an increase was it? Was it double or triple?"


    This time, Elliot didn''t answer right away and almost seemed like he was hesitating over something.


    But then he said with a sigh, "With the way that he destroyed the dummy, it''s clear that he used quite a bit of power. However, I could already tell that his body was already strong, probably because he had someone helping him train. But to destroy the dummy even then, it would take¡­at least an increase of four to five times."


    There was only silence that followed after he said this as everyone looked at him with looks of disbelief.


    After a long silence, the red haired young man asked, "Are you serious? Four to five times?"


    Elliot just gave a slow nod in response.


    A normal buff type Awakener would only be able to buff someone by around 200-300% their power. So someone that was able to buff someone by 400-500% would naturally be considered an above average buff type Awakener.


    No, he would be considered an amazing buff type Awakener.


    After letting this set in, Elliot suddenly added as if he was remembering something, "But from what I could see, it didn''t seem like he had been using his full power yet. He most likely could still use even more power than that."


    As he said this, everyone once again looked at him with looks of shock.


    Then the red haired young man said in a voice that almost seemed like he thought Elliot was a fool, "Why didn''t you just recruit him to our Awakener Association? If we had someone like that, our jobs would be much easier."


    Elliot shook his head with a sigh before saying, "Why don''t you have a closer look at his information?"


    The other examiners were all confused when they heard this, but they still did what he said.


    They didn''t understand what they should be looking for at first, but then they saw it.


    "Elementia¡­"


    They said in unison.


    Elliot just gave a sigh when he heard this.


    It seemed that there was another guild that had alreadytched their ws into this amazing buff type Awakener, so it wasn''t as if they could do anything.


    Perhaps they might have been able to do something if it was another smaller guild, but Elementia was one of the biggest guilds out there. It definitely was not a guild that anyone wanted to mess with and that included the Awakener Association.


    The Awakener Association was the governing body of Awakeners, but that didn''t mean that they were all powerful.


    At most, they could only match one of the big guilds.


    So Elementia alone would be enough to take on the Awakener Association.


    The red haired young man gave a sigh before saying, "It had to be that me witch¡­"


    All of the examiners revealedplicated looks when they heard this.


    They all had a different impression of Elementia''s guild master, Bing Lan. However, it was clear by the looks on their faces that they didn''t have a good impression of her.


    After giving another sigh, Elliot said, "I''ve already created a rtionship with him through this. Besides, it''s not as if we can''t work with him just because he''s from Elementia."


    The red haired young man''s eyes lit up when he heard this.


    find-more-stories-on-MVLeMpYr


    It was normal for Awakeners from different guilds to work together from time to time, so there was always the opportunity to work with him in the future.


    After thinking for a bit, the red haired young man said, "Should we interfere with his exam then? The lower his rank, the lower his price will be in the future."


    Elliot rolled his eyes before saying, "If he finds out, what do you think will happen? Will you really kill this gold eggying goose?"


    The red haired young man shuddered when he heard this before shaking his head and saying, "You''re right. We shouldn''t do anything that might make him hate us in the future."


    But then after a pause, he still said, "But if his rank is too high, then the price will also be high."


    Elliot gave a shrug before saying, "Does that matter to us? We''re just contracted to the Awakener Association. We''ll just leave money issues to them."


    The red haired young man looked like he realized something before he gave a nod with a wide smile to show his agreement.

 Chapter 117: Irregular License Exam (4)

    After going through those doors, I continued down a long hallway before reaching another room.


    This room¡­was a lounge.


    It was like one of those lounges that was found in airports, but it wasn''t just any lounge.


    This lounge was a very fancy lounge with private chefs and an open bar.


    This was like one of those fancy lounges that only first ss passengers could enjoy before their flight took off.


    It seemed that they really did take care of those who passed the exam.


    As soon as I came in, there was a waiter that came up to take care of me.


    He led me to my seat and then brought over a menu for me to show all the things that I could order. When I asked him about the price, he told me that everything was free for those that passed the exam.


    Since that was the case, I wouldn''t pass up that opportunity.


    Without hesitation, I picked out a few things that I thought were good and then gave my order to the waiter.


    The waiter didn''t hesitate at all as he went off to put in my order.


    Since I had some free time now, I looked around the room.


    I found that there were some people here that I recognized and some people here that I didn''t recognize.


    But at the same time, I could also see that there were many doors that led to this room.


    It seemed that there were many different testing areas and they all led to this single ce.


    It seemed that I hadpletely underestimated the scale of this Irregr License Exam.


    During this time, I took the chance to scope out thepetition.


    The ones that had passed in my area were also sitting here.


    Some of them were also rxing and ordering things from their waiters, but some of them were just sitting there in silence.


    The one that caught my attention the most was the cloaked figure with the giant scythe.


    This person was sitting in a corner with one of the waiters standing beside them.


    That cloaked figure just sat there in silence without saying a thing, as if they werepletely cut off from the world.


    That just made it more awkward for the waiter assigned to them.


    All the waiter could do was stand there awkwardly while waiting for anything to happen.


    As I looked around the room, I could feel the tension rising in this room.


    It was clear that they had put us all together so we could scope each other out, while at the same time, it would create tension between us. After all, this was an exam that everyone was taking alone, so everyone else here was an enemy.


    The tension was so thick that one could almost cut through the air with a knife.


    Finally, that tension exploded in the form of a confrontation.


    There was someone that I didn''t know that stood up and walked to the bathroom. But as they walked to the bathroom, they suddenly tripped and bumped into someone that I did know.


    It was that young man with the regent.


    The person who bumped into the young man with the regent didn''t even apologize as he kept walking, but the young man with the regent couldn''t endure this. He suddenly pped the table and said, "Where do you think you''re going."


    The other person turned back to look at the young man with the regent before saying with an aggressive voice, "Huh? Who do you think you''re talking to?"


    Both of them red at each other and it almost seemed like they were about to fight then and there.


    But before they could do anything, there was a fork that suddenly flew through the air.


    exclusive-to-MvLeMpYr


    This fork flew right in between the two of them and pinned itself in the wall behind the two of them.


    Both of them were surprised since they didn''t see this fork until it was toote.


    At the same time, they could tell by the way that the fork inserted itself into the wall that the force that the fork had been thrown with was not small. If it had been aimed at them, it would have been hard for them to survive.


    Both of them couldn''t even help letting out a secret sigh of relief.


    Then they both turned in the direction the fork came from and found that it was the bartender who had thrown it.


    That bartender was looking right at them with narrowed eyes.


    For some reason, they could feel some kind of pressureing from this bartender.


    They were about to say something, but then they noticed the badge that was on this bartender''s chest.


    As soon as they noticed this badge, they immediately swallowed what they had been about to say.


    That was because this badge was the badge of the examiner.


    This ordinary looking bartender was actually one of their examiners.


    If they weren''t careful, they might just get kicked out of this ce.


    But when they thought about it, they realized that this made sense.


    They were still in the middle of the Irregr License Exam, so it wasn''t as if they would be left alone all of a sudden. It made sense that there would be an examiner watching over them.


    So after ring at each other once more, the other person gave a snort and walked off again while the young man with the regent sat down.


    Seeing this, the examiner turned away from them and went back to polishing his cup.


    However, since I had a seat that was close to the bar, I seemed to have heard something with my enhanced hearing.


    "What a waste. They are using this time to fight with each other instead of finding people to cooperate with. It seems like they won''t pass the next round."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    Finding people to cooperate with?


    Could it be that we would be working together even though this was an individual exam?

 Chapter 118: Irregular License Exam (5)

    The answers to my doubts came sooner than I thought.


    It didn''t take long before the next part of the exam began.


    There was a clock on the wall that most people ignored, but there was something special about this clock.


    Instead of telling time, it was actually counting down to something.


    When the clock finished counting down, the bartender suddenly came out from behind the bar and said, "Alright, it''s time."


    As soon as he did, everyone turned to look at him with rapt attention.


    They had already seen his examiner badge, so they knew that he would eventually do something.


    It was just a good thing that he decided to move before they burst from how tense they were.


    The bartender walked up to the center of the room and stood there as several others came out to meet him. All of these people had the same examiner badge on their chests as this bartender.


    It was clear that they were the ones that were in charge of this second part of the exam.


    Once they had all gathered, the bartender said, "Your next trial will be entering a dungeon and showing how powerful you are."


    Many of the examinees couldn''t help revealing looks like they had already expected this.


    After all, clearing dungeons was the crux of what being a high ranking Awakener was.


    They were all aiming to be high ranking Awakeners even if the power that they awakened was of a lower rank. So it was normal that they would need to prove their abilities to clear a dungeon to gain this qualification.


    The bartender just went at his own pace as he said, "The dungeon that you will be entering is a D Ranked one that is managed by the Awakener Association known as the Temple of Water¡­"


    After that, he began exining the rules of the exam which were quite simple.


    They would be tracked based on how many monsters they defeated.


    Normal monsters would only give them one point, elite monsters would be worth two points, area bosses would be worth ten points, and the final boss of the dungeon would be worth one hundred points.


    This was also a clear indication of just how strong the boss of the dungeon was if it was worth this much more than the area bosses.


    It was worth ten times more, so it should be ten times more powerful. -verified


    But the twist came when the bartender said...


    "You will be allowed to form teams to enter the dungeon with. But if you do form teams, know that the points that you receive will be divided evenly among your team members."


    This was a very important twist since it meant that there was a variable to this exam.


    Teaming up with each other would make it easier to fight the bosses and earn the big points, but there were only so many bosses that could be fought. So if they didn''t find any bosses and only fought normal monsters, they would quickly fall behind the others since they would have to split the points from these normal and elite monsters.


    At the same time, there was the matter of whether they would be able to cooperate properly or not.


    Everyone in this room hade on their own and didn''t know much about each other, so it wasn''t as if they would be able to function as a party right away.


    So it would be a risk forming a haphazard party like this.


    There were pros and cons to both options, but it seemed like being alone was the best one.


    At least it was for me since I had trump cards that I didn''t want to show people in the first ce.


    Thest thing that the bartender told us about were the bracelets.


    The waiters brought over bracelets while the bartender exined the rules of this exam.


    These bracelets would be used to track how many monsters we had killed.


    They had this special ability to sense when a monster died, though they wouldn''t be able to monitor us.


    The bartender added, "Since you will be going into the dungeon, we will not be able to monitor you while you are in there and can only keep track of how many points you''ve earned." Then his voice turned cold as he said, "But of course, if you do anything that you shouldn''t do¡­know that it won''t be hard for us to find out.


    At that time, you will not only be punished by thew, you will also be dealt with in the manner fitting of one who dares to cross our Awakener Association."


    The pressure that he released wasn''t a small one and the coldness in his voice was enough to send a chill down one''s spine.


    This was also normal since there was something in the dungeons that stopped all surveince equipment.


    Humans hadn''t been able to figure out exactly what it was that prevented them from filming in the dungeons, so they had no choice but to ept it as a fact of nature.


    But because of this, there were many crimes that weremitted in dungeons where there was no surveince. Even I had been a victim of this when I entered the dungeon the first time.


    Though I had been able to easily dispatch those people in the end.


    Everyone who heard this already expected this threat toe.


    They weren''t fools, they knew that the Awakener Association had plenty of resources and were the ones that had organized this Irregr License Exam.


    They would certainly have a way of finding out if theymitted any crimes.


    So they wouldn''t be fools in doing these things.


    But the looks in the eyes of certain people made it clear that they were nning on ying certain tricks¡­


    After he finished exining everything, the bartender went to one of the doors.


    This was a door that had never opened and no one hade out of it.


    When the door opened, it revealed a dungeon entrance.


    We all couldn''t help being surprised when we saw this.


    The Awakener Association had so many resources that they were even able to keep dungeon entrances hidden like this¡­


    They really couldn''t be underestimated.

 Chapter 119: Irregular License Exam (6)

    Drip, drip, drip.


    That was the only sound that I heard as I walked through this dungeon.


    This dungeon was the Temple of Water that was the location of the next part of the Irregr License Exam.


    As the name suggested, it was a dungeon that was filled with water and water based monsters.


    It was just a good thing that this ce was well lit and I was able to see where I was going.


    But that was also very strange since there was nothing here that should have produced light and yet there was more than enough light for me to see everything clearly. It really was a strange phenomenon¡­but I didn''t let myself be caught up by this.


    That was because there were monsters around me right now.


    I had chosen to enter the dungeon alone since my powers were useful only when I was alone.


    If there were others with me, I would have to hold back since there were certain things that I wouldn''t be able to do.


    The monsters that were around me were sahuagins.


    hosted-on-MVLeMpYr


    These were fish like monster creatures that stood on two feet and used tridents as weapons.


    These were powerful monsters that could even rival orcs in terms of power, but that was only when they were fighting in the water.


    Fortunately for them, this was a dungeon that was filled with water, so the sahuagins were at full power in this dungeon.


    However, it wasn''t worth it for me to fight these sahuagins since these were just normal monsters of this dungeon.


    These things weren''t worth much, they were only worth a single point each and it would take too much time for me to take them down. I didn''t want to waste my time with these sahuagins and wanted to focus on bigger targets.


    So I was sneaking around and trying to find better targets.


    After entering the dungeon, everyone had spread out in different directions.


    There were over a hundred people that hade into the dungeon with me, so it had taken quite a bit of time before I was able to leave them all behind and find a ce just for myself.


    It was just that I had no idea where I was going.


    This was a dungeon that all of us were entering for the first time and it was a dungeon that the Awakener Association controlled, so most people didn''t have any information about this dungeon.


    Naturally, that meant that we had no idea what theyout of the dungeon was like.


    For now, it was just wandering around and trying to find the boss and area bosses.


    But when I moved away from the entrance, I found that there were a few things that changed.


    There was plenty of water that could be found all around, but the further I went into the dungeon, the more clear it was.


    The water that had been at the entrance was almost murky, as if it was corrupted by something. The water that was currently around me was very clear, so clear that I would almost miss it if I didn''t look at it carefully.


    So it was clear that the more I went in this direction, the closer I would get to the source of the water.


    The source of the water naturally would give off clean and clear water.


    As for what the source of water was¡­it was most likely an area boss, if not the dungeon boss.


    The dungeon boss and the area bosses gave the most points, so they were what I was aiming for in the first ce.


    Even elite monsters I could spend time on since they were at least worth two points each.


    Though if they took too long to kill, I wouldn''t bother with them.


    After following the clear water for a bit, I finally arrived in a ce that was different from the rest of this dungeon.


    This dungeon was a structure type dungeon, so the halls that I had been walking in were halls that were made of bricks.


    As I reached the end of this hall, I arrived in an open area with arge temple at the other end of this room.


    Standing at the base of this temple¡­were a bunch of sahuagins, but these sahuagins were much more buffpared to the ones that I had met before.


    As I looked at these sahuagins, I muttered to myself, "These should be the elite monsters¡­"


    After all, these sahuagins were much more muscr and gave off a stronger pressure.


    But the one that gave off the strongest pressure wasn''t these elite sahuagins.


    Instead, there was something standing in the center, at the base of the altar that gave off an even stronger aura.


    When I looked at it closely, I said, "Is that¡­a lizardman?"


    The sahuagins were fish based monsters, so their faces looked like monster fishes.


    The one that was giving off the stronger aura had apletely different appearance.


    Though it wielded the same trident, the face was that of a lizard instead.


    If I had to guess, this lizardman was most likely the area boss.


    I couldn''t help revealing a smile after seeing all of this since I didn''t expect to find an area boss this quickly.


    But since I did, there was no reason for me not to take it down.


    There were five elite sahuagins and there was the lizardman area boss.


    If I took down all of them, that would be a total of twenty points.


    ording to the rankings that were disyed on the bracelets that we were given, the top scorer only had seven points right now. If I got these twenty points, I would immediately be the scoreboard leader.


    So I pulled out my sword and prepared to fight this group.


    That was until I heard some voicesing from behind me.


    I knitted my brows after hearing those voices, but I hid myself in the end.

 Chapter 120: Irregular License Exam (7)

    "Are you sure about this? You''re certain that there''s an area boss in this direction?"


    "I already told you many times that there''s one here, why don''t you trust me already?"


    "All we have to go on is your word, so how do you want me to feel assured? If you really want to prove it, then tell me how you found this area boss."


    "It''s what my power tells me, what else do you want?"


    There were three sets of footsteps in total and it was clear by the way that they were shouting at each other that there was no cooperation between them.


    In fact, they were shouting so loud that it was amazing that they were able toe this far in the first ce.


    After all, with how much noise that they were making, they should have attracted plenty of monsters to their location. And yet they were able to make it this far into the dungeon even though they were making this much noise.


    This was a testament to their strength, or what kind of power they had.


    They definitely were not people that I wanted to fight directly.


    So I just hid myself even further and watched what they were nning to do.


    The three that came out were three people that I was unfamiliar with. They were not people that had taken the first test in the same ce as me, so they were not people that I memorized.


    There were too many people in that room just now, so it was impossible for me to remember everyone.


    There were two males and one female in this group.


    The female was holding a staff while the other two were holding swords.


    One of them had arge sword and the other one had a small sword, making it clear what their roles were.


    The one with therge sword was most likely the tank while the one with the small sword was a DPS. The female was either a mage or a healer.


    This was a rather well bnced party, which made it reasonable that they would team up like this.


    But the way that they argued really destroyed all logic in this.


    If they argued like this, it was clear that they wouldn''t be able to work together. If they couldn''t work together, then all benefits of forming a party like this would be negated.


    Now that they hade to the same area as me, they were implicating me.


    If it wasn''t for them, I would have been able to take care of this area boss.


    Since they were like this, I decided that I would use them as cannon fodder.


    At the very least, they would be able to weaken the boss and make it easier for me to take care of the area boss.


    If it seemed like they were about to kill it¡­then I would have to take action.


    Once they arrived in the area of the temple, they finally stopped arguing.


    The one that had said that his power was telling him that there was an area boss here was the young man with the small sword. Seeing the lizardman who was standing at the altar, he turned to the others with a smug look.


    The other two had a slightly displeased look seeing him act this way, but they forced themselves to stay calm so as to not give him the satisfaction.


    Once they were done with this, the young man with the small sword said to the young man with therge sword, "Go and grab their attention. I''lle in from behind and take care of them all."


    read-first-on-MVLeMpYr


    The young man with therge sword had already been nning on doing this, but hearing what the young man with the small sword said, he stopped himself. If he went now, it would almost seem like he was doing it because the young man with the small sword had told him to do it.


    This was the one thing that his pride wouldn''t allow.


    So he just loitered around, as if he wasn''t nning on doing a thing which served to enrage the young man with the small sword.


    The face of the young man with the small sword twisted when he saw him acting this way, so he said, "Do you have a problem? You''re the one that suggested that we work together in the first ce."


    The young man with therge sword didn''t back down at all as he said, "Don''t order me around."


    The young man with the small sword became even angrier as he raised his voice, "You''re the one who begged me toe with you and now you''re acting like you''re in charge? If you''re going to act like this, I wouldn''t have even bothereding along."


    "Huh?" The man with therge sword also raised his voice when he heard this before saying, "Who did you say begged for your help? You were the one that begged me to take you along and I was gracious enough to bring you with me. If it wasn''t for me, your sorry a** would still be all the way back at the entrance by yourself."


    The two of them seemed like they were about to fight when the girl with the staff said, "Can you just do something already? I don''t want to waste my time with the two of you fools. You''re both not my type and I would prefer to find someone more handsome."


    The faces of the two young men immediately twisted when they heard this.


    It would be a lie to say that the words of this girl didn''t hurt their feelings since they were quite confident in their appearances.


    But for her to say it this bluntly was like stabbing their hearts and their pride.


    They both were about to say something, but there was movement that came from in front of them.


    Because of their arguing, the elite sahuagins and lizardman had noticed them, so they starteding over.

 Chapter 121: Irregular License Exam (8)

    The moment that they saw these elite sahuagins and lizardmaning over, they stopped arguing.


    Even if they were confident in their abilities, they could feel the pressure that wasing from the lizardman.


    They knew that if they kept arguing like this, it would be impossible for them to fight against these monsters.


    So they immediately stopped talking and pulled out their weapons again.


    The young man with therge sword stepped forward to face them while the other two took his nks.


    They clearly knew what positions to take even though it seemed like they didn''t get along.


    The lizardman surprisingly had a cautious character, so it didn''te forward right away. Instead, with a screech, it sent the elite sahuagins forward to test these three first.


    The elite sahuagins outnumbered these humans, but they also didn''t rush them and warily approached them.


    It seemed that these monsters had the same personality as the boss.


    They spread out a bit and slowly surrounded the humans, but they didn''t move forward any further after they came within ten meters. They just maintained this distance as if they were wary that the humans would do something.


    The three humans also didn''t do anything as they waited to see what these sahuagins would do.


    A stalemate suddenly appeared.


    But that stalemate didn''tst long as the sahuagins suddenly dipped the head of their tridents into the water at their feet.


    The three humans could feel magic gathering around the sahuagins. Even if they didn''t know exactly what the sahuagins were doing, they raised their guard so that they could react at any second.


    After a few seconds of gathering their magic, the sahuagins suddenly flicked their tridents up at the humans.


    As they did, the water that had been at their feet suddenly came up with the flick of the trident. This water didn''t just go forward a bit and ssh back down, instead this water took the form of many needles as they shot out at the humans.


    When the humans saw this, all three of them knitted their brows.


    The young man with therge sword raised that sword in front of him so that the t of the de was facing these needles.


    Then with a roar, energy spilled out from that sword to create a barrier in front of him.


    That barrier blocked all of the water needles that had been shot out at them.


    When thest one was blocked by the barrier, that young man shouted, "Now!"


    This-is-a-MVLeMpYr-special


    The two at his nk immediately reacted when he shouted out and they both raised their weapons to attack.


    The young man with the small sword stabbed out and there was a gust of wind that appeared around him before disappearing.


    The girl raised her staff and gathered pure mana around herself before shooting them out as magic missiles.


    One of the sahuagins was suddenly hit by something sharp in the shoulder and purple blood sshed out.


    The rest of them immediately raised their tridents and there was a barrier of water that appeared in front of them, blocking the magic missiles¡­or at least that was what should have happened.


    Instead, the magic missiles suddenly started to spin and with the prative force this spin brought, they pierced through the water wall and stabbed into the sahuagins.


    The wall did block the magic missiles to a certain extent, so these sahuagins weren''t as injured as the one who had been stabbed first. They were hit in different ces by the magic missiles, but only a bit of blood came out.


    The first sahuagin hit had been pierced deep, but the rest had only suffered surface injuries.


    As I watched all of this, I couldn''t help being a bit impressed by these three.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help analyzing what their power was.


    For the young man with therge sword.


    "He has some kind of barrier ability¡­But does it need that sword to activate or is it freely controlled?"


    For the young man with the small sword.


    "He controls wind, but it''s weaker than Hayato¡­When he attacked, he used a stab to concentrate his wind powers so that it would have greater power."


    And for the girl with the staff.


    "It seems like she''s some kind of magician, but shecks mana. The magic missiles that she gathered made up for it by being concentrated and using spin to prate."


    They had creative ways of making up for their ws, but¡­


    It was just too bad that they ran into me.


    They had stolen my prey, so of course I would make them suffer.


    But for now, I would keep watching and waiting for my chance to strike.


    These three were without a doubt powerful, but there was still a major w with their group.


    They had no cooperation at all.


    They were able to push back the sahuagins at first with their surprise attack, but once the sahuagins knew what they were capable of, they didn''t fall for their tricks anymore.


    Not to mention, after that first sh, the young man with therge sword charged forward, leaving the two behind him open.


    He had wanted to charge forward to draw in the sahuagins to make it easier for the other two to attack, but the sahuagins didn''t fall for this and moved out of his range.


    Then as he followed them, he was lured away from the other two.


    Three sahuagins were all that it took to pin him down with water needles while the other two targeted the two humans. One each for each human, shooting out water needles to pin them down.


    The two attackers had no choice but to use their abilities to protect themselves instead of helping the young man with therge sword who was also pinned down.


    Just like this, the advantage had gone back to the monsters.


    It seemed that even without my interference, these three would be taken out soon.


    The young man with therge sword also recognized this, so he lost his temper.


    "That''s it! I''m going all out!"


    With that, he threw away hisrge sword and a burst of energy came from him.

 Chapter 122: Irregular License Exam (9)

    This energy that burst forth from this young man suddenly formed a barrier around him.


    This wasn''t a barrier in the traditional sense of a barrier, but rather a barrier that was wrapped around him like ayer of skin. This barrier was created topletely cover him from head to toe, just like a suit of armour.


    With this barrier, he was able to resist all of the water needles that came at him, allowing him to push the sahuagins.


    When the sahuagins noticed this, they immediately started to draw back while firing more water needles.


    However, the young man with the barrier ignored all of this.


    The sahuagins were retreating while shooting these water needles, so they were moving slower than normal.


    The young man had abandoned all caution and was charging them with reckless abandon, so he was able to catch up to them easily and m his fists up against their tridents.


    One would think that the human fist would be weaker than a trident, but there was a nging sound like metal hitting metal when the young man''s fist hit the trident.


    The sahuagins were all pushed back by this rush by the young man.


    The two that had been focusing on the other two humans had no choice but toe and help the other sahuagins take down this human.


    It was at this time that the young man with the small sword and the girl with the staff took advantage of this opening.


    Both of them quickly shot out attacks at the two sahuagins that had turned their backs to them.


    These might be attacks that had been released in haste, but there was no doubting the power behind them.


    With this, it would be enough to take down the sahuagins.


    I was debating whether to jump in at this moment, but it turned out that it was unnecessary.


    There were two walls of water that suddenly came up from the ground that blocked the attacks for these two sahuagins.


    Unlike before where these attacks had been able to pierce through the walls of water, these walls of water stood firm against these attacks.


    When the two of them looked closely, they found that it was the lizardman who had created these two walls of water.


    The lizardman had dipped its trident in the water and that was what created these two walls.


    But because of this, there was what seemed to be an opening that appeared.


    There was a moment where they would be able to attack the lizardman.


    "I won''t let this chance escape!" The young man with the barrier shouted before pushing back the sahuagins and charging at the lizardman.


    He didn''t even bother picking up a weapon, he was just using the barrier around him to attack.


    With his fists raised, the young man wanted to punch a hole through the lizardman.


    But before he could make contact, the lizardman suddenly swung his trident up so that the back part of it wasing at the young man.


    The young man immediately raised his arms to block it, concentrating his barrier there.


    But he was knocked back in the end and there was blood that dripped down his arms.


    Even though he had used his barrier to protect himself, the trident of the lizardman had cut right through his barrier.


    The three of them were back in their original position, but this time¡­the lizardman had moved.


    Seeing this, the young man with the barrier said, "If you two don''t fight for real, we won''t be able to win."


    The other two revealed grim looks, but they realized that he was right.


    If they kept holding back, they might all die here.


    So there was a burst of energy that suddenly came from the two of them.


    The young man with the barrier gave a nod before turning back to the lizardman, but he found that the lizardman was gone.


    When he looked around, he found that the lizardman was already to his side, aiming his trident at him.


    This speed¡­was something else.


    He knew that he wouldn''t be able to fully block the attack of the lizardman, so instead of facing it head on, he moved a bit to the side. He was nning on parrying this attack so that he could attack the lizardman back.


    After moving to the side, he punched at the lizardman''s trident while spinning his arm.


    He was nning on using the barrier and the spin to deflect this trident.


    But before he could¡­the lizardman suddenly started moving faster.


    It was as if the lizardman had been hiding its power and was just using it at thest second.


    The trident was just too fast for him to keep up with to parry, so he had no choice but to release his full barrier to protect himself.


    The trident suddenly went right past his arm and stabbed him right in the chest, sending him flying.


    If it wasn''t for the barrier that he had gathered, there might be a hole in him right now. exclusive-content-MvLeMpYr


    But the impact had been more than enough to hurt him, causing him to spit out arge mouthful of blood.


    At the same time, the impact had caught the other two who had been behind him, sending them all flying.


    They were sent flying to the entrance of this room behind them, falling to the ground together.


    Seeing the condition that the young man with the barrier was in, the other two looked at each other before grabbing him and turning to run.


    They knew that they wouldn''t be able to block the attacks of the lizardman without him, so if they kept trying to fight this lizardman, there was only death waiting for them.


    In that case, there was no reason for them to keep fighting this lizardman.


    Even if it meant giving up these points, it was more important to keep their lives.


    As he was being dragged away, the young man with the barrier was looking at the lizardman.


    The lizardman was looking at his own trident with a confused look, almost as if he couldn''t understand how he had suddenly used that much power.


    But why would this lizardman be confused?


    That was hisst thought as he was dragged out of the room.

 Chapter 123: Irregular License Exam (10)

    After they had disappeared, the lizardman and the elite sahuagins went back to the altar.


    They werepletely unaware of the extra person that was still hiding inside of this room.


    When I saw the dust settle and everyone was gone, I revealed a sly smile.


    My n had gone off without a hitch and I had been able to chase off thesepetitors while injuring them. At the same time, they had hurt the monsters to a certain extent which would make this easier for me.


    I would have almost thanked them if it wasn''t for the fact that they had interrupted me when I was about to fight the lizardman.


    So I waited a minute for everything to return to normal before making my way to the entrance to this room.


    I looked down the hallway to make sure that there was no one elseing before turning to the lizardman.


    Since there was no one else here now, it was my turn.


    With a smile on my face, I softly said, "Time Stop."


    The moment that I said this, time all around me froze.


    The sahuagins and the lizardman who had been dressing their wounds suddenly stopped moving.


    They just stood there as if they were frozen in time¡­though technically that was what had happened.


    I slowly walked over to them with my sword pulled out and in one quick swing, I cut the throats of the elite sahuagins.


    I might have struggled before cutting through the throats of these monsters, but it was different now.


    Not only did I have a powerful and sharp sword, I was also much stronger than before.


    I hadn''t gone through Su Chen''s training for nothing.


    The past me couldn''tpare to the current me.


    It was like cutting through butter, slitting the throat of these sahuagins.


    But I didn''t kill the lizardman just like this.


    It wasn''t that I wasn''t able to kill the lizardman like this, it would have been easy for me to slit its throat while it couldn''t move.


    It was because there was something else that I needed from this lizardman.


    I stopped a few steps away from the lizardman and released the Time Stop.


    The moment that I did, there were spurts of purple blood that came from the throats of the sahuagin before they all fell to the ground. When theynded on the ground, the light in their eyes had already gone out.


    In theirst moments, they didn''t even know how they had died¡­


    But the lizardman was different.


    The lizardman was shocked to see its subordinates suddenly dying like this, but it didn''t have time to mourn them. After all, whatever had done this to its subordinates was still around and it needed to find it before it did anything.


    The lizardman was about to look around for whatever did this, but then its eyes suddenly fell onto me.


    Its eyes opened even wider in shock when it saw me just casually standing there in front of it.


    There was a look of confusion as if it couldn''t understand what had just happened.


    After all, in the eyes of this lizardman, it had seemed like I had appeared out of nowhere and killed all of its subordinates.


    But even when facing the unknown like this, the lizardman didn''t back down.


    It gripped its trident with both hands and aimed the tip at me, as if it was prepared to attack at any moment.


    I didn''t show any signs of fear seeing this and just raised my hand to taunt it, "Come and get me."


    The lizardman once again revealed a shocked look when it saw this, but it didn''t back down when challenged like this.


    It did have a bad feeling about all of this and knew that it should just run, but it couldn''t because of its pride.


    So in the end, the lizardman suddenly took a step forward and stabbed that trident at me.


    But the lizardman never took more than that single step.


    All of a sudden, the lizardman stumbled and fell to the ground as a pained look appeared on its face.


    It began writing as if its body was filled with pain.


    Seeing this, I revealed a smile as I muttered, "It seems like the test is a sess."


    As for what that meant¡­


    Earlier, when the lizardman suddenly gained that burst of speed and power was because of me.


    I had used Time Stop and went over to the lizardman to use my ability on it.


    I had increased the lizardman''s speed and power before releasing the Time Stop.


    This was a two part experiment.


    One was to see if I could buff someone while I had them trapped in a Time Stop.


    And two was to see if monsters would suffer the same side effect from my abilities as humans would.


    As long as I could confirm these two things, there would be many things that I could do in the future.


    Such as powering up a monster to take care of my enemies and then taking care of it once it was weakened.


    Or even powering someone up to fool them into thinking that they had awakened their power. Then once they lost that power and they were hit with the side effects, I could easily kill them.


    There were many ways to use what I had learned, so I was very satisfied with the results of this test.


    Looking at the lizardman lying on the ground, I said with a smile, "Thank you for helping me with my tests today. It was a real enlightening experience, everything that you''ve taught me. I won''t forget your sacrifice."


    As I said this, there was fear that appeared in the lizardman''s eyes.


    content-source-NovelFire


    I didn''t know if it could understand what I was saying, but it was clear that it understood the gist because of the fear that appeared in its eyes.


    So in the end, I didn''t say anything else as I put the lizardman out of its misery with one single stab of the sword between its eyes.

 Chapter 124: Irregular License Exam (11)

    After finishing off the lizardman, I found that there was another passage hidden behind the altar.


    I didn''t waste any time in picking up the loot dropped by the lizardman and heading down that hidden passage.


    As I did, I also snuck a peek at the rankings on my bracelet.


    Even though I had to wait a bit, giving the others a chance, I had still jumped up to the top after killing these five elite sahuagins and the lizardman.


    The area boss was ten points while the elite monsters were two points each.


    So that was a total of twenty points. NovelFire-novel-source


    The second highest scorer only had eleven points.


    This really was the difference between targetingrge amounts of points versus grinding out on small monsters for points.


    Just one sess was enough to propel one to the top.


    Of course, I knew that this was far from over yet.


    There was still plenty of time left in this dungeon.


    We were allowed to stay in the dungeon for up to three days, hunting as much as we could.


    The moment that we stepped out of the dungeon entrance, that would be it and our points would be counted. We wouldn''t have a chance toe back in again after we left the dungeon.


    I was just d that a supply pack had been prepared for me.


    It included a full set of camping gear, so I wouldn''t have a problem staying in the dungeon.


    The one problem might be having to watch out for monsters while sleeping, but there were safe zones in the dungeon for that.


    For now, I should see if I could find another area boss to take down or even try to find the dungeon boss.


    The dungeon boss was powerful, but it was also worth the most points.


    With my current powers, there was no reason why I wouldn''t be able to take down that dungeon boss. And even if I couldn''t, I would still be able to escape as long as I had my Time Stop skill.


    So the dungeon boss was my target.


    I quickly traveled through the passage, but there really was no luck for me.


    Other than a few sahuagins that I quickly took out with a single Time Stop and a sh of my sword, I wasn''t able to find any area bosses or even elite monsters.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by how quickly the others were climbing.


    I had barely been able to keep my lead over the second ce with the few sahuagins that I killed.


    I was currently at twenty eight points while second ce was at twenty five points.


    As I watched the points of others increase, I realized a big problem¡­


    I didn''t have a search ability to find monsters with.


    That was how the other side kept increasing their point value while I was struggling to find even a few monsters to kill.


    I had to admit that my luck was really good the first time, being able to find that lizardman area boss. If it wasn''t for that, I might even be ranked at the very bottom right now.


    Taking a deep breath, I just decided to keep going.


    There was no reason to be depressed, I could only keep going in hopes of finding something.


    But before I could take a single step, there was a noise that came from behind me.


    Or rather, it was just then that I noticed this noise from behind.


    The noise had been there the whole time, but I had been lost in thought, so I hadn''t noticed it.


    When I turned around, I found that there was a cloaked figure being chased by several elite sahuagins running towards me.


    When this cloaked figure saw me, a voice said, "Please help me!"


    Though this cloaked figure looked like a man, the voice was that of a girl.


    It was already toote for me to run away, so I just gave a sigh and thought, "Time Stop."


    As soon as I thought this, the time around me froze and everything stopped moving.


    I walked past the cloaked figure, making sure to trip them before walking over to the elite sahuagins.


    With one quick sh of my sword I slit all of their throats and then moved past them to make a quick pose before releasing my Time Stop.


    That way, it would seem like I had used some kind of amazing sword skill to cut the elite sahuagins instead of seeming like I had suddenly appeared in front of the elite sahuagins and cut them down.


    As soon as the Time Stop was released, the elite sahuagins started bleeding by the neck before falling to the ground.


    At the same time, the cloaked figure seemingly tripped on thin air and fell face first to the ground.


    Seeing them fall like this really gave me a satisfied feeling since they were the one that dragged me into this.


    But what really felt good was the points I earned from the elite sahuagins.


    There were six of them in total, so that meant a total of twelve points for me.


    That would create arge gap between me and second ce, so I could rest easy for a bit.


    After falling face first to the ground, that cloaked figure was in a daze for a bit before suddenly looking up.


    When they saw the dead sahuagins on the ground, they couldn''t help trembling before turning to look at me.


    Seeing me stand there over the sahuagins, they once again looked on in a daze before suddenly charging over to me and saying in the same feminine voice, "Thank you for saving me!"


    As they tried to hug me, I pushed them away to stop them from doing so.


    That cloaked figure stopped after seeing that I wouldn''t let them hug me before looking down at themselves.


    Then with an ''oh'' sound, their appearance started to change.


    That cloaked figure disappeared like an illusion before revealing a little girl.

 Chapter 125: Irregular License Exam (12)

    I couldn''t help being surprised by this sudden change, especially when I saw the little girl.


    This little girl seemed like she was too young to be in a ce like this.


    This was a little girl with ck hair in twin tails with fair skin and a pretty face who looked no more than thirteen years old.


    A little girl like this really had no ce in a dangerous dungeon like this, but here she was.


    After being taken aback, I immediately raised my guard since no matter how I looked at this, it seemed like a trap. For that cloaked figure to suddenly be a little girl like this it seemed like they were just trying to get me to let my guard down.


    But that little girl took advantage of my surprise to run forward and to hug me by the waist.


    With how short she was, I had misjudged and tried to push her back only for my hand to go over her.


    She hugged onto my waist as she said in the voice that suited her, "Thank you, thank you for saving me."


    I knitted my brows slightly as she did this, waiting for something to happen.


    But in the end, nothing happened.


    She just hugged my waist and put her head up against me while she was crying and thanking me.


    It really made me feel awkward seeing her like this with my guard still up, so I gave a sigh and said, "Alright, alright, that''s enough. There''s no need to keep crying like this."


    But all that did was make her cry even louder.


    She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, "But it was scary!"


    I gave a sigh before patting her on the head just like I had done for my little sister when she was younger.


    After patting her a bit, this little girl slowly started to calm down.


    Of course, it helped when I said, "If you keep making this much noise, you''ll just attract more monsters." -chapter


    As soon as I said that, she stopped making as much noise even if she was still crying.


    Finally after taking some time to calm down, I took a deep breath and looked at her before saying, "Can you tell me why they were chasing you?"


    The little girl just slowly shook her head and said, "I have no idea. I was going through the dungeon looking for monsters when all of a sudden, they all started chasing me like this."


    I knitted my brows slightly after hearing this.


    After all, being chased like this was a good thing since it meant more monsters to kill.


    So why did this little girl suddenly run away from them like this?


    As if she was guessing what I was thinking, the little girl said, "I can''t use my powers when I''m being chased like this. I need time to use my abilities."


    I looked at her for a bit before slowly giving a nod since it was the only thing that could make sense.


    After all, I had seen how much power she had used back in the first trial.


    This cloaked figure was the one that had been able to knock back that dummy, the second highest scorer after me. With that kind of power, she should have been able to easily defeat these elite sahuagins.


    Since all of my doubts had been answered, there was no reason for me to stick around anymore.


    If I learned her name, I would just get caught up further with her and that was thest thing that I wanted.


    So there was no reason for me to hang around any longer.


    But as I was about to walk away, the little girl suddenly grabbed my sleeve and wouldn''t let me go. I tried to pull my arm away, but the little girl wouldn''t let go as she firmly held onto my arm which made me feel even more awkward.


    After a moment of silence, she looked up at me and said, "Can we work together?"


    I revealed an ugly expression when I heard this, but that quickly disappeared as I said with a calm look, "I prefer working alone."


    The little girl opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying, "I can be helpful, my power is very useful!"


    I just said in the same calm voice, "I work better alone. It would be worse for me if I went along with someone."


    The little girl didn''t know what to say after hearing this, so she gave up trying to use logic.


    Instead, she just said in a sad voice, "Please don''t leave me alone, big brother."


    Normally I would have ignored this, but I couldn''t help being moved a bit when I saw her like this because¡­she reminded me of my little sister.


    Still, I steeled my heart in the end and was determined to reject her request.


    Before I could though, there was another sound that came from nearby.


    When I turned to look in the direction of that sound, I found that it was another group of elite sahuagins running at us.


    I didn''t know why they were suddenlying at us like this, but it seemed like¡­they were targeting this little girl.


    The moment that this little girl saw these sahuagins running at her, she immediately went to hide behind me.


    I gave a sigh seeing this, but I didn''t turn away from those sahuagins.


    After all, there were another six of them and that was another twelve points for me.


    So with a thought, time froze around us again.


    Then in one swift move, I went over to the sahuagin and cut their throats just like before. After cutting them, I took the same pose before releasing the Time Stop.


    When the Time Stop was gone, the sahuagins fell to the ground bleeding from their throats.


    I couldn''t help looking at the little girl with a strange look.


    After all, it almost seemed like the sahuagins had been specifically chasing her¡­

 Chapter 126: Irregular License Exam (13)

    I looked at the little girl and asked, "Do you have something special on you that''s drawing the monsters in?"


    The little girl couldn''t help revealing a confused look when she heard this.


    She looked all over her body, but she wasn''t able to find a thing. So she just shook her head and said, "No, I don''t think so."


    I looked at her too, but I also couldn''t find a single thing wrong with her.


    So why were all of those sahuagins attracted to her?


    Just why did it seem like they wanted to hunt her down?


    Could it be that monsters were just drawn to her naturally?


    If that was the case, then that really was dangerous in a ce like this¡­or it would be if it was anyone else.


    But right now, wasn''t this what I needed the most?


    I couldn''t find the monsters on my own and if she could draw monsters to her, then I would be able to use her to bring monsters in for me to kill. I needed to kill a constant stream of monsters to remain on top while exploring, so going with her seemed like the best option.


    It was just that if I went with her¡­it would make things less convenient for me.


    I had to slowly debate whether to go with her or leave her alone.


    During this, as if she could read my thoughts based on the expression on my face, the little girl said, "I''m very powerful as long as I have the time to use my ability."


    As she said this, she made sure to puff out her chest as if she was showing off how strong she was.


    But it looked like nothing more than a little animal puffing out their fur to make themselves look more threatening.


    The problem was that it did have an effect on me¡­


    Seeing her like this reminded me of my little sister and I couldn''t help wavering.


    So in the end, I said with a sigh, "Alright, you cane with me. But you have to follow my orders, understood?"


    The little girl''s eyes lit up before she gave a serious nod.


    I reached my hand with the bracelet out towards her and she did the same.


    The examiners had exined this before we entered the dungeon.


    When we tapped our bracelets together like this, there was a message that popped up that said, "You have sessfully formed a party."


    With this, we had officially formed a party, or at least in the eyes of the exam system.


    We would share all the points that we obtained from now on which was a disadvantage to me, but now it didn''t matter who killed the monsters since we would both get points. NovelFire-content


    As I was about to say something else, there was another set of footsteps that came up behind us.


    When I turned around, I saw that there was another group of elite sahuagins running at us.


    I just gave a sigh and stood up to take care of them, but then I realized something.


    I turned back to the little girl and asked, "If I stop them, will you be able to use your ability?"


    The little girl was surprised to hear this, but she gave a firm and determined nod before saying, "As long as you can stop them from charging at me, I can use my ability to kill them all."


    I gave a nod as I said, "Alright."


    Then turning to the elite sahuagins, I took one step forward before saying, "Be dizzy."


    The moment that I said this, all of the elite sahuagins suddenly stopped moving as they faltered.


    The little girl was once again surprised to see this, but I said, "What are you waiting for? I''ve stopped them."


    The little girl jolted at hearing this, but then she revealed a firm look as she nodded.


    She had gotten used to seeing me take care of the sahuagins that she thought that I would do it again. But seeing this, she understood what I was doing.


    I had stopped them to give her a chance to show off her abilities.


    She knew that this was her chance to prove her worth, so she didn''t hold back at all.


    Once again, it was as if an illusion appeared as the little girl turned into the cloaked figure once again.


    This time though, he had arge scythe in his hands.


    This cloaked figure swung thatrge scythe out, which I thought would hit the wall of the dungeon, but it went right through the wall as if it didn''t even exist. Then it swung out to cut right through the sahuagins, but it didn''t go through them like the wall.


    Well¡­it did go through them, but it didn''t phase through them like with the wall.


    It cut cleanly through the sahuagins, cutting them in half by the waist beforeing out the other side.


    The sahuagins didn''t react at first to being cut like this, but then there was a spurt of purple blood before the top half of the sahuagins started slipping off the bottom half.


    Once they slipped off, the bottom halves of the sahuagins also started to fall backwards before creating arge mess.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that monster corpses disappeared in dungeons, it was certain that a bunch more monsters would have been drawn in by this.


    I couldn''t help looking at the cloaked figure in shock as I never expected this much power toe from this little girl.


    Especially when she cut the sahuagins in half.


    I might be able to aplish something simr by boosting myself with my strongest buff, but I definitely wouldn''t be able to do it normally.


    That just went to show how much power was in a single swing.


    At the same time, there was a trace of doubt that appeared in my eyes.


    Could it be that she was lying about herself?


    No, she wouldn''t have shown me that if she was lying.


    So was it that she was really just that strong?


    I couldn''t help feeling a strange feeling as I looked at the cloaked figure disappear and the little girl reappear.

 Chapter 127: Irregular License Exam (14)

    When she felt me looking at her like this, the little girl couldn''t help revealing a blush as she said, "If you keep looking at me like this, I''ll feel embarrassed."


    Being called out like this made me feel awkward, so I slowly turned away.


    Though there was still that strange look in my eyes.


    After giving a cough to calm myself down, I asked, "Is your ability a summoning ability? Was that what that cloaked figure was?"


    The little girl shook her head before saying, "Illusion. My ability is creating illusions."


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help saying with a confused look.


    I looked at the sahuagin corpses on the ground that had started disappearing before looking back at her with an even more confused look.


    "Illusions? You''re telling me that you did all of that with just illusions?" I said in an astonished voice.


    The little girl couldn''t help feeling a bit embarrassed with the way that I saw staring at her, so she lowered her head with a blush before giving a slight nod.


    "How?" That was the only thing that I could say when I saw this.


    She didn''t say anything at first, but then she slowly said, "My ability is called Illusion World. It gives me the ability to create illusions around me with magic, which was what that cloaked appearance was. I wanted to create an appearance that was scary like a death god so that people wouldn''t do anything to me¡­"


    She kept going on to exin why she had taken the form that she had taken.


    I let her go on at first since I thought that it would eventually stop, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    This little girl seemed like the shy type at first, but when something got her started¡­she really didn''t stop.


    In the end, I could only give a cough to stop her before she kept going forever.


    The little girl realized that she had been rambling, so she stopped with a blush on her face.


    I just got us back on topic by asking, "So how does your illusion ability allow you to do something like this?" At that, I pointed at the sahuagin corpses¡­or rather the drops that had been left on the ground since the sahuagin corpses had disappeared.


    It was a good thing that they did since the smell was also starting to get to me.


    The little girl just calmly said, "If you believe it''s true, it will happen to you. That''s how I use my illusion to affect people."


    My chin dropped when I heard this.


    If you believe it''s true, it will happen¡­


    This wasn''t a light statement.


    It seemed like she didn''t recognize just how powerful her ability could be¡­


    If one believed in something, then it would be real.


    If she created an illusion that broke the fundamentalws of the world, then would it alsoe true if one believed in it?


    Did that mean that if she created gold with her illusion and people believed in it, it would also be real?


    Or if she decided that gravity no longer existed, would it disappear?


    I''m sure that there would be limitations to this power, but this was clearly a power that could be used to destroy the world if it was used inappropriately. If it was used properly, then one could easily take over the world¡­


    I really couldn''t help looking at this little girl with a strange look after hearing this and all she could do was look away with an embarrassed look.


    After thinking for a bit, I reached out my hand and said, "Can you give me your hand for a bit?"


    The blush on the little girl''s face became a bit brighter when she heard this.


    She looked down at my hand and said, "Isn''t this a bit too forward? We''ve just met and¡­"


    She started muttering all kinds of different things after this.


    It seemed that she had misunderstood something, but she still put her hand in my hand in the end.


    I didn''t exin anything and just pretended that I didn''t hear anything as I focused on her hand.


    During my training, I learned many different things.


    I didn''t just work my body with Su Chen, but also learned other things that were taught to me by Elementia.


    That included the ability to sense mana.


    I was currently using that ability to sense the mana inside of this little girl''s body.


    The moment that I did, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    That was because I could feel the raging mana inside of this little girl.


    She had stores of mana that were evenparable to what Bing Lan, a S Ranker would have. She just wasn''t able to control thisrge amount of mana well enough that she was able to do anything with it.


    But in the future¡­


    I looked at the little girl with an astonished expression, but she just said, "It''s embarrassing if you look at me like this while holding my hand."


    I realized my mistake and let go of her hand, though it did seem like she was a bit disappointed when I did. this chapter is mv|le|mp|y r


    But with this, I had figured out the mystery of why the monsters kept chasing her.


    It was because they were all attracted to therge amount of mana that she had.


    Monsters would evolve and grow stronger if they obtained more mana and her mana was the perfect food for them, so of course they would be attracted to her.


    They wanted that mana that was inside of her for their own benefit.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "We should move away from here before more monsters show up."


    The little girl gave a nod, but she hesitated in moving.


    I looked at her with one brow raised and asked, "Is something wrong?"


    She slowly shook her head, but she still didn''t move. That was until she said, "I don''t even know your name yet."


    I was surprised by this, but I realized that she was right.


    Neither of us had introduced ourselves yet.


    So I calmly said, "My name is Lin Fan and you are?"


    The little girl looked at me with a shy smile and said, "Long Shui Ling."

 Chapter 128: Irregular License Exam (15)

    The two of us continued further into the dungeon, but we didn''t have much luck finding anything.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that monsters kept chasing after Long Shui Ling, we might not have been able to earn any points at all.


    It seemed that it really was hard to find those area bosses¡­


    But it wasn''t as hard for others.


    While we had been moving through the dungeon, I had been paying attention to the rankings.


    From time to time, there were people that jumped up five or ten points, which meant that they most likely killed an area boss.


    It seemed that the area bosses were slowly being hunted in this dungeon and there wouldn''t be many of them left.


    If I wanted to ensure that I could stay in the lead, I would have to target the dungeon boss.


    Of course, finding the dungeon boss was apletely different story¡­


    As we explored the dungeon, time passed.


    Without a watch, one might really lose track of time in this ce and forget to pace themselves.


    But with a watch, I knew that it was already evening outside.


    We had stopped earlier for lunch, but now it was time for dinner and to find a ce to settle down for the night.


    However, before we could even do that, I realized a problem.


    Long Shui Ling kept drawing in monsters with herrge amounts of mana.


    I hadn''t tested it in a safe zone yet, but I wasn''t willing to gamble that it would be enough to keep the monsters away. So did that mean that we would have to stay up all night just to avoid the monsters?


    But if we did, there was no doubt that we would be drained the next morning¡­


    This was a dungeon run that wouldst three days and if we didn''t pace ourselves, we would surely die because of exhaustion.


    As I was worrying about this, Long Shui Ling could see that something was wrong, so she asked, "What happened?"


    I looked at her with a strange look that almost seemed like I was debating on whether to abandon her or not. But I decided against it since I recognized her potential and knew that I should find a chance to bring her under me while she was still weak and unknown.


    So I took a deep breath and told her the truth.


    She was surprised to hear this, but then she said with a smile, "It''s not a problem at all."


    I raised a brow when she said this, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to exin.


    Long Shui Ling raised her hand where there was a ring on her index finger. With a wave of that hand, there was an orb that suddenly appeared in her hand.


    But even though this orb appeared, it was as if I couldn''t feel anything from it.


    It was like even though my eyes could feel this orb, my senses told me that this orb didn''t exist¡­


    It was a very strange feeling that was hard to describe, but that was what it was like.


    I knew for sure that this wasn''t a normal item.


    Seeing the strange way that I was looking at this orb, Long Shui Ling exined, "This is a special item that my dad gave me that will hide me for some time. He said that I would need it for when I was in the dungeon. I didn''t understand why he said it at the time, but¡­"


    Once again, she started rambling as soon as she began talking.


    I had to stop her again by saying, "Why didn''t you use it sooner then?"


    If she had this thing, she could have been using it the entire time to hide from the monsters instead of being chased around like that.


    Though if the monsters hadn''t been chasing her¡­I would have never met her.


    So was it a blessing in disguise or was it a curse?


    Long Shui Ling revealed an awkward look before saying, "There''s a limit to it. It only works three times and it onlysts eight hours each time. So I was told to only use this for when I was sleeping."


    I gave a slow nod in response to this.


    As expected, there would be limitations to this powerful item.


    But still, the fact that Long Shui Ling was able to get an item like this showed that her backing wasn''t simple¡­


    After she exined this, I just said, "At least it''ll allow us to get a good night''s rest."


    Long Shui Ling gave a happy nod when she heard this.


    Dinner was simple since we were in the middle of a dungeon. It wasn''t as if we could cook a proper meal with a simple fire like this.


    But I was surprised to find that she had also brought a bunch of spices with her.


    Long Shui Ling was able to add a bit of a kick to the nd curry that I had brought which I was grateful for.


    I couldn''t helpplimenting, "You really would make a great wife with your cooking skills."


    Long Shui Ling''s face immediately turned red when she heard this, but she also lowered her head with a happy smile on her face.


    Other than the few monsters that appeared during dinner, there really wasn''t much else that happened.


    Since we were in a safe zone, there were less monsters that appeared even though some still chased after her.


    When it was time to sleep, I said, "You take the first shift, that way you can sleep in if you want in the morning."


    "Shifts?" Long Shui Ling said in a confused voice.


    I gave a nod before saying, "That''s right, the first guard shift."


    She was a young miss as he had expected, so she had never done something like this before. But she also understood that it was necessary for them to take guard shifts.


    After all, they were in a dungeon and they could be attacked at any time.


    There was no guarantee that the orb would be able to keep away all of the monsters, so they shouldn''t both go to sleep. One of them should keep guard just in case anything happens.


    So in the end, she just gave a slight nod to show that she understood.


    In her heart, she also knew that this was the bit of kindness that he was showing her.


    After all, the one that took the first shift would have it easier. story at mvle,mp|y|r


    It was always easier to stay up than to wake up early to stand watch.


    The one on the second watch would have less sleep and would have to be on guard, so they would be worse for wear tomorrow morning.


    Seeing that she agreed, I just said, "Wake me up in five hours."


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a surprised look, but I said, "Don''t worry, you can sleep inte. I''ll take care of the monsters thate."


    Long Shui Ling''s heart couldn''t help skipping a beat when she heard this and she gave a nod in the end.


    With that, she activated the bead and I went to sleep.

 Chapter 129: Irregular License Exam (16)

    I was woken up after around five hours by Long Shui Ling.


    Looking at the clock, it seemed like she had let me sleep an extra half an hour, so I couldn''t help looking at her with a grateful look.


    This just caused her to look down with a shy look again when she saw me looking at her like this.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t stay like this for long.


    She pulled out her nket and wrapped herself up to go to sleep¡­though it did take a while for her to go to sleep.


    It wasn''t because she was in the dungeon, but because of something else.


    During the time that he had been sleeping, while she had been keeping watch, she had been quite bored.


    So to pass the time, she had been secretly staring at him.


    It was secretly staring at him at first, but¡­it eventually became actively staring at him.


    For the past few hours, she had been staring at him without a care in the world.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t know why she did this, but she did know that it was calming to stare at him like this for some reason. It was as if staring at him made everything seem alright¡­


    But now that she had a moment to calm down and think about it, she couldn''t help feeling that it was embarrassing.


    "Why did I do that just now? What''s wrong with me?"


    Long Shui Ling said to herself again and again as she couldn''t tell what this feeling in her heart was.


    But it had been a long day, especially when she had been running from the monsters in the beginning.


    So it didn''t take her long to fall asleep.


    During this time, I had pulled out a book and had started reading.


    I didn''t see any new drops and I wasn''t woken up by any noise while I was sleeping, so it seemed that the bead worked.


    Since I had time while she was sleeping, I decided to read a bit.


    I wasn''t as strong as those others who had natural talent, so the only thing that I could do was make up for it with my intelligence. I wanted to improve my intelligence as much as possible and the best way was to gain more knowledge.


    Since there was nothing to do, I would make the best use of this time to read and gain more knowledge.


    But of course, that onlysted for the first few hours.


    The bead would onlyst eight hours, so after around three hours¡­the monsters started showing up again.


    To not disturb her rest, I made sure to use my Time Stop to take care of them.


    Though this might seem dangerous, I actually looked forward to it since there were now others that had taken my top spot.


    There were those that hunted monsters into the night and had pushed their scores up while I was asleep.


    I knew that this would mean that they would crash and burn eventually and they were just hurting themselves like this, but I still couldn''t help being bothered by it.


    Since the monsters wereing, why wouldn''t I take these free points?


    I needed them to pull myself back up onto the leaderboards.


    After cutting down these monsters, I gave a satisfied nod as I slowly climbed back up.


    There was no one that could keep up with my speed of point growth and it didn''t take long before I was back on top.


    There was only a single group that was above me and it was clear that they were in a group since they had the same amount of points.


    It was a group of three and they all had names that I didn''t recognize.


    Still, I was certain that it was only a matter of time before I surpassed them because I had my eyes set on the dungeon boss.


    After a few more hours, I finally went to wake Long Shui Ling up.


    But to my surprise, when I touched her to wake her up, she suddenly reached out and grabbed me by the chest.


    She hugged me as she pressed her head up against me.


    It was like¡­being grabbed by a ko with the way that she hung onto me.


    mv,le mpyr story


    I couldn''t help feeling that it was very awkward, but at the same time¡­I couldn''t help feeling that she was a bit cute with how she hung onto me.


    But before I could even do anything, Long Shui Ling suddenly woke up.


    She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me.


    In her sleepy daze, she rubbed her eyes and said, "Good morning."


    Even though her legs were still wrapped around me and she was hanging off with me with one arm.


    All I could do was awkwardly say, "Good¡­morning."


    Long Shui Ling slowly recognized the strange tone of my voice and she slowly looked down.


    She blinked twice as she looked at her arm and legs holding onto me, as if she was still trying to process what had happened.


    After blinking a few more times, she suddenly realized what she did and she immediately jumped off me.


    Long Shui Ling moved away from me like I had done something wrong to her, covering herself with her arms and closing her legs.


    If someone walked in now¡­they would have thought that I had assaulted her.


    But luckily, no one came in the end.


    Finally, she said, "I''m sorry, I¡­I didn''t mean to do that."


    I just gave an awkward cough before saying, "It''s fine, you did it in your sleep. I won''t take it to heart."


    Long Shui Ling lowered her head as a strong blush covered her face, but she said in a soft voice, "Thank you."


    The two of us just ate breakfast in silence after that, though it was a relief when a group of monsters showed up.


    They were able to break the awkwardness that hung in the air after that interaction.


    And in the end, we were able to leave without bringing it up.


    Though¡­it was still there in our hearts.

 Chapter 130: Irregular License Exam (17)

    The second day really didn''t have much action either.


    I was able to reim the top spot with all of the monsters that came chasing at Long Shui Ling, but I could see that those three behind weren''t giving up.


    They were doing all they could to keep up, but they didn''t have a monster attractor like me.


    With Long Shui Ling, I didn''t need to worry about searching for monsters, I could just let theme to me.


    At the same time, we also got lucky and found two more area bosses forrge boosts.


    When the night of the second day came, even though I slept for a bit, I found that I was still on top of the rankings when I woke up.


    The rate of increase for that group of three had dropped.


    It seemed that they had reached their limit.


    I revealed a satisfied smile seeing this, but I also knew¡­that I shouldn''t let my guard down.


    After all, there was still the dungeon boss left.


    One hundred points, that was arge amount no matter how one looked at it.


    I was currently at around eighty points while the group behind me were around sixty points each.


    Even if they were grouped up, a single dungeon boss would be more than enough to turn the tides.


    Not to mention, there would certainly be many smaller monsters and elite monsters gathered around the dungeon boss. That was the case for most dungeons, though it wasn''t the case for the Great Wolf since that Great Wolf was a loner.


    But the rest of the dungeons that I went to had all been like this.


    So I knew that it was imperative that I find the dungeon boss before this exam ended.


    The problem was¡­I didn''t have a tracking skill so I wouldn''t be able to find the dungeon boss like this.


    We had found some others in the dungeon during the second day, but none of them had any ideas as to where the dungeon boss was. I had snuck up on them and had listened in to their conversations to confirm this.


    It seemed that most people were stumped by the position of the dungeon boss.


    At the same time, I learned that many people had actually taken to working together, creating a smallwork to share information with each other in this dungeon.


    Through thatwork, they had already searched most of the dungeon and couldn''t find the dungeon boss.


    "It''s as if there''s a part of this dungeon that''s hidden¡­"


    That was what they had said.


    "A part of the dungeon that''s hidden¡­" I muttered to myself as I killed some new sahuagins that had appeared.


    Long Shui Ling seemed to notice something was wrong, so she said, "Should we take a break?"


    I looked at her before slowly giving a nod.


    I knew that she was being considerate, but she was also right.


    There was nothing to gain from forcing myself to search, it was better to calm down and analyze the situation based on the information that I had gained.


    I knew that there was nothing to gain from rashly running around searching for the dungeon boss.


    So we found a ce to sit down on the side before taking some time to think about it.


    I pulled out a piece of paper which had some markings on it.


    This was the map that I had been drawing the entire time.


    This was to make sure that I knew where I had explored and where I hadn''t explored.


    At the same time, there were some other parts of the map filled in which was the dungeon situation based on what I had heard from the other participants.


    I had almost aplete map of the dungeon, it was just that there wasn''t anything that I could find wrong about it.


    Even if I wanted to, I wasn''t able to figure out where the dungeon boss was.


    The map just didn''t make sense.


    They were right, it was almost as if there was some kind of hidden chamber in this dungeon that no one was able to find.


    I was about to give up when I suddenly heard, "Did you hear? That group has found the secret entrance to the dungeon boss''ir."


    Since this was a dangerous dungeon where monsters kept being attracted by Long Shui Ling, I had my ears buffed slightly with my ability so I could hear all the noises around us.


    But this had coincidentally allowed me to catch this conversation between these people.


    I immediately looked up and turned in the direction that these voices wereing from, focusing on their conversation.


    "What do you mean?"


    "That group has found a ce that seems like it opens up to reveal a secret chamber. It''s said that is where the dungeon boss is hiding."


    "Really? But why would they let us know about this if they found it. There''s nothing to gain from telling us, is there?"


    "Shh, keep your voice down. I heard that it''s because they need people to open it up. Without enough people, the dungeon boss door won''t open, so they''re spreading it to everyone."


    "So they just want to use us, is that it?"


    "Sigh, but it''s better than nothing right? At this rate, we won''t pass with how few points we have. At the very least, we''ll be able to pick up a few scraps if we go with them."


    "...I guess you''re right¡­but what about the top guy? Is he not going to make a move?"


    "I don''t know¡­there''s been no word from that top guy. It''s like he''spletely disappeared which is really worrying¡­but there''s no time to think about it now. We should go and join the fun before everything''s taken."


    With that, there were two sets of footsteps that rang out.


    Long Shui Ling was looking at me with a confused look when I suddenly stood up, so I turned and said, "I''ve found a trace of the dungeon boss, will youe with me?"


    She was surprised to hear this, but she gave a firm nod without hesitation in the end.


    After all, she was here to take the exam too, so she wanted to get as many points as possible as well.


    So with this, we followed the two to the gathering.

 Chapter 131: Irregular License Exam (18)

    When we came closer, I could hear quite a few voices from in front of us.


    There were still the voices of the two that we followed, but there were many other voices as well.


    It seemed that there were quite a few people gathered¡­


    If this ended up in a fight, this might actually be bad for me with how many people were here.


    There were just too many people for me to properly use my powers¡­


    For now, I decided to stay hidden and watch from afar.


    That was made even easier with Long Shui Ling''s illusion ability that made us seem like part of the wall.


    I couldn''t help feeling more and more happy about the decision to team up with her.


    Not only did she help draw in monsters to make up for the fact that I couldn''t find them, she also had that very useful illusion ability. Even if it took her a while to attack with it, there were still plenty of other uses for it like what she was using it for now.


    After reaching the gathering area, we found that there were at least twenty people that were here.


    With the two that arrived, it was exactly twenty three.


    They all seemed to be gathered in front of a wall that had a mural on it.


    Standing in front of the mural was a group of three.


    I didn''t think I would recognize any of them, but it turned out that two of them happened to be the ones that I had met in my first trial.


    It was the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl.


    The other person was a young man with a shield in hand, though this shield seemed a bit too big for him.


    Since they were standing in front of the mural, standing in front of everyone like this, are they the ones that had been chasing after my score the entire time?


    Yes, they should be the ones since I could see the exhaustion that was on the faces of the young man with the shield and the young man with the pompadour. It was only the magical girl who didn''t seem that tired.


    I couldn''t help wondering why she didn''t look exhausted, but I didn''t get that much time to think.


    When the three of them saw thest two enter, the young man with the shield suddenly said, "I''m sure that you have all heard that we have discovered the way to the dungeon boss."


    As soon as he spoke, everyone suddenly stopped talking and turned to look at this young man.


    The young man with the shield didn''t mind this and continued by saying, "The mural depicts how we will be able to open the door to the final boss."


    Once again, as soon as he said this, everyone turned to look at the mural.


    However, they all revealed confused looks as they stared at this mural.


    After all, this mural was in anguage that they couldn''t understand at all.


    There were a few drawings that were also on the mural, but it was hard to understand what it was trying to convey with just these drawings.


    Unless one was able to understand the writing, they wouldn''t be able to understand what this mural said.


    The young man with the shield allowed them to look at it for a bit before turning to the magical girl and giving her a nod. When she received this nod, she moved over to the mural.


    The magical girl pointed to a part of the mural and said, "It says here that to open up the path to the dungeon boss, we have to defeat four different area bosses in four different locations. The mural also gives the way to these area bosses."


    All of them looked closely at the mural, but they couldn''t make out a single thing in the end since they just couldn''t read it.


    So one of them couldn''t help asking, "How do we know that this is what it actually says and you''re not lying to us?"


    The magical girl just gave a shrug before saying, "I don''t care whether you believe me or not. If you don''t want to believe me, then find your own people to read the mural and wait for the exam to end."


    As soon as they heard this, they all revealed ugly expressions.


    They knew that it was already toote for that, so the only thing that they could do was trust the words of these three¡­but it wasn''t as if they would just blindly follow them.


    They had a reason why they would share this information.


    Seeing that everyone had thoughtful looks on their faces, the young man with the shield stepped up again to say, "I''m sure that all of you are wondering why we''ve gathered you all here."


    As he said this, they all stopped their random thoughts and paid attention to him.


    The young man just said with a smile, "Since we''ve gathered you here, naturally we have our reasons¡­" After stalling for a bit, he finally said, "We want your help in opening the path to the dungeon boss."


    At this, they all narrowed their eyes to look at the young man as if they were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    They were allpetitors and now that they knew this, it would only make sense that they would try to take the dungeon boss.


    The young man didn''t seem bothered at all by the seemingly hostile looks that appeared in the eyes of these people and he continued by saying, "We want your help in taking down the four area bosses. As long as you help us, we''ll concede those area bosses to you."


    Area bosses, each one was worth ten points, so there was definitely some value in working with them.


    Butpared to the dungeon boss that was worth one hundred points¡­it was chump change.


    So there was no reason for them to give up that easily.


    The young man could guess what they were thinking, so with a sigh, he took the shield off his back.


    Holding it in one hand, he said with a frown, "Do you really think that you can take us on?"

 Chapter 132: Irregular License Exam (19)

    As he said this, the young man with the pompadour raised his fists and the magical girl raised her wand.


    The two of them just stared at all of the rest in this area.


    As they did, they could feel the pressureing from the three of them.


    There had to be a reason why these three were second ranked¡­they shouldn''t be weak.


    Not to mention¡­the magical girl hadn''t told them how to get to the area bosses yet.


    There were only a few hours left of this exam and if they were to search for it on their own, it was certain that they wouldn''t be able to find it in time.


    So after thinking about it, it seemed like the only way forward was indeed to cooperate with them.


    Only by working with them would they be able to open the dungeon boss door.


    So they all took a deep sigh and the one that spoke before said, "Where are the area bosses?"


    When the young man with the shield heard this, he put the shield onto his back again and just turned to the magical girl.


    With her staff in hand, she pointed in one direction and said, "If you take this path and go down the second left, you''ll reach one of them."


    After that first direction, she pointed in three other directions and gave instructions for all of them.


    Looking around, the ones that had been gathered revealed firm looks as they headed off in different directions.


    But then, one of them couldn''t help saying, "What are you going to do?"


    The group of three just stood in front of the mural the entire time, as if they weren''t prepared to make a move.


    The young man with the shield calmly said, "We''re waiting for you to take down the area bosses so we can take down the dungeon boss. Isn''t that what we agreed on?"


    That was indeed what they had agreed on, but seeing them stand like this really made them feel awkward.


    It made them not want to keep theirmitment and just leave these people alone.


    But in the end, they still went off in different groups to take care of the area bosses.


    The points from the area bosses would definitely be a wee boon for them.


    Plus¡­many of them had sinister looks in their eyes.


    It was clear that they were nning to do something, but no one said anything about it.


    The three in front of the mural also noticed these looks, but they ignored them.


    This was just how it was in the first ce, they weren''t ignorant of that. They were just confident in taking care of the dungeon boss before any of them came back.


    Or rather¡­it was because they had another n.


    I was watching them from the shadows and once everyone left, the young man with the shield suddenly said, "Now we just wait for those fools to take care of themselves."


    I deeply knitted my brows when I heard this, but they didn''t say anything else, so there wasn''t anything that I could do.


    It didn''t seem like they were nning on moving an inch from this spot in front of the mural, so there wasn''t anything for me to see even if I stayed here.


    I looked around and finally faced one of the directions that the magical girl pointed out.


    Looking at Long Shui Ling, the two of us went in that direction after she gave a nod of affirmation.


    We followed behind the team that hade in this direction.


    This was a group of five, all of whom had been alone when we came into the area in front of the mural.


    It was clear that they were all alone and they wouldn''t work together, so I was curious as to how they would take down the area boss.


    After following the guidance of the magical girl, we arrived at the location of the area boss.


    This was simr to the area boss that I had faced on the first day.


    This was an area with an altar at the center, but this altar was much more luxurious than the one that I had seen before.


    This was an altar with arge statue in the middle of it.


    It was a lizardman, but this lizardman seemed much stronger than the lizardman that I had seen before. At the same time, there was a jeweled trident that was in the lizardman''s hands.


    It almost seemed like this lizardman statue was one of some kind of hero.


    But the most shocking thing was that¡­there were four different lizardmen around the statue.


    These lizardmen were very much like the ones that I had seen before, so that meant that all of these lizardmen were area bosses.


    However, they weren''t the ones in charge of the ceremony here.


    They just seemed like they were here to guide the sahuagins that they had brought.


    The one that was in charge was a lizardman who was wearing some kind of priest robes. experience NovelFire,mp|y|r


    This lizardman priest was standing right in front of the altar with his hands lifted up, almost as if he was praying to the lizardman statue on the altar.


    It was clear that there was some kind of ceremony going on right now.


    But four lizardmen, a sea of sahuagins, and a lizardman priest, this didn''t seem like an easy fight no matter how one looked at it.


    Still, none of the five of them backed down seeing this.


    Based on the look in their eyes, it seemed like all they saw was a sea of points for them to harvest and they were excited about that.


    The five of them separated from each other, as if they were all going to fight alone.


    None of them looked worried even though they were facing all these monsters, though that should be expected of those that had been able to reach this second exam.


    With that, the battle began.


    But I couldn''t help looking at the altar in the middle.


    I kept getting a bad feeling from it.

 Chapter 133: Irregular License Exam (20)

    The fight went as one would expect.


    These people had made it into the second exam for a reason.


    They¡­were not weak. They were able to take care of the sahuagins without much effort and were able to push them all back when they charged at them.


    Under the wide array of abilities that they demonstrated, the sahuagins were all defeated as they came forward.


    The followers of the lizardmen didn''t stand a chance when they attacked these Awakeners.


    In the end, the lizardmen had no choice but to act.


    If they didn''t act, then it would only be a matter of time before all of them were pushed back by these humans.


    So the lizardmen had to do something to prevent that.


    When the lizardmen came out, the humans were much more cautious.


    These lizardmen were different from the sahuagins, these lizardmen actually put pressure on them.


    The lizardman priest in the center suddenly raised its hand and there was a green glow that appeared around its hand.


    This green glow quickly appeared around the lizardmen and they all started moving faster.


    At the same time, the humans could feel the pressure that came from the lizardmen.


    This wasn''t just a simple increase in power¡­


    But in the end, they couldn''t back down.


    So the humans looked at each other and did something that they didn''t do until now.


    With a shared nod, they started working together.


    They moved together and created a line that stopped the lizardmen in their path.


    With this line, the lizardmen weren''t able to do anything to the humans.


    They were grouped together because of the line, having no way of breaking through to spread out.


    When this happened, they had no choice but to gather around the altar.


    Since they were working together, the humans were much stronger than before.


    With the pressure that they put on the lizardmen, it didn''t matter if they had the support of the lizardman priest.


    The lizardmen did what they could, but eventually one of them fell to the humans.


    This one lizardman that fell was cut off from the rest of the group, so it wasn''t able to receive the support of the lizardman priest. Being attacked from all sides by the humans, this lizardman eventually received a fatal wound and died.


    As soon as that first lizardman fell, the situation became worse and worse for the monsters.


    They weren''t able to do a single thing as the humans overwhelmed them.


    It didn''t take long before another lizardman fell and they werepletely outpowered by the humans.


    There was nothing that the remaining two lizardmen and the lizardman priest could do as they were overwhelmed by the humans.


    The sahuagins¡­didn''t matter at all.


    But what no one noticed was that a few of the sahuagins had gone missing during the fight.


    At the same time¡­the number of points that the top ranker had also changed during this time.


    It seemed that this top ranker was killing something to gain points¡­


    After another while, the humans had finally taken care of the remaining lizardmen and lizardman priest.


    The two lizardmen had disappeared first and the lizardman priest was just lying on the ground with a gashing wound on its chest.


    But the humans didn''t care about that at all as they turned to look at the altar.


    "We''ve killed the area boss, so should that be enough? Or do we need to destroy the altar as well?"


    After hearing this, the others gave shrugs and shook their heads to show that they didn''t know what to do either.


    After all, this was the first time that they were encountering this situation as well.


    The magical girl had just said that killing the area bosses would be enough to open up the path to the dungeon boss, but it didn''t seem like anything had changed after they had taken down the lizardmen.


    Could it be that there was still something left for them to do here?


    So they all turned their attention to the altar.


    But the situation suddenly changed when the lizardman priest breathed hisst.


    The lizardman priest had still been alive even with that gashing wound on its chest.


    It had been ring at them with eyes filled with hatred, as if it was trying to remember their faces for when they were all in the after life just so that it could take revenge on them.


    But eventually, it still died since it couldn''t take the giant gash that was on its chest.


    When it died, there was a change that appeared with the altar.


    The altar was suddenly covered in a piercing red glow that immediately put them all on guard.


    They knew that the altar was about to do something, but they didn''t dare go near it out of fear that it would do something to them.


    So without a word between them, the humans suddenly turned to run.


    It was just too bad that they didn''t get a chance as a red beam of light suddenly shot out at them.


    They raised their weapons to deflect this red beam of light since it was too fast for them to dodge, but they couldn''t do a single thing to this red beam of light. source at m,vle mpyr


    It scattered the moment that it touched their weapons and then surrounded them in a red bubble of light.


    This red bubble trapped them and lifted them up in the air.


    The humans tried attacking the bubble to break free, but they weren''t able to do a single thing to this red bubble of light.


    "What is this?"


    "What is going on here?"


    They shouted this out, but there was no answer for them.


    All they could do was float there in the air, in the middle of the red bubble of light.


    When I saw this, I immediately knitted my brows.


    I knew that it wasn''t as simple as the three in front of the mural had put it¡­


    So without hesitation, I turned and headed back to the mural.

 Chapter 134: Irregular License Exam (21)

    When we arrived back at the mural, we found that there were still those three there.


    However, the mural had changedpared to before.


    There were now two red lights that had been lit up on the mural in different parts of it.


    If I had to guess what these were¡­I would say that these corresponded to the area bosses that they had talked about earlier.


    As the three of them stood in front of the mural, they revealed calm and indifferent expressions.


    That was until the magical girl suddenly revealed a slightly worried look.


    She took a deep breath and asked, "Is it really alright doing this? What if they find out that we did this?"


    The young man with the pompadour also slightly knitted his brows hearing this, but the young man with the shield said with a faint smile, "It''s fine. All that is happening is that they will be trapped for a bit. It won''t affect them at all, other than maybe a little difort."


    The magical girl knitted her brows more before saying, "How do you know that? What if there''s something about these traps that we don''t know about?"


    The young man with the shield gave a shrug before saying, "The Awakener Association was the one that prepared this dungeon for the exam, they wouldn''t do anything too harmful since there are important people taking this exam. In a worst case scenario, we can just leave it to them to save them."


    The magical girl still deeply knitted her brows, but she didn''t say anything in response to this.


    It was clear by the look on her face that she was disturbed by all of this.


    The young man with the shield revealed a sharp look before saying, "You know that as long as we defeat the dungeon boss, everyone will be freed. Are you getting cold feet now?"


    The magical girl didn''t say anything at first, but then she said in a soft voice, "And if we can''t?"


    The young man with the shield mmed that shield on the ground before saying, "You''re the ones that wanted to work with me and now you''re doubting yourselves? What was the point of working together if you''re going to get cold feet now?"


    The magical girl didn''t say anything. .


    Instead, it was the young man with the pompadour that came forward to say, "Enough, there''s nothing to gain from arguing. We''ll defeat the dungeon boss and that''s that."


    The young man with the shield just gave a snort as he said, "Remember your ce. As long as you do what you need to do, that is all that matters."


    Both of them revealed ugly expressions after hearing this, but neither of them said a thing in response to this.


    The young man with the shield gave another snort before moving away from the two of them.


    The young man with the pompadour looked at the magical girl for a bit beforeing over to support her. He helped her stand as he asked, "Are you alright?"


    The magical girl didn''t seem to hear him at first, but then she said, "I''m fine. Thank you."


    The way that the two of them were standing made it very clear that there was something between the two of them.


    It was very different from before where they had acted as if they didn''t know each other.


    The young man with the pompadour looked at her with aplicated look which made it clear that he had other feelings for her, but he took a deep breath and said, "You shouldn''t have acted that way earlier. You know that it would just make him angry and we can''t afford to do that."


    The magical girl lowered her head without saying anything, but there was no expression on her face.


    It was almost as if whatever he had said didn''t register with her.


    But in the end, she still said with a sigh, "I know, but I had to try."


    The young man with the pompadour shook his head and said, "You made it too obvious that it wasn''t you that was saying it, so of course he would figure it out."


    These words did sound a bit too harsh, so he added, "But that doesn''t matter now. The only thing that you need to worry about now is how to handle the dungeon boss. You don''t need to worry about anything else.


    This young man with the pompadour revealed a hurt look.


    He knew that she had been forcing herself when she had spoken with those harsh words earlier.


    She had wanted to dissuade them with those harsh words, but it had failed in the end.


    The young man with the pompadour knew that it hurt her more to act that way and say those words¡­


    The magical girl gave a nod in the end and moved to the side.


    He wanted to follow her, but he knew that she wanted to be left alone right now.


    So in the end, all he could do was reach a hand up before bringing it down and standing there with a lost look on his face.


    Thatsted for a few seconds before the young man with the pompadour took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "I will protect you."


    After saying this, he went off to a corner by himself to prepare as well.


    But unbeknownst to them, there were two people who had watched everything happen.


    After seeing them all settle down, I couldn''t help revealing a strange look.


    I was aware that everyone had their own circumstances, but this¡­seemed a bit too heavy for me.


    I didn''t know what the circumstances between them were, but it was clear that the young man with the shield¡­was threatening them in some way.


    Long Shui Ling turned to me and asked, "Should we help them?"


    I looked at her for a bit before saying with a shake of my head, "No, it''s too dangerous."


    She revealed a slightly unwilling look on her face, but she gave a nod with a sigh to show that she understood.


    I also gave a sigh after seeing this, but I still said, "Let''s get ready for when the door unlocks."

 Chapter 135: Irregular License Exam (22)

    We waited and waited and after a few minutes, another red light appeared on the mural.


    When the young man with the shield saw this, he revealed an excited look.


    But that excited look disappeared when he turned to look at the other two in the room with him and he said, "Get ready, it''s about to happen. Don''t hold me back, or else."


    Neither of them responded to this, they just gave a simple nod as they let him push them around however he wanted.


    After a few more minutes, the final red light lit up on the mural.


    However, there was nothing that changed¡­


    After waiting for a minute, the young man with the shield''s face twisted and he said, "What''s going on? We already did what it said and it''s still not opening?"


    As he said this, the expressions of the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl changed.


    The magical girl''s face filled with guilt while the young man with the pompadour turned to look at the magical girl with a worried look.


    It was clear that he was more worried about how this would affect her than himself.


    But then¡­


    There was the sound of stone grinding.


    There was a red light that appeared in the center of the mural.


    Then the mural started to move to one side.


    Seeing this, the young man with the shield revealed a wide smile before saying, "I knew it wouldn''t be wrong! I knew that this was the only way!"


    The expressions of the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl became a bit ugly, but they didn''t say anything as they followed the young man with the shield forward.


    But I was different.


    The moment that the door opened, I could feel the powerful mana that wasing from inside.


    Whatever was behind this mural definitely wasn''t weak, but it didn''t seem like the three of them noticed this¡­


    Long Shui Ling beside me also seemed to sense something as she revealed a trace of fear on her face. But then after turning to look at me, she revealed a determined look and faced forward again.


    After waiting for a bit for them to go in, we followed behind them.


    Discover tales on NovelFire-mp _y,r.


    There wasn''t a long corridor behind this mural and it didn''t take long for us to reach our destination.


    The room here was surprisingly bigger than we thought.


    It was arge space that was almost as big as the space that I had fought the Great Wolf in.


    But unlike that space, this one was filled with many different things.


    This room¡­seemed like the throne room of a king and at the very other side of this room was a throne where a lizardman was sitting.


    This lizardman had a crown on his head and was much bigger than all of the other lizardmen that we had met.


    It was clear that this was the king of the lizardmen.


    But it wasn''t just the king alone who was here.


    There were a bunch of other lizardmen who were also gathered around the king, each one wearing a heavy set of armour while also holding a shield and some kind of other weapon.


    These were the elite guards that protected the king.


    When I saw this, I deeply knitted my brows.


    That was because even without the Lizardman King, I could tell that not a single one of these guards were easy to take down. Just their armour alone would be hard to cut through.


    The young man with the shield also stopped a bit when he walked into this room, but then he took that shield off his back and said with a smile, "We''re going in."


    The other two of his group had worried looks on their faces, but they still followed him in.


    The shield of the young man suddenly expanded as he charged forward.


    It became a giant shield that was like a bulldozer as he charged at the lizardmen.


    The lizardmen were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of this young man with the shield, but they quickly took formation in front of the Lizardman King.


    These lizardmen guards quickly raised their shields to block the young man.


    When the two sides shed, the young man couldn''t help revealing a surprised look.


    That was because they had actually stopped his charge.


    Whenever he had used this ability before in this dungeon, he had never been stopped before. So now that he had been stopped, he couldn''t help being taken off guard.


    That onlysted a moment before he suddenly turned and shouted, "What are you idiots waiting for? Can''t you see that I''m distracting them! Attack already!"


    The two others looked at each other before following the young man''s order.


    The young man with the pompadour charged forward with the young man with the shield while the magical girl raised her staff.


    She was gathering her power, but she didn''t release it yet as if she was waiting for something.


    When the young man with the pompadour finally reached the young man with the shield, that was when she fired off her attack.


    The young man with the shield shrank his shield when the young man with the pompadour reached him, revealing the lizardmen in front of him.


    This opened him to attacks, but he wasn''t worried at all.


    The lizardmen were surprised to find that the shield had disappeared and raised their own weapons to attack, but then they sensed that something wasing from in front of them. So they stopped lowering their shields and formed that wall once more.


    However, the magical girl''s attack was already on its wall.


    This was an attack that suddenly turned into liquid while flying in the air and sshed onto the shields of the lizardmen.


    When it sshed on the shields¡­there was smoke that came from the shields.


    This was an acid attack that was melting those shields.


    The two lizardmen that got sshed by the acid had no choice but to drop their shields and that created a gap for the young man with the pompadour.


    But even though they had dropped their shields, they were still wearing thick armour, so it wasn''t as if they werepletely unguarded.


    In the end, that didn''t matter for the young man with the pompadour.


    With a single punch, he blew a hole in the armoured lizardman, armour and all.


    Then he gave another punch to take down the other lizardman.


    These two lizardmen were easily taken down with just two punches¡­it was clear how powerful those punches were.


    After taking down these two lizardmen, they immediately jumped back to create distance between them and the lizardmen.


    Then when they stabilized themselves, the young man with the shield revealed an arrogant smile as he said, "Hah, just one punch is enough? This is going to be easy."


    But the looks on the faces of the magical girl and the young man with the pompadour made it clear that they thought otherwise.


    They were looking in the direction of the Lizardman King.


    As soon as his voice fell, the Lizardman King suddenly stood up from his throne.

 Chapter 136: Irregular License Exam (23)

    As soon as the Lizardman King stood up from the throne, the atmosphere in this throne room changed.


    Even the most arrogant young man with the shield could feel the change in the air.


    He knew that¡­even he would be in danger.


    But that didn''t mean that he hesitated since he still had confidence in his power.


    He picked up one of the stones on the ground before suddenly throwing it out at the Lizardman King.


    As the stone flew through the air, it suddenly began growing in size.


    It eventually reached the size of a boulder as it maintained the same momentum while flying through the air.


    With the way that it was flying, it almost seemed like it would crush the Lizardman King.


    But before it could hit the Lizardman King, there was a flick of a trident.


    The Lizardman King easily smashed the boulder that was flying at him, shattering it to pieces that rained down on the ground.


    The young man with the shield didn''t keep throwing these rocks at the Lizardman King. He wasn''t a fool, he had seen how easy it had been for the Lizardman King to smack down that boulder just now.


    If he kept throwing these rocks, it would be him that would run out of stamina.


    The ability of the young man with the shield was Size Maniption.


    This was a skill that should have been considered useless because of how much mana it took to use it.


    However, this young man came from a rich family.


    A rich family that was able to provide as many mana increasing elixirs as he needed so that he could use this ability properly.


    So he had no problem throwing more stones at the Lizardman King, but he didn''t want to waste the mana.


    Instead, the young man turned to the other two and said, "What are you doing? Are you expecting me to do all the work? Get in there already!"


    Neither of them moved when they heard this since they knew that it would be dangerous.


    But seeing them not doing anything, the young man said, "Do you think that I won''t do anything when we get back? If you don''t move now, you should think about your families."


    Both of them revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.


    The reason why they listened and followed this young man in the first ce was because¡­their parents worked for thepany that this young man''s family owned.


    They were bothmoners who hade from working ss families and there was nothing special for them to rely on.


    Even if they had made it into the Irregr License Exam, that didn''t mean that they were powerful Irregrs yet.


    This young man threatened to get their parents fired and ruin their entire families if they didn''t go along with him after learning that their parents worked for his family''spany.


    Their families would be ruined if that happened since they hadn''t be powerful Irregrs yet that could protect them¡­


    So they had no choice but to go.


    But the young man with the pompadour still hesitated in moving forward since his powers weren''t suited for this.


    The power of the young man with the pompadour was called Charge Up.


    This was an ability that allowed him to store up energy in his body that he could release in one go at any time. The rate of charging depended on how focused he was on gathering the energy. Read today at NovelFire _emp _y,r.


    Just now, he had used the two shots charged in his fists to take down the lizardman guards.


    That meant that he only had the charges in his legs and his head left to use.


    He wasn''t certain that he would be able to take down the Lizardman King with just these and the moment that he ran out of shots, he would be useless.


    He wanted to charge up the shots in his fists before doing anything, but it wasn''t as if the Lizardman King would give them that chance.


    The magical girl knew what he was concerned about, so she said, "I''ll do it."


    She stepped forward and raised her staff, pointing it at the Lizardman King.


    As she did, there was this rotten smell that filled the air.


    It smelled just like rotten eggs.


    Then with a spark, there was arge explosion that suddenly happened.


    This explosionpletely engulfed all of the lizardmen and they were engulfed in the mes that came from the explosion, disappearing out of sight.


    But even though they were engulfed in mes, the magical girl didn''t let her guard down.


    She knew that this simple explosion wouldn''t be enough to take them all down.


    So she gathered balls of strange coloured liquid around her.


    The magical girl''s ability wasn''t actually magic at all. Her ability was Chemistry.


    She had the ability to create all kinds of different chemicals with her mana.


    This kind of ability would normally be used for production, but she had figured out a way to use it forbat.


    That explosion just now was her creating a pocket of sulfur gas in the air around the lizardmen and then igniting it with a spark. Then to prevent the mes of the explosion from spreading, she created ayer of inmmable gas around the area that she wanted the explosion to be in so that it couldn''t spread.


    This was very precise and it was only because of her determination that she was able to do something like this.


    As the magical girl waited for a reaction from the lizardmen, the mes suddenly parted and the Lizardman King came out of the mes.


    She wanted to throw these balls of different kinds of acid at the Lizardman King, but she found that she was just¡­too slow.


    The Lizardman King was in front of her in an instant and had its trident raised to stab at her.


    "Ah!!!" There was a roar that came from behind her as she suddenly felt something push her out of the way.


    Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the young man with the pompadour charging past her.


    The young man with the pompadour had charged forward without hesitation when he saw that she was in danger. As he charged at the Lizardman King, he started bringing the head that he had leaned back in preparation at the Lizardman King.


    He was going in for a headbutt.


    This was his ultimate move and he was using it without hesitation to save the magical girl.


    This headbutt was an attack that he had never used.


    This headbutt was the culmination of several months of gathering energy, so even he didn''t know how strong this attack would be. But to save her, he didn''t hesitate to release it.


    He wasn''t even sure if he would be able to endure it, but he didn''t care when he saw that she was in danger.


    The Lizardman King seemed to have sensed something, so it quickly turned the trident in its hands so that the shaft was facing the young man with the pompadour.


    As soon as it did this, there was a barrier of water that appeared in front of the Lizardman King.


    The young man with the pompadour was surprised, but he didn''t stop himself.


    He just hoped that it would be strong enough to take down the Lizardman King or else¡­they would be done for.


    So his head shed with the barrier of water.

 Chapter 137: Irregular License Exam (24)

    As the forehead of the young man with the pompadour smashed into the water barrier, there was a bright sh of light that came from it.


    This was the release of all the energy that had been gathered in his head.


    But¡­the young man with the pompadour found that he wasn''t able to move forward at all.


    The water barrier in front of him¡­even though it was made of water, it was like he was mming his head into a wall of steel. He couldn''t push through no matter how hard he tried. discover m,v,l,e,m,p,y,r novels


    The Lizardman King just calmly stood there, looking right into the eyes of the young man with the pompadour.


    As they met gazes, the young man with the pompadour couldn''t help being taken aback.


    That was because¡­it seemed like the Lizardman King was looking at him with disdain. It was as if the Lizardman King was wondering if that was all the power that he had, as if the Lizardman King was disappointed with his powers.


    The young man with the pompadour wanted to feel angry, but he couldn''t.


    That was because it was true that he was weakpared to the Lizardman King.


    He couldn''t even break through the barrier of this Lizardman King after all.


    After a moment of equilibrium, the Lizardman King looked like it had had enough of this.


    With a single push of its trident, the water barrier suddenly pushed forward as well.


    The momentum of the young man with the pompadour was broken and he was sent flying back.


    As he flew backwards, he mmed into the magical girl who had just stood up to see him flying at her. The two of them flew through the air, but the young man with the pompadour used thest bit of strength that he had to hold her.


    Then he twisted his body so that he would take the impact instead of her.


    The two of them kept flying through the air until they were mmed into the wall of the throne room.


    As they did, they couldn''t help spitting out a mouthful of blood.


    The cracks that formed on the wall showed just how much force they had been thrown at the wall with.


    The young man with the shield deeply knitted his brows when he saw this and¡­he turned to run without any hesitation.


    He was going to abandon these people he had been working with and he didn''t feel any regret about it.


    That was just the kind of person he was.


    But the Lizardman King didn''t bother with the two that it threw at the wall.


    Instead, the Lizardman King turned to look at the young man with the shield.


    The young man with the shield felt this gaze fall onto him and he revealed an ugly expression.


    He didn''t hesitate to run, but while he was running, he shouted out, "You freak lizard, why are youing after me? Go and eat those two, they''re a free meal!"


    But the Lizardman King didn''t react at all to these words from the young man with the shield.


    Instead, the Lizardman King just calmly raised its trident before spinning it in its hands.


    As this trident spun in the air, there was water that gathered at the feet of the Lizardman King.


    The water increased more and more until there was arge pool that was gathered there around the Lizardman King.


    However, it didn''t stop at just a pool.


    There was more and more water that gathered until tentacles of water formed around the Lizardman King.


    These were swirling tentacles of water that looked like they could pierce through anything.


    This¡­was very dangerous.


    The young man with the shield knew that he wouldn''t be able to take a single hit from the water tentacles, but at the same time, he knew that running away now would just be futile.


    Unless he was able to distract the Lizardman King, he wouldn''t be able to run away.


    So he threw the rocks that he had been holding in his hand behind him.


    As he did, these rocks suddenly became bigger and bigger until they were boulders just like before.


    However, these rocks hadn''t been thrown at the Lizardman King.


    Instead, it had been aimed at the lizardmen guards around the Lizardman King.


    The Lizardman King knitted his brows when he saw this before flicking the trident in his hand.


    When he did, the water tentacles around him suddenly stabbed out.


    They were aimed at the rocks flying at the lizardmen guards, stabbing them in the center and shattering them to pieces.


    When these rocks shattered to pieces, the shattered pieces suddenly started to grow.


    These shattered pieces grew to the same size as the boulders that they hade from and rained down on the lizardmen.


    Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, the young man with the shield gave a smirk as he said, "Take this you stupid lizards!"


    He could have done this earlier, but he had saved it as a trump card.


    The Lizardman King knitted his brows again, but the tentacles of water stabbed out again at these rocks and shattered them to pieces once more. But this time, the spin of the tentacles sent the scattered pieces in different directions so they weren''t falling towards them.


    Even if the young man with the shield erged them again, they wouldn''t bother them.


    But the young man with the shield revealed a smug smile again.


    This stupid lizard is doing exactly what I want it to do!


    Some of the shattered rocks suddenly erged to normal sized rocks and smashed into each other.


    After smashing into each other, they shattered apart and created rock dust that filled the air.


    This rock dust filled the throne room, creating a smokescreen that blocked off the young man with the shield.


    With a smile, he started running for the entrance of this throne room.


    This was his real n all along!


    He would use those two as bait and use this smokescreen to escape!


    As long as he escaped, nothing else mattered!


    And it didn''t take long for the young man with the shield to reach the door under this smokescreen.


    But it was just too bad that a water tentacle suddenly appeared and stabbed him through the chest.

 Chapter 138: Irregular License Exam (25)

    The water tentacle pierced right through the young man''s chest and lifted him up into the air.


    However, when one looked closely¡­there was no blood that came out of the young man''s body.


    It was almost as if the young man didn''t even react to being stabbed by the water tentacle like this.


    When the Lizardman King saw this, it immediately recognized that something was off and flicked its trident. With that flick of its trident, a few of the water tentacles suddenly moved forward as if they were protecting it.


    The water tentacle lifted that young man''s ''corpse'' up for a bit before that ''corpse''...suddenly disappeared.


    It just disappeared as if it was never there.


    With a sigh, a voice said, "You shouldn''t have done that."


    Another voice said, "I''m sorry¡­I just couldn''t keep watching."


    "It''s toote now, we''ll have to act whether we want to or not."


    As if they appeared out of thin air, Lin Fan and Long Shui Ling suddenly appeared with the young man with the shield who was on the ground with a bleeding leg.


    He stared at the two of them in shock and confusion as if he couldn''t understand where they had appeared from.


    Even for him, it had seemed as if they had appeared out of thin air.


    But then, he recovered from his shock and said, "You two, save me! I''ll give you as much money as you want if you save me!"


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help shaking my head and giving a sigh.


    I had nned on using this young man with the shield as a distraction for the Lizardman King.


    Once the Lizardman King had used all of its abilities on this young man, that was when I had been nning on striking.


    But before that could happen, Long Shui Ling had stepped out.


    She had used her illusion to create a fake copy of the young man that the Lizardman King had been tricked into attacking, saving the real young man from being stabbed in the chest like this.


    I just said with a sigh, "You can see what kind of person he is, do you really think that it was worth saving him?"


    Long Shui Ling bit her lip when she heard this, but she still said, "Every human life has value."


    I slightly knitted my brows when I heard this.


    It was clear that we didn''t have the same values¡­but that wasn''t the time for it now.


    Seeing that they were discussing whether to abandon him, the young man said, "If you dare abandon me, my family won''t let you off. You should know the Zhao Group, right? That''s my family''spany!"


    I slightly knitted my brows when I heard this.


    The Zhao Group, it was one of the top five hundredpanies in the world.


    While the top five hundred seemed like a lot, this was the top five hundred out of millions upon millions ofpanies.


    The power that one of thesepanies had was equal to some of the smaller nations.


    So the Zhao Group definitely couldn''t be looked down on.


    It seemed that if I didn''t take care of him now, it would bring trouble to my own head¡­


    But to my surprise, Long Shui Ling suddenly said, "It''s fine, the Zhao Group is nothing."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by what Long Shui Ling suddenly said.


    The most surprising thing was¡­how firmly she had said this.


    It was as if she firmly believed that the Zhao Group wouldn''t be able to do anything to her.


    I looked at Long Shui Ling with narrowed eyes, as if I was trying to figure out what her identity was.


    But Long Shui Ling turned her head and suddenly said, "We don''t have time for this."


    I looked at her for a few more seconds before slowly giving a nod and turning back to look at the Lizardman King.


    It had been standing still since it had been gauging this situation, but I could see that it was getting impatient.


    However, there was still the problem of this young man to deal with.


    So I said, "I can''t fight with him getting in the way. Unless you have a way of making sure that he stays silent and still, I don''t think I can do this."


    Long Shui Ling slightly knitted her brows, but then she said, "I can trap him in an illusion so that he doesn''t do anything, but¡­" After a pause, she said in a hesitant voice, "I won''t be able to do anything else if I''m maintaining the illusion on him. I won''t be able to help you fight."


    I revealed a faint smile as I said, "Is that all?"


    Long Shui Ling''s eyes opened wide in shock, but she said with a slow nod, "I''ll be focused on keeping the illusion on him, so I won''t be able to cast any other¡­"


    Before she could finish, I just said, "Alright, focus on keeping him still. Also dress up his wounds if you''re going to save him or else he''ll bleed to death."


    Then before Long Shui Ling could say anything else, I was already walking towards the Lizardman King.


    She looked at me with a very surprised andplicated look, but she still said in a soft voice, "Thank you."


    Long Shui Ling was a timid girl, but that didn''t mean that she was a fool.


    She had seen the look in his eyes¡­he had wanted to kill this young man to make sure that there would be no trouble in the future.


    That was why she had stepped in now.


    She didn''t want to see him do anything like this since she could tell that he was a kind person by nature¡­


    She didn''t know why she felt this way either, but it was a feeling that came from the bottom of her heart.


    After saying this, she turned around to treat the young man who was still shouting out threats.


    Raising her hand, the young man''s eyes suddenly dimmed and turned cloudy.


    When she was done, she looked back at Lin Fan heading towards the Lizardman King and said in a soft voice, "Good luck."

 Chapter 139: Irregular License Exam (26)

    As I walked towards the Lizardman King, I had a cautious look on my face.


    However, there was also confidence in my eyes as I faced this Lizardman King.


    After all, from the very beginning, I had been nning on facing the dungeon boss alone.


    It was only after identally meeting Long Shui Ling that these ns had changed.


    However, I can''t say that every part of meeting her was considered bad since she had an amazing ability.


    I really hoped that I would be able to take her under my wings after this, but that depended on the future.


    Instead, I had to focus on the now.


    I had been nning on facing this dungeon boss alone.


    Since that was the case, that meant that I had been confident enough to take out this dungeon boss on my own.


    If I wasn''t, I never would havee here.


    The Lizardman King was also wary when it saw me approaching.


    It could have swung its trident at any time to attack me, but it didn''t do that.


    It didn''t know why, but it felt like if it tried to use the water tentacles to attack, something bad would have happened. The Lizardman King didn''t know exactly what that bad thing would be, but this was what its instincts were telling it.


    So it just waited for me to act.


    But it still eventually couldn''t take it anymore.


    The Lizardman King suddenly gave a screech and the armoured lizardmen started moving.


    They had been idle the entire time since the Lizardman King had taken the stage, but now that the Lizardman King was screeching out orders, they had no choice but to move.


    So they all came forward as if they were about to surround me.


    It seemed like this Lizardman King was finally acting like a king.


    Instead of attacking me itself, it was sending out its subordinates to attack.


    This was how a king should fight.


    But I could tell from the look on its face that this wasn''t it.


    It was using these lizardmen guards to see what I was capable of.


    The moment that I showed my cards, I would find a bunch of water tentacles falling down on me.


    This Lizardman King was prepared to act at any moment.


    It was just too bad that I didn''t n on giving it that chance.


    I knew that I should end this as quickly as possible or else this would be bad for me.


    So with a thought¡­time stopped.


    I made my way forward to the armoured lizardmen and didn''t hesitate to stab through the cracks in their armour with my sword.


    I had been watching when the other three had been fighting these armoured lizardmen, so I had already figured out their weaknesses. They had powerful armour, but there were still cracks in these armours that could be taken advantage of.


    I made sure that all of the armoured lizardmen were dead before turning to the Lizardman King.


    Standing in front of the Lizardman King, I really could appreciate just how powerful this dungeon boss was.


    But that didn''t matter since I was nning on killing it in the first ce.


    I tried to cut the Lizardman King, but¡­I found that I wasn''t able to pierce my sword in.


    The Lizardman King''s hide was just too thick for me even with my increased strength.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to use my sword''s special ability to boost my power.


    It was only then that I was able to cut through the Lizardman King''s thick hide.


    I made a few quick shes in vital positions before moving past him and taking the stance.


    As I moved past the Lizardman King, I said, "I wish I could have fought you properly. I hope that you don''t mind that I had to use a bit of a cheat."


    Then time started flowing again.


    The lizardmen all revealed shocked looks on their faces as they found that I had disappeared from in front of their faces. I had suddenly disappeared without a trace, so they quickly started looking for me.


    It was the same with the Lizardman King until it found that I was behind it.


    The Lizardman King was caught off guard by the fact that I had suddenly appeared behind it, but it didn''t hesitate as it controlled the water tentacles to attack.


    "Watch out!" Long Shui Ling shouted out when she saw this.


    But even when it moved its trident, it found that the water tentacles just didn''t move.


    The Lizardman King was confused by this until¡­


    There was a sudden spurt of blood that came from the lizardmen guards.


    None of them knew what happened, but blood spurted from their throats and they found it hard to breathe.


    They didn''t know what had happened, but they weren''t able to remain standing anymore as they all fell forward while their visions faded.


    For theirst view, they all looked at me with shocked and confused looks.


    The Lizardman King had been looking at its trident when this happened, but then it immediately focused on its subordinates.


    It wanted to do something for these subordinates, but then¡­


    There was a spurt of blood that came from the Lizardman King too.


    It was just one spurt of blood at first, but then there were several spurts of blood that came from the Lizardman King.


    Even if it was powerful, it couldn''t remain standing anymore as it suddenly fell to its knees.


    It tried to lift itself up with the trident, but the Lizardman King found that it didn''t have the strength anymore.


    It could only allow its body to fall forward off the trident.


    As it fell, it too looked at me with a gaze filled with shock and confusion as it didn''t understand what had happened.


    Once all of the lizardmen had fallen, Long Shui Ling asked with a shocked look on her face, "What happened just now?"

 Chapter 140: Irregular License Exam (27)

    I just brought a finger up to my lips when I looked back at her.


    Long Shui Ling looked a bit displeased that I wasn''t willing to tell her, but she also understood that this was just a normal thing for Awakeners.


    There were some things that everyone had to hide about their own power.


    She understood, but she couldn''t help feeling a bit displeased.


    After all, she felt that with everything that they had gone through¡­he should trust her a bit more.


    Once the Lizardman King was taken care of, there was a cracking sound that came from behind them.


    This was the throne that the Lizardman King had sat on previously that was cracking apart. It shattered to pieces and broke down, creating many fragments of stone on the ground.


    But what it revealed was what they really cared about.


    This was a small lizardman statue, but it had a red glow to it.


    This was simr to the red bubble that had appeared around the other contestants and the red glow that had appeared on the mural before.


    After a period of silence, Long Shui Ling suddenly asked, "Is that¡­?"


    She didn''t finish her question, but I understood what she was asking.


    I shook my head to show that I didn''t know at first, but then I said in an uncertain voice, "It should be¡­"


    Both of us just looked at it a bit longer before she asked, "Then should we¡­?"


    I slowly shook my head at first, but then I took out a watch to see the time.


    There was only around an hour left before this exam would end, so¡­it didn''t seem like we had the time to wait.


    If we wanted to do this, we should destroy it while we could.


    After all, who knew what kind of defenses this thing had.


    It could take us quite a while to destroy it in the first ce.


    So in the end, I just gave a slow nod before moving forward. As I moved towards the red glowing statue, I lifted up my sword.


    As I stood in front of it, I brought my sword down on it with half of my strength. After all, I was expecting some kind of barrier to appear around this statue and bounce my sword away.


    However, there was nothing like that at all.


    My sword cut right through the statue without any resistance, splitting it in half right down the middle.


    I couldn''t help being surprised as I watched the two halves of the lizardman statue lying there on the ground still glowing red. But after theyid there for a bit, the red glow slowly started to dissipate away.


    It didn''t take long before the red glow hadpletely disappeared from the statue.


    I turned to look around to see if anything changed, but there were no changes to this room at all.


    It seemed that to check if it worked or not, we would have to go to each of the altars.


    But that was only for a normal person.


    I had a different way and it was all because of the bracelet that they gave us.


    I opened up the rankings and watched over a few names.


    These were the names of the five that we had followed earlier.


    I had made sure to check their names when they had been killing the sahuagins and lizardmen earlier.


    I was waiting to see if their point values would go up.


    As expected, they started going up, showing that they had been freed from the red bubble.


    Anyone that could reach this second exam was not a fool.


    They would be keeping track of the time and they knew that they wouldn''t have much time left. Instead of wasting time getting revenge on the young man with the shield for tricking them, they would try to earn as many points as they could while they still could.


    After all, if they wasted their time taking revenge and that caused them to fail this exam, they could only me themselves.


    After making sure that they were freed, I said to Long Shui Ling, "It worked."


    When she heard this, she let out a sigh of relief.


    She had been worried the entire time about those people, so she immediately felt rxed when she heard him say this.


    But this also showed just how much trust Long Shui Ling had in Lin Fan.


    After all, she didn''t even doubt his words for a second when he said this, even though she didn''t actually know how he was certain that they had been freed.


    She just trusted him regardless.


    Once that matter was confirmed, she turned to look at the young man with the shield who was still in a daze and asked, "What do we do about them?"


    I looked at the young man with the shield before looking at the other two who were up against the wall. With a sigh, I said, "Go and help them wrap up their injuries and then we''re leaving."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a happy smile and gave a nod as she simply said, "Un."


    Then she ran off towards the two against the wall while pulling out some medicine.


    As she ran over, I couldn''t help thinking to myself, "She has too muchpassion to be an Awakener¡­"


    There were many things that couldn''t be predicted in the dungeon and sometimes one needed to be cold hearted with these matters.


    Havingpassion was good as a human, but as an Awakener¡­it was dangerous.


    If it wasn''t for the circumstances, I definitely wouldn''t have chosen to team up with her.


    I just hoped that I wouldn''t have to work with her in the future.


    "Wait, isn''t that a g? Am I cursing myself like this?" I couldn''t help thinking to myself¡­


    I just gave a sigh before walking over to where the Lizardman King''s corpse had disappeared.


    The loot from a dungeon boss definitely wouldn''t be cheap.


    I wouldn''t let such a thing go that easily.


    After she finished treating them, she wrapped us up in her illusion before releasing the one she had cast on the young man with the shield.


    When he came back to his senses, we were already gone.

 Chapter 141: Irregular License Exam (28)

    When he came back to his senses, the young man with the shield immediately looked around himself.


    But he found that other than the two who were up against the wall, there was no one else here.


    The Lizardman King was gone and the other two who had appeared out of thin air were also gone.


    "What is going on here?! Where are they!? How dare they steal my boss!" The young man with the shield roared out.


    He had called it his boss even though he had been running for his life not that long ago¡­


    His shouting woke up the other two who slowly opened their eyes.


    When both of them woke up, the first thing that they did was¡­check on each other.


    They didn''t even worry about their own injuries and immediately checked on each other.


    It was as if they cared more about each other than themselves.


    When they made sure that they were alright, they both let out a sigh of relief.


    The young man with the pompadour said, "We survived, didn''t we?"


    The magical girl just gave a nod without saying anything.


    Then they fell to silence once again.


    It was as if both of them had something to say, but neither of them were willing to take that first step¡­


    But that was all ruined by the young man with the shield.


    He held his leg which had been bandaged up by Long Shui Ling as he walked over, but he came over and shouted, "Where are they? You useless pieces of sh*t, tell me where they are!"


    Both the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl were surprised to hear what the young man with the shield asked, but both of them revealed confused looks in response to this.


    They had been unconscious this entire time, so it wasn''t as if they knew what he was asking them.


    Seeing these looks on their faces, the young man with the shield became even angrier.


    However, he was able to hold himself back in the end since he knew that there was no point in getting angry now.


    Time was running out and since they had lost the dungeon boss, the only thing that they could do was kill other monsters to make up for that. If they let their grasp of the reins slip, it would only be a matter of time before other people caught up to them.


    With a snort, the young man with the shield turned around and said, "Let''s go, we''re wasting time."


    The other two looked at each other with dark looks, but they still followed him in the end.


    However, the look in their eyes was much more hostile than before.


    After being knocked into the wall, they had still maintained a bit of consciousness before fainting.


    They had heard what the young man with the shield had shouted at the Lizardman King.


    They knew¡­that he had tried to sacrifice them.


    They didn''t say anything about it, but that didn''t mean that they didn''t take it to heart.


    This team¡­was doomed.


    ¡­


    After getting away, I took a moment to rest while waiting for more monsters to be attracted by Long Shui Ling.


    I wanted to take a look at the loot that I had received from Lizardman King and the guard lizardmen.


    At the same time, I wanted to judge something with Long Shui Ling.


    I pulled out a trident that I held up in front of my face, making sure that Long Shui Ling could also see it.


    When I did, she turned to look at it with sparkling eyes as I had expected. However, what came next was not what I expected.


    She just looked at it for a bit before saying, "That''s a cool trident."


    Then after that, she just went back to her own matters. It was as if she didn''t care about these drops at all.


    When I thought about it, it didn''t actually seem strange.


    This entire time, Long Shui Ling had never once cared about the drops. Even the monsters that she killed, she just left the drops for me.


    Seeing that I looked at her like this, she looked at me and asked, "Is something wrong?"


    I slowly asked, "About the drops¡­"


    Long Shui Ling tilted her head as if she had to think about this, but then she said, "Oh, you can have everything. I just came to take the exam, not clear the dungeon, so you can just keep everything."


    I couldn''t help being surprised even though I had already expected this a bit.


    Everything that Long Shui Ling had done so far had made her seem¡­like a young miss of a powerful family.


    I had guessed that she wouldn''t care about these few drops, but hearing it from her really was something else.


    It seemed that she really did have the personality of a young miss.


    There were quite a few good things from the dungeon that I hadn''t checked yet, but she wasn''t interested in them at all.


    She either didn''t have a proper judgement of money or¡­she had seen things that were much better than this.


    In the end, this was only a D Rank Dungeon.


    The biggest winner though was without a doubt the trident.


    This trident was dropped by the dungeon boss and was a powerful magic weapon.


    Though I couldn''t just use it without registering it since people would be suspicious.


    So I had to wait before taking this trident out.


    As if on cue, there were footsteps that rang out in the distance.


    I didn''t need to turn to know what the source of that sound was.


    Pulling out my sword, I prepared to face the visitors.


    It was another group of elite sahuagins, so it was an easy bunch of points for me.


    Once I had taken care of them, I looked at the rankings and revealed a satisfied look.


    With the dungeon boss kill, I was now firmly in first ce.


    Second ce was Long Shui Ling who had jumped up over the previous second ce, but was still behind me because of the monsters I killed alone before teaming up with her.


    With this gap, it was impossible for second ce to even catch up to Long Shui Ling, let alone me.


    So all that was left was waiting for the exam to end in less than an hour and exit the dungeon.

 Chapter 142: Irregular License Exam (29)

    As time passed, there were surprisingly more sahuagins that came at us than before.


    We didn''t move at all since we were currently in a safe ce, but the number of sahuagins that charged after Long Shui Ling was much more than usual.


    When I took a look at the rankings, I understood why that was the case.


    The scores were climbing faster than before as everyone was desperate to raise their points as much as possible in the time that they had left.


    That was causing argemotion in this dungeon which caused the monsters to be more active than normal.


    These monsters that moved more than usual would naturallye upon traces of Long Shui Ling''s monstrous mana aura eventually which was why they were attracted to us.


    Still, I didn''t mind since that was more points and more drops for me.


    As time ticked down, there were no major changes in the rankings that happened.


    We remained in first ce and second ce while the group under us was barely able to keep up. They were almost taken over by the group that was under them who had been saving their strength for the final spurt.


    In the end, they were able to keep third, fourth, and fifth ce, but I could imagine how tired they were after getting beaten by the dungeon boss like that.


    When time was up, there was an rm that came from the bracelet.


    At the same time, there was some kind of force that suddenly erupted from the bracelet once time was up.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this until Long Shui Ling said, "Don''t resist, it''s a Dungeon Return Stone. They must have put Dungeon Return Stones in all of these bracelets that would activate when time is up to bring us out of the dungeons."


    A Dungeon Return Stone, I had heard about this from Su Chen before.


    This was a special item that would allow one to escape a dungeon when it was used.


    For those that raided dungeons, this was an item that was equal to a second life.


    That was why these things were considered very rare.


    Those that obtained them didn''t let them go that easily and they weren''t easy to obtain in the first ce.


    So saying that it cost an arm and a leg was an under exaggeration.


    Elementia naturally had these things too, but they were saved for the highest ranking dungeon raids. They would only be used for B Rank or higher dungeons.


    Su Chen only knew about them because he used to be Bing Xin''s handler/porter.


    But I couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling with a surprised look.


    As expected of a young miss, she was able to recognize this rare item with just a single nce.


    There was also a simr swirling of energy around her which showed that she was also being pulled out of the dungeon by a simr item.


    So I stopped resisting and waited for it to pull me out.


    But as it was happening, I couldn''t help looking down at the token that was in my hand.


    This was the token that Elliot had handed me in the first exam.


    This was my prize for being the top scorer of the first exam.


    When I had been waiting in the lounge, I had taken this thing out to have a look at it, but I hadn''t been able to find a single piece of information about it. Even the appraisal of the Demon King system didn''t work¡­


    I had been wondering what this thing was until I finally entered the dungeon.


    Only when I entered the dungeon did this token reveal its true identity.


    It was a Dungeon Reset Token.


    Dungeon Reset Token


    Has the ability to reset the state of the dungeon, resetting all of the monsters, treasures, and bosses of the dungeon to its original state.


    That was what my appraisal told me when I looked at this thing.


    That meant that this was a token that had the ability to reset the dungeonpletely.


    I had never heard of such a thing before, but it was definitely worth being the prize for the top scorer.


    With this, I would have been able to reset this dungeon when I had killed the dungeon boss. That would mean that I would have been able to clear the dungeon twice and gained twice as many points.


    It was just too bad that I never had a chance to use this thing.


    It was toote when I found the dungeon boss and worrying about all the others who had been trapped took even more of my time.


    I didn''t have time to use it since I didn''t know how it would have affected the dungeon.


    There would have been too little time to find the Lizardman King again if the dungeon''syout changed because of the reset.


    So I had no choice but to hold it to the end.


    Seeing it now, I couldn''t help feeling regretful that I never got the chance to use it.


    But when I thought about it¡­it could be considered a good thing that I didn''t use it.


    This never said that it had to be used in this dungeon, so saving it could also be a good thing if it could be used in other dungeons.


    Instead of using it in this D Rank dungeon, wouldn''t it be better to use this reset token on a higher ranking dungeon?


    "Un, I''ll save this thing for the future." I said to myself before also adding, "Thank you, Elliot for this wonderful gift."


    After putting the token away, the Dungeon Return Stone finally activated and the scene in front of me blurred.


    It was as if there was something blocking my view and soon I wasn''t able to see a single thing.


    When the energy blocking my vision started to clear, I found that I was in the same lounge as before.

 Chapter 143: Irregular License Exam (30)

    After I saw that I was in the lounge, I looked around and saw some familiar faces.


    There was one in particr that was ring in my direction after seeing me.


    It was of course the young man with the shield.


    But there was another one that ran over after stabilizing herself.


    Long Shui Ling came over to my side and then stood behind me, almost as if she was hiding herself from everyone else.


    The way that she did it, it seemed that I had gained quite a bit of trust from her.


    But I ignored all of this as I looked at the bartender in the center who was currently looking over us.


    There was a moment of silence before that bartender suddenly spoke, "Wee back everyone. I hope that you enjoyed yourself and did your best so that you didn''t leave any regrets in the dungeon."


    Then with a sigh, he said, "Unfortunately, a few of our friends weren''t able to make it out alive. So all we can do is pray for their souls."


    I couldn''t help looking around.


    It was subtle, but there were a few people that were missing from this ce¡­


    I was taken aback when I noticed this, but I wasn''t the only one.


    We had thought that since this was an exam being held by the Awakener Association, they would make sure to protect us.


    However, that didn''t seem to be the case¡­


    It seemed that the death waivers that we had signed at the beginning weren''t just for a worst case scenario. It seemed that there really was a chance of death in this exam¡­


    I might need to be careful in the future¡­


    After giving us a moment to let this sink in, the bartender said, "But let''s not think about this depressing matter right now. Instead, let''s take a look at the rankings."


    With a wave of his hand, there was arge board that was projected into the center of the room.


    This was arge virtual leaderboard that went from roof to floor, allowing everyone in the room to see it clearly.


    At the top of the leaderboard was Lin Fan''s name as expected.


    Under that was Long Shui Ling and then the others.


    The name of the young man with the shield was Zhao Kui and he was in third ce.


    Then under him were the young man with the pompadour whose name was Andrew and the magical girl whose name was Chelsea.


    Below them were just a bunch of random people that I didn''t recognize at all.


    After giving everyone some time to see this leaderboard, the bartender said, "It seems like some people have done very well and some people have done not so well. But now for the moment of truth."


    The bartender turned to point at the leaderboard as his voice fell.


    When he pointed at it, there was a line that suddenly appeared on the leaderboard.


    It appeared around the midpoint of the leaderboard, cutting off the hundred and hundred and first name on the board.


    Everyone was confused when they saw this, but they waited for him to exin.


    The bartender then said, "This is the cutoff point for the second exam. All those that are above the line have passed the second exam and those that are below¡­"


    He didn''t finish his words, but the meaning of his words were clear.


    Those that were below had all failed.


    There was a moment of silence as this sunk in for these people.


    Then there were looks of happiness and sadness that appeared on their faces.


    The ones that were happy were naturally those that were above the line.


    The ones that were sad¡­were those that were below the cutoff line.


    Among the ones that were sad were some of those that had been trapped by Zhao Kui.


    Because they had been trapped in those red bubbles for that period, they had fallen below the cutoff line and hadn''t been able to make it to the next round.


    Along with the devastated look that they had, they also looked at Zhao Kui with eyes filled with anger.


    It was all his fault that they had been trapped after all.


    However, Zhao Kui didn''t care about this at all.


    Zhao Kui had been ring at me the entire time since he recognized me from the dungeon boss fight.


    After giving them some time to process this, the bartender continued by saying, "Those that are above the line, do know that you will have an advantage in the next exam based on your position. The worse that you do, the worse you will have it."


    When they heard this, those who were at the bottom couldn''t help revealing ugly expressions.


    After all, this was directly concerning them¡­


    The bartender didn''t care about this as he then said, "For all those that have passed, please follow me. I''m sure that you are all tired from your trip in the dungeon. So to help you recover, we have prepared amodations for all of you before the third exam. Please take this chance to rest up before you take the third exam."


    When he said this, all of them couldn''t help revealing relieved looks.


    They had been worried that they would be forced into the third exam right away, but many of them were tired since they had been fighting non-stop in the dungeon.


    It had already been three days, so there were some of them that were close to copsing.


    If they didn''t get some rest, they might not even make it to the third exam.


    There was a door that opened and the bartender led us through that door.


    The others that were left in the room were those that hadn''t passed.


    There were some that wanted to follow, but the other examiners stopped them.


    As we were following the bartender, Zhao Kui came over and said, "This isn''t over yet."


    I didn''t even bother answering him and walked right past him.


    Zhao Kui''s face twisted when he saw this, but he didn''t do anything since they were still in front of the examiner.


    But the look in his eyes made it clear that this wasn''t over yet.

 Chapter 144: Night of ‘rest’ (1)

    The bartender led us down arge hallway until we came out the back of thisrge building.


    This was the arena that I had entered in, so it wasn''t that surprising for me.


    But for some people, it was very surprising.


    Listening to what they said, I understood why they were surprised.


    "Where is this?"


    "Which city are we in?"


    "Isn''t this xxx?"


    It seemed that they weren''t from this city at all.


    It was no wonder they all came from the different corridors.


    The bartender quickly calmed everyone down by saying, "We have brought you to this city with Transport Gates. Your people have already been informed of this and you will be able to contact them once you reach the hotel that we''ve prepared."


    Transport Gates.


    As expected of the Awakener Association.


    This was something that normal people wouldn''t even have a chance to see and the Awakener Association was just using them to transport them between cities.


    Transport Gates as their name suggested had the function to transport things between them.


    It had only been five years since they had been discovered.


    These were gates that had the ability to move things from one gate to the other gate linked to this first gate. It didn''t matter how heavy these things were, as long as they could fit through the gate, they would be transported.


    But these convenient tools weren''t widely used because of how rare they were.


    A single set of gates cost even more than a Dungeon Return Stone.


    And it wasn''t just by a small amount, it was by an astronomical amount.


    Just the maintenance cost alone of these Transport Gates would already be more than what the Dungeon Return Stones cost.


    So the Awakener Association really went all out with this exam.


    After hearing this exnation, they all calmed down.


    But at the same time, many of them had looks of awe on their faces when they heard what the Awakener Association had done.


    It was clear that they were in awe of the power of the Awakener Association.


    Seeing the faint smile that the bartender revealed as he led us, I understood what their goal was.


    They wanted to give an impression of the power of the Awakener Association.


    If they could leave a good impression on those that took the exam, they might be able to recruit them into the Awakener Associationter.


    These were those that had powers that allowed them to get this far, they definitely wouldn''t be weak.


    So that was their goal all along.


    I just revealed a faint smile as I realized this.


    Even I would have been tempted to join if it wasn''t for the fact that I had already signed a contract with Elementia.


    Since I was already spoken for, I couldn''t just switch sides now.


    But there was no doubting how much power the Awakener Association had.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at limos that took us to hotels.


    When we arrived, it was already evening and getting dark.


    So the first thing that happened was that we were brought to arge banquet.


    This was a buffet style banquet, so we were all free to eat as we wished, but there was this tension that was in the air. After all, everyone here was stillpetitors and no one wanted to get close to apetitor.


    Well, other than those who wanted to gather information on the others and went to different groups to chat with them.


    Long Shui Ling was the other exception where she kept following me.


    She came over with a te of dishes that she had picked out for me with a smile on her face as she said, "Look at everything that I got."


    However, this te wasn''t for me¡­


    It was for herself.


    It really was amazing how much food she was able to fit into that small body.


    She ate three times what I ate and it looked like she still wanted more, but she felt awkward when she saw me staring at her.


    Though her second stomach for dessert definitely wasn''t filled.


    Another thing to note was that the young man with the shield, Zhao Kui, had split up from the other two.


    Whether it was because those two had seen him for what he really was or if he just sent them away, he was currently eating all by himself.


    Even though he was eating, he kept staring at me the entire time with eyes filled with hostility.


    Long Shui Ling revealed an unhappy look from time to time when she saw him staring this way, but she didn''t do anything in the end since I didn''t do anything.


    When everyone had their fill, it was time to go to bed.


    The room assignments were also dependent on rank.


    The ones that ranked below 50th received double rooms where they had to bunk with someone else.


    The ones that rank from 50th to 10th received normal private rooms.


    Those that ranked from 4th to 10th received luxury rooms.


    The third ranked person, Zhao Kui received a VIP suite for himself.


    The second ranked person, Long Shui Ling received a penthouse that took up an entire floor.


    And as for me, the top ranked person¡­


    I received the entire top floor.


    This hotel was a five star hotel in the center of the city, it was a hotel that was only used by the rich and powerful.


    So even the normal rooms were very luxurious to begin with.


    There was no need to talk about the top floor suite.


    This was luxury beyond luxury.


    When we headed to our rooms, the top ten all grouped in a single elevator since this was the VIP elevator that would take us there.


    For me, I had to take this elevator to get to my suite.


    In the end, it was only Long Shui Ling and I left in the elevator.


    However, that elevator skipped her floor and directly went to my floor.

 Chapter 145: Night of ‘rest’ (2)

    When the elevator stopped on my floor, before I could say anything, Long Shui Ling already ran into my suite.


    I could only follow after her with a sigh.


    The moment that I stepped out of the elevator, a look of shock appeared on my face.


    After all, I had lived as amoner my entire life, so I had never seen anything as luxurious as this before. This ce looked like I had just stepped into a fantasynd.


    Everything was finely decorated, using either gold or expensive jewels.


    There didn''t seem to be a single thing that wasn''t worth more than everything that I owned in this ce.


    Being in a ce like this really was terrifying for me since I didn''t know if I would even be able to repay it if I broke anything here¡­


    But Long Shui Ling acted like she was at home as she walked into the suite without a problem and started touching all kinds of different things.


    After looking around a bit, she gave a satisfied nod and said, "Not bad."


    Hearing her, I came back to my senses and asked, "What are you doing here? You should go back to your own room and rest for the night. We still have the exam tomorrow."


    Long Shui Ling just said with a smile, "I''m staying here tonight. You got plenty of space, don''t you?"


    "Eh?" I couldn''t help saying.


    She didn''t even give me a chance to say anything else as she ran in and started looking around the rest of the suite.


    I just stared at her in a daze for a bit, but then I quickly followed her.


    It would be inconvenient for me if she stayed, so I wanted to get her to leave.


    "Wait, wait, it''s not right. I''m a man and you''re a woman, we shouldn''t live in the same ce like this." I tried to use logic to convince her.


    But all Long Shui Ling did was turn around with a sly smile as she said, "I never thought that you would be such an innocent boy. It really is cute."


    "Huh?" My chin dropped before I gritted my teeth and said, "You think that you''re older than me?"


    Long Shui Ling puffed out her non-existent chest and said, "Of course I am."


    "Then how old are you?" I couldn''t help blurting out.


    She just said with a smile, "You know you shouldn''t ask ady her age without giving your own first."


    I gritted my teeth again since it was annoying seeing her act like this, but I still said, "I''m twenty."


    She said with the same smile, "Then I''m older since I''m twenty three."


    "There''s no way that you''re twenty three!" I blurted out the moment that I heard this.


    Long Shui Ling gave a nod before taking out her identity.


    I looked at it closely and found that she was indeed twenty three.


    She looked like a child and she was actually twenty three years old, how was this possible?


    Seeing the look on my face, Long Shui Ling said with a smug smile, "Call me big sister."


    "Never!" I said with a firm look.


    After that, she kept teasing me, but I just ignored her with an exhausted look on my face.


    Though I had an exhausted look, there was a part of my heart that felt warm because¡­it reminded me of a simpler time.


    A time when my family was still alive.


    When I used to argue like this with my little sister¡­


    As these thoughts filled my mind, I couldn''t help revealing a sad look.


    Long Shui Ling revealed a concerned look when she saw this look on my face as she asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I jolted when I heard this before shaking my head to say, "Nothing. We should get ready for bed."


    I stood up and went into one of the rooms to see if there were any spare clothes to change into.


    But as I walked away, Long Shui Ling looked at me with a worried look.


    Since she was simr to my little sister, I knew that it was impossible to convince her to leave.


    So I might as well just suck it up for a single night and just live with it¡­


    Otherwise, it would be much more annoying.


    Of course¡­there was still a part of me that wasn''t against this.


    It was just because it meant that she was feeling closer to me which is better for my future ns.


    That was what I told myself.


    It wasn''t for any other reasons¡­


    After finding some clothes that had been prepared, both of us took our showers before heading to our rooms to sleep.


    We didn''t know what would being tomorrow, so it would be good to go to bed as soon as possible.


    But five minutes after entering our rooms, I heard a knock on my door.


    I was surprised by this, but I still went over to open the door a crack to see who it was.


    When I opened it a bit, a slender figure suddenly came in through the crack and entered the room.


    It was Long Shui Ling in her pajamas with a pillow in her hands.


    As she held it, she looked up at me with wide sparkling eyes and asked, "Can I sleep here tonight?"


    If this was any other situation, I would have thought that this was an invitation for ''that''...but I knew that this wasn''t the case.


    I took a deep breath to calm myself before asking, "What''s wrong? We have a big day tomorrow, so we should sleep as soon as possible."


    Long Shui Ling revealed an awkward look as she turned her foot in an embarrassed manner.


    After a while, she finally said, "I''ve gotten used to sleeping with you nearby, so it''s hard for me to¡­"


    Before she could finish, she suddenly covered her face with the pillow and said, "What are you making me say?"


    She didn''t even wait for an answer as she ran to the door, but then¡­


    "It''s locked."

 Chapter 146: Night of ‘rest’ (3)

    "Huh?" I said in a confused voice before saying, "Then unlock it."


    This was a door that locked from the inside and since we were inside the room, she should have been able to unlock it easily.


    I just thought that she was ying around at this point.


    However, Long Shui Ling then said, "I can''t."


    I knitted my brows slightly when I heard this, but then I said in a dismissive voice, "Stop ying around. We need to sleep early, we have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow."


    Long Shui Ling immediately replied, "I''m not ying around, I really can''t open it."


    I gave a sigh before walking over to the door.


    The look on my face made it seem like I was done ying around which made Long Shui Ling pout her lips a bit when she saw it. But she still moved out of the way to let me reach the door.


    When I reached the door, I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but I found¡­


    It was locked.


    Well, I had already expected it to be locked since Long Shui Ling had already said that it was locked.


    But when I looked at the lock, I found¡­


    It wasn''t locked at all.


    The lock on the door wasn''t turned, so it should have been unlocked. However, when I tried to open the door, this door was clearly locked.


    What was happening here?


    Seeing the way that I acted, Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a look of schadenfreude.


    It really was good seeing his face like this, but then she came back to her senses.


    I turned back to look at her and said, "It''s locked."


    Long Shui Ling gave a nod as she said, "I told you that it was locked."


    I revealed a bitter smile as I said, "What should we do then?"


    Long Shui Ling shook her head to show that she didn''t know.


    After all, this was a situation that she had never encountered before either.


    Neither of them knew what to do here since this was a situation that they had never encountered before.


    The door was clearly unlocked, but it wouldn''t open no matter how they tried to open it. Even the handle wouldn''t budge, just like it was locked by something.


    Could it be a ghost?


    Or was it something else?


    After a long moment of silence, I finally couldn''t help saying, "Should I break the door then?"


    Long Shui Ling looked at the door for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    She didn''t know what was happening, but it was better than being trapped in here¡­


    So I pulled out my sword from my ring and prepared to attack the door.


    But before I could, I couldn''t help knitting my brows slightly.


    Long Shui Ling was the same as she suddenly knitted her brows as well after feeling something inside of her.


    It was a warm feeling.


    It wasn''t a pleasant warm feeling, but rather a warm feeling that seemed to be eating them up from the inside.


    Neither of them knew where this feeling wasing from, but they could feel it getting stronger and stronger.


    And for some reason, they couldn''t help feeling more and more sensitive.


    It was as if just by moving the slightest bit, they could feel the wind affecting them.


    What was this feeling?


    Well, Lin Fan had a bit more experience than Long Shui Ling when it came to this feeling.


    When it became a bit stronger, he could tell that he was¡­turned on.


    But why would he be turned on in this situation?


    Sure it was a man and a woman in a room together, but he shouldn''t be feeling that kind of feeling. Especially with how tired he was.


    But try as they may, they couldn''t stop it as their faces and skin started turning red, their breathing became faster, and they even found it hard to remain standing.


    Both of them could see that something was wrong with each other, so Long Shui Ling asked, "What is this feeling?"


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward look when I heard this.


    After all, it was hard to exin that this feeling was being turned on¡­


    Though she was older than me, it was hard for me to exin this to someone who looked like a child.


    Still, that didn''t stop the feeling from bing stronger and stronger.


    Finally, Long Shui Ling couldn''t take it anymore.


    For some reason, she suddenly came forward and reached her arms out around him. Then she pulled her arms in and tightly hugged him around the waist.


    She could have hugged him higher if she was taller, but she could only reach his waist like this, so she could only hug his waist.


    After grabbing hold of him, Long Shui Ling said, "Ah, I knew it, it would feel better."


    There was a bit of slight relief that was on her face, but that was quickly reced with a frown.


    "No, it''s getting stronger. This feeling keeps getting stronger." Long Shui Ling said to herself with a trace of anguish in her voice. It was almost as if there was something eating her up from the inside.


    It was the same for me.


    I might have been able to resist if she hadn''t touched me, but now that she was holding me like this, the burning sensation inside of me was also getting stronger.


    Long Shui Ling looked up at me and said, "Make it stop, help me make it stop."


    The way that she looked at me just turned me on even more.


    After all, her clothes had gotten quite messed up after everything that she did.


    A few buttons hade undone and the fair white skin underneath revealed itself.


    Long Shui Ling by all rights was considered a beauty with her perfect white skin, her jet ck hair, and thoserge watery eyes.


    This was not something that I could resist in this state.


    I did my best, but I couldn''t help saying, "I can help, but can you ept what I do?"


    Long Shui Ling hesitated for a second before giving a nod.


    At this, I no longer held myself back.

 Chapter 147: Night of ‘rest’ (4)

    Since I was no longer holding myself back, I picked Long Shui Ling up in my arms.


    She was caught off guard at being suddenly picked up like this, but¡­she also didn''t dislike this feeling.


    The feeling of being carried in his arms like this, it made her heart beat faster and her face turn red. But it also gave her a safe feeling that she just couldn''t get enough off.


    After lifting her up, I carried her over to the bed and slowly set her down.


    Then I started taking off my clothes.


    The moment that I did this, Long Shui Ling''s face turnedpletely red.


    It was so red that it almost seemed like smoke woulde out of her ears at any moment.


    She opened and closed her mouth several times before she was able to stammer out, "You, you, you, what are you doing? Why, why, why are you taking off your clothes?"


    I didn''t say anything as I just looked at her with a straight look on my face.


    She looked at me with a bit of confusion in her eyes at first, but that look of confusion in her eyes slowly changed into a look of understanding.


    Slowly¡­she realized what was happening.


    And when she did, her face turned even more red and she looked like she was about to be boiled.


    Under her breath, she muttered, "So that''s what this feeling is¡­"


    I could feel the feeling inside getting stronger, but I waited for her to make a decision.


    At first, she tried to keep herself calm by saying. "We can''t do this, we barely know each other."


    But the more that she tried to convince herself, the more that the burning sensation inside of her burned. The more that it burned, the more that it ate away at her logic until she couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Maybe it''s fine if it''s him." That was the thought that kicked it all off.


    Long Shui Ling slowly began to ept what was about to happen until finally she said, "Please be gentle."


    I gave a slow nod when I heard this and then got on the bed with her.


    I wasn''t a virgin, but this was my first time doing something like this.


    The only time that I had done this was when I had forced myself onto Sasha and it wasn''t as if I could do that with Long Shui Ling.


    This was different from that time with Sasha.


    This time, it was consensual.


    Or at least it was while we were both under the influence of whatever was turning us on.


    So I didn''t want to hurt her like I did with Sasha.


    After sitting down on the bed, I leaned in towards her, bringing my face closer to hers.


    Long Shui Ling seemed like she knew what was about to happen, so she didn''t pull her face back. She just closed her eyes and pursed her lips a bit, almost as if she was waiting for something.


    Seeing her looking like this, I couldn''t help thinking to myself, "How cute."


    That just made the burning even worse.


    Without hesitation, I brought my lips forward and sealed her lips with mine.


    The moment that our lips touched, it was like a spark of electricity filled me.


    Long Shui Ling had been passive at first, but then she suddenly started pressing me back. She even poked her tongue through my lips and wrapped it around my tongue, almost as if she wanted to drag my tongue back into her mouth.


    Once she got into it, she really got into it.


    We held that kiss for a while before we had no choice but to let go since we were running out of breath.


    After separating, both of us started panting to catch our breath after that kiss.


    Every breath that I took seemed to have a sweetness to it.


    Was it because of her saliva or was it because of her breath?


    After we caught our breath, Long Shui Ling took the initiative again as she started to unbutton the buttons of her pajama top.


    One by one, she opened up her top, showing more of her fair skin.


    That skin that seemed like it was carved out of pure mutton fat, it was so mesmerizing seeing more and more of it.


    It didn''t take her long to finish unbuttoning all of these buttons and the front of her top opened up to reveal the center of her chest and her navel. The same fair skin revealed itself again, but it was even more fair since this was the part of her that had been hidden from the sun.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Shui Ling opened up her top and revealed everything to me.


    I was immediately dazzled by the beautiful sight that was revealed.


    The slightly bulging peaks that were topped with pink tips, these slightly developed breasts really were a feast for the eyes.


    When she saw that I was staring at her chest like this, Long Shui Ling''s face turned so red that she almost looked like a tomato.


    She turned her head slightly as she said, "It''s embarrassing if you stare this much."


    I also realized that I had been staring too intently and I couldn''t help revealing an awkward look.


    But then I slowly reached one of my hands up towards her chest and said, "Can I touch you?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a gulp when she saw this, but then she gave a strong nod.


    She had already firmed her heart and made up her mind, there was no backing down now.


    Seeing this, I used that hand to firmly cover her breast.


    The feeling waspletely different from Sasha''s.


    These were smaller than hers, so my hand was able topletely cover it up.


    It almost seemed like my hand was too big for it, but I was still able to cup it in my hand.


    The moment that I made contact with Long Shui Ling, she immediately let out a moan, "Ah."


    Hearing this moan was the cherry on top that sent me over the edge.


    Without hesitation, I closed my hands around her breast and started squeezing it.


    At the same time, my other hand came up over her other breast, but I didn''t grab it this time.


    Instead, I poked out a single finger and tapped her nipple with it.


    I could feel that her nipple was rock hard when I tapped it.


    At the same time, when I tapped it, Long Shui Ling couldn''t help letting out another sensual moan.


    I continued to y with her breasts like this, sometimes groping it with my hand, sometimes ying with the nipple..


    Whatever I did would also result in a sensual moan from her, showing that she enjoyed it very much.


    The more that she moaned, the more turned on I was.


    There was a tent that started being pitched in my pants that was only growing bigger and bigger.


    Finally, Long Shui Ling couldn''t take it anymore.


    She grabbed one of my hands and put it into her pants, between her legs before saying, "Please stop teasing me already."


    When I felt how wet she was, I knew that she was ready.


    So I pushed her down.

 Chapter 148: Night of ‘rest’ (5)

    Long Shui Ling''s heart almost jumped out of her chest when she was suddenly pushed down like this.


    As she looked up at him, she could feel her heart beating like a little deer running through the woods in her chest. Her face turnedpletely red, just like a stop sign.


    When I saw her like this, I couldn''t help feeling that she was cute.


    It was like a cute little creature was under me and I felt the urge to¡­defile her.


    I didn''t know where this urge came from, but it filled me quickly and I leaned down to bring my face over her face before saying, "I''m going to do it now."


    It was a statement, it wasn''t even a question.


    Long Shui Ling''s heart once again felt like it would jump out of her chest when she heard this, but she gave a slow nod.


    But I didn''t even see that as I had started pulling her pants down.


    Those slender and fair legs, they really did stir one''s soul.


    At the same time, I could see the liquid that was dripping down her legs.


    Since she was already this wet, there was no need for me to do anything else.


    I quickly pulled off my pants and my raging dick flew out.


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help being shocked when she saw this since it was her first time seeing it.


    Wasn''t this¡­a bit too big?


    That was what Long Shui Ling thought to herself.


    She slowly asked, "Are you really going to put that inside of me?"


    I ignored her as I brought myself forward to line up with her and then I grabbed her waist.


    Long Shui Ling could feel the heating from my dick as I put it in ce in front of her crotch.


    The more heat that she felt from it, the more heat that she felt building up inside of her.


    Eventually, she wasn''t able to take it anymore and said, "Just do it already. Give it to me."


    I couldn''t help revealing an evil smile when I heard this.


    It would be a lie to say that I hadn''t waited on purpose.


    I had been waiting for her to break, I had been waiting to defile her, I had been waiting for her to beg for it.


    It made me feel good seeing her act this way even though I didn''t know why I felt this way.


    Since she was begging for it, I didn''t hold back anymore.


    In one swift move, I pushed it inside of her¡­or at least I pushed it as far as it would go.


    Even though she was already dripping wet, it was still very tight when I tried to push it into her. It wouldn''t go in all the way even if I tried pushing up against her.


    But the feeling of her insides wrapping around me was divine.


    At the same time, I could tell that it was good for her as well since she let out this moan of pleasure that turned me on as well.


    Her tongue couldn''t help sticking out of her mouth and her head tilted back as I plunged my dick into her.


    Since pushing didn''t work, it was time to pull.


    I gripped her waist with my hands and then pulled my waist back.


    When she felt this, she said, "Wait, no, let me¡­"


    Before she could finish, I was already pulling my waist back.


    "Ah~" She let out a cry of pleasure before there was a sudden burst of liquid that came from her crotch.


    She had already climaxed even though I had only inserted it once.


    This was a spray of clear liquid and a bit of blood since that had alsoe out the moment that I had prated her.


    But that was thest of my thoughts as I finished pulling my dick out and then¡­


    "Wait, not yet! I''m still¡­"


    Once again, she wasn''t able to finish her words as I suddenly thrust into her.


    This time, it went deeper than before, but it still wasn''t able to go the entire way.


    She kept panting and moaning as I thrust into her and I couldn''t help finding it cute.


    So I went over to her and sealed her lips.


    Long Shui Ling''s eyes opened wide when she felt my lips sealing her lips, but her eyes opened wider as she realized that¡­she couldn''t breathe.


    She had been panting hard for a reason and now that I sealed her lips like this, she found that she wasn''t able to breathe.


    Her eyes opened wide in both pleasure and panic.


    This feeling of not being able to breathe was scary, but when it wasbined with the feeling of pleasure that came from him inserting his dick into her, this was a feeling that she both wanted to stop and wanted more of.


    But eventually, she had no choice but to tap him in a desperate attempt to get him to stop since she was running out of breath.


    It was at that moment that I moved away and let her start breathing again.


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile because in her panic, she had forgotten that she could breathe through her nose.


    It really wascute how she overreacted to everything.


    But that didn''t mean that I stopped thrusting back and forth into her.


    That feeling of pushing in and out of her was something else, it was all because of how tight she was that the walls of her pussy wrapped right around my dick.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore.


    In my state of being turned on like this, I couldn''t stop myself from grabbing her waist and bringing her in before letting it all out inside of her.


    When I pulled my dick out, I could see my cum dripping down out of her pussy.


    It turned me on again right away and I couldn''t help grabbing her waist.


    What we didn''t notice were the pair of eyes watching in the dark¡­


    Just like this, we continued all the way until we were both satisfied and fell asleep together.

 Chapter 149: The culprit

    When we woke up, both of us had awkward looks on our faces as we remembered what happenedst night.


    I left Long Shui Ling in bed as I got up to get ready, but before I could get up¡­


    She suddenly grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled me back.


    I slowly looked over at her and she hid her face in the nket as she asked, "Do you remember what happenedst night?"


    I couldn''t help giving a gulp when I heard this, but in the end¡­I slowly gave a nod.


    Long Shui Ling slowly let go of the hem of my shirt and buried her face into the nket again.


    It was at that moment that I seized this chance to escape the room and head into the bathroom.


    Luckily for me, since this was a suite that covered an entire floor, there was a lot of space for me to get away from Long Shui Ling.


    I went to a bathroom on the entire opposite side of the floor and locked myself in.


    As I stood there in the bathroom, I couldn''t help looking at my face in the mirror.


    As I looked closely¡­I found that there were a few marks that were on my chest.


    When I looked even closer, I found that they were hickeys¡­


    It seemed that Long Shui Ling had gotten quite friskyst night.


    After staring at myself in the mirror for a bit, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh.


    This might seem like a good development, but it was anything but that.


    Sure I wanted to get closer to Long Shui Ling and use my powers to subdue her, but there was a proper sequence to this.


    Suddenly having sex like thispletely broke that sequence.


    After all, we had just met a few days ago and we hadn''t gotten close enough for me to use my Hypnosis to put suggestions in her. We hadn''t gotten close enough that I was able to slowly change her mind with my Hypnosis.


    So suddenly jumping into bed like this actually hurt my n instead of helping it.


    It was like putting the carriage in front of the horse.


    After looking at the mirror in silence for a long time, there was only one thing that passed in my mind.


    I took out my Storage Ring and with a wave of my hand, there was a little bunny doll that appeared in my hand.


    This bunny doll didn''t move as I held it, but I still said, "Are you still going to keep acting dead?"


    After a pause, the bunny doll suddenly jumped up by itself in my hand and stood in my palm, looking up at me with a smile on its face. Then it suddenly said, "So how was it? Did you enjoy it?"


    I knitted my brows when I heard this before asking, "So you were the one that did that, Lilith?"


    The bunny doll just gave a casual nod before saying, "You don''t need to thank me for that, I was more than happy to do that."


    I suddenly threw her up against the wall and she bounced off it beforending in the tub.


    When she climbed out of the tub, she suddenly shouted, "What did you do that for?!"


    I immediately replied, "Why would I thank you for ruining my n like that? Besides, how did you even do that?"


    "Ruining your n?" The bunny doll said in a confused voice before turning to the second question, "It''s very simple. I am the Aspect of Lust, so it was simple for me to do something like that. I just used a bit of my power to lock the door and then I filled the air with an aphrodisiac."


    My face turned dark when I heard this.


    As expected, we had been drugged which was why we had suddenly be turned on like that.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at Lilith before saying, "How did you even do that? Didn''t you say that you needed me to do things as the demon king of lust to restore your power?"


    Lilith turned her head slightly and her lips seemed to purse a bit as a whistling sound came out, but it really looked weird since she was a bunny doll.


    She just whistled innocently for a bit, hoping that she could fool me.


    But seeing that I didn''t fall for it, she said with a sigh, "My powers will recover naturally, but it''ll take way too long for it to recover passively. That was why I helped you a little by giving you that nudge. You were in the perfect situation for it anyway."


    My face turned dark again before I said, "All you''ve done is ruined my chance. I could have taken it slowly and ced my suggestions in her. Then I would have been able to slowly control her just like I did with Sasha. But you''ve ruined all of this because of your trick."


    Lilith didn''t back down as she said, "A demon king of lust shouldn''t act so hesitantly. You should take any opportunities that you''re given."


    I just gave a snort as I said, "So a demon king of lust should expose himself and be caught right away? Do you even know how dangerous what you''ve done was? What if someone found you because of this?"


    Lilith didn''t talk back this time since she knew what she did this time was considered very risky.


    There was a very high chance that we would have been caught because of what she did¡­


    But she couldn''t wait any longer since she was anxious after seeing him bumble around like this.


    After a long silence, she said, "You seemed lost, so I wanted to give you a direction. You should now know what it means to act like a demon king of lust, right?"


    I was a bit confused at first, but then I opened up my status.


    When I saw this status, I couldn''t help giving a sigh as I understood what she meant.

 Chapter 150: Acting like the demon king of lust

    My level went up.


    It had been a long time since this had happened.


    I had no idea what the reason was, but it seemed that I had stopped gaining experience points after a while.


    I had gained experience points when I killed monsters at first, but then it stopped after I had reached level 10. It was as if this was the limit of experience that I could gain from killing monsters and I had to act like a demon king like Lilith had suggested to gain more experience.


    But no matter what I did, it didn''t seem to work.


    After all, I had acted evil, tricking Bing Xin and Bing Lan for my own gains.


    I had acted evil, tricking those kids that I went into the dungeons with to follow my orders.


    I had done things that should have counted as acting like a demon king like Lilith had said.


    But I had missed one important part.


    I was the demon king of lust¡­


    So the evil things that I had to do should be rted to lust. That was the key thing that I had missed.


    When I thought about it, it all made sense.


    Thergest gains that I had gotten were from the first day I became the demon king of lust and from the day I went into the dungeon.


    The day I went into the dungeon was when I had vited Sasha and turned her into my ve.


    The first day was when I had made my bullies vite Mei Tang Tang.


    Those were the acts of the demon king of lust that I hadmitted.


    As for today, I had vited Long Shui Ling after she had been trapped and drugged.


    Even if that wasn''t directly done by me, it was caused by Lilith who was the Aspect of Lust. So in the end, it was still indirectly rted to me, which would still give me experience points.


    After this revtion, I didn''t know how to feel.


    I had already made up my mind to be a demon king after receiving this system, but now¡­


    I just didn''t know how to feel.


    A demon king of lust, that was definitely much harder to be than a normal demon king.


    Even if I had a little bit of experience now, it wasn''t as if I had a lot of experience that I would befortable with this kind of stuff.


    Let alone having to do it to grow stronger.


    After a long silence, I took a deep breath and said, "If this is what needs to be done."


    It was already toote to turn back.


    I had already started walking down this path and the only other path for me was death¡­


    So I had no choice but to embrace my powers as the demon king of lust.


    Seeing the changes in expression on my face, Lilith revealed a satisfied look.


    She could guess what he was thinking, so she was very satisfied since that would mean that she would be able to recover her own powers sooner.


    When the time came, she would be able to help him even more.


    Since Lilith had already given him the demon king system, she had already taken him as her master.


    She would do all that she could for him, which was why she had done this in the first ce.


    She had sensed that he had been thinking some thoughts that weren''t good for him, so she went out of her way to correct his thinking.


    After making up my mind, I knew that I couldn''t dy anymore.


    So I grabbed Lilith and threw her back into the Storage Ring.


    As she was grabbed by me, she said in a seductive voice, "Ah, don''t be so rough."


    But Ipletely ignored it as I came out of the bathroom.


    When I came back to the room, I found that Long Shui Ling was slowly making her way out.


    When she saw me, she couldn''t help jumping up in fright before revealing an awkward look.


    I also couldn''t help revealing an awkward look and turning away for a second.


    Even though I had made up my mind, that didn''t mean that this wasn''t still awkward.


    But then I turned back and said with a firm look, "I''ll take responsibility."


    Long Shui Ling once again jolted when she heard this before looking at me with a very strange look. She opened and closed her mouth a few times as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, all she did was say with a nod, "Un."


    As she did so, there was a blush that came over her face and a smile that appeared on her lips.


    She didn''t know why, but there was a warm and happy feeling that filled her heart.


    While she was like this, I also revealed a smile¡­but in my heart, I was cold and calctive.


    The reason why I said that I would take responsibility was all because of Long Shui Ling''s backing.


    She clearly came from a powerful family with all of the things that she took out.


    This was a family that I would want to take control of.


    The best way to do that was to be the son inw of that family.


    So I would take responsibility for what I did.


    While she was happily thinking about the future, all I was thinking about was what I had to do now.


    Elementia, it seemed that I couldn''t hold back there anymore.


    I had been holding back when it came to Bing Xin because I had wanted to sort out my feelings, but no longer.


    All I could think about now was how to take control of her and then use her to control Bing Lan.


    Once I had the two of them, it was only a matter of time before I also controlled Elementia.


    I had once worried about love, but now I knew that I didn''t have time for that.


    I could only walk forward as the demon king of lust.

 Chapter 151: Irregular License Exam (31)

    When we came down to the lobby, we found that there were many people waiting there.


    This was the gathering spot that they had told us about so it wasn''t strange seeing everyone gathered there.


    But it was clear that they were far more rested than us¡­


    As soon as we came down, there were many gazes that were cast on us.


    There was the usual re from Zhao Kui, but there were many others who turned their gazes to us.


    There were gazes that had ill intentions and good intentions mixed in them.


    After all, no one knew what the third exam would be like and it would be in their best interests to learn more about this person who ced first in the second exam.


    Whether he was an enemy or not, it was never a bad thing to know one''spetitors.


    There was also the chance that this third exam would also be an exam where the examinees could work together.


    If they could group up with this first ce person, perhaps he could carry them.


    So there were many people that turned their attention to me.


    But I just ignored them all.


    For me, the more people in my group, the worse it was for me.


    My powers¡­were better used without any witnesses.


    It was already one thing to bring Long Shui Ling along, but if there were even more people that came with me, it would be a problem.


    So we just silently waited for the examiners toe.


    Luckily, there was also a restaurant in this lobby that we could get some breakfast in.


    We didn''t know how long it would be before the examiners came, so it was best to fill our stomachs while we could.


    We didn''t sit down to eat and just ordered a few things to take with us.


    "Here you go." Long Shui Ling handed me an English muffin that she had removed the wrapper from.


    Since what had happened this morning, she had started to act like a little wife.


    There were people that looked at me with strange looks because of how she looked, but I just ignored them all and took the English muffin from her.


    Different from before, I also started speaking more to her.


    It wasn''t because I was moved by her actions, but because¡­I was using my Hypnosis skill on her.


    I was putting subliminal messages into her now for when I needed itter. These suggestions that I was putting in her now would without a doubt be helpful in the future.


    We didn''t have to wait long in the end as the examiners showed up, but it wasn''t just a single examiner that appeared.


    It was a group of examiners who had all appeared at once,ing in through the entrance of the hotel.


    Among them was Elliot who I had met before.


    When they came in, they immediately became the center of attention.


    At the same time, everyone moved back slightly to give them space.


    The examiners walked right to the center of the lobby and one of them stepped forward.


    This was a serious looking man that clearly seemed like he was above the others.


    Even the aura that he released was clearly much greater than the other examiners.


    After stepping out, he looked around himself before saying, "So you''re the ones?"


    No one said a word, but they could tell that it almost seemed like he was provoking them. At the same time, it was almost as if he was testing them.


    So none of them backed down and looked right back at this examiner.


    There was a moment of silence that happened before the stern serious looking man suddenly revealed a smile and said, "As expected of those that passed the second exam. Alright, you can all follow me to the third exam now. I''ll exin what it is along the way."


    There were secret sighs of relief that were let out since many of them had thought that something bad would happen, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    As we walked, we found that there wasn''t a single person outside.


    Now that I thought about it, it also was strange.


    There were still other people in this hotelst night, but now they were all gone.


    Other than the staff of the restaurant, there hadn''t been a single other person all morning.


    It seemed that there was still something happening.


    There weren''t any cars that were waiting outside for us, so it seemed that we would be walking.


    The serious looking man just walked forward with the other examiners following him, walking at a brisk pace.


    However, his brisk pace was more of a jog for us.


    Unless we ran after him, it didn''t seem like we would be able to keep up with him.


    However, that serious looking man wasn''t even out of breath as he exined the third exam to us.


    "The third exam is very simple, you will be fighting each other."


    We would have been surprised, but we didn''t really have the time to be surprised with trying to keep up with these examiners.


    He also didn''t look back as he continued, "After passing the second exam, you have all been registered as Irregrs."


    This time, we couldn''t hold back our shock and there were a few that couldn''t help stopping in a daze. However, all that did was cause them to fall behind the pack and they had to dash to catch up.


    "What will happen now is that you will head to the same stadium as yesterday and you will now fight one on one battles so that we can rank you properly. The better that you do, the higher rank you will receive."


    After hearing this, there were many people that looked around themselves at the ones they would have topete with.


    There were many that looked at me with hostile looks, as if they regarded me as the biggest threat.


    But once again, there wasn''t time for them to think about this.


    "Before that, let''s get some exercise in. That''s enough of that slow pace." The serious looking examiner said with a smile on his face.


    With that, he started moving faster.

 Chapter 152: Irregular License Exam (32)

    This wasn''t just a small increase in speed, but rather one that was enough to make many of us start to run.


    But for the examiners, it just looked like they were walking at a brisk pace instead of having any troubles.


    This was the difference between us and these powerful people.


    Eventually, there were people that couldn''t keep up anymore and started to drop out.


    If this was before, I definitely would have been one of those people.


    But after being trained by Su Chen, my body was much stronger than before.


    It could even be considered top ss among all the people that came to take the Irregr Exam.


    One of the dropouts though was Long Shui Ling.


    She did her best, but her stature was there.


    Even if she did her best, her body just couldn''t keep up and it didn''t take long for her to run out of breath.


    It was at that point that I picked her up and started carrying her on my back.


    Once again, if it wasn''t for Su Chen''s training, this wouldn''t have been possible.


    Of course, I also needed a bit of help from my powers.


    "A bit faster." I whispered to myself before suddenly starting to move faster without feeling as drained.


    When this happened, I couldn''t help feeling that there were some gazes that fell onto me.


    I didn''t know where these gazes came from, but I could tell that there was no hostility behind them. Rather it seemed like there was interest and excitement behind these gazes.


    At the same time, it almost felt like someone wanted to hunt me.


    What I didn''t notice was that the eyes of the examiners lit up after they saw me using my ability.


    "It really is a buff skill¡­"


    "It seems like he can control it to give minor and major buffs. The minor ones won''t have too strong side effects, but they aren''t as strong as well."


    "Then the stronger ones can be considered a trump card, right?"


    There were many different whispers that discussed the details of what they saw, but of course there wasn''t a single negative thing about this.


    All of them were excited about seeing such an ability.


    Elliot was the one that had the brightest eyes since he was the one that had made the first move.


    There were others that were envious of him for building that rtionship early, but there was nothing that they could do now.


    So they just turned their attention to Lin Fan to see how they could recruit him.


    This jog took us all the way back to the stadium that we had been in yesterday.


    The ones that fell off were able to catch up in the end since they were able to figure out where the examiners were going based on the direction that they were heading in.


    But when they arrived, they had ugly expressions on their faces.


    They were the ones that had dropped off, it was normal for them to have these ugly expressions.


    Still, they didn''t look too worried since they didn''t think that this would matter.


    That was until the serious looking man said, "Well, that''s everyone." With a p, he continued by saying, "So for those that couldn''t keep up, you have all failed the third exam and will be listed as E Rank Irregrs for now."


    The moment that they heard this, all of the ones that had dropped out revealed shocked looks.


    They couldn''t believe what this examiner was saying, especially with the casual tone that he said it in.


    Was their fates going to be decided that easily?


    No!


    They would never ept something like that!


    So one of the ones that had failed came up to the examiner and said, "How can we just trust what you say? Do you really think that we''ll ept this that easily? How can you just decide our fates that easily? We demand to talk to a supervisor about this!"


    The serious looking man looked at this examinee with a smile on his face as he said, "You want to talk to a supervisor?"


    The young man was about to give a nod when he suddenly felt a mountain like pressure fall onto him.


    He wasn''t able to resist as it crushed him into the ground.


    All he could do was look up and he knew that this was because he was allowed to look up.


    It wasn''t his own power that allowed him to look up, it was the mercy of the other side that allowed this.


    He tried to say something, but he found that it was even hard to move his lips.


    The serious looking man looked down at him and said, "Well I am the supervisor and what I say goes. You''re here to take our exam, so if you don''t like our rules, then maybe you don''t need our license."


    When the young man heard this, his face immediately filled with regret.


    He had wanted to do the best that he could to get a higher rank since that would mean more opportunities for him, but if he were to lose his Irregr License because of this, that wouldn''t be worth it.


    The Irregr License had a very important meaning since it was a license that was highly regarded by many ces.


    As long as one had this license, they would be able to obtain many opportunities that they never would have dreamed of before.


    At the same time, the higher the rank, the greater the opportunities.


    But losing this was much greater of a loss.


    So the young man could only look up for a bit before fainting out of fear of losing his Irregr License.


    Seeing him faint like this, the serious looking man gave a snort and said, "All bark and no bite."


    With another snort, he added, "Maybe I really should just fail him."


    This made everyone tremble out of fear that they might suffer the same fate if they angered this examiner.


    But in the end, he said with a sigh, "He passed the second exam, so he at least deserves that license, I won''t take that from him."


    It seemed that there was a bottom line that he didn''t dare touch¡­

 Chapter 153: Irregular License Exam (33)

    Once that matter was settled, the serious looking examiner came over to us and said, "Now, let''s get all of you ready."


    He turned around and waved his hand for us to follow.


    After hesitating a bit, we still decided to follow him.


    He led us into the stadium, but it waspletely different from before.


    Everything that had been there for the preliminary tests a few days ago had been removed and there was just a single stage in the center of this stadium.


    It was a stage that wasn''t considered that big, just big enough for two people to fight in.


    When we arrived at this stage, the serious looking examiner suddenly stopped and turned around to face us.


    His eyes swept over us before he gave a nod and said, "Now, we''ll tell you who you''ll be fighting first."


    All of us were taken aback when we heard this.


    We had known that we would be fighting each other, but no one had told us how this would work and who we would be fighting.


    So now that it was actually happening, all of us couldn''t help looking at each other with wary looks.


    The serious looking examiner didn''t care about this as he said, "Now, you''ve all been told that your ranking in the second exam would help you in the third exam. It wasn''t just how your rooms would be divided that would help you, but it would also decide who you will be facing."


    The serious looking man gave a snap and there was a screen that suddenly appeared in the air.


    This screen showed them the tournament bracket and who they would be facing.


    The matches were set so that the top and bottom of the rankings would be facing each other.


    That meant that I would be facing the person who finished in 100th ce.


    Long Shui Ling was second, so she would face the 99th ce person.


    And so on and so on.


    That was how it had been arranged.


    Luckily for us, we had been ced on opposite sides of the bracket, so we wouldn''t meet until the final match.


    I wasn''t worried about facing Long Shui Ling, it was just that I knew that she would forfeit if she was matched with me.


    Since I had deemed Long Shui Ling as my property, I naturally needed her to do as best as she could. My property needed to have the best identity so they could do more for me.


    So to encourage her, I said, "Let''s meet in the finals."


    When she heard this, Long Shui Ling revealed a bright look of determination in her eyes.


    Since I had said this, she would make it happen.


    The only other person that I cared about a bit was Zhao Kui.


    I knew that he would try to find a chance to fight me and there was no better chance than in this tournament.


    Of course, I wasn''t afraid of him since I had seen what he was capable of.


    I just didn''t want to fight him unless it was absolutely necessary.


    It was that I found him annoying and didn''t want to deal with him.


    Since I was the top ranked, my match was first.


    But I found that my opponent was that person who had been suppressed by the serious looking examiner and taken away.


    Since my opponent had already been incapacitated, I received a bye to the next round without having to do a single thing.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    I had already been prepared to fight, but now it turned out that it was all for nothing.


    So I had nothing to do but to watch the others fight.


    It was the same situation for Long Shui Ling since her opponent had also dropped out.


    They were among the ones that had failed the preliminary of the third exam.


    They hadn''t been able to keep up, so they had been directly failed by the serious looking examiner.


    Zhao Kui wasn''t as lucky.


    The 98th ced person was a person with a physical attributed power, so he had beenable to keep up with the pace of the run.


    When the two of them faced off, Zhao Kui found that his abilities were more troublesome than they seemed¡­but he was able to catch his opponent off guard in the end by using a few rocks that he had picked up on the side of the road.


    With his size increasing ability, he trapped his opponent before knocking him off the stage.


    But the way that he was panting made it clear that he had used up quite a bit of energy to take care of his opponent.


    As he left the stage, he didn''t forget to re in my direction as if he was challenging me.


    All I did was ignore him with a smile on my face.


    That served to enrage Zhao Kui even more.


    After that, there were many others who fought, but I didn''t really have much interest in these fights.


    From what I could see, they all had powers that could be considered normal.


    Or at least they were considered normal here among all of these Irregrs.


    They weren''t that creative with how they used their powers, so they weren''t able to demonstrate that much power in the end.


    It was clear by the disappointed looks on the faces of the examiners that they weren''t impressed.


    The serious looking examiner had also exined, "We will be grading you based on your performances. Depending on the demonstration that you give, we will give you a rank ordingly. So do the best that you can to show yourselves off."


    The first round only had around 80 examinees since around 20 of them dropped out from the run.


    So there were quite a few people that actually received byes.


    But for the second round, there were no more byes.


    That meant that I would be facing my first opponent.

 Chapter 154: Irregular License Exam (34)

    My first opponent was a frail looking young man with sses.


    It didn''t seem like he would be much of an opponent. It even seemed like he could be blown over with a single strong breeze.


    But I knew better than to underestimate my opponents.


    I knew that everyone who was able to make it here wouldn''t be simple, even if the disy that they had shown earlier was a bitckluster.


    This frail young man with sses was one of the ones that had received a bye, so I didn''t know what kind of powers he had in the first ce.


    When we stood in front of each other on stage, he looked at me with eyes wide open and a strange look in those eyes.


    It seemed like it was¡­worship or awe?


    But why would he look at me like this?


    That was answered when he suddenly walked up and reached his hand out while saying, "It''s an honour to fight you. I''m a big fan."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him as if trying to figure out if he was ying some kind of trick, but I wasn''t able to see anything in the end.


    It seemed like he wasn''t ying any tricks, but that just confused me even more.


    After all, I had never met this person before and hadn''t even seen him in the dungeon. There was no reason why this person should be a fan of mine.


    Seeing the confused look on my face, this frail young man with the sses said, "I was watching your rise on the leaderboards and it was amazing how you were able to rise up to the top and keep your position there the entire time. I really can''t admire you more than I already do."


    I was even more caught off guard when he praised me like this.


    I never expected this kind of praise from my opponent which made me feel even more awkward.


    But I still couldn''t help feeling that something was off about this.


    I didn''t know exactly what he was nning, but there was nothing else that I could do at this moment.


    After all, he was just standing there with his hand outstretched like this.


    If I didn''t take that hand, it would hurt my reputation.


    So in the end, I reached out and shook his hand.


    As he shook it, the frail young man with sses revealed an excited look like he was truly happy about being able to shake the hand of his idol.


    But I didn''t feel that I was worth all of this.


    With a smile on his face, he said, "It really is an honour for me to shake your hand like this. I might never wash it from now on."


    My lips twitched when I heard this and I couldn''t help saying, "Please keep washing your hands."


    The smile on his face became a bit awkward when he heard this, but he gave a nod and said with the same smile, "Of course I will."


    Then he revealed a serious look and said, "But of course, I won''t be holding back in this fight. I hope that you won''t be offended."


    I gave a calm nod as I said, "Of course, we''re all here to do our best. I would be offended if you held back because you are a fan."


    A wide smile appeared on the face of the frail young man with sses when he heard this. With that wide smile on his face, he said, "As expected of my idol, you really are something else!"


    The judge had been waiting for us to finish our talk, but once it was done, he said, "Alright, get ready. Fight!"


    As soon as he said this, both of us moved away from each other and watched for movement from the other side.


    It seemed that both of us had the same kind of approach to fighting.


    We were both cautious fighters who waited to see what the other side did before reacting.


    But since neither of us did a thing, there was a standoff that happened where neither side made a move.


    There was just a silence that hung in the air as both of us stared at each other.


    In the end, it was the frail looking young man with the sses that made the first move.


    His power was very strange as he suddenly called out several ck things that floated there in the air around him.


    When I looked at it closely, I found that these things seemed to be a bunch of knives that were just floating there in space.


    "Is he controlling them with his mind or is it something else?" I couldn''t help muttering to myself under my breath.


    I didn''t have too much time to think this through as the knives were alreadying at me.


    The way that they cut through the air, it was clear that there was quite a bit of power behind these knives.


    I raised my sword and swept out at these knives, knocking them out of the air with a single sh.


    Then using the momentum of this sh, I charged right at the frail looking young man with sses.


    While dashing forward, I muttered, "A bit faster."


    With those words, I started moving faster than before as I charged at the frail looking young man with sses.


    Though he saw me charging at him, it didn''t seem like he was panicking at all.


    It even seemed like he was revealing a faint smile when he saw me charging at him.


    It almost seemed like he was looking at something that was behind me.


    I was about to reach him when I suddenly heard something.


    It sounded like something cutting through the air and it wasing from behind me.


    When I turned around, I saw that the knives that I had knocked down earlier were flying right at my back.

 Chapter 155: Irregular License Exam (35)

    These knives wereing right at me at a speed that was faster than I was moving at.


    If I ignored them, they would reach me before I could reach the frail looking young man with sses.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to stop and turn around.


    With a flick of my sword, I knocked all of these knives out of the air and they all fell to the ground.


    I waited for a second to see if they would move again, but nothing happened.


    Only when I was sure that they didn''t do anything did I turn around to face the frail looking young man with sses.


    But I turned around to find that he had already run off.


    He didn''t wait for me to approach and had run away to create more distance between us.


    I knitted my brows when I saw this, but I could appreciate this.


    This was a smart move since it was clear that I was someone who fought close up.


    When he had long range attacks like this and I was someone who fought close range, it was good to keep distance and slowly wear me down.


    But his one problem was that he ran too slow to get away.


    So I said, "Faster."


    This time, I wasn''t holding back at all.


    This time, I dashed at him much faster thanst time and it seemed like I would catch up to him once again.


    But when I was about to reach him, the frail looking young man with sses suddenly turned around and threw more knives at me. These knives came right at my face and they were thrown at close range, so they reached me in an instant.


    It was just too bad that my buff wasn''t just for my running speed, but my overall speed.


    That included my reaction speed.


    I was able to react in time and sh out to knock these knives to the ground.


    After that sh though, I didn''t stop my sword.


    I let myself continue into this sh and used the momentum to turn around.


    Using this sh, I also cut down the knives that wereing at my back. These were the knives that I had knocked down and had been on the ground.


    He had somehow managed to control them toe at my back again¡­


    It seemed that even if I knocked these knives to the ground, they wouldn''t remain there.


    Since he had already been exposed, the frail looking young man raised his hand and the knives that had been knocked away suddenly floated up into the air again.


    But this time, I waspletely surrounded.


    He had thrown enough knives that I had beenpletely surrounded by them.


    They were just floating there in the air around me, as if they were trapping me.


    It was only then that the frail looking young man said, "Please give up. Don''t force me to take this further."


    But I just said with a smile, "Give up? We''re not even close to finishing yet."


    The frail looking young man knitted his brows, but then he pulled out even more knives that he threw into the air.


    After being thrown into the air, these knives floated just like the rest and formed an even tighter circle around me. It was as if there wasn''t a single spot for me to escape from with how the knives surrounded me.


    But still, I didn''t panic.


    I just faced those knives head on and waited for them toe.


    Seeing that I wasn''t nning on giving up, the frail young man waved his hand and the knives starteding at me.


    I just swept my sword out and cut down the knives that wereing at me.


    They all dropped to the ground, but they didn''t stay there.


    Even after cutting them down, they still floated back up into the air after falling to the ground.


    I had been able to cut out a path for me to move, but the knives were just chasing after me.


    It seemed that no matter which way I went, they still followed me.


    It was as if they were determined to chase me to the ends of the Earth.


    But how were these knives doing this?


    How were they flying and chasing after me?


    Just what was this frail young man''s power?


    As I was running and dodging the knives, I realized that I was in too much of a panic.


    I was letting myself get swept up in the situation and that was not helping me.


    I needed to calm down and think about this rationally.


    So I took a deep breath while running before turning to observe the knives.


    I didn''t cut them down and just watched as they followed me.


    Seeing that I had stopped swinging my sword, the frail young man said, "Are you giving up? If you give up, I''ll make them stop right away."


    But I just ignored him as I observed the knives.


    I couldn''t see anything strange about the knives, but I was certain that they were being attracted by something.


    In that case, there had to be some kind of setup for his trick that I was missing.


    Was there something off about what he had done?


    I kept thinking about it until I suddenly remembered something.


    That handshake, I couldn''t help feeling that something was off about that handshake in the beginning.


    Could it be that it was that?


    So I looked down at my hand while also making sure that I was still able to dodge the knivesing at me.


    After looking for a bit, I finally found what I was looking for.


    "So this was it¡­" I couldn''t help saying to myself with a faint smile on my face.


    Then I suddenly stopped moving and stood there, facing the knivesing at me.


    It was as if I had given up fighting back.


    Everyone was shocked as they watched the knives flying at me,ing closer and closer to stabbing me.


    Even the frail looking young man couldn''t help being caught off guard by how I had suddenly stopped.


    He didn''t know if he should stop the knives or not until it was toote.


    Even if he wanted to stop them, he couldn''t stop them in time.


    So all he could do was shout, "Move out of the way!"


    But I just firmly stood there watching the knives approaching until they were right in front of me.


    Then I suddenly flicked my hand out as if I was throwing something.


    The knives suddenly turned in a different direction after that.

 Chapter 156: Irregular License Exam (36)

    After turning in that direction, the knives suddenly gathered on a single point in the air.


    They all seemed to stab a certain point in the air and just floated there for a second before falling downwards. The mass of knives fell down together and ttered onto the ground.


    Even when they fell to the ground, they didn''t split up and just were gathered on the same point.


    It was almost as if there was something that was in the center that was drawing them all together like this.


    I just looked at the frail looking young man and said with a smile, "I never thought that you would have this kind of power. It seems like even that handshake in the beginning was a setup."


    The frail looking young man also revealed a faint smile.


    Since he had been exposed, there was nothing that he could do about it.


    He suddenly gave a roar and then there was a shaking that came from all around us before many different things were ripped out of the ground and the wall. All of these things were things that were made from metal.


    This frail looking young man''s power was maism.


    Or specifically, it was the ability to control maism.


    The thing that he had put in the hem of my sleeve during our handshake was a small piece of metal. He had been using this to pull the knives into following me.


    It gave off the illusion that he was controlling the knives, but he was actually just using maic attraction to pull the knives at me.


    That was how they had been following me the entire time.


    And now that he had been exposed, he had no reason to keep acting.


    He was using all his powers to pull in everything made of metal around us.


    With me at the center, he was most likely trying to use all of these metal things to crush me.


    This was a good n, but¡­it was too bad that it was used on the wrong person.


    I revealed a smile and said, "This is going to end in an instant, so open your eyes wide and watch closely."


    The frail looking young man was surprised to hear this, but then he said, "Come!"


    As he said this, the pieces of metal that were floating in the air suddenly started to fly towards us.


    It seemed that he really was nning to go all out, so I responded in turn.


    "Much faster and stronger." I said to myself.


    Then with one step, I appeared in front of the frail looking young man.


    His eyes opened wide in shock, but he wasn''t able to do a thing as my sword suddenly came forward to sh him.


    Of course, since this was only a duel and not a death match, I didn''t use the de of the sword.


    The frail looking young man was knocked to the ground and his eyes rolled back in his head showing that he had been knocked out.


    I let out a sigh of relief, but I quickly found that there was another problem.


    The pieces of metal flying through the air were still flying at us with extreme speed.


    Well, it wasn''t flying at us, but rather flying at the frail looking young man who had fainted.


    He had most likely set himself as the point of attraction, but he would have been able to stop anything that came at him before it hit him with his powers. Or at least that would have happened if he didn''t faint.


    Now they were justing at him with incredible speed and he would be crushed if I didn''t do anything.


    Weighing the pros and cons, I decided that it was better to save him.


    I could have just left him, but saving him would increase my own evaluation in the eyes of the judges.


    At the same time, it was as easy as a wave of my hand to save him.


    So there was no reason not to save him.


    But before I could make a move, there was a snap that rang out.


    Then all of a sudden, there were these invisible barriers that appeared around us that blocked off the pieces of metal.


    I was caught off guard at first, but then I looked around to see where this barrier came from.


    It was one of the examiners who had raised his hand to create this barrier.


    As expected of those chosen to be examiners, not a single one of them was simple.


    When that examiner saw me looking at him, he looked at me with a smile on his face.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by the fact that he was looking at me with a smile, so all I could do was look back with an awkward smile.


    I didn''t know just how much of a mess this caused amongst the examiners.


    There were many of them that red at the one who had acted.


    If they had been the one that saved him, then they would have left a good impression on him. That would have given them a better chance of working with this person with the buff attributed power.


    All of them had seen how strong his buffs could be, so they were all very excited about this.


    After the metal pieces had been stopped, the serious looking man announced, "This fight is over. The winner is Lin Fan."


    There wasn''t any apuse that rang out after the fight since the ones that were watching were those still in the tournament.


    Not a single one of them would apud a strong opponent moving on.


    After all, not a single one of them had been able to see through his abilities just now. Not a single one of them knew how he had suddenly disappeared like that.


    So all they could do was look at Lin Fan cautiously.


    On the stage, the frail looking young man slowly woke up.


    He was an Awakener, so even if he looked frail, his body wasn''t actually that weak.


    It didn''t take him long to wake up even though I had knocked him out.


    Seeing the metal pieces surrounding us, the frail looking young man revealed a faint smile and said, "It seems that I''ve lost."


    I gave a nod before saying, "But that was a good fight. Especially your setup, that was a very smart idea."


    Since I had won, there was no reason not to praise him.


    After all, it wasn''t a bad idea to build up a rtionship with powerful people in the future.


    But to my surprise, the frail young man shook his head and said, "It wasn''t just a setup, I really meant what I said."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this.


    I slowly watched as that frail young man''s eyes filled with a strange look that almost bordered fanaticism¡­


    He said, "It is an honour for me to meet my idol. Plus I even got to shake his hand. I''ll never wash this hand as long as I live."


    My chin dropped when I heard this and I just shook my head.


    "Please wash your hand¡­"

 Chapter 157: Irregular License Exam (37)

    I returned back to my seat after my fight and Long Shui Ling was waiting for me.


    She had somehow found a snack and a bottle of water for me, along with a wet towel for me to wipe my sweat with.


    This really seemed like everything that a wife should do.


    I just silently epted it all since I had already made up my mind.


    But as I was taking that bottle of water from her, my arm trembled and the bottle of water fell to the ground.


    She immediately revealed a shocked look before asking in a worried voice, "What''s wrong?"


    I grabbed my arm and stabilized it before saying, "It''s nothing, it''s just a side effect of my power."


    "A side effect?" She said in a confused voice.


    I gave a nod before exining what my power was to her and the side effects that came with it.


    When I was done, I said, "It''s just the muscle in my arm being torn, it''ll heal in time."


    Though I said this¡­it was still quite painful since it was a muscle being torn.


    Long Shui Ling immediately said, "So that means you''re hurt? Then I have just the thing."


    She waved her hand and there was a bottle that appeared in it.


    When it appeared, I couldn''t help narrowing my eyes since I could feel the manaing from it.


    Even the people around us couldn''t help turning in our direction when they sensed the magic fluctuations that wereing from this bottle.


    Anyone with a bit of skill was able to tell that this wasn''t a normal item.


    But Long Shui Ling acted like it was nothing special as she opened the cap of the bottle and presented it to me with a smile on her face. She said with that smile, "Drink this and it''ll heal you."


    I didn''t take it right away and narrowed my eyes to look at the bottle.


    As expected, there was a description that popped up for this bottle.


    High Healing Potion


    A potion with a high concentration of magic that can heal most injuries.


    The moment that I saw the name of this bottle, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    That was because I knew what a High Healing Potion was.


    When we had been dungeon diving, Su Chen had brought along a few Intermediate Healing Potions and he had been bragging about them already. But he had also told me about the higher grade healing potions.


    The High Healing Potion was above the Intermediate Healing Potion and it was potent enough to heal most serious wounds.


    Then above that was the Superior Healing Potion that was said to even regrow limbs that had been cut off.


    And even above that were Elixirs, but those were considered myths.


    After all, an Elixir was able to bring a person back to life as long as they had a single breath left in them.


    But for this High Healing Potion, it already cost a fortune.


    The Intermediate Healing Potions that the guild had given us already cost tens of thousands of dors.


    So the High Healing Potion that was above that would naturally cost even more.


    ording to Su Chen, just a single High Healing Potion would cost hundreds of thousands of dors. Just a single High Healing Potion would already be enough for a normal person to buy a condo with.


    Yet she was handing something like this to me so easily.


    When Long Shui Ling saw my shocked look, she couldn''t help revealing a worried look as she said, "What''s wrong? Is this not good enough?"


    She looked at the bottle that she was holding before saying, "Maybe I should have taken the good potions before leaving home¡­If I knew better than this wouldn''t have happened."


    I couldn''t help being even more shocked when I heard this before quickly stopping her from going on any further.


    I quickly said, "No, no, it''s not a problem of it being good enough. This is too good for an injury of this level, it''s just a waste if you use it on me."


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a surprised and confused look when she heard this.


    She tilted her head and said, "This is just a normal potion, isn''t it supposed to be used like this?"


    When she said this, my chin couldn''t help dropping.


    She was calling a High Healing Potion just a normal potion¡­just how rich was she?


    I had thought that she was just some young miss from a rich family, but it seemed that I had been too conservative with my guess.


    Anyone that can pull out a High Healing Potion and call it a normal potion was anything but ordinary.


    But it seemed like she would keep going if I didn''t take this potion¡­so I reached out and took it.


    In one gulp, I drank the entire High Healing Potion.


    The moment that this potion went into my body, I could feel the warm feelinging from it. This warm feeling filled my body in an instant and quickly got rid of any pain that I was feeling.


    In no time at all, my arm waspletely healed along with the rest of the muscle rips in my body.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit regretful at wasting such an expensive potion, but I also felt a bit good about this since Long Shui Ling was now mine. Her things would be my things in the future, so if this was the standard that she set¡­then there was plenty to look forward to.


    After I finished drinking this potion, Long Shui Ling came forward to hold my arm and check it. Only after making sure that it was fine did she give a nod and say, "It worked quite well. I really thought that I would need to get the special potion."


    I just revealed a bitter smile when I heard this.


    I could only imagine what the special potion was¡­


    Was it a Superior Healing Potion or something beyond that?


    But there was nothing else for me to say since the examiner suddenly called for Long Shui Ling.


    It was her turn to fight.

 Chapter 158: Irregular License Exam (38)

    Long Shui Ling didn''t go down right away even though it was announced that it was her turn to fight.


    Instead, she took her time to make sure that I was alright before making her way down.


    Her opponent had gone down right away, but she didn''t care at all.


    When he saw her finallye down, he couldn''t help revealing a dark look.


    The way that she acted, it was as if she was looking down on him.


    Even though she was second ce, her opponent didn''t think that she had achieved this on her own.


    After all, no matter how he looked at it, this was a frail little girl.


    He believed that if he intimated her a bit, he would be able to get her to back down.


    So he said in an aggressive voice, "Little girl, if you surrender now, it''ll be much easier for you. If you fight, I won''t hold back."


    But to his surprise, he found that Long Shui Ling didn''t react at all to his threat.


    In fact, she didn''t even look at him once during this entire time.


    She had been looking at the stands, looking at the top ranker that she had been with before.


    This hurt his pride¡­


    So he said, "Fine, since you won''t take the cup offered, then don''t expect any mercy."


    With that, he pulled out his sword and revealed a fierce look.


    It seemed like he really was nning on going all out against Long Shui Ling.


    Seeing that they were done talking, the examiner simply said, "Begin."


    The moment that the examiner said this, the opponent started charging at Long Shui Ling with his sword. As he ran at her, there were beads of water that formed on the edge of his sword.


    These beads of water gathered together until they formed a single de that flew out when he shed his sword at Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t move out of the way at all when that de of water flew at her.


    Then to everyone''s shock, she was cut down by that de of water.


    It even cut right through her, splitting her in half.


    The opponent didn''t know what to say when he saw this.


    He had figured that she was weak, but he never thought that she was so weak that she wouldn''t even be able to dodge this simple blow. This was the weakest attack that he had, but she still was cut down that easily¡­


    Would he be charged for murder like this?


    No, they had signed the death waiver, so he wouldn''t be punished for this.


    As he was just standing there wondering what had happened, he didn''t notice many things.


    He didn''t notice that the examiners didn''t stop the fight and dere him the winner, he didn''t notice that there was no blooding from Long Shui Ling''s ''corpse'', he didn''t notice that no one in the crowd was shocked to see that he had cut Long Shui Ling down.


    There were just too many clues that he didn''t notice.


    "What is he doing? Why is just standing there staring into space?"


    "Doesn''t he know that she''s already moving towards him?"


    "How is this a fight? He just did one thing and then froze."


    As he stood there in a daze, Long Shui Ling had already made her way up in front of him.


    Then in front of everyone, she started to transform.


    She took the form of the grim reaper that she had taken when she took the first exam.


    At the same time, her opponent suddenly started to scream.


    "Ah! Don''te over here! I didn''t mean it!"


    Everyone was confused when they saw this, but no one was able to stop him from suddenly shing out around him.


    He was shing out in every direction, sending out des of water.


    Everyone immediately knitted their brows and were about to stop it, but before they could, there was a barrier that appeared that stopped all of these des of water before they could reach anyone.


    The examiner who had acted shook his head in disappointment when he saw this as he said, "Can''t even see through a simple illusion. What an idiot."


    At this, everyone realized what was happening.


    Long Shui Ling had trapped her opponent in an illusion.


    So that was her power.


    What her opponent was seeing now was her corpse standing up again and multiplying before surrounding him, just like a vengeful ghost.


    No matter how he shed at this vengeful ghost, he wasn''t able to get rid of her at all.


    These vengeful ghosts surrounded him and he was so scared that he was on the brink of copse.


    This was what Long Shui Ling had learned after talking about her powers with Lin Fan.


    She had learned to use smaller illusions to trap the enemy while preparing her final attack.


    This might seem like a very simple thing, but in truth, that was just how much fighting experience shecked. She was someone who didn''t have any fighting experience at all which was evident by how panicked she had been in the dungeon.


    But after discussing it with Lin Fan, Long Shui Ling''s abilities had gone up a level.


    After letting her opponent waste his energy for a bit, she finally took a step forward.


    When she did, that opponent finally saw her and revealed an even more terrified look.


    That was because he was seeing the same thing as everyone else, he saw her as a terrifying grim reaper with arge scythe.


    "No! No! Don''te over here!" That young man shouted as he raised his sword and gathered a bunch of water around it.


    It was clear that he was preparing for a final attack.


    But Long Shui Ling wouldn''t give him that chance since she had already also prepared her final attack.


    With one swing of the scythe, the young man fell forward like a kite with its strings cut.

 Chapter 159: Irregular License Exam (39)

    After the young man fell to the ground, everyone couldn''t help taking a cold breath.


    They never thought that Long Shui Ling would be this powerful.


    It seemed that it wasn''t for no reason that she had reached second ce¡­


    But Long Shui Ling didn''t care about any of this.


    She just looked at the judge and waited for him to give a verdict.


    But that serious looking examiner didn''t say anything as he jumped into the arena. Hended right by the young man and kneeled down beside him to take his pulse and check his breath.


    After a minute, he finally said, "He''s not dead, he''s just knocked out."


    He turned to Long Shui Ling and said, "The winner is Long Shui Ling."


    Long Shui Ling just gave a nod before turning and running off.


    It took her no time at all to return to the stands and to return to my side to grab my arm like she was my wife.


    The serious looking examiner just shook his head when he saw this and announced the next fight.


    But among the examiners, there was quite themotion that had been raised.


    "Did you see how skillfully she used her illusions to trap her opponent?"


    "That''s right, shebines both defense and offense when using her illusions like this."


    "No, no, no, that''s not the important thing. The most important thing was the way that she used her illusion in the end to attack. The power that was behind thatst attack would have been enough for her to cut her opponent in half if she didn''t hold back."


    There was a lot of discussion about Long Shui Ling among these examiners.


    However, what most of them did was stare at Elliot.


    He had been in charge of the ce where Long Shui Ling took the first test, so they were of course wondering why he hadn''t noticed her.


    Ellioti didn''t know what to say since she hadn''t shown this kind of power back then.


    The amount of power that she had shown before wasn''t even a tenth of this, so he hadn''t paid any attention to her.


    "So you set your eyes on the buffer that you lost sight of the other diamond in the rough?"


    "It seems like your eyes aren''t what they used to be."


    They all teased him, but there was nothing that he could say since it was true.


    He hadpletely ignored Long Shui Ling in favour of Lin Fan and he couldn''t help regretting it now.


    After all, thisbo was much greater than Lin Fan alone.


    Adding Long Shui Ling''s illusion in, they were the perfect supportbo.


    After teasing him a bit, there was someone that asked, "Should we try to get her into the Awakener Association?"


    When this was said, everyone''s eyes couldn''t help lighting up as they revealed excited looks.


    That was right, even if Lin Fan was unavable because he already belonged to Elementia, that didn''t mean that it was the same with Long Shui Ling. They were certain that these two had only met in the second round, so they didn''t both belong to the same organization.


    That meant that Long Shui Ling was a free agent.


    If they could bring her into their fold¡­then her illusion power would be theirs.


    But before any of them could take it any further, the serious looking examiner suddenly said, "Don''t even think about it. We can''t touch that one."


    All of them couldn''t help revealing surprised looks since they never expected this serious looking man to chime in.


    Even though he walked along with them, he was actually the head examiner and he had the power to back it up.


    He was someone that was much higher ranked than them.


    And if he said this, they had no choice but to believe it.


    But they still couldn''t help being curious why he would say something like this.


    The serious looking examiner didn''t even need to look at them to guess what they were thinking, so he just calmly said, "Look at her file and you''ll know. She''s from a ce that we can''t touch even more than Elementia."


    Even more than Elementia?


    Elementia was one of the top guilds and one of the strongest organizations in this world, how could there be a ce that was even above that?


    But the moment that they saw Long Shui Ling''s file, they immediately understood what he was talking about.


    That ce¡­that really was untouchable¡­


    If they tried, it would be hard to predict the consequences.


    But if she was from that ce, then wouldn''t it be a problem for Lin Fan that she was so close to him?


    When they looked back at the two of them, they couldn''t help revealing looks of pity for Lin Fan.


    They knew that he was certain to suffer at the hands of his inws in the future,


    It was just a good thing that Lin Fan didn''t see this since these examiners were good at hiding their expressions.


    The serious looking man just said with a sigh, "Just focus on your jobs and stop gossiping so much."


    The other examiners gave perfunctory nods, but it was clear by the looks in their eyes that they were still nning on having fun.


    But the serious looking man didn''t care about any of that.


    The matches continued and the number of people left dropped.


    We were slowly weeded out by the tournament format and there were only four people left.


    Surprisingly and not surprisingly at the same time, both Long Shui Ling and I both remained.


    We had been able to take care of our opponents and advanced slowly to the top four.


    Now that we were here, it was very likely that we would meet.


    But before meeting, there was someone else that I would be facing first.


    "Lin Fan and Zhao Kui,e to the stage."


    It was Zhao Kui, the one that held a grudge against me this entire time.

 Chapter 160: Irregular License Exam (40)

    When the two of us were called, he red at me from the other side of this stadium before heading down to the stage.


    As I prepared to head down, Long Shui Ling said in a voice filled with confidence, "Don''t y around with him too much."


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I heard this.


    It seemed that she had quite a bit of trust in me.


    Then I shouldn''t let that trust down.


    I said with a faint smile, "I''ll be back soon."


    When the two of us were standing on the stage, Zhao Kui red at me and said, "Now you''re going to pay for what you did in the second exam. You think that you can just steal my boss and get away with it? In your dreams!"


    I gave a shrug and said, "Let''s just get this over with."


    Zhao Kui''s face twisted in rage when he heard this.


    He pointed his finger at me and roared, "You really think that you''re so great? You think that you can do whatever you want? I''ll show you what real power is right now!"


    I once again gave a shrug and this time, I didn''t even bother to answer him.


    I just waited for the judge to start the fight.


    Zhao Kui also turned to the judge when I saw him ignore him like this. He also wanted to start the fight so he could ''teach me a lesson''.


    Seeing this, the serious looking man gave a nod and raised one hand before saying, "Begin."


    As soon as his voice fell, Zhao Kui immediately threw out several rocks at me.


    These were tiny pebbles at first, but as they flew through the air, they became bigger and bigger. They grew in size until they were like giant boulders flying at me.


    I didn''t panic when I saw this since I had already seen this before.


    With a sweep of my sword, I easily cut through the boulders.


    These boulders might be big, but they weren''t strong.


    That was what I had noticed when I watched Zhao Kui fight the Lizardman King.


    He might be able to make things bigger, but that didn''t increase the hardness of the material that he used. All it did was make whatever he wanted bigger, but it was still the same as before.


    So a boulder like this was easy for me to cut in half.


    He also couldn''t do the same thing as before where if I had shattered it, he would have made the fragments bigger to smash against each other or to rain down on me.


    Seeing this, Zhao Kui slightly knitted his brows before saying, "If you really think that this is all that I can do, then you''re mistaken."


    He pulled out the shield on his back and it suddenly became bigger as he mmed it into the ground.


    Even after he mmed it into the ground, the shield continued to grow bigger and bigger until itpletely blocked my view of him. Even then, it continued to grow until¡­it separated the arena in half.


    Thispletely blocked me from reaching Zhao Kui.


    I could hear his voiceing from the other side.


    "Now you won''t be able to do anything." Zhao Kui said in an arrogant voice.


    Then as soon as his voice fell, there were shadows that appeared on the ground.


    These were shadows that came from above.


    When I looked up, I found that there were boulders that wereing down at me.


    It was the same as before where he threw rocks up into the air and then made them bigger to form these boulders.


    Then those boulders fell down at me like this.


    Since I was trapped by the shield, there was only limited space for me to go.


    But I didn''t panic at all.


    If it was anyone else, they might not know how to deal with this.


    However, I knew that I would be able to deal with it.


    For this first wave of boulders, I just simply cut them apart with my sword and dodged out of the way.


    The remaining bits of the bouldernded there on the ground around me.


    "Ha, ha, you think that this will be enough?" Zhao Kui''s voice rang out.


    I was a bit confused how he was able to see this until I saw the camera that was attached to the shield.


    This thing was right on top of the shield wall, allowing Zhao Kui to see over it and to see me behind the shield wall.


    Money really was a convenient thing, it allowed one to get all of these useful items.


    But there was nothing better than one''s own strength in situations like this.


    I looked at the shield wall with a smile before saying, "Be dizzy."


    Zhao Kui had been lifting up more rocks to throw over the wall when he was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea.


    He didn''t know where this wave of nausea came from, but he found it hard even standing up when he was filled with dizziness like this.


    There was no way that he would be able to throw the rocks over the shield like this.


    That was when I took advantage of this and said, "Faster and stronger."


    Then with a single leap, I jumped over the shield.


    Zhao Kui looked up at me and wanted to fight back, but he found that he was barely able to move because of the strong nausea that he felt.


    He wasn''t able to do a single thing as I quickly fell down in front of him.


    He reached his hand up as if he wanted to stop me, but I just simply swung my sword and pped him across the face with it.


    It was the t of the de that I used to p him, so he wasn''t that injured.


    But with the wave of nausea he felt and the p to the head, he wasn''t able to keep himself upright.


    When he fell to the ground, his eyes rolled back in their sockets and he was knocked out.


    In one simple move, I had taken down Zhao Kui.


    There was only silence that followed.

 Chapter 161: Irregular License Exam (41)

    There was no one that said a word, there were even people that were holding their breath as if they couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    It had happened so fast that it almost seemed like a dream, but this scene in front of them didn''t change when they pinched themselves.


    It was true, I had defeated Zhao Kui in just a single move.


    After another bit of silence, the serious looking examiner finally said, "Lin Fan is the victor."


    The only one that pped after this was Long Shui Ling.


    But I didn''t mind that I didn''t receive any apuse from this crowd.


    I just simply gave a nod and then left the stage to return to my seat.


    What I didn''t know was just how much of a stir I had caused among the examiners.


    "Not only can he buff, he can even debuff?"


    "You all saw it, he can even cause nausea like that with a singlemand!"


    "Why didn''t you tell us about this earlier!"


    Thestment was aimed at Elliot who just had a bitter smile on his face when he heard this.


    The simple reason¡­he didn''t know either.


    "The puppet only provided a simple test for basic abilities, it didn''t do any further tests for other abilities. It isn''t as if he would be able to use this kind of debuff on a puppet, would he?"


    After some thought, they had to admit that he was right.


    And they weren''t able to see what he had done in the dungeon, so they wouldn''t have learned about it even if he had used it in the dungeon.


    So they couldn''t really me Elliot for not knowing¡­


    Still, they chose to tease him still.


    Part of it was to y with him and part of it was because they had nothing else that they could do.


    This was the only way that they could vent their shock and frustration.


    If only he wasn''t already in Elementia¡­


    Still, they couldn''t change that fact so they could only vent.


    After returning to my seat, Long Shui Ling once again took her spot by my side and she held my arm with a happy smile on her face.


    But that didn''tst long since it was her turn to fight next.


    The one that she was fighting was the magical girl, Chelsea.


    She had met the young man with the pompadour, Andrew, in the quarterfinals and he had given up without a fight which she was clearly upset with, but that didn''t stop him from doing it.


    So now she was the one that was facing Long Shui Ling.


    When the two of them stood there on the stage, they both looked at each other with respect.


    Long Shui Ling respected her since she knew that she was different from Zhao Kui. She knew that she had been forced to follow him, but she actually had skills to back up her position.


    Chelsea respected Long Shui Ling since not only was she in second ce, she had seen the power that she had used against the others.


    Since both of them respected each other, this wouldn''t be a fight where there was any dirt to it.


    This would be a clean fight.


    After a long silence, both of them saluted each other before the serious looking examiner said, "Begin."


    The moment that the serious looking man''s voice fell, Chelsea suddenly raised her wand and pointed it at Long Shui Ling.


    As she did, she muttered under her breath, "Sulfur."


    Then there was the smell of rotten eggs that appeared in the air around Long Shui Ling.


    She had already seen this before, so she knew exactly what was happening, but she didn''t move at all.


    Chelsea hesitated for a second when she saw this, but then she said, "You''re already surrounded, I can blow you up at any moment. As long as you surrender, I''ll release it right now."


    The crowd was surprised to hear this since they couldn''t see or smell the sulfur gas, but they knew that something was off with how Long Shui Ling didn''t move at all.


    But Long Shui Ling just revealed a smile before disappearing.


    Chelsea was shocked to see this, but she could already guess what was happening.


    It was an illusion.


    She had already seen Long Shui Ling use this enough that she was able to tell exactly when the illusion started.


    So she pointed her wand forward and was about to ignite the sulfur.


    She didn''t believe that Long Shui Ling would be able to escape the range of the sulfur gas in time, so she knew that it would work even if she couldn''t see her.


    But before she could ignite it, there were several figures that appeared in front of her.


    "This¡­" Chelsea said before slowly lowering her wand.


    As the crowd watched Chelsea stand there in ce, they couldn''t understand what was happening.


    But from time to time, she would say some things.


    "No, it''s not true!"


    "It''s just that¡­"


    "I swear, it''s the truth."


    Finally, she broke down and started crying as she fell to her knees.


    It seemed that her will to fight had beenpletely broken.


    It was also at that time that Long Shui Ling suddenly appeared out of thin air.


    She walked over to Chelsea and slowly helped her up, while alsoforting her by telling her that everything she saw wasn''t real.


    Long Shui Ling then leaned in and whispered something that seemed to make a blush appear on Chelsea''s face.


    The two of them talked about something in low voices for a bit before Long Shui Ling took out a piece of paper that she handed over to Chelsea.


    Chelsea had a look of confusion, but she still took the piece of paper in the end.


    After that, they separated and left the stage in different directions.


    The serious looking examiner gave a sigh and said, "The winner is Long Shui Ling."

 Chapter 162: Irregular License Exam (42)

    With this, the finals were set.


    As expected, it was me against Long Shui Ling.


    If it came down to a fight, it definitely would have been a hard fight for me¡­


    But there was no fight in the first ce.


    There was an intermission that was given for each battle so that people could recover after a fight. So there was a ten minute intermission that was given after Long Shui Ling''s fight with Chelsea.


    During this time, everyone looked at the two of us with strange looks.


    It would be the two of us in the final fight, but¡­we didn''t seem like we cared about that at all.


    Long Shui Ling was still happily holding my arm and offering desserts that she had prepared at the hotel to me.


    I just received it all with a faint smile on my face.


    It seemed like we were here on a date rather than here to take an exam.


    After the ten minutes were over, the serious looking man said, "Lin Fan versus Long Shui Ling. Competitors, pleasee to the stage."


    But even after he said this, neither of us moved.


    Everyone just stared at us in silence, as if they were waiting for us to react.


    Even the examiners were staring at us as if they were almost pressuring us to do something.


    But the two of us didn''t do a thing as we were just in our own world.


    In the end, the serious looking man had no choice but to say with a cough, "If the two of you woulde to the stage, we''ll¡­"


    Before he could finish, Long Shui Ling raised her hand and spoke with a bit of irritation in her eyes, "I forfeit. Is that enough?"


    "Huh?!"


    That was all everyone could say, even the examiners were not an exception as they did not expect this.


    The only one that still had a calm look on their face was the serious looking examiner.


    He narrowed his eyes to look at the two of us as if he was trying to figure out if we were being serious or not. But after staring at us for a bit, he suddenly rxed his brows and gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, do whatever you want."


    When he said this, everyone looked at him in shock.


    The examiners were more shocked than thepetitors since they knew who this serious looking man really was.


    For him to make an exception like this¡­it really was a big deal!


    But what they didn''t know was that the serious looking man was helpless in this matter.


    Even if he wanted to do something, he didn''t dare actually make a move.


    That was because¡­the other side was Long Shui Ling¡­


    As long as it was what she wanted, there was nothing that he could do.


    After all¡­he couldn''t go against the people behind her¡­


    Plus, there really was no reason for them to hold this final match.


    It was clear what kind of power the two of them had, so there was no need for them to show off their power. It would have been nothing more than a show if they actually fought each other, so it was better to save this time.


    The serious looking examiner gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, let''s move on to the presentation."


    All of the examiners looked at him with strange looks like they were trying to figure out just who he was.


    After all, they didn''t think that he was the person they knew with the way that he was acting!


    The presentation that he was talking about was the final part of this exam, it would be where they handed out the Irregr Licenses to these people that had passed.


    But at the same time, it would be a kind of ceremony where they would light a fire under those that had ced lower by showing them what one could gain if one had the ability.


    The ones that ced lower received their licenses one by one and they didn''t have any problems with them.


    Of course, there were some that were unhappy because of their rank, but they couldn''t do a thing.


    There were those that received E Ranks and those that received D Ranks, but there wasn''t a single person that went beyond that and received a C Rank.


    Even Zhao Kui, Chelsea, and Andrew only received D Rank even with the skills that they had disyed.


    When he received it, the look on Zhao Kui''s face was like he wanted to tear someone apart, but he didn''t have anyone that he could vent this anger on.


    After all, the examiners here were all stronger than him and if he really went on a rampage¡­it wouldn''t end well for him.


    So the only thing he could do was let that anger fester in his heart.


    He would vent it on the person that he thought was responsible for all of this, the one that had defeated him.


    Lin Fan.


    When he went back, he believed that he would be able to crush him with the power of his family.


    For now, he just tookfort in the fact that Lin Fan would be receiving the same rank as him.


    Or at least that was what he thought¡­


    The serious looking examiner called Lin Fan and Long Shui Ling over at the same time.


    He looked at the two of them before giving a satisfied nod and saying, "Since you two have demonstrated exceptional skill, you will be receiving a C Rank Irregr License."


    When he said this, everyone looked at the two of them in silence and shock.


    They couldn''t believe what he had just said.


    I was even surprised to hear this.


    After all, from what I had heard from Su Chen, it was already the best for someone to receive a D Rank Irregr License. It had been years since someone had directly reached C Rank from the exam.


    That was also why the requirement was only set for D Rank instead of higher.


    So naturally I was caught off guard when they made this exception.

 Chapter 163: Irregular License Exam (43)

    Even when they brought the licenses over, it didn''t seem real.


    The Irregr License was a card that could double as ID, so it was something that was made very carefully.


    But different from everyone else, our cards were made of silver while theirs were made of bronze.


    It seemed that once you reached a certain rank, your card would be made of different materials.


    I couldn''t help wondering what B Rank or A Rank cards would be made of.


    But I quickly shook that thought out of my mind as I looked at the serious looking examiner who presented this card to me.


    Moving only my mouth, I whispered, "Is this really alright?"


    He just looked at me with a smile without saying anything, but¡­he did take a look at Long Shui Ling on the side who was just ying with her card. She was ying with it like she would with a toy, like she didn''t care about it at all.


    The way that he looked at her was very strange.


    It wasn''t a look of lust, but rather¡­there seemed to be a trace of fear in his eyes.


    It was almost as if he was trying to tell me something with this look.


    I had an idea of what he was trying to say and I already had my own ideas.


    I knew that Long Shui Ling wasn''t simple, but it seemed that I had even underestimated that.


    She might be more than just not simple.


    She might be a terrifying person.


    But that was also a good thing.


    Since my suggestions were in ce, it wouldn''t take long for me to harvest the seeds that I had nted.


    When that time came, I would enjoy the fruits of mybour.


    After the cards had been presented, we were all led to a banquet that was to celebrate our passing of the exam.


    This was apparently a tradition since there were plenty of people from the different guilds and alumni of the exam that were here.


    In a way, this was to help the ones that had graduated find a ce for the future.


    Naturally, Elementia had also sent a group to this event.


    When they saw me, they just gave me a nod of acknowledgement before looking at the others who had passed.


    They knew that I was already in the guild, so there wasn''t a need for them to talk to me.


    They had a job here to do and that took precedent.


    I didn''t mind at all since I understood that.


    But it was a good thing that I had gotten Long Shui Ling to stop clinging to me here.


    If they saw this and reported it to Bing Lan¡­


    Long Shui Ling was unhappy about this, but she still understood what I was thinking and behaved.


    However, she still stuck to me during the party, following close behind.


    And at this party, we were considered the guests of honour.


    Everyone had been informed of the results and they knew that we were the two top rankers of the exam.


    As such, they all wanted to pull us to their organizations¡­or at least that was the case with me.


    Even when I told them that I was a part of Elementia, that didn''t stop them.


    The strange thing was that¡­no one dared to talk to Long Shui Ling.


    It was almost as if they were terrified of her.


    If she didn''t talk to them, it didn''t seem like they would talk to her.


    Just what was her identity that she would even scare these representatives from the top guilds?


    "Mr Lin, if you join us, we will offer five times what Elementia has offered you."


    "Screw that, we''ll give you the same treatment as an A Ranker and will give you a dedicated team."


    "We''ll make you one of our vice guild leaders."


    There were a bunch of different offers that came from the various representatives of the different guilds.


    If I wasn''t alreadymitted to Elementia, I might have actually been moved by these offers.


    After all, the things that they offered definitely weren''t small.


    These were things that most people would have gone crazy over.


    But all of the seeds that I had sown were in Elementia and if I were to move to a new guild, it would all go to waste. Not to mention, I would have to start from nothing if I were to leave Elementia now and go to a new guild.


    So it just wasn''t worth it for me.


    I turned down all of the offers that I received in the end.


    They didn''t want to seem to give up even though I rejected them, but they gave up in the end when Long Shui Ling pulled me away.


    When it came to her, they didn''t dare do a single thing.


    It was almost as if they were scared of her.


    She pulled me over to the buffet and started getting some food for me.


    Once she got a te for me, she started getting her own food.


    While she was picking out her food, she said to me, "It''s annoying how they just won''t leave you alone. I don''t get any private time with you."


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard this.


    If any of them had heard her say this, they would have been terrified.


    After all, there was how they had acted around her previously.


    It was clear that she had a very special identity.


    But before I even answered, she suddenly changed her tone and said, "The most annoying thing is a certain someone who just won''t leave you alone."


    When she said this, I narrowed my eyes to look in the direction that she was referring to with her eyes.


    There was a young man there who was ring at me even though he was surrounded by other people. The look in his eyes was anything but kind.


    It was Zhao Kui.


    It seemed that he still didn''t give up his grudge.

 Chapter 164: Irregular License Exam (44)

    "I''ll take care of him."


    Long Shui Ling suddenly said in a confident voice that caught me off guard.


    I looked at her with a surprised and confused look when she said this, but she just looked back at me with that confident smile on her face.


    It was like she was apletely different person from before.


    This was the personality that the young miss of a powerful family should have.


    But the her from before was also her.


    It seemed that she was quite the sheltered young miss that she wasn''t able to talk to strangers properly, but underneath was still the powerful young miss of a very powerful family.


    So this was her personality when she wasn''t holding herself back.


    The tone that she had said this in wasn''t a question, but rather a statement.


    It was as if she was already saying that she would take care of this.


    But this was a good thing for me.


    If she took care of Zhao Kui and saved me problems in the future, then that would be good for me.


    So after thinking about it, I gave a nod and said, "Alright, but don''t take it too far. Make sure that he doesn''t hurt you."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a blush when she heard this before saying with a confident smile, "There''s no problem. I''ll take care of him easily."


    This confidence that she spoke with, it wasn''t light.


    It was as if to her, she really could take care of him with a single wave of her hand.


    After this party was over, we were picked up by our people who were waiting there for us.


    There were some that just headed off on their own, there were some that took the Awakener Association''s Transport Gates back to their own cities, and there were some that lived in this city that had people waiting for them.


    For me, it was Su Chen who was waiting there for me.


    When I came out, he immediately waved his hand to get my attention.


    I couldn''t help revealing a smile when I saw him waiting there for me and I walked over to him.


    While walking over, Long Shui Ling also followed me.


    When Su Chen saw Long Shui Ling walking over, the smile on his face turned stiff as if he recognized her.


    But before we could go over to him, there was someone dressed as a butler that came up to us¡­or rather, he came over to pick up Long Shui Ling.


    "Young miss, there you are! I''ve been looking all over for you!"


    Long Shui Ling recognized this person as she said, "Sebastian, why are you here so early? Didn''t I tell you to wait for me by the car?"


    The butler called Sebastian quickly came forward and said, "How could I do that? Do you know how worried I was about you? I''ve heard all kinds of rumours¡­"


    As his voice trailed off, I could have sworn that he looked at me.


    But why did he do that?


    What kind of rumours did he hear?


    Were these rumours about me and Long Shui Ling?


    If that was the case, then didn''t that mean that Bing Lan and Bing Xue would also hear these rumours?


    This might be bad for me¡­


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips and said, "What rumours? Why haven''t I heard anything?"


    Sebastian didn''t answer this question as he said, "Your father wants to talk to you, so he''s already waiting at home for you."


    When her father was mentioned, Long Shui Ling''s expression couldn''t help changing. She said in a surprised voice, "Ah, daddy''s waiting at home?"


    Sebastian said with a nod, "Along with the madame. They are waiting for you with a celebration party."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a happy smile when she heard this, but then she hesitated a bit as she turned back to look at me.


    I said with a smile, "Go home and celebrate with your family. You have my contact information, right?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a happy nod when she heard this before she said, "I''ll be waiting." Then under her breath, she added in a voice that I could hear, "Though I might see you first."


    Before I could even ask anything, Long Shui Ling had walked away with Sebastian.


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face before walking over to Su Chen who had been patiently waiting the entire time.


    But when I walked over, Su Chen didn''t react at all as he kept looking in the direction that Long Shui Ling and Sebastian walked off in.


    It was only when they disappeared that Su Chen asked, "How do you know that person?"


    I was surprised to hear Su Chen ask this, but I still calmly said, "I met her during the exam and we worked together for one of the stages. What''s wrong? Do you know her?"


    Su Chen looked at me with a strange look and asked, "You don''t know who she is?"


    I was even more surprised and knitted my brows a bit when I heard this.


    It seemed that Su Chen had an idea of what Long Shui Ling''s identity was.


    So I shook my head and asked, "Do you know who she is?"


    Su Chen didn''t answer right away as the strange look on his face became heavier. After a long silence, he said, "That''s the young miss of the Long Group."


    "Long Group?" I repeated before suddenly revealing a look of recognition, "You mean that Long Group?"


    Su Chen gave a slow nod before saying, "Yes, that Long Group."


    This time, it was my turn to be shocked.


    After all, the ''Long Group'' that Su Chen was referring to was¡­the toppany in the world.


    This was apany that dipped its fingers in every single industry and was rumoured to even control different countries behind the scenes.


    This was apany that was at the very top of the business world and even had ties to the political world.


    And Su Chen was saying that Long Shui Ling was the young miss of that Long Group?


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before asking, "Are you sure of this?"


    Su Chen once again gave a slow nod before saying, "The young miss of the Long Group is known for being elusive, but I''ve met her before. I had gone to the Long Group with the guild master and the vice guild master once and I met her there, so I''m certain that it''s her."


    I couldn''t help being even more shocked when I heard this.


    But secretly, I wasughing.


    Wasn''t this a jackpot?


    I already knew that Long Shui Ling''s identity wasn''t simple, but this was beyond that.


    Since I had alreadyid down my suggestions, it would only be a matter of time before she was under my control.


    And when that time came¡­wouldn''t I be able to control even the Long Group through her?


    This was the toppany in the world, it wasn''t something to look down on.


    Seeing that I didn''t react at all, Su Chen slowly said, "You should be careful with her. She definitely isn''t a simple person."


    I just said with a smile, "We''re just acquaintances that met during the exam, you don''t need to worry about that."


    Su Chen still looked at me with a strange look, but he gave a nod in the end.

 Chapter 165: Skill points

    The ride back was silent.


    Su Chen didn''t say anything since he seemed to be thinking about something, but I also was lost in thought, so I didn''t say anything.


    When he dropped me off, Su Chen said, "I''lle pick you up in three days. The guild master said that you can have a few days off to rest up after the exam."


    I gave a nod and waved my hand to thank him before heading up.


    As he walked away, Su Chen looked at him with aplicated look.


    It was only when he had gone up that Su Chen drove off in his car.


    It was alreadyte at night, so there weren''t many people that were walking around.


    I didn''t waste any time heading into my apartment either since there was something else that I wanted to do.


    After sitting down, the first thing that I did was¡­let out a long sigh of relief.


    This really had been a long few days.


    Evenst night, I didn''t really get much sleep¡­


    So I really wanted toy in bed and hibernate right now, but there was something else for me to do first.


    After that long sigh, I sat up again and opened up the system interface.


    I took a look at my new stats.


    Name: Lin Fan


    Age: 19


    Gender: Male


    Level: 14


    Experience: 323/14000


    Job: Demon King of Lust


    Skills: Hypnosis (Level 4), Time Stop (Level 1), Eyes of Lust (Level 1)


    Skill points: 6


    Strength: 43


    Agility: 45


    Intelligence: 21


    Vitality: 51


    These stats, they really were different from before.


    Other than my intelligence, everything had explodedpared to before.


    That was all a result of Su Chen''s training.


    It was because of that training that I now had abilities that were far beyond the normal person.


    But there was also a part of it that was from leveling up.


    Each level up had given me one stat point for each of my stats, so that had also helped me grow.


    However, what I cared about today were these skill points.


    I gained one of these points for each level up and I had been using them to level up the Hypnosis skill previously.


    The first level up had been one point, the second had been two points, and the third had been four points.


    It seemed that the points required to level up a skill increased with each level the skill increased by.


    So level five costs eight skill points to level up.


    I had been saving up my points the entire time for that level up since I thought that the Hypnosis skill would be the most useful one.


    But now¡­I had different thoughts.


    Instead of saving up my points, it would be better for me to level up another skill before focusing on Hypnosis.


    I was nning on putting some points into the Time Stop skill.


    I had always thought that Hypnosis would be my most important skill, but now I realized how important the Time Stop skill was.


    It was my only life preservation skill, so ten minutes was far from enough.


    If I ever encountered a strong person and I needed to run away, I would need more than ten minutes.


    Plus, I knew how to get more points now, so it didn''t matter if I put points into this skill.


    Taking a deep breath, I pressed the plus button on the screen in front of me and leveled up the Time Stop skill.


    But I only pressed it once to level it up to level two.


    Once I had done that, I immediately checked the description of the new level two Time Stop skill.


    "It''s gone up to an entire hour!" I couldn''t help saying in a surprised voice.


    I had thought that it would double in time to twenty minutes, but it turned out that it went up to an entire hour.


    This wasn''t a small increase in time limit since an hour was definitely more than enough to deal with most situations.


    But I still had skill points left.


    So I pressed the plus button again and leveled up the Time Stop skill to level three.


    "Six hours! It actually went up to six hours!"


    I was filled with pleasant surprise when I saw this.


    If I kept increasing this Time Stop skill, would I be able to freeze time indefinitely?


    If that was the case, would anyone be able to do anything to me?


    No, I can''t say that.


    I quickly forced myself to calm down as I faced the truth.


    There were many different Awakeners out there with different powers, so there should be one that has the power to go against my Time Stop skill. I shouldn''t let myself be too filled with confidence over this small matter.


    I should still focus on bing as strong as possible.


    There weren''t enough skill points left to increase the Time Stop skill by another level.


    Level four required four skill points, but I only had three left.


    But that meant that I had enough points to upgrade another skill.


    The third skill that the demon king system had given me, the Eyes of Lust.


    This was the skill that I had avoided using since it was the most despicable one out of the three, but now that I''ve made up my mind¡­


    This skill would without a doubt be helpful to me in achieving what I wanted to achieve in the future.


    Not to mention, it did have a very powerful ability that I had just avoided using up to now because of how I had felt.


    But now that I''ve made up my mind, I should use anything and everything at my disposal.


    So without any further hesitation, I pressed the plus button that was beside the Eyes of Lust skill twice. I just directly upgraded this skill to level three and used the rest of my skill points.


    Skill points could be earned, but a life was something that each person only had a single one of.


    If I lost my life while still having skill points left, I would surely regret it.


    So it was better to upgrade my skills while I could.

 Chapter 166: After the exam (1)

    "Ling Ling, you''re finally home!"


    A sharp dressed man ran forward with his arms spread while having a loving look on his face.


    But in the end, he was dodged by the girl that he was running towards.


    When he turned around, he said with a sad look, "Ling Ling, why did you dodge out of the way of daddy''s love hug?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a sigh before saying, "Daddy, I''m already this old and you''re still trying to hug me like this. I''m not a little girl anymore."


    The sharp dressed man revealed a serious look and said, "No matter how old you are, you are always daddy''s little girl." He turned to the beautiful woman watching all of this and said with that same serious look, "Isn''t that right, honey?"


    The beautiful woman gave a nod and said with a serious look as well, "Our little girl will always be our little girl."


    Seeing her parents like this, Long Shui Ling could only give a sigh and shake her head.


    But there was no denying the faint smile that was creeping onto her lips.


    Rich families might scheme against each other, but that was only normal rich families.


    When they were the richest family in the world, there was no need for such a thing since there was plenty for everyone.


    Not to mention that Long Shui Ling was the only sessor.


    The Long Family was special where they took their marriages very seriously.


    They would only have a single partner and unless they wanted to, no one forced them to have multiple children.


    So currently, there was only Long Shui Ling who was the sessor of the Long Group.


    She was the one and only young miss of the Long Family.


    That was a status that couldn''t be taken lightly.


    After they teased each other a bit longer, the three of them happily went over to the dining table where there was an old couple waiting for them.


    Even though there were signs of old age with these two, they were still very handsome and beautiful.


    Not to mention, they were full of majesty as the elders of the prestigious Long Family.


    But the moment that Long Shui Ling came in, that majesty disappeared.


    "Ling Ling, you''re finally back!" The old woman said with a happy smile on her face.


    "Come here and let grandpa take a look at you! Are you hurt anywhere?" The old man said with a worried look.


    Long Shui Ling happily ran over to this old couple and then turned around for the old man before saying, "Grandpa, I''m fine. You don''t need to worry about anything, I didn''t get hurt at all."


    The old man wouldn''t ept this and carefully looked over her, making sure that she was absolutely fine.


    The old woman shook her head and said, "You worry too much about Ling Ling, she might hate you for it one day."


    The old man revealed a look of shock before turning back to Long Shui Ling and saying, "Ling Ling, you wouldn''t hate me, would you?"


    Long Shui Ling saw the wink from her grandmother and tilted her head as if she was thinking while saying, "I don''t know¡­it does get annoying sometimes."


    The old man looked like it was the end of the world when he heard this.


    Long Shui Ling''s father revealed a faint smile beforeing forward to save him, "Father, since we''re all here, let''s eat. The dishes have all been prepared, so they''ll get cold if we wait too long."


    Seeing his way out, the old man gave a nod and said, "Un, let''s eat."


    He turned back to Long Shui Ling with a smile and said, "Ling Ling, your grandmother and mother worked all afternoon to prepare this for you. They made sure to make all your favourites."


    The two women nodded with smiles on their faces after he said this.


    Long Shui Ling just sat down with a happy smile and started eating without a care.


    During dinner, they asked her about what had happened during the Irregr License Exam.


    Long Shui Ling just gave a simple recount of what had happened during the exam.


    She made sure to leave out a few things that she didn''t want her family finding out about.


    But since they were her family and she was their precious daughter/granddaughter, they were able to pick up certain things from the way that she spoke. They were able to see the emotions that were on her face and hear the tone of her voice as she spoke.


    The women revealed smiles while the men narrowed their eyes.


    When she was finished, she suddenly said in a voice that seemed like she had remembered something, "Oh, right, there was something else I needed to tell you about."


    When the adults heard this, they all turned to look at her with inquisitive looks.


    This was something special that she wanted to specifically tell them about, it shouldn''t be simple.


    The men had worried looks since they thought that it was what they feared the most.


    But it turned out it wasn''t that.


    "There was someone who tried to hurt me during the exam."


    The moment that she said this, there was only silence that followed.


    It was so quiet that one could even hear the sound of a pin dropping.


    "Huh?!" All of a sudden, the two men said this before exploding.


    "Who dares to try and harm my precious little girl! Daddy will take care of them and wipe them off the face of the Earth!" Long Shui Ling''s father stood up as he said this.


    "Stay out of the way! This old man will take care of my granddaughter''s problems!" Long Shui Ling''s grandfather also stood up.


    The two women shook their heads and gave sighs, but then they also revealed sharp looks.


    Long Shui Ling waited for them to finish before telling them about what happened with Zhao Kui¡­though her ount made it seem more serious than it actually was.


    "Good Zhao Family! See how father takes care of you!"


    "You sit down! I''ll take care of them! It seems like they''ve forgotten about this old man after I disappeared for a few months!"


    Long Shui Ling revealed a happy smile when she saw this.


    She told Lin Fan that she would take care of this and this was her way of taking care of it.


    It seemed that there was only misfortune in the future for the Zhao Family.

 Chapter 167: After the exam (2)

    In a different manor that was less luxurious than the Long Family''s manor.


    "Father, I''m back."


    Zhao Kui announced as soon as he came in the door.


    But all that he was met with were grim faces.


    He was confused when he saw this and asked, "What''s wrong? Did something happen?"


    No one answered him as they all looked at the screens in front of them with grim looks on their faces.


    Zhao Kui didn''t know what was happening, but he could tell that something was seriously wrong for everyone to be acting this way.


    He had expected a triumphant return after he passed the Irregr License Exam, so this waspletely different from what he was expecting.


    Finally, after a long silence, his father said, "It''s the Zhao Group, we''re facing a crisis."


    Zhao Kui''s face immediately filled with shock when he heard this before he said, "How could the Zhao Group be in crisis in just the few days that I''ve been gone?"


    Zhao Kui''s father shook his head and said, "It''s not in a few days, it''s been in the past few hours."


    Zhao Kui was even more shocked when he heard this before quickly asking, "What do you mean in the past few hours? Just what has happened?"


    Zhao Kui''s father didn''t even bother exining as he just handed over one of the tablets he had been using.


    Zhao Kui had a confused look when he took this tablet, but he still took it and looked at what his father wanted him to read. As he read the articles that were on the tablet, his expression couldn''t help bing uglier and uglier.


    "nder! This is all nder!" Zhao Kui mmed his fist down after he finished reading this.


    "It''s not." A voice came from the side.


    Zhao Kui turned to look at his older brother who had been sitting there in silence.


    He couldn''t help being surprised that his older brother had suddenly spoken up at this time, but he knitted his brows and asked, "What do you mean?"


    Zhao Kui''s older brother took a deep breath before saying, "It''s all true."


    Zhao Kui''s face filled with shock when he heard this.


    If it was anyone else who said this, he might not have believed them.


    But since it was his older brother who said these words, he had no choice but to believe.


    That was because his older brother was the vice president of internal affairs for the Zhao Group.


    He was the one that handled all the inner matters for the Zhao Group, for their father.


    It could even be said that he was the cleaner for the Zhao Group.


    If there were any dirty secrets that the Zhao Group had, he was the one that knew them all.


    So he was the greatest authority on this matter.


    If he was saying that all of these articles were true, then there was no denying them.


    The articles that Zhao Kui had just read were about the Zhao Group''s misdeeds.


    These were articles that talked about the bribes the Zhao Group had made, the coverups that the Zhao Group had done, and all different kinds of evil things that the Zhao Group had done to further their business.


    Of course, there was ck and white in the business world, so these things were necessary to get ahead.


    But they should have all been hidden without leaving a single trace.


    So how had they found this out?


    Zhao Kui looked at his older brother and asked, "How did they find all this out? Shouldn''t all traces of this have been erased?"


    Zhao Kui''s older brother had a frown on his face as he shook his head and said, "I have no idea. I remember not leaving a trace, but somehow they were able to dig all of this up¡­"


    As his voice trailed off, he revealed a look of deep thought as if he was trying to figure something out.


    Zhao Kui couldn''t help peeking at the other tablet that was on the table.


    The good thing was that the market''s were closed, so they had some time to fix this¡­but he could see that the projections for the Zhao Group''s stock prices were getting worse and worse.


    Zhao Kui''s father then said with a sigh, "The worst part is that they keep releasing new articles on the hour, every hour! It''s almost as if they are doing this on purpose just to mess with us!"


    As if on cue, there was another article that suddenly appeared on the tablet that Zhao Kui was holding.


    This was another article about another one of the Zhao Group''s misdeeds.


    As soon as this article appeared, the stock price projections once again dropped¡­


    All of them had grim looks on their faces as they just sat or stood there in silence.


    But after a long silence, Zhao Kui''s father suddenly said, "But it''s a good thing that you''re back."


    Zhao Kui was surprised and a bit confused to hear this.


    Good that he was back?


    What could he do to help?


    He wasn''t someone that was skilled in business or had that much influence that he could stop the media from reporting these things.


    So how could he help?


    Zhao Kui''s father''s expression rxed a bit as he said, "I''ve gotten word that an important person also took part in the exam today. Since you''re my son, I''m sure that you were able to build a rtionship with that person through your outstanding performance. As long as we can get that person to help us, it won''t be a problem for our Zhao Group to weather this storm."


    Zhao Kui revealed an even more surprised look when he heard this before asking, "Who is it?"


    While he had only ced third, that was third out of everyone.


    He was sure that he had made an impression on everyone, so he would still be able to get them to work with him if he wanted to.


    That was the confidence that he had.


    It was just too bad that this confidence was about to be smashed when he heard his father''s next words.


    Seeing the confident look that Zhao Kui had when he asked this, his father gave a satisfied look before saying, "I''ve heard that the daughter of the Long Group also took part in the exam today."


    "Long Group?" Zhao Kui couldn''t help repeating after his father before slightly knitting his brows.


    For some reason, this seemed familiar.


    Of course he knew what the Long Group was, but he felt like he had met someone with the surname Long today¡­


    He had been too focused on Lin Fan the entire time that he had forgotten about most of the others. But for some reason, the surname Long seemed very familiar¡­


    Zhao Kui''s father gave a nod before saying, "That''s right, the young miss of the Long Group, Long Shui Ling." Then with augh, he said, "I''m sure that with your outstanding performance, you should have been able to charm herpletely. When the timees, we can even be inws with the Long Group."


    However, Zhao Kui wasn''t as positive as his father.


    He finally recognized this name¡­


    Wasn''t that the name of the girl who had stuck with Lin Fan the entire time?

 Chapter 168: After the exam (3)

    Zhao Kui''s father slowly stopped talking when he saw the look on Zhao Kui''s face.


    The moment that he saw this look, he knew that this wasn''t a good look.


    His face also turned dark as he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Zhao Kui hesitated to speak at first, but in the end he still said, "Are you certain that her name is Long Shui Ling?"


    His father''s expression turned even darker when he heard this. His father wasn''t a fool, so he was able to tell that there was something wrong the moment that he heard this.


    "What did you do?" Zhao Kui''s father said in a deep voice.


    Zhao Kui had the same ugly look on his face as he took a deep breath and said, "I might have figured out who it is that''s attacking our Zhao Group¡­"


    As his voice trailed off, Zhao Kui''s father suddenly mmed his fist down on the table as he roared, "This brat! You actually¡­!"


    He didn''t get to finish what he wanted to say as he suddenly clutched his chest.


    When Zhao Kui and his older brother saw this, both of them quickly came forward to support him. However, when his father saw himing over, he suddenly punched Zhao Kui in the face.


    After punching him, his father roared out, "This little b*stard! Do you even have eyes! This wastrel is doing everything that he can to destroy our family!"


    Zhao Kui fell to the ground and held his face with an aggrieved look, but he didn''t dare say anything.


    He knew that this was his fault, so there wasn''t anything that he could say even if he wanted to say something.


    It was his older brother who broke the silence that followed by saying, "Father, please calm down. You know that with your blood pressure, you can''t get agitated like this."


    Zhao Kui''s father was still clutching his chest and panting, but with the urges of his older brother, his father sat down in the end.


    His older brother went to get some medicine and some water for his father before saying, "For now, we should think of a way to solve this problem."


    After taking the medicine and taking a deep breath to calm down, Zhao Kui''s father gave a nod of agreement and said, "What do you propose?"


    This was where Zhao Kui''s older brother fell silent.


    Even if he wanted to say something, there was nothing for him to say since he didn''t have any ideas.


    If he did, he would have already given them earlier.


    So the room fell into an awkward silence.


    That was until Zhao Kui said, "I have an idea."


    When Zhao Kui''s father heard this, he immediately pped the table again and shouted, "Haven''t you already caused enough trouble?! You want to y around even more!"


    One moment he had been praising him and the next, he was scolding him like this.


    It was like he had turned into apletely different person.


    But that just went to show how serious this situation was.


    His older brother once again came forward to hold his father back as he said, "Father, let''s not be hasty. Let''s hear what Xiao Kui has to say first before we make a decision."


    Zhao Kui''s father gave a snort and turned his head, but he still sat down as if he was waiting for Zhao Kui to give his idea.


    Zhao Kui gave his older brother a grateful look before saying, "There was someone who was with Long Shui Ling during the exam, it seemed like they were quite close."


    Both of them immediately knitted their brows when they heard this as they fell into thought.


    This¡­was a double edged sword.


    If they really went down this path, then there would definitely be no way of reconciling with the Long Family after this.


    But if they didn''t take this path, their Zhao Group would be destroyed.


    In the end, Zhao Kui''s father said, "Who is it?"


    With this, he had made his decision.


    It would all be over if the Zhao Group was destroyed, so for now¡­it was better to take the path that had less consequences.


    Zhao Kui''s eyes lit up when he heard this before he told them about Lin Fan.


    After hearing this, Zhao Kui''s father turned to his older brother and said, "How long will it take to get this information?"


    His older brother hesitated for a minute before looking at the clock and saying, "I''ll try for under an hour, but it''ll be hard."


    Zhao Kui''s father just gave a sigh and said, "Do what you can."


    His older brother gave a nod before leaving the room.


    Seeing him leave, Zhao Kui had an excited look.


    He had nned on taking revenge on Lin Fan in the first ce, so now that it had coincided with this, it really was the best case scenario for him.


    He couldn''t wait to see Lin Fan again.


    ¡­


    Fifty minutester, his older brother came back with an ugly look on his face.


    When Zhao Kui''s father saw this expression on his face, he also revealed an ugly look before saying, "What''s the damage?"


    His older brother shook his head and said, "It''s not good, not good at all."


    Then he ced the folder that he had been holding in his hand in front of his father.


    Zhao Kui''s father picked it up right away and as he read it, his expression became moreand more ugly.


    Zhao Kui had been indulging in his fantasies of taking revenge on Lin Fan, but he was also pulled back to reality when he saw this.


    He could tell that something was wrong.


    Before he could say anything, Zhao Kui''s father suddenly threw this folder in Zhao Kui''s face and roared, "You useless thing! You really are something, aren''t you?"


    Zhao Kui was bewildered seeing this reaction from his father, but he looked down at the folder that had been thrown at him.


    He knew that whatever had caused his father to act this way was written on this folder.


    As he read what was written, he couldn''t help being shocked. He couldn''t help muttering, "Impossible."


    "Impossible?" Zhao Kui''s father asked, "There''s nothing impossible in this world!"


    He mmed his fist down and roared, "Not only did you offend the Long Family, you even dragged Elementia into this!"


    "I, I, I¡­" Zhao Kui stammered as he didn''t know how to respond.


    He never thought that poor looking man named Lin Fan would actually be someone from Elementia, one of the biggest guilds in the world!


    How could that be possible?


    But then again, if he wasn''t¡­that wouldn''t have exined his performance during the exam¡­


    His older brother raised his hand and said, "Father, please calm down or you''ll hurt yourself again."


    Zhao Kui''s father took a deep breath before pointing at the door, "Leave, I don''t want to see you right now."


    Zhao Kui opened and closed his mouth a few times before lowering his head and walking out.


    After he closed the door behind him, there was only silence that lingered in the air in the room.


    But after a while his older brother said, "Father, should we consider cutting Zhao Kui off?"

 Chapter 169: After the exam (4)

    "Mom, dad, uncle, auntie, we have to move."


    When Chelsea said this, her parents and Andrew''s parents were all surprised and confused.


    They didn''t know why she would suddenly say this, so they looked over at Andrew for some rification.


    But he just gave a nod to show that he agreed with this too.


    After a moment of silence, Chelsea''s father said, "Honey, we can''t just leave like this. There''s nowhere else for us to go. We''re not rich enough to move and even if you''ve passed the exam and have be an Irregr License holder, we can''t just leave that easily."


    The other three parents nodded in agreement.


    They were of course happy that Chelsea and Andrew had passed the Irregr License Exam, but her suggestion to move was just too sudden.


    Even if they had passed and be owners of the Irregr License, it wasn''t as if their lives would change right away.


    They wanted these two to slowly get used to their new lives before making any changes.


    Even if they were Irregr License holders now, they still haven''t joined any powerful organizations that would allow them to soar up to be phoenixes yet.


    Plus¡­they were hoping that these two would settle down soon.


    As parents, they could naturally see the way that the two of them felt about each other, which was why they were acting like inws already. That was why their two families were celebrating together instead of alone in the first ce.


    Chelsea shook her head and said, "No, we can''t stay here for much longer¡­"


    After a pause, she said with a heavy voice, "The Zhao Family won''t leave us alone anymore."


    The moment that she said this, all four of the adults couldn''t help being shocked.


    They looked at Andrew for confirmation and once again he gave a nod.


    After a long silence, Chelsea''s father asked, "What happened?"


    Chelsea gave a sigh before telling them about what had happened in the exam with Zhao Kui.


    When she had finished her story, all four of the parents had heavy looks on their faces.


    They knew what it meant to offend the Zhao Family since all four of them worked for the Zhao Group.


    "Is there no way of reconciling? What if you went to apologize?" That was Chelsea''s father''s first response after hearing this.


    Chelsea couldn''t help knitting her brows when she heard this.


    She couldn''t help feeling a bit frustrated when she saw her parents like this¡­


    But she held it back and said, "It''s already toote for this."


    When they heard this, the parents once again knitted their brows.


    Taking a deep breath, Chelsea said, "That''s why we need to pack up and leave."


    They just looked at her with a lost look and asked, "Where would we even go? Where would we be able to go so that we can escape the influence of the Zhao Group?"


    Chelsea fell silent when she heard this.


    Chelsea''s father gave a sigh before saying, "I know what kind of personality the young master of the Zhao Group has, but you were too hasty. I know you are talented, but you offended him too rashly. The Zhao Group just has too much power."


    The other parents nodded in agreement to this.


    None of them said a thing as they fell into deep thought.


    It was already toote to regret this. All they could do was think of a way to help their children out of this predicament.


    Chelsea and Andrew were both saddened to see their parents like this.


    After years of being oppressed, they had already be submissive and it really hurt them to see them like this¡­


    With a sigh, Chelsea said, "Actually, there is a ce for us to go."


    "Huh?" All four parents suddenly looked up with surprised looks.


    Chelsea''s father then asked, "What do you mean by that? You should know that there isn''t a ce where we could hide from the Zhao Group."


    Chelsea gave a sigh before saying, "There''s someone that wants to hire me and Andrew. As long as we work for them, they should be able to give all of us jobs and provide us with shelter."


    The four parents knitted their brows once more after hearing this.


    Chelsea''s father slowly said, "Honey, you should know how powerful the Zhao Group is¡­it''s not something that normal people canpare to. Even if they are willing to hire you, once they find out that it''s the Zhao Group that you''ve offended¡­"


    His voice trailed off, but the meaning behind his words were clear.


    Once they found out that it was the Zhao Group, then they would abandon them.


    Chelsea shook her head and said, "No, they aren''t afraid of the Zhao Group."


    All four of the parents knitted their brows when they heard this.


    Chelsea''s father then said, "Honey, you shouldn''t believe people''s words that easily. People can easily say one thing and mean another¡­that is just the world that we live in."


    Chelsea shook her head again before saying, "No, I know for sure that she''s not scared of the Zhao Group."


    They once again looked at Andrew and he gave another nod.


    It was only then that they said, "Alright, then let''s try to trust this person¡­"


    Chelsea couldn''t help pouting her lips and turning to look at Andrew after they said this.


    Why didn''t they trust her and only epted this after seeing that Andrew agreed?


    Andrew just revealed a bitter smile and a shrug when he saw this.


    He could have exined, but it would have only made things worse if he did.


    So he knew better than to actually say anything.


    After they had agreed to this, Chelsea pulled out a small piece of paper that had a note on it.


    This was what Long Shui Ling had passed her after their fight.


    Opening it, she said, "With this note, we''ll be able to find new jobs and a new ce to live."

 Chapter 170: Experimenting with experience points (1)

    Two days aftering back from the exam, I headed to Sasha''s bar again.


    When I arrived, I found that business was even better than before.


    But then again, now that her bar was supported by Elementia, it was only natural that it would be better.


    They had paid a percentage of the bar, so Elementia had a stake in the earnings.


    As such, they would do what they could to help the bar grow.


    Even the staff that had been hired were different.


    The girls had be more beautiful and the bouncers were clearly much stronger than before.


    I could even feel the manaing from them, showing that they were strong Awakeners.


    When I arrived, I just went right up to the bar and the same bartender as before let me into the back without a fuss.


    Even if the staff had changed, this bartender would still be the same.


    He was the final line of defense for this bar in the first ce and Sasha''s trusted aide, so she wouldn''t rece him even if she had received Elementia''s support.


    When I went into her office, I found that Sasha waspletely buried under paperwork.


    Now that Elementia hade in and made the bar bigger, it was only natural that she would have much more paperwork to do.


    Before this, Sasha had never done anything like this, so she was struggling.


    It was clear that she needed help.


    But that wasn''t what I was here for.


    When I came in, she looked up from the pile of paperwork and revealed a surprised look before asking with a smile, "What are you doing here?"


    I just walked into the room without saying a thing and then locked the door behind me.


    When Sasha saw this, she couldn''t help being surprised before slightly knitting her brows to ask, "Is there something wrong?"


    I shook my head and said, "No, I just don''t want others to bother us."


    "Huh?" She was even more confused when she heard this.


    I just calmly sat down in front of her before saying, "Well, it would be awkward if they were to see what we were about to do."


    "What are we going to do?" Sasha tilted her head in a confused manner.


    I said with an evil smile, "Didn''t you ask for itst time? Did you already forget?"


    It took her a minute to realize what I was talking about, but when she did, her mouth opened wide in shock. It took her another minute toe back to her senses as she slowly said, "Do you mean¡­?"


    Her voice trailed off, but the meaning behind them was clear.


    I just asked, "Are you saying that you don''t want to?"


    Sasha quickly shook her head before saying, "Of course not. I live to serve you, master."


    I gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Then what are you waiting for? Is this any way to present yourself to your master?"


    Sasha couldn''t help feeling a bit strange seeing me acting this way, but she still stood up and walked up in front of me. Then without any hesitation, she took off her clothes.


    She didn''t leave a single piece on as she stood there in front of me with her body exposed.


    At the same time, she didn''t even try to hide her body as she let me see everything.


    I couldn''t help taking a deep breath when I saw this.


    Thest time that we did it, it was in the dungeon where we were surrounded by danger and I was using her to break those people.


    But now that we were out of danger, I could properly admire her body.


    Her figure¡­really was something else.


    Her chest, they were at least D cups and that hourss figure really could turn the imagination.


    As she felt my gaze on her, she couldn''t help trembling as a bit of liquid dripped down her leg. At the same time, her nipples seemed to grow harder and harder until they stood firm in the air.


    But even then, I didn''t make a move.


    Finally, Sasha couldn''t take it anymore as she said, "Master, please stop teasing me. Please give it to me."


    Still, I didn''t move.


    I just looked at her and said, "I want to try something different today."


    "Huh?" Sasha was caught off guard when she heard this.


    She looked at me with a confused look at first, but that look quickly disappeared as she said, "Master, I am yours. You can do whatever you want with me."


    I gave a satisfied nod when I heard this before saying, "Freeze."


    As soon as I said it, Sasha found that she wasn''t able to move at all.


    She couldn''t help thinking back to what had happened in the dungeon and a chill ran down her spine.


    Slowly, she said, "Mas, master, this, this is?"


    I then looked into her eyes and said, "Silence."


    Her eyes opened wide as she found that she wasn''t able to say a single thing.


    She could only stare at me with a trace of fear in her eyes, but Ipletely ignored this.


    Only when she was frozen like this did I finally stand up and start moving towards her.


    But while I was moving towards her, I opened up a panel in front of me.


    It was the status screen.


    Out of this status screen, there was one thing that I was interested in, one thing that I was paying attention to.


    It was the experience bar.


    There was a reason for mying here today.


    I wanted to run an experiment with her to see what would qualify as acting as the demon king of lust. I wanted to see what would give me experience.


    So I needed a way to measure that by keeping the status screen up while I did this.


    Once I was in front of her, I said with an evil smile, "You said that I can do whatever, so I will be doing whatever I want. Get ready."


    The trace of fear grew in Sasha''s eyes.

 Chapter 171: Experimenting with experience points (2)

    The first thing that I did was reach out and grab her chest.


    It was a single hand that came out to grab her breast.


    There was no reaction at all when I grabbed it, or rather she couldn''t react at all since I was controlling her body.


    But the look in her eyes made it clear.


    I didn''t care about that as I kept my eyes on the experience bar.


    Seeing that it didn''t go up, I started experimenting with her chest.


    I started pinching the nipple, groping her breast, and doing all kinds of things to her while she wasn''t able to move.


    But no matter what I did, the experience bar just wouldn''t increase¡­


    It seemed that it wasn''t just doing sexual acts that would be enough to give me experience. I had to do things like the demon king of lust would¡­


    Only, how would the demon king of lust do this?


    It really was hard without knowing exactly what was considered acting as the demon king of lust¡­


    Then¡­should I try something else?


    As I thought this, I looked into Sasha''s eyes.


    The fear that had been in those eyes hadpletely disappeared and it was reced with a turned on look.


    Since that was the case, then it might be better if I¡­


    With this thought, I suddenly said, "Speak."


    As soon as I said this, Sasha found that she was able to speak again.


    The moment that she regained the power to speak, she suddenly said, "Master, please stop just teasing me. Please give me your big hard cock, I really need it."


    I couldn''t help revealing a satisfied smile as I watched her beg for it.


    But I wouldn''t give it to her that easily.


    While she was unable to move, I came forward and reached a hand down between her legs. I put my hand into her crotch and put it right over her clit before I started ying with it.


    "Ah, not there¡­I''m still sensitive¡­" She moaned while I yed with her like this.


    "Ah, I''m almost there, I''m almost¡­"


    Before she could climax though, I suddenly stopped and pulled my hand away.


    Sasha had been so close to climaxing, but that had been suddenly pulled away from her, so she naturally lost it.


    "Master, please don''t stop. Please let me cum." She kept pleading with me, but I didn''t pay any attention to her at all.


    That was because¡­the experience bar finally moved.


    When I had stopped ying with her clit and denied her that climax, I had suddenly received a bit of experience.


    It wasn''t much, just twenty experience points, but it was still something at the very least.


    It seemed that I would be able to get experience points from ying around with Sasha like this.


    As for how much I would be able to get¡­that would depend on whether the system stopped giving experience points first or if her body wouldn''t be able tost.


    As long as I could keep using her body, I would keep using it to earn experience points.


    As for what it was that was considered acting like the demon king of lust¡­it was putting her in embarrassing situations and then taking control of her.


    As long as I asserted my dominance on her in some kind of sexual manner, it seemed that it would be considered acting like the demon king of lust.


    So once I figured out what I needed to do, I didn''t waste any time grinding out experience points.


    I just ignored her begging and turned around to walk towards the door.


    When Sasha saw this, she couldn''t help feeling a bit of fear as she said, "Master, where are you going? Are you going to leave me like this?"


    But I just ignored her as I went right up to the door and reached slowly for the handle.


    While she was panicking like this, I could see that I was receiving experience points.


    It was only one at a time, but it was still something.


    After my hand came up to the door, I didn''t turn the handle as Sasha feared, but just unlocked the door. Then I turned around to look at her with a smile before walking back towards her.


    Sasha had also fallen silent as she didn''t understand why I just did what I did.


    When I stood there in front of her, I suddenly grabbed her chest again with both hands and pulled down on them.


    "Ah, not so hard. Master, not so hard¡­" She said in a loud voice.


    I didn''t stop pulling on them, but I said, "Are you sure that you want to be this loud? What if someone hears andes to check on you? The door''s not locked, do you want them to see you like this?"


    Sasha suddenly stopped crying out in pleasure when she heard this as her eyes trembled.


    She looked at me with a fearful look before saying, "Master, please¡­"


    Before she could finish saying this, her eyes trembled again as she suddenly stuck out her tongue and said, "Ah, not there, not there!"


    I was still ying with her breasts with one hand. I had grabbed both of her breasts just with her nipples and were pulling down on them.


    My other hand went down in between her legs and I started ying with her clit.


    I rubbed her clit back and forth, going faster and faster as I yed with her.


    "Ah, ah, ah!" She kept saying as her voice also grew louder and louder as she came closer to climaxing.


    When she reached a certain point, I suddenly said, "Are you sure that you should be this loud? What if someone outside hears you?"


    Sasha suddenly bit her lip when she heard this, but even then she still let out moans of pleasure.


    I didn''t care at all about the way that she looked at me as I continued ying with her, bringing her closer and closer to climaxing.


    In the end, she wasn''t able to hold her voice back at all as she said in a seductive voice, "Ah! I''m cumming!"


    There was a loud spray that suddenly shot out from between her legs onto the floor and even though her body was restrained, it couldn''t help unconsciously trembling from her climax.


    If it wasn''t for my order keeping her standing, she might have copsed by now.


    Her eyes hadpletely rolled back in her head and her tongue was sticking out, letting drool fall down onto her breasts.


    When I saw her like this, I just couldn''t help myself¡­


    I was already turned on before, but seeing her lose herself like this made the tent in my pants even bigger.


    I really was starting to feel the pressureing from it.


    It wasn''t a pleasant feeling.


    But before either of us could do anything else¡­there was a sudden knock on the door.


    Both of us froze and turned to look at the door right away, as we waited to see what would happen.


    The door didn''t open, but there was a female voice that rang out.


    "Boss, are you alright? I heard some noiseing from your office."

 Chapter 172: Experimenting with experience points (3)

    Both of us let out a secret sigh of relief when we heard this.


    We both thought that we had been caught, but this was a very easy situation to deal with.


    But I was also determined to make it a bit harder for Sasha.


    I looked at her with a gaze indicating something and she understood what I was implying right away.


    "I''m fine, you don''t need to¡­ah¡­"


    When she started speaking, my hands started moving forward again.


    One hand went to her chest while the other hand went between her legs.


    The hand that went to her chest grabbed one of her breasts and started kneading.


    The hand that went between her legs started ying with her clit again.


    "Boss, are you alright? Do you need help?"


    When the person outside heard her moan like this, they couldn''t help asking this in a worried voice.


    Sasha looked at me with an aggrieved and begging look, but I just looked back at her with a smile as I said, "You better keep your voice calm, or else¡­"


    Sasha bit her lip after hearing this, but she still followed my orders.


    "I¡­ah¡­I''m just doing a bit of¡­umm¡­of exercise, so I''m feeling a bit weak. You¡­oh¡­don''t need to worry. I''ll¡­no¡­I''ll be out in a bit." She said in a shaky voice.


    There was a silence that came from outside the door before the voice once again said, "Alright, boss¡­If you need anything, just call."


    The sound of footsteps of something walking away was heard before they disappeared.


    When they were gone, Sasha let out a sigh of relief before¡­


    "Ah, not so rough. Master, please be gentle."


    Of course, Ipletely ignored this as I did whatever I wanted with her body.


    The more that I yed with her, the louder her voice became again.


    Sasha did her best to control her voice, but it kept leaking out even though she was biting her lips.


    I just watched the status screen, watching the amount of experience points increase as I kept ying with her like this.


    Finally, she couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Ah, I''m cumming again¡­"


    Her body couldn''t help shaking uncontrobly as she released a spray that covered the floor.


    The amount of liquid that was dripping down her leg was like a flood already.


    At the same time, it was clear that she was running out of power.


    If it wasn''t for my power forcing her to remain this way, she might have already copsed to the ground.


    All during this, she was panting like she had just run a marathon, letting the drool drip down from the corners of her mouth and onto her breasts.


    The more that I saw her like this, the bigger the tent in my pants became.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore.


    Even if I still wanted to tease her for more points, my lower half just wasn''t having any of it.


    I could always get more experience pointster, for now, it was time to enjoy myself.


    So I took off my clothes as well before picking Sasha up and holding her over my shoulder.


    "Master, what are you¡­"


    Before she could react, I had swept off all the papers from the table and dropped her onto it, letting her lie straight on her back.


    I then took her legs and brought them up over her so that they were right up beside her legs before saying, "Hold these."


    Her hands moved without her controlling them and they grabbed her feet, holding her legs up like this.


    I got onto the table myself after this and then in one thrust, I pushed my dick deep into her.


    "Mas¡­ah! It''s so deep!"


    There was no resistance at all as I thrust into her.


    She was already wet from all the teasing that I had done, but at the same time¡­it was as if her pussy was perfectly shaped to match my dick. After what happenedst time, it was as if she had molded herself to match me.


    I was able to thrust my dick all the way in with a single thrust.


    Sasha''s head trembled and it looked like she wanted to reel back, but my powers held it in ce. So all she could do was let her eyes roll back in her head as her tongue poked out.


    "Ah, ah, ah, more, more, more¡­"


    She didn''t even bother holding her voice back anymore as I thrusted in and out of her.


    With each thrust, there was a spray of liquid that came from between her legs.


    It seemed that she was getting pleasure with each thrust even though she wasn''t able to move at all.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore.


    The feeling of being inside her was just too much for me.


    This warm and tight feeling of her insides wrapping around my dick, it was too much for me.


    When I was about to pull out, Sasha suddenly said, "Inside, please do it inside of me master!"


    I was surprised by how enthusiastic she was being, but since she was offering¡­I had no reason not to go along with it.


    "Humph, well take it all. Get pregnant and raise the baby on your own." I said in an evil voice.


    Sasha didn''t care at all as she said, "Anything for you master! I''ll do anything for you!"


    If she could move, she would have certainly started thrusting her hips even though I was the one in charge.


    Seeing her like this, that smile on my face couldn''t help bing wider.


    So I grabbed her hips and thrusted deep into her before blowing my load deep inside.


    After making sure that every bit was shot into her, I pulled my dick out and the cum slowly dripped out of her. At the same time, I said, "You can move now."


    After being in a daze for a bit, Sasha suddenly reached her hands up and moved them in between her legs.


    She covered up her pussy and stopped the cum from dripping out.


    I was surprised when I saw this, but then I revealed an evil smile again as I said, "If you want it that badly, I can still give you more."


    Sasha just looked at me with a seductive smile when she heard this.

 Chapter 173: Back to work

    A few more days after my experimentation with Sasha, I was called back to the guild.


    They had let me rest for over a week before calling me back.


    The first thing that happened was that I was called to the guild headquarters instead of being called to lead my usual dungeon delving group.


    It seemed that Bing Lan wanted to talk to me.


    Su Chen was the one that picked me up and we headed to the guild early in the morning.


    When we arrived, it waspletely different from before.


    This time, people actually recognized me and pointed when they saw me.


    When I looked at Su Chen, he revealed a smile before taking out his phone to show me something.


    It was Elementia''s internal message boards.


    On the trending page was a picture of me and the title read, "New C Rank Irregr".


    They didn''t beat around the bush at all and just wrote the main story in the title.


    But that made it even more eye-catching.


    Su Chen then said, "So how does it feel to be famous like this?"


    I just revealed a bitter smile before saying, "It''s a bit like being an animal at the zoo."


    Su Chen chuckled when he heard this before saying, "Well, you''ll get used to it."


    I shook my head, but I didn''t say anything.


    As we walked through the main hall to the elevator, there were plenty of people that pointed at us while whispering to each other.


    But that wasn''t strange since this was Elementia''s headquarters.


    The people here were members of Elementia and they had ess to these internal message boards. This was a topic that was trending on the main page, so of course they would have all read it.


    At least it got much more quiet when we reached the elevator.


    But as we stood there in the elevator, I remembered that we needed a special key card to reach Bing Lan''s office in the first ce.


    So for now, we were just awkwardly standing there.


    I was about to say something when Su Chen suddenly pulled out something. He walked over to the buttons of the elevator and tapped something on the panel there.


    When I looked closely, I saw that it was a key card.


    It turned out that he had been silent not because it was awkward, but because he had been looking for this thing all along.


    As soon as the key card was tapped on the panel, the elevator suddenly started to move.


    It didn''t take long for us to reach the office and we saw Bing Lan sitting there waiting for us at the desk.


    To the side was Hua Rong who looked at me with aplicated look when she saw me.


    It seemed that she still didn''t like me¡­


    That was going to be a problem in the future if this continued because of what I was nning on doing.


    If Hua Rong were to get in the way of that¡­I might need to think of a way to deal with her.


    But before that happened, I wouldn''t do anything to her right now.


    After she saw use in, Bing Lan looked at me with a smile and said, "There''s the man of the hour."


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward smile when I heard this before saying, "It''s not that big of a deal."


    Bing Lan looked at me for a bit before giving a nod and saying, "Alright, I won''t tease you today since you''ve aplished something big."


    I gave an appreciative nod before walking up in front of her desk.


    She gestured to the seat in front of her and I sat down.


    After sitting down, she said, "Now that you''ve passed the Irregr License Exam, you can officially be a member of our guild."


    I gave a nod in response to this.


    Bing Lan waved her hand at Hua Rong who came over with some documents for me.


    After Hua Rong put these documents in front of me, Bing Lan said, "These are the contracts that you''ll need to sign to make everything official. Take your time to read it if you want."


    Then she just fell silent, as if she was waiting for me to read them.


    I just simply picked them up and cruised over them a bit without caring too much about these documents.


    I could see that these documents were just formalities and I trusted Bing Lan enough to know that she wouldn''t do anything that would burn the bridge after crossing it.


    So after simply looking it over, I put my signature on it.


    When she saw me sign these contracts, Bing Lan gave a satisfied nod before turning to give a nod to Hua Rong.


    Hua Rong took those contracts from me and left the room, most likely heading off to process these contracts.


    Once Hua Rong was gone, Bing Lan said, "Now that everything''s been settled, you can go back to work."


    I was about to stand up after hearing this, but then Bing Lan said, "Or rather that is what I would like to say, but there''s something else that I have to discuss with you first."


    I couldn''t help freezing while standing up.


    I slowly turned to look back at Bing Lan, but it didn''t seem like she was joking with the expression that she had on her face.


    So I slowly sat back down.


    Su Chen was about to sit back down as well, but Bing Lan shook her head at him.


    Su Chen was visibly surprised by this, but after a moment of hesitation, he still stood up and headed out.


    As he walked off, he said, "I''ll wait for you outside."


    I gave a nod of acknowledgement to this before turning back to look at Bing Lan.


    She didn''t say anything until Su Chen was out of the room and had closed the door behind him.


    She looked right at me and said, "You have a new addition to your team and it''s someone that you already know."

 Chapter 174: A familiar name

    Huh?


    I wasn''t surprised that we would be receiving a new addition to the team since this kind of thing wasmon.


    But I couldn''t help being confused when I heard Bing Lan say that it was someone that I knew.


    There weren''t many people that I knew in Elementia, so it really helped me narrow it down.


    And to join our group, it should be someone that was quite skilled.


    It wasn''t hard for me to guess who it was with these facts¡­


    In fact, I already had an idea as to who it was.


    Would it be Bing Xue?


    If it was her, then it would be a great addition to our team since she would help round it out.


    As this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help revealing a bit of an expectant look in my eyes.


    But when Bing Lan saw this look, she couldn''t help frowning.


    She looked at me with that frown on her face, not telling me who it was that was joining our group.


    When I saw her like this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit confused.


    After all, the look on her face almost seemed like she was¡­a bit disappointed with me and even a bit angry with me.


    Why would she be like that?


    There was another long pause before she said, "Are you really that excited about having this person on your team." As she said this, she even narrowed her eyes to look at me as if she was gauging my reaction.


    I didn''t know why she was doing this, but I could feel a bad feeling.


    It was as if there was something that wasn''t supposed to happen that was about to happen.


    So I forced myself to calm down and say in a calm voice, "I have no idea what you''re talking about. I don''t even know who it is yet."


    Bing Lan just looked at me with the same narrowed eyes without saying anything.


    I just looked right back at her without a single reaction on my face.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan said, "Humph, say what you want then."


    She took out a folder from the side and handed it to me before saying, "Take a look at your new teammate."


    I was surprised to see her handing me a folder, but I still took it and opened it up to see what was inside.


    When I saw the name that was in this file, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    It was definitely a name that I recognized, but I never expected to see this name here.


    Long Shui Ling.


    It turned out that the new teammate that Bing Lan had mentioned was Long Shui Ling.


    When Bing Lan saw the shocked look on his face, she couldn''t help feeling a bit better.


    It seemed that he didn''t know about this.


    Then the rumours that she had heard¡­


    She had been worrying for her little sister the entire time, but now it seemed that she had been worrying about nothing¡­


    "No, I can''t let my guard down." Bing Lan said to herself, "He could just be pretending or it could be something else."


    After telling herself this, Bing Lan''s eyes turned sharp once more as she looked at him.


    I looked at the file a few times, making sure that it was the Long Shui Ling that I knew.


    After reading it, I knew that it was indeed her.


    After all, there was no mistaking her power and her Irregr License that was attached to the file.


    I looked at it a bit longer before looking up at Bing Lan and asking, "When did she join our guild?"


    Bing Lan gave a snort before saying, "Is that all you have to say?"


    I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine when I heard this.


    As I had feared¡­she had already heard the rumours¡­


    But I forced myself to stay calm as I asked, "Isn''t she from the Long Family. Why would she need to join our guild?"


    Bing Lan looked at me with narrowed eyes once more, but after a bit of silence, she said, "She''s the one that asked to join us. Plus, the Long Family was endorsing her, so we had no choice but to ept her. You don''t know this, but we have received quite a bit of financial aid from the Long Group."


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile as I said, "So you were bribed?"


    Bing Lan''s lips twitched when she heard this before she said, "I''m still the guild master, you know? I should still be respected, don''t you know that?"


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward smile when I heard this, but I didn''t say anything.


    In the end, Bing Lan gave a snort and said, "Go and meet with your team. She heard that you wereing today, so she''s already waiting in the building. I''ve also had someone call the rest of your group so you can all meet."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by how quickly Bing Lan took action.


    But at the same time, I wasn''t looking forward to meeting Long Shui Ling.


    I had nned on keeping her separate from Elementia so that I could slowly work on corrupting both sides¡­


    But things didn''t go as you wanted in life¡­


    So I had no choice but to handle this matter as it was.


    I stood up and was about to leave, but before I could, I heard Bing Lan''s voiceing from behind me.


    "If you do anything to let Xin''er down, I''ll cut that part of you off."


    This was a cold voice that rang out from behind me.


    I turned around with a shocked look and I saw that she wasn''t even looking at me anymore.


    She had turned her chair around and was looking out the window behind her.


    But there was no mistaking what I had heard¡­so I just simply said¡­


    "I won''t ever do anything to hurt her."


    With that, I turned to leave her office.


    "You better not." Bing Lan said to herself as I left.

 Chapter 175: First encounter

    When I came out of the office, I found that Su Chen was there with Hua Rong.


    Once they saw mee out, they reacted in different ways.


    Su Chen revealed a smile and came over to my side when he saw me.


    Hua Rong¡­knitted her brows as she looked at me.


    It was clear that she still didn''t like me, but at least she wasn''t nning on doing anything.


    It was also a good thing that I didn''t have to stay here for long.


    Su Chen had already been informed about the Long Shui Ling matter, as well as being told where she was waiting for us. So he would be the one that would lead me there since he was my handler.


    As we were leaving, Hua Rong still looked at me with that same look, but I chose to ignore it.


    While walking through the halls of Elementia''s headquarters, I couldn''t help being surprised by what I saw.


    This ce was much more advanced than I had thought.


    The halls themselves were already much more advanced than any other ce that I''ve seen before.


    The lights, the walls, the floors, they were all made from special materials that came from the dungeon. As for how I knew that¡­it was because of the descriptions that popped up when I looked around, telling me all about these things around me.


    These were all materials that came from dungeons and they were not weak.


    These ores that were used were all ores that could be considered legendary, showing just how amazing Elementia was.


    Su Chen was surprised seeing me looking around as we walked through these halls.


    He would understand if there was something to be impressed by, but these were just simple halls that didn''t have anything special about them.


    But still, he just left me be.


    This ce was also very big since it took us around ten minutes to even reach our destination.


    It felt like we had been walking for a kilometer already with how far we hade.


    If I was a normal person, I definitely wouldn''t have been able to keep up without having to catch my breath.


    When we arrived, I could hear two voicesing from inside the room.


    And both of them were voices that I recognized.


    The moment that I heard them, a dark look appeared on my face.


    That was because the owner of these two voices were thest ones that I wanted to meet.


    As I walked in, I confirmed that it was indeed who I thought these voices belonged to.


    Inside of the room, Bing Xue and Long Shui Ling were currently talking to each other.


    It didn''t seem like they were talking about anything important based on what they were saying, but just the fact that they were talking to each other made me uneasy. After all, it only took a single slip of the tongue for this to turn ugly¡­


    So I walked over and cut in between their conversation.


    When they saw me, both of their eyes lit up and they revealed smiles.


    So far, it didn''t seem like the situation had degraded just yet¡­


    After I arrived, the first thing that I did was ask Bing Xue, "What are you doing here?"


    Bing Xue said with a smile, "I heard big sister mention that we had a special recruiting today, so I came over to see her."


    She turned to Long Shui Ling and then came in close to take her in her arms before saying, "I never thought that it would be such a cute little sister."


    The expression on my face became uglier when I saw this.


    Long Shui Ling poked her head out from Bing Xue''s embrace and said with a smile, "I also never expected to find a friendly big sister as well."


    As far as I could tell, it seemed like they were getting along¡­


    But since Bing Lan had heard the rumours, Bing Xue should have also heard these rumours.


    Otherwise, why would she havee here to find Long Shui Ling?


    So I didn''t dare let my guard down.


    After they talked about a few more things that didn''t seem to have any importance, Bing Xue suddenly raised her hand and looked at her watch. When she saw what time it was, she suddenly said, "I still have something else to do, so I''ll be heading off first."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this, but I still said, "Alright, let''s talkter."


    Bing Xue gave a happy nod since she knew that this was now possible since he had passed the Irregr License Exam.


    In fact, the reason why she hade in the first ce was all because she had heard that he had passed the exam.


    Seeing Long Shui Ling was nothing more than an excuse.


    Only when Bing Xue left did I let out a secret sigh of relief.


    I had thought that things would be much worse, but it didn''t seem like Bing Xue knew¡­


    The clock was ticking down now that Long Shui Ling was here¡­I needed to take care of things before it was toote and everything was exposed.


    But thinking of this, I couldn''t help turning back to Long Shui Ling and asking, "What are you doing here?"


    Long Shui Ling just said with a smile, "I''m the new member, I just joined today."


    I put my hand on my face before saying, "I know that. I mean why did you choose to join Elementia all of a sudden."


    Long Shui Ling just said with the same smile, "It''s one of the biggest guilds, so why wouldn''t I join?"


    I just looked at her with a wry smile as I knew what she was doing¡­


    I knew that it was impossible to get anything out of her, so I didn''t bother asking any more questions.


    I just had no idea what was going on in that little head of hers.


    At the very least, it seemed like she was keeping the rtionship between us a secret.


    That was the one relief here.

 Chapter 176: Conflict (1)

    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, Long Shui Ling looked at me and asked, "Are you not happy to see me here?"


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling a bad feeling, so I quickly said, "I''m happy to see you, but this was just too much of a surprise. I never expected to see you this soon."


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips a bit and said, "That''s because you never called."


    Then in a softer voice, she said, "I was waiting for you to call all this time, but you never called me once. You never even sent me a message¡­How was I supposed to know what kind of things you were up to when you never contacted me?"


    The way that she said all of this was like that of a wifeining about her husband¡­


    It was just a good thing that Su Chen gave us some space since he knew that we had met before.


    He was sure that we would have things that we would want to catch up on, so he gave us this space.


    But if he heard what she had said¡­


    I took a deep breath before calming her down by saying, "I''ve been busy during this time. You should know how it is since I''m sure that you''ve had many things to do after returning from the license exam."


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a confused look and tilting her head when she saw this.


    It was clear that she had no idea what I was talking about¡­


    That was just the privilege that she enjoyed as a rich young miss¡­but not just any rich young miss. She was the richest young miss in the world.


    So there wasn''t anything that she would need to care about.


    But after a while, she revealed a look of understanding and slowly gave a nod.


    I could see that she didn''t fully understand by the look in her eyes, but at least she could sympathize with me¡­


    For now, that was enough since it got me out of this predicament.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t stay angry for long as she said, "From now on, we''ll be able to work together as a couple. I can''t wait."


    She held her hands on her cheeks as she said this, as if she was already imagining what would happen.


    But all I could feel was dread over this¡­


    Then as if to add on to this dread, Long Shui Ling said something that scared me.


    "Oh, that''s right. My father and grandfather asked me to bring you to our home sometime. They said that they were very keen on meeting you." As she said this, there was a blush that appeared on her cheeks.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more despair when I heard this.


    It seemed that things really didn''t go the way that I wanted them to¡­


    After a moment to calm myself, I asked, "Did you tell them about¡­''that''?"


    Long Shui Ling revealed a bit of a confused look when she heard this, but then there was a strong blush that came over her face when she realized what I was implying when I said ''that''.


    That blush went to the tip of her ears and she couldn''t help lowering her face. Her fist came up and she grinded it against my arm out of embarrassment for a while before she said in a very low voice, "How could I possibly tell them that?"


    I let out a secret sigh of relief when I heard this, but I still asked, "Then why did they want to meet me?"


    Long Shui Ling shook her head before saying, "I don''t know either. I didn''t tell them anything about what happened between us, I just gave them a simple summary of what happened during the test and how we worked together."


    After saying this, Long Shui Ling revealed a confused look.


    She indeed had been trying to figure out why her father and grandfather wanted to meet Lin Fan.


    But for me, I couldn''t help feeling more despair when I heard this.


    Since they were the powerful Long Family, there was no doubt that they would have heard the rumours already¡­


    If that was the case, this might be my final meal¡­


    But to not go¡­was also impossible.


    There was more that I wanted to say, but before I could say anything, there were some people that walked into this room.


    Two of them ran over with excited looks on their faces.


    ze said in an excited voice, "Boss, you really are something else! I never thought that you would be a C Rank Irregr!"


    Hayato came over much slower as he said with a proud smile, "As expected of someone that I admire. I wouldn''t have expected any less from you!"


    The other two walked over much more slowly.


    Qin Yue Ru also had a smile on her face as she walked over, but ire was different.


    When she walked over, her eyes were narrowed as she looked at Long Shui Ling and me.


    Once she came over, she said, "Who is this?"


    When she said this, the others finally noticed Long Shui Ling and they were all surprised to see her.


    Long Shui Ling also couldn''t help taking a step back and hiding behind me when she heard this.


    She was fine when it was just the two of us and Su Chen left us alone, but now that other people were here¡­she went back to the shy personality that she had.


    Before she could trust a person, she was very shy with them.


    I gave a cough and introduced her, "I''m sure that you should have all heard, but this is Long Shui Ling. She will be the new member of our team starting today."


    After I said this, all of them focused on Long Shui Ling.


    They did already know this since they had been informed about this as soon as they were called in.


    But while the other three looked at her with kind gazes, ire looked at her with the same narrowed eyes and said, "Why is she so close to you?"

 Chapter 177: Conflict (2)

    There was a silence that hung in the air after ire asked this.


    All of us looked at her with different expressions.


    The other three looked at her with strange looks as they didn''t understand why she was acting this way.


    I couldn''t help feeling that there was almost a confrontational tone to her voice as she said this.


    But why would she do that?


    There should be no reason for her to act this way¡­


    Long Shui Ling also seemed like she could hear this, so she hid behind me and peeked out at ire who just kept ring at her as she did this.


    The silencested a long time before I broke it by saying, "Well, we met during the Irregr License Exam and we worked together. I wouldn''t say that we''re very close, but I can say that we know each other."


    I could feel a hand pinching my back when I said this, but I didn''t react to it at all.


    Right now, it was more important for me to hide my rtionship with Long Shui Ling.


    It was fine for her to be a bit angry with me.


    ire narrowed her eyes to look at me this time as if she didn''t trust me.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this and raised a brow to look back at her, as if I was trying to figure her out.


    She kept looking at me for a bit before suddenly turning to the side.


    She turned around and said with a snort, "A person that we have never met before and wants to join our team, are you sure that they''ll even be able to work with us? I don''t need anyone holding us back."


    The others couldn''t help slowly giving nods when they heard this.


    They had also been surprised when they heard that someone would be suddenly added to their group, but they definitely weren''t as against it as ire seemingly was.


    It was almost as if shepletely rejected Long Shui Ling as a person with how against it she was.


    Still, this would give them an answer to their question, so they just silently waited to see what would happen.


    I was about to say something, but before I could, Long Shui Ling popped out from behind me.


    Though she didn''te out in front of me, at least she came up to my side and looked at ire. At the same time, her hand also came out to the side and she grabbed my sleeve as if she was looking for support.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Shui Ling said, "While I may be new, you can''t just say that I will cause trouble without working with me first. I can''t guarantee that I won''t cause trouble, but I''ll say that I''ll do my best."


    After that, her face turned a bit red and she lowered her head.


    The other four all looked at her with surprised looks when they heard this.


    Then ire gave a snort and turned around again without saying a thing.


    The other three all revealed smiles seeing this without saying anything.


    Qin Yue Ru was the one that came forward towards Long Shui Ling and reached her hand out towards her.


    Long Shui Ling hesitated for a second, but she still reached out her hand to take Qin Yue Ru''s hand.


    The two of them just held hands like this for a bit before Qin Yue Ru came right up to Long Shui Ling and said with a gushing look on her face, "You''re just so cute, I can''t help myself!"


    Long Shui Ling was taken aback when she saw this, but she remained there and let Qin Yue Ru take her in her arms.


    As she held her, Qin Yue Ru said, "I''ve always wanted a little sister, but I was an only child in the end."


    Long Shui Ling slowly reached a hand out and patted Qin Yue Ru''s hand.


    But I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard this.


    After a cough, I said, "She can''t be your little sister."


    "Huh?" Qin Yue Ru said with a confused voice.


    I said with the same bitter smile, "She''s older than me, so she can only be your big sister."


    "Huh?" This time, it wasn''t just Qin Yue Ru who said this.


    It was all four of them that suddenly said this before turning to look at Long Shui Ling with shocked looks.


    Long Shui Ling just revealed a smile and slowly gave a nod to confirm this.


    All four of them looked at her with even more shocked looks.


    This girl who looked like she was no more than ten years old was actually older than Lin Fan who was older than them?


    How was this possible?


    I just shook my head and gave a sigh before saying, "The sooner you ept this fact, the easier it''ll be."


    Then I just ignored them as they slowly broke the ice with Long Shui Ling.


    Because of Qin Yue Ru, the other two slowly also approached her.


    The only one that was still holding back was ire who was strangely hostile towards Long Shui Ling, but that was something that couldn''t be changed in a single day.


    Seeing that things had gone well, Su Chen came over to me and said, "You have an appointment with a dungeon in the afternoon."


    I was surprised to hear this, but Su Chen added, "The upper management thought that it would be easier for you to bond if you work together to clear a dungeon."


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I heard this, but I just gave a nod to acknowledge this without saying anything else.


    Since they had prepared a dungeon for us, I had no reason to reject this.


    After all, they were right.


    It would help our team to work together to clear a dungeon, that would let them bond faster as they saw Long Shui Ling''s power.


    "You know that she likes you, right?"

 Chapter 178: New team (1)

    I narrowed my eyes when I heard this voice that I recognized.


    It was Lilith.


    Ever since I had used Sasha to level up and regain power as the demon king of lust, Lilith''s powers had also been slowly recovering.


    She had regained the ability to talk to me through my mind.


    "You mean?..." I thought in my mind.


    There was a chuckle that rang out before she said, "The blonde one of course."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this since I never expected her to say this.


    "Really?" I couldn''t help asking back.


    There was another chuckle as she said, "You''re quite dense aren''t you?"


    I revealed a bitter look when I heard this before slowly turning back to look at ire.


    It was also at this moment that ire turned to look at me.


    The two of us met gazes and after an awkward moment, she turned her gaze away.


    As she did, there was a faint blush that appeared on her face.


    "Could it really be true? But why would she suddenly feel this way?" I couldn''t help thinking to myself.


    "You really are dense." That was all Lilith had to say and she wouldn''t say anymore when I questioned her on it.


    ¡­


    An hourter, we arrived at the dungeon for today.


    This dungeon was a D Rank dungeon called the Deep Hole.


    Since Long Shui Ling and I were considered C Rank Irregrs, we could have gone to a C Rank dungeon if we wanted.


    However, since this was Long Shui Ling''s first time working with our group, it was better that we entered a weaker dungeon. That would allow us to learn about each other and work on the dynamic of our party without any danger.


    As soon as we entered the dungeon, the mood of the partypletely changed.


    The others had been chatting up to the moment that they came into the dungeon, but the moment that they came in, they immediately became serious.


    This was another dark type dungeon, so we had our lights prepared.


    These lights were magic lights that were far beyond what I had used before.


    These were floating orbs of light that would follow us around and give us light when we needed it.


    But at the same time, we could turn them off with a single thought.


    If I had had this light in the past¡­things would have been much easier.


    Still, it definitely made things much easier for this dungeon.


    After leaving the safe zone, it didn''t take us long to find a monster.


    The monsters that were in this dungeon were bat monsters that could release sonic screeches.


    So they needed to be taken care of before they released these powerful sound based attacks that were hard to guard against.


    As if she was trying to take initiative and show off, ire moved forward as if she was about to take care of these bats.


    But before she could, I raised my hand to stop her before saying, "Let Shui Ling take care of it."


    When she heard this, she narrowed her eyes to look at me.


    At the same time, Long Shui Ling revealed a nervous look.


    But I looked at her and she understood what I meant by this gaze.


    This was a chance that I was giving her to show off what she could do to the party.


    After a pause, Long Shui Ling gave a nod and said, "Let me take care of this."


    The other three just stood aside and made way for her, but ire looked like she clearly doubted Long Shui Ling''s ability as she stood there without moving.


    In the end, she still moved aside for Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling took a deep breath and moved forward so that she was only a few meters away from the bats hanging from the ceiling.


    She raised her hand and there was a mist that suddenly appeared around her that started to hide her.


    Then she disappeared from sight as the mist covered up everything.


    When she reappeared, the three bats that had been hanging on the ceiling were already on the ground and they had been cut in half. It didn''t take long for these bats to suddenly disappear and drop their loot.


    From the time that the mist appeared to the bats suddenly dying, only a few seconds had passed.


    Even if the others had taken care of these bats, it would have taken them at least a minute to be able to take them down.


    So of course they couldn''t help being shocked by how fast Long Shui Ling killed these bats.


    After a moment of silence, three of them came forward to praise her while one of them just stood there with a grumpy look on her face.


    The one that was grumpy was naturally ire.


    But at the very least, she no longer acted like she was looking down on Long Shui Ling.


    Even if she was a fool, she had to acknowledge the power that Long Shui Ling had demonstrated.


    Even if it was her, she might not be able to resist this kind of attack¡­


    With just this one move, Long Shui Ling was able to win the respect of these kids.


    I gave a nod when I saw how they looked at her, knowing that it would be easier for us from now on.


    The only thing that was left was to work on our coordination and the only way to do that was to fight more monsters.


    After Long Shui Ling''s porter picked up the drops, I cut them off by saying, "Alright, let''s keep going."


    The moment that I said this, all of them immediately calmed down and returned to their position.


    That was just how well trained they had be.


    That was the fruit of my hard work with these kids.


    Long Shui Ling also came back, but she didn''t give up her position which was right beside me.


    Like this, we headed deeper into the dungeon.

 Chapter 179: New team (2)

    With Long Shui Ling''s illusion power, we were even stronger than before.


    Long Shui Ling''s ability was the one thing that our partycked.


    We had a tank, plenty of damage, and support in the form of me and Qin Yue Ru, but wecked a form of debuff that would confuse the enemy, making it harder for them to attack us and easier for us to attack them.


    With Long Shui Ling''s illusions helping us, it was easy for us to catch the enemies off guard.


    In just an hour, we were already halfway through the dungeon ording to the map that we had been provided.


    The next location that we were heading was the area boss room.


    So far, we had been sweeping through the monsters in the dungeon, but now it was really time to test ourselves with the area boss.


    The area boss room wasn''t that far off and it didn''t take long for us to arrive.


    When we did, we found that the area boss was¡­arge bat.


    This bat was several timesrger than the other bat monsters that we had faced before.


    At the same time, there were some strange features about this bat that made it seem much more dangerous.


    The main thing that concerned me were the fangs of its mouth.


    It made it look like a vampire bat¡­


    If we were bitten by it, would it suck our blood?


    I shook that thought out of my head as I focused on the giant bat in front of me.


    Instead of thinking these strange thoughts, I should be figuring out a way to take down this giant bat instead.


    So I turned my attention to the room that we were in.


    To call it a room was actually an exaggeration, it was better to call this ce a cave instead.


    It was a dead end where the giant bat had made its home which was a good thing for us.


    After all, dead ends like this usually meant that fire was good to use and we had a very good source of fire.


    The only thing that might have been a problem was if the fire went out of hand, but that wouldn''t be the case with ze''s control of his mes.


    So I figured that would be our n¡­but before I could say it, Long Shui Ling spoke first.


    "I have something that I want to try."


    All of us were surprised by this suddenment from Long Shui Ling.


    I looked at her and asked, "What do you want to do?"


    But before she could respond, ire suddenly said, "What is there to discuss? It''s clear what we need to do." She turned and pointed at the cave before saying, "This is an enclosed space, we just have to trap them with fire and it''ll all be over."


    This was the same n that I had thought of, so I couldn''t disagree with it.


    At the same time, the other three also nodded in agreement, showing that they had thought of the same thing.


    These four really had improved quite a bit during this time that they were able to think of the same thing as me this quickly.


    But Long Shui Ling shook her head when she heard this before saying, "That''s a bad n."


    ire immediately knitted her brows when she heard this before saying, "While I acknowledge your power, that doesn''t mean that I''ll acknowledge everything about you. You should know that we''re speaking from experience and you''re calling it a bad n. So tell me, what do you think is a good n then?"


    Long Shui Ling hesitated for a second before saying, "If you use fire, all you''ll do is create a trap for yourself. If the area boss can break free, then you''ll be trapped by the mes you''ve created."


    That was indeed one of the risks that using mes posed.


    But that was only a risk that came with not being able to control the mes properly.


    With ze''s ability, he would be able to create the me wall that wouldpletely trap the area boss without giving it any room to escape.


    So for Long Shui Ling to question this now meant that she didn''t trust him.


    That was why e felt a bit annoyed and he couldn''t help knitting his brows slightly.


    But in the end, he figured that it was because Long Shui Ling hadn''t seen his powers yet and didn''t know what he was capable of that she was saying this.


    It wasn''t because she was looking down on him.


    Long Shui Ling then said, "If you give me one minute, I guarantee that I''ll be able to create an opening for you to take down the boss in one move."


    All of us couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling with looks of disbelief.


    After all, this im¡­was just too wild.


    She would be able to create an opening that would allow us to take down the boss in just one minute?


    That didn''t seem like it was impossible.


    After all, we could tell how strong the boss was from the magic energy fluctuationsing from it.


    But even with the looks of doubt that we had on our faces, Long Shui Ling looked at us with that confident look without backing down.


    After a moment of silence, I slowly said, "How about we give her that chance? It''s not as if we lose anything from letting her try, right?"


    Three of the others nodded in agreement to this, but there was still one that had a sharp look on her face.


    That person was naturally ire who seemed like she was still against this.


    So I calmly said, "As long as ze gets ready to cast his mes, we should be able to trap them even if she fails."


    ire gave a snort and said, "We shouldn''t be wasting our time on this in the first ce."


    I gave a sigh and said, "Let''s just try to trust her, alright?"


    In the end, ire said with another snort, "One minute, that''s all."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a smile when she heard this and she said, "You won''t regret this."


    With that, she started moving closer to the area boss.

 Chapter 180: New team (3)

    As Long Shui Ling approached, she raised her hand and there was the same mist as before that appeared.


    However, this time, she didn''t disappear into the mist.


    This time, the mist seemed to separate from her and floated forward towards therge bat and the bats around it.


    This mist waspletely unnoticed by these bats as it surrounded them.


    However, it wasn''t calm for long.


    All of a sudden, therge bat suddenly twisted and bit one of the smaller bats nearby.


    As it sunk its fangs into this smaller bat, there was arge spurt of blood that came out.


    But that was only in the beginning as the blood stopped dripping out.


    It was almost as if there was something that was sucking the blood away instead.


    As expected, thisrge bat really was a vampire bat that sucked blood.


    After therge bat suddenly attacked one of the smaller bats, the other smaller bats turned in the direction of therge bat. Then they all opened their mouths at the same time and gave a screech.


    Or at least that was what it seemed.


    This was at a frequency that was too high for humans to hear, so it was impossible for our group to hear anything.


    But judging by the trembling of therge bat''s body, it was clear that there was some kind of effect.


    It was most likely some kind of soundwave attack that was hitting therge bat.


    Therge bat let go of the smaller bat in its jaws and then turned to face the other smaller bats before opening its mouth as well, like it was giving off a screech.


    There was blood that suddenly came from the sides of the heads of the smaller bats before they dropped to the ground.


    It seemed that therger bat had also used a sonic wave attack on the smaller bats, but it was much stronger than the attacks of the smaller bats.


    As expected of the area boss as one should say.


    The smaller bat that it had bit into first was already turning into drops, so therge bat turned to the other smaller bats on the ground. It seemed like it still hadn''t had enough blood yet, so it was going to suck them dry as well.


    When therge bat was about to bite into the smaller bats, Long Shui Ling suddenly said, "Now!"


    We hesitated for a second since we were shocked by how things developed, but then I shot out as fast as a rocket without waiting for anyone else.


    "Boss?!" The others couldn''t help saying in a shocked voice, but I justpletely ignored them.


    Since Long Shui Ling had gone all out to trap this area boss, I should do what I could to take it down before anything else could happen.


    "Faster and stronger." I muttered under my breath before suddenly moving much faster.


    At the same time, I thought to myself, "Time Stop."


    After time stopped, I released the buff that I used, but I could still feel the torn muscles.


    That was just a ruse for the Time Stop, but it still hurt quite a bit.


    I came right up to therge bat and in one swift move, I cut therge bat''s head off.


    Once it was cut off, I took a few more steps forward before getting into a pose like I had just finished a sh before releasing the Time Stop.


    When the Time Stop was released, therge bat''s head fell off and there was only silence that followed afterwards.


    During this, I stood up and turned around, but I had moved too quickly and couldn''t help stumbling from the pain in my limbs.


    It really did hurt after all¡­


    The others had been silent at first, but when they saw me stumble, both ire and Long Shui Ling came forward to support me.


    They came to both of my sides and helped me up before looking at one another with strange looks.


    The others all slowly came over with strange looks as well on their faces.


    However, I ignored all of that as I said to Qin Yue Ru, "Can you heal me?"


    She quickly gave a nod before raising her staff. There was a holy white light that appeared around this staff before it also appeared around me.


    I could feel the warm feeling that came from this magic that she cast and in no time at all, my muscles had recovered.


    I took my arms back from both of the girls and simply said, "Thanks."


    Both of them looked at me with concerned looks before turning back to look at each other with strange looks.


    I didn''t know why, but it felt tense for some reason¡­


    After picking up the loot that the boss dropped, Hayato and ze couldn''t help turning to Long Shui Ling to ask, "What did you do to them? Why did they suddenly start attacking each other like this?"


    That was the one thing that they had been confused about the entire time.


    Therge bat had suddenly attacked the smaller bat which didn''t make any sense at all.


    They knew what it definitely had something to do with Long Shui Ling, they just didn''t know what she had done.


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help feeling shy again when she saw them acting this enthusiastically, but at least she didn''t hide behind me again.


    She lowered her head and said in a soft voice, "I just used an illusion to make them see each other as enemies. That way they would attack each other."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this.


    After all, I had once suggested this to Long Shui Ling during the test, but she had told me that she couldn''t control the illusions well enough to do this.


    But now¡­


    Looking at her, I couldn''t help revealing a smile and patting her on the head before saying, "It seems like you''ve been working hard."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a wide smile when she heard this.


    ire narrowed her eyes, but that wasn''t all.


    She narrowed them even more when Long Shui Ling looked at her with a proud look.


    She wouldn''t have done this before, but it seemed like something had changed¡­


    This something that changed just made it more tense¡­

 Chapter 181: New team (4)

    We continued on further into the dungeon after taking down the area boss.


    But this time, it almost seemed like apetition between Long Shui Ling and ire as theypeted on how many monsters they could kill.


    Both of them were strong, so they didn''t need our help at all to kill these bat monsters.


    I might have been worried about ire, but it seemed that she had also grown stronger during our break.


    She had been working hard while I was away, working hard to make herself stronger.


    But it wasn''t just her alone that was getting stronger, the rest of them had also gotten stronger.


    Even though we were in the dungeon, they all looked rxed.


    They were no longer tense like when we had dived into dungeons together. They were no longer affected by the trauma of their first time in the dungeon, so they were much stronger for it.


    The only thing that could cure that was experience, so it was clear that they had gotten plenty of experience while I was gone.


    Seeing them like this, I couldn''t help feeling proud.


    After all, they were like kids that I had raised.


    I did the same thing for Long Shui Ling and patted the four of them on the head as well before saying, "Good job getting stronger while I was away."


    The one that received the head patst was ire and she couldn''t help revealing a smile as I patted her on the head.


    There was also a faint blush that was on her face as I did this.


    But the worst and confusing part of it all was the way that Long Shui Ling looked at me with an angry look on her face.


    With the map, it didn''t take us long to reach the dungeon boss.


    This was thest fight, so everyone was eager to show off what they had learned during this time.


    After all, ire and Long Shui Ling had hogged the monsters on the way here.


    But I wouldn''t let them go.


    Even if we had all be stronger during this time, I didn''t let them let their guard down now that it was the final boss. This boss would still be powerful since it was able to rule over a dungeon like this.


    When we arrived in the final boss room, I peeked in to take a look at it.


    Strangely, this room was brightly lit unlike the rest of the dungeon.


    I was able to clearly see what was in the center of this ''room''.


    Though it was the boss room, it was actually a cave just like the area boss room.


    But that just made it more weird that it was brightly lit.


    In the center of this room, there was a ck mass that was curled up.


    Unlike the bats that had been hanging off the ceiling before, this thing was just crouched there on the ground in the center of this room.


    It was as if it was huddling in the shape of a ball which seemed very strange.


    There weren''t any other things that were in this room other than that ck mass that was in the center.


    It was clear that this ck mass was the boss, but just what was it?


    Everyone narrowed their eyes to look at it, as if they were trying to figure out what it was.


    But I narrowed my eyes for a different reason.


    I had the demon lord system, so I was able to analyze it with that.


    Golbat


    Once it strikes, it will not stop draining energy from the victim even if it gets too heavy to fly.


    Golbat?


    What was a golbat?


    And wasn''t this description a bit too vague?


    At the very least, I was able to see its stats and the abilities that it had.


    But there was also a strange thing that was in the description along with all of this.


    What did it mean by poison/flying type?


    Still regardless, at least I was able to learn a bit about this boss in the center of this room.


    Such as what kind of attacks it would have.


    This was more than valuable enough.


    The only problem was how to tell everyone else about this.


    If I were to suddenly tell them, they would without a doubt be suspicious since I would have seemingly gotten this knowledge out of thin air.


    I had to think of an excuse before I did anything.


    Luckily for me, there was the young miss Long Shui Ling.


    She pulled out a thing that seemed like a tablet that she pointed at the ck mass in the center.


    After she pointed this tablet at the ck mass in the center, there was text that suddenly appeared on this tablet.


    Golbat


    It attacks in a stealthy manner, without warning. Its sharp fangs are used to bite and suck blood.


    It had the same name, but there was a different description under that name¡­


    At the same time, there weren''t the stats and abilities that my appraisal had found.


    But still, it was amazing that it got the name right.


    I pointed at this thing that Long Shui Ling was holding and asked, "What is this thing?"


    Long Shui Ling raised it up with a proud look on her face before saying, "It''s a tablet that has Appraisal magic inscribed on it. It''s one of the new products that ourpany created not that long ago, but it''s still not stable."


    After a pause, she still added, "It''s not able to reproduce the effects of a high grade Appraisal ability, but it is able to give some information at least."


    ire said under her breath with a snort, "Humph, it''s something that your family gave you, what are you so proud of?"


    Long Shui Ling narrowed her eyes to look at ire since she heard this, but she didn''t say anything in response.


    The rest of us couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling with amazed looks.


    We never thought that such a product would be possible.


    After all, Appraisal was a skill that was very rare in the first ce, so there was no need to mention doing something like recreating it with machinery.


    This was without a doubt a revolutionary item and Long Shui Ling was taking it out so easily¡­

 Chapter 182: New team (5)

    After appraising the dungeon boss, it was time for us to figure out a way to defeat it.


    We wouldn''t engage it without a n and there was no need for us to rush when the dungeon boss was idle.


    So we moved out of the room and found a ce to hold a meeting.


    "Just let me take care of it." ire suddenly said.


    All of us turned to look at her when she said this with confused looks.


    She then said, "It''s simple, just let me trap it and I''ll be able to take it down with my special shot."


    The special shot she was talking about was her trump card.


    It was a special charge shot that would use up all of her mana in a single attack, but that meant that it had insane power.


    It was just that it took too much time to charge and that it could only be used once. As soon as she used it, she would be out of energy.


    It was so bad that she needed to be carried around like luggage after it was used.


    It definitely wasn''t something that could be used that easily.


    However, ire was insisting on using it.


    It was definitely an option, but it wasn''t the best idea that we had since it was a pretty desperate one.


    If we used this option and ire dropped out of the fight, then what would happen if something else showed up after we took care of the dungeon boss. Or what would happen if there was a sudden change in the situation of this dungeon. Or even, what would happen if she couldn''t take it down in one shot?


    This was really a desperation move that should be saved as ast resort, but ire was suggesting that we open with this.


    I really didn''t understand what she was thinking.


    When I asked her about this, all she did was give a snort and turn away.


    Then after a few seconds, she turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    I just had a confused look on my face the entire time.


    That was until ze and Hayato came over to pat me on the shoulder before saying, "Boss, you really are dense sometimes."


    I just revealed an even more confused look when I heard this.


    Qin Yue Ru¡­looked at me with a look like she thought less of me because of this.


    All of this would have gotten to me if I didn''t know what was actually going on.


    Lilith had already given me the clue, so it was impossible for me to ignore.


    It turned out that her clue was true¡­


    I didn''t even know how it happened since I never should have done anything that should have made ire feel this way.


    So what had it been?


    Regardless, this was the best way to act right now.


    As long as I acted unaware of this, I would be able to get through this.


    This was a situation that wasn''t easily dealt with and I needed time to put suggestions into both of them before anything could happen.


    For that, I needed to separate them and work on them one at a time before I could do anything.


    Since ire was also in love with me, then there was no reason for me not to take advantage of this.


    As if to go against what ire had said, Long Shui Ling cut in with, "No, I should be the one that does it. You know what my powers can do, so it''ll be easier for me to take care of this boss."


    As she said this, she looked at ire with antagonistic eyes.


    ire didn''t back down as she also looked at Long Shui Ling with narrowed eyes.


    The other three just gave sighs and shook their heads.


    But Qin Yue Ru moved closer to ze during this, almost as if she was iming her territory.


    I looked at her and said, "No, no one is acting alone."


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips when I said this and she turned her head too as if she was ignoring me.


    All I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    It seemed that it was up to me to calm these two down or else we would never get anywhere.


    So I gave a cough and said, "What is wrong with the two of you? We''re supposed to be working together, not going at each other''s throats? Is there something wrong that you two aren''t happy about?"


    Both of them were surprised to hear this before looking at each other and turning their heads away with snorts.


    To the side, the other three put their heads in their hands as they shook their heads.


    Even the porters who had been silent the entire time couldn''t help shaking their heads.


    It was already this clear at this point, how could he still not see it?


    If there was an award for the most dense person, he would definitely win this.


    But I of course knew what they were thinking.


    This was the only way for me to calm them down.


    Confronting them would make them back down since it wasn''t an easy thing for them to admit.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t want to acknowledge it because this would make it worse for her.


    It would be like forcing ire to confess and she could see how beautiful ire waspared to her¡­especially that figure¡­


    She didn''t want her to say a thing.


    As for ire¡­it was hard for her to confess her feelings.


    If she responded, that would be no different from clearly stating that she was in love with him and that was thest thing that she would do.


    Minor jealousy was one thing, but saying out loud that she was in love with him¡­


    She would rather jump into a hole.


    And that was what I was counting on.


    So I changed the topic by saying, "Alright, this is what we''re doing¡­"

 Chapter 183: New team (6)

    It turned out to be aplete mess¡­


    Even though we had a n, there were two people that didn''t follow that n.


    So in the end, it turned out very poorly.


    At first, it was ze who went forward to attract the attention of the Golbat.


    But both of them didn''t follow the n in the end and tried acting on their own.


    Long Shui Ling tried using her illusions to trap the Golbat while ire fired her arrows at it.


    This caused the Golbat to suddenly fly up into the air out of our range and it used all kinds of wind attacks at us. If it wasn''t for ze reacting quickly and running back to shield us with his mes, then we really might have been in danger.


    Though it was terrifying seeing his mes surge after absorbing the wind des that fell down at us.


    Neither Long Shui Ling and ire received this cover since they had both run off on their own, so they were put in a pinch.


    If it wasn''t for us reacting quickly and going to save them, they might not have made it.


    But that was what they deserved for putting us in this danger in the first ce.


    They were the ones that had ruined each other''s attacks and caused the Golbat to go on a rampage.


    In the end, we were able to trap the Golbat in the air with Hayato''s wind and ze''s mes, forcing it down onto the ground.


    Then I was able to cut it down with the Time Stop ability after they created a gap in the me tornado for me.


    If it wasn''t for us acting fast enough, we might have had two members dead today.


    When it was all over, I forced the two of them to sit on their knees in apology in front of us.


    The other three had supported these two before, but after what they had done this time, they didn''t support them anymore.


    They were standing over the two of them with me, looking at them with disapproving looks on their faces.


    I looked down at the two of them for a bit before suddenly saying in a disappointed voice, "What was that?


    Both of them looked up at me as if they wanted to exin, but when they saw the way that I was looking at them, they couldn''t help lowering their gaze again.


    It was as if they were struggling to say what they wanted to say.


    In the end, they just remained silent without saying anything.


    I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the two of them.


    This could be considered partly my fault since I had ignored the fundamental problem here.


    I had wanted to avoid this since it would be more convenient for me to avoid it, but all it did was cause trouble for our party.


    Now that it had bitten us in the butt, I couldn''t ignore it even if I wanted to.


    So I took a deep breath and said, "From now on, there will be no more of this. If you can''t work together, then we can''t have the two of you on the same team. When the timees, one of you will have to go."


    Both of them trembled when they heard this and they looked up at me with a lost look.


    Then they looked at the other three, but they also had firm looks on their faces as if they supported my decision.


    Of course they would support my decision since it wasn''t one that was made arbitrarily.


    This was something that would even determine if they died or not in the future, so they wouldn''t dare risk their lives like this.


    They would not y around with their lives, so naturally they would support me who was thinking about keeping us safe.


    In the end, both of them said in a soft voice, "We''re sorry."


    I took a deep breath and said, "If you can''t learn to work together, you not only threaten our lives, but all of our lives. I don''t know what conflict you two have, but I need you to work together and listen when we''re in the dungeon at least. Do you understand?"


    After a moment of hesitation, both of them nodded in agreement.


    Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief before saying, "I can''t trust you both to keep your word yet, so you''ll both be on probation for now. Until we can be sure that you two won''t act up again, you won''t be given any important roles in dungeon dives. Is that clear?"


    Both of them slowly nodded again.


    After seeing this, the other three let out sighs of relief as well.


    After all, this was their lives that were at stake if they couldn''t solve this matter.


    But when it was over, they couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look that I ignored.


    After all, I knew what they were trying to say with this look.


    "Just how dense are you?"


    I was very dense, or at least I was in this situation since I needed to make sure that nothing went against my n.


    So no matter what signs there were, I would ignore them all.


    Since the boss had been killed, there was nothing left for us in this dungeon.


    The porters had already picked up the loot, so it was time for us to make our way back to the entrance.


    As we walked back, I couldn''t help giving another sigh.


    This trip into the dungeon was supposed to be a chance for our new team to build up a good rtionship and a good working dynamic, as well as see how we could work with each other.


    But all it did was achieve the opposite.


    Was it my fault?


    Was it their fault?


    It was all of our faults to a certain extent.


    After all, I never expected ire to feel that way about me¡­


    But since she did, I would take her as well.


    That was my greed as the demon king of lust.

 Chapter 184: Dealing with the traitor

    After leaving the dungeon, no one was in the mood to gather after what had happened in the dungeon.


    So we all split off to do our own thing.


    As for me, I was called into the guild.


    When Su Chen drove me back, he suddenly turned and headed in the direction of the guild headquarters.


    I looked at him with a confused look and asked, "What happened?"


    He just simply said, "I received an order to bring you in for a meeting. It seems like it''s quite important."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows after hearing this before asking, "Do you know what it''s about?"


    Su Chen didn''t say anything and just shook his head.


    I fell into a deep silence of thought as I tried to figure out what I could have been called in for.


    Was it because of Long Shui Ling?


    That seemed like it would be the most probable thing.


    After all, Long Shui Ling''s Long Family had made arge ''donation'' to the guild to let her in, so they were obligated to take care of her. They most likely wanted a report on her first day.


    But if that was the case, what should I say?


    I couldn''t just say that her selfishness and her impulsiveness caused a bunch of trouble, right?


    If I did, would they get angry at me?


    Would the Long Family be angry with me?


    This most likely choice seemed like the worst possible situation for me¡­


    But it turned out that this wasn''t the case.


    When we entered the headquarters, we found that Hua Rong was in the lobby waiting for us. The moment that she saw us, she immediately waved her hand for us to follow her before turning around to head to the elevator.


    I looked at Su Chen and he looked at me before shaking his head.


    Since he didn''t know what was happening either, we had no choice but to follow her over to the elevator.


    But before going in, she raised her hand and stopped Su Chen from following.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I saw this, but Hua Rong didn''t seem like she could be convinced.


    Su Chen just revealed a faint smile and said, "Don''t worry about me."


    I couldn''t help ring at him.


    After all, I knew what he was really thinking¡­


    He was relieved that he wouldn''t be forced to go into this meeting!


    He was relieved that he had been pardoned from this!


    So it was just Hua Rong and I alone in the elevator and we just stood there in silence.


    I was the one that broke the silence in the end by asking, "Do you know what this meeting is about?"


    Hua Rong didn''t seem to react at first, but then she looked at me with a faint smile before turning back to look at the floor indicator.


    Huh?


    What was with this expression on her face?


    It was clear that she was enjoying this situation¡­but for someone like her who hated me to enjoy this situation¡­


    Did that really mean that I was in trouble?


    I couldn''t help feeling a very bad feeling as the elevator continued moving up.


    When we arrived at the floor of Bing Lan''s office, the door opened and Hua Rong led me to a conference room. This was the conference room that was on the same floor, but on thepletely opposite side as Bing Lan''s office.


    This was a room that I had never been in before.


    When I came in, there were also people that I had never met before that were sitting at the conference table.


    The moment that they heard the door open, they all looked in my direction and knitted their brows.


    It was clear that they hadn''t been expecting me and were even annoyed by my appearance.


    The cloaked figure that was sitting to the right of the head of the table where Bing Lan was turned back to her and said, "Guild master, wasn''t this a private meeting? Why are you bringing other people in here?"


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything as she waited for Hua Rong to bring me over.


    Hua Rong saw this, so she waved her hand at me and then started moving over to Bing Lan.


    I could still feel the gazes on me as I walked over to where Bing Lan was sitting.


    Hua Rong stopped beside Bing Lan and I stopped a bit behind her, but Bing Lan waved her hand at me, so I had no choice but to move over to where Hua Rong was. At the same time, Hua Rong moved to where I had been standing with a confused look on her face.


    Bing Lan gestured at me with her hand and said, "He''s the one that found the spy, so isn''t he entitled toe to this meeting?"


    The moment that she said this, all of them looked at me again.


    Only this time, they looked at me with apletely different expression.


    Spy?


    What was she talking about?


    When did I discover a spy?


    The cloaked figure who had been sitting there slowly gave a nod before saying, "Alright, let''s hear what he has to say."


    Bing Lan gave a nod too before turning to me to say, "Tell us everything that you told me before."


    I just had a confused look on my face as I looked at Bing Lan and asked, "What are we talking about? I wasn''t told anything before being called in."


    Bing Lan raised a brow when she heard this, but then she said with a calm look, "Hayato''s handler Motoyasu. Tell all of them what you told me back then."


    Huh?


    The handler?


    Was this what this was about?


    I had already thought of some things when they talked about a spy, but it turned out that it was rted to this.


    I had thought that she would take care of it on her own, but now I was called in to testify.


    Still, this didn''t seem like it would be bad for me, so I just started telling them everything that I had told Bing Lan before.

 Chapter 185: Amaterasu

    When I had finished, everyone was silently looking at me with strange looks.


    After another period of silence, the cloaked figure to the right suddenly said, "Why did you feel that he was suspicious enough to report him? This could have just been normal behaviour."


    I calmly said, "It seemed like he was sneaking around, so I reported him. Plus, I wouldn''t be a good leader if I didn''t take care of my subordinates."


    The cloaked figure continued to look at me without saying anything.


    But in the end, they gave a nod and turned back to Bing Lan.


    Bing Lan saw this and said, "I trust that everyone is satisfied with this?"


    After another silence, the people around the table gave nods in response.


    Bing Lan looked at me and said, "You can sit down now and listen. If there''s anything else, we will call on you."


    I just gave a nod before finding an empty seat at the end of the table.


    Or at least that was what I had been nning on doing, but Bing Lan stopped me before I could do that.


    She nodded at the person sitting to the left of the head seat.


    That person was surprised to see this, but they still relinquished the seat in the end and moved down to the end.


    I had thought that they would hold a grudge against me for this, but they didn''t even look in my direction. They just simply sat down without a word and focused on what Bing Lan had to say.


    Bing Lan just looked at me as if she was waiting for me to sit down.


    I knew that I had to sit or else I would just be holding up the meeting, so I went to the seat that had been emptied for me and sat down.


    Only after I sat down did Bing Lan continue.


    She picked up a remote and pressed a button, causing a screen toe down from the ceiling.


    Once this screen was down, the projector turned on and there was a slideshow that began.


    These were all pictures of Hayato''s handler Motoyasu in different ces.


    I was confused what these pictures were, but the others clearly knew what was happening as they immediately reacted when they saw these pictures.


    There were a few where he was meeting someone in secret, but I had no idea what this was or who that person was.


    So I just silently sat there and waited for someone to speak.


    But no one said a word as they silently watched the slideshow.


    Finally, when it was done, Bing Lan said, "It''s Amaterasu."


    All of the people in the room revealed serious looks when they heard this.


    Amaterasu, it was another one of the big guilds in this world.


    As the name suggested, it was a guild that was based in Japan and had heavy ties with the Japanese government.


    But why would they suddenly send a spy to Elementia like this?


    It didn''t make sense at all.


    The cloaked person who was sitting on the right gave a sigh before saying, "So it is rted to the new dungeon after all."


    Bing Lan gave a slow nod in response to this.


    I could only just sit there with a confused look on my face as I didn''t understand a single thing that was happening.


    Bing Lan''s hand moved on the table and she slid the folder that was on it over to me.


    I looked down at this and slowly picked it up before opening it up to see what it was.


    This folder had been on the table in the first ce, it had been there before I had even arrived.


    It was most likely for the person that had been sitting in this seat previously.


    But since Bing Lan wanted me to read it, I would read it.


    When I opened it up and saw what was written inside, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because there was a detailed report on the events of this matter.


    As well as a clear exnation on why this was happening.


    It turned out that there was a dispute between Amaterasu and Elementia over a dungeon.


    Both of them wanted to im it, but neither of them would back down on this dungeon.


    So in the end, it had ended in a deadlock where neither side was able to im it for now.


    It had gotten so bad that even the Awakener Association had to get involved and make sure that there wasn''t an all out war.


    Right now, they were still deciding which side to give this dungeon to, but they still hadn''t made a decision.


    As for why this dungeon was so important¡­


    It was one of the only five SS Rank Dungeons that had been discovered.


    SS Rank, that was the rank that was even above S Rank that no one had been able to reach.


    So far, they had only been able to scout these SS Ranked Dungeons and no one had been able to clear them yet.


    So for Elementia or Amaterasu to get that chance¡­


    If they were able to clear it, there was no doubt that they would receive instant fame and wealth.


    At the same time, they would receive the coveted title of first SS Rank Awakener.


    So neither side would back down on this matter.


    After they discussed this matter a bit, Bing Lan suddenly turned to me and said, "We''ll need you to act as bait."


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard since I had been focused on the report the whole time, so I didn''t know what had happened.


    But since they were all looking at me, I had no choice but to go along with it and give a nod.


    Seeing this, they went back to their own discussion.


    I tried paying attention, but it was already toote for me to understand anything.


    So all I could do was sit there and wait for the meeting to end.

 Chapter 186: Internal affairs department

    The meeting didn''tst that long in the end.


    It was just a simple discussion on what they would do about this traitor.


    I didn''t really understand the n that they hade up with, but it seemed like they were nning an ambush for him.


    Like they had said before, I would be the bait to make this ambush happen.


    Once they had finished discussing this, Bing Lan said, "Alright, let''s end things here for now. We''ll discuss the exact details when the time draws closer and we can make a better n."


    All of the people sitting at the table nodded in agreement to this before picking up their stuff and standing up.


    It seemed that they were all heading off to do their own thing and that the meeting was over.


    Since the meeting was over, then there was no reason for me to stay here any longer.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    That was until Bing Lan suddenly called out to me.


    "Wait, don''t leave yet. Let me introduce you to someone."


    I slowly turned around when I heard her call out. I wasn''t sure if she was talking to me at first, but then seeing her look expectantly at me as if she was waiting for me toe over, I knew that she was talking to me.


    Since that was the case, I had no choice but to go over.


    When I walked over to where Bing Lan was, I found that the cloaked figure from before was there with her.


    When I came over, I could feel the gaze of this cloaked figure falling onto me.


    Even though I wasn''t able to see their eyes, I could still feel that gaze.


    Bing Lan waited until I was in front of her before saying, "This is the one that I wanted to introduce you to." She gestured at the cloaked figure beside her and said, "This is the head of our internal affairs department, Nadia."


    I couldn''t help slightly narrowing my eyes when I heard this.


    Internal affairs department¡­that basically meant that they were the internal enforcers.


    If there were any spies or anyone that wanted to harm the organization, they would be the ones that would deal with them.


    And for someone like me who had ns for Elementia¡­they were my natural enemy.


    In short, this was a person that I would surely have to face in the future if I wanted to use my skill to control Bing Lan, Bing Xue, and the rest.


    So I couldn''t help feeling a bit hostile when I heard this, but I made sure to hide it.


    To my surprise, Nadia suddenly reached her hand out towards me and said, "It''s a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you in the future."


    I looked at her hand for a bit and I couldn''t help being surprised by how slender it was.


    Still, I reached out my hand slowly and shook her hand before saying, "It''s a pleasure to meet you too." But then after a pause, I added, "Working together? Are we going to be working together?"


    Nadia gave a nod and said, "Aren''t you helping us with the investigation? So we''ll be working together in the future."


    Bing Lan gave a nod before saying, "You already agreed to it, remember?"


    I was a bit confused at first, but then I realized that they meant the fact that I had agreed to be bait.


    I then said, "I''m just being bait, there isn''t much that I''ll be doing, so it can''t really be considered working together, right?"


    Nadia shook her head when she heard this before saying, "No, you''ll be doing much more than you think. You''ll need to work with us to lure our target in, so we''ll need you to cooperate with us."


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this before saying, "Alright, that''s not a problem."


    Working with the internal affairs department like this wasn''t considered a bad thing.


    After all, this would give me a chance to learn more about them and their structure.


    The more information that I had about them, the better it would be for me in the future.


    Nadia shared a few more things with me that weren''t considered that important.


    But before we separated, I couldn''t help asking, "Is there a reason why you''re wearing this cloak?"


    When Bing Lan heard this, she couldn''t help reveal a faint smile even though she didn''t say anything.


    Nadia looked down at the cloak she was wearing before saying, "It''s mysterious isn''t it?"


    I gave a slow nod, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to exin.


    She saw that I wasn''t saying anything, so she said, "Well, I''m supposed to be the one that watches over everyone in the guild, so isn''t being mysterious good enough? It''s cool and scary at the same time, right?"


    I didn''t know how to respond to this.


    Seeing that I still didn''t say anything, she said, "Isn''t it enough that it''s cool?"


    I opened and closed my mouth a few times as I didn''t know what to say in response to this.


    To the side, Bing Lan looked like she was holding back herughter as if she already knew this and was having fun at my expense.


    After a long silence, I said with another slow nod, "Un, it is cool."


    Nadia didn''t stop this time as she started telling me all about how cool and mysterious cloaks were. While she was on this topic, she also started talking about how important it was to act cool at all times.


    It reminded me of a certain phase that I had gone through when I was in middle school¡­


    The more that I heard from her, the more cringe that I felt deep down inside of me.


    It seemed that the leader of this internal affairs department was quite the ''interesting'' person¡­


    But that didn''t mean that I would underestimate her or the department in the future.

 Chapter 187: Trapping the spy (1)

    After another week and a half, it was finally time to put that n into action.


    During this week and a half, our team had been dungeon diving the whole time as per our normal schedule.


    The dynamic of our team¡­did improve, but it still wasn''t as good as it could be.


    There was some form of cooperation between ire and Long Shui Ling, but it was still far from full cooperation where they fully trusted each other.


    It still seemed like there was some kind ofpetition between the two of them.


    Long Shui Ling even found me secretly to say, "You really are popr, aren''t you?"


    But of course, I actedpletely oblivious to this.


    For now, this was the best that we would get, so I would just ept it.


    After all, there was something more important to do right now.


    I would have to handle the case of Hayato''s handler, Motoyasu first.


    After another normal day in the dungeon, we were about to separate before I called out to Hayato.


    "Let''s go and have a talk. There''s something that I need to discuss with you."


    When he heard this, he couldn''t help looking at me with a shocked and confused look.


    It was the same for everyone else that was still here, they all looked at me with the same shocked and confused look before looking at Hayato with concerned looks. It was almost as if they were kids who were looking at another kid who had just gotten in trouble.


    After a moment of silence, Hayato asked, "Is something wrong? Is there a problem that you need to call me out to talk alone?"


    He was very confused as he said this.


    After all, he couldn''t think of a single reason why he would be called out like this.


    He hadn''t caused any trouble with their party, so it shouldn''t be him who was getting called out. If anyone should be called out, it would either be ire or Long Shui Ling.


    Or if he wanted to talk about something between men, it should be both him and ze, right?


    So it didn''t make sense to call him out alone.


    I could see the doubt in his eyes, but to avoid creating suspicion with a certain someone, I just said, "I have something that I need to talk to you in private about."


    Everyone couldn''t help knitting their brows when they heard this.


    Long Shui Ling suddenly came forward and said, "If there''s something private that you need to talk about, you cane talk to me."


    ire narrowed her eyes when she heard this.


    Then as if not to be outdone, she also came forward and said, "I can talk to you too if you need something."


    Both of them turned to re at each other after she said this.


    At the same time, ze and Qin Yue Ru also walked over with concerned looks before saying that they both could talk if I needed to.


    But I just shook my head and said, "There''s something that I need to talk about with Hayato. I hope that you will respect that."


    When I said it this seriously, they all couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    In the end, it was Hayato that said, "Alright boss, that''s not a problem. If you have something private you need to talk about, then we can talk."


    The others all nodded as if they were respecting my decision.


    This was their first time hearing me talk in this serious tone since our first time in the dungeon, so they couldn''t help feeling a bit afraid. It was still a trauma that was on their minds the entire time.


    Hayato''s handler Motoyasu was about to leave, but I quickly came forward to take him by the shoulder as I said, "I also need to have a talk with you."


    Motoyasu couldn''t help knitting his brows when he heard this, but since I had trapped him, he had no choice but to follow us in the end.


    I also had Su Chen follow us just in case anything happened, but it didn''t seem like it was necessary.


    I was able to bring the two of them to an isted ce before letting go of Motoyasu.


    When Hayato saw the ce that we hade to, he couldn''t help feeling a bit worried.


    Though he had faith in me that I wouldn''t do anything, this seemed a bit too suspicious. After all, this was the typical ce where one would be brought to be murdered¡­


    So Hayato couldn''t help asking, "Boss, what do you need to talk to me about?"


    Motoyasu also moved away from me and created some distance with me, as if he didn''t trust me.


    But then again, how could he have trusted me with the way that I had treated him?


    Su Chen came up behind Motoyasu to prevent him from moving back any further.


    I looked at Hayato and said, "Well, it''s not so much as having a talk with you as having a talk with him?" I pointed at Motoyasu as I said this.


    Hayato revealed a confused look when he heard this before turning to look at Motoyasu.


    Motoyasu was already trembling when he heard this, but he still managed to say, "Mister Lin, what do you mean by this? I don''t remember having done anything to offend you?"


    I raised a brow and said, "Is that so?"


    Motoyasu knitted his brows even more when he heard this, but he said, "Mister Lin, what do you mean by that?"


    I suddenly revealed a smile and said, "What if I said something very interesting."


    Motoyasu had the same confused look when he heard this.


    "Amaterasu."


    The moment that I said this, that confused look disappeared and there was a hostile look that appeared on his face.


    After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, "It seems that you''ve dug too deep haven''t you? You''ll regret that now."


    With a snap of his finger, there was a group of dark clothed figures that appeared around us.

 Chapter 188: Trapping the spy (2)

    When these dark clothed figures appeared, Motoyasu''s appearancepletely changed.


    He no longer had the same worried look as before.


    Instead, there was a confident and dark look on his face as he looked at me.


    After a pause, he asked, "How did you find this out?"


    I didn''t panic when I saw that we were surrounded even though Hayato looked like he was about to pee his pants.


    I just gave a shrug before saying, "How do I know about this?"


    Motoyasu narrowed his eyes to look at me when I teased him like this, but then he shook his head and said, "It doesn''t matter how you know since you''ll be buried here. If you told me, I might have given you a painless death. But since you won''t cooperate, I''ll make sure that you suffer a bit."


    Hayato jolted when he heard this beforeing forward to say, "Motoyasu, there''s no need to do this. You should know that this is aw abiding society, you can''t just do things like this without consequence."


    Then after a pause, he said, "Let us leave and we won''t say a thing. How about that?"


    Motoyasu gave a snort before saying, "The moment that he said that name, it was impossible for you to leave."


    But his expression did soften a bit as he said, "But I do feel sorry for you. If it wasn''t for him, you wouldn''t have gotten caught up in this."


    With a cold smile, he turned to look at me as he said, "Do you regret associating with him now?"


    Hayato''s eyes narrowed a bit before saying, "You can say what you want about me, but you can''t say that about the boss. He has his reason for doing this and it''s clear which one of you is the viin."


    After he said this, I couldn''t help feeling surprised.


    I never thought that Hayato would be this loyal¡­was it because of my own deeds or was it because of the suggestions that I had left in him with my Hypnosis skill?


    Motoyasu gave a sigh when he heard this before saying, "A fool to the end. Since you want to die, then I''ll help you."


    He raised his hand as if he was about to give a signal, but before he could¡­


    Hayato suddenly asked, "Why are you even doing this?"


    Motoyasu''s hand stopped halfway up and then he slowly brought it down before saying, "Didn''t you hear what he just said?"


    Hayato looked at me with a confused look before turning back to say, "What did he say?"


    Motoyasu shook his head before saying, "Amaterasu, I''m sure that you''ve heard of that name before."


    Hayato just revealed another confused look when he heard this, but then there was a look of recognition that slowly appeared on his face. After a pause, he said, "You mean¡­that big guild?"


    Motoyasu said with a nod, "That''s right."


    He didn''t have any hesitation as he suddenly said, "I''m a spy for that big guild and he discovered me. If he had reported me without saying anything, then perhaps you might have lived today. You can only me your boss here for wanting more fame by taking down the spy himself, that is why you''ll die today."


    Hayato looked at me with a bit of a strange look when he heard this.


    However, I wasn''t worried at all.


    Instead, I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I heard what Motoyasu had said.


    I had been thinking about how to bait him into revealing that he was a spy, but now¡­


    It seemed that bringing Hayato along really was a good choice.


    Motoyasu gave another coldugh before turning to me to say, "Have you made your peace? Are you ready to die now?"


    I just looked at him with a calm look and said, "Why would I do that? Why do you think that I''ll be dying today?"


    Motoyasu couldn''t help being taken aback when he heard this, but then he revealed a cold smile as he said, "Are you crazy? Do you really think that you''ll be able to escape when you''re surrounded like this?"


    I just shrugged as I said, "Why don''t you try it and find out."


    "You¡­" Motoyasu said in a dark voice before raising his hand and saying, "Since you want to die a painful death, then I''ll help you." Right as soon as his voice fell, he let his hand fall down.


    But to his surprise, the ck clothed figures didn''t move at all.


    They just stood there in ce, as if they didn''t see his signal at all.


    Motoyasu knitted his brows when he saw this before saying, "What are you all doing? Kill him!"


    But even when he shouted at them like this, none of them made a move.


    All of them just stood there in ce, as if there was something holding them there.


    Motoyasu could tell that something was wrong, so he turned around and went over to the closest ck clothed figure. He went right up to them and grabbed them by the shoulder, but he found that he wasn''t able to move them at all.


    It was as if there was something that was holding them in ce there, making it impossible for him to move them.


    Now he knew that something was off, so he quickly reached out for that person''s face.


    He found that their eyes were closed through the mask and it didn''t even seem like they were breathing¡­


    Motoyasu slowly turned around to look at me as he said in a trembling voice, "What, what did, did you do?"


    I gave another shrug as I said, "What did I do?"


    Motoyasu was about to run, but before he could he found that there was something that bound him in ce.


    He wasn''t able to move at all.


    When I saw this, I asked, "Did you get enough evidence?"


    Though I already knew the answer to this question since they had made a move.

 Chapter 189: Trapping the spy (3)

    There was a cloaked figure that appeared beside me after I asked this.


    Hayato immediately moved back when he saw this, but I just calmly looked at this figure since I recognized them.


    It was Nadia who had appeared.


    She looked at Motoyasu for a few seconds before turning to me to say, "Thank you for doing your part. We''ve gotten all of the evidence that we needed."


    I just revealed a smile and gave a nod before saying, "I''m happy to help."


    Nadia gave a nod before raising her hand and giving a wave.


    When she did, there were several more cloaked figures that suddenly appeared all around us.


    They went to the dark clothed figures that were just standing there and then as if they were pulling them from something, these dark clothed figures fell down limp.


    When one looked closer, they could see that these dark clothed figures had all been held up by something.


    That was why they had been able to stand even though it didn''t seem like they were conscious.


    There were these string like threads that had been holding them up the entire time.


    At the same time, judging by the thin red marks that were at their necks, it should have also been these threads that had knocked them out in the first ce.


    Or at least I thought that they were knocked out¡­


    Seeing that we were about to leave, Motoyasu started to panic and he said, "Wait, don''t leave me here! I''ll tell you whatever you want if you take me with you!"


    But I just shook my head when I heard this.


    From the very beginning, all of this had been a trap for Motoyasu.


    I had let him think that he had the advantage so that he would confess without needing much prompting, but I never thought that it would work so well that he would confess everything.


    One really did let down their guard when they thought that victory was already in hand.


    He was the perfect example of this.


    Hayato looked like he was hesitating when he heard this, but I took him by the shoulder and led him away.


    Once we were gone, Nadia and the others took Motoyasu and the dark clothed figures away.


    As for what they would do with them, one really wouldn''t want to find out.


    One could only be sure that it wasn''t a good thing.


    When Hayato and I got far enough away, I stopped and looked at him to say, "Sorry I had to get you caught up in that. I had no choice but to involve you or else he wouldn''t have let his guard down like that."


    Hayato didn''t say anything at first as he just looked at me in silence for a bit before suddenly giving a sigh and saying, "I understand why you did it and I can see that it even involved the guild¡­"


    His voice trailed off for a bit before he said, "But I just can''t understand why he would do something like this. There''s nothing to gain from doing something like this¡­"


    I didn''t answer his doubts when he said this.


    I could have answered them and put his mind at ease, but there were some things that were better for him not to know until the time was right.


    So instead, I said, "You''ll find out why when you read the paper tomorrow."


    Hayato looked at me with a confused look, but he didn''t ask anything else.


    Instead, he asked, "When did you find out that he was a spy?"


    I calmly said, "When we went drinking that one time and you told me all about how he kept disappearing. I reported that to the guild and it turned out that there was a lot of evidence that pointed him out as a spy."


    Hayato took a deep breath and gave a sigh again, but he didn''t say anything this time.


    There was nothing for him to say this time since everything had already been made very clear.


    If he was old enough, I would have treated him to a drink at a time like this.


    It was just too bad that Hayato was still too young for that.


    So instead, I said, "How about we get some food? My treat."


    Hayato looked at me for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    The two of us¡­no, the three of us since Su Chen was also here headed off to a restaurant where we just numbed ourselves with food.


    But for the guild, the work was far from over.


    They not only had to take care of the people that they had gathered, they also had toe up with a news article.


    This was the crux of our n, the part that came after capturing these spies.


    The next morning, there was a shocking article that appeared on the front pages of many newspapers.


    "Amaterasu sends spies into fellow guild, Elementia."


    When this news spread across the world, the entire world exploded.


    There were all kinds of different discussions that appeared on the inte and there were many people that tried to create even more trouble from this.


    Amaterasu came forward with their own press conference to deny this matter. However, soon after that press conference, there was a video that was leaked to the inte.


    It was a video of Motoyasu admitting that he was from Amaterasu and had been sent to spy on Elementia.


    When this stone was cast, the ripples were just too big for Amaterasu to quell.


    The Awakener Association had no choice but to send an investigative team to handle this matter.


    This was all what Elementia had wanted to see.


    This was what we had nned for Amaterasu.


    With this blow to their reputation, it would be hard for them toy their stake on the SS Rank Dungeon now.


    It was almost guaranteed that Elementia would receive the rights to explore the SS Rank Dungeon.

 Chapter 190: Meeting the parents (1)

    "How could you do something that dangerous?"


    That was the first thing that I was asked when our dungeon party met again.


    All four of the others had angry looks on their faces when we met and it was clear by the guilty look on Hayato''s face what they meant.


    He most likely told them about everything that had happened.


    I hadn''t expected much from him in the first ce, so I had already expected this reaction.


    But I was surprised by how worried they were.


    We were just a dungeon diving party that had gone into the dungeon a few times together, so we shouldn''t be that close that they would be this worried about me.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    So I was surprised to see just how worried they looked.


    The one that was the most worried was of course Long Shui Ling, but she had a reason to be worried.


    Then the other three were equally worried, though it was clear that ire was holding back¡­


    I just raised my hands to calm them down before saying, "It wasn''t as dangerous as you think. I was working with the guild the entire time, so there were plenty of people helping me. It wasn''t as if I was in any real danger this entire time."


    But even then, that didn''t stop Long Shui Ling from circling me as if she was looking to see if there was any part of me that was hurt.


    It was the same for the others who saw her doing this.


    When they saw her doing this, they all did the same thing and followed along.


    When they were finally done, I said, "Alright, let''s stop ying around and get to work."


    But to my surprise, they just stood there looking at me with strange looks.


    It was ze who said, "Boss, we''re not ying around. We really were worried about you, but it doesn''t seem like you care at all."


    I was caught off guard when I heard this, but then I said, "I wasn''t able to tell you even if I wanted to. You should know how important this matter was, so the guild made sure that I kept everything secret. Hayato only knew because he was involved in this matter."


    Hayato gave a guilty nod as if he was trying to make it up to me.


    However, the others all revealed bitter looks on their faces.


    It was ze who spoke again, "Boss, it seems like you still don''t understand."


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help saying in a confused voice.


    ze looked right at me and said, "It''s alright to ept other people''s worry for you. You don''t have to make all these excuses."


    I was taken aback when I heard this.


    There was nothing that I could refute what he had just said because he was right.


    It had been a long time since I had someone care about me, so I really didn''t know how to ept it.


    After all, I had gotten used to being alone and caring for myself¡­


    After a long silence, I finally said, "You''re right. It''s my fault."


    I looked at them with a deep gaze as I said, "I''m sorry for worrying you."


    They all slowly gave nods, but it still felt like something was off.


    It felt like there was something that still wasn''t settled yet and they didn''t know how to address it.


    Like there was a wall between them that couldn''t be broken down.


    For now, they just left things like this and went into the dungeon.


    There wasn''t a problem with clearing the dungeon since it was only a D Rank Dungeon, but there was no doubt that there was some kind of dy in their coordination.


    It was almost as if there was some kind of awkwardness with their party.


    I didn''t know what to do here since this was my first time dealing with this¡­


    In the end, we just left things as they were as we finished the dungeon.


    But before we all went home, Long Shui Ling came to find me for a private talk.


    She had a serious look on her face as she asked me to talk privately, a look that I had never seen from her before.


    ire had wanted to interrupt, but I stopped her and agreed to talk to Long Shui Ling alone.


    This was the first time that I had seen her this serious, so there was no doubt that there was something serious to discuss with me.


    When we went to the side, the first thing that she said shocked me.


    "I want you to meet my parents."


    After saying this, she looked at my face as if she was waiting for my reaction.


    But the only reaction that I had was shock.


    After all, I never expected Long Shui Ling to suddenly say this.


    I looked at her with a strange look for a bit before slowly asking, "Isn''t this a bit too sudden?"


    She shook her head before saying, "No, they''ve been asking me to bring you to see them for a while now."


    As she said this, there was a trace of confusion that appeared in Long Shui Ling''s eyes.


    After all, she couldn''t think of the reason why her parents would insist on this¡­


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    As expected¡­they had heard the rumours.


    When such rumours were spreading about their daughter, it was only natural that they would want to meet the person who was the other party in these rumours¡­


    But the only thing that I could expect from this meeting was¡­an execution.


    I couldn''t think of anything else that this would be, especially if they had heard the rumours¡­


    However, it wasn''t as if I had a choice in this matter.


    If I didn''t go, it would leave a worse impression on her parents and would make things worse in the future.


    I had no choice but to agree to go meet her parents.

 Chapter 191: Meeting the parents (2)

    Of course, to meet the ones that were in charge of the biggestpany on the wasn''t that easy.


    It wasn''t as if they had that much free time to meet me whenever.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    Long Shui Ling told me that they were already expecting me for dinner tonight.


    I really didn''t like how they had decided everything on their own, but there was no time to think about that right now.


    What I should focus on was this meeting with Long Shui Ling''s parents.


    So the first thing that I did was head home and dress up as well as I could.


    It was just that I didn''t have that kind of fancy clothes in the first ce. The only suit that I had was the one that I had prepared for finding a job if I didn''t manage to awaken myself and it was a very cheap suit.


    This kind of suit in front of the richest people in the world was considered nothing.


    As I was preparing myself, a voice suddenly said, "Are you nervous?"


    This voice wasn''t a voice that was speaking out loud, but rather a voice that was speaking right into my head.


    It was Lilith that had suddenly spoken.


    By now, I was already used to this, so I wasn''t that caught off guard.


    But of course, it was impossible for me to remain calm when there was a voice that suddenly spoke in my head while I was focusing.


    I couldn''t help messing up the tie that I had been working on.


    I took a deep breath to calm down before saying, "How could I be anything but nervous? This is a very dangerous meeting that I''m about to head into."


    Lilith gave a chuckle before saying, "Why are you so worried when you are the demon king of lust? It''s very simple, just use your powers and they will fall under your control. Wouldn''t that make things much easier for you in the future?"


    I knitted my brows when I heard this before shaking my head and saying, "We''ve already been over this. If I do that, that will immediately expose me as the demon king of lust. When the timees, that will cause more trouble than it saves."


    Lilith gave a scoff before saying, "As the demon king of lust, is there anything that you can''t handle."


    I gave a sigh before saying, "There''s plenty of things that I can''t handle. Just being the demon king of lust is far from enough."


    Lilith gave another scoff, but she didn''t say anything else.


    When she fell silent, I said, "When the timees, I will need your help. I might need your new powers today."


    She said with a seductive smile, "I''ve chosen you as my champion, so all of my powers are yours. You don''t need to ask me, all you have to do is give me amand, my king."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this, but I just said with a simple nod, "I''ll be counting on you."


    I never knew just how much I had underestimated this¡­


    ¡­


    When I had finished preparing, it was time to go.


    Long Shui Ling said that she would send someone to pick me up, but I couldn''t help being surprised by who had been sent.


    It was the butler who had picked her upst time, the one that she had called Sebastien.


    When I came out, I could see the disappointed look on his face.


    It was clear that he wasn''t happy to see me, but he was here because it was his job.


    He didn''t say anything to me as he opened the door for me. But while he was opening the door, he didn''t even look in my direction.


    At this point, he couldn''t do more to express his disdain for me.


    I could guess why he felt this disdain, but it was still ufortable being treated like this.


    So I just quickly sat down in the limo while avoiding the gazes from around me.


    The neighbours had once again gathered because of the fancy limo that appeared.


    Mrs Li had evene out with makeup on since she had thought that it was someone else.


    But she was disappointed to find that it wasn''t the handsome driver from before.


    We quickly headed off after I got into the limo and the window separating me from the driver was up.


    I wasn''t the one that had put up this window, it was Sebastien who had done this.


    It seemed that he didn''t even want to give me a chance to talk to him¡­


    So we drove in silence for a bit until we reached a Transport Gate


    I was surprised that we had arrived at a Transport Gate and a secret one nheless.


    This was one that wasn''t marked and was hidden in the basement of arge business building.


    If I had to guess, this was most likely one of the branch offices of the Long Group.


    For even a branch office to have a Transport Gate in the basement, one could tell just how powerful the Long Group was.


    This just made me even more anxious.


    As we headed into the Transport Gate, I couldn''t help feeling worried as well.


    After all, there was the chance that I was being brought somewhere remote to be killed.


    But when we came out, I saw the luxurious manor in front of the car.


    However, this wasn''t what I was surprised by.


    What I was surprised by was beyond that manor.


    What I was surprised by was the endless sea that was all around us.


    This manor¡­it was on an ind and it seemed to be an undiscovered ind in the middle of the ocean.


    To use this ce as a private residence, as expected of the Long Group.


    They really had more money than they knew what to do with.

 Chapter 192: Meeting the parents (3)

    The limo drove up to the manor gates where there were guards standing there.


    When these guards came over to the limo to check who was inside, I could sense the magic energying from them.


    These guards¡­were not weak.


    These guards were giving off magic energy fluctuations that were simr to the C Rankers that I had met before.


    So that meant that these guards were at least C Rank Awakeners.


    Yet they were posted here to guard the gates.


    If they were anywhere else, they would be people that would be respected by all, but here they were nothing more than guards.


    That really put into perspective the power of the Long Group.


    After the guards finished checking us, they let us through the gates.


    But strangely, I almost felt as if the guards were giving me a strange look.


    I couldn''t be certain since they had deadpan looks on their faces, but I could have sworn that they were looking at me in a strange manner.


    The limo took at least ten minutes to drive from the gate to the manor itself, showing just how big this estate was.


    As we drove past the gardens, I couldn''t help being shocked by all the things that I saw.


    If it wasn''t for the demon king system, I might not have known what these things were.


    But since I had the appraisal of the demon king system, I was able to see the descriptions of all of these nts that were in the garden.


    Not a single one of them was simple.


    Dragon Tongue Herb


    A fire attributed herb that has grown in the mes of true blooded dragons.


    Raises fire resistance by 10 when eaten.


    Thousand Year Old Ice Herb


    An ice attributed herb that has grown in the frozen tundra for over a thousand years.


    Raises ice resistance by 10 when eaten.


    Any one of these herbs would cause quite a stir if it was brought outside the manor, but here they were grown like ordinary nts in the garden.


    That was how rich this family was.


    After parking in front of the manor, Sebastien came out of the driver seat to open the door for me. However, he still refused to look at me when he opened the door for me, putting me in an awkward situation.


    I just got out of the car and then stood there awkwardly since I didn''t know what to do.


    But before anything else could happen, the doors of the manor suddenly opened and there was a small figure that ran out towards me.


    This small figure didn''t hesitate to run over to me, but before it could reach me, Sebastien had already moved forward to stand between me and this small figure.


    When this small figure saw Sebastien standing there, they revealed a displeased look as they said, "What are you doing?"


    Sebastien gave a bow to this small figure before saying, "Young miss, you shouldn''t be acting this way. A proper young miss wouldn''t act this way."


    The one that he was talking to was naturally Long Shui Ling.


    She had been waiting at the door and hade out the moment that she saw the limo parked outside.


    After all, she was very excited about having Lin Fan meet her parents.


    But now that Sebastien was standing in her way, she wouldn''t let him stop her.


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips and said, "Sebastien, aren''t you being too exaggerated?"


    Sebastien once again gave a bow before saying, "Young miss, even if this Sebastien has to overstep, he will not let the young miss stray down the wrong path."


    Long Shui Ling still had her lips pouted as she looked at him, but in the end, she gave a sigh and said, "Alright, alright, I get it."


    She didn''t look like she would approach again and turned around to head back into the manor.


    But she also waved at me to follow her as she said, "Let''s go in. My parents and grandparents are already waiting for you."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help giving a gulp before slowly following behind her.


    Her parents and her grandparents were waiting for me, this was clearly not just a normal meeting of the parents¡­


    If they were all gathered here, did that mean that they were here to execute me or was it something else?


    I couldn''t help feeling more and more anxious as we entered the manor.


    Of course, Sebastien came with us, so I didn''t get a single moment to talk to Long Shui Ling along to get any information.


    He made sure that he was ced right in between us, so that I couldn''t even approach her.


    At the same time, he made sure to re at me so that I would feel pressure and back away.


    So we just walked in silence through this manor.


    I could see the main reception room from the lobby of the manor, but Long Shui Ling didn''t head that way. She headed deeper into the manor, into the private parts where they lived.


    Was it because they wanted to hide what they were going to do, or was it because they were treating me as one of their own?


    If I had to guess, it was more likely the former than thetter.


    After walking for a bit, we arrived at our destination.


    When I walked in, I could tell that this room was most likely a living room where the members of the Long Family gathered.


    This was their private sanctuary for their own private time and I had just been invited in.


    Would I be able to leave?


    Sitting in the center of the room were two couples, one young and one old.


    These were clearly Long Shui Ling''s parents and grandparents.


    When I walked in, all four pairs of eyes fell onto me immediately.


    There were two pairs of eyes that were ring while the other two had intrigued looks in them.


    It seemed that this wouldn''t be simple.

 Chapter 193: Meeting the parents (4)

    After we came in, Long Shui Ling ran over to the two couples with a wide smile on her face.


    It was only when they saw her that their expressions melted and they all revealed smiles.


    They talked for a bit about nothing in particr.


    But judging by the way that they spoke, it was clear that they were very close.


    That just made things worse for me.


    They were this close¡­if they heard the rumours, there was no doubt that they wouldn''t forgive me¡­


    After a while, they finished talking and they turned their attention back to me.


    The moment that they turned back to me, they looked at me with the same looks as before.


    No, it was a bit worse than before.


    They were ring at me with clear hostility now since they could hear the happiness that had been in Long Shui Ling''s voice. It was clear that her father and grandfather were clearly jealous.


    But to my surprise, the two women had approving looks on their faces.


    What did that mean?


    Long Shui Ling came over to take my hand which made me tremble since the moment that she took my hand, I felt the pressureing from those two pairs of eyes.


    She didn''t mind it as she led me in front of them and said, "This is Lin Fan, he''s the one I told you about."


    There was a silence that followed after she said this.


    Both Long Shui Ling and I were just waiting for their response now.


    By all rights, I should have said something, but I had no idea what to say. After all, I had no idea what Long Shui Ling had told them about me, so I needed to gauge their reaction first before saying anything.


    After a moment of silence, Long Shui Ling''s father said, "So, this is the boy that we''ve heard so much about."


    When he said this, it was clear that he was stressing the word ''boy''.


    Long Shui Ling''s grandfather gave a nod before saying, "So this is the famous boy that saved you during the exam."


    The two of them made sure to stress that I was just a ''boy'', as well as trying to make it sound like the rtionship between us was as distant as possible.


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a displeased look when she heard this.


    But it was her mother who said, "Now, now, you two, stop antagonizing him. If you keep acting this way, you can only me yourselves if Ling Ling hates you."


    Both of them revealed distraught looks when they heard this, as if this thought terrified them. Then they revealed proper looks and pulled back the hostility in their eyes, but I could still feel the hostility pointed at me.


    Since Long Shui Ling''s mother had mediated, that gave me the perfect chance to introduce myself.


    I took a step forward and gave a slight bow before saying, "Hello, my name is Lin Fan. It is an honour to meet you."


    I couldn''t help peeking up slightly while I greeted them.


    I could see that her mother and grandmother were pleased seeing me act this way, but her father and grandfather had visible ugly looks on their faces.


    It was clear that they didn''t approve of me.


    But then again, with how they had acted, it didn''t seem like they would approve of me no matter how I acted.


    As for Long Shui Ling, she was looking at me with what seemed to be heart eyes.


    She had beenpletely in by the appearance that I had when I introduced myself.


    It seemed that my suggestion might have been a bit too effective¡­


    She wouldn''t be any help to me like this.


    While the father and grandfather looked like they wanted to cut me down on the spot, the mother and grandmother pped the two of them on the back of the head.


    Both of them turned around with confused looks, but then they had looks of despair as the two of them whispered something to them.


    They peeked at Long Shui Ling who waspletely ignoring them.


    It almost seemed like a tear wasing out of the corner of their eyes when they saw her ignore them like this.


    They wanted to get angry with me, but they held back in the end as they seemed to remember something.


    When the two of them settled down, Long Shui Ling''s mother asked, "Then Lin Fan, how about you tell us what happened between you and my daughter. I''ve heard plenty from her, but I want to hear it from your perspective."


    When Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather heard this, they once again started ring at me.


    I just revealed an awkward smile, but I still obliged.


    Before I started, Long Shui Ling''s mother called me over to sit down in front of them.


    Long Shui Ling took advantage of this to sit down beside me.


    If it was normal, she might have gone to hold my arm, but she held herself back since we were in front of her parents and grandparents.


    But she did move closer to me in the end.


    I just calmly told them the story that I had already prepared.


    They silently listened as I told them the story without changing their expressions once.


    It was as if they didn''t have any reactions to hearing this story at all.


    When I reached the part of the hotel though¡­


    "Hmm, that doesn''t seem right. That''s not what Ling Ling told us." Long Shui Ling''s mother suddenly said.


    I couldn''t help jolting when I heard this.


    After all, the part that she was calling out was me saying that we had gone to our separate floors.


    Long Shui Ling''s father seized this chance to jump in by saying, "That''s right, that''s right. I''ve also heard from others that you two went to the same floor."


    Long Shui Ling''s grandfather then added, "That''s right! What are you hiding from us?"

 Chapter 194: Meeting the parents (5)

    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I was questioned by them like this.


    But in the end, it was Long Shui Ling''s mother and grandmother who helped me restrain the two of them.


    Though they still red at me.


    I slowly turned to look at Long Shui Ling and she turned her head a bit as if she was guilty.


    But before I could say anything, her father and grandfather came at me again.


    "Stop avoiding the question!"


    "That''s right! Answer the question already!"


    The two of them seemed like they wanted to jump out of their seats and rush at me, but they were held back by Long Shui Ling''s mother and grandmother in the end.


    After a moment of hesitation, I gave a cough and said, "It might be true that Shui Ling and I shared a floor that night, but we slept in separate rooms."


    "I knew it!"


    "You''re dead! I''ll chop it off now!"


    Both her father and grandfather couldn''t hold themselves back anymore and jumped out of their seats. They seemed to pull swords out of thin air, but it should have been from the Storage Rings that they wore.


    They were about to charge me, but they were both pped on the back of their heads by their respective spouses.


    When they turned around to look at them with eyes asking them what they were doing, they received another p to the side of the head.


    Only when they put away the swords and sat back down did they finally stop getting pped.


    But that didn''t stop them from ring at me still.


    If looks could kill¡­


    Long Shui Ling''s mother turned away from me and looked at Long Shui Ling to ask, "Ling Ling, is this true?"


    Long Shui Ling''s face turned red when she heard her mother questioning her like this and she lowered her head. But in the end, she still said, "Mother, what are you saying? Do you really think of me as that kind of woman?"


    There were looks of despair that appeared on the faces of her father and grandfather when they heard this.


    The looks on their faces almost made it seem like there was a small part of them that died when they heard this.


    They really wanted to bang their heads into the wall and kill themselves to deny this.


    They didn''t want to ept this no matter what they had to do.


    But there was Long Shui Ling''s face covered in a blush in front of them.


    So they could only vent their rage on the only person that they could vent on.


    Once again, they looked at me with res like they wanted to eat me alive.


    If looks could kill¡­


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just revealed a faint smile as she said, "Is that so?"


    Long Shui Ling lowered her head even more and the blush became stronger on her face.


    I also felt a bit of second hand embarrassment as my face turned a bit red.


    After a long awkward silence, Long Shui Ling''s mother said, "Alright, you can continue with your story."


    I gave a cough to help lessen my embarrassment before I continued telling the rest of the story.


    They just listened to the rest of the story in silence without showing any reaction at all.


    When I finished my story, another silence fell over the room.


    The looks on their faces seemed like they were thinking about something.


    Finally, it was her father and grandfather that broke the silence again.


    "You''ve heard about all the things that he''s done! We can''t let this scoundrel anywhere near our Ling Ling!"


    "That''s right! Hold him down for me, I''ll personally chop it off!"


    But they were once again restrained.


    This time, it wasn''t her mother and grandmother that restrained them, but rather Long Shui Ling who did it.


    She stood up and walked in front of me, standing between me and her father and grandfather.


    When the two of them saw her standing there, they looked like they wanted to die again.


    Their faces werepletely filled with despair when they saw this.


    "Ling Ling, move out of the way."


    "Ling Ling, we''ll take care of this trash for you, just get out of the way."


    But Long Shui Ling wouldn''t move at all.


    The two of them didn''t dare move forward as long as Long Shui Ling was there.


    The two of them couldn''t bear to identally hurt their precious daughter/granddaughter.


    So there was a strange impasse that appeared.


    The one that broke this was Long Shui Ling''s mother.


    "Alright, you two. You''re this old and you''re still acting like children. Sit down and let''s discuss this properly as adults." She said in a voice that brokered no argument.


    But the two of them weren''t willing.


    They just couldn''t ept this man who came out of nowhere and took Long Shui Ling away from them.


    In the end, they still sat down when Long Shui Ling''s mother red at them.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother turned to look at Long Shui Ling before saying, "Ling Ling, we understand your feelings, but you should think about your father and grandfather a bit. You should know that they are just worried about you."


    Long Shui Ling lowered her head before slowly giving a nod.


    However, before her father and grandfather could reveal happy looks, she said in a soft voice, "But they were the ones that bullied Lin Fan."


    Both of them felt like their hearts had been stabbed when she said this.


    They wanted to re at me, but with Long Shui Ling looking at them like this, they really couldn''t.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, let''s forget about that for now. Let''s talk about Lin Fan for a bit."


    Everyone else in the room couldn''t help looking at her with a confused look, but she didn''t mind it at all.


    She just raised her hand and a folder appeared in it out of thin air.

 Chapter 195: Meeting the parents (6)

    When she pulled out this folder, everyone turned their attention to it, but she didn''t show them what it was.


    Instead, she opened it up in front of her and took out a piece of paper from inside before saying, "Born in XXXX in XXX City, he weighed XX pounds and¡­"


    Long Shui Ling''s mother started describing the events of my life as she read the piece of paper in front of her.


    She went from my birth all the way to my current situation.


    "Lost his parents and little sister during the dungeon breaks ten years ago."


    I couldn''t help feeling a sharp pain in my heart when I heard this.


    Time heals all wounds, but that didn''t mean that scars weren''t left behind. They didn''t hurt if they weren''t poked at, but when they were brought up like this¡­


    "He worked to put himself through school, but had no choice but to drop out to save money for his awakening ceremony. However, he failed that awakening ceremony not once, but four times. He was finally able to awaken on his final chance, but the power that he received was the F Rank Suggestion."


    All I could do was reveal a wry smile when I heard all of this.


    However, the way that the others looked at me had changed when they heard all of this.


    Long Shui Ling looked at me with a sad look as she didn''t know any of this.


    Even her father and grandfather couldn''t help looking at me with looks of pity when they heard all of this.


    They didn''t know any of this since they had been too consumed in their rage to actually check.


    They had just wanted to take care of him without actually finding out what kind of person he was because for them, no one was good enough for their daughter/granddaughter.


    "Later on, he went to take the Irregr License Exam and received a C Ranking, something that hadn''t been done in a long time. For that, he was allowed to join Elementia and is now one of their members being specially trained."


    When she finished reading this, Long Shui Ling''s mother put the piece of paper back into the folder and looked at me to say, "It seems like you''ve done quite a bit, haven''t you?"


    I didn''t know what to say, so I just simply gave a nod.


    She didn''t mind this as she turned to look at Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather to say, "Doesn''t he seem like quite the young man? He''s both hard working and determined, traits that the two of you can admire."


    Both of them revealed bitter looks on their faces when they heard this, but they had no choice but to nod in agreement after a moment of hesitation.


    From this, it sounded like he was a young man who was down on his luck who had worked hard to gain everything that he had now.


    This was the kind of man that they could admire.


    If only he wasn''t here to take their Ling Ling away from them¡­


    On the other hand, Long Shui Ling''s eyes lit up when she heard this.


    From the tone of her mother''s voice, it seemed like her mother was willing to ept Lin Fan as a son inw.


    If that was the case, didn''t that mean that her mother was on her side?


    All that was left was convincing her father and grandfather.


    As for her grandmother, she could see that she was silently agreeing with her mother, which meant that she was also on the same side as her mother.


    The one that was the most surprised though was me.


    I had never thought that she would have checked my background so thoroughly.


    The things that she read, there were things that others didn''t know about me.


    Since I had been busy, there weren''t that many people that I was close to, so there weren''t people that knew about these things.


    She had gone this far just to check my background, it seemed that quite a bit of effort was put in¡­No, for the richest family, this should be something that was very easily done.


    If they wanted to do something, it was nothing more than a snap of the finger and countless people would do it for them.


    So it shouldn''t have been hard for her to find this information.


    But I could see that there were still more pieces of paper in the folder¡­


    It should mean that there were other things that she was still holding onto that she hadn''t brought out yet.


    Just what else had she found about me?


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just gave a nod at Long Shui Ling and said, "It seems that you''ve found quite the good man for yourself."


    Both her father and grandfather looked like they wanted to die when they heard this and they seemed like they were about to explode with their denial of this, but Long Shui Ling didn''t let them.


    She just gave a soft nod and said, "Un."


    Then after that, there was another blush that appeared on her face as she looked down.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother revealed a faint smile before turning to look at me and asking, "What about you? How do you feel about our Ling Ling?"


    I was surprised to hear this from her mother in such a direct manner.


    I never thought that anyone would ask me this right to my face.


    After she asked this, all of their eyes fell onto me, as if they were waiting for my answer.


    But I couldn''t help hesitating as I tried to figure out what was the best course of action.


    In the end, it was the expectant way that Long Shui Ling looked at me that decided it.


    If I didn''t say anything now, it would just make things worse.


    So taking a deep breath, I said, "While I haven''t known her for long, I can say that I am fascinated by your daughter. Whether that can be called infatuation or not, I don''t know, but I just don''t want to be apart from her."


    Long Shui Ling''s eyes sparkled and there was a strong blush that appeared on her cheek when she heard this. There was a wide smile that appeared as she put her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment.


    If one looked closely, they might even think that hearts would start flying out from behind her.


    But on the opposite side, both her father and grandfather had ugly looks on their faces.


    They looked like they wanted to do something, but their hands werepletely tied when they saw how Long Shui Ling acted.


    Her mother just looked at the two of us and gave a nod before saying with a faint smile, "It''s good that you feel this way about each other. As long as you keep these feelings, I''m sure that there won''t be a problem."


    It almost seemed like she was giving her approval until¡­


    "But there is still a problem to address."


    After she said this, she pulled out another piece of paper from the folder that she put on the table in front of her before saying, "There''s the matter of this police report."

 Chapter 196: Meeting the parents (7)

    As soon as she put this paper down and her voice fell, everyone except for me immediately went over to look at this piece of paper.


    Even Long Shui Ling couldn''t help being shocked and going along with them.


    After all, she had never heard about this before.


    As they read the police report, there were different expressions that were revealed.


    Long Shui Ling revealed a look of relief when she saw that I was only listed as a witness instead of being listed as an offender or a victim.


    Her father and grandfather both revealed disappointed looks.


    If this police report had been more serious, they could have used it as some kind of excuse to oppose Long Shui Ling being with me.


    But it didn''t seem like they could.


    I wasn''t surprised at all to see her pull this out.


    In that report on me earlier, there were many things that no one should have known about me that had been found.


    For a police report like this, it should be easy for them to get.


    I just calmly looked at her and said, "This was a matter that I was involved in, but I just gave a statement as a witness and nothing else. I don''t think that it should have any effect on my reputation."


    But Long Shui Ling''s mother shook her head before saying, "Even if it is a small matter, it can be used to smear you. People don''t always y fair and like to disrupt the truth, so even this can be used against you."


    I slightly knitted my brows, but I couldn''t refute this.


    Long Shui Ling revealed a worried look when she heard this, but the expressions on the faces of the father and grandfather were still the same.


    They already knew what Long Shui Ling''s mother would say next.


    "But to cover up a small matter like this is just a simple wave of a hand for our Long Group. So it isn''t as if this matter is a big deal in the first ce." Long Shui Ling''s mother said in a casual voice.


    Both Long Shui Ling and I looked at her in shock when she said this.


    I slowly asked, "But¡­why would you do this?"


    She looked back at me with a smile as she said, "You''re the one that Ling Ling likes. Why would I not do this for my daughter''s happiness?"


    Long Shui Ling''s face turned red again when her mother expressed her feelings this clearly, but she still looked back up and said, "Thank you."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just looked at her with a smile.


    I couldn''t help revealing a strange look since I never thought that things would go this way.


    I really didn''t know what to say in this situation since this was my first time facing this kind of absolute power.


    It was the kind of power where even the police or the government wasn''t considered anything. This was the true power of the world''s richest family.


    For a poor man like me, it really was too much of a shell shock for me to ept that easily.


    After a long time, I just said in a stunned voice, "Thank you."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother gave a nod before saying, "Un."


    Though the smile wasn''t as wide as it was when Long Shui Ling had thanked her and there seemed to be a sharp gaze in her eyes.


    It was almost as if she was judging me still.


    After a moment of silence, Long Shui Ling''s mother took out another piece of paper from the folder that she had been holding and she ced it on the table as well before asking, "Also, I''ll need you to tell me about this."


    Once again, everyone immediately came forward to look at the piece of paper.


    They found that it was a report from the Awakener Association.


    It was a report from a guard at one of the dungeons.


    To be specific, it was a report from the guard captain of the first dungeon that Lin Fan had gone to.


    This was the report that had been submitted after the incident with Sasha.


    As they read this report, they couldn''t help narrowing their eyes before turning to look at me.


    It was one thing for one incident to happen, but for two incidents to happen back to back like this¡­it was suspicious.


    This time, Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather didn''t look at me with eyes of hatred over taking Long Shui Ling away from them. This time, they looked at me like I was an actual threat.


    Long Shui Ling also couldn''t help revealing a concerned look.


    It wasn''t that she was suspicious, but she was concerned about him since she didn''t know that he had suffered this much.


    I knew that whatever the reason she took these reports out, thest thing that I could do was react.


    So I stayed calm as I asked, "What can I tell you about it?"


    Long Shui Ling''s mother narrowed her eyes even more as she said, "For you to be involved in two big incidents right after another like this, doesn''t this seem suspicious? How can you exin this?"


    Long Shui Ling knitted her brows a bit when she heard this and she turned to say, "Moth¡­."


    Before she could finish, her mother raised a hand and said, "Ling Ling, this is important. Let him answer the question."


    Long Shui Ling looked unhappy to be interrupted like this, but I stopped her by taking her hand and calming her down.


    Then I looked back at her mother and said, "There''s nothing suspicious about this. It was my first time in the dungeon and I never expected anything like that either. All I can say is that it was an unfortunate ident."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother narrowed her eyes even more after hearing this before saying, "You''re someone that could obtain a C Rank Irregr License, you shouldn''t be weak enough to be defeated by an area boss in a weak dungeon, right? Don''t you find this strange?"


    When she said this, all of them looked at me with narrowed eyes that were filled with doubt again.


    But I didn''t panic as I had already thought of an excuse.


    So I calmly said, "This was when I had first awakened as an Awakener, so I still didn''t have full control over my powers yet. The powers that I gained were powers that I had slowly built up, so I didn''t have these powers back then."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just looked at me for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    She also knew this as well since she had read the reports already.


    She knew that this incident had happened right after he had be an Awakener, so it made sense that he wasn''t that powerful yet.


    But she had found this suspicious which was why she had brought these two reports out for him.


    She had wanted to see if she could frazzle him with them and make him reveal something.


    But she hadn''t been able to find a single trace of guilt in his eyes.


    It seemed that he really was clean.


    However, there was still one more thing that she had to address.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother reached into the folder one more time and pulled out a photo that she ced on the table.

 Chapter 197: Meeting the parents (8)

    Once again, when she put it down on the table, everyone moved forward to look at it.


    But this time, they couldn''t help revealing confused looks.


    That was because this was just a picture from a surveince camera of me entering a bar.


    This didn''t seem like it was anything that bad.


    But the moment that I saw this photo, I couldn''t help knitting my brows slightly.


    That was because I recognized this bar that I was entering.


    It was Sasha''s bar.


    And based on the clothes that I was wearing, this should have been when I visited her bar a few days after the Irregr License Exam. The day that I had gone in to do all of those experiments with her¡­


    I never thought that she would suddenly bring out a photo of me entering the bar at this time.


    When she saw that I had slightly knitted my brows, Long Shui Ling''s mother revealed a faint smile.


    She finally saw a reaction that she could follow up on, so she said, "It seems that little friend Lin recognizes this photo. Can you tell me what this photo is?"


    I forced my expression to rx as I said, "This is just a photo of me going to a bar. I went to one to rx a few days after the Irregr License Exam."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother narrowed her eyes when she heard this before pulling out another piece of paper. She held it in front of her and seemingly read it as she said, "ording to this report, this bar seems to belong to a girl named Sasha Cowen."


    Then she turned to look at me as she said, "This is the same Sasha Cowen that you saved from the dungeon a while back. Can you really tell me that this is nothing more than a coincidence?"


    When Long Shui Ling heard this, she moved over to her mother''s side and looked at the report that her mother was holding.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just turned the piece of paper a bit so that Long Shui Ling could see everything that was written.


    As she read everything that was written, she couldn''t help looking more and more unhappy.


    Once she finished reading it, she had a frown on her face as she looked at me.


    She came forward and pped her hand on the table over the picture before saying, "Well? Why aren''t you answering?"


    Seeing that Long Shui Ling had gotten angry, her father and grandfather saw that it was their chance.


    But before either of them could do a thing, Long Shui Ling turned to them and said, "This doesn''t involve you."


    When they heard this, the two of them looked like they were about to cry.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t care about them at all as she focused on me, waiting for me to answer.


    I had been silent during this time since I was thinking of an answer.


    "You know that I was the one that saved her from the dungeon back then, so she wanted to be friends with me after that and repay me for saving her. To do that, she gave me a share in her store, which is why I go there from time to time to help her." I said in a calm voice without any trembles.


    There was a silence that followed after I said this as they all stared at me.


    After a pause, I continued by saying, "I''m sure that it''s included in the report that you have, but Elementia has also invested in this store because of me. So I''ve been going to the store more because she needs more help with all the business that Elementia has brought."


    After this, I didn''t say another word.


    The silence that followed was a bit tense, but then Long Shui Ling''s mother gave a slow nod in response.


    This was indeed what had been written in the report and there wasn''t a single thing that was off.


    But that was a different matter.


    She looked right at me and said, "Since you saved her, I''m sure that you must have left quite the impression on her. A hero saving a beauty, I''m sure that''s quite effective, isn''t it?"


    When she heard this, Long Shui Ling couldn''t help being indirectly hit by this.


    After all, that was also how she had met Lin Fan.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother then narrowed her eyes to look at me as she said, "Can you say that you really don''t have that kind of rtionship with her?"


    I just calmly looked back at her and said, "I promise, I do not have that kind of rtionship with her. Other than with your daughter, I don''t have any other rtionships."


    Her father and grandfather looked like they wanted to kill me again, but I just ignored them as I looked right at Long Shui Ling''s mother.


    After everything that she had done, I realized that she was the most terrifying member of this family.


    Instead of wearing her emotions like a sleeve, she kept her thoughts hidden and attacked from unexpected ces. She was someone who had researched everything and then used all of it to attack me.


    In the future, it would be unknown what she would do when I tried to put my n in action.


    So she was the one that I had to watch out for.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just looked at me for a bit with a sharp gaze, but her expression rxed when Long Shui Ling came forward to hold her hand.


    Long Shui Ling''s expression was no longer as sharp as before.


    It seemed that she had forgiven me for whatever she had med me for.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, since it seems like you haven''t done anything to wrong Ling Ling, I don''t have anything toin about."


    I was about to let out an internal sigh of relief, but that was immediately stopped by her cold gaze falling onto me.


    With that cold gaze on me, she said, "But if you ever let down Ling Ling¡­" Her eyes moved down to my lower half before she said, "I''ll be sure to cut it off."


    In the end, she threatened me just like the men did¡­


    It seemed that they really were a good fit for each other.


    But I just gave a nod before saying, "I promise I won''t."


    She just gave another nod before saying, "Un, alright, I''ll believe you for now."

 Chapter 198: Meeting the parents (9)

    Both Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather looked like they still wanted to say something else, but since her mother had already spoken, there was nothing that they could say.


    Long Shui Ling looked at her mother with an excited look before saying, "Do you really mean it, mom?"


    Her mother said with a nod, "As long as you''re happy, we''re happy." Then after a pause, she said, "But let''s keep this a secret for now. You know what will happen if we announce that you''re dating someone."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a displeased look before giving a nod.


    It seemed that rich people also had their own troubles.


    After talking for a bit about their troubles, Long Shui Ling''s mother suddenly stood up and started walking away. As she walked off, she said, "Come, let''s have a meal together. It''s all been prepared and it''s probably getting cold with how long we''ve been talking."


    Long Shui Ling took my hand and happily followed behind her mother as she asked, "Did you make my favourites?"


    Her mother nodded and patted her head as she said, "Of course. It''s Ling Ling''s big day, so I made all of your favourites."


    Naturally, she couldn''t say that she had prepared all of these just in case she had to cheer Long Shui Ling up after chasing away Lin Fan. If she said this, it was certain that Long Shui Ling would ignore her for a long time.


    As they walked together, Long Shui Ling''s grandmother also came over to talk to her.


    She had been silent the whole time, so I was surprised when I saw her talking to Long Shui Ling.


    Just a few words were enough for me to realize something.


    She was just as sharp as Long Shui Ling''s mother and had stayed silent the whole time to leave this matter to her since she trusted her. But that didn''t mean that she didn''t know what was happening.


    It wouldn''t be strange if it turned out that most of the n had beene up by her.


    It seemed that the women of the Long Family were the ones to be feared¡­


    The men seemed like they were just decorations.


    No, I can''t say that since I could feel the auraing from these two and they were anything but normal.


    They most likely wouldn''t act like this normally, but they were too emotional because it involved Long Shui Ling, their precious daughter/granddaughter. If they were thinking rationally, they would be able to do things on the same level as Long Shui Ling''s mother and grandmother.


    There shouldn''t be a single simple person in the Long Family.


    There couldn''t be since they were the richest family in the world.


    If they were that simple, they would have been taken down long ago.


    Would Long Shui Ling also be like this in the future?


    It would be a lie to say that I didn''t prefer the current Long Shui Ling.


    She had been protected by her family, so she could be considered a bit naive. But with that protection came an innocence that others didn''t have which I couldn''t help finding endearing.


    Would she lose that innocence in the future?


    Well¡­she would have lost it anyway if my n seeded¡­so I really couldn''t say anything.


    When this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh.


    Long Shui Ling noticed this and turned around to ask, "What''s wrong? You''ll lose all your happiness if you sigh like this."


    A faint smile slipped onto my lips as I said, "I''m just relieved it''s over."


    She was surprised at first, but then she said with a smile, "I knew that you could do it. I believed in you."


    Seeing the two of us like this, her father and grandfather really wanted toe forward to rip me apart, but her mother and grandmother held them back.


    When we arrived at the dining table, I was surprised to find that there wasn''t anything there. Not only was there no food, there were no servants at all.


    It didn''t seem like the dining room of a rich family, well ignoring all the fine decorations that were around us.


    As I didn''t know what to do, Long Shui Ling pulled me over to the table and we sat down together.


    Her father and grandfather took their ces at the ends of the table.


    It was only her mother and her grandmother who didn''t sit down as they headed out another door.


    A minuteter, they came back with tes of food and cutlery in their hands.


    They were setting the table themselves,pletely going against what I thought rich people would do.


    But then again, with how close they were¡­it didn''t seem like they would use servants for these kinds of things in the first ce.


    It didn''t take long before the table was set and covered with dishes.


    The two of them moved quite quickly¡­much quicker than normal people.


    They should also be Awakeners.


    But they most likely held back in front of Long Shui Ling so they wouldn''t scare her.


    How could the heads of the world''s richest family be normal people?


    Of course they would be Awakeners as well.


    I couldn''t help wondering what their powers were, but there was a voice that cut through my thoughts.


    "Alright, let''s eat then." Long Shui Ling''s mother said.


    Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather immediately turned to Long Shui Ling and started offering her food.


    "Ling Ling, this is your favourite Dong Po Pork. Your grandmother spent all afternoon on this."


    "Ling Ling, your mother made your favourite chicken rice with mushrooms. Let daddy get you a bowl."


    But both of them were ignored by Long Shui Ling.


    Instead, she had gotten a bowl and had started picking out a few things from the table.


    Once she was done filling her dish, she turned to me and said, "Here, let me feed you."


    Once again, the looks of jealousy and hatred came in my direction.

 Chapter 199: Meeting the parents (10)

    I gave a soft bitterugh when I felt these gazes on me.


    Long Shui Ling would never know just how effective her innocent words were at drawing aggro to me.


    They were more effective than the most powerful taunt skills.


    It drew aggro from her father and grandfather like it was nothing.


    At the same time, it puts me in a bit of a dilemma.


    If I let her do this, it was certain that these two would never forgive me.


    But if I didn''t let her do this and she became sad, it was hard to predict what her mother and grandmother would do.


    It was a choice of which side I feared more.


    In the end, I chose to let her feed me since I knew that it was the women who were more terrifying.


    I could feel the hatred and jealousy growing in the two res pointed at me, but I could also see the happy smiles on the faces of her mother and grandmother as they looked at us.


    It seemed that I had made the right choice.


    The two of us just ate in silence while the parents and grandparents watched.


    Though it felt awkward for me, Long Shui Ling didn''t feel any awkwardness as she kept feeding me.


    The silence continued for a bit before Long Shui Ling''s mother finally asked, "Ling Ling, what do you like about him."


    I couldn''t help giving a spit take as the chopsticks fell out of Long Shui Ling''s hands.


    Her little mouth opened wide as she looked at her mother, opening and closing a few times before she finally said, "Mother, you''re embarrassing me."


    Her face turned red and she lowered her head after that.


    But Long Shui Ling''s mother didn''t stop her questioning as she said, "Ling Ling, there''s no need to be shy. We''re all family here, so you can tell us what you like about him."


    Long Shui Ling''s face turned even more red and she pouted her lips, but she still said, "He''s kind."


    It was just two simple words, but the aggro effect of these two words were stronger than her actions from before. Just these two words were enough to almost set off the mes of hatred around her father and grandfather.


    "Just kind?" Long Shui Ling''s mother asked before saying after a pause, "Is that really it?"


    Long Shui Ling nodded before lowering her head again. But then as if she felt that it wasn''t enough, she added, "I feel safe with him."


    This time, the two women revealed smiles after hearing this.


    The way that the smiles hung on their faces, it was as if they were remembering their own memories of love from the past.


    For the two men, they put their chopsticks down.


    They just couldn''t work up the appetite when their precious Long Shui Ling was praising another man like this in front of them.


    After another long silence, Long Shui Ling''s mother suddenly said, "But I''ve heard that he was also kind to other girls."


    When her voice fell, Long Shui Ling''s expression changed.


    She went from shy and happy to dark and gloomy.


    As if seeing their chance, her father and grandfather were about to pounce. But they were scared back into their seat by a re from Long Shui Ling''s mother.


    After a bit of a silence, Long Shui Ling said, "That''s right, he''s kind to other people as well¡­It really is a bit of a problem."


    She turned to me with a dissatisfied re when she said this.


    I just looked right into her eyes with a confused look.


    Before I could say anything though, Long Shui Ling''s mother said, "If it is a problem, then we should address it."


    She narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?"


    I looked right into her eyes and said, "Isn''t it natural to be kind to others? Isn''t that what we should do as human beings?"


    Long Shui Ling''s mother gave a nod to show her agreement for this, but she still said in a sharp voice, "But there''s kindness and excessive kindness. Tell me, which kind of kindness are you showing to others? Or are you going to tell me that you are already wronging our Ling Ling?"


    I could feel the pressure that wasing from her as she looked at me.


    I took a deep breath and said, "I would never do that. Shui Ling is the only one that I have that kind of rtionship with."


    She narrowed her eyes to look into my eyes again, as if she was trying to see if I was lying or not.


    But in the end, she wasn''t able to find any lies on my face.


    So she had no choice but to ept what I said.


    The rest of the meal was just spent in a somewhat harmonious manner.


    It was impossible for her father and grandfather to ept me, but they didn''t try anything for this meal.


    They just held back and tried to do what they could to make Long Shui Ling happy.


    As for me, they basically ignored me.


    But I had to admit that this was enjoyable.


    Since my parents had died, it had been a long time since I had a family meal like this.


    Even if I had been tense before, I could still rx with how weing her mother and grandmother was.


    Once the meal was over, Sebastien suddenly appeared out of nowhere to guide me out.


    He would send me home.


    Before leaving, Long Shui Ling looked at me with a look like she wanted toe with me, but of course her parents would never allow this to happen.


    So all that she could get in the end was a pat on the head.


    She looked like she wanted more, but she was too embarrassed to do more in front of her parents.


    Just like this, I was driven away from the Long Family manor by Sebastien.

 Chapter 200: Signs of a demon king

    When I arrived home, there was a voice that popped into my head.


    "That family¡­there''s something off about them."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this before pulling Lilith out of my Storage Ring.


    When she came out, she jumped out of my hand and walked around in the living room, pacing back and forth as if she was thinking about something.


    I waited for her to say something at first, but it didn''t seem like she was going to say anything.


    In the end, I couldn''t take it anymore and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Lilith didn''t answer me at first as she continued pacing back and forth.


    But then she suddenly stopped to look at me.


    I still couldn''t help feeling that this walking doll was strange, but she had a serious look on her face, so I tried to remain as serious as possible.


    She opened and closed her mouth a few times, almost as if she was struggling to say what she wanted to say.


    In the end, she just gave a sigh and went back to pacing back and forth.


    I knitted my brows when I saw her like this and her pacing was slowly making me dizzy, so I reached out to grab her. I lifted her off the ground and ced her in front of me before saying, "What is it? Tell me already."


    Even then, Lilith didn''t say anything as she just looked down deep in thought.


    Finally, she looked up at me and said, "You''ve really gotten bold, picking up a beautiful woman like me like this. Do you really want to do it that badly with me?"


    My lips twitched when I heard this before I slowly raised my hand.


    My hand wasing up like I was preparing to throw a baseball.


    "Wait, wait, alright, I''ll stop teasing and tell you." Lilith quickly said when she saw this. She was even waving her hand around in a panic when she saw the serious look on my face.


    After I brought her down, she looked up at me and said, "It''s not like there is a problem, but it''s also not like there''s no problem at all."


    I just revealed a confused look when I heard this, but I waited for her to exin.


    Lilith gave a sigh before saying, "In that house, I felt¡­No, I don''t know if it was right, but there was this sensation¡­"


    The way that she trailed off, it was almost as if she didn''t know what to say.


    Once again, I just waited for her to finish gathering her thoughts.


    After rambling on like this for a bit, Lilith gave a sigh and said, "I felt the sensation of another demon king."


    "Huh?" I looked at her as if I was trying to tell if she was being serious or not, but Lilith had started muttering to herself again.


    "That feeling¡­it should be greed¡­but then again¡­"


    "Greed?" I couldn''t help asking.


    Lilith gave a nod before saying, "Just like how you''re the demon king of lust, there is a demon king of greed."


    "Then is there a demon king associated with all seven deadly sins?"


    Lilith gave another nod as she said, "That''s right, there are seven demon kings."


    Seven demon kings¡­


    I had thought that I was the only one, but now it turned out that there were six others.


    But then again¡­it made sense.


    Thinking back to the first day that the dungeons had appeared, the voice that had spoken had said to y all the demon kings and not just a single demon king.


    It made sense that there were more than one.


    After thinking for a bit, I looked down at Lilith and asked, "Why didn''t you tell me that there were other demon kings?"


    Lilith was pulled out of her muttering and she looked up at me with a confused look as she said, "I thought you already knew? Doesn''t everyone know that there are multiple demon kings?"


    I didn''t have a way to refute this¡­so all I could do was ask another question to hide my embarrassment.


    "What else are you hiding from me?"


    Lilith looked at me with a surprised look before shaking her head and saying, "I''ve never hidden anything from you."


    I narrowed my eyes as they filled with doubt, but I didn''t ask anything else.


    I was sure that there was more that she wasn''t telling me, but for now¡­it was better to get the information that was more pertinent to this situation.


    So I asked, "What is so special about this demon king of greed?"


    Lilith revealed a serious look this time as she said, "It''s not that the demon king of greed is important, it''s important that there''s another demon king."


    She looked right into my eyes before saying, "The demon kings are free to operate as they wish, so they can work together or they can work against each other. But since they are all demon kings, it means that their powers have a weaker effect on each other."


    I knitted my brows as I asked to confirm, "What do you mean?"


    She calmly said, "Your n is to turn them into your puppets? Well, that might be hard if they are rted to the demon king of greed. They will have a natural resistance to your powers as the demon king of lust, which includes the Hypnosis skill."


    It was as I had expected, but being told this straight was a different feeling.


    It seemed that I had to change my ns¡­


    "Can you find more traces of the demon king of greed?" I suddenly asked.


    Lilith gave a nod before also shaking her head and saying, "Not unless I can get closer to the source. I only felt traces of it in their house, but I had no idea where it wasing from. If you can let me explore that house, I''m certain that I''ll be able to find more traces."


    I revealed a bitter smile when I heard this.


    Exploring the house of the richest family?


    That was impossible.


    Even with powers designed to hide oneself, it would be impossible to sneak into a ce that had the most high tech security.


    As for using the Time Stop skill¡­there was a potential demon king on the other side, so it was useless to use this.


    I took a deep breath before saying, "Let''s leave this be for now. It''s not as if they are nning to do anything to us, right?"


    Lilith gave a slow nod before saying, "It doesn''t seem like they have found us yet."


    I said with a nod, "Alright, then let''s slowly follow up on this. For now, I''ll work on Long Shui Ling first before working on her family."


    Lilith gave a nod of agreement.


    But after a moment of silence, she felt like she had to add something, "Be careful of the demon king of greed. They usually aren''t good at working with others¡­"


    I gave an understanding nod.


    Demon king of greed¡­greed¡­


    Greed was the desire to own everything, so it was unlikely that they would be willing to share.


    This demon king of greed definitely wasn''t someone that would y nice with others.


    But for the demon king of greed to hide for this long¡­


    It made sense that they would be with the richest family in the world, but how did they manage to hide themselves all this time?


    It really was puzzling.

 Chapter 201: Big announcement

    We were called back into work the next morning.


    We should have been given a day off since we had just finished raiding a dungeon the day before, but we had received a message that we were being called in.


    When Su Chen came to pick me up, I asked him what was happening.


    All he said was, "I have no idea."


    He exined that all he had heard was that there was a special announcement being made, which was why we had all been called in.


    When he said ''we'', he didn''t just mean our dungeon raiding group.


    When he said ''we'', he meant all of the dungeon raiding groups that were affiliated with Elementia.


    Other than the ones that were doingrge scale raids that couldn''t be cancelled quickly, everyone else had been called to headquarters.


    When we arrived, I couldn''t help being surprised by just how many Awakeners there were.


    I knew that Elementia was one of the biggest guilds in the world, but for it to be this big¡­


    It really was an eye opener.


    And of course, with a gathering of this many people, it was hard for tensions not to re.


    It was clear that there were grudges between the different dungeon raiding groups.


    Especially the main big ones.


    They clearly had some kind of rivalry with each other, but that was to be expected since they were the main dungeon raiding forces. They were expected to be better than everyone else and create results that spoke for themselves.


    But that wasn''t all that I had noticed.


    I saw that in the corners of this lobby, there were different groups that were gathered.


    I knew a few people from these groups from my daily interactions.


    These were the supporters of Elementia.


    These were the medics, the porters, the butchers, and all the different support staff that did the work behind the scenes.


    This wasn''t just a gathering of Awakeners, this was aplete gathering of all the staff of Elementia.


    So whatever the announcement was, it wouldn''t be a normal announcement¡­


    This might be an announcement that involved the fate of Elementia itself.


    As for what it could be, I had some clues¡­


    After this thought passed through my mind, I quickly met up with the others.


    In our group, there were quite a few people withrge personalities. If they were to cause trouble before I could stop them, then it would be bad for us in the future.


    Most of these people could be considered our seniors, so it would be bad if we caused trouble with them.


    Luckily, they were aware of this and they had moved into a corner to keep out of the way. They even seemed like they were doing all that they could to not draw attention to themselves.


    It seemed that I had underestimated them.


    They at least had the prudence not to cause trouble.


    But when I came over, I realized why this was the case.


    They were still kids.


    I had been treating them as adults since we had been working together, but they were still kids ording to their age.


    It was normal that they were shaken by things like this.


    It was only Long Shui Ling who seemed normal in all of this.


    But she was the young miss of the Long Group, so she should be used to crowds like this.


    Since they were well behaved, there was nothing for me to say.


    We just stood in our corner waiting for the announcement to begin.


    As we stood there, I saw a familiar face in the crowd.


    It was Bing Xin, she was also here.


    She was with a group of people that I didn''t recognize, but I assumed that was most likely the team that she normally raided dungeons with.


    She also saw me and waved her hand in our direction.


    Both Long Shui Ling and I waved back at her.


    As we did, I couldn''t help being surprised by Long Shui Ling''s reaction.


    Long Shui Ling was very prone to jealousy, as seen with what happened with ire.


    However, she didn''t seem averse to Bing Xin.


    They had only met once and it seemed like they were already good friends.


    Just what was the difference between ire and Bing Xin that Long Shui Ling treated them so differently?


    I didn''t get to think about that for long as the doors to a conference room suddenly opened and the crowd started to move.


    The handlers were the ones that guided the various Awakeners and support staff to the seats.


    Our seats were way in the back, but that was normal since we were new recruits.


    Everyone else here has been here much longer than we have.


    When everyone was seated, the host said, "Thank you everyone for gathering today. We have some important news to share with everyone."


    He turned after saying this and there was a spotlight that appeared. Under that spotlight was naturally Bing Lan.


    The host said, "We''ll let the guild leader tell you everything."


    Bing Lan gave a nod to the host before walking up to the podium.


    She took the mic, but she didn''t start speaking right away.


    Instead, she pointed at the screen behind here.


    When she did, there was a picture that appeared on that screen.


    For most people, they were confused about what this picture was. But for the people that knew, they immediately knitted their brows.


    As for me, I was one of the few that knew what this picture was.


    This was a picture of the entrance to the SS Rank Dungeon, the Tower of Heaven.


    As the name implied, it was an actual tower that had appeared on Earth one day with a dungeon gate as an entrance.


    This was also the SS Rank Dungeon that we had beenpeting with Amaterasu for.


    After giving everyone a moment to settle down, Bing Lan said, "We have been given permission to scout out the SS Rank Dungeon, the Tower of Heaven."


    There were only the sounds of cold breaths of air that followed.

 Chapter 202: Competition (1)

    Then there was silence that lingered in the air as everyone waited to hear what Bing Lan would have to say next.


    Bing Lan wasn''t in a rush to speak as she casually turned back to get a remote from the podium. She pointed the remote at the podium and calmly pressed one of the buttons, causing the image on the screen to change.


    The image went from the entrance to the tower to a few images of what seemed to be a wastnd.


    Bing Lan didn''t say a single thing as she kept pressing the button on the remote to change the image.


    Again and again she kept changing it until she finally reached the end of the slideshow.


    During this time, the tension continued to build in the crowd as everyone wondered why she was doing this.


    Not a single person understood why she was showing this slideshow, though there were a few of them that did know what this slideshow was about.


    These were the images that had been brought back from the preliminary scouting team of the Awakener Association.


    Since normal cameras didn''t work in the dungeon, these images were brought back with a special method. The amount of work to bring back just these images was by no means small and it would have cost quite a bit.


    This was not something that could have been done if one wasn''t backed by therge Awakener Association.


    So these images were very precious and couldn''t be shown to normal people.


    Yet Bing Lan was showing it here.


    Once she had finished showing the slideshow, Bing Lan said, "These are the images that have been brought back by the preliminary scouting team sent in by the Awakener Association. As you can see¡­"


    She continued on to go into the details of what these pictures were and how they would be used.


    But when she did, everyone couldn''t help feeling confused.


    After all, there was no reason for her to go into this here with everyone gathered like this.


    Some of the smarter people of course noticed that even the support staff had been called, so they couldn''t helping to a conclusion.


    "Was the guild master nning on bringing everyone into the SS Rank Dungeon?"


    There were naturally pros and cons to this, but when it came down to it, the cons far outweighed the pros.


    First, it would hurt collusion to bring everyone in like this.


    Too many chefs in the kitchen meant that someone was going to be burned eventually.


    It was better to have a small crack team enter instead of bringing everyone.


    Second, in the event that they failed, didn''t that mean that all of the main forces of Elementia would be destroyed?


    Putting all of one''s eggs in a single basket was a sure way of getting wiped out if something went poorly.


    And there were many other cons that far outweighed the benefits of going together.


    So there were many of them that were questioning what Bing Lan was doing.


    There were also many of them that were trying to send secret gazes at Bing Lan to advise her against this.


    But Bing Lan ignored it all and just continued with what she was saying.


    When she was done, she turned to look at the crowd and said, "Now, are there any questions?"


    Even though they all had questions, not a single person said a single thing.


    The questions that they had were not things that could be discussed in arge setting like this, so they couldn''t just ask her these questions now.


    At the very least, she didn''t seem like she was going to announce that everyone was going to go.


    So there was only silence that followed Bing Lan''s question.


    Bing Lan didn''t seem unnerved at all by the silence that she faced.


    She just stood there with a calm look on her face, as if this was all normal.


    After waiting for a bit, Bing Lan moved back in front of the podium and put the mic back down before leaning in to say, "Now, let''s discuss who will be heading into this SS Rank Dungeon."


    That moment that she said this, the crowd fell silent once more.


    There had been whispers among them while Bing Lan had been slowly moving, but they all focused on Bing Lan the moment that she said this.


    After all, this was what they had been concerned about the entire time.


    Even those that didn''t pick up on it right away were starting to feel suspicious.


    Bing Lan just looked over the crowd and said, "I''m sure that all of you would like to go, but¡­we can''t take all of you."


    As soon as she said this, there were looks of relief that appeared in the crowd that were quickly reced with concerned looks again.


    They were relieved that Bing Lan wasn''t nning on bringing everyone, but there was still the concern of why she had gathered everyone like this.


    If she wasn''t nning on bringing everyone, there was no need to give them all the details like this.


    So they knew that she wasn''t finished with whatever she was about to say.


    Bing Lan waited for the people to realize this and settle before saying, "Now, we will be choosing those that will go, but we won''t be doing the usual method of choosing just the strongest."


    Everyone couldn''t help being shocked when they heard this.


    Bing Lan just ignored those shocked looks as she said, "Instead of just choosing the strongest, we will be looking at people who have special abilities. It doesn''t matter how strong you are, as long as you are able to use your abilities in a skilled manner."


    Everyone was even more shocked and confused when they heard this.


    How would they measure that?


    But Bing Lan quickly gave them an answer.


    "To do that, we will be using a special method ofparing everyone''s results."


    There were looks of understanding that appeared again after she said this.


    There were people that finally understood why she had done all of this.


    It was to ignite theirpetitive spirit.


    It was to announce apetition on who would be going to the SS Rank Dungeon.

 Chapter 203: Competition (2)

    As soon as her voice fell, there was a strange tension that filled the room.


    It wasn''t the same tension as before, rather it was kind of like an invisibleyer of excitement filling the room as everyone seemed excited about thispetition.


    Even though they would have topete for a spot to join the SS Rank Dungeon expedition, for most people here, they wouldn''t have had a chance to join in the first ce.


    There were the captains of the dungeon raid groups who were powerful Awakeners, but there were also plenty of weaker team members who wouldn''t have a chance to join this important mission.


    After all, this was a SS Rank Dungeon, this was not something that just anyone would be able to go to.


    But being able to go to this SS Rank Dungeon was without a doubt a great opportunity.


    Just being able to say that you had entered a SS Rank Dungeon would be arge boost to one''s prestige.


    That was just how much weight a SS Rank Dungeon had.


    So normally, only the captains of the various teams, the strongest members of Elementia, would even be allowed to go. There would be no opportunity for them at all.


    This was a golden opportunity for everyone here.


    The captains however knew that Bing Lan had another goal here.


    She was nning on using this SS Rank Dungeon to breathe life into their guild.


    She was nning on using this SS Rank Dungeon to light a fire under everyone and evolve their guild to the next level.


    That was why she had thought of thispetition.


    After letting them seethe in this excitement for a bit, Bing Lan continued by saying, "As for how we will be choosing those that go, it will depend on contribution during this next period. We will be watching everyone''s actions during this time and grading you based on that. Those that contribute more will be in the pool for those chosen to go."


    Then after a pause, she added, "Of course, your powers will also be considered when we observe you. Those with powers that are considered more useful will be put in higher consideration over the others."


    She went on to talk about some more vague things and as she did, the people listening couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    The way that Bing Lan had described thepetition had been very vague, so they didn''t really know what to do to be considered.


    But that was what she wanted in the first ce.


    By giving vague instructions in the first ce, they would have to make up for it on their own.


    Whether that was putting in more effort or finding a creative way to stand out, she was leaving it up to them to figure out how to stand out.


    That would easily weed out those that wouldn''t be able to make the cut.


    After going over a few more details, she called the end to the meeting and walked off with a group of people.


    Once Bing Lan was gone, everyone slowly stood up and started leaving this conference room.


    It was the same for us.


    I led our group out before asking Su Chen for a private ce to discuss this.


    Su Chen quickly brought us to one of the discussion rooms that Elementia had at the headquarters. These were rooms that could be used by any dungeon raiding party to hold discussions.


    All we had to do was sign in with our guild IDs and we were allowed to use the room.


    After sitting down, I looked at everyone and said, "What do you think?"


    All of them remained silent with looks on their faces as if they were debating this.


    Or it was better to say that they looked scared.


    But it couldn''t be med on them since this was arge opportunity.


    SS Rank Dungeon, this was a dungeon that was at the very frontlines of humanity''s battle with the demon kings. This was the highest grade dungeon out there, so there must be powerful enemies there.


    It would even make sense for there to be demon kings.


    This was the general''s idea of these SS Rank Dungeons.


    So this was a very dangerous ce.


    They were scared of going to a ce like this, so they weren''t sure if they wanted topete for this at all.


    But it was Long Shui Ling who broke the silence by saying, "What is there to be scared of? If we want to be Awakeners, we should aim for the top."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this from Long Shui Ling.


    After all, this kind ofment was strangeing from her.


    Even the conviction in her eyes seemed strange.


    And for some reason, she seemed to be looking at me¡­


    The others looked at Long Shui Ling for a bit before suddenly agreeing with her.


    They had been scared by therge implications of this SS Rank Dungeon, but they were inspired by her words.


    Even if this ce was terrifying, they should have ambition as future powerful Awakeners. It was their dream to be S Rank Awakeners or even SS Rank Awakeners, so this SS Rank Dungeon was just a stepping stone for them.


    As for me, I was interested in this dungeon as well, but for a different reason.


    This dungeon was the frontline of the battle with the demon kings¡­and as a demon king, I was naturally interested in this ce.


    I didn''t know what would be inside the SS Rank Dungeon, but I was certain that it would be rted to me as a demon king.


    So naturally I wanted to explore this SS Rank Dungeon and see what I could find.


    Since everyone was excited about this, it seemed that our decision was made¡­


    Or at least that was what it seemed until there was someone that suddenly came into the room.


    This was a staff member who suddenly said, "The guild master wants to see you all."

 Chapter 204: Back door

    All of us looked at this staff member in shock as we couldn''t believe what we were hearing.


    Seeing this, the staff member just simply said again, "The guild master wants to see you all."


    I was the first one to react and I came forward to ask, "May we ask what this is about?"


    The staff member just simply shook his head and said, "I have no idea. I was just told toe and bring you to the guild master."


    I deeply knitted my brows when I heard this.


    I didn''t know what was happening, but it wasn''t as if we couldn''t just not go.


    This was the guild master who was calling for us¡­


    So we had no choice but to follow the staff member out.


    As we walked through the headquarters, we could see that people were excited. There were many people who seemed like they were making ns on what to do about thispetition that wasing.


    But we couldn''t feel the same.


    I could see that all of us had anxious looks on our faces.


    As for why¡­it was naturally because we had been suddenly summoned by the guild master.


    We had no idea what Bing Lan wanted, but it shouldn''t be good¡­


    We took the same elevator as before and we were brought up to the floor of her office.


    But instead of being brought to her office, we were led to the conference room on the other side of the floor. This was the same conference room that I had been brought to before when we were discussing what to do with Motoyasu.


    The staff member just stood outside the door and said, "They''re waiting for you."


    I knitted my brows once more.


    It was because he had said ''they'', instead of ''she''.


    It didn''t seem like just a meeting with Bing Lan, but other people as well¡­


    I asked the staff member, "Can you tell us who''s inside?"


    The staff member just seemed to ignore me when I asked this question and stood there as if he was waiting for us to go in.


    I knitted my brows even more when I saw this.


    There was a part of me that really wanted to leave since I could sense the danger that came from this unknown, but I had no choice but to enter the room in the end.


    It wasn''t as if I could run from the entirety of Elementia.


    When I walked into the room, I wasn''t surprised to see all the people gathered around the table.


    Seeing all of them here, I revealed a look like I already expected this.


    After all, there had to be a reason why we had been called here in the first ce instead of meeting in the office. There had to be a reason why she had called us to this conference room instead.


    So I was waiting to see what was going to happen.


    The one thing that was confusing to me was that¡­the people who had been gathered in this room had confused looks on their faces. It was as if they didn''t even know what they had been brought to this room for.


    I recognized a few of the people in the room since I had seen them before.


    There were the leaders of the dungeon raid teams and the various department heads that were here.


    I had met them when we had worked together to take down Motoyasu.


    For all of them to be gathered here, it should mean that something important was about to happen¡­


    But why would it involve us?


    I couldn''t help feeling more and more worried about this¡­


    After we came in, Bing Lan waved her hand at us as if she was telling us toe over.


    After we slowly came over, she had us stand at the front of the room in front of everyone instead of sitting down.


    The way that we were standing here, it was almost as if we were some kind of exhibit.


    As we stood there, Bing Lan turned to the rest of the room and said, "I''m sure that you''re all wondering why I''ve gathered you all here."


    The ones sitting at the table couldn''t help giving slow nods in response to this.


    Bing Lan gave a nod as well before saying, "I''m sure that you know that we''ve won the bid for the SS Rank Dungeon over Amaterasu."


    Once again, all of them gave slow nods as they waited for her to finish.


    Bing Lan continued by saying, "This was in part of our offense against them after catching their spy in our midst." She turned to me and said, "That was thanks to Lin Fan here."


    Once she said this, everyone turned to look at me.


    There were some people that didn''t know that, so they couldn''t help looking at me with surprised looks.


    The way that they looked at me was quite ufortable, but it wasn''t as if there was anything that I could do about it.


    Bing Lan just ignored my look asking for help as she turned back to say, "The other part of that was because¡­" After a dramatic pause, she said, "Because the Long Family suddenly gave us their support."


    When they heard this, everyone suddenly revealed much stronger reactions than before.


    It seemed that many of them didn''t even know about the Long Family.


    I also knitted my brows a bit when I heard this.


    I knew that the Long Family had supported Elementia, which was why Long Shui Ling was able to join. I just never knew that they used their influence to help Elementia win this SS Rank Dungeon bid.


    The rest of our group was also surprised to hear this since not a single person didn''t know about the Long Group.


    It was only Long Shui Ling who had a calm and embarrassed look on her face when she heard this.


    Bing Lan waited for a bit for them to calm down before turning to Long Shui Ling and saying, "I''m sure that many of you don''t know this yet, but this person here is someone from the Long Family."


    Long Shui Ling''s face became a bit ugly when she heard this.


    She had been hiding her identity, but now Bing Lan was about to reveal it.


    But before she could say anything, Bing Lan had already said it.


    "This youngdy here is the young miss of the Long Family, Long Shui Ling."


    As soon as her voice fell, there was a cold gasp that filled the room and they all turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling immediately red at Bing Lan after she said this.


    However, Bing Lanpletely ignored this re from Long Shui Ling as she continued by saying, "Without the support of the Long Family, we never would have received the rights to explore the SS Rank Dungeon so soon. It would have taken at least another year or two before anything happened."


    Bing Lan stood up and stood right beside as. She gestured to us with her hand before saying, "Since that''s the case, shouldn''t we make an exception and give Miss Long Shui Ling''s party a spot on the scouting team?"


    Everyone was once again shocked, including me.


    I never would have expected this¡­


    This was Bing Lan letting us go through the back door to join the SS Rank Dungeon exploration team.

 Chapter 205: Not accepting the cup offered

    After everyone had some time to let this news settle, they all revealed strange looks.


    Some of them looked down, some of them looked at Bing Lan, and some of them looked at Long Shui Ling.


    It was as if they had all kinds of different thoughts in their minds.


    Long Shui Ling also had a strange look on her face.


    Normally, she disliked this kind of treatment even though she was the young miss of the Long Family.


    She had been raised as such, so she didn''t enjoy being treated differently from everyone else because she was from the Long Family. She was taught the value of proper hard work and earning what you should have.


    But¡­this was different.


    This was a SS Rank Dungeon, so it waspletely different from everything that she had faced before.


    The most important thing being¡­this was what she had wanted in the first ce.


    The reason why she had been so excited and determined about this was because she had wanted Lin Fan to shine.


    She had wanted to use this opportunity to let everyone know how amazing he was.


    That was just how she was, she wanted everyone to know how amazing her man was.


    But she also knew how hard it was to get a spot in this SS Rank Dungeon scouting team in the first ce.


    If they didn''t go through the back door, then it would be hard for them to even be considered for the team. They would have to go through many challenges just to be put on the short list.


    So taking the back door was much easier for them.


    As the silence hung in the room, I was the only one who seemed calm about all of this.


    That was because I had already thought of the answer to this question.


    So after a pause, I said, "Guild master, thank you for this opportunity."


    The others in the room were surprised to hear me suddenly speak.


    After all, it shouldn''t have been me to say anything in the first ce. This was a question that had been asked of the Long Family''s young miss, Long Shui Ling.


    I was nothingpared to her, so how could I answer for her?


    But that was what I did.


    Bing Lan wasn''t surprised to hear this since she already knew that I was the leader of this group.


    She was about to say something, but I spoke first.


    I had deliberately paused after saying this so that I could make a point.


    I then said, "But we will not be epting this offer."


    After I said this, everyone looked at me with shocked looks, including Bing Lan and Long Shui Ling.


    It was clear that not a single person had thought that I would give up this opportunity.


    Then once they had time to let it sink in, the others that were around the table all looked at me like I was an idiot.


    "What a fool, he doesn''t ept the cup offered to him."


    That was most likely what they were all thinking.


    After all, it wasn''t just not epting this that was happening. In their minds, they thought that I was offending Bing Lan at the same time by not epting this offer from her.


    Basically, I was pping her in her face by rejecting her goodwill like this.


    When the time came to choose, she would without a doubt look at me more harshly because of this.


    Or that was what they thought because they didn''t know the real situation.


    Bing Lan wasn''t offended at all when she heard this, she just had a confused look in her eyes.


    After a moment of silence, she asked, "May I ask why you are rejecting this offer?"


    I calmly looked into her eyes and said, "Guild master, this trip into the SS Rank Dungeon is not a field trip. It is something that will endanger the lives of those that go into the dungeon. This is not something that we can y around with."


    After I said this, the others in the room all nodded in agreement to this.


    They naturally knew that this was the case since they knew how important this SS Rank Dungeon was.


    But that didn''t stop them from thinking that I was a fool for turning this down.


    I then said, "If we take the back door like this, there is no doubt that it will create bacsh in the guild. At the same time, our reputations will take arge hit because of this matter. In the long run, this will hurt us more than it will help us."


    Bing Lan didn''t seem to react at all, but after a moment of consideration, she gave a slow nod of agreement.


    I saw this and continued, "As such, it is better for us to slowly work our way up and join the expedition with our own power. If we can''t cut it, then it will be meaningless for us to go in the first ce since we will just be throwing our lives away."


    I could see my party members jolting when they heard this.


    They had been shocked and stunned, but also enticed by this offer. But after they heard what I said, they were slowlying back to their senses.


    Bing Lan already knew everything that I was saying, but she had still offered this position.


    She looked at me and slowly said, "Are you sure about this?"


    When they heard this, the others in the room couldn''t help looking at Bing Lan in shock.


    They had already been surprised when the guild master had offered this back door to them, but now she was even confirming this with them.


    This was something that they had never seen before.


    I just gave a nod and said, "I''m certain about this."


    Bing Lan looked at me with narrowed eyes for a bit before suddenly saying, "Alright, I''ll respect your decision." After a pause, she added, "I just hope that you won''t regret it someday."


    As she said this, many at the table looked at me with schadenfreude.


    It was as if they were saying, "Look at you now, not epting the guild master''s offer like this. You won''t have a future."


    But I wasn''t fazed by this at all as I simply said, "I won''t."


    They were mistaken.


    Bing Lan''s final words weren''t a warning, but actual concern.


    But of course, they would never know that.

 Chapter 206: Rivals (1)

    Since we had rejected this offer, there was no longer a reason for us to stay.


    The others in the room looked like they wanted to chase us out as soon as possible, but they didn''t dare make a sound.


    It wasn''t because they were afraid of offending me, but rather they were afraid of offending Long Shui Ling.


    Now that they knew her identity, there was no way that they would treat her as just a normal member of Elementia anymore.


    They were all going to try to curry favour with her since she was the young miss of the Long Family.


    But before we left, Long Shui Ling suddenly turned around and said, "I hope that you will not treat me any differently because of this."


    The people sitting around the table couldn''t help being shocked when they heard this.


    After all, that was exactly what they had been nning on doing all this time.


    But now that she had said this, it wasn''t as if they could do it anymore.


    Bing Lan was the only one who wasn''t surprised by this. She just calmly said with a smile, "Of course not. We never had any intentions of doing so." She swept her eyes across the table before saying, "From the very beginning, we promised your family that you would be nothing more than a normal member of our guild and we intend to keep that promise."


    After she said this, all of the people sitting at the table looked down.


    Whether it was out of embarrassment or something else, they all seemed like they had been suppressed.


    But that was the point of Bing Lan saying all of this.


    If she hadn''t, she was certain that these people would have taken advantage of learning Long Shui Ling''s identity to do something.


    Long Shui Ling looked at Bing Lan, looking right into her eyes.


    After a moment of silence, she said with a smile, "Thank you."


    Then she turned around and pulled me away. She didn''t seem to care about the rest of our group who just stared at her in a daze, but they eventually followed us out.


    Once we left the room, Bing Lan suddenly said, "Alright, let''s get to the main topic now. Let''s talk about the Tower of Heaven."


    When they heard this, all of the people at the table became serious.


    This was what they had thought they had gathered here for, but they had been caught off guard by the matter of Long Shui Ling.


    Still, it seemed like the guild master was still nning on talking about this.


    So they started their conversation.


    But as they discussed this, Bing Lan couldn''t help looking at the entrance to this room once more before giving a small sigh.


    "Guild master, is something wrong?"


    Bing Lan shook her head and said, "No, let''s focus on this meeting."


    ¡­


    After we left the room, we didn''t get into the elevator right away.


    Everyone stopped and looked at Long Shui Ling with inquisitive looks, as if they wanted to ask something, but were hesitant to ask. But in this situation, there was only one thing that they could ask.


    Long Shui Ling also knew this, so she looked at them and said with a sigh, "Yes, it''s as the guild master said, I am the young miss of the Long Family."


    The moment that she said this, all of them looked like they wanted to say something.


    But before they could say anything, she raised her hand to stop them before saying, "I know that there''s a lot that you want to ask, but there''s something that I want to say before that."


    She took a deep breath before saying, "I''m not just the young miss of the Long Family, I am myself. What my family is doesn''t have anything to do with me."


    As soon as her voice fell, the four of them opened and closed their mouths a few times before revealing looks like they were constipated.


    There were many different thoughts that were racing through their minds, but it wasn''t as if they could say anything after what Long Shui Ling had said.


    So they turned to look at me for help.


    I just gave a shrug and said, "It''s her choice, so you should respect it."


    As soon as I said this, they all looked at me with gazes that were filled with me.


    It seemed that they had realized that I knew this all along and were now ming me for not telling them about this earlier.


    But I didn''t say a thing.


    I didn''t even feel any guilt since I had done it on purpose.


    Since both of us had said all of this, there wasn''t anything that they could do.


    In the end, they just dropped this matter and treated Long Shui Ling like they did before which made Long Shui Ling secretly let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, she secretly moved to my side and grabbed my sleeve to pinch it a bit for morale support.


    After epting this, we moved over to the elevator to take it down to the lobby.


    There was a lot that had happened today, so we were all heading home to digest this and then gather tomorrow morning toe up with a n for thepetition.


    Or at least that was the n.


    But when we came out of the elevator, we found that there were people waiting there for us.


    I didn''t recognize a single one of these people, but it was clear that they were waiting for us since they were surrounding the elevator exit when the doors opened.


    It was clear that they weren''t nning on letting us go anywhere.


    We still stepped out of the elevator since we didn''t want to inconvenience anyone else, even though they blocked the elevator itself.


    Aftering out, I asked, "Who are you?"


    One of them, a ck haired young man with jet ck eyes came forward as their representative and asked back, "Who are we?"

 Chapter 207: Rivals (2)

    "Who do you think we are?" The ck haired young man then asked.


    I couldn''t help looking at him with a strange look when I heard this.


    The look on his face almost seemed like he was proud of himself, like he thought that he was acting tough.


    It was the same for the others that had surrounded us.


    It was clear that they were thinking that they were acting tough even though all they did was embarrass themselves by asking this.


    The question that they asked didn''t make sense at all, it just showed how immature this young man was.


    When I looked more closely, I found that all of the people that were surrounding us were all young.


    They all seemed like they were just in their teens, like they had just awakened their powers.


    Seeing this, I shook my head before saying in a calm voice, "I don''t know who you are, but I don''t want any trouble."


    "Trouble? Oh, I''ll tell you when there''s trouble." This ck haired young man suddenly said.


    Once again, all of the others surrounding us revealed smug looks like what he had said was threatening.


    But it just made me think of a kid trying to act tough when I saw him like this.


    Once again, I calmly said, "We just want to get through and you''re blocking our way. If possible, can you please move out of the way?"


    The ck haired young man gave a snort before saying, "Now you''re giving us orders? Do you even put us in your eyes at all?"


    I just said with a sigh, "I didn''t give you an order, I just simply asked if you could move aside."


    The ck haired young man just looked right at me and said, "And if I don''t, what will you do?"


    I shook my head once more before saying, "I won''t do anything. I''ll just wait for you to finish whatever business you have with me and then be on my way."


    It was clear that he was trying to cause trouble, so the best thing that I could do in this situation was not rise to the provocation. I would just let him do what he wanted and leave once he was satisfied.


    The ck haired young man acted like he didn''t hear this as he said, "My name? You want to know my name? How could you not already know my name?"


    "That''s right, you tell him!"


    "How could he not know the famous ck me Dragon?"


    "He''s just pretending to be cool!"


    The others around us all cheered on this ck haired young man, which made the proud look on his face even more prideful.


    After listening to them cheer him on for a bit, the ck haired young man said, "I am Kaito, the ck me Dragon! I am the hope of Elementia for the new generation, the one that will be the next guild master!"


    He even took a pose when he said this¡­


    After his voice fell, the four kids of our group knitted their brows as they looked at him. With this look on their faces, it was as if they were taking him seriously.


    It was only Long Shui Ling and I who looked at him with strange looks.


    Long Shui Ling might have seemed younger than everyone here, but she was actually older than me. She was a proper adult, so she didn''t get sucked into his pace like the others.


    The way that she looked at him¡­almost seemed like she was pitying him.


    As for me¡­I felt very strange when I saw him acting this way.


    I didn''t feel pity for him or get angered by his words. Instead, all I felt was cringe when I saw him acting this way.


    That was because seeing him act this way stirred up a few deep memories that I had wanted to keep buried deep inside of me. When I saw him act this way, those memories that I had locked away came up¡­


    They were the memories of me when I had been in middle school, when I had acted a certain way.


    Seeing him act this way really made me want to fold myself in half and die of cringe.


    But he said it all so naturally like he wasn''t embarrassed at all.


    Even his friends all seemed like they were very enthusiastic about this, like they fully supported him even though he was doing something this embarrassing.


    When it was over, he pointed his finger at me and said, "Do you know who I am now?"


    I would haveughed, but I really couldn''tugh when I saw him like this.


    Luckily, Su Chen was with me, so he came over with a tablet and showed me something.


    It was the profile of this young man that called himself the ck me Dragon¡­


    He was an Awakener that had been recruited recently into Elementia, though he did join before I did. He had been here for a few months and he actually had quite the impressive record when it came to clearing dungeons.


    Then Su Chen showed me the profiles for the rest of the people here.


    These people were in the same party or in parties that worked with this young man who called himself ck me Dragon.


    They also had quite the impressive dungeon clearing record.


    But the only thing that I could take note of was their age.


    All of them seemed like they were quite young, having awakened naturally before their awakening ceremony or having awakened in their first awakening ceremony.


    They werepletely different from me, they were true geniuses.


    But then again, they had been recruited by Elementia, so it would be strange if they weren''t geniuses.


    Seeing him look at me with that smug look on his face, I couldn''t help shaking my head and giving a sigh.


    It really hurt me seeing him like this¡­


    However, I now knew the reason why he was acting this way.


    And I knew the best way to deal with someone like him.

 Chapter 208: Rivals (3)

    "And? Is there something that you need from us?" I just said in a calm voice.


    There was a silence that followed after I said this.


    Kaito''s expression couldn''t help changing several times as if he was still deciding on how he wanted to react to this.


    After all, he never would have expected me to say this.


    But this was the best way to deal with someone like this.


    Chuunibyou, the best way to deal with someone with that was to not give them the attention that they wanted.


    After all, people who suffered from Chuunibyou usually did it for attention.


    If you didn''t give them attention, then there was nothing that they could do.


    In fact, by not giving them the attention that they wanted, it let them reflect on what they were doing. As long as it was a normal person, they would feel embarrassed about this.


    So it could be seen that Kaito was slowly breaking down.


    Finally, he couldn''t take it anymore as he started stammering, "I, you, I, you, I, you¡­"


    The way that he stammered, it was almost like listening to a broken record. It was like his brain couldn''t process what was happening, so he didn''t know what to do.


    This was the one time that I felt pity for him.


    There was a time a long time ago where I had been in the same situation as him, so I knew what he was feeling.


    After a moment of hesitation, I decided to bail him out in the end.


    I just couldn''t watch him anymore, I was slowly dying of second hand cringe.


    "Are you here to dere something? Something rted to us?" I said in a slow and deliberate voice, almost as if I was guiding him.


    At this point, Kaito''s brain had stopped working and he was about to break into tears.


    When he heard what I said, his eyes immediately lit up and he said, "Yes, yes, I am here to give my deration."


    He acted like this was all part of his n and he knew exactly what he was doing after hearing this.


    His friends let out secret sighs of relief after hearing this before they started cheering for him again.


    "That''s right, give him your deration!"


    "Show him why you''re called the ck me Dragon!"


    At the very least, it seemed that his friends did support him in what he did.


    I just revealed a bitter smile as I waited patiently for Kaito to say what he wanted to say.


    He took a step forward and pointed his finger in my face before saying, "Well done! Out of consideration for your wit, I acknowledge you as my rival!"


    This time, it was the members of my group who were shocked.


    Hayato, ze, ire, and Qin Yue Ru had all been ring at Kaito during this time with aggressive looks, as if they were unhappy with the way that he had been acting.


    But they were shocked and confused when they heard his deration.


    On the other hand, I just had a look on my face like I was already expecting this.


    I had read the information that Su Chen had handed me earlier, so I already knew what these kids were up to.


    They couldn''tpete with others in thepetition to join the SS Rank Dungeon scouting group. The only ones that they couldpete with were us who had joined after them.


    So they were here to scope out thepetition and dere their intent topete with us.


    But the way that he said it¡­


    It seemed that he wasn''t able to talk properly without putting things like this.


    Of course, I could tell that there were no ill intentions behind these words.


    It was clear that he didn''t know how tomunicate properly.


    Whether that was because he was shy or something else, I had no idea.


    As Kaito just pointed his finger in my face, seeing that I didn''t say anything, he once again couldn''t help wavering. He revealed an awkward look like he didn''t know what to do now that he was in this pose.


    If he were to back down, then he wouldn''t be able to live it down in front of his friends.


    I could see the look on his face and couldn''t help thinking, "This kid really is high maintenance¡­"


    In the end, I took a step back and reached my hand out to take his hand.


    Kaito waspletely caught off guard when I grabbed his hand and he wasn''t able to do anything in response. He just numbly stood there as I took his hand in mine.


    I gave his hand a shake and said, "Alright, I look forward topeting with you."


    There was a moment of silence as Kaito and his friends took the time to react to this.


    Then Kaito revealed a wide smile as he said, "You have a good eye! I''m d that you can recognize greatness when you see it!"


    He took a step forward so that he was right in front of me before saying, "Just you wait and see, you won''t regret having us as your rivals! We''ll show you just what we can do as your seniors!"


    Then without waiting for a response, he and the rest of his friends suddenly ran off.


    We were just left standing there in front of the elevator alone.


    The kids of our group revealed shocked looks, but all I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    These kids¡­they really didn''t know how tomunicate with others.


    Since that was that, we all headed home after that since we had received orders to go to another dungeon tomorrow.


    I just hoped that we wouldn''t run into his group again since there was only so much that I could take of him. I would need a few days to recharge before I could face these kids again.


    It was just too bad that we met again the next day.

 Chapter 209: Raid dungeon (1)

    The next morning, I found out that the dungeon we were heading to wasn''t a normal small dungeon.


    Rather, we would be heading to arge raid dungeon.


    The dungeons that we had been clearing up to now were the smaller dungeons that a single party could clear on their own.


    The raid dungeon that we were heading to was simply called The Pyramid.


    It was arge pyramid that had appeared out of nowhere and was a C Rank Raid Dungeon.


    Since it was arge pyramid, the inside was arge space that had many monsters inside of it. There were far more monsters in this raid dungeon than there were in normal dungeons.


    So arge raid group was required to take down this raid dungeon as opposed to a small dungeon group.


    Most Awakeners that went into dungeons wouldn''t experience a raid dungeon since it was hard gathering all of these Awakeners.


    But for arge guild like Elementia, it was easy for them to gather dungeon parties like this.


    As a side note, the Tower of Heaven was a raid dungeon as well.


    So it would mean that we would have to go in with a raid group instead of normal small groups.


    When I saw the list of dungeon parties that had been gathered this time, I understood why we had been suddenly called to this raid dungeon.


    On that list was Kaito and his party, as well as other newer dungeon raiding parties that had joined Elementia not that long ago before us.


    These could be considered the newer parties joining Elementia.


    For all of us to be gathered for this raid dungeon, it was clear that they were trying to give us experience with raid dungeons. Or to put it more directly, it was clear that they were marking us on our performance in raid dungeons for the futurepetition.


    If we didn''t show that we were capable of doing this, it was very likely that we would be excluded from the shortlist for candidates.


    So we had to do our best in this raid dungeon expedition.


    I was even more certain of this when I saw who the leader of this raid dungeon party was.


    It was the A Ranker Tie Gang who I had met before.


    For an A Ranker to lead a group into a C Rank Raid Dungeon, he was most likely here to watch over us.


    It was even possible that he would be our examiner for this expedition into the raid dungeon.


    I was silent as Su Chen drove us to the dungeon entrance.


    When we arrived, the first thing that I did was go looking for my group.


    I wanted to make sure that they were fine since this would be an important expedition into this raid dungeon.


    But before I could find anyone, Long Shui Ling found me.


    I didn''t know where she appeared from, but all of a sudden, she was behind me before I knew what was happening.


    She came right up behind me and grabbed my shirt from behind.


    I was surprised by this before asking, "Where did youe from?"


    She said with a smile, "I was around, you just didn''t notice me."


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a look of doubt.


    Recently, I couldn''t help feeling that she had been acting differently. Though she didn''t seem different when we interacted, it was almost as if there was a different look in her eyes when she looked at me.


    It was almost like a kind of look that one had when they were looking at their possession.


    I could almost guess what she was thinking, so I had checked my clothes for things like bugs and trackers, but I hadn''t been able to find anything.


    But for her to sneak up on me like this¡­could it be that I had missed something?


    I didn''t get time to think more on this as the others came over as well.


    When ire saw her holding the back of my shirt like this, she crossed her arms, revealed a stern look, and turned away with a snort.


    When I saw her like this, I gave a cough and Long Shui Ling slowly let go, though there was an unwilling look in her eyes.


    But she knew that for now, she couldn''t expose our rtionship.


    Her mother had already talked to her about this and she knew how troublesome it would be if it was suddenly announced.


    This luckily worked in my favour.


    Ignoring this, I looked at the others and asked, "How are you feeling?"


    All of them had nervous looks on their faces since it was their first time in a raid dungeon.


    But when I asked them this question, they put on a strong face and said, "I''m fine. There''s nothing to worry about."


    Though the look in their eyes showed that they were still nervous.


    I stepped up here and said, "You don''t have to worry about anything. As long as you follow orders, there won''t be a problem. There''s so many of us here and we have a skilled leader in charge, so you don''t have to worry about anything."


    They put on a strong face and nodded in agreement, but I could still see the nervousness in their eyes.


    At least they didn''t seem consumed with their fear, so I didn''t say anything else.


    Trying tofort them too much would have an adverse effect, plus being a bit nervous meant being on edge which was a good thing.


    Of course, I didn''t tell them a single thing about what I had figured out about this raid dungeon expedition.


    If they knew that this was also part of thepetition, they might snap under the anxiety.


    As we were preparing to gather for the orientation, there was a voice that suddenly rang out.


    "It seems that we meet again!"


    We all recognized this voice since it had only been a day since we hadst heard it.


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.

 Chapter 210: Raid dungeon (2)

    The one that came forward to meet us was Kaito and his group.


    These were the ones that had surrounded us yesterday when we came out of the elevator.


    When they appeared, ze and the others all revealed frowns as they looked at them.


    But Kaito didn''t care as his eyes were on me the entire time.


    The way that he was looking at me seemed very strange¡­


    He came forward and pointed his finger in my face before saying, "We meet again my rival! It seemed that we really were destined to face each other!"


    He kept saying all kinds of different cliche things and with each thing that he said, I was hit with secondhand cringe.


    After all, these were all things that I had said in the past¡­


    When he was done, I just calmly said, "Un, it seems that we''ll be working together today. I hope that we will work well together."


    When he was hit with these calm and logical words, he really didn''t know what to do.


    After scrambling with his hands for a bit, he finally lowered his head and said in a soft voice, "I''m looking forward to working with you."


    The others in his group also said in the same soft voice, "We look forward to working with you."


    After interacting with these kids twice, I finally had a read on them.


    They acted this way because¡­they were simply embarrassed.


    They acted this way because they wanted to seem tough, but in truth, they just wanted to introduce themselves and get to know us. They just didn''t know how to say this which was why they had acted this way.


    For an adult like me, it was easy to see this.


    But for kids that were only a bit older than Kaito''s group, ze and the others weren''t.


    They still thought that they were here to pick a fight, so they looked like they were ready to fight at any moment.


    I just raised my hands and calmed them down before turning to Kaito to say, "Shall we head to the orientation together?"


    Once again he said in a soft voice with his lowered head, "Alright."


    I just revealed a faint smile before heading towards the tent that had been prepared for a meeting ce with everyone following me.


    When we arrived, I was surprised by how many people were already gathered here.


    This amount of people¡­definitely was much more than the amount of people that were in the raid dungeon group.


    But when I looked carefully, I saw that many of the people here were supporters.


    They were the ones that were in charge of the things that most people didn''t want to be in charge of. They were the ones that took care of the things that Awakeners didn''t do so that they could go into the dungeon without a care.


    I was surprised to see just how many supporters had been brought along.


    Normally, I would never see this many supporters in one ce.


    But it seemed that a raid dungeon really was different.


    Aftering in, we just quickly found some seats and sat down.


    It seemed that the meeting hadn''t started yet, but there were many people that were talking about what to do in the raid dungeon.


    For our group that had no experience with raid dungeons, there wasn''t much for us to do.


    Kaito''s group was in the same situation.


    Even if they had joined Elementia before us, it wasn''t that long ago before us.


    We could be considered in the same generation, so naturally they hadn''t gone into raid dungeons yet either.


    This was all a first for us, so we just sat there on the side so we didn''t get in the way.


    While we were sitting there, the ice slowly broke between our group and Kaito''s group.


    At first, ze and the others didn''t seem like they liked Kaito''s group very much. But after they started talking, they found that they had more inmon than they thought.


    It didn''t take long for the ice to break between the two groups and they started talking to each other.


    The only two that were silent were me and Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling was silent because she really didn''t have much inmon with Kaito''s group. Even if she did, it would feel awkward to talk to new people like this since that was the personality that she had.


    While they were chatting, I was listening to what the others were saying.


    Since this was our first time in the raid dungeon, it was a good idea to learn as much as possible from everyone else while we still had time.


    There were terms that I didn''t understand being thrown around, but it sounded like it was quite important, so I tried to memorize everything that I could.


    But there were a few things that I did understand.


    It seemed that the enemies that we would be facing would be mummies and giant scarabs.


    That really seemed to fit the theme of a pyramid based dungeon.


    Another half hour passed before the room finally fell silent.


    That was because someone had arrived.


    This someone was the leader of this raid dungeon group.


    It was the A Ranker Tie Gang.


    When he came in, the first thing he did was wave at everyone with a wide smile on his face and say, "Thanks foring everyone!"


    It seemed that his personality was still the same as ever.


    There were people that stood up and walked over to greet him. When they did, he talked to each and every one of them as if they were his friends.


    So in the end, it took another while before he was able to reach the podium at the front of the tent.


    I just stayed on the side since I didn''t think that he would remember someone like me.


    After he reached the podium, that smile disappeared from his face and a serious expression reced it.


    In an instant, it was as if he had be apletely different person.

 Chapter 211: Raid dungeon (3)

    As soon as his expression changed, the atmosphere of the room also changed.


    It went from a rxed one to one that was very tense.


    This time when he spoke, he did it in a very serious voice.


    "Thank you for gathering today. I''m sure that we all know what we''re here for, so I''ll spare you the small talk."


    Tie Gang turned to face the smartboard that had been set up behind him and clicked a button on the remote that he had picked up from the podium. As soon as he clicked that remote, there was a diagram that appeared on the board.


    This wasn''t any image of the dungeon, but rather a diagram of what seemed to be a formation.


    After this image appeared, Tie Gang said, "This will be the formation that we will be taking. I hope that everyone will pay attention and follow your orders."


    As soon as his voice fell, everyone in the room revealed a serious look.


    Tie Gang had the natural tone of a leader, so everyone feltpelled to listen when he spoke.


    He went on to discuss the finer parts of the formation that we were supposed to take, as well as telling us what roles we would have.


    From this, I learned that we would be ced in the left nk with Kaito''s group. It would be up to us to protect our back to the left along with his group.


    As for the ones that were ced in the vanguards, they were groups that had experience raiding a raid dungeon. These were parties that were led by B Rankers, so they were much stronger than our parties.


    From what it seemed like, they were most likely top candidates for thispetition.


    And from what I heard about them, it was for good reason.


    They were very skilled, only being a sliver away from reaching A Rank.


    With just a bit more experience, the leaders of these parties might be able to push their powers to A Rank.


    As for us¡­we were still too green to be considered.


    Still, that didn''t mean that I would give up since I had my own reason for going into the SS Rank Dungeon.


    After he finished briefing us on the formation, Tie Gang changed the slide and there was a map that appeared on the screen.


    With this map, he started giving us an outline of theyout of this raid dungeon.


    ording to this map, this raid dungeon had a total of three floors that we would have to fight through.


    The first floor was just a general floor filled with weak monsters.


    The second floor was an elite floor with elite monsters.


    The third floor was where the raid boss of this entire raid dungeon was waiting.


    The normal monsters that wandered around were the mummies and scarabs that I had heard about.


    The elite monsters that were on the second floor were mummies as well, but these were mummies that had special abilities. These were mummies that had the ability to use skills and had different sses, so they were on apletely different level from the mummies on the first floor.


    There were even mummies that could use magic spells which we had to watch out for.


    Finally, the raid boss was apparently a pharaoh mummy that controlled powerful sand spells that would be very hard to fight.


    With the variance in monsters that was found in this dungeon, I could see why it was called a raid dungeon.


    It was indeed worthy of this name.


    But I was also surprised by how much information we had on the dungeon.


    I guess this was just the power that arge guild like Elementia had.


    Since this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon, it must be something that they had raided before which was why they had all this detailed information.


    This was the benefit of being in arge organization.


    The final thing that Tie Gang talked about was logistics.


    It seemed that for arge raid dungeon like this, we couldn''t just think about leaving in a day or two.


    For arge raid dungeon like this, it would take at least a week before we would be able to leave.


    That was why there were so many supporters that had been gathered here.


    They would be entering the dungeon with us and they would be helping us set up camps in the safe zones of the dungeon.


    That way, we would be able to rest in between battles and ensure that we wouldn''t exhaust ourselves.


    For that, we had toe up with a proper logistics n to transport everything into the dungeon.


    Or rather, we just had to follow the n that was already in ce.


    In that n, there wasn''t much of a role for us in the left nk.


    The only thing that we had to do was make sure that the monsters didn''t wrap around and surround our party.


    It was the central nk that would be in charge of protecting the supplies and the supporters, so it could be said that they were the ones that were in the main position, while we were just there to be along for the ride.


    After hearing the entire n, it really seemed like we were just there to be brought along instead of actually doing anything useful.


    But when one thought about it, that seemed about right.


    After all, we were the newbies.


    We were the ones that had no experience with this at all, so it would be strange that we would be given an important position.


    We should actually be d that we weren''t given a more important position since that would just put more pressure on us.


    Once he was finished exining the n, there was nothing else for Tie Gang to say.


    "We''ll be departing in another hour, so get ready to leave." Those were Tie Gang''sst words.


    With that, the orientation meeting was over.

 Chapter 212: Raid dungeon (4)

    Once the meeting was over, everyone headed off to do their own thing.


    Since he was the leader, Tie Gang was immediately surrounded by people who wanted to talk to him.


    Of course, they weren''t only talking to him because he was the leader of this raid dungeon group.


    They were surrounding him because he was an A Ranker.


    Building a rtionship with an A Ranker was a very valuable thing. Plus, it was rare to meet A Rankers and have the chance to talk to them in the first ce.


    So naturally they wouldn''t let this chance pass.


    Since the meeting was over, Tie Gang returned to his normal appearance and was friendly enough to talk to them.


    As for our group, we didn''t have anything to do here.


    It was our job to get ready for the dungeon.


    So I led our group out.


    This was the group that contained both our party and Kaito''s party.


    Since we were working together in the left nk, it made sense that we go collect the things that we needed.


    It would mostly be supplies and some gear that we could use.


    The gear that they provided were much better than the ones that we currently had, so we would take advantage of this to get some good gear. After all, the gear that they handed out this time would be ours to keep even after we cleared the dungeon.


    For such a cheap deal, why would we not take it?


    It didn''t take us long to reach the supplies tent, but it was alreadypletely filled with people.


    Since we could think of the n to take advantage of this situation, naturally others would be able to as well.


    So we had no choice but to wait for our turn.


    But as we were waiting, we could see that the good items were being taken by others.


    At this rate, it didn''t seem like there would be anything left for us.


    However, that was just how it was.


    We were the newbies, it wasn''t as if they would reserve the good things for us.


    Or at least that should have been the case until someone suddenly walked into the tent and walked over to us.


    People had been too busy to notice this person at first, but when he walked over towards us, there were many people that recognized him.


    "Isn''t that¡­?"


    "Why is he here?"


    "Where is he going? Can I go talk to him?"


    There was a lot of discussion when they saw this person, but I didn''t think that it had anything to do with us.


    That was until we heard the whispers around us get louder.


    I realized that whoever it was was actuallying in our direction, so I turned to see who it was.


    When I looked in that direction, I couldn''t help being surprised because there was a face that I didn''t expect to see in that direction. And that person seemed like he was looking right at me.


    It was Tie Gang.


    As he walked over, there were some people that tried toe forward to talk to him, but he just avoided them all as he came right towards us.


    The rest of my group and Kaito''s group werepletely caught off guard and froze when they saw Tie Ganging over.


    I just looked at him with a slightly confused look as he walked over.


    After all, we weren''t that close in the first ce.


    So there shouldn''t have been a reason for him toe this way.


    I didn''t even think that he would remember me after that short meeting.


    After all, we had only met once and we had only exchanged blows once. It shouldn''t have been anywhere near enough for him to remember me.


    But he walked right up to me and raised his hand to wave at me as he said, "Little Brother Lin, why did you leave so soon? I wanted to have a talk with you before we entered the dungeon."


    I looked at him with a surprised look when I heard this.


    It turned out that he was indeed talking to me.


    At the same time, the others around us all looked in our direction with shocked and inquisitive looks, as if they were trying to figure out just why Tie Gang was talking to us.


    After he came over, he took me by the shoulder and said, "What are you just standing around for? Let''s go and get you some gear."


    As soon as he said this, everyone looked at me with shocked looks, including the members of my team and Kaito''s team.


    It was clear that not a single one of them thought that I would have this kind of connection.


    Tie Gang took advantage of this momentary daze to bring us over to the counter.


    Even though there were others in the way, since it was Tie Gang, they happily served us.


    Since we had Tie Gang with us, they let us choose freely from the stock that they had.


    It didn''t matter what we wanted, they offered it all to us.


    But to just take the best stuff with everyone watching like this¡­it really was hard.


    So we just took some of the average leveled gear which was still better than the stuff that we had.


    "Little Brother Lin, you should take some of the better stuff." Tie Gang suddenly said when he saw that we were only taking the average leveled gear.


    When they heard this, the staff members went to pick out a few of the better things for us.


    But before they could give them to us, I said, "Big Brother Tie, even if we take them, we won''t be able to use them properly. It''s better to give them to the people that can use them well."


    When the others around us heard this, they let out a sigh of relief.


    After all, if we took everything, there would be nothing left for them.


    Once we had finished gathering our gear, Tie Gang gestured to the side and said, "Let''s go over there and talk."


    I just gave a nod before following him over.

 Chapter 213: Raid dungeon (5)

    When we walked over to the side, Tie Gang looked at the rest of my group and Kaito''s group who had followed us over and said, "Can we get a minute alone?"


    They had been following close since they had thought that this was their chance to talk to Tie Gang as well, so they were caught off guard when they heard his request.


    But it wasn''t as if they could deny this.


    So they just nodded in a daze and moved away to give Lin Fan and Tie Gang some space.


    At first, they didn''t move that far away, so Tie Gang just looked at them for a bit.


    Only after he looked at them for a bit did they move further away so that the two of them would have some time alone.


    There was an awkward silence that hung in the air after they left as I didn''t know what to say.


    I was more surprised that Tie Gang would even want to talk to me alone than anything else.


    It was a good thing that Tie Gang was the one that broke the silence in the end.


    "How are you fitting in the guild?"


    That was his first question and a question that caught me off guard again since I didn''t know that he would start with this question.


    I looked at him with a strange look and he just looked back at me with a smile.


    I slowly said, "I''m doing fine. It was hard in the beginning, but I think that I''m finding my footing."


    Tie Gang gave a nod after hearing this before saying, "It''s good that you''re fitting in well. I remember when I first came to Elementia, it was hard for me to fit in since I still didn''t know how to use my powers properly yet. It took me a while before I was able to find my footing¡­"


    He kept talking about his own experience with joining the guild, as if he was giving me advice.


    I couldn''t help being even more surprised when I heard this.


    Did he really just call me aside to talk about this?


    Was he really just checking in on me?


    There was a strange feeling that came from inside of me since I didn''t think that we were this close to begin with.


    Of course, I still responded when I needed to and we talked for a bit about this.


    But this conversation eventually reached an end.


    When it seemed like it was over, Tie Gang suddenly asked, "So, how have things been with Xin''ertely?"


    Once again, I was caught off guard by this sudden question of his.


    I looked at him with one brow raised, but I couldn''t see anything off about his expression.


    After a pause, I slowly said, "We''ve met a few times since I joined, but we''re both busy, so we haven''t been seeing each other as much."


    Tie Gang gave an understanding nod when he heard this, but he still said, "I know that it''s hard with all the things you have to do for the guild, but when it''s important, you just make it happen. I''m sure that she wants to see you too, but¡­"


    His voice trailed off as he said this.


    At the same time, I could hear a strange tone in his voice.


    It was as if¡­he was almost threatening me.


    I looked closely at Tie Gang''s face, but his expression didn''t change. He just still had that same smile on his face.


    I felt that there was something off with him, but I just couldn''t tell what.


    So in the end, I slowly said, "I know, but we''re both busy, so¡­"


    Tie Gang suddenly interrupted me by saying, "When it''s important, you make the time."


    Once again, I was taken aback when he suddenly said this.


    Once he made things this clear, it was impossible for me not to understand what he was saying.


    I took a moment to calm down before saying, "Un, I''ll make sure to make some time to see her."


    Tie Gang gave a satisfied nod when he heard this before saying, "I know that your job is important, but you have to remember the people that are important to you as well."


    His voice seemed to gain a dark tone as he said, "I''m sure that Xin''er is a bit depressed not being able to see you during this time. I''m not happy when I see Xin''er unhappy like this as her big brother, so I''m sure you know what I mean."


    If there was a threat that was more obvious, I had never heard it before.


    But I never thought that the rtionship between Tie Gang and the Bing Sisters was this close that he would be doing something like this.


    I just raised my hands and said, "I would never do anything to hurt her."


    The dark look on Tie Gang''s face receded when he heard this and he revealed a wide smile again as he said, "That''s good. I hope that you''ll keep that promise."


    The mood lightened and I had a calm look on my face, but I was still feeling tense deep down.


    I knew that Tie Gang hadn''t been joking just now and he might really follow up on that threat if I hadn''t responded that way.


    Then as if it was an afterthought, he said, "Right, my wedding will being up in a few weeks. I''ll give you two an invitation and you cane together. I''m sure that Xin''er will be happy about that."


    It was as if he was giving us a nudge, but after that performance just now, I really couldn''t think of a way to say no.


    So the only thing that I could do was say, "Sure, I''ll be d to go."


    Tie Gang revealed an even wider smile as he grabbed my shoulder and said, "I''m sure that Xin''er will be happy to hear that and I''ll be happy to have the two of youe."


    I just nodded along with a smile on my face.

 Chapter 214: Raid dungeon (6)

    After talking for a bit longer, mainly to brag about his fiancee, Tie Gang finally turned to leave.


    It seemed that he really cared about the Bing Sisters quite a bit, even though I had no idea what had happened between them in the past.


    But that was also an opportunity.


    If I could use Tie Gang, wouldn''t I be able to approach both Bing Xin and Bing Lan?


    I had tried leaving a few suggestions in Tie Gang, but I found that they had been resisted.


    As expected of an A Ranker¡­


    Of course, there were a few that had been left in him since they were just basic suggestions.


    The way that my power worked was that the more specific the suggestion, the harder it was for me to leave them. If the suggestion were more general and natural, then even a powerful A Ranker wouldn''t be able to resist them.


    But the general suggestions just weren''t as useful as the specific suggestions.


    Still, they were better than nothing.


    As he was leaving, Tie Gang said, "When the timees to fight the final boss, be sure to stay in the back. That final boss isn''t as easy as one would think¡­"


    I was a bit confused and caught off guard by this, but I still said with a nod, "Alright, I''ll be sure to stay behind."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before heading off.


    As he walked away, I looked at him with a look of deep thought as I tried to figure out what he meant by this.


    But I didn''t have enough information about the dungeon in the first ce to actuallye up with an idea.


    So when the others came over, I just threw these thoughts out.


    As they came over, they all looked at me with looks of awe without saying a single thing.


    I could guess why they were looking at me like this, but I didn''t say a thing.


    In the end, it was Kaito who broke the silence by asking, "Brother Lin, how do you know the leader?"


    I looked at him and saw him looking at me with this look of awe, I knew that he had been caught hook, line, and sinker. Since he was the one that was offering himself to me, then it would be wrong for me not to ept this.


    So I just calmly said, "We''re friends."


    The way that I said it in such a cool tone was just too much for them.


    I could see the way that their eyes lit up when I said this and they looked like they wanted to worship me.


    With this, it was almost guaranteed that I would be the leader of this group.


    Though it already seemed like I was going to be the leader with the way that they had been acting around me.


    So with this bit of help from Tie Gang, I was able to easily solve a problem that I had been worried about.


    Time passed and soon it was time to head into the raid dungeon.


    During this time, there were three ck lines that were constantly on my head.


    I had to listen to these kids going on about their dark sealed powers and all their other cringe back stories. The more that I listened, the more that I felt pain.


    It seemed that Kaito''s group didn''t just have him acting this way, it was all of them that acted like this.


    As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together and that was the case with Kaito''s group.


    It seemed that all of them suffered from Chuunibyou.


    But luckily they had to fall silent once we headed into the dungeon.


    We were here on a job, so it wasn''t the time to chat anymore.


    The formation of our group was as the diagram in the meeting had described, but seeing it in real life really was different.


    There were over a hundred different Awakeners gathered here and there were even more supporters in the center of this formation.


    At the very head of this formation was Tie Gang who was leading it and at the back was us who were bringing up the rear.


    Before heading into the raid dungeon, Tie Gang turned around and said, "Everyone, prepare yourselves. When we''re in there, I want everyone to bepletely focused."


    Then his voice turned a bit colder as he said, "After all, a single momentary distraction could be what decides your life and death."


    There was a somber mood that came over the raid dungeon group when they heard this.


    They all knew that Tie Gang was right, but for an A Ranker to give them this warning, it really made the picture clear. It showed them just how dangerous this raid dungeon would be.


    Tie Gang naturally knew the effect that his words had and how it was bad for their group, but there was a reason why he had said this. So after a pause, he said¡­


    "I will do all I can to ensure that each and every one of you cane back alive. I will put my life in your hands, so I hope that you will put your life in mine."


    There was a slow change that came over their group as soon as his voice fell.


    Everyone slowly looked up at Tie Gang and when they saw the serious look in his eyes, they could tell that he meant it.


    This was real trust that he would put his life in their hands, so of course they had to respond.


    It was slow at first, but soon there was a cheer that came over the group as everyone promised that they would do all that they could.


    With just a few words, Tie Gang hadpletely changed the mood of the group.


    It had gone from somber to full of passion.


    I pretended to go along with it even though I knew what he was doing.


    But that didn''t stop me from admiring him for his ability to raise morale.


    After seeing the group act this way, Tie Gang gave a satisfied nod before turning and saying, "Let''s go!"


    With that, we entered the raid dungeon.

 Chapter 215: Raid dungeon (7)

    When I entered the dungeon, the first thing that hit me was a wave of heat.


    It was supposed to be fall right now, but that wave of heat hit me like it was the middle of summer.


    That was just the environment in this dungeon.


    Instead of being a closed dungeon, this was a dungeon that actually had an outside world to it.


    Of course, we would never be able to interact with that outside world since there was no way to leave this pyramid, but it was out there with its own weather. That was what was causing the heat in this pyramid.


    There was a bright yellow sun hanging there in the sky outside the pyramid.


    We could see it through the ss panes of the pyramid which were strangely ced on the walls of this dungeon.


    After looking around, I focused on what was in front of us.


    The entrance of the dungeon seemed to be at the very base of the pyramid based on what I could see through the window.


    And in front of the entrance, there was arge open space with plenty of monsters gathered.


    It was just that none of them wereing in this direction.


    There seemed to be some line that they couldn''t cross in front of us that prevented them froming over.


    This must be the safety zone of the dungeon entrance that was mentioned in the map.


    There were no words said as everyone already knew what to do.


    The ones led by Tie Gang quickly went forward to sweep the monsters that were wandering around. Our group was considered part of the guards for the supplies team, so we held back and watched over them, just in case any monsters came over.


    Of course, with the power of the vanguard team that even had an A Ranker like Tie Gang leading them, that didn''t happen.


    They swept through any monsters that came close, so they didn''t get a chance to approach. In fact, they started from those that were closest, so they could push away those that were near one by one.


    While the others watched on in awe, I watched carefully.


    The monsters that were in this area were themummies and scarabs that had been mentioned before.


    They acted just like the material had described them, even using the same attacks as written.


    So it was easy for the vanguard to take them down.


    The scarabs were just giant bugs, so they were quite easy to take care of. The only ones that struggled were those that didn''t like bugs, but they quickly adapted to them as professional Awakeners.


    The mummies were a bit harder to deal with.


    These were monsters that were considered undead, with the tenacity that came with undead monsters.


    They wouldn''t go down as easily as the scarabs.


    Even if they were cut down, as long as they weren''tpletely destroyed, they wouldn''t die.


    It had something to do with the unfinished business of the spirits that were used to create these monsters. But if one thought about it, weren''t these monsters created by the dungeon?


    So where did these spiritse from?


    This was one of the unsolved mysteries of the dungeon that had undead type monsters.


    But since they were hard to kill, there were only a few ways to take them down.


    For these mummies, there were two ways to take care of them.


    One was to use enough force that their bodies werepletely destroyed and there was no way for them to repair themselves. But that wasn''t a method that everyone could use since they were quite tenacious.


    It took a lot of power just to destroy these mummiespletely.


    The second method was¡­fire.


    Since they were undead, they shared the same weakness as other undead which was that they were weak against fire. Just contact with fire would cause their bodies to start burning and burn away.


    Any part of them that was burnt by mes would be turned to ashes and wouldn''t regenerate over time.


    So mes were the only way to make sure that they stayed dead.


    There was also a third way, but it was too rare to use.


    It was the holy attribute.


    If one had holy attribute attacks, they would be able to exorcise the undead.


    But the holy attribute was a very rare one and few Awakeners had it.


    So it was more reliable to use themon me attribute.


    As such, everyone that was currently fighting the mummies was using some kind of fire attack.


    As for how they were doing that, it was because we had all been distributed fire magic items before entering the dungeon.


    It was included in the supplies that we had received.


    There were fire staves, fire orbs for embedding into weapons, and all kinds of different things.


    As for me, I received a bunch of talismans that I could put on my weapon to imbue with a fire element.


    I could have used the fire orbs as well, but there was no time to create a socket on my sword. This sword of mine was a nature element sword in the first ce, so it would have shed with the fire energy of the fire orb.


    So the best choice were these talismans that only wrapped the sword up in fire energy.


    It didn''t take long for the vanguard to create a path for us.


    Once they had secured this path, Tie Gang turned around and waved his hand at the rest of us before saying, "Let''s go!"


    As soon as he said this, I waved my hand at our group and said, "We''re going in!"


    The rest of our group quickly followed behind me and we charged out down the path. We ran for a bit before stopping midway through and securing the sides while those from the vanguard that had been securing the sides suddenly charged forward.


    This was the n, to use the left and right nks to guard the path while the vanguard cleared out the area in front of us.


    The central nk would be guarding the supply team as they ran down this path.


    We would take this path all of the way to the first safe zone where we would set up the camp.


    As soon as we took over, it was our turn to fight these mummies and scarabs.

 Chapter 216: Raid dungeon (8)

    Since we had to protect the supply group as they made their way forward, we had to spread ourselves quite thin to cover arger area.


    However, when facing these mummies and scarabs, that wasn''t a problem at all.


    As soon as these mummies came forward, I pasted a fire talisman on my sword and there was a faintyer of mes that appeared around it.


    With a single sh, I cut the mummies in half.


    The me from my sword spread across the bandages of the mummy in an instant and they turned into a ball of mes.


    This ball of mes fell backwards from the force of this sh andnded on the ground as a ball of mes.


    I just ignored this and moved on to the next one.


    With my ming sword, I didn''t even need to boost myself to take care of these mummies.


    They were just too slow to match me after I had gone through Su Chen''s muscle training.


    As for the scarabs, they were even easier than I thought to take care of. They didn''t use any strange flight patterns, so I was able to cut down the scarabs with ease.


    It was so easy that I was able to split my attention to look at the others in my group.


    I found that they too had it easy dealing with these mummies and scarabs. After all, we had fought much stronger enemies before, so there was no need to mention slow and weak enemies like these.


    But this was also just the beginning of the dungeon, so I didn''t let myself getcent.


    These were the weakest that the dungeon had to offer, so it wasn''t as if this was all that we would face. From now on, it would only get harder for us.


    Seeing that they were fine, I turned my attention to Kaito''s group.


    We hadn''t worked together before, so I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried about them.


    But when I saw them fighting, I learned that my worry was unnecessary.


    This was a group that was as talented as our group, so they wouldn''t be weaker than us.


    As I watched them, I finally learned why Kaito called himself the ck me Dragon.


    It was simply because of his ability.


    He had the ability to control ck mes that he used to attack his enemies.


    These ck mes were deadly as they instantly burned all of his enemies to ashes.


    Whether it was the mummies or the scarabs, they were all burnt to nothingness by Kaito''s ck mes.


    The mes raged on, even seeming like the breath of a dragon.


    It made sense that his moniker was ck me Dragon.


    As for the rest of his group, they all showed incredible power. They all had no problems dealing with these mummies and scarabs.


    It was almost too easy.


    The supply team led by the central nk easily made their way through the path that was created for them and they were able to get right behind the vanguard.


    Once they were through, there was no longer any reason for us to stay here.


    So I pushed back the monsters in front of me and shouted, "Let''s go! We''re moving to the next point!"


    ze and Kaito were the ones that took the lead in this.


    They went to the front and back of the group and released their mes.


    ze was in the front with a wall of mes pushing away the monsters that came at us and Kaito was in the back with a wall of mes pushing away the monsters that chased after us.


    With the two of them working together, we were able to catch up.


    The main group had left us behind after the supply team had gone through since we were the ones that protected the rear.


    Once we caught up, we immediately took the ce of the vanguard holding the path and they continued forward to clear out another path.


    Once we secured the path, the supply team moved forward again.


    Again and again, we moved forward just like this.


    It wasn''t hard, but it was definitely tiring having to keep fighting monsters like this.


    It was just a good thing that the closer we came to the safe zone, the fewer monsters there were.


    The less monsters there were, it was easier for us to hold that path and clear them out.


    Otherwise we would have lost all of our energy eventually.


    An hourter, we finally reached the first safe zone.


    This was a rest area that was in the middle of the pyramid base. It wasn''t right at the center, but it was close to that.


    Since it only took us an hour to get here, it didn''t seem like this raid dungeon was that big.


    Once we arrived, it was time for us to rest and for the supply team to get to work.


    They would set up the camp here and then we would use this camp to clear out the surrounding area. After clearing that out, we would make our way to the second safe zone and secure that to create another camp.


    Clearing out this raid dungeon wasn''t something that could be done in a day or two, it was something that would take at least a week if not more.


    So we were here for the long haul.


    I could see that our group was tired after that continuous fighting, so we went over to the tents that had been prepared for us.


    I had to admit that the supply team really worked fast.


    Inside of the tent was some food and some beds for us, so we could eat and rest up.


    But there was a problem that we had to deal with first after arriving in the tent.


    It was the sleeping arrangement.


    Since this was a rough temporary tent, the beds were justid out all over the floor and arranged in a circle.


    That meant that we would have to sleep very close to each other.


    This wouldn''t be a problem if not for ire and Long Shui Ling¡­

 Chapter 217: Raid dungeon (9)

    I solved that problem in the end by pulling in Kaito''s group and having Kaito sleep beside me.


    He even looked honoured when he heard this and he quickly took the bed beside mine.


    But that also came with its own problems.


    I didn''t know when it happened, but it seemed like he had be a fan of mine as he asked me all kinds of questions.


    Still, it was better than causing trouble by letting ire and Long Shui Ling talk to each other.


    In the end, the two of them went to separate ends of the tent and went to sleep.


    I just answered a few of Kaito''s questions before going to sleep myself.


    A few hourster, we woke up rested and we needed to be rested since it was our turn to clear out monsters.


    We had recovered a lot of our energy, so that wasn''t a problem at all.


    During the time that we had been asleep, there were other groups that had been going out to clear the monsters. They wereing back now and it seemed that they had quite the sess with how much the porters were bringing back.


    These mummies and scarabs weren''t that strong, but their drops were quite good.


    They would sell for a lot when we got back.


    Anything that our porters brought back for us would be counted as our loot and we would receive the full amount for it.


    So it was lucrative to hunt here.


    That was the main reason why we had been allowed to rest first.


    It was so that the others could get first crack at the monsters and loot.


    What would be left for us would only be stragglers, but I was fine with that since it was less dangerous.


    When we passed the group that just came back, they looked at us with looks of disdain. It was almost as if they looked down on us for staying behind at the camp and resting.


    The members of my group were a bit riled up because of it, but I just calmly moved past them and out the camp.


    Seeing me walk past them without a word, they followed my example in the end and followed me out of the camp.


    The group that had looked at us with disdain had surprised looks, but they just ignored us in the end and headed into the camp.


    After we left the camp, they all came forward toin to me about how we had been treated.


    I just calmly looked at them and said, "So what do you want to do about it? Do you just want toin or prove them wrong?"


    They were surprised by my question, but they slowly came to realize what I meant.


    That was right, reacting would be just what they wanted to see since it meant that they had gotten under their skins. If they reacted, it would just make them feel good without doing anything for them.


    So it was better for them to just ignore them.


    They were kids, so it made sense that they didn''t understand this logic yet.


    In fact, Long Shui Ling had been the only one who had acted calm and followed me out when we left the camp.


    But I was surprised that there would be this kind ofpetitive tension between our groups.


    Still, it seemed right if I thought about it.


    We were all here to prove our abilities, we all wanted a spot in the SS Rank Dungeon group.


    So it could be said that we were rivals even though we were in the same raid dungeon group.


    Once we came out, we found just how much the other group had done.


    They had wiped out many of the monsters that had been wandering around and had almost doubled the safe zone.


    But that was a problem for us.


    This meant that we would have to move further away from the safe zone to find monsters.


    The further that we moved from the safe zone, the more monsters there were.


    It was something about how the safe zones made the monsters move away, so they gathered in spots in between safe zones.


    And that was where we had to pass by to get to the next safe zone.


    That was the ce that we had to clear.


    That was why I was faced with a hard choice.


    We could just stay near the safe zone and clear out the stragglers that wandered over. That would be enough for it to be considered doing our jobs since we were still reducing the number of monsters in between us and the other safe zone.


    At the same time, it would ensure that we would be safe.


    But that would bring us shameter when we returned to the camp since it would mean being cowards.


    The other choice was to move away from the safe zone and hunt down the monsters that were wandering between the safe zones. There would be plenty for us to hunt, so we would be able to return with our heads held up high.


    The problem with that was that it was dangerous.


    There would be far more monsters than we had faced before, so we would be in a very dangerous situation.


    Plus, there was no telling what else would show up while we were fighting the monsters.


    So as the leader, I couldn''t just put us in danger like this.


    I even suspected that the other group had done this on purpose.


    They knowingly cleared out the nearby monsters just so we would be forced to go further out.


    In the end, it was the kids who made the decision for me.


    ze said, "Boss, we shouldn''t be afraid and just fight the monsters with all our power."


    Kaito nodded in agreement and said, "If we''re doing this, we should give it our all."


    I looked at them with knitted brows after they saId this, but I still said with a sigh, "Alright, but you have to promise me that if things look bad, we will run back to the camp even if it means losing face."


    They nodded in agreement without any hesitation.


    After all, they weren''t keen on losing their lives either.


    With another sigh, I said, "Then let''s go."

 Chapter 218: Raid dungeon (10)

    The further that we moved from the safe zone, the more enemies there were.


    But this time, we were working as arge group instead of individually.


    Instead of having to fight alone to protect the path for the supply team, we were able to fight together and demonstrate power that was far beyond what we could muster individually.


    ze and Kaito in particr worked very well.


    ze''s fire controlling abilities had a very obvious w which was that he couldn''t use them from afar. His range was limited to the area around him and if he tried to use his mes from a distance, it would scatter.


    The mes wouldn''t be able to gather together and wouldck the force to hurt the enemies.


    But that wasn''t a problem for Kaito.


    His mes were more than powerful enough to be used from afar, but he also had a problem.


    His problem was actually the reverse of ze''s problem, which was that his mes were too strong. If they came too close to him or his allies, they would burn him.


    So the two of them were able to cover for each other''s shorings, which made them even stronger.


    ze used his mes to create a defensive line around them while Kaito use his mes to burn down any mummies and scarabs that came at them.


    If this was the outside world, then this might have been bad.


    After all, the mes would have burned away everything of value and it would have been pointless to fight these mummies and scarabs. But in the dungeon, the loot dropped after the monsters were killed, so they were able to get the loot in the end.


    Though¡­there were a few that were burned because the two of them lost control.


    "Yes! YES! My one true soulmate, together we shall light this whole world on fire!" Kaito shouted as he threw his ck mes at the mummies and scarabs around them.


    For once, he didn''t need to think about defending himself, which freed him up to go crazy.


    ze didn''t say anything, but the smile on his face made it clear that he was also enjoying this.


    He didn''t say a word, but he allowed his mes to spread all around him, creating an entire area filled with mes.


    The two of them really were letting go now that they were able to use their power to their full potential.


    As I watched them, I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face.


    I also didn''t miss that Qin Yue Ru looked at Kaito with a very strange look.


    If I had to say what it was, it almost seemed like jealousy¡­


    I wanted to say something, but it didn''t feel right.


    After all, they were both men, so there was no need for her to look at Kaito like that. It wasn''t as if he was going to steal anyone away¡­


    Still, with the two of them working in tandem like this, it really was a big difference.


    Enjoy reading at NovelFire-le-mp-yr


    They cleared out most of the mummies and scarabs that came at us and we were able to pick off the stragglers that had avoided the mes. These stragglers were mostly burnt in the first ce, so we were able to take them down with rtive ease.


    With the way that we were going, we easily cleared our way to the next safe zone.


    But of course, I didn''t dare let my guard down just because it was going well.


    I made sure that everyone remained close and didn''t let the Double me Dragon go too far.


    Or at least that was what Kaito called the two of them.


    Though judging by the smile on ze''s face, it didn''t seem that he was that against it.


    Once again, I almost felt the urge to say something to Qin Yue Ru, but I held myself back.


    As we moved further and further up, it really felt like we would be able to reach the next safe zone all by ourselves at this rate. But then before I could get my hopes up, there was a cry that rang out through the air.


    "YEOW!"


    It was like the cry of a cat, but it was much more primal than that.


    This was clearly the cry of a beast.


    As soon as they heard this, everyone turned to look at me and I waved my hand for them to gather in.


    Even if they had been letting loose with their powers, Kaito and ze immediately released their mes and came to my side before ze released his mes in a defensive barrier around us.


    We just stood there and waited for the owner of this cry to show itself.


    But before we could see what it was, there was a sudden shing sound that came from behind us.


    When we looked around, we found that there was arge gash on the me barrier.


    The me barrier quickly repaired itself, but the fact that this gash had been created in the first ce meant that the attack was quite powerful.


    Everyone immediately knitted their brows when they saw this.


    But I didn''t let myself get too caught up in this as I muttered, "Better hearing."


    After I said this, my hearing suddenly became much better.


    I could hear that there was some kind of sounding from around us.


    It was like the sound of wind gushing, like there was something moving at high speeds around us.


    This sound seemed constant until it suddenly started getting closer and closer.


    When it starteding closer, I immediately said to Kaito, "Wall, now!"


    Kaito was caught off guard by this suddenmand, but he raised his hands after only a second of hesitation.


    ck mes started gathering around us before forming a wall that he sent out with a single push of his hands.


    This wall didn''t go far, but there was something that suddenly jumped back when it saw the walling at it.


    This thingnded in front of us and we were able to see what it was.

 Chapter 219: Raid dungeon (11)

    "That''s an Egyptian Mau, right?" I slowly said.


    Long Shui Ling beside me gave a slow nod as if she was confirming this.


    One thing that I had kept secret was my love for cats, so the moment that I saw this cat, I immediately recognized the breed.


    However, the problem was that this cat wasn''t a normal size.


    Though this cat looked like an Egyptian Mau, it was the size of a tiger.


    As well, it had very sharp teeth and ws, showing that it was very powerful as well.


    This was the thing that had attacked us and created a gash in ze''s me barrier.


    But just what was this thing doing here?


    My brain quickly turned as I tried to remember the material that had been given to us during orientation. It had included a list of all the monsters that could be found in this raid dungeon, including all of the rare monsters that were hard to find.


    After thinking for a bit, I finally realized what it was.


    This was the area boss.


    This was the area boss that we were supposed to kill before going to the next safe zone.


    But we weren''t supposed to fight this thing yet since there were too many other monsters around. That was the main point of clearing out the monsters that were in between the two points.


    Of course, the other reason for that was to see if we could avoid itpletely.


    By clearing out the other monsters and clearing out a path, there was the chance that we would have been able to avoid it. That would have saved us quite a bit of trouble in the long run since we wouldn''t need to deal with it.


    However, none of us would have thought that this area boss would suddenly appear in front of us.


    Both our side and the Egyptian Mau were just cautiously looking at each other, as if we were both waiting for the other side to make a move first.


    Now that it had stopped, I could take a closer look at this area boss.


    I found that there was a part of its fur that was singed, this was part of the area boss'' foot.


    It seemed that it hadn''t been able topletely avoid Kaito''s me wall just now and it had been singed by the ck mes.


    That was why it was being cautious right now.


    So did that mean that it was weak against the ck mes?


    Well, these were powerful mes that anything would be weak against.


    It just meant that the ck mes were strong enough to threaten it.


    That gave us a chance to escape.


    As long as we used these ck mes to cover us, we should be able to run back to the safe zone. As long as we could reach the safe zone, this area boss wouldn''t follow us in.


    It was written in the package that we received. Even if the area bosses were powerful, it didn''t seem like they went to the safe zone even if provoked.


    It was as if there was something that kept them away there.


    So as long as we were able to reach the safe zone, we should be safe.


    After this thought came into mind, I turned to the others and exined the n.


    But when I finished exining, almost everyone had disappointed looks on their faces.


    I could naturally guess what they were thinking based on the looks on their faces, but this wasn''t the time for that. This was a dangerous area boss and my priority was naturally our safety.


    So I would pick the n that was the safest.


    However, I underestimated how willful they were.


    "We can fight it." ze and Kaito said at the same time in slow voices.


    The two of them were surprised to hear each other, but then they revealed smiles and nodded at each other.


    ze said, "As long as the two of us work together, it won''t be able to approach and we can pressure it."


    Kaito said with a nod, "My ck mes can even burn the demon kings from hell, naturally this mere cat is no match for it!"


    My lip couldn''t help twitching slightly when I heard him mention ''demon king'', but it was a good thing that they didn''t notice it.


    However, I still had something to say, "None of us were even able to keep up with it. Do you really think that you''ll be able to catch it if it doesn''t let us catch it?"


    Both of them slightly knitted their brows when they heard this, but then Kaito said, "Boss, as long as we have you, we''ll be able to catch it. Weren''t you able to keep up with it and tell me when to put up the wall?"


    I shook my head as I said, "I can''t maintain that state for long, so it''s not a good idea to depend on it."


    After a pause, I still said with a deep breath, "This is too dangerous. As the leader, I can''t ept a n like this."


    Then to my surprise, Long Shui Ling said, "How could we go back so easily though? They clearly looked down on us, looked down on you. How can we go back and let them look at us like that?"


    The others nodded in agreement, but I just didn''t care.


    I knew that there was nothing to gain from caring about what they thought, but it was clear that they did.


    If I backed down too much¡­that would be bad for my image as a leader¡­


    So I had to start weighing the pros and cons here¡­


    If I lost my image as a leader, that would be bad for the future.


    So I had to take a step back here and consider fighting this area boss.


    After all, it wasn''t impossible for us to defeat it if we worked together.


    After another pause, I said, "Alright, but you''ll have to listen to mymands. Understand?"


    When they heard this, all of their faces lit up and they nodded in agreement.


    With a sigh, I exined my other n.


    This was the one that I had thought of at the same time as the n to escape, but it was supposed to be a backup n.


    I guess we are using this backup n now.

 Chapter 220: Raid dungeon (12)

    After I finished telling them my n, they all moved ording to it.


    There was no hesitation at all, as if theypletely trusted me and my n.


    The first thing that happened was that Long Shui Ling raised her hand to summon a fog in the area around us. Or at least that was what it seemed like for the area boss.


    For us, we were able to quite clearly still.


    This fog was an illusion that would hide us from the area boss so that we could get in position while also making it hesitant to act.


    After the area boss tensed from not being able to see us anymore, we immediately spread out in different directions.


    While it would seem like this was a bad idea since this would just make it easier for the area boss to pick us off, that wasn''t the case because of Long Shui Ling''s abilities. And the other reason for this was¡­


    The area boss didn''t move since it didn''t dare move rashly when it couldn''t see the enemies. However, the moment that it could, it immediately swiped out at the enemy that it saw.


    This enemy was ripped in half and fell right in front of the area boss.


    The area boss couldn''t help revealing a surprised and confused look when it saw this.


    After all, it had been too easy to take down these enemies.


    The enemies from before had even managed to burn it, so it didn''t feel that it should have been this easy to cut them down.


    But before it could think more about this, there were more enemies that suddenly appeared.


    The moment that the area boss saw these enemies, it couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    That was because the new enemies that appeared looked just like the one that it had just cut down. Both of them had the same appearance as the one that it cut down and both of them were just slowly moving towards it.


    The area boss couldn''t help hesitating, but it couldn''t hesitate for long since the enemies were approaching.


    So in the end, it swiped out at the two enemies that approached.


    But this time, before it could cut them down, the two of them suddenly burst into mes.


    These were the same ck mes that had hurt it before, so it didn''t dare sh right at these two enemies. It pulled its attack back at thest second and jumped away from these two enemies,nding a distance away from them.


    But even then, the two of them slowly marched towards the area boss.


    The area boss was shocked to see these ming enemies marching towards it like they didn''t even feel the mes.


    At this point, the area boss waspletely confused and didn''t know what to do.


    Unfortunately, time wouldn''t wait for it.


    There were more enemies that suddenly appeared behind where itnded.


    These enemies looked exactly like the ones that it had seen before and just like those ones, these enemies burst into mes.


    The area boss knew that it was going to be surrounded at this rate, so it didn''t waste any time in jumping away from these enemies.


    It didn''t know where it was going, but it was better than being surrounded.


    But the moment that it jumped into the air, there were several balls of mes that appeared around it. These were the same ck me that had burned it before, so it knew that this was a very dangerous situation.


    These balls of ck mes danced around it, as if it was waiting for it to dodge.


    The area boss had no choice but to twist in the air in an attempt to dodge these balls of ck mes, but it was all in vain. The balls of ck mes danced all around it and waited until it couldn''t move anymore to suddenlye out at it.


    So in the end, the area boss was hit by one of the balls of ck mes.


    There was a wind wall that appeared around the area boss when this happened that scattered the ball of ck mes, but there were still burns that appeared on the area boss.


    It seemed like the area boss knew that it wouldn''t be able to avoid everything, so it had used this wind wall to block this one ball of ck mes that it wouldn''t be able to avoid.


    It was just too bad that it was already surrounded.


    When itnded, it found that it was surrounded by the enemies that were on fire.


    It wasn''t even able to jump out of this since there was a wall of mes that appeared above it.


    The only thing that this area boss could do was release its wind magic to attack the enemies around it, but it didn''t do anything. It was able to cut the enemies down, but the mes were still surrounding it.


    The ck mes kept getting closer and closer until¡­


    The area boss waspletely engulfed in the mes and stopped moving.


    It didn''t take long before the area boss had beenpletely burnt by the ck mes.


    It seemed that the fight was already over¡­


    ¡­


    As I watched the area boss being burnt to a crisp like this, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    After all, I never expected the area boss to be this easy to take down.


    All we had done was use the mummies as walking matchsticks to burn the area boss and it somehow wasn''t able to escape.


    The speed that it demonstrated previously should have been more than enough to avoid these mummies that had been tricked by Long Shui Ling''s illusions into thinking the area boss was an enemy. Yet it didn''t use that speed once to escape the blockade¡­


    What was supposed to only be a distraction had actually taken down the area boss just like that¡­


    Wasn''t this a bit too easy?


    It felt like there was something else that should have happened.

 Chapter 221: Raid dungeon (13)

    But in the end, nothing happened at all.


    The area boss was burnt to a crisp and there was even loot that dropped.


    I had to get Kaito to release the mes just as the corpse of the area boss disappeared or else the loot would have been burnt to a crisp just like the loot of the mummies that we used.


    After picking up the loot of the area boss, we didn''t dare stay in this area any longer.


    We had created quite themotion with the n to take down this area boss, so we should get out of here before being swarmed by the monsters that were still wandering around.


    It seemed like they still wanted to fight after we got away, but I immediately shot down that idea.


    After all, there was no doubt that the monsters would be in chaos once the area boss was cleared out.


    It was impossible that clearing out the area boss wouldn''t have any effect on this ce.


    So it was best to report back to camp that we had defeated the area boss and see what ns they had.


    It didn''t take us long to get back to camp, but when we walked in, we bumped into the group that had juste back. After all, we hadn''t been out that long, so they had only been able to have a meal before we came back.


    When they saw us walking into the camp, the leader of this group came forward with a wide smile that was filled with disdain as he said, "Well, well, well, look who came crawling back. Did you have too hard of a time fighting the monsters and came running back to camp for help? Well, it''s too bad that you''ll have to wait since we''re all too tired from doing your jobs for you."


    The other members of my group immediately revealed angry looks when they heard this, but I just ignored them as I walked into the camp.


    When they saw that I was ignoring them, the leader revealed an annoyed look and came forward as if he was about to stop me.


    But I just calmly said, "I have something important to report to the leader, please move out of the way."


    The leader of the other group couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when he heard this.


    It looked like I really had something important to say based on the serious look I had on my face. If he were to keep me from reporting in just because he wanted to show off, then he would be in trouble when the leader found out.


    So after a moment of hesitation, he said, "Alright, I''lle with you and see what this important news is."


    The look on his face made it clear that he was justing along to see me fail.


    It was clear that he didn''t believe that I had anything important to report, so he was justing so that he could make fun of me when the time came.


    Of course, I didn''t care about that as I headed towards the tent that Tie Gang was staying in.


    Since he was the leader, he received a tent all to himself.


    But at the same time, this was where centralmand was since he was the leader, so most meetings were held here as well.


    When we arrived, I asked the guards standing in front of the tent if Tie Gang was up and it turned out that he wasn''t.


    As the only A Ranker here, it was Tie Gang''s job to protect the camp if anything happened. So he was supposed to be resting at the same time as us, but he was busy, so he had been working before resting.


    It wasn''t strange that he was still asleep.


    The leader of the other group said, "Just leave the leader alone. It''s clear that you''re trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. You don''t have anything important to report."


    The guards looked like they agreed with this statement, but I still said, "It''s something very important that I need to report to the leader."


    The guards looked at me with hesitant looks.


    If it was anyone else, they might not have hesitated as much. But since it was Lin Fan, they had no choice but to hesitate since Tie Gang had told them about him.


    He had said that if it was Lin Fan and he said that it was important, they should report to him.


    So in the end, one of the guards said, "Alright, we''ll go talk to the leader and see what he thinks. But if he doesn''t want to talk to you, you can''t create a fuss, understand?"


    I just said with a nod, "Thank you."


    The guard gave a nod before going in.


    A minuteter, Tie Gang came out with a tired look on his face.


    It was clear that he had just woken up judging by the way that he was dressed, but he quickly invigorated himself and asked me, "What''s wrong?"


    I calmly said, "I have something important to report."


    Tie Gang narrowed his eyes to look at me for a few seconds before waving his hand and saying, "Alright, let''s go in and talk."


    He looked at the others who followed, but he didn''t stop them.


    When we came in, we all sat down around a table that had been ced there for us to hold meetings at.


    After sitting down, Tie Gang looked at me and asked, "What''s wrong? Did something happen?"


    I calmly looked at him and said, "We killed the area boss."


    "Huh?" That was the only response that followed when they heard this.


    Before Tie Gang could say anything, the leader of the other team suddenly said, "What nonsense is this! And here I thought that it was something important, but it turned out to be a bunch of lies from a fool!"


    Tie Gang raised his hand to stop him before looking at me with a serious look to say, "Little Brother Lin, this isn''t something that you can joke about."


    It was clear that he didn''t believe me either, but I couldn''t me him since it did seem too unbelievable.


    Instead of saying anything, I just waved my hand across the table and a pair of fangs appeared on it.

 Chapter 222: Raid dungeon (14)

    The moment that these fangs appeared, everyone knitted their brows.


    The leader of the other group was about to say something, but Tie Gang suddenly stood up. When he saw Tie Gang walking over towards me, he closed his mouth and revealed a smile as if he was expecting a good show.


    But Tie Gang didn''t act the way that he thought he would.


    Instead, Tie Gang walked over to the fang and picked it up. He brought them up in front of his face and looked at them closely for a bit, as if he was making sure of something. Find your next read at m v lem|p-yr


    After looking it over for a bit, he turned to one of his aides and said, "Go and call the appraiser for me."


    The aide was surprised, but they quickly gave a nod and ran off to fulfil this order.


    When they did, the leader of the other group knitted his brows as if he felt that something was off. However, he didn''t say anything since he knew that this wasn''t his ce to speak.


    The only thing that they could do now was wait for the appraiser to arrive.


    It only took a minute for the appraiser to arrive, Tie Gang''s aide really was effective.


    When the appraiser arrived, he immediately came over to Tie Gang''s side and asked, "Leader, did you need me for something?"


    Tie Gang just raised the fangs in his hand and said, "Appraise this for me."


    The appraiser was surprised, but he wasn''t that surprised. He was just caught off guard at being asked to appraise this thing right away, though he already expected it since that should be the only reason that he was called over.


    The appraiser didn''t waste any time in taking the fangs and then a shocked look appeared on his face.


    He looked it over a few more times, as if he was making sure that he had made the right appraisal before turning to Tie Gang to ask, "Boss, where did you get this?"


    When the appraiser said this, everyone except me revealed different expressions.


    The leader of the other team revealed knitted brows again.


    Tie Gang revealed a look like he was already expecting this.


    And my team revealed faint smiles as if they were waiting for vindication.


    Tie Gang just calmly said, "Tell me what it is first."


    The appraiser looked down at the fang before giving a slow nod and saying, "This is the fangs of a Guardian Cat, but¡­there''s only one Guardian Cat that was supposed to be in this dungeon¡­So unless it was taken out, then¡­"


    His voice trailed off since he didn''t want to make any assumptions, but the meaning behind it was clear.


    Guardian Cat.


    That''s right, that was the name of the area boss that I hadpletely forgotten about. I had only thought of it as an Egyptian Mau, but it seemed like it had quite the powerful name.


    Tie Gang gave a nod before turning back to look at me to say, "Tell me what happened."


    I gave a nod before telling him about what we had encountered.


    When it was over, the room was silent as everyone once again looked at me with strange looks.


    After this silencested for a bit, Tie Gang was the one who broke it.


    He revealed a wide smile and gave augh as he said, "Good, good, very good. I had been expecting us to take at least four or five days to get to the next safe zone, but it seems like we''ll be able to get there much sooner."


    He stood up and walked over to my side to pat my shoulder as he said, "You''ve really given me a pleasant surprise."


    I just gave a nod before saying, "I''m just doing my job."


    The leader of the other team had been silent the entire time, but he couldn''t remain silent anymore.


    "We should form a patrol team as soon as possible to protect the camp. By taking down the area boss like this, all that''ll happen is that the monsters will be thrown into chaos. Once that happens, they will certainlye for our camp."


    He turned to point his finger at me before following up with, "If this fool didn''t finish off the area boss ahead of time, we wouldn''t have to deal with this mess now."


    As soon as his voice fell, I knitted my brows along with the rest of my group.


    The way that he put this, he was trying to use his words to make it sound like we were in the wrong for taking down the area boss.


    To put it simply, he was gaslighting us.


    But Tie Gang didn''t fall for it as he said, "It''s strange that the area boss would even show itself in the first ce. The reports clearly state that it is prone to hiding itself and it should have taken us a while to even find it¡­So for it to show itself, it must mean that there''s something off with this dungeon¡­"


    All of us couldn''t help being shocked when we heard this.


    We wouldn''t be as shocked if it was anyone else, but if it was Tie Gang who said this, then we had no choice but to believe it.


    Tie Gang was silent as he looked like he was lost in deep thought.


    But then he said, "Alright, we''ll be gathering up and moving to the next safe zone tomorrow. Now that the area boss is out of the way, we''ll push for the next safe zone."


    The leader of the other group deeply knitted his brows before saying, "Leader, shouldn''t we wait a few more days for the monsters to settle? If we head out at this time, wouldn''t we be surrounded by these monsters?"


    Tie Gang shook his head before saying, "If there really is something off about this dungeon, we should make the second camp as soon as possible. It''s better if we spread ourselves out and give ourselves more room to operate, or else we''ll be the ones trapped when the timees."


    Then as if it was an afterthought, he added, "Not to mention, the monsters being active now will be a good chance to clear out the numbers for the future. So we''ll be carving our way to the next safe zone."


    The leader of the other group opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then he closed it again as he revealed a thoughtful look.


    Though he didn''t like it, he had to admit that he could see the benefits of doing it the way that Tie Gang wanted to.


    With two different camps, they would have much more space to work with and they would be able to support each other if something went wrong. So it was indeed better to go and create the camp as soon as possible.


    But to do that meant acknowledging the achievements of this group that he considered inferior to himself, which was something that really was hard for him to ept.


    In the end, he had no choice but to ept this since Tie Gang was the leader and he had already made his decision.


    So instead, he chose to vent his anger on me by ring at me.


    I just ignored him as he red at me.

 Chapter 223: Raid dungeon (15)

    Once the meeting was over, Tie Gang went to inform the support group of what was about to happen.


    After he left, the leader of the other team walked right up to me and said, "I don''t know what kind of tricks you used, but this kind of luck won''t be enough for you to show off. Just know that you won''t have beginner''s luck on your side next time."


    Without even giving me a chance to say anything, he bumped his shoulder into my shoulder and walked past me with a snort.


    When the others of my group saw this, they all revealed deeply knitted brows.


    ze and Kaito were even about toe forward to say something, but I raised my hand to stop them.


    Even if we were inpetition with each other, we were still in the same guild and more importantly, we were in the same raid dungeon group. Even if he was putting on an aggressive look, he didn''t dare to take things too far since he knew his limits.


    So this was within the limits of what I could endure.


    After all, if we made the first move, then he could do whatever he wanted.


    So we couldn''t make the first move.


    The others didn''t understand this logic as much since they were still young.


    They looked at me with gazes like they were asking me why they couldn''t do this, but I just shook my head and said, "We''re still in the same group right now. We still need to work together with them in this raid dungeon. There''s no need to create unnecessary conflict when we can turn the other cheek."


    They looked like they found this hard to ept, but they didn''t challenge me in the end since they could see the serious look on my face.


    But it really was hard to suck it up, even for me.


    I knew that they wouldn''t stop at just this, so I had to think of a way to deal with them in the future or else they would just cause even more trouble.


    If a few of the monsters were to suddenly charge them from behind¡­no, that would be too suspicious.


    I had to think of a way to take revenge without making it too obvious.


    This would also depend on the opportunities that were avable.


    So this was not something that could be forced.


    The first thing that I had to think about was what Tie Gang had said.


    It was indeed strange that the Guardian Cat had suddenly appeared in front of us and attacked us. There had to be something happening behind the scenes of this raid dungeon.


    So the first thing was to figure this out since my life was more important than anything else.


    Time passed and it was soon the next day.


    During this time, everyone had been preparing to set off for the next safe zone.


    However, it wasn''t as if everyone would be heading to the next safe zone. There would need to be a few people left behind to watch over this camp.


    That was where the group that had been in the center of the formation came in.


    Other than the supporters, there were also some weaker Awakeners that had been there that hade along as guards. They would be in charge of watching over the camp with the supporters that remained, making sure that nothing happened to it while we were gone.


    At the head of our formation was Tie Gang and he didn''t have a good look on his face.


    It wasn''t that there were a bunch of monsters blocking our way that made him look like this. Rather, it was because of ack of monsters that he had his brows knitted like this.


    There should have been some monsters that blocked their way, but there were barely any mummies wandering around. There wasn''t even a need to mention the scarabs since there weren''t any here.


    What was happening where these monsters that were supposed to be wandering around had suddenly disappeared like this?


    First there was the sudden appearance of the Guardian Cat and now there was the sudden disappearance of the normal monsters.


    This dungeon just didn''t make any sense at all¡­


    It was almost as if there was something controlling the monsters in the dungeon, but if that was the case¡­that would be very bad for them.


    This was a very rare case that was possible, but dungeon bosses had the ability to evolve. They had the ability to be stronger through unknown means and gain intelligence beyond what dungeon bosses should have.


    When that happened, the monsters and area bosses in the dungeon would start acting weirdly, going against the normal set patterns that they had¡­


    Tie Gang really hoped that this wasn''t the case since that would be disastrous for them.


    While this Pyramid was only a C Rank Dungeon, if the dungeon boss had really mutated, then it would bring this up to an A Rank Dungeon. A Rank Dungeons were dungeons that would be hard even for him, an A Ranker since he didn''t have his normal team with him.


    He just hoped that this wasn''t the case.


    After a long moment of silence, Tie Gang waved his hand and said, "Let''s go!"


    The rest of them all followed Tie Gang as he set off.


    The n was the same as yesterday where we had the vanguard create a path while us in the nk secured it.


    But with theck of monsters, there really wasn''t anything for us to secure.


    The vanguards were able to cut down the few monsters that were here and the supplyteam was able to easily make their way through.


    Even when we arrived at where we had been yesterday, we found that there weren''t any monsters wandering around at all.


    Just where had all of those mummies that we had seen yesterday gone?


    It really was strange¡­but at least it was a safe and easy journey.


    It only took us an hour to reach the second safe zone.

 Chapter 224: Raid dungeon (16)

    When we arrived at the second safe zone, Tie Gang didn''t give us even a second to rest as he immediately gave the order to set up camp.


    This time, we weren''t allowed to rest and all of us were called to help the supporters set up the camp.


    Other than those that had to guard the area, everyone was else called to help.


    It seemed like he really was worried about something with how he was acting.


    But of course, it wasn''t as if anyone would disobey his orders.


    So with everyone working together, we had set up the camp in just an hour.


    When the barriers went up, Tie Gang finally rxed and allowed everyone to rest up.


    But he made sure that there were always guards that were patrolling the area around the safe zone. This waspletely different from the camp in the first safe zone which had a much more rxed vibe to it.


    It was almost as if he was running a strict military camp now.


    However, once again, no one dared to go against him.


    Everyone knew that Tie Gang would have his reason for doing this, so they didn''t doubt him and just went along with what he was nning on doing.


    But the mood of the camp wasn''t good.


    It seemed like everyone was nervous because of the way that Tie Gang was acting. They could tell that there was something wrong with this raid dungeon that he was acting this way.


    If something was wrong with this dungeon, that meant that their lives were in danger¡­


    So it was only natural they were nervous.


    But at this point, it didn''t matter what they felt.


    Since they were trapped in this dungeon, they had to clear it or they wouldn''t be able to leave.


    So they just threw themselves into their work.


    That was the same for us since we had no idea what was happening, we just did what we could to prepare for the fights that woulde.


    But there was a wrench thrown into that n.


    While we were setting up our tent, Tie Gang suddenly came in.


    We were surprised to see him, but he just put a hand up to his mouth as if he was telling us to be silent before waving his hand at me, as if he wanted to talk to me.


    I raised a brow since I was surprised by this sudden appearance, but I still followed himout of the tent.


    The two of us made our way out of the camp and the safe zone, heading to an area that had no one else around. This was a ce that should have been filled with monsters, but was currently barren since the monsters had wandered off.


    After killing off the few monsters that were here, it was just the two of us left.


    Tie Gang looked at me and I looked back at him.


    In the end, I was the one that broke the silence, "Is something wrong that you needed to bring me all the way here?"


    Tie Gang gave a nod before shaking his head, almost as if he was hesitating over something. It almost seemed as if¡­he didn''t know what to say.


    That was very worrying.


    If even this A Ranker leader of our group didn''t know what to say in this situation, it seemed that the situation was much worse than I had expected.


    After another moment of silence, Tie Gang said, "I need your help, but this can''t be known by anyone. That is why we had to get away from the camp, there were too many ears that could hear our talk."


    I gave a slow nod, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for him to exin.


    Tie Gang took a deep breath and said, "We need to investigate the change with the dungeon, but we can''t let anyone know about this. To achieve this, I need your and Long Shui Ling''s help."


    I was surprised to hear this.


    It wasn''t the part about Long Shui Ling that I was surprised by since I knew what he wanted from her. It was more the part about me that I was surprised by since it didn''t feel like there was anything that I could do to help with this.


    Seeing the look on my face, Tie Gang said, "You shouldn''t underestimate yourself. I''ve seen what you can do and I know how strong your powers are. You''re someone that can ignore ranks and buff people, I need a trump card like that if something goes wrong."


    I looked at him in silence for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    I understood what he meant by this, but it must be very desperate if he was relying on this kind of power.


    After all, once he used it, he would be incapacitated until he was healed up.


    If he felt this worried, then whatever was in this dungeon must be very dangerous. Dangerous enough that he would even feel threatened by this.


    If that was the case, it was better to go along with his n since that would give us the greatest chance to survive.


    After all, there was no one stronger than Tie Gang in our group.


    If he went down, there was no way that we would be able to face the enemy that took him down.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "Alright, then how should we do this?"


    Tie Gang revealed an appreciative smile before exining his n with a serious look, "When we get back to the camp, we''ll need to¡­"


    After he finished exining, he didn''t waste any time in bringing us back to the camp.


    The longer that we were out alone, the more suspicion would be drawn.


    So we split up as soon as we entered the camp again.


    The rest of my group immediately swarmed me and asked me about what had happened, but it wasn''t as if I could tell them anything.


    Now, how should I exin this to Long Shui Ling?

 Chapter 225: Raid dungeon (17)

    To my surprise, but not that much¡­Long Shui Ling was quite easy to convince.


    I talked to her about it, but she didn''t even let me finish as she said, "If you''re going, then I''m going."


    The way that she stated this was like she was stating a fact that couldn''t be brokered with.


    She seemed like she really would chase me to the ends of the world if I ever ran away.


    Were the suggestions that I left in her that powerful?


    Or did she just have this kind of personality in the first ce?


    This really made me think that I didn''t know enough about her. Read next chapters on m vl-em-py-r


    The only reason that we were together in the end was because of Lilith''s prank.


    It seemed that I should take some time to learn more about her and not just about her family.


    Otherwise, it would be bad for me in the future if she suddenly did something I couldn''t expect.


    We just spent the rest of the day helping out in the camp.


    The time to go was when the camp went into night mode, when most of the main fighters of the group would be sleeping.


    That was also why we took quick naps in between our jobs.


    When ''night'' fell, the two of us were ready.


    I had used my Hypnosis to make the rest of our group fall asleep faster, so that they were all asleep when we snuck out.


    When we arrived at the edge of the camp, I found that Tie Gang was already waiting there for us.


    He waved his hand at the two of us when he saw us and we quickly went over. When we were standing there in that hidden corner, he asked, "Are you sure that no one followed you?"


    I gave a nod before looking over at Long Shui Ling.


    She just calmly said, "The illusions are still in ce and no one has found anything yet."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before turning to the makeshift barricade in front of us.


    This was part of the wall that had been built around the camp. It was supposed to protect us along with the barrier that was deployed.


    I didn''t understand why he was looking at this wall like this, but then he quickly showed me why.


    He took out a token that he pressed against the wall and there was a shift in the wall that happened. After a moment, there was a hole that appeared in the wall as the material moved out of the way.


    It was as if this wall was reacting to the token.


    The reason for that was¡­the wall was indeed reacting to the token.


    This wall was made of a special material that could be freely molded, which was how it was so easily transported and installed in this dungeon. It was a special material that changed shape based on the magic that was injected into it.


    This token was most likely some kind of special control for the wall that allowed him to create this hole.


    Once the wall had finished shifting to create this hole, Tie Gang walked through it without any hesitation before waving his hand behind him for them to follow.


    The two of them looked at each other before walking through the hole as well.


    But there was still the barrier that was outside of this wall that they had to deal with.


    Or at least that was what they thought.


    After going through the hole in the wall, Tie Gang turned around to use the token to close the hole before turning to use the token on the barrier. It took no time at all for a hole to appear in the barrier just like with the wall.


    After they went through the hole in the barrier, they were now out of the safe zone.


    Tie Gang closed the hole in the barrier with the token before waving at them to follow him again.


    The three of them quickly moved away from the camp before stopping somewhere to discuss what they would do.


    After all, Tie Gang hadn''t said a thing about what we would be doing when he talked to me in private earlier. He had just told me about the n to leave the camp without being detected, he hadn''t told me anything about what we were doing.


    Once we were in a ce to talk, Tie Gang pulled out a map that he spread out on the floor in front of us before pointing at a few spots on it, "This is where we are right now and this is where we will be going to verify my suspicions."


    The spot that he was pointing at was a spot that was past the five different safe zones on the first floor.


    This was the final room before the second floor, the room with the floor boss.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I saw this before asking, "Can we really go there alone? Are we able to do this by ourselves?"


    Tie Gang hesitated, but he still gave a nod in the end as he said, "If I have you supporting me, it should be possible." Then as if he thought of something, he added, "But in a worst case scenario, we can use this to run away."


    He pulled out a ball that he put in front of us.


    I looked at it carefully while he exined what it was.


    Emergency Escape Orb


    Allows a one time escape for all allies of the user within a ten meter range from a boss room.


    The appraisal of the item that I got with my system was the same as what he said, so I knew that he wasn''t lying. It seemed that he had prepared for everything, but if I had to guess, this was most likely supposed to be used for the final boss just in case anything happened.


    But instead, we were using it for this floor boss.


    Still, since Tie Gang trusted me with everything all the trump cards he had, I should at least trust him.


    So I asked, "How will we get there?"


    With a smile, he startedying out the route on the map.

 Chapter 226: Raid dungeon (18)

    As we headed through the dungeon, it was eerily quiet.


    That was because¡­the monsters that should have been here were all missing.


    There were very few monsters wandering about, even the area in between the safe zones had very few monsters.


    When we saw this, Tie Gang couldn''t help wanting to make a few detours.


    We headed to the location of some of the area bosses, but we found that they too were missing.


    It was as if this entire dungeon had been cleared out already.


    But that shouldn''t be the case since there was a record of whoes and goes into the dungeon. It was impossible for anyone to sneak into this raid dungeon since it was guarded by the Awakener Association with the most advanced surveince equipment.


    So where did the monsters and area bosses go?


    All three of us knew that there was something very much wrong with this dungeon when we saw all of this.


    I felt like we should go back to the camp and bring everyone, but Tie Gang insisted on going to check the floor boss.


    So we had no choice but to go with him.


    But the results were not what we had expected.


    The floor boss was also a mummy, but it was on apletely different level.


    It was a mummy that was twice asrge and more than four times as powerful, with a magic weapon. This floor boss was regarded as a C Rank Boss Monster, but that meant that it should be easy for Tie Gang to fight.


    It was just too bad that this floor boss wasn''t there.


    When we arrived at the chamber with the stairs leading up to the next floor, we found that the sarcophagus that should have contained the floor boss was empty.


    It was opened up and the boss that should have been inside was gone.


    The stairs leading to the next floor weren''t guarded at all.


    As we stood there at the entrance of this room, we couldn''t help deeply knitting our brows as we stared at this open sarcophagus.


    After standing there for a bit, we slowly made our way into the room. As we stepped in, the torches around us suddenly lit up as if it was reacting to our presence.


    However, there was nothing for them to light up since this was an empty room.


    Everything that should have been here was gone, including the treasure that should have been scattered all around the room.


    It was as if whatever had been here had been cleaned out by something.


    Tie Gang went over to the sarcophagus to take a closer look at it, as if he wanted to find some clues as to where the floor boss had gone.


    But for me, I was more interested in the lid of the sarcophagus on the ground. Join us at m_v le mpyr


    I looked closely at this lid and revealed a frown as I realized something.


    Tie Gang saw the look on my face, so he turned to ask, "Is something wrong?"


    I didn''t react at first, but then I gave a slow nod before pointing at the lid on the ground.


    Tie Gang looked at it, but then he revealed a confused look as he didn''t understand what I was implying by pointing at it.


    So I exined, "The way that this lid is facing, it''s clear that this sarcophagus was opened from the inside instead of something opening it from the outside."


    Tie Gang revealed a heavy look when he heard this as he understood what I was implying.


    For this sarcophagus to be opened from the inside, there were only two possibilities.


    One was that someone had triggered this floor boss fight and that had caused the floor boss to open the sarcophagus from the inside. The other was that the floor boss had opened it up all on its own and then left this ce on its own.


    The former was clearly the better option of the two.


    If it was someone that had snuck in and killed the boss, then that would be much safer than if there was something changing about this dungeon.


    After all, if this room had been cleared out because of a change with the dungeon boss, that would greatly increase the difficulty of this dungeon.


    After a long moment of silence, Tie Gang decisively said, "We have to go back."


    Both of us nodded in agreement to this.


    We had snuck out to see what we could find, but what we found was just too important to keep to ourselves.


    We had to go back and bring everyone or else who knows what would have happened.


    As we were heading back, Tie Gang couldn''t help saying, "What are the chances that someone snuck through the guards and entered this dungeon without any documentation?"


    I revealed a bitter smile and looked at him without saying anything.


    He also revealed a bitter smile and shook his head as he said, "Alright, alright, I get it."


    With a sigh, he said, "We''ll just have to do what we can to survive. If ites down to it, I''ll eveny my life down so that everyone can get out."


    The bitter smile on my face became even more bitter when I heard this.


    This was the reason I just couldn''t get along with Tie Gang¡­


    Every time we did anything, he would always raise a death g like this and this time, it was a death g that included all of us!


    If he wanted to die, he should just keep it to himself instead of dragging all of us into it like this!


    Now we basically had a target on the back of our heads for fate to strike us down¡­


    But he was still needed for us to get out of here, so I patted him on the back as I said, "I hope so too."


    He looked at me with a strange look, but he didn''t say anything else.


    It would be a lie to say that I didn''t use a bit too much strength when I patted him on theback.

 Chapter 227: Raid dungeon (19)

    When we went back to the camp, Tie Gang didn''t even bother hiding himself as he walked right through the front gates of the camp.


    The guards at the gates were naturally shocked to see him since as far as they knew, he was still in the camp.


    So when he suddenly arrived at the entrance of the camp, they immediately raised their weapons to point at him out of fear that he was a fake. However, they immediately lowered their weapons once they saw him pulling out his ID to prove that he was real.


    The guards opened the gates and let us in, but there were a few of them that ran off to alert the camp of this.


    By the time that we entered the camp, there was already a crowd that gathered.


    There were some familiar faces among this crowd, such as my group and the other group that we had shed with today. As well, there were a bunch of different supporters who hade out to see what was happening.


    Naturally there was a lot of noise with this many people gathered, but Tie Gang made them all quiet down with a single raise of his hand.


    Once they settled, Tie Gang said, "We''re holding an emergency meeting. There''s something important that I need to discuss with everyone."


    The moment that they heard this, everyone in the camp revealed serious looks.


    There was no time wasted as everyone gathered in the center of the camp where a podium had been set up. They didn''t hold this meeting in the tent since there was no tent that was big enough to hold everyone, so they were holding it in the middle of the camp.


    Long Shui Ling and I were about to go back to our group, but Tie Gang stopped us and pulled us to the front with him.


    Since we were pulled to the front, we immediately became the center of attention.


    There were many curious gazes that fell onto us since there were few people that recognized us. But the ones that did all revealed different gazes.


    Our group looked at us with confused and inquisitive looks, as if they were asking us what was happening. However, it wasn''t as if we could answer their questions in this situation.


    The other group that looked at us with different gazes was the other group of Awakeners that had shed with us the other day.


    As for the emotion behind this gaze, it was naturally hostile.


    They didn''t understand why we were with the leader, but the way that they looked at us made it seem like they thought that it should be them in our ce.


    Simply put, they were jealous that we were showing off while they were stuck in the crowd.


    After everyone had gathered, Tie Gang went right up to the podium and said, "There''s something wrong with this raid dungeon."


    As soon as his voice fell, there was a silence that followed.


    Everyone just looked at Tie Gang with a strange and confused look.


    After all, they had no idea what he was talking about.


    Though they had already heard him mention that there was something off about this dungeon, they had never heard the specifics. They only knew that he was supposed to be looking into this, so they didn''t know why he would suddenly make this announcement.


    Tie Gang paused as if he was letting this set in before saying, "I just went to check the floor boss room and it waspletely empty."


    Once again, he waited for a bit as if he was letting them process this.


    This time, there was a much bigger reaction elicited from everyone.


    After all, they all knew what it meant for the floor boss room to be empty.


    In the end, one of the Awakeners slowly asked, "Does that mean¡­that there are others who are in this dungeon with us?"


    As soon as his voice fell, there were all kinds of different arguments that rang out.


    "That''s impossible! How could they slip through the surveince of the Awakener Association!"


    "It''s not impossible, there have been cases of this in the past."


    "Wait, wait, why are you all just assuming that they entered through the main entrance? What if there was a secret entrance to this dungeon that we didn''t know about? It''s very possible that they could have taken that secret entrance."


    Though they discussed this, there wasn''t a single person who was facing the other possibility of why the floor boss wasn''t there.


    Or rather, it was as if they were trying their best to ignore it.


    But in the end, they couldn''t ignore it.


    It could even be said that Tie Gang wouldn''t let them forget about this.


    He pped his hand down to get everyone''s attention before saying, "That is only one possibility, we can''t ignore the other possibilities."


    As soon as he said this, everyone revealed ugly expressions.


    After all, the other possibility was that there was a mutation with the dungeon boss and that was causing the strange moments of the monsters in this dungeon.


    If that was the case, this would be much more dangerous for them.


    Tie Gang ignored these ugly expressions and slowly said, "Right now, what''s important is making a decision. We need to decide whether we will stay in this dungeon and clear it, or let someone escape and bring a message back to the guild while the rest of us wait for a rescue."


    There were many different expressions that appeared in response to this.


    There were some that seemed to be considering the second option based on the looks on their faces, but there were many that seemed like they would rather die.


    They were here for achievements and if they backed down now, it would look bad on them.


    But the main reason why they felt confident in staying was because of one thing, Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang was a famous A Ranker and this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon.


    They believed that even if there was a mutation with the dungeon boss, an A Ranker like Tie Gang would be able to carry them. So they weren''t afraid of taking this challenge.


    They were Awakeners after all, people that had the courage to challenge dungeons for their own benefits in the first ce.


    They wouldn''t be afraid of a little challenge like this since this was what kind of personality they had.


    Tie Gang knew this, so he didn''t bother giving any other information himself.


    Instead, he gestured to me and Long Shui Ling to say, "These two will now present what they found and you can decide what to do based on that."


    Long Shui Ling and I were both caught off guard when we heard this.


    We knew that Tie Gang had called us up with him for a reason, but we didn''t know what that reason was.


    Now that we had heard this reason, we were even more taken aback since¡­we didn''t know what to say. Or rather, we didn''t know what he wanted us to say.


    We didn''t find anything, so it wasn''t as if there was much for us to say.


    But before we could say anything, there was a voice that suddenly said, "I have an objection!"

 Chapter 228: Raid dungeon (20)

    After this voice rang out, everyone turned in the direction it came from to see who it was.


    Though I didn''t need to turn to know who this voice belonged to.


    It turned out to be the leader of the other group.


    He was pointing at me as he made this objection and only when he got everyone''s attention did he continue.


    "I don''t believe that this person should be in charge of something this important. Someone like him shouldn''t be allowed to do something this important."


    The leader of the other group turned around and said, "He''s barely joined our guild and he''s someone with a F Rank power. Someone like that can''t be trusted when things go poorly. He is not someone that we can trust to remain strong in the face of danger."


    As he said this, he turned to the others in the crowd, as if he was inciting them.


    But the way that he said this resonated with the people in the crowd as some of them nodded in agreement with this.


    To put it simply, it was because of myck of reputation that they were acting this way.


    They didn''t know me as opposed to the leader of this group who was a well known member of the guild.


    The leader of this other group was a B Ranker named Johnny, who was known as The Constrictor because of his special binding technique. He was someone that many people looked up to, so he was someone that could move the crowd.


    Now that he was calling me out like this, naturally people would start to question me.


    Tie Gang slightly knitted his brows when he heard this before saying, "I''m the one that chose him because his skills are useful." Then he added after a pause, "Plus, I was the one that deemed his abilities to be useful, so it was my choice to make. As well, he is a C Ranked Irregr now, so I hope that you will remember that."


    Everyone looked at Tie Gang with surprised looks.


    After all, not a single person thought that he would go this far to defend Lin Fan.


    They couldn''t help wondering if there was indeed some kind of special rtionship between Lin Fan and Tie Gang like they had thought.


    They had seen how Tie Gang had treated Lin Fan before they came into the raid dungeon¡­


    That was not something that could be easily misunderstood.


    After a moment of silence, Johnny still took a deep breath and said, "Regardless, this is a matter that concerns all of our lives. I do not think that this is something that should be treated so casually. We should make sure that we have the best people on this instead of people who use rtions."


    Once again, he invoked the sentiment of the crowd to support him.


    He knew what kind of power the crowd had and what kind of effect his words would have on them, so he was making full use of this.


    I slightly knitted my brows when I saw him acting this way.


    It seemed that I had underestimated this man¡­


    I had thought that he was just a loud fool based on how he had acted yesterday, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    There was a reason why he was chosen toe and there was a reason why he was a B Rank Awakener associated with Elementia.


    He was not someone that was an emptymp.


    But since he seemed to have a grudge against me¡­it might be better to take him out in the future. He wouldn''t be needed in Elementia when I took over¡­


    After a moment of silence, Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "You''re right, we should have the best people on the job."


    Everyone was surprised to hear Tie Gang agreeing with Johnny like this.


    Even Johnny couldn''t help looking at him with a surprised look at first, but then he revealed a smug smile as if he thought that he had already won.


    But then Tie Gang''s next words cut right into his pride and made his smile turn stiff.


    "That''s why I chose him. His skills were more suited to this situation than yours."


    Johnny''s lips twitched a few times before he said, "How can you say that a F Ranked power is greater than mine? Even if you are our leader, I won''t stand here and let you insult me like this."


    When I heard what he said, I finally got a good idea of what kind of person he was.


    He was someone who took great pride in his power and looked down on those that had low ranked powers. This was why he had been picking on me the entire time since he couldn''t stand that I had reached my current position in the first ce.


    But for me¡­these kinds of people were annoying to deal with.


    It was clear that unless his pride was properly shattered, he wouldn''t give up¡­


    However, there was nothing for me to gain from shattering his pride.


    This would be very troublesome in the future for me to deal with.


    But Tie Gang had another idea in his mind.


    Tie Gang looked right at Johnny who was taken aback by this gaze.


    He didn''t know what Tie Gang was thinking, but it felt like it wasn''t anything good with the way that he looked at him.


    After a moment of silence, Tie Gang said, "You think that you''re stronger than him? Then prove it."


    Everyone was shocked when they heard this before turning to look at Tie Gang with confused looks.


    What did he mean by this?


    Tie Gang quickly exined by saying, "Prove that you''re stronger in a fight. If you are, then you''ll be the one I choose next time. If not, then you have to apologize and drop this matter."


    It wasn''t just Johnny that didn''t know how to respond, even I didn''t know how to respond to this.


    But there was one thing that I did have to say.


    "Why do you keep dragging me into these things!"

 Chapter 229: Raid dungeon (21)

    Johnny looked at Tie Gang as if he couldn''t tell if he was joking or not.


    When he realized that Tie Gang was being serious, he slowly asked, "Are you sure that you want to do this?"


    Tie Gang just said with a faint smile, "Weren''t you saying that you were stronger than him?"


    Johnny knitted his brows when he heard this and I couldn''t help thinking, "Why are you provoking him?"


    Finally, Johnny gave a snort before saying, "Then don''t me me for not holding back."


    Tie Gang gave a nod, but he still said, "No killing though. This will be a friendly spar to settle your differences." His eyes turned sharp as he said, "Do you understand?"


    Johnny gave a nod to show that he did.


    He wasn''t a fool, he could guess what Tie Gang was thinking.


    But this was a chance for him since it would allow him to demonstrate his superiority over this F Ranked kid.


    He didn''t actually have any ill intentions towards Tie Gang since he respected Tie Gang as an A Ranker. He just couldn''t stand that this kid was able to get so close to him even though he was a F Ranker.


    If he could show his power and catch Tie Gang''s eye at the same time, then that would be the best situation for him.


    So he would crush this kid.


    During all of this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile on my face.


    This was the worst case scenario for me.


    It seemed that whenever I associated with Tie Gang, things would always turn out poorly for me since he did all these things that I could never expect¡­


    But it wasn''t as if I could back down now.


    He had dered this in front of everyone, so I had to take this fight or else my reputation would take arge hit.


    The only thing that I could do now was make a solemn vow that I would try to avoid Tie Gang as much as possible in the future.


    Tie Gang turned back to me and asked, "Are you fine with the fight?"


    I just gave a simple nod without saying anything.


    When Johnny saw me acting calm and collected like this, he couldn''t help revealing a hostile look as he red at me. It was as if he thought that I was disrespecting him by acting this way.


    I just shook my head again when I saw this since I knew that there was no way of reasoning with someone like this.


    After this was decided, no one wasted any time as they prepared a ring for us to fight in.


    This was a ring that was set up in the center of the camp, so that everyone could watch the fight.


    While the ring was being prepared, my group came over to talk to me.


    "You got this!" That was what ze and Kaito said as soon as they came over.


    They seemed like they were excited to watch me fight even though I clearly didn''t want to.


    Judging by the looks on the faces of the others, it seemed like they were all expecting me to teach Johnny a lesson.


    These kids really didn''t know how to hide their emotions at all¡­


    The only ones that had worried looks were ire and Qin Yue Ru.


    Though one of them clearly had a more worried look than the other.


    I just raised my hand to calm them down and said, "I''ll be fine. This is just a spar, so it isn''t as if he will be out to kill. Even if he was, there will be others watching, so they will stop him if it goes too far."


    Qin Yue Ru gave a nod, but ire didn''t react.


    She looked right at me and said, "Why did you sneak off with¡­her?"


    When she said ''her'', she turned to look at Long Shui Ling standing beside me. The look in her eyes made the hostility that she was feeling clear, but Long Shui Ling didn''t back down.


    I revealed a bitter smile before saying, "It was the leader that called us out. You were there when he called us out to talk, that was what he wanted to talk to us about. It wasn''t as if we had a choice, right?"


    There was a tense silence that hung in the air as she didn''t say a thing.


    The others were all looking at me like I was a dense idiot, but Ipletely ignored them.


    The minute that I addressed this, the illusion that had been created would be shattered.


    Finally, the others on the side couldn''t take it anymore and said, "That''s right, boss! You should have at least given us some kind of heads up so we weren''tpletely caught off guard."


    "It''s your fault for leaving us in the dark like that."


    I was about to say something in response to this, but before I could, ire suddenly took a step forward.


    No one was able to react to what she was doing, so no one was able to stop her.


    She suddenly came forward in front of me and then stood up on her tiptoes to reach my face before cing a kiss on my cheek.


    When she pulled away, she had a blush on her face as she said, "That was for good luck."


    Without even giving me a chance to say anything, she turned and walked off.


    There was a silence that hung in the air as no one was able to react to this.


    But then there were many sly looks that were cast in my direction.


    However, the only emotion that I could feel was bitterness at her suddenly making her move like this.


    After all, I could feel the chill and pressureing from beside me.


    There was someone that was very upset about this and when she was upset, that meant that her family would be upset.


    Her family was not something that I could deal with right now¡­


    So I decided to ignore it all as I went to face Johnny.


    It was definitely running away, but I was running away with determination.

 Chapter 230: Raid dungeon (22)

    The arena had been quickly prepared, it didn''t even take fifteen minutes.


    When it was done, Johnny was the first one in.


    With the way that he stood there, it was clear that he was trying to show off and make himself out as the one that was in the right.


    He was making me seem like thezy one, the untrustworthy one, the one that no one should support.


    And it seemed like it was working based on the whispers that I could hear.


    "Look at that, Johnny''s been waiting for over five minutes now and his opponent is still nowhere to be seen."


    "You don''t think he ran away, right?"


    "Psh, a F Ranker wanting to fight against a B Ranker? What a joke. It''s clear that he bought his C Rank Irregr License with money, how else could he have gotten it?"


    "Shh, don''t say that. Even if it is fake, it was something that was epted by our guild. If you say too much, it''ll seem like you''re criticizing the guild."


    "Humph, I just hope that this will open the eyes of certain people and they''ll kick him out when the timees."


    It was clear that the crowd didn''t favour me, but that was to be expected.


    With the difference in reputation and all the seeds that Johnny had sown, it was clear who they would support.


    But of course, I wouldn''t give up that easily.


    If I did, I wouldn''t havee in the first ce.


    So while everyone was badmouthing me, I walked right up into the arena and stood there in front of Johnny.


    He was surprised to see how calm I was, but he was only silent for a second before he said, "I''m surprised that you didn''t run away. But now that it''se to this, know that I won''t show you any mercy."


    I just calmly looked at him and said, "I don''t need any."


    Johnny couldn''t help being taken aback when he heard this, but then he said with a snort, "Trying to act tough now. Don''t regret itter that you didn''t beg for mercy when you could have."


    I didn''t bother answering this and just stood there facing him head on.


    Johnny was once again taken aback when he saw me looking at him like this, but then he gave a snort as if he could see through me.


    The way that he looked at me seemed like he was thinking that I was just acting tough.


    But I didn''t care since I only had one thing that I needed to do.


    Seeing that we were both prepared, Tie Gang who was in charge of the fight said, "Now, I want a fair and clean fight from both of you. Do you understand?"


    We looked over and I gave a nod.


    Johnny only gave a nod after hesitating a bit, as if there was something that he wanted to say.


    But Tie Gang just ignored him and said, "Then begin."


    As soon as he said this, Johnny turned to look at me while raising his hand.


    When his hand raised, there was this magic fluctuation that came from him.


    He was clearly using his ability.


    Johnny''s ability was the B Rank Vine Control, so as soon as he raised his hand, there were vines that poked out of the ground.


    He must have scattered the seeds in the ground earlier when he had been waiting in the arena. Or else, it would have been impossible for vines to suddenly appear out of nowhere like this.


    When I saw this, I just simply muttered under my breath, "Stronger and faster."


    With a swing of my sword, I cut right through the vines with the burning de in my hand.


    Before swinging, I had made sure to put one of the me talismans that I received onto my sword.


    The vines didn''t stand a chance at all against this ming sword.


    But the fact that I had used the talisman drew quite a bit of criticism.


    "Look at that, he can''t even use his own powers to fight. He has to use the borrowed powers of the talisman¡­"


    "Shh, don''t say it so loud or else Tie Gang will hear you. It''s clear that there''s an unspoken rtionship between them."


    "Humph, all he can do is rely on money and rtions unlike us who had to work hard for everything that we have."


    It was clear that they weren''t happy with me and thought that I was some kind of spoiled brat who relied on money to get what I had.


    Of course, this was all because of the seeds that Johnny had sown.


    But I ignored them and focused on Johnny.


    He had a surprised look on his face when he saw that I had cut up his vines, but he didn''t remain idle for long.


    He quickly summoned more vines and he took a different approach. Instead of sending them all at once, he was sending them forward in irregr intervals.


    He was nning on using this irregr timing to catch me off guard.


    It was just too bad that I was already prepared for this. I easily dodged the ones that I could dodge and then cut down the ones that I couldn''t.


    There seemed to be no problem at all as I avoided all the vines that came at me.


    At the same time, I could see that he was getting tired from controlling so many vines to attack me. The vines were getting slower and slower, making it easier for me to dodge.


    What was his end n here?


    As I was wondering this, there was a vine that suddenly came from behind me that grabbed my leg.


    When I looked down, I found that it was a vine that I had cut that had suddenly regrown itself.


    That was it!


    He had been nning on creating a trap and was waiting for me to fall into it like I had just now.


    It seemed that I had given him too little credit.

 Chapter 231 : Raid dungeon (23)

    The vines quickly wrapped around my body and soon I found that I wasn''t able to move.


    The vines were even so tight that it felt like my body was going a bit numb.


    As expected of someone who had the nickname Constrictor.


    But it was clear that he was going a bit further than he normally would since he didn''t like me.


    The way that I was caught in the vines, it seemed like I was finished.


    There were many people that had smiles on their faces when they saw this, as if they were just waiting to see what Johnny would do to me.


    The only reason he didn''t go any further was because Tie Gang was watching.


    He knew that once it went too far, Tie Gang would step in and stop him. So he was trying to keep it at an eptable level so that he could torture me some more.


    He was just waiting to see how Tie Gang would react.


    Tie Gang''s brows were slightly knit as he looked at me, but I just shook my head at him to show that I wasn''t giving up yet. So in the end, Tie Gang just crossed his arms and remained silent, as if he was going to stay out of this.


    Johnny revealed a surprised look when he saw this.


    He thought that it would be over once he had caught this kid, but it seemed that Tie Gang was waiting to see how it ended.


    Did that mean that he was supporting him or did that mean that this kid had some kind of trump card?


    Johnny didn''t dare let his guard down, but he dide closer as he tightened the vines.


    He walked up so that he was right in front of me and looked at me with a smile on his face.


    As he stood there, it was clear that his guard was down since he thought that he had won.


    In a calm voice, he said, "Why don''t you give up? It''s clearly over. If you give up now, I''ll be gentle. But if you don''t¡­then you can''t me me for what''s going to happen."


    I had my head down as if I was in pain, but then I suddenly looked up and said, "You feel dizzy."


    Johnny was caught off guard when he heard this and before he could react, there was a wave of nausea that suddenly washed over him.


    He didn''t know where this feeling came from, but he felt that it was very hard for him to concentrate like this.


    It was even hard for him to stand up straight like this, so he couldn''t help wobbling as that nausea assaulted him.


    I saw that wobble and felt the vines loosening around me, so I said under my breath, "Stronger."


    After saying that, I pushed my way out of the vines with my increased strength.


    The vines weren''t able to withstand it at all as I ripped them apart.


    In the end, I brought my sword in front of Johnny and put it up to his neck.


    During this time, he had still been affected by the nausea, so he wasn''t able to stop me.


    He wasn''t even able to see what happened since he was too affected by the nausea that hit him that made it hard for him to see anything.


    When it finally went away, all he saw was that I was in front of him and I had a sword at his throat.


    Johnny had wanted to do something, but the moment that he tried moving his hand, he found that there was a sharp pain that came from neck. It was the sword cutting into him, which made a bit of bloode down from his neck.


    It was as if he moved even the slightest, he would be cut down by this sword.


    Once things had gotten to this point, it wasn''t as if he was able to do anything else.


    Tie Gang revealed a faint smile before saying, "That''s the end of that."


    There was only shock that followed after he said this as everyone couldn''t believe what just happened.


    Not a single one of them could understand how I had just reversed that situation that seemed like it was a dead end for me.


    After all, not a single one of them would have known that it was my n to get caught.


    Getting caught didn''t seem like a viable strategy, but I knew that someone with pride like this was someone who let their guard down easily once they thought that they had the victory.


    I knew that once it seemed like he had won, Johnny would give me the perfect opportunity to exploit.


    So instead of stopping his vines from wrapping around me when I saw them appear under me, I just let them constrict me so he thought that he had caught me.


    As for what happened after, this was the result.


    After Tie Gang announced the result, I didn''t pull my sword away from Johnny''s neck right away.


    I just carefully watched to see what he was nning on doing, but it didn''t seem like he was nning on doing anything.


    I had been careful since in situations like this, people with high pride like Johnny would usually lose control and try to do something irrational.


    It was a good thing that he didn''t do that in the end.


    So I slowly moved my sword away from his neck and turned to walk away.


    But I was right that he wouldn''t let it end there.


    It was just that he wasn''t nning on using action to change the situation.


    He was nning on using his words.


    "I don''t ept the results of this duel!"


    As soon as he said this, everyone turned to look at Johnny with strange looks, but he ignored them all.


    He just pointed his finger at me and shouted, "He cheated! There is no other exnation!"

 Chapter 232 : Raid dungeon (24)

    There was silence that followed after Johnny shouted this, but it didn''t take long before the crowd started backing him up.


    There were all kinds of cries that supported what Johnny said, though most of them sounded like nonsense.


    There were a few people that remained silent since they knew that it wasn''t as simple as this. However, the majority of the crowd went along with Johnny, so it wouldn''t be good for them if they said anything.


    A funny thing was that the ones that chose to remain silent were¡­the higher ranked Awakeners.


    It was only those lower ranked Awakeners who didn''t know what happened that supported Johnny.


    Being stirred on by the crowd, Johnny didn''t stop as he started making all kinds of usations. He even went as far as calling me a demon who worked for the demon king that had infiltrated human society.


    At this point, he hadpletely lost control and was just making a fool of himself.


    If only he knew that he had actually hit the nail on the head¡­but I wasn''t just a demon, rather I was the demon king himself.


    Still, it wasn''t as if I would ever admit that since there was nothing to gain from admitting this.


    In the end, it was Tie Gang who stopped him by saying, "Silence."


    His voice wasn''t loud or soft, but it cut through all the voices that were speaking.


    As soon as he spoke, everyone immediately fell silent.


    It wasn''t because of the prestige that he had, but rather because of the pressure that he was putting out.


    This was the moment that everyone realized just what it meant to be an A Ranker.


    He hadn''t had to use this pressure before because they were supposed to be working together. Using fear to make everyone submit was not a good tactic for a leader since it made it harder for them to trust each other.


    He tried to get everyone to willingly work with each other, but now he realized that it was impossible.


    Since it was impossible for them to get along, then he had no qualms about using fear since it was the only option left to him.


    After they all fell silent with shocked looks on their faces, Tie Gang looked at Johnny and said, "Have you embarrassed yourself enough? Didn''t you say that you would willingly ept your loss?"


    Johnny had an ugly expression on his face before saying, "I did say that, but it''s clear that he must have cheated! How could someone like him with F Rank powers affect someone like me who is a B Ranker? Unless he used some kind of cheat, it is impossible for it to turn out like this."


    His tone was firm like he had absolute faith in his words.


    When he put it like this, it did make hisints logical.


    But those that knew naturally knew the reason why his powers could affect him.


    Tie Gang just calmly said, "He didn''t use anything special, he just simply used his powers."


    Johnny''s face twisted before he said, "I don''t believe it!"


    Tie Gang gave a sigh before saying, "Do you know what his powers are?"


    Johnny waspletely taken aback when he was asked this question. After looking at Tie Gang with a confused look for a bit, he slowly said, "Isn''t it the F Rank Suggestion?"


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "And why do you think that it wouldn''t affect you?"


    Johnny was even more confused, but he still stuck to his guns, "Because I''m a B Ranker! My mental defenses are far beyond what a F Ranker like him can prate, so I don''t believe that he would be able to use his powers on me!"


    Tie Gang shook his head when he heard this. When he looked back at Johnny, his eyes had a look in them like he was looking at a fool as he slowly said, "Who said anything about rank? If you read the package that you were given, you would have known that his power doesn''t have anything to do with rank or mental defenses, it all depends on will. Enjoy stories on m_v lem|p-yr


    If his will is stronger than yours, then he can use his powers on you."


    Johnny had a look of absolute disbelief as he said, "How can a F Ranker have a stronger will than me, a B Ranker? I refuse to believe that!"


    Tie Gang once again shook his head before saying, "Is that so? From what I can see, it doesn''t seem like your will is that great if you''reining like a little child like this. It seems like I have to report this when we get back."


    Johnny''s face once again twisted when he heard this.


    He could understand what Tie Gang meant by these words and he knew that now even his future was in danger¡­


    So he had to go all out.


    "I won''t back down even if you try to use your position and connections to suppress me! I will speak up against injustice!"


    The way that he was acting now, he was painting the picture as if Tie Gang was trying to unjustly suppress him and it worked since he had the crowd on his side.


    Though they didn''t say anything, it was clear by the looks on the faces of the crowd that they supported Johnny in this matter.


    Tie Gang knew that if he didn''t do anything, it would affect the cooperation of their team.


    So he used the most simple method to deal with this.


    "You don''t think that his ability should be able to affect you? Then there''s a very simple way to solve this."


    Everyone was surprised to hear this, but they could already guess what Tie Gang meant by this.


    Yes, there was a very simple way of proving this, but they never thought that he would actually go through with it.


    They all thought that he was using his power to suppress Johnny, so he wouldn''t actually use this method.


    But now that didn''t seem to be the case.

 Chapter 233: Raid dungeon (25)

    Johnny narrowed his eyes to look at Tie Gang before asking, "Are you sure about this?"


    It was as if he couldn''t believe what Tie Gang was saying.


    Tie Gang looked right back at him and said, "Isn''t this what you wanted? Why are you so hesitant now?"


    Johnny didn''t know why he was acting this way either.


    This should have been an opportunity for him, but he couldn''t help feeling a bad feeling. It was almost as if he was being baited into a trap by something and he didn''t like this feeling.


    So there was a part of him that didn''t want to agree to this.


    But in the end, he had no choice but to agree.


    It wasn''t that he was ignoring his better judgement, it was because of the pressure that came from around him.


    The gazes that the crowd gave him¡­even if he didn''t want to do this, he had no choice but to ept Tie Gang''s proposal. Otherwise, he would never be able to hold his head up high again.


    So Johnny took a deep breath and said, "Alright, since you''re willing to do this, then there''s no reason for me to not go along with this. I just hope that you will not go back on this decision when the timees."


    Tie Gang just revealed a faint smile as he looked at Johnny and said, "I should say the same to you."


    Johnny couldn''t help knitting his brows again as the bad feeling inside of him became stronger, but he didn''t back down.


    He just turned to look at me who had been standing there silently this whole time.


    I of course knew what they were talking about, so now it was my turn.


    I took a step forward so that I was right in front of him and when I stood there, Johnny said, "I will expose you for the cheat and liar that you are. Don''t think that you''ll be able to get away with this."


    I just gave a sigh and said, "You really should try listening to others, it will be much easier for you."


    Johnny gave a snort before revealing a determined look.


    It was as if he was trying to put on a face that said he wouldn''t buckle no matter what I did.


    I just gave another sigh before saying, "You feel dizzy."


    As soon as my voice fell, Johnny''s expression immediately changed.


    That was because there was a strong wave of nausea that suddenly came over him.


    He tried his best to keep himself stable, but this wave of nausea was even stronger than the one from before. He found that it was hard for him to remain standing on his feet, so after a bit of swaying, he fell down onto his knees.


    When he fell like this, he knew what he had to do, but it was impossible for him to stand up again to show that he was fine. Every time that he tried, it just made the wave of nausea stronger and made it harder for him to do anything.


    In the end, Johnny could onlyy there on the ground and wait for the wave of nausea to pass.


    As heid there, everyone looked at him in shock and disbelief.


    But there was nothing that they could do except ept this.


    When the proof was this clear in front of them, there really wasn''t anything for them to say.


    So they had no choice but to believe what Tie Gang had said.


    When the wave of nausea was over, Johnny slowly looked up at me with a strange look.


    The look in his eyes really seemed unstable and I couldn''t help taking a step back when I saw this.


    It really seemed like he was about to do something that he couldn''t take back.


    But before he could, Tie Gang said in a loud voice, "Alright, is there anyone else who still has doubts?"


    As his voice rang out, everyone slowly came back to their senses.


    They all slowly turned their gaze away from Johnny, as if they were abandoning him.


    When there was such a clear disy of power, there was nothing that they could say in response. All they could do was pretend that nothing happened before or else they would suffer the consequences just like him.


    Johnny looked around and saw everyone turning away from him.


    Deep down, there was a rage that filled his chest, but there wasn''t anything that he could do about this.


    After all, if he were to explode now¡­there would be nothing to gain from it. Instead, all he would be doing is digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself.


    So no matter what happened now, he had to endure until he could find a chance to stand up again.


    Seeing that no one said a thing, Tie Gang continued by saying, "Since this matter has been settled, then let''s discuss what will happen next." He turned to look at Johnny and said, "You will be removed from our raid group and will be ced in the camp as a guard along with your men."


    When he heard this, he couldn''t help looking up in shock even though he had wanted to keep his head low.


    Johnny gritted his teeth and said, "Even if I was wrong, that doesn''t mean that I should be punished to this extent."


    Tie Gang just calmly looked at him and said, "Are you saying that you''ll still be able to cooperate with him after all of this?"


    Johnny gritted his teeth even more when he heard this, but he didn''t answer.


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "As I thought, you wouldn''t be able to. That is why you''ll be confined to the camp for the rest of this expedition."


    After a pause, Tie Gang added, "If you can''t trust your allies to watch your back, then we will never be able to aplish anything."


    Johnny looked like he was about to destroy his teeth with how much he was gritting them, but he didn''t look at Tie Gang.


    Instead, he was ring at me as if he had a grudge against me.


    Though technically¡­he did.

 Chapter 234: Raid dungeon (26)

    Once that was settled, there were no more problems to deal with.


    Since Johnny and his group were removed from the team, there had to be a team that reced them in the vanguard.


    The team that was chosen was us.


    And to take our ce in the nk was a team of guards that were supposed to watch the camp.


    Their guard duty fell onto Johnny''s group instead.


    There were some people that seemed unhappy about this, but there wasn''t anything that they could say after the disy that I had put on.


    The only thing left was to get a good night''s rest before we headed out.


    We werepletely abandoning the n to build more camps since we knew that there was nothing left for us on this floor. All we could do was head to the next floor and see what was in store for us, so it was better to bring everyone just in case.


    But before we went for that rest, I went to find Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang led the two of us out of the camp with the same token as before, though it really wasn''t necessary since we could have walked out of the front gate at this point. There was no need for us to sneak around like this.


    Only after he used it did I realize why he did it.


    It was to send a message to the others that we were having a private meeting and that they shouldn''t disturb us.


    So we made our way out of the camp and to a ce that was secluded.


    Once we were here, Tie Gang looked at me and said, "Well, what do you have to say?"


    I was surprised by how direct he was, but since he was being direct, I said, "Wasn''t that a bit too rash? Wouldn''t doing something like that hurt the cohesion of the team?"


    Tie Gang shook his head before saying, "It didn''t matter at this point, the situation can''t be changed by something like that."


    I couldn''t help revealing a confused look when I heard this.


    Tie Gang saw this and said with a gentle smile, "I know what you are thinking, but that''s your inexperience as a leader. Sometimes, you have to recognize that there are things that you can''t change no matter what you do. You need to understand that you need to cut your losses and make these hard decisions."


    I was caught off guard by this sudden advice from Tie Gang.


    Narrowing my eyes to look at him, I could see a firm look in his face.


    It was as if he had already faced this situation many times and he was speaking from experience.


    But it made sense that this was the case.


    After all, Tie Gang was someone who had been diving into dungeons for much longer than me. He should have experience as both a member of a group and a leader of a group, so he was qualified to say this.


    It was also at this that I realized that my thinking was too shallow.


    I had been getting ahead of myself since I had be the leader of my own group.


    Things had only been going smoothly since we had the resources of the guild behind us and we were walking the path paved for us by the ones that came before us.


    The mindset that Tie Gang had was the mindset of a pioneer, someone who was used to forging his own path.


    This was someone who was used to making the hard decisions when he needed to.


    So after taking a moment to adjust, I gave a nod and said, "Thank you for your advice."


    Tie Gang''s eyes filled with admiration as he looked at me.


    Tie Gang had been worried that Lin Fan wouldn''t ept the advice that he had for him.


    He had seen how Lin Fan acted and he had been worried about him being set in his own ways. But seeing that he was able to ept the advice that he gave, Tie Gang felt much better.


    It seemed that Bing Lan hadn''t been wrong about him.


    Tie Gang then reached out and patted me on the shoulder as he said, "Good, good. I was worried that you would be hard to convince, but it seems like you''ll be just fine. It seems that I was worried for nothing."


    I nodded along, but then I said, "Still, I don''t think that you should have done it in such a direct and eye catching way. There should have been other ways to solve it."


    Tie Gang raised a brow as he looked at me like he was surprised to hear this.


    After a moment of silence, he said, "Ho, I never thought that you would be such a cautious person, but that isn''t a bad thing."


    With a sigh, he said, "Alright, I''ll admit that I was a bit rash since I was worried about what woulde. I wanted to settle things as quickly as possible since there''s no knowing what will happen next and I didn''t ount for what you would think. I apologize for that."


    I was once again surprised to hear this, but I said with a nod, "No, you were just doing what you thought was necessary."


    The two of us fell silent for a bit.


    Then I suddenly asked, "What do you think is the real cause of this mess?"


    Tie Gang looked like he wanted to say something at first before shaking his head and saying, "I don''t want to make assumptions. We should just focus on what we can do and deal with it when ites."


    I could see something in his eyes, but since he didn''t want to face this thought, I chose not to push it.


    The two of us didn''t talk about much else and just slowly went back to the camp as both of us were deep in thought.


    Neither of us knew what tomorrow would hold.

 Chapter 235: Raid dungeon (27)

    When the morning came, the raid group set out in full.


    That is everyone except for Johnny''s group who watched as everyone left from the camp.


    Since there were no monsters around, they made it to the floor boss'' room without any problems.


    It was almost too quiet, so everyone couldn''t help feeling tense.


    When they arrived in the room, the first ones to go in were Tie Gang and the vanguard.


    They slowly made their way into the room just in case the floor boss had respawned ore back, but they found that it was still empty. There wasn''t a single trace of a floor boss here.


    It was just like when Tie Gang had brought Lin Fan and Long Shui Ling here.


    As we stood there in the room, everyone tried to see if they could find anything.


    Tie Gang just waited on the side since he knew that it was useless.


    After all, we had searched this room carefully the other night.


    After around ten minutes, there was a collective decision to give up since they weren''t able to find a single thing.


    Even with all kinds of different abilities used, it was as if this room had been wiped clean of anything that would give them some kind of clue. So they had no choice but to ept that they wouldn''t be able to find anything.


    With this, Tie Gang led the group up to the second floor.


    But of course, we didn''t go up to the second floor together.


    Instead, we were divided into three different groups that would go up.


    First was naturally the vanguard, the strongest fighters. They would be responsible for exploring what was ahead and clearing out anything that they found on the second floor.


    The second group would be the main group that had most of their people and supplies. They woulde up after the vanguard had made sure that the coast was clear so they could start setting up a camp that they could search from.


    The third group would be the rearguards. They would be in charge of making sure that there was nothing that followed them from the first floor.


    At the same time, they would be setting up a camp in the floor boss room to make sure that the floor boss didn''t suddenly respawn ande up after them.


    So they were basically in charge of cleanup duty.


    Tie Gang slowly led the first group up to the second floor.


    We went up a set of stairs and appeared on the second floor.


    When we came up, we saw that there was nothing around the area.


    It was just like when we first came into the dungeon, it was as if there was some kind of safe zone around this area that kept the monsters away. However, we didn''t let our guard down since we knew that there was something strange about this ce.


    It was a good thing that we didn''t let our guards down.


    There was nothing in the area around the entrance to this second floor, but when we moved a bit further away from the entrance, we saw¡­that there were these simple barricades that had been made.


    When we found these barricades, Tie Gang immediately raised his hand to stop us.


    He had all of us wait behind while he went out alone to check it. But of course, he also made sure that Long Shui Ling''s illusions were on him so that he could pass by without a trace.


    After a few minutes, he came back and said, "There are just barricades there, but it doesn''t seem like there''s anyone to guard them. It seems like they were just barricades that were set up in a haste and left behind. But how could there be barricades in a ce like this?"


    Though he asked this question, there wasn''t a single person that was able to answer it.


    All of them looked at him with confused looks as they didn''t know what was happening.


    Tie Gang couldn''t help revealing a disappointed look before turning in my direction.


    I had been silently observing the barricade since I had found that there was something off about this. It wasn''t just that barricades being set up here were strange, but rather the direction that they were facing.


    The barricades were facing the other direction, pointed away from the entrance.


    It was as if they were used by whatever came up to the second floor against the monsters that were here.


    If that really was the case¡­then wasn''t that a good sign?


    But for some reason, I couldn''t help feeling that something was wrong, very wrong¡­


    After a long moment of silence, Tie Gang asked me, "What''s wrong? What did you find?"


    When he said this out loud, everyone immediately turned to look at me.


    There were a few gazes that weren''t as kind, but they knew that this ce was a dangerous ce and it was no time for personal feelings. So they all waited to see what I had to say.


    When I was called out like this, I had no choice but to tell him what I found.


    I pointed at the barricade in front of us and said, "Look at the direction that the barricades are pointing, doesn''t it seem strange to you?"


    Everyone revealed confused looks at first when they heard this, but then they all revealed looks of understanding when they looked at the barricades.


    These were all smart people, they wouldn''t miss something that I could see after I had pointed it out like this.


    As soon as they saw what I said, they all immediately knitted their brows and fell into deep thought.


    But as I observed them, I could see that there was hope that appeared in their eyes.


    Tie Gang slowly said, "So it seems like they were used against whatever was on the second floor¡­Then in that case, doesn''t that mean that¡­"


    His voice trailed off, but there was also a trace of hope that appeared in his voice.

 Chapter 236: Raid dungeon (28)

    The same look of hope appeared in the eyes of the others.


    But that hope was crushed as I said, "We can''t be sure. There could be another exnation for this."


    As soon as I said this, all of them focused again.


    They knew that it was dangerous to rely on hope alone. They were in a dungeon where all kinds of changes could happen.


    So it wasn''t a ce for them to rely on hopes alone.


    They had to prepare for the worst case scenario, so they couldn''t just delude themselves with this idea.


    After calming down, Tie Gang asked, "Is there anything else?"


    I just shook my head since I naturally didn''t know anything other than this.


    I could only see what he saw, so if there was anything that he didn''t see, I naturally wouldn''t see it as well.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang said, "Let''s keep pushing forward and see what we can find."


    The others all nodded in agreement to this.


    Right now, they just had too little information that staying here would be useless. Rather, it would even be dangerous since there was no knowing what was out there, so it was better to be proactive than to be passive.


    It was better to find the enemy first than letting the enemy find them first.


    So Tie Gang started leading them forward again, going past the barricade.


    After going forward for a bit, they found that there was nothing else special about this ce other than the fact that¡­all of the monsters were gone.


    Our group had the support of Elementia, one of the biggest guilds in the world.


    So we naturally had a map of the entire raid dungeon along with information on all of the monsters inside. We knew where all of the monsters were supposed to be, but¡­there wasn''t a single one that was here.


    It was just like the first floor where everything disappeared.


    No, it was actually worse than the first floor since there had at least been a few monsters wandering around on the first floor. On this second floor, there wasn''t a single monster that was here.


    It was as if something had caused all of them to disappear.


    There was even an eerie silence that filled the air as we made our way through.


    The longer that this silencested, the more unnerved some people became.


    There were even some that suggested that we should head back instead of going any further, but Tie Gang just ignored them and pushed on.


    This continued for a while until we finally found the reason why the monsters had all disappeared and when we found it, we found ourselves in quite a bit of trouble.


    All of a sudden, there was arge wall that appeared in front of us.


    This was a wall that was made of thick stone that shouldn''t have been here ording to the map of the dungeon that we had. Not only that, this wall seemed like it had been constructed recently because of all the rubble that was around us.


    It seemed that whoever made this wall had done so in haste and it didn''t seem that well made.


    This was definitely suspicious.


    Tie Gang hesitated for a bit before saying, "I''ll lead a group over and see if we can breach it."


    The others looked at him with hesitant looks, but they still agreed in the end.


    After all, there was nothing gained if nothing was tried.


    They had to at least make an effort to see if they could get anything from this discovery.


    The group that Tie Gang chose didn''t have us in it.


    This time, he didn''t need our powers to take care of this wall.


    Instead, he brought a bunch of people that had high defensive skills and rock rted skills.


    It seemed that he was nning on poking the ho''s nest by having these people dig through the wall and having the ones with defensive skills protect them.


    It was all about what would happen after they tried to dig into the wall.


    There was nothing that happened as they approached the wall, but the moment that they tried to dig into the wall¡­


    There were a bunch of mummy archers that suddenly appeared on the walls.


    These were the monsters that should have been wandering around the second floor, but here they were building walls and guarding them.


    Tie Gang and his group only had a second to be shocked before they quickly turned to run.


    The ones with defensive skills moved slower than the rest and held the back of the group.


    It wasn''t that they weren''t able to move fast, but they were deliberately moving to the back of the formation to protect those that didn''t have defensive skills.


    They immediately released their skills to cover the ones that were running and they weren''t a moment toote as the arrows bounced off their shields and barriers.


    Like this, Tie Gang was able to lead his group out of there without a single injury.


    However, the monsters acted very strange.


    They didn''t chase after Tie Gang''s group, they didn''t evene off the walls.


    They just kept firing arrows at them until Tie Gang''s group were out of range and then disappeared back behind the walls.


    This was the kind of intelligence that shouldn''t have appeared in these monsters. It was as if someone had suddenly taught them tactics and they were now using these tactics against them.


    After Tie Gang''s group made it back, he immediately turned to look at the wall with knitted brows.


    There was an awkward silence that fell over them as no one said a thing.


    It wasn''t that they couldn''t say anything, but rather that they didn''t want to break the silence.


    What had happened had made it very clear¡­


    There was something that had changed about the monsters of this dungeon and it was very likely the second option that they hade up with.


    There was some kind of mutation with the dungeon boss that had affected the rest of the monsters in this dungeon.

 Chapter 237: Raid dungeon (29)

    As the mood of despair hung over the group, Tie Gang suddenly said something.


    "What do we do now?"


    One could hear the frustrated and desperate tone in his voice, but they understood why he sounded this way.


    However, all of them were feeling the same way, so there weren''t really any ideas that they had to give.


    After all, not a single one of them could think of a way to deal with those monsters and the wall that they had erected. They could have taken it down, but there was no knowing what was waiting for them behind it.


    So even if they did take it down, it could be possible that they were just heading into a trap.


    No one dared to give a suggestion in a situation like this.


    Tie Gang could see the looks on everyone''s faces and knew what they were feeling, but he didn''t me them.


    However, that didn''t mean that he could give up as well.


    He was their leader and it was his job to get them through this, so at the very least, he had to stay firm and try to lead them.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang was about to say something¡­but someone else spoke first.


    It was me.


    I spoke before him.


    "I have an idea."


    As soon as I said this, everyone turned to look at me with different expressions.


    There were looks of doubt, there were looks of curiosity, and there were a few looks of trust that were happy to see that I had an idea.


    Tie Gang was one of those that trusted me, so he said, "What''s your idea?"


    I took a deep breath and said, "We don''t have any information, that''s why we''re afraid to act, right?"


    There were some people that looked at me like I was just stating the obvious.


    Everyone was able to see that this was the current situation, so they didn''t feel like there was a need to say this out loud.


    For those that thought that I was stating the obvious, it was clear that they were hostile. It was as if they thought that I was looking down on them by saying this.


    But I just ignored them since it didn''t matter right now what they thought.


    The important thing was getting out of this situation.


    Tie Gang said with a nod, "That''s right."


    I took another deep breath and said, "Then let''s get that information."


    "Huh?" Everyone looked at me like I was dumb.


    It was obvious that we should be gathering information about this, but once again this was just stating the obvious.


    They looked at me like they were trying to figure out if I was being serious or not. Or if I was just making fun of them at this point.


    But Tie Gang didn''t take it the wrong way and asked, "What do you mean by that?"


    I once ignored all the gazes that came in my direction and said, "I want to go with my team and sneak in to get information on the enemy."


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows when he heard this.


    It was the same for the others, but there were a few that were slow in reacting. There were also a few of them that seemed to reveal happy looks when they heard this.


    All of this didn''t escape my eyes.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang said, "What you''re proposing is very dangerous."


    I gave a nod in response, but I still said, "But it has to be done or else we won''t be able to do a thing. I know for sure that my group will be able to do it."


    Tie Gang fell silent once more, but the silence was shorter this time.


    He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ne that he handed me before saying, "This is a Ward of Detection. It will help keep the monsters from noticing you as you sneak in."


    The fact that he gave me this already meant that he supported my idea.


    There were a few people that seemed like they wanted to say something, but they quickly closed their mouths. After all, they knew that they would be the next ones on the chopping block if they tried to speak against this and they didn''t have anything to show for it.


    So the only thing that they could do now was let me take the heat while it gave them time to think.


    Seeing that everyone was silent, Tie Gang didn''t bother saying anything else as he patted me on the shoulder and said, "Good luck, we''re counting on you."


    I simply gave a nod before walking towards my group.


    Of course we would have a talk before leaving to decide how we would do this and the others respected this, so they left us alone.


    As I was walking off, I made sure to keep the corners of my eyes on the others.


    Of course I hadn''t done this for no reason, there was a very important reason for me throwing myself out like this. Actually, there were two important reasons for me to do this.


    One was why I had spoken in such a deliberate tone.


    I was clearly trying to make my words as dumb as possible to trigger the others.


    I wanted to see who was still hostile towards me and it had been quite easy with this. After all, there were people who just couldn''t hold themselves back and made their disdain for me quite clear.


    These were the people that I would have to look out forter.


    The second reason was more of a personal reason and the more important one.


    It was because I had felt something special when the monsters had appeared earlier.


    It wasn''t something that I was able to recognize right away, but after a while, I was able to recognize it.


    It was simr to the aura that I felt from Lilith when she appeared.


    It was the aura of a demon king.

 Chapter 238: Raid dungeon (30)

    I didn''t know why there was this aura here, but I knew that it wouldn''t be here for no reason.


    I just didn''t expect to find the aura of another demon king so soon¡­


    After all, there were no mentions of any demon kings until now and in just a few days, I had found traces of two of them.


    One was with the Long Family and the second one was in this dungeon.


    Just what did the demon king do here?


    Just what did whichever demon king do this for?


    Was it because they had some kind of n or was it just because it was done on a whim.


    I had no idea, but I was going to find out.


    After all, there was a thought that was in the back of my mind.


    It was what Lilith had said before.


    There were different demon kings, but that didn''t mean that every demon king would work with each other. It was very likely that demon kings would even fight each other based on what kind of demon kings they were.


    So I wanted to find more information about this demon king before they could find information about me.


    After a short meeting, we went out towards the wall that had been set up.


    As we walked towards it, Long Shui Ling raised her hand and created an illusion around us so that we would be perceived as monsters.


    Hopefully, this would allow us to get through the walls.


    This might not have worked if the monsters were acting normal, but since they were showing signs of intelligence¡­that meant that it was possible to fool them.


    And it was only possible because of the abilities of me and Long Shui Ling.


    After we reached the wall, there was silence that followed.


    Not a single mummy came out to confront us as we stood there in front of the wall.


    That was the only thing that I hadn''t thought about whening up with this n.


    I didn''t think about what would happen if we were just ignored by them.


    After standing there awkwardly for a bit, I went forward and reached out towards the wall. I ced a hand on it and as soon as I did, there were a bunch of mummies that suddenly appeared with bows in hand.


    All of the bows that they had were pointed right at us.


    But after they pointed their bows at us, there was a moment of hesitation from the mummies.


    They lowered their bows a bit as if they didn''t know whether they should be aiming them or not. Then after a while, one of them suddenly said, "Rrrsgsd."


    It sounded like nonsense moaning, but the way that it said it seemed like there was a meaning behind these words.


    It just stood there waiting for us to respond after moaning like this.


    The others all looked at me with worried looks, but I wasn''t worried at all. Rather, this was what I had been waiting for the entire time.


    After all, this now showed that they had intelligence. It was basic intelligence, but it was intelligence nheless and that meant that there was the possibility ofmunicating with these mummies.


    If there was the possibility ofmunicating with these mummies, then there was the possibility of my n working.


    So I raised my hand to stop the rest of them from saying anything before looking up at the mummy that had just moaned and said, "Msmamrs."


    It sounded like nonsense moaning because it was nonsense moaning.


    I naturally had no idea what the mummies were saying, but that didn''t matter since there was a different reason for me to do this.


    That reason was¡­that I was using my Suggestion ability while talking to them.


    The Suggestion ability would only work on those with intelligence, but if it did work, I could make them think that they were hearing what they wanted to hear even if I didn''t have any ideas on what they were saying.


    There was a tense silence that followed after I made this moaning sound as we all waited to see how the mummies would react.


    The mummies just didn''t do a thing as they stood there on the wall, looking down at us.


    The most important thing was that not a single one of them put their bows away.


    It was a very tense moment as we waited to see if the n worked or not.


    But in the end, the mummy that had spoken gave another moan, "Tersgertes."


    Then the other mummies pulled their bows back up and away from us.


    When we saw this, we all let out a secret sigh of relief. However, none of us dared to let our guards down until we saw exactly what the mummies would do.


    There were a few of them that suddenly disappeared that made us feel worried, but that was quickly resolved when they brought something back.


    The mummies that had left suddenly came back with this long thing that they were carrying. They came right where we were standing and then brought this long thing down.


    The others behind me wanted to move back when they saw this, but I raised my hand to stop them from moving.


    So we just waited for the dust to settle in front of us to reveal what this thing was.


    It was adder.


    That was what they had brought out for us.


    But that made sense when one thought about it.


    After all, there were no gates to this makeshift wall.


    I had wondered how they had gotten onto this makeshift wall in the first ce, but it seemed like they had used thisdder.


    After they put thedder down, the mummies looked at us as if they were waiting for something from us.


    It was clear what they wanted by taking out thisdder, so there was only one thing that we could do.


    I took the lead and stepped onto thedder, climbing up the wall.


    The rest of the group looked at each other before following me up the wall.

 Chapter 239: Raid dungeon (31)

    Once we climbed over the wall, we were able to see what was behind it.


    This wall wasn''t a thick one, so it didn''t block our view of what was past it.


    And as soon as we saw it, we couldn''t help being shocked by what we saw.


    That was because there were many different mummies that were wandering around behind this wall. However, they weren''t just aimlessly wandering around.


    Instead, they all seemed like they had some kind of job.


    There were even what seemed to be makeshift houses that had been created by these mummies though there was no reason for that. After all, these mummies were undead and didn''t need to sleep like humans.


    So there was no reason for them to have homes like humans.


    When we looked more closely, we could see that the mummies seemed to be imitating all kinds of things that humans would do.


    There were some that seemed to be farming though there was no dirt or seeds for them to farm with. There were some that were sitting around fires with things on sticks that they were holding out, as if they were cooking these things, even though these things were clearly not meant to be cooked.


    There were even some that had gathered iron from an unknown ce and had created something that was like a primitive forge. They weren''t able to craft anything since they had no idea how to melt that iron, but it seemed like they were learning.


    These mummies had gone from monsters that wandered the corridors of this dungeon to trying to imitate human society¡­


    Just what had happened that had given them this kind of thoughts?


    Why did these mummies suddenly start doing something like this?


    Your journey continues on m-vle-mpyr


    The more that we saw, the worse that I felt.


    I had a very bad feeling brewing in my stomach, like something was going horribly wrong.


    The other members of my group turned to look at me with concerned looks, but I just shook my head to show that I didn''t know anything either.


    The mummies that had brought us up onto the wall had already started moving to the other side of this wall.


    They came to anotherdder that was propped there and waved their hand at us, as if they were calling us over. At the same time, they muttered, "Rsgagered."


    It seemed like they were calling us over, there was no need for words for us to understand this.


    Since we were deep in the enemy territory, it was better to follow along with what our disguises made us look like. Right now, we looked like mummies just like them, which was most likely why they were bringing us into the town.


    They most likely wanted to get us settled.


    If I had to guess, that was most likely how most of these mummies had ended up here in the first ce.


    These mummies were the ones that should have been wandering the first and second floors, but instead of that, they were here building a town.


    But as for how they had all gotten here, it was very likely that they had wandered up after gaining intelligence. While it was unknown how that happened, it was clear that they had some kind of instinct to gather here after gaining it.


    That was why they had epted us so easily when we had arrived in front of the wall.


    After all, in the eyes of these mummies, we were also mummies thanks to Long Shui Ling''s illusions.


    After we walked over, the mummy gestured for us to climb down.


    I looked at the mummy as if I was trying to see what it wanted, but it just waited for us to climb down.


    It was the same for the rest of the mummies.


    It didn''t seem like there were any ulterior motives from them in letting us climb down thisdder. It seemed like they were just doing their jobs and letting us into the town.


    So after a moment of hesitation, I led the way by climbing down.


    I knew that if we dyed for too long, it would seem suspicious, so we could only go along with these mummies.


    The others saw that I went down, so they chose to go down with me as well.


    The wall wasn''t that tall, so it took no time for us to reach the other side.


    Once we were standing on the ground, the mummies on the walls waved their hands at us and moaned at us for a bit before turning back to face the other side. It was as if their job was already done and they were going back to guard duty.


    But we couldn''t help being shocked.


    After all, we had no idea what we were supposed to do here.


    This was a very bad situation for us since we were now deep in enemy territory andpletely surrounded by them. If these mummies were to see through our disguises, there was no doubt that they would all attack us.


    We might be able to fight our way out if there were a few of them, but there were just too many of them for us to do anything.


    Not to mention¡­our backs were literally against the wall right now.


    Even if we wanted to run, there was no ce for us to run since there was a wall there.


    So we could only stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.


    As we stood there, the mummies in front of us just passed by us without a single care. It was as if we didn''t exist as far as they were concerned.


    That was a very good thing since we definitely didn''t want to attract attention right now.


    But that didn''tst.


    One of the mummies suddenly turned in our direction and moved towards us.


    This mummy raised a hand as if they were waving at us and they even started moaning something.


    We knew that as soon as they tried to engage with us¡­our cover would be blown.

 Chapter 240: Raid dungeon (32)

    However, there really wasn''t anywhere for us to go¡­


    So we had no choice but to let that mummy approach.


    After that mummy came over, it started moaning at us.


    We had no idea what this mummy was saying, but the tone of its moaning sounded¡­friendly?


    It was hard to tell since this was just the moaning of a mummy, but the overall tone seemed like it was trying to be friends with us.


    We didn''t say anything as it kept moaning to us, in hopes that this would chase it off, but the mummy didn''t care at all. It just kept waving its hand and moaning at us as if it was saying something important.


    After a while, it finally stopped moaning and turned to leave.


    We couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief when we saw this, but it turned out that it wasn''t over yet.


    It had only taken a few steps before turning back to look at us. The way that it looked at us was like it was asking us, "Why aren''t you following?"


    Though we could see this look on the face of the mummy, none of us followed it still.


    That was until the mummy finally waved its hand back at us.


    When it did, it started attracting the attention of the surrounding mummies walking by who all stopped and turned to look in our direction.


    The moment that we became the center of attention like this, we had no choice but to follow this mummy.


    We had no idea where it was taking us, but it was better than being trapped in that open space with mummies all around us. If we remained there and our covers were blown, then we would have been surrounded and torn apart in an instant.


    So the only thing that we could do was y along and see if we could find a way to escape.


    The mummy led us through the streets of this town, passing by many other different mummies.


    When they saw us, they all waved at the mummy that led us and came up to talk to them.


    It seemed that this mummy was quite the popr one among its fellow mummies.


    When they came up, they all had what seemed like smiles on their faces even though their faces were covered in bandages. At least it seemed like they were smiling based on the look in their eyes.


    Every time that a mummy came up, the one that was leading us stopped to talk to them.


    It seemed like they would just chat about some random things before the mummy leading us turned the attention back to us. We had remained quiet every time, but the mummy would always bring the other mummies toe see us.


    With the way that it was moaning and gesturing, it was almost as if they were introducing us.


    The mummies that came up all waved and seemed to greet us after being introduced.


    For the first one, I just hesitantly waved back at them.


    That mummy didn''t say anything and just gave me an understanding look before turning back to talk to the mummy leading us.


    For the next few, I slowly started moaning a bit and using my Suggestion to make them hear what they wanted to hear.


    This time, they all happily went on to moan back at us while gesturing.


    With the way that they spoke and the way that they gestured, it was almost as if they were happily telling us about their neighbourhood. They seemed very much like the neighbours that I had lived with even though they were monsters.


    The more that I interacted with these mummies, the more that I started to understand what their moaning and gestures meant. I still wasn''t able to understand their words, but I at least got the meaning through the tone. Find hidden adventures on m-vl-em-py-r


    They were just¡­introducing themselves to the new resident, which was us.


    These mummies were acting just like humans meeting a new neighbour, but they were still monsters in the end¡­


    Just what had happened that caused these mummies to start acting this way?


    Though I didn''t let my guard down for a single second since I knew that the moment that they found out that we were humans, they would immediately attack us and rip us apart.


    So all I could do was try to go along and keep our disguises for as long as possible.


    The mummy that led us eventually brought us to this plot ofnd that was deeper in this town.


    Looking carefully, I could tell that this was already halfway across the second floor.


    It seemed that they had started building the wall near the entrance to this second floor and from there, they had expanded the town inwards towards the stairs that led to the third floor.


    If they kept going, they would have eventually reached the third floor.


    Once we were here, the mummy leading us stopped and gestured to the empty plot in front of us. Then it gestured to the other mummies that were around us who were all currently building houses in the plots that they were in.


    I had figured out the gestures of the mummies enough to guess what they were saying by now.


    This mummy had brought us here so we could build our own house like the rest of the mummies here.


    If I had to guess, these were most likely other new recruits that had just arrived in their town.


    As we turned to look at them, they waved at us in a cheery manner.


    It really was strange seeing the monsters acting like this, but this was just how it was¡­


    The mummy saw that we got the gist of what it was saying, so it pointed at a pile of rocks not far away and moaned something.


    Judging by how the other mummies took rocks from that pile to bring back to their own plots, it was most likely saying that we should get the materials that we needed from there.


    After exining all of this, the mummy waved its hand, moaned something, and left.


    It seemed that it was done leading us new recruits and were leaving us to our own devices.


    As we stood there, we really didn''t know what to do now.


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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 241: Raid dungeon (33)

    As we stood there, we realized that we had no choice but to go along with it.


    We didn''t know what the mummies were building these houses for, but at least it would let us blend in and give us a ce to operate from if we built this house.


    This would help us get more informationter on.


    So after exchanging a look, we started dividing up the tasks.


    There was a limit to the range of Long Shui Ling''s illusions, so it wasn''t as if we could get too far away from each other.


    We would only be able to go so far without breaking the illusion.


    So we weren''t able to split up into teams that would be able to go off and find information.


    There were two teams that were formed.


    One was a team for building the house that we were supposed to build. That was left up to the group that was led by ze and Kaito.


    The two of them would lead the others in building our house since they said that they had experience with things like this before.


    Apparently, both of their parents owned constructionpanies, so they knew how to do things like this.


    As for the other team¡­well, it wasn''t so much of a team as just me.


    I would be going around to the other plots and ''talking'' to the other mummies to see if I could get any information from them.


    Though¡­it really wouldn''t be talking since I couldn''t understand what they were saying.


    It would be more like paying a courtesy call to neighbours after moving in.


    As for Long Shui Ling, she was sitting in the middle of the plot just doing all that she could to maintain the illusion.


    It was easier for her if we just did simple things like walking and talking, but it was much harder to match the illusions up when we did more intensive things like building the house.


    So to make it easier on her, she would just sit still and focus on the illusions instead of helping with anything.


    At the same time, it consumed quite a bit of her magic power to keep these illusions up. So sitting still like this would let her preserve as much magic power as she could.


    The only thing wrapped around me was a simple illusion, but that was fine since I had my Hypnosis.


    I had already tested it and I could make the mummies see what they wanted to see, so it wasn''t a problem at all to let them believe I was one of them even if the illusion failed.


    So while they were building our house, I went around to talk to the various mummies building their houses.


    Though to call it building really was an exaggeration.


    It was better to call it stacking rocks into what seemed like a poor shelter.


    It seemed like just a single shake would be enough to make these ''houses'' that they built crumble.


    But it made sense once one thought about it.


    Monsters like these mummies didn''t have a concept of building in the first ce, so it wasn''t as if they had prior knowledge of this. The fact that they were able to build these simple rock shelters was already considered good enough.


    This was enough to prove that they had gained enough intelligence to figure things like this out.


    I wouldn''t look down on them since I knew that they were monsters with intelligence.


    It was just too bad that I wasn''t able to get anything out of them.


    It was hard to have a conversation with these monsters that could only moan and gesture. Even if I could get them to answer my questions, it was a lot of confused gestures and moans since they didn''t seem to have an answer for the questions that I was asking.


    It seemed that they didn''t know anything about why they suddenly gained intelligence.


    They all said that it just happened one day and they were here.


    So I had no choice but to head back while feeling dejected.


    When I came back, I was surprised to find that our house waspletely surrounded by mummies.


    I immediately raised my guard when I saw this since I thought that my team''s disguises had been broken. I was prepared to fight my way through and get them before running away¡­but it seemed like I was worried for nothing.


    That was because these mummies hadn''t gathered because they had seen through our disguises.


    Instead, they were standing around watching my group build the house.


    As soon as I saw the house that they were building, I immediately understood why all of the mummies had gathered like this.


    The houses that the mummies built were nothing more than simple shelters that had been built by stacking rocks together.


    But the house that my group made was an actual proper house.


    They had found some weapons that had been dropped nearby and they were currently using these weapons to cut the stones into blocks. Those blocks were then stacked on top of each other with y ced in between to seal the gaps.


    It wasn''t the best way to build a house, but it was definitely the best with what resources they had.


    Not to mention¡­it was far beyond anything that the other mummies had built.


    So naturally they attracted attention from the other mummies.


    But I had to admit, these two weren''t kidding when they said that they came from families that owned constructionpanies. It was clear that both ze and Kaito knew what they were doing with the way that they cut and stacked the stones.


    When they saw that I was back, they put down their weapons and came to greet me.


    But it was also at this time that the other mummies around us suddenly started moving forward. They came right up to us and surrounded us.


    With how they surrounded us¡­it really seemed like a horror movie.


    Were they about to attack us?

 Chapter 242: Raid dungeon (34)

    But they stopped before they reached us and stood around us like they were asking us something.


    The other members of my group were confused, but I could slowly figure out what they were saying based on their moans and gestures.


    They were referring to the house that we had made.


    It was as if they were asking us how we had made this house.


    That made sense since it was clear that there was arge difference between the house that we had made and the houses that they had made.


    The only thing was¡­I wasn''t sure if we should be teaching them about this.


    After all, giving the mummies more knowledge wasn''t a good thing since they were monsters that we needed to kill. But then again, would it really be that dangerous to give them this knowledge since it was just about building houses?


    No¡­if they used this knowledge to build a wall, it would definitely be stronger than the wall that they had already built around this town.


    So there were consequences to teaching them about this.


    To my surprise though, while I was agonizing over whether to teach them or not, ze and Kaito already volunteered to teach them.


    The look of passion in their eyes, it was clear that they were very excited about doing this.


    I even couldn''t help wondering if it would have been better for them to go into construction instead of bing Awakeners. But of course, I knew that going into construction would never be able topare to bing an Awakener.


    Only by bing an Awakener could one really change their life.


    Since they were so enthusiastic, I decided to let them do it in the end.


    I had them tell me what I needed to say before using Suggestion to trante it to the mummies.


    There were some problems since it didn''t trante properly, but they were able to get the gist of it.


    Though the way that the mummies looked at us like we were mummies that had trouble talking was a whole other can of worms.


    With the advice that they received from ze h the help of ze and Kaito, the mummies were slowly able to build up proper houses. In no time at all, there was a proper neighbourhood that was starting to develop.


    Since these mummies were undead, it wasn''t as if they needed to rest.


    They were able to work through the night and keep working even when humans would have run out of strength.


    They would be considered the perfect work force, but they were undead in the end, so it was hard to tell when they would attack humans. If there was only a way to tame them and get them to work for humans¡­


    But of course, that was impossible since these were monsters that came from the dungeon.


    The dungeon was apletely different world that humans didn''t understand yet, so they weren''t able to do anything to the monsters of these dungeons.


    With themotion that they were making, there were mummies from further away that came over to see what was happening.


    When they learned about this new method of building houses, they immediately started to learn from ze and Kaito as well.


    As we taught the mummies about how to build houses, it was clear that they were opening up more and more to us. It seemed that working towards amon goal had brought us closer together.


    It seemed that there was another benefit that came from teaching these mummies how to build proper houses.


    So while they were teaching the mummies through demonstrations, I was talking to the mummies that were just hanging around.


    Seeing that I was one of the ''mummies'' that taught them this new technique, they immediately gave me a warm wee and I was able to join in their conversation.


    Though I didn''t really understand what their conversation was about, I did get the gist of it.


    They were talking about things that had happened to them recently.


    Just that alone was enough to get plenty of information as long as you listened carefully.


    It seemed that not everything was alright for these mummies even though they were now building houses.


    It seemed that they still hadints.


    As for who theyined about, it was naturally the one that led them.


    There wereints about forcing them to go deeper and deeper into the second floor where there was a higher concentration of magic power. This higher concentration of magic power was hard for some of the weaker mummies to endure, which caused them injuries just by staying there.


    But even when theyined, not a single thing changed.


    It seemed that whoever was at the top wasn''t willing to listen to theints from the bottom.


    As for who was at the top¡­


    It was the one that the mummy who brought us here served.


    That mummy that brought us here was the overseer for the new arrivals and the one that was in charge of taking care of them. This was a role that had been assigned to that mummy by the one that had taken over this second floor and was assaulting the third floor.


    In the moans of the mummies, there was one specific moan that was repeated.


    "Szaker."


    That was what they called the one that led them.


    I didn''t know what this meant, but it seemed to represent the one that led them.


    From their moans, I was able to gather that this ''Szaker'' was a stranger that suddenly came before them one day and took over the second floor. Then after they took over the second floor, this ''Szaker'' had taken the ones that showed the most intelligence and brought them under it to control the rest of the mummies that gained intelligence.


    It was the one that ordered them to build houses and walls, as well as establishing a guard for the walls.


    Whoever this ''Szaker'' was, it seemed that they were responsible for the changes in this raid dungeon.

 Chapter 243: Raid dungeon (35)

    The night passed by quickly and we weren''t allowed to sleep since that concept didn''t exist for the mummies.


    So all we could do was keep building the houses with the other mummies.


    When morning came, the surrounding area was already looking like a proper neighbourhood.


    That was when the mummy that had led us here yesterday came back.


    It was surprised to see all of these strange new houses that hade up and when it followed the crowd, it found who was responsible for them.


    The mummy just looked at us with a surprised look as it never expected that we would bring this surprise to it.


    This was just a routine checkup after bringing in the new recruits, but now¡­it seemed like it would have to bring them to see someone.


    So after a moment of being surprised, that mummy came forward and waved at us.


    When I saw this, I immediately knitted my brows before calling for the rest of our group.


    ze and Kaito looked like they weren''t willing to go just yet since they were still having fun building the houses with the mummies, but they knew in their hearts that they had to go.


    The rest of them just followed after me.


    It was only Long Shui Ling who looked like she had a problem.


    She had been keeping up these illusions all night without any rest, so one couldn''t even begin to imagine just how hard this was for her. It was surprising that she didn''t run out of magic power, but we had seen her drinking some kind of potion in the middle of the night before recovering her mana.


    But even that still wasn''t enough to keep her going.


    It wouldn''t take long before she ran out of mana, so we had to find a way out of here.


    I was hoping that this mummy would give us that way out.


    When we came over, the mummy waved at us to follow it before turning around to walk off in a different direction.


    We didn''t know where he was leading us, but we still followed behind him.


    But as we walked off, I could see that the mummies around us had concerned looks on their faces. It was as if they were worried about us heading in this direction.


    This direction went further deeper into the second floor, where the stairs leading to the third floor was.


    Based on what I had heard from the other mummiesst night¡­that should be where the one that they called ''Szaker'' was.


    If that was the case, why would they be worried?


    Unless, the ''Szaker'' had summoned other mummies before and they had disappeared?


    If that was the case, I would have heard something about thisst night.


    So why did they seem worried?


    I wasn''t able to figure this out and I didn''t have time to think about it as the mummy leading us started moaning at us.


    I didn''t understand what it was saying, but I could hear the word ''Szaker'' many times.


    It seemed that my guess was correct and that we were indeed being led to see this ''Szaker''.


    But the fact that we were being brought to the leader so soon was very worrying¡­


    I tried moaning in an attempt to ask the mummy what was happening, but all he did was wave his hand to stop me from asking more questions. It was as if he was trying to avoid these questions that I asked it.


    This just made me even more worried.


    After walking for a bit, we found ourselves on an empty second floor.


    We had gone past the area that was being developed and reached the part that hadn''t been developed yet.


    But that onlysted for a bit before we found ourselves surrounded by mummy guards.


    These were powerful mummies based on the auraing from them.


    They seemed even more powerful than the mummies that had been guarding the wall.


    These should have been the elite monsters that guarded the floor boss of the second floor¡­and here they were guarding the floor boss'' room.


    When we came towards them, they immediately raised their weapons to stop us.


    The mummy leading us moaned a few things to them and gestured to us, as if it was exining the situation.


    The guard mummies remained silent for a bit as they stared at us.


    The longer that they stared at us, the more nervous we felt.


    If it wasn''t for the illusions, it might have really been a problem to keep calm.


    Well, if it wasn''t for the illusions, they would have attacked us right away for being humans in the first ce.


    So the illusions were helping in the end.


    After a long silence, the guards finally moved out of the way and seemed to allow us to pass.


    The mummy that was leading us waved its hand at us and started moving forward again.


    As we walked past the guards, we could feel their gazes still on us.


    It was almost as if they were still observing us like they didn''t trust us.


    Only when we made it past these guards did we let out secret sighs of relief.


    But we didn''t let our guard down just yet since we knew that what wasing up was the real trial.


    Even the others that didn''t know everything that I did could tell that this was serious with how many guards there were here.


    When we reached the floor boss room, the mummy pushed open the door and revealed a luxurious chamber.


    This waspletely different from the first floor''s floor boss room that waspletely empty.


    This ce was filled with gold and different magic items, almost like a real pharoah''s tomb.


    But that wasn''t what attracted our attention.


    Sitting in the center of this floor boss room on a throne was another mummy, but this mummy was clearly different from the rest.


    When that mummy heard the door open, it turned and said, "Who is it?"

 Chapter 244: Raid dungeon (36)

    I couldn''t help but stop moving when I heard this.


    After all, it wasn''t just the moaning that the other mummies had made, but rather actual words.


    It was speaking in thenguage of humans.


    This mummy was clearly different from the rest.


    After saying this, the mummy looked up from his throne and saw the mummy that was leading us. When he saw this mummy, he said, "Oh, it''s you. What is it?"


    The mummy leading us raised its hand to stop us from going forward before gesturing and moaning a few things to the mummy on the throne.


    The mummy on the throne turned to look at us after it heard what that mummy said.


    As that mummy''s gaze fell onto us, we couldn''t help feeling this strange pressure.


    The others in my group all revealed serious expressions like they were prepared to fight at any moment.


    But I had a different expression on my face.


    That was because I could sense something that was familiar from this mummy, something that I had been looking for.


    It was the same feeling that I had gotten from Lilith¡­


    This was the feeling of a demon king.


    Then was this mummy the new demon king?


    No, it didn''t seem like it since that feeling I got from the mummy was much weaker than the feeling that I got from Lilith. If I had to guess what this was, this mummy most likely was influenced by the demon king''s power, which was why it was acting this way now.


    After a long silence where we all just stared at each other, the mummy on the throne waved his hand at us and said, "Come here and let me take a closer look."


    The others all looked at me as if they were hesitating on whether to go or not.


    I just raised my hand for them to wait before going up all by myself.


    The mummy on the throne just looked at me for a bit before suddenly saying, "I heard that you''vee up with a new way of building houses?"


    As it said this, it narrowed its eyes to look at me.


    I just looked back at it and calmly gave a nod.


    The mummy on the throne didn''t answer right away as it kept looking at me.


    But after a moment of silence, it suddenly asked, "Where did you get this inspiration from?"


    I didn''t answer right away, but after a pause, I gave a moan.


    "You just came up with it randomly?" The mummy on the throne asked.


    I didn''t know what I had moaned, but it seemed like the Suggestion skill had given this trantion.


    The mummy on the throne narrowed its eyes to look at me again, as if it was sizing me up. While this was happening, there was an even stronger pressure that fell onto me, as if this mummy was trying to suppress me.


    After a long silence, the mummy on the throne said, "Come forward and let me take a closer look at you."


    I trembled when I heard this, but I held my fear back as I went forward towards the mummy on the throne.


    When I came closer, the mummy on the throne got off the throne and came forward to look at me from different angles. It walked around me and kept staring at different parts of me, which really made it awkward.


    After a long silence, the mummy suddenly broke out inughter as it said, "I knew it, you were given a gift by the lord as well."


    All of us suddenly revealed confused looks, but the pressure that had been on us suddenly disappeared.


    The mummy came forward to take me by the shoulder which really worried me, but it didn''t seem like it realized anything was off. The mummy then brought me over to the throne and had me sit down in it as it said, "I never thought that there would be another one after me, but it seemed that the lord hasn''t abandoned us yet."


    As I sat there with a confused look on my face, I waited for a bit before moaning.


    The mummy looked at me without answering, looking right at my face as if it was seeing something. Then it said in a voice that seemed like it was talking to itself, "It seems that your vocal chords haven''t developed yet, so you still can''t speak. When you can, then it''ll be easier than using simple moans."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It seemed that this was what had already happened to the mummy before, so it was basing its own experience on what would supposedly happen to me.


    After looking at me for a bit, the mummy said, "The lord is the one that gave us our powers and our intelligence. The lord is the one that gave you that inspiration. So it is up to us to repay the lord for everything that we have been given."


    I could hear the respect and awe that this mummy felt towards this ''lord'', even if I didn''t know who this mummy''s lord was.


    But if I had to guess¡­it was most likely the demon king that changed it.


    The way that it said this, it was almost as if the mummy had met this ''lord'' before.


    But before I could ask anymore questions, the mummy suddenly looked back at me and said, "Now, I ask you, will you be my right hand mummy?"


    I was caught off guard when I heard this.


    I looked at the mummy in front of me and it was looking at me with a serious look, like it was serious about this offer.


    I just didn''t know how to answer¡­


    But when the mummy saw that I wasn''t saying anything, it suddenly narrowed its eyes and said, "Then do you want to fight me for leadership? Do you want to see who''s more fit to lead?"


    I couldn''t help trembling when I heard this.

 Chapter 245 : Raid dungeon (37)

    I quickly shook my head in response to this.


    The mummy just silently looked at me for a bit before that pressure on me suddenly disappeared.


    It seemed to reveal a smile, or what would be considered a smile for this mummy and said in what seemed to be a cheerful voice, "Good answer."


    The mummy turned to look at the stairs to the third floor and said, "It''s already hard enough having to deal with the final boss of this ce, so I wouldn''t want to fight you at the same time."


    Then it turned back and said, "But now that you''re here, it''ll be much easier for us to take care of them."


    I could only slowly nod in agreement to this.


    I didn''t know what kind of powers this mummy had after he received the powers of the lord as he put it. So for now, it was better not to do anything that would make it angry and go along with what it wanted.


    Only when I figured out what it could do¡­


    After that, the mummy went on toin about how this dungeon was designed, as well about the boss that was at the end. It seemed that the boss was quite powerful, that it was able to make this mummyin about it.


    But that was strange since this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon in the first ce.


    The final boss shouldn''t have been strong enough that it would be able to cause trouble for this mutated mummy¡­


    So what was happening here?


    Was there more than meets the eye here?


    Could it be that there was something different about the dungeon boss as well that this mummy wasn''t able to do anything to it?


    If that was the case¡­what else had changed about this dungeon?


    Afterining about all of this for a bit, the mummy looked at me and said, "Now that you''re here, it''ll be much easier for us."


    The way that it said this, it seemed like it really believed this.


    It was hard to understand why this mummy believed me this much, but it seemed like there was a strong bond of trust.


    Was it his trust in the ''lord'' of his or was it something else?


    The mummy just looked at me with that look in its eyes for a bit before turning to look at the mummy that had brought us here and saying, "From now on, follow his orders like they are mine. Be sure to tell everyone about this."


    The mummy that had led us revealed a surprised look, but it slowly gave a nod in the end.


    It too recognized how special the knowledge that Lin Fan''s group had brought was, so it knew that there was nothing to lose from following these orders.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help being surprised just how easily I had been epted and promoted among these mummies.


    But¡­this was a very good thing since being promoted meant that it was easier for us to get the information that we wanted. At the same time, I also figured out a way for us to leave this ce and get back to the others.


    The mummy went back to the throne and sat down after I stood up for it.


    It just sat there as if it was lost in thought as it waved its hand to the mummy that led us.


    At the same time, it said to me, "Go and take care of what you need to do. I trust you''ll know what to do to help us defeat the enemy. It is all ording to the will of the lord."


    The mummy that had led us waved its hand for us to follow.


    I took onest look at the mummy on the throne before heading out with that mummy.


    It was silent as we walked out, but as soon as we came out, that mummy immediately turned to me and moaned while gesturing.


    It was clear that it was curious what I had done to make the mummy on the throne act that way.


    But all I could respond with was a shrug.


    That was my honest answer since I had no idea what I had done either.


    I had only gone with the flow and this was how it turned out.


    The mummy looked at me with a strange look, but it shook its head in the end and patted me on the shoulder like it was saying that it understood.


    The mummy then led us back to our house and then was about to leave us be.


    But before it could leave, I suddenly called out to it and moaned something.


    The mummy looked surprised to hear this, but it then moaned and waved its hand as if it was asking how this would be done.


    What I had said, or at least tried to convey was that I wanted to leave and see if I could gather more mummies to join us. I wanted to go out the wall and go find some more mummies to join this town.


    Naturally this mummy would be suspicious of this, so I had already thought of something to respond to this with.


    My response was that I would go out with my group and find them on the first and second floor.


    The mummy looked at me with a strange look after hearing this that made me wonder if there was a mistake with the trantion of the Suggestion skill.


    But then it started moaning and waving as if it was saying that it was too busy toe with us.


    I quickly said that we would be able to go out alone.


    The mummy narrowed its eyes to look at me as if it was doubting me¡­but it agreed in the end.


    If it wasn''t for the order from the mummy on the throne, it might not have agreed.


    But there was the order, so it had no choice but to agree.

 Chapter 246 : Raid dungeon (38)

    So I was able to gather everyone and we were able to get back through the wall.


    The mummies on the wall watched us as we walked back towards the entrance of the second floor.


    Luckily, they didn''t do anything to us and just let us walk through without any trouble.


    When we were far enough from the wall, I had the others check if we were followed by any mummies.


    I didn''t think that this would be the case, but it never hurt to make sure.


    Only when we had made sure that there wasn''t anyone following us did we go to the meeting area that had been set previously.


    Waiting for us there was a member of the team.


    The rest of the team had gone back to the safe zone at the entrance of the second floor to settle and work from. They didn''t wait for us toe back since they knew that it would take a while for us to find anything.


    So we went back with this member of the team.


    As soon as we arrived at the camp, we were immediately pulled into the central tent where Tie Gang and the rest of the team members were waiting for us. There were also quite a few members of the support team that were also there.


    They also wanted to hear about what we had found.


    Once everyone was settled, Tie Gang looked at me and asked, "So? What did you find?"


    After taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I told them about what had happened to us and everything that we found.


    Of course, there were a few things that I had left out.


    As I left these things out, the members of my group couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look, but they didn''t say anything.


    When it was over, there was only silence that hung over the tent.


    Everyone had their brows knit as if they were deep in thought, but that couldn''t be med on them since this was a very thought provoking report.


    Monsters creating their own town and society?


    This had never been heard of before, so naturally they weren''t able to react to this.


    Many of the people sitting in this tent had looks on their faces like they didn''t believe this. They looked at the other members of this group to try to pressure them into disproving this.


    But no matter how many gazes fell onto them, not a single member of my team said anything against what I had reported.


    In the end, Tie Gang said in a deep and serious voice, "How many mummies were gathered? What is their distribution? What is the schedule of the guards? Also, how strong is the leader of this town that you met?"


    There were many different questions about the camp that were asked of us, or rather me since I was the one reporting.


    I didn''t know the answer to all of these since I didn''t pay attention to all of this. I had been looking for different information, which had failed in the end.


    So I just answered the questions that I could and just gave up on the ones that I didn''t know the answers to.


    When it was all over, Tie Gang fell into deep thought again as he processed all of this information.


    The ones that thought that this information wasn''t urate couldn''t take it anymore when they saw Tie Gang taking it seriously like this. So one of them suddenly said, "Leader, you can''t trust this report! How could monsters possibly gang up like this? They''re just making it up to cover for themselves! There''s no way that any of this is true!"


    Tie Gang was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard this and he narrowed his eyes to look at the one who had spoken.


    When this person saw Tie Gang looking at him, he couldn''t help flinching. But he calmed down and faced Tie Gang''s expression, refusing to back down.


    Tie Gang just calmly looked at him and said, "Then can you give me any useful information? Can you give me anything that will disprove this? If you can, then there''s no need for me to listen to them, right?"


    That person was taken aback by what Tie Gang had said.


    It was clear that he was prepared for something else, so he waspletely caught off guard when Tie Gang said this.


    Opening and closing his mouth, that person just didn''t know what to say.


    Tie Gang didn''t stop as he continued, "If you''re willing to risk your life to go over that wall and get this information for me, then I''ll immediately deny this report. But if all you have to say is that it''s impossible, then get me the information that I want and I''ll believe you."


    Tie Gang mmed his fist down onto the table and looked at the rest of the group as he said, "We''re in a dangerous situation right now. We cannot deny any information that we receive just because it seems impossible. We cannot distrust our allies or else we will not be able to make it out of this ce. So if there''s anyone else that has something to say, speak up now!"


    Everyone looked down when they heard this.


    It was true, the majority of why they were so adamant on denying this was because they wanted it to be false.


    Because this was something that they had never encountered before and it was terrifying to them, so they wanted so much to believe that it wasn''t true.


    But that was the wrong thing to do since irrationally denying the facts in front of them was just being dumb.


    So they had to face this even if it was something that they had never encountered before.


    Tie Gang saw that all of them were silent, so he didn''t bother with them anymore.


    Instead, he turned to look at Lin Fan and calmly asked, "How did youe back? How did you get them to let you leave?"

 Chapter 247: Raid dungeon (39)

    As soon as his voice fell, everyone turned to look at me.


    That was right, it had escaped all of their minds since they had been so shocked by this report that they didn''t think about this, but¡­how did they manage toe back from the monster town?


    If they were the monster ruler, they wouldn''t have allowed them to leave that easily.


    So how did they get permission to leave that ce?


    I had already expected this, but I never thought that it woulde this quickly. I thought that it would take some time before they asked this since they would take their time gathering their thoughts after that shocking news.


    Still, that didn''t mean that I didn''t have an answer.


    "They let us go because of our construction ideas. Those ideas allowed us to climb the ranks and be trusted by the leader, which gave us the ability to leave in the end."


    As they heard this, the others of my group couldn''t help revealing strange looks.


    While this wasn''t aplete lie, there was still something that I wasn''t saying.


    Something that I seemed to be avoiding¡­


    They clearly were concerned about this, but it was their feelings for me that kept them from saying anything.


    Tie Gang narrowed his eyes to look at me after he heard this.


    For the longest time, he didn''t say anything as if he was trying to see if he could find anything wrong with this.


    But in the end, he gave a slow nod and said, "Alright, that makes sense."


    He turned to the rest and said, "Now, what do we do about this?"


    As soon as he said this, everyone revealed grim looks on their faces.


    Not a single one of them had an idea of what to do since they had no idea of how to deal with this strange and unknown situation. This was the first time that any of them had encountered this, so of course they didn''t know how to handle it.


    Tie Gang naturally knew this as well, but there was a reason why he asked this.


    It was to get them to start thinking.


    While they didn''t have any ideas of how to deal with this now, wallowing in the despair of the situation was not something that they could do. They couldn''t just sit there and do nothing, so they had to start finding a way to solve this.


    So Tie Gang was doing this to motivate them.


    He could see that there were some traces of thought on the faces around him, which was good enough for now.


    As long as they didn''tpletely give up, he could work with this.


    Still, this was something that would take some time, so he couldn''t expect any results right now.


    After seeing that no one spoke, Tie Gang said, "Alright, let''s take some time to think about this and conver. I hope that everyone will think hard about how we will get through this."


    There were a few sighs of relief that filled this tent when they heard this, but there were more people that were willing to think about this. It didn''t seem like they were prepared to give up yet.


    After being dismissed, I was about to leave with my group.


    But before we could, Tie Gang stopped us.


    "Come with me, you need to be checked out." He suddenly said as he walked over.


    We were surprised to hear this, but we did understand what he meant.


    And since we understood, the others in my group couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    They had been there when I had spoken to the mummy leader, so they had heard about the same dark energy that I shared with him.


    That was the part that I had left out in the report that I had made.


    Now that we were going to be checked out, they couldn''t help worrying that something would be found.


    Tie Gang saw the looks on our faces and said, "It''s for your own good. We have no idea what you''ve experienced, so it''s best if we check your bodies to make sure that you''re alright."


    There was a tone in his voice that made it seem like this wasn''t an optional check up.


    It was clear that there was another reason why he wanted us to get this check up.


    He wanted to make sure that we weren''t under any kind of control or that we didn''t identally bring back some kind of strange virus or anything of the sort.


    Before he made sure of that, he naturally couldn''t let us wander around the camp.


    So even if he had to use force, he would bring us to that check up.


    I gave a nod in the end before saying, "Alright, let''s go."


    Tie Gang gave a nod too before leading the way out of the tent.


    He brought us to another tent that was filled with beds and medicine, which was clearly the medical tent.


    The two in white coats who had been sitting there immediately came over when they saw us.


    These two looked at us for a bit before turning to Tie Gang to ask, "Are they the ones?"


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "Can you check them right now?"


    The two of them nodded before turning back to us with smiles.


    They waved their hands for us to follow them before assigning each of us a bed.


    Then they picked up something that seemed like a metal scanner, but it seemed different from a normal metal scanner.


    They went from our beds one by one, scanning us with this strange thing.


    After each person was scanned, there was a piece of paper that was printed out from a machine on the side.


    They went to check the piece of paper for each person and it seemed like there were no problems.


    This kept going until the veryst person¡­me.


    I was thest one that they were scanning.

 Chapter 248: Raid dungeon (40)

    When I was about to be scanned, the other members of my group couldn''t help looking at me with concerned looks again.


    It was as if they were already certain that the result would be¡­


    But I wasn''t worried as I waited for them to scan me with that device.


    They brought that device that looked like a metal scanner over and ran it across my body. They started from my feet and moved up to my head.


    As they scanned my feet, it didn''t see like anything was about to happen.


    When they reached my midriff, it all seemed normal.


    It was only when they reached my shoulder that there was a reaction from theputer nearby.


    As soon as there was a reaction, both of the doctors moved away from me and Tie Gang came forward. He didn''t pull out his weapon, but the tense look on his face made it clear that he would stop me if I made any moves.


    The two doctors quickly moved over to theputer to see what the reaction was.


    When they saw it, they couldn''t help revealing strange looks.


    Seeing that the doctors weren''t saying anything, Tie Gang knitted his brows and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    The two doctors didn''t say anything at first as they kept staring at the screen.


    Then they tapped a few keys as if they were trying something to figure out something, but it didn''t seem to give them the result that they wanted based on the look on their faces.


    Seeing this, the others who had finished their scans all revealed worried looks.


    Tie Gang had been waiting patiently, but seeing that they weren''t saying anything, he deeply knitted his brows and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    This time, the tone in his voice made it seem like he couldn''t be ignored.


    When they heard him talking to them this way, the doctors finally turned and said, "It''s not that there''s something wrong¡­it''s just that there''s something that we haven''t seen before. This is a strange reading that is unlike anything that we''ve seen, so we really don''t know how to interpret it."


    The doctors looked at me with a strange look after they said this.


    It was as if they were trying to get me to tell them what was happening, but I had no idea what they were talking about.


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows as he turned to look at me.


    He had his guard up like he was prepared to strike me down if need be, but there was an unwilling look that made it clear that he didn''t want to unless he absolutely needed to.


    As he looked at me with this expression, he said, "Where is iting from?"


    Though he was looking at me when he said this, it was clear that these words were not for me. They were for the doctors who were still at theputer.


    They looked at each other before one of them said, "It''sing from his shoulder."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before a metallic sheen appeared around his hand.


    As he held his hand up, he looked at me with a gaze as if he was asking me something.


    I just gave a nod in response to this.


    Seeing this, Tie Gang gave a nod back before reaching his hand out towards my shoulder. As he did, he looked at my shoulder with a serious look.


    He slowly turned me around and looked carefully at my shoulder, trying to find where this reading might being from.


    After a long while, he finally seemed to have found something.


    He reached out into the fold of my clothes and pulled out a small piece of bandage.


    After pulling this out, he brought it over to the doctors that were waiting by theputer.


    When he came over, the doctors immediately took out the metal detector and brought it up to the bandage. As soon as it was brought close to the bandage, there was a reaction from theputer.


    They turned to look at the screen and saw the same reading as before, so they looked to Tie Gang and confirmed this.


    Tie Gang saw this and immediately moved over to the side to pick up one of the ss containers. He opened it up and stuffed it inside before pulling out a talisman that he stuck to this container.


    Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.


    But that relief was temporary as he turned to the doctors right after sealing this bandage away.


    The two doctors had been focused on the screen, trying to figure out something. But when they felt Tie Gang''s gaze fall onto them, they realized their mistake and quickly went over to Lin Fan with that metal detector thing.


    Once again, they used that metal detector to scan my body.


    This time, there was no reading that was picked up.


    Only then did everyone let out a long sigh of relief.


    It wasn''t that there was something wrong with Lin Fan, it was just that there was something that was stuck on him.


    Tie Gang let out a relieved smile and walked over to pat me on the shoulder.


    To be honest, when that reading popped up, I really had been nervous since I thought that they had found out about the fact that I was a demon king. This hadn''t happenedst time when they scanned me, so I figured that there was no problem.


    But when it happened, I couldn''t help thinking about all of the things that had changed.


    After taking a moment to calm down, everyone turned their attention to the piece of bandage that was inside of the ss container.


    This was the thing that had caused that strange reaction, so of course they were curious just what this thing was.


    But as far as they could tell, it was nothing more than a normal piece of bandage.


    It didn''t seem like anything special.

 Chapter 249: Raid dungeon (41)

    Seeing that no one was saying a thing, Tie Gang asked, "Does anyone know what this thing is?"


    Everyone was silent as they shook their heads.


    Tie Gang knew that they wouldn''t know what it was, but it was better than staying silent and not getting anything done.


    Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    After everyone shook their heads, he turned to look at me.


    It was as if he was expecting something out of me.


    It was as if he was saying with his eyes, "Well, it was stuck on you, so you should know what it is."


    But I really didn''t know what it was at first.


    However, when I thought about it for a bit, I finally realized just what this thing was.


    It was a bandage, but it was a bandage from a very certain mummy.


    The only one that had held my shoulder during this time was the mummy leader, so that was the only one that it could havee from. There was no other option when it came to something getting stuck like this.


    So I slowly said, "It should be from the leader of the monsters."


    When everyone heard this, they all looked at me with shocked looks before quickly turning back to look at the ss container with the bandage in it.


    They all looked at it as if they were trying to find something special about it, looking at it from many different angles. However, they weren''t able to find a single thing in the end.


    It was as if no matter how they looked at it, it seemed like a normal piece of bandage.


    But if it was that, then why did the scanner suddenly go off?


    It was clear that there was something about this that was making the scanner go off.


    So Tie Gang turned back to the doctors who were alreadying over with many different items.


    As soon as they had recovered from their shock, they had immediately started pulling out things that they thought that they needed.


    It seemed like they were fully prepared to run all kinds of tests on this thing to see if they could find what they wanted to find. They didn''t even care about the others around it and pushed them out of the way as they brought their equipment over.


    But the others did move out of the way since there wasn''t anything that they could find out about this piece of bandage in the first ce


    It was better to just leave it to these two since they knew what they were doing.


    After watching for a bit, it was clear that this wouldn''t end any time soon since they clearly weren''t finding anything that was useful. They kept running back and forth, trying to figure out just what they should do.


    When Tie Gang saw this, he stood up and waved his hand for everyone to follow him out.


    Since it would take them a while, it was better to leave them to it instead of getting in their way by staying here.


    Not to mention, there were other things that they needed to talk about.


    So after stepping out of this area, Tie Gang stopped them before they went out of the tent.


    He looked at us and said, "Good work on your scouting mission. I never expected you to get this much information back for us."


    All of us revealed faint smiles when we heard this.


    Being praised for a job well down was always a good feeling, even if we were in danger right now.


    But then he revealed a serious look as he said, "But we might need your abilities againter. It''s clear that this is a very serious situation, so I hope that you will continue to support us."


    I gave a nod before saying, "This is a situation that all of us are trapped in, so of course we''ll do all that we can so that we can all get out of this alive."


    Tie Gang gave another nod before turning to look at me with narrowed eyes and saying, "I hope that until we are out of this ce, you will keep your personal affairs to yourself."


    I was surprised when I heard this as I didn''t expect to hear this.


    The way that Tie Gang was looking at me, it was as if he already knew that I was nning something.


    After all, the people that had hostile intentions towards me¡­weren''t just going to stop feeling hostile towards me. I had thought about taking care of them while we were in the dungeon since everything that happened in the dungeon stayed in the dungeon.


    But I never thought that Tie Gang would suddenly bring this up.


    I thought that I had hid it quite well, but it seemed that his sharp eyes had caught the way that I looked at them.


    Tie Gang saw the look on my face and said, "I know what you are thinking, but for now¡­don''t do anything. In the future, you can do what you want. But right now, we need to work together if we want to make it out of this ce alive."


    In the end, I gave a nod and said, "I won''t do anything as long as they don''t do anything. I think that''s eptable, right?"


    The others looked at me with a surprised look since they never expected me to actually admit to this.


    They had thought that I would deny this, but I made it very clear that I had indeed been nning something.


    Tie Gang gave an appreciative nod when he heard this before saying, "I''ll talk to the guild about getting you some extra rewards when we get back."


    With that, he gave me a pat on the shoulder before walking out.


    The others looked at me with strange looks, but I just calmly said, "It''s about survival of the fittest, isn''t it?"


    They were even more surprised to hear this, but for some reason¡­it wasn''t off putting for them.


    After all, a leader that couldn''t get things done when they needed to be done would only harm the team.


    Knowing that there was a leader with the conviction to get things done was naturally better.

 Chapter 250: Raid dungeon (42)

    A few hourster, I went back to the medical tent and I found that Tie Gang was also there.


    When I came over, he shook his head to show that they hadn''t found anything yet. Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Looking in, I could see the doctors just sitting there looking at the ss container with despair. With how messy it was, it was as if they had tried everything that they could think of.


    Though I did have to question what they were nning to do with the banana and jelly that they had brought with them. It didn''t seem like they had a n there and just seemed desperate.


    Still, it made it very clear that they had no idea what to do about this piece of bandage.


    Tie Gang watched them with me for a bit before saying with a sigh, "It seems like we won''t be getting anything from them."


    I slowly gave a regretful nod.


    After a moment of silence, Tie Gang moved closer and lowered his voice as he said, "Between you and me, I took a closer look at it earlier while they were distracted."


    I slowly turned to look at him as he fell silent.


    After a pause, he continued by saying, "There''s this strange energy attached to that thing. I can''t tell exactly what it is, but it definitely seems dark."


    I knitted my brows when I heard this.


    I of course knew what this energy was since I had my experience with it. However, for Tie Gang to call it dark like this¡­


    I looked at him for a bit before slowly saying, "Are you implying that¡­?"


    My voice trailed off, but the meaning behind these words were clear.


    Tie Gang looked at me with an uncertain look as he didn''t say anything.


    But in the end, he said with a sigh, "I don''t know¡­I just know that if the world were to know about this, it would definitely cause a stir. After all, this is the first sign in ten years."


    Just that was enough for me to ascertain what he was thinking.


    He did suspect that it was rted to the demon king.


    As long as that was the case, it meant that I would have to be careful from now on¡­if I were to slip and he were to catch some signs from me, my life could be over.


    From this point forth, it seemed like I couldn''t make a single mistake¡­


    Seeing the grim look on my face, Tie Gang misunderstood this look. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "Don''t worry. As long as we work together, there shouldn''t be a problem."


    His words snapped me out of my thoughts and I realized my mistake.


    I quickly gave a nod and said, "Un."


    Tie Gang looked at me with a sympathetic look before waving his hand and saying, "Let''s go. It''s time for the meeting."


    I gave another nod before following behind him.


    I had snuck over before the meeting since I thought that I could take a look at the piece of bandage alone, but it didn''t seem possible. So I just went to the meeting with Tie Gang.


    When we arrived, I saw that we were thest ones here.


    It seemed that everyone had gathered here early with how they were already deep in conversation.


    As soon as we came in, the room fell silent.


    There were a few pairs of eyes that red at me when I walked in with Tie Gang, but I just ignored them.


    Once we were in the tent, I was about to go over to where my group was, but Tie Gang grabbed me by the shoulder and stopped me.


    I looked at him with a surprised look, but he looked back at me with a firm look.


    In front of this, I had no choice but to back down and follow him onto the stage.


    There were more res that came in my direction when I went onto the stage, but I once again ignored them.


    After reaching the stage, Tie Gang shocked everyone by saying, "I have some important news for all of you."


    Everyone had been prepared to share the meagre ideas that they had, not a single one of them expected Tie Gang to open with this.


    There was only a stunned silence that followed after Tie Gang said this.


    Tie Gang didn''t speak right away as his eyes swept over everyone. This just made them feel even more anxious.


    After another long pause, Tie Gang said, "Because of recent discoveries, there is arge suspicion that there is a demon king in this dungeon."


    There were many sharp breaths taken after he said this.


    I couldn''t help looking at Tie Gang with a very strange look after he said this.


    One moment he was telling me that we shouldn''t be spreading this and the next minute¡­he was telling everyone.


    He really wasn''t being consistent at all!


    Everyone looked at Tie Gang with looks as if they were trying to figure out if he was joking or not. However, he just stood there with a serious look on his face like he wasn''t joking.


    So none of them knew what to say.


    Demon King, that was a term that they had all heard before, but they never thought that this would ever be rted to them.


    After all, demon kings were even things that governments hadn''t been able to handle yet since they had no idea what the demon kings were.


    Since the appearance of the dungeons, there hadn''t been a single trace of the demon kings.


    So even if they wanted to send people after the demon kings, even if the demon kings were the end goal of the dungeons, they hadn''t been able to do a single thing to them.


    For a demon king to suddenly appear here¡­it didn''t seem too likely.


    For a demon king to suddenly appear, they really found it hard to believe.

 Chapter 251: Raid dungeon (43)

    After a long period of silence, one of the people in the crowd couldn''t help asking, "Leader, are you sure about this? Could it be that there''s been a mistake?"


    After he said this, he slowly turned to look at me as if he was ming me for this ''mistake''.


    Tie Gang just shook his head and said, "It''s not a mistake, but it isn''t as if it''s guaranteed that there''s a demon king here either. It''s just a possibility that there''s something rted to the demon king in this dungeon."


    All of them looked at Tie Gang with a strange look.


    The way that he had said it before made it seem like he had found a demon king.


    But now the way that he said it just made it seem like there was something rted to the demon king that was found in this dungeon.


    These were twopletely different things.


    Finding a demon king was an earth shattering event because they all knew what had been said the day that the dungeons had appeared. All of them were old enough to remember hearing the voice that had rang out in their heads.


    They knew that the end of the war between humans and dungeons were the demon kings, so naturally finding the demon king would be like finding the end boss.


    Still, something that was rted to the demon king was more than enough to get them excited.


    After all, something rted to the demon king wasn''t as dangerous as the demon king itself.


    If it was the demon king, then they might not be able to do anything to them. But if it was just something that was rted to the demon king, then they would be able to do something to it.


    If they could bring back this something that was rted to the demon king¡­there was no doubt that they would be famous in an instant.


    After they went through these thoughts, they turned to Tie Gang as if they were waiting for him to tell them more.


    However, Tie Gang didn''t say anything as he turned to look at me.


    The way that he looked at me, it was as if he was expecting me to tell everyone about what happened.


    I wasn''t sure if that was the best idea, but he didn''t really give me a choice.


    Tie Gang moved out of the way for me to take the position on stage.


    I had no choice but toe forward and take that position that he had been in before.


    When they saw mee up, there were many different expressions that were looking at me. Some were filled with confusion, some were filled with disdain, and there were even some that were filled with pride.


    Those looks came from my group who were just sitting there in the corner.


    I took a deep breath and ignored all of these before saying what I had to say.


    I once again told them about the special mummy that I had met and how a part of that mummy had been caught in my clothes which I had brought back. Then I told them about how this had been found when I had my check up and they found that there was this strange energying from it.


    Only when I was finished did Tie Gang add, "Right now, we haven''t been able to find anything from this piece of bandage, but we are certain that it is unlike anything that we''ve seen before." After a pause, he added, "I can personally guarantee that the energy thates from this bandage is very dark, unlike anything that I''ve felt before."


    All of the members of the dungeon team couldn''t help knitting their brows when they heard this.


    A personal guarantee from Tie Gang, their A Rank leader definitely was not something that could be given lightly.


    So it seemed that he was quite certain about what he had found¡­


    If that was the case, it was very likely that this piece of bandage was rted to the demon king.


    Tie Gang had paused for a second to let this fact sink in, but then he quickly followed up by saying, "Now it is clear what we have to do."


    When they heard this, all of the members of the dungeon team revealed excited and determined looks. After all, with just this single piece of information, the entire situation had changed.


    This was something that they already had to do, but now there was this added incentive to this that was just irresistible to them.


    So they couldn''t help feeling excited about this.


    Seeing that they all looked excited, Tie Gang then said, "Alright, now let''s discuss the n that I''vee up with."


    The meeting went on for a while longer as Tie Gangid out his n for attacking the mummy settlement.


    But when it was over, it was as if there was apletely different atmosphere that filled the camp now. Everyone had excited and determined looks on their faces instead of the downcast looks of despair that they had previously.


    It seemed like they were all filled with motivation to put this n into action.


    It seemed like morale had suddenly jumped up with Tie Gang''s speech.


    I couldn''t help being impressed by what Tie Gang did.


    He used the discovery of something rted to the demon king to inspire the group even though it was something that should have been kept secret. He made the decision as the leader to share this with all of them since he knew that it would fill them with excitement.


    After all, this had gone from a fruitless dungeon raid filled with peril to one that was filled with iparable treasures and glory at the end. As long as theypleted this dungeon and brought back that thing rted to the demon king, there was no doubt that they would instantly be famous.


    But what I couldn''t help being impressed with the most was¡­the fact that Tie Gang didn''t feel any guilt.


    There was no doubt that even with this n, this would be a very dangerous fight.


    This was the monsters of an entire dungeon concentrated in a single area, so this was a very hard ce to attack. Even with the n, it would be fraught with danger.


    This would most likely result in many casualties, but Tie Gang didn''t feel any guilt at all about inspiring them to fight to their deaths like this. In a way, Tie Gang could even be said to be indirectly rted to their deaths if they did die fighting these mummies.


    Yet there was no guilt on his face as he put this n in action.


    It seemed that the impression that I had of Tie Gang waspletely wrong.


    I had thought that he was a righteous and forward person who cared deeply for his allies, but it seemed that he was only that on the surface. He was a leader that knew what he had to do and had no qualms about doing it.


    It seemed that there wasn''t a single A Ranker that was simple in this world.

 Chapter 252: Raid dungeon (44)

    After another long night''s rest, it was time to put the n in action.


    The reason why we had to wait this long and not head out right away was because we were letting Long Shui Ling recover her mana.


    She was the crux of the n, so we needed her in her best condition for it to work.


    We all set out from the camp together, but we quickly split up into two separate groups.


    One group was led by Tie Gang while the other group was led by me.


    This time, there were three other groups that came with us to enter the mummy settlement. There would have been more, but this was the limit of what Long Shui Ling could hide with her illusions.


    So this was the group that would be infiltrating the camp.


    The other group was led by Tie Gang and would be waiting outside the mummy settlement.


    They would be waiting for the signal before making their assault.


    One thing that I noticed was that the ones assigned to follow me were those that didn''t have a grudge against me.


    These were the ones that hadn''t looked at me with disdain when I had reported.


    It seemed that Tie Gang had been paying attention and made sure to separate me from those that disliked me.


    After all, if we were apart from Tie Gang and those people refused to follow my orders, it would be a disaster. At least this group would have a better chance of listening to my orders than the others.


    As we approached the mummy settlement, Tie Gang stopped all of us to give one final pep talk.


    We all gathered around in a circle and waited for him to speak.


    Tie Gang didn''t say anything at first as his eyes swept over us.


    He looked at each and every one of us with these eyes as if he was trying to connect with each one of us.


    Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "I know that all of you are daunted by therge hurdle that is in front of us, but I want all of you to know that regardless of what happens, I am proud of you."


    Everyone couldn''t help being surprised since this was unlike anything that Tie Gang had said before.


    But then¡­


    "But I think that we all know what we''re here for today. We''re here for honour and prestige, so I know that we will do all that we can to make this a sess. I hope that all of you will have good luck, but more importantly, I hope that all of you will do what you need to do." At the end of this, Tie Gang''s eyes turned sharp and everyone felt a bit of pressure falling on them.


    In a sense, this was his warning for them.


    In the end, Tie Gang ended it by saying, "Most importantly of all, I hope that all of you will do all that you can to stay alive. This will be a dangerous mission, but I will consider it a sess as long as we can keep casualties to a minimum."


    Everyone gave a firm nod after hearing this.


    The most important thing for anyone¡­was their own life.


    So naturally they all agreed to this.


    With this, Tie Gang turned to me and said, "Good luck."


    I gave a nod as I said, "You too."


    After that, we split up into our separate groups.


    As we stood there, I looked at everyone and saw the determined looks on their faces.


    I had thought about giving a motivational speech of my own, but it seemed that it wasn''t necessary.


    So with a wave of my hand, I turned and headed in the direction of the wall.


    As we walked over, there was a sensation of magic powering over us.


    The ones in our group weren''t worried at all since we knew what this was, but the ones from the other three groups were surprised since this was their first time experiencing this.


    It was Long Shui Ling putting up her illusion.


    As she did, I couldn''t help turning back to look at her with a worried look.


    I didn''t know how strong her powers were, but I knew that she was definitely pushing herself like this. I could see that she was struggling a bit to maintain this illusion.


    But when she saw me looking at her, she just put on a strong look as if she was saying that everything was fine.


    I hesitated for a second, but I turned back and faced forward again before moving even faster.


    I couldn''t do anything to help her, so the only thing that I could do was try to get everything set up as soon as possible.


    When we came up to the wall, we were greeted by the mummies that were on it this time before we even approached.


    It seemed like they remembered us, or rather they remembered me.


    When they popped out, the people from the other three groups couldn''t help jolting.


    It was clear that they were nervous seeing these mummies appear, they even seemed like they wanted to pull out their weapons in response to this. However, they stopped when they saw me ring at them and gesturing with my hand for them to calm down.


    They were a bit hesitant at first, but they still calmed down and followed my orders in the end.


    After we came up to the wall, the same thing happened as before where they lowered down thedder for us.


    Even though we hade back with more people, they weren''t suspicious at all since they had already heard that we had gone out to find more mummies. So it seemed that Long Shui Ling''s illusion ability was still working even though there were so many of us here.


    After getting past the wall, the people from the other three groups couldn''t help being shocked by what they saw.


    Even though they had already heard my report, seeing it with their own eyes was apletely different sensation.


    They never would have thought that there would be a society of monsters living in harmony like this.


    I gave them a moment toe back to their senses since they would be useless to us before then. But then I said, "Get a hold of yourselves. We''re here to do a job, not to gawk in a daze."


    Continue your saga on m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    They slowly turned back to look at me before snapping out of their daze.


    They knew that I was right, so they quickly focused their minds and prepared to do what they needed to do.


    We would have quite a bit of ground to cover, but we should be able to do it quite quickly since we could move freely through these mummies.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    Before we could take a single step, there was a mummy that ran over.


    This was the mummy that had guided us when we had just arrived.


    I thought that it wasing over to take over showing the new mummies around, but it turned out to be somethingpletely different.


    As soon as it came over, it immediately waved its hand as if it was telling me to follow it.


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I saw this.

 Chapter 253: Raid dungeon (45)

    In the end, I had no choice but to follow the mummy and the rest of the group all followed me.


    The other three groups were confused about what was happening, but my group had grim looks on their faces as they recognized that this wasn''t a good thing.


    The fact that we were being called by this mummy and in such an urgent manner most likely meant that something had happened. If something happened, it was very likely that this was rted to the mummy leader.


    Right now, we wanted to stay as far away from the mummy leader as possible to draw as little attention as we could.


    But now it didn''t seem like we had a choice.


    So we had no choice but to follow the mummy to the floor boss'' room.


    As we headed over, I went forward and moaned a few times, using the Suggestion skill to ask this mummy what this was about.


    However, all the mummy did was shake its head.


    The gestures that it made seemed like it was saying that it didn''t know what was happening either. It seemed like all it knew was that it had been told to bring them over as soon as they came back.


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I saw this.


    The other three groups were still confused, but they were slowly starting to understand what was happening.


    As they did, they began to feel more and more tense.


    The looks on their faces even made it seem like they were preparing to fight their way out.


    So I quickly turned around and gestured with my hands for them to calm down.


    They looked like they weren''t willing, but I was able to get them to calm down in the end.


    That was until we made it to the floor boss'' room.


    As soon as we arrived in this ce and the pressure came from within, all of them tensed up again. They all reached for their weapons as if they were trapped and wanted to fight their way out.


    So I had no choice but to use my Hypnosis on them.


    I didn''t really want to since there was the risk of exposing myself, but it was better than the other option of having to fight my way out.


    So I said in a soft voice that they could hear, "Calm."


    As soon as they heard my voice, their tense expressions slowly rxed.


    But this was also heard by the mummy who turned around to look at me with a strange look.


    It moaned and gestured, as if it was asking me if I said something.


    I quickly shook my head and moaned to deny this.


    The mummy looked at me with the same strange look for a bit, but it dropped it in the end and waved its hand for us to follow it in.


    When it pushed open the door, the pressure that came from within was even stronger.


    This was a pressure that we hadn''t felt before¡­it was as if the mummy leader was facing off against something or¡­it was preparing for something.


    When the mummy on the throne saw use in, the pressure that it released suddenly stopped and it stood up toe over to me. It took me by the shoulder and pulled me over to the stairs to the third floor before saying, "The time has finallye. It''s time for us to invade the third floor and take down that tyrant ruling over this ce."


    I couldn''t help revealing a shocked look when I heard this.


    The mummy leader felt the tremble in my body and even though it couldn''t see my ''face'' through the bandages of the illusion, it knew what I was feeling. So the mummy leader said, "I know that this surprises you, so let me tell you why I''m doing this."


    It let go of my shoulder and walked over to the stairs, staring up towards the third floor.


    I slowly came up behind him and stared up too, but I found that we weren''t able to see a single thing other than the roof. The stairs were so tall that we weren''t able to see the third floor at all.


    After a moment of silence, the mummy leader said, "I believe that the lord gave me this power to liberate us and bring us into the outside world." Then its eyes turned sharp as it said, "However, the tyrant up there believes that this power was given to us to defend ournds and to ensure that no invaderse again.


    Instead of using the power given to us to invade the outside world, it insists on staying in this ce and ruling over this small piece ofnd."


    The mummy leader gave a sigh before continuing, "I have tried many times to convince that fool, but it just wouldn''t listen. So I''ve had no choice but to gather my troops and fight it out with that fool. I hope that it wille to see reason once I beat some sense into it."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows even more when I heard this.


    Just from this, I had picked up several clues.


    It seemed that the dungeon boss had also been affected by whatever it was that affected this floor boss¡­


    It seemed that the two bosses were currently at odds about the power that they had been given and what they should do with it.


    And it seemed that there was a war imminent between these two sides.


    This was all very important information that wouldpletely change what we were nning to do.


    In fact, this made our jobs much easier as long as we used this information against them¡­


    So the first thing that popped into my mind was that we should go back.


    We had to report this to Tie Gang ande up with a new n.


    But the question was, how were we supposed to go back?

 Chapter 254: Raid dungeon (46)

    The mummy leader recovered from its emotional state and turned back to look at me to say, "That is where youe in."


    It grabbed me by the shoulders again and we walked back over to where the others were waiting.


    After walking over, the mummy leader said, "We will gather everyone and attack tomorrow. When thates, you will be the one leading them on my behalf while I take down that tyrant."


    As it said this, it looked at the other mummy who had led us here and that mummy gave a nod.


    It was clear that this was also an order for the mummy to pass down to everyone else.


    After seeing this nod, the mummy leader turned back to look at me, as if it was waiting for my response.


    I was silent for a bit before suddenly giving a moan.


    The mummy leader revealed a surprised look when it heard this before it said, "Yes, we need to take everyone. Only if we take everyone will we have enough forces to keep them upied while I fight their leader."


    I shook my head before moaning again.


    The mummy leader fell silent for a bit before saying, "You''re right about that¡­but that is a risk that we have to take. If we don''t do this now, we might not have a chance to do this."


    The mummy leader gave a sigh before continuing, "Just as we are getting stronger, that tyrant is also getting stronger. As much as I hate to admit it, it is stronger than I am and it''s only getting stronger. At this rate, we might not be able to fight it anymore."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback by this.


    With the way that this mummy leader had been acting, I had thought that it was at the head of this raid dungeon. It had already taken over the rest of the monsters and was controlling everything.


    But now it was telling me that this wasn''t the case.


    It seemed that there was another boss, the dungeon boss that had also been affected by whatever had affected this mummy leader. And it seemed that it had be even stronger than this mummy leader.


    That was a very bad situation for us since it meant that there were two powerful monsters that we had to deal with¡­


    But I did have a n.


    I had acted hesitant because I wanted to gain the mummy leader''s trust, but in truth, I wanted them to fight each other. The more monsters that were involved, the better since that meant less enemies for us to face.


    The more casualties there were, the less we would have to do when the time came.


    So after putting on a show of resistance, I went from resisting this idea to supporting it with one more moan.


    The mummy leader was surprised when he heard this moan before slowly saying, "You mean it?"


    I gave a nod in response without saying anything.


    The mummy leader looked at me in silence for a bit before suddenly letting out a sigh of relief. It patted me on the shoulder before saying, "It really is a relief having you on my side. The rest of them don''t have the same mental capacity and only have simple thoughts, so it really is hard for me toe up with all of these ideas on my own.


    But now that you''re here, I finally have someone that I can share my thoughts with."


    The mummy leader''s voice became more and more excited as it said this.


    It was clear that it was lonely and now that it had finally found someone that it could call an equal, it was giving them all the attention that it wanted to give to others.


    But it was too bad for this mummy leader that¡­I was nothing more than a spy.


    I wasn''t here to help them, but to ruin them.


    There would have been a small part of me that would have felt guilty about this, but I didn''t actually feel anything as I lied to the mummy leader''s face.


    After all, in my mind, I had alreadybelled this mummy leader as a monster.


    Separating it into apletely different group, I was able topletely cut myself off emotionally from this mummy leader and the rest of the mummies.


    Of course, it also helped that there was this connection to the demon king¡­


    I wanted to make sure that it wouldn''t be traced back to me since I was actually a demon king¡­


    After the mummy leader expressed its feelings to me for a while longer, it finally calmed down and exined the n to me.


    It was nning on attacking the third floor in two days.


    During that time, it wanted me to train up the troops and prepare them for the fight.


    While it didn''t give any specific instructions on how to train the mummies, it did have high hopes for me.


    However, that was a bad idea for me since I needed to leave the camp.


    In the end, I was able to convince it to let me leave the camp again to look for some more stragglers to boost our forces. I woulde back before the fight and do some quick training since it was impossible for this short term training to actually have any effect.


    It did hesitate for a while, but I was able to convince it to let me go in the end.


    But before I did leave, I made sure to leave a few instructions with the mummy that had led us.


    To make it easier to distinguish this mummy, I hade up with a nickname for it.


    Since it had some singed bandages from an unknown ce, I decided to name it Singed in my mind.


    With all of that set, it was time for us to head back and tell Tie Gang what had changed, as well as telling him the new n that I hade up with.

 Chapter 255: Raid dungeon (47)

    As we were leaving the mummy settlement, I could see the way that the others were looking at me.


    It wasn''t my group, but rather the three other groups that hade with us.


    They were looking at me with awe, shock, and a bit of suspicion.


    After all, the way that I had talked with the mummy leader¡­it was definitely very strange and unlikely.


    The way that the mummy leader epted me so easily, it really didn''t seem likely.


    So they couldn''t help wondering if I was really on their side.


    But they couldn''t do anything to me right now since I was the only one that could talk to the mummy leader like that. They knew that this was necessary for whatever n they were going to execute, so they had to go along with it for now.


    When we arrived back, the other group was shocked to see us.


    After all, the n was to charge the camp after we had set off the explosives that we were supposed to install.


    There were many gazes that looked at me with suspicion, as if they were questioning why I had brought us back so soon.


    These gazes quickly turned to the members of the other three groups.


    It was as if they were asking them to expose me for the liar that I was.


    However, the members of those three groups all turned away when they were looked at like this.


    It was as if they didn''t want to engage with the ones looking at them.


    It was as if they were afraid to speak.


    The members of Tie Gang''s group couldn''t help being shocked and confused when they saw this.


    Tie Gang came forward to meet me with a frown on his face.


    He could tell that there was something wrong since I hade back without setting off the signal.


    So he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    But I just answered with a shake of my head before saying, "Let''s go back, there''s too many ears around here."


    Tie Gang was surprised to hear this, but he still gave a nod and turned to head back to the camp.


    Half an hourter, we were gathered in the same tent as before.


    Tie Gang wasn''t leading the meeting this time and instead had left it to me. He was sitting in the front row, waiting for me to give my report.


    Taking a deep breath, I slowly told them everything that I had learned in the mummy settlement.


    This time, I didn''t hide a single thing from them since I knew that there was no way that I would be able to hide anything. The ones from my group might help me hide these details, but it was clear that the others wouldn''t with the way that they looked at me with suspicion.


    So I decided to just tell them everything.


    Once I was finished, I fell silent as I waited to see how Tie Gang would react to this.


    Tie Gang had deeply knitted brows as he looked down, as if he was deep in thought.


    After a long silence, he finally looked up, but he didn''t look at me. Instead, he looked at the other members of my group as if he was confirming this with them.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t believe me, it was just that¡­this was simply too unbelievable for him to believe.


    So he needed a second opinion just to make sure that this was real.


    As he looked at them, the others in the room also turned to look at them with gazes as if they were trying to pressure them into saying that this was all false.


    However, they couldn''t lie about this since this was too important.


    In the end, all of the members of my group confirmed that this was correct.


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows again when he saw this and looked down again as if he was deep in thought.


    But the others didn''t take it so well.


    There were a few that revealed looks of panic before suddenly standing up. They pointed at me and shouted, "This is all a lie! There''s no way that any of this could be true! They must be lying to cover for themselves!"


    The members of my group were silent, but the members of the other three groups couldn''t help revealing ugly expressions.


    They were about to fight back against these users, but Tie Gang suddenly pped his hand onto the table.


    The table instantly copsed with a loud sound and everyone''s attention immediately turned to Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang didn''t even look up at them as he said in a calm voice, "You know the truth in your heart. Don''t let the panic take over."


    After he said this, everyone immediately fell silent before sitting down again.


    Yes, they knew in their hearts that it was too wild for it to be a lie that everyone would be able to agree to, but this was a way for them to calm themselves by proiming that this was a lie.


    After a long period of silence, Tie Gang finally looked up and he looked at me.


    There was a firm look in his eyes as if he had alreadye to a decision as he said, "You have a n, don''t you?"


    When everyone heard this, they all looked at me.


    There were many different gazes aimed at me with many different emotions, but I ignored them all as I looked right back at Tie Gang.


    Seeing the look in his eyes, I could guess what his goal was.


    So I said with a nod, "Yes."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "Alright, let''s hear it. If it''s good, we''ll follow your n."


    There were many people that wanted to make an objection to this, but they didn''t get a chance as Tie Gang''s eyes swept over them and he said, "Unless any of you have any better ns."


    Everyone immediately fell silent after hearing this.


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "That''s what I thought."


    Then he turned back to me as if he was waiting for me to tell them my n.


    I took a deep breath and said, "My n is¡­"

 Chapter 256: Raid dungeon (48)

    A dayter, we were heading back to the mummy settlement.


    This time, there was only our group that went in.


    Without the other three groups, it was easier for Long Shui Ling to keep up her illusions. But of course, she would have to keep up the illusion of the other three groups since it would be strange if they suddenly went missing.


    Still without having to match their movements, it was no doubt easier for her to keep up the illusion.


    We easily made our way into the camp where we found the mummies currently training.


    When Singed saw me, it immediately waved me over to help it. However, I shook my head and gave a moan.


    It looked disappointed, but it understood and let me off.


    With my group, we moved around the camp and set up a few things in hidden spots.


    These were the explosives that we should have put in the camp yesterday.


    Though it seems excessive, it was better to cover everything just in case since there was no knowing what would happen.


    It didn''t take long for us to set these up and the mummies didn''t even notice them. They were well hidden, so there was no need for us to put any illusions on them to hide them.


    After putting these explosives in ce, it was all about waiting.


    The hardest part would be on Long Shui Ling since she would have to keep up these illusions the entire time.


    After another few hours, it was finally time to set off.


    This was our first time seeing the mummy leader out of the floor boss room, but it came out this time to address all of the mummies who had been gathered.


    All of them stood in the center of the square as they waited for the mummy leader to appear.


    When it did, they all couldn''t help revealing looks of awe and fear.


    I also couldn''t help looking at the mummy leader with a strange look since it was releasing an aura that it hadn''t released before.


    This time, it looked like it really was the boss of this group.


    After the mummy leader came forward, it suddenly said, "My fellow people, today is the day that we fight for our freedom."


    The mummies couldn''t help revealing confused looks when they heard this.


    The mummy leader revealed a serious look as it said, "We have been under the suppression of that tyrant for too long. Today is the day that we finally free ourselves from his rule!"


    Many of the mummies didn''t seem too enthusiastic about this, almost as if they didn''t really care about this.


    But the mummy leader''s suppression was more than enough for them to go along with it still.


    The mummy leader could naturally see that there was ack of morale, but it didn''t care at all. After all, these mummies were nothing more than distractions for it to get to its true enemy.


    As long as they stalled the others, that was more than enough for it.


    Once he finished saying this, the mummy leader revealed an excited look as it turned to look at me. With a wave of its hand, it said, "Now, I want to introduce the one that will be leading you all."


    I gave a sigh and had no choice but to go onto the stage.


    With the way that the mummy leader had spoken, it seemed like I would receive hate or apathy from the mummies since they didn''t support this fight.


    When I walked up over to where the mummy leader was, there were many gazes that had traces of hostility in them.


    They didn''t openly show their hostility, but it was clear that they weren''t happy to see me.


    That is until a few of them started to speak up for me.


    To my surprise, there were quite a few mummies that suddenly started speaking up for me as I stood up there, though it was mostly moaning from them.


    As I looked carefully, I saw that it was¡­the mummies that I had talked to on the first night.


    The ones that had been with us when we built our house, they were the ones that suddenly spoke up for me.


    I didn''t know why they did this, but eventually the entire atmosphere started to change.


    It wasn''t just those mummies that were talking about me, but the others were slowly talking about me as well. Judging by the tone of their moaning, it didn''t seem like it was bad. Readtest stories on m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    It almost seemed like they were supporting me.


    But why would they do that when they didn''t know me?


    They shouldn''t be showing support for me like this without knowing anything about me¡­


    It didn''t take long before it seemed like the rest of the mummies joined in on the cheering.


    Judging by the way that they looked at me and moaned to each other, it almost seemed like they all knew about me.


    The mummy leader revealed a look of admiration beforeing over to pat me on the shoulder.


    Just what was going on here?


    I couldn''t be more confused when I saw all of these mummies acting this way¡­


    But it seemed that they were willing to fight because I was here¡­


    So it seemed that there wouldn''t be a problem in putting the n in action.


    After the rally to raise morale, the mummy leader called for the others to follow it as it headed to the floor boss room.


    It was at this time that we also sent the signal to Tie Gang''s group who were waiting outside.


    Since all the mummies were going, it meant that there was no one here to watch over the settlement.


    We had thought about using explosives to chase the ones that stayed behind out, but it didn''t seem necessary.


    When the time came, Tie Gang''s group should be able to make their way through this settlement and to the next floor where the fight would be.

 Chapter 257: Raid dungeon (49)

    When we reached the entrance to the third floor, we suddenly stopped.


    That was because there was a powerful aura that wasing from the third floor.


    This was an aura that was even more powerful than the one that the mummy leader had released earlier.


    It was clear that whatever was on the third floor was stronger than the mummy leader¡­yet it still wanted to fight them. This was without care of what the costs would be if they actually fought whatever was on the third floor.


    This mummy leader was either very selfish or it had some kind of n.


    As far as I could tell¡­it was most likely selfish.


    But that was to be expected since it didn''t have this intelligence for long.


    Based on what I had heard from the mummy leader, I knew that this mummy leader had only been intelligent for a few days.


    So in terms of mental maturity, this mummy leader was on the same level as a child.


    Maybe that was why it insisted on fighting whatever was on the third floor.


    But that didn''t mean that the rest of the mummies would go that easily.


    They just remained there at the entrance to the third floor, not moving at all as if they were afraid to go up.


    When the mummy leader saw this, it revealed a displeased look. However, it knew that it wouldn''t be able to do anything to convince them to go.


    If it used force, that would have the opposite effect and make them even more unwilling to go.


    It needed these mummies to distract the others while it faced the dungeon boss, so it couldn''t go without these mummies backing it up.


    So the only thing that this mummy leader could do was turn to me.


    The way that it was looking at me was as if it was asking me to do something.


    With a sigh, I turned back to look at the mummies and gave a moan before waving my hand at them as if I was calling them forward.


    Only when they saw that it was me did they slowly start moving towards the entrance to the third floor.


    The mummy leader looked at me with a grateful look before saying, "It''s time to leave our mark in history. Men, know that you are taking the first step towards your independence today."


    The mummies just looked at it like it was an immature child that was shouting out random things when they saw it acting like this.


    I also couldn''t help giving a secret sigh.


    I would be done with this mummy leader too if it wasn''t for the fact that I was using it. Enjoy exclusive chapters from m-v l''e|-NovelBin


    So I just went along with it and our group started moving up to the third floor.


    But as we went up the stairs, the aura that came from above us became even stronger.


    It was clear that whatever was up there wouldn''t be in a mood to show mercy¡­


    Still, we didn''t stop until we came up to the third floor.


    As soon as we came up, we were met by several mummies that were pointing spears at us.


    These mummies weren''t just normal mummies as far as I could tell since they had things that normal mummies didn''t. These were mummies that had golden jewelry on, showing that they were clearly different from the rest of the mummies.


    There was another one of these mummies with golden jewelry that came forward, but this one also had what seemed to be a golden headdress.


    After we were surrounded, the one with the golden headdress said, "You know that you''re not wee here. Ever since you were banished from this ce, you were told to nevere back."


    It wasn''t just me, the other mummies also looked at the mummy leader with surprised looks.


    Not a single one of us expected something like this.


    It was so shocking that I even ignored the fact that this mummy with the headdress was talking.


    But the mummy leader didn''t care as it said, "And I told you that I would be back to take my revenge for kicking me out like that."


    The mummy with the headdress narrowed its eyes to look at the mummy leader before saying, "And how are you nning on doing that? When you were here, you couldn''t beat any of us."


    The mummies looked at the mummy leader with even more shock when they heard this¡­


    But they didn''t doubt this because they could feel the aura that wasing from the mummies pointing spears at them.


    This aura¡­was simr to the aura of the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader wasn''t worried at all as it suddenly burst intoughter before saying, "Is that all you have to say to me? And here I was worried that it would be something important, but this was all that you had to say?"


    All of a sudden, the mummy leader stoppedughing and looked at the mummy with the headdress with cold eyes before saying, "Is that really all that you have to say?"


    For some reason, the mummy with the headdress couldn''t help feeling worried when it heard this. For some reason, there was a chill that ran down the spine of the mummy with the headdress when it heard this.


    That mummy knitted its brows before raising its hand and saying, "Get ready."


    As soon as its voice fell, the other mummies readied their spears as if they were prepared to charge.


    When the mummies on our side saw this, they couldn''t help tensing up since they could feel the pressureing from these mummies. They knew that these mummies definitely weren''t weak¡­


    Or at least they weren''t enemies that they would be able to deal with.


    But the mummy leader broke out inughter again before raising its hand and saying, "It''s time for you to learn what the difference between us is."


    After it said this, there was a ck energy that appeared in its hand.

 Chapter 258: Raid dungeon (50)

    The mummies with spears couldn''t help looking at the ck energy with strange looks.


    The one with the headdress started to say something, but it didn''t get a chance to finish as the mummy leader suddenly pointed the hand with the dark energy in it at these mummies.


    When it did, the dark energy suddenly started to shake.


    It didn''t leave the mummy leader''s hand, but just shook there as if something was about to happen.


    Then the mummies with spears felt their hands be weaker as they suddenly dropped the spears that they had been pointing at us.


    They all looked at each other with shocked and confused looks as they didn''t understand what had happened.


    All they felt was this weakening sensation that made them lose their grip on their spears and drop them. They had no idea where this sensation came from or even what caused it.


    But it was there and they couldn''t resist.


    The mummy with the headdress immediately recognized what the cause was and looked at the mummy leader with narrowed eyes as it said, "What did you do?"


    The mummy leader revealed what seemed to be a smile based on its eyes and then said, "I thought that I was inferior and you didn''t care about what I did? Why are you suddenly caring?"


    The mummy with the headdress deeply knitted its brows, but there was nothing that it could say in response to this.


    After all, it had no idea what was even happening, so it had no idea what to say.


    The mummy leader didn''t care about whether it responded or not, it just kept pointing its hand at them.


    It didn''t take long before there was some kind of dark energy that came out of these mummies.


    This dark energy was unlike anything that they had seen before, but for some reason they felt that it looked familiar. For some reason, it felt like they had seen it before.


    Then they suddenly looked at the dark energy that was in the hand of the mummy leader.


    That''s right, it was just like this dark energy!


    Why was this mummy leader able to control it?


    It was at that moment that they finally realized what was happening.


    This dark energy that was in the hand of the mummy leader, it was drawing out the dark energy from them and this dark energy was what was causing the weakening feeling inside of them.


    They didn''t know what this dark energy was, but they knew that it was something important to them.


    The only one that had a look of recognition on their face during all of this was¡­me.


    The moment that the mummy leader had gathered that dark energy, I immediately knitted my brows since I felt a familiar feelinging from it.


    It was a feeling that I was familiar with since¡­I lived with someone that gave off the same feeling.


    Lilith.


    Whatever this energy was, I was certain that it was rted to the demon king in some way.


    And the fact that the mummy leader was able to control it, it was very likely that it had a deeper connection with the demon king than I thought. It was even likely that this mummy leader was one of the chosen subordinates of the demon king.


    Or the ''lord'' as it chose to call them.


    The mummy with the headdress knew that this situation was bad, so it said, "Forget about everything and just take care of this traitor! As long as we can take it down, there''s nothing to worry about from the rest of them!"


    The mummies that had been standing there with shocked looks suddenly came back to their senses and were about to move forward to take care of the mummy leader.


    However, before they could move far, the mummy leader suddenly took a step forward.


    The moment that it did, it disappeared on the spot. Discover more content at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    When it reappeared again, it was where the mummy with the headdress was.


    The mummy with the headdress looked at it with shock and confusion, but it also quickly reacted and was about to attack it.


    But before it could, the mummy leader''s hand was already at the neck of the mummy with the headdress. It gripped that neck and lifted the mummy with the headdress up before saying, "Who''s inferior now?"


    The mummy with the headdress wanted to say something, but it found that it wasn''t able to say a thing with the way that the mummy leader gripped its throat.


    It was only able to make a few choking sounds that didn''t make any sense.


    The mummy leader didn''t waste any time and crushed the throat of the mummy with the headdress before throwing it to the side.


    As the mummy leader threw that mummy with the headdress away, there was some kind of ck energy that came out of that body that it threw. This dark energy flowed through the air beforeing to the orb that was in the mummy leader''s other hand.


    The other mummies were shocked when they saw this and didn''t know how to react.


    Then all hell broke loose when the mummy leader attacked them.


    There were some that tried to run away and there were some that tried to fight the mummy leader.


    However, not a single one of them was able to match the mummy leader''s speed.


    The mummy leader just ran around the ones that came to attack it and reached the ones that were running away. Once it appeared there, it suddenly said, "You think that you can get away?"


    When it reached the ones that were running, it stabbed them in the back with its hand that was now covered in ayer of that dark energy.


    Its hand quickly pierced through them and turned them into dust.


    Out of the dust came some more of the same dark energy that attached itself to the dark energy orb in the mummy leader''s hand.


    Slowly but surely, the mummy leader wiped out this entire group by itself.

 Chapter 259: Raid dungeon (51)

    Once it finished off this group, the mummy leader just stood there while dark energy kept gathering in the dark energy orb in its hand.


    As the dark energy gathered, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    I wasn''t the only one as the others all knitted their brows while staring at the mummy leader.


    Even the other mummies revealedplicated looks when they saw this.


    That was because all of us could feel the aura of the mummy leader getting stronger.


    It was as if gathering all of that dark energy just made it stronger¡­


    After a long time, it seemed like the mummy leader had finally finished digesting all of the dark energy that it had gathered.


    It closed its hand and the dark energy that had been gathered entered back into the mummy leader. As it did, we could feel that the aura of the mummy leader was getting stronger and more stable.


    When it opened its eyes again, it walked back over to us and waved its hand for us to follow it.


    However, no one moved a single inch since we were all too stunned to move.


    Not a single one of us could understand what had happened just now.


    The mummy leader saw this and turned around to look at us before waving its hand at us again to follow. Experience new stories on m v|l e''-NovelBin


    I took the lead and went forward to ask with a moan, "What was that?"


    The mummy leader looked at me with one raised brow.


    If it was someone else, he wouldn''t have bothered to answer¡­but since it was me, he hesitated a bit before saying, "That was a special power that I was granted by the lord."


    With a sigh, he said, "When I was chased out all that time ago, I was given this power by the lord. Though I never really used it before this since I didn''t know how to use it properly. But during that fight just now, I figured it out. This power is the power to gather the lord''s power inside of me, to be the lord''s true vessel."


    I couldn''t help looking at the mummy leader with a strange look when I heard this.


    But at the same time, I couldn''t help being wary.


    After all, in cases like this¡­it usually ended with the owner of the power losing control and draining their subordinates for their power.


    Though I didn''t know what the mummy leader would do, it was very likely that it would do the same when the time came.


    The mummy leader saw the look on my face and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I slowly shook my head and gave a moan to say, "Nothing."


    The mummy leader still looked at me with one raised brow before saying like he had forgotten something, "Oh right, I''ve juste up with a new name for myself. From now on, you can call me Lucifer."


    Lucifer¡­that was the demon that symbolized the sin of pride.


    Was this supposed to be a clue?


    I couldn''t help asking with a moan, "Why are you suddenly telling us to call you that?"


    The mummy leader looked at me and said, "I just felt like it."


    It was as if this was the most natural thing as he said this, which made me knit my brows even more.


    So I couldn''t help asking again, "Where did youe up with this name?"


    "Where did Ie up with this name?" The mummy leader answered with a question before saying, "It just popped into my mind. I don''t know where I came up with it."


    This really seemed like it was being manipted by something¡­or there was something that was slowlying together.


    Could it be because of the dark energy that this mummy leader had just absorbed?


    That dark energy clearly had something to do with the demon king, but what if it was even more than I had thought?


    What if the demon king was scattered into pieces of that dark energy and by gathering it together, this mummy leader would be the demon king in the end?


    If that really was the case, then that would be a worst case scenario for me¡­


    If another demon king was suddenly born, there was no doubt that they would recognize me and then expose me.


    If I was exposed, there were only two choices.


    Either kill everyone that knew my new identity, or give up on my ns and my life and hide in the dungeons from now on like a fugitive.


    Neither choices were what I wanted.


    So I had to prevent this from happening if this was the case.


    For now, I would watch over the mummy leader to see how it turned out.


    After all, there was nothing that indicated this was the case right now.


    Once the mummy leader¡­Lucifer was done exining all of this, it looked at me with an impatient look as if it was saying, "Can we go now?"


    I took a deep breath and started to follow it.


    The interesting thing was that as soon as I started to follow it, the rest of the mummies started to follow me.


    If one didn''t know anything, they would have thought that I was the leader with how all of the mummies followed me¡­but I knew better.


    Seeing that I was following it, Lucifer didn''t hesitate to head deeper into this ce.


    However, the third floor wasn''t that big in the first ce.


    It didn''t take long before we came across another group of enemies.


    This time, Lucifer didn''t hold back at all as it raised its hand and gathered the same ball of dark energy in it.


    With this ball of dark energy in its hand, it made quick work of the mummies that had caught us.


    After it finished off those mummies, I could see that there was a dark energy that surrounded it.


    It seemed that the more enemies it defeated, the more dark energy that it gained¡­


    The more dark energy that it gathered, the stronger the dark energyyer around it became¡­


    And, the more its aura changed.


    This seemed like it was getting more and more dangerous.

 Chapter 260: Raid dungeon (52)

    Eventually, we made our way to the dungeon boss room.


    We knew it was the dungeon boss room because of the way that it was decorated.


    The floor itself was designed like the inner chambers of a pyramid.


    So the dungeon boss room was where the sarcophagus of the pharaoh would have been.


    ording to the information that we had received from the guild, the dungeon boss was actually a pharaoh mummy. So it wasn''t strange that this dungeon boss room seemed like the final resting ce of a pharaoh.


    Standing outside the entrance to this final room were a bunch of mummies with spears, but they didn''t seem to stop us when we arrived.


    It was almost as if they were letting us go in.


    The mummy leader didn''t seem to care about this as it seemed like it wanted to attack them anyway, but a voice suddenly said, "Come in and let''s talk."


    As soon as the mummy leader heard this voice, it couldn''t help stopping.


    Then it revealed a frown as if it was wary of this voice.


    This was my first time seeing the mummy leader act this way.


    I could tell that the owner of this voice definitely wasn''t normal.


    If I had to guess, it was most likely the dungeon boss that spoke just now.


    The mummy leader didn''t say anything, but it looked back at me. It was as if it was asking me toe with it.


    I couldn''t help turning to look at Long Shui Ling.


    After all, it was only with her illusion that I was able to hide myself. If I went too far away from her, I didn''t know if she would be able to keep it up.


    However, she gave a nod with a strong look on her face as if she was saying that she could do it.


    So I decided to trust her and gave a nod to the mummy leader.


    The two of us walked past the mummies with spears and entered the dungeon boss room.


    As we walked past, the mummies with spears looked at us with strange looks, but they didn''t do anything to us.


    When we came into the dungeon boss room, we found a mummy with a pharaoh''s headdress sitting on the throne in there.


    We only took a few steps into the room before the mummy leader suddenly stopped. When the mummy leader stopped, I also stopped so that I was standing beside it.


    The mummy leader looked up at the pharaoh on the throne and said, "Did you expect to see me again?"


    From the bitterness in its voice, it was clear that the mummy leader resented the pharaoh.


    The pharaoh didn''t seem to really care as it casually looked down at the mummy leader. It didn''t even answer the mummy leader''s question as it asked, "Why are you doing this? I let you live on the second floor and do what you want. Now you''re biting the hand that feeds you?"


    The mummy leader trembled, but it wasn''t out of fear. In a voice that was filled with anger, it said, "You let us live on the second floor? You''re the one that keeps us there, making us unable to leave this ce. I''ve told you many times that we should go into the outside world and take what''s ours, but you''ve stopped me every time."


    The pharaoh finally showed some emotion on its face as it said, "Your idea is suicidal. You have no idea what it''s like in the outside world and you want to invade it? That idea will get us all killed. You have no idea just how strong those that live outside are."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    After all, it seemed like the pharaoh knew more than the mummy leader¡­


    It seemed to know that there were humans living outside of this raid dungeon and was wary of them.


    The mummy leader just said in a bitter voice, "You''ve said the same thing again and again, but I''ve never seen any traces of this."


    The pharaoh just shook its head before saying, "You''re too young to understand."


    When it became a matter of age, the mummy leader shouted, "I''m not too young! You''re too stubborn to ept change!"


    The pharaoh didn''t respond after hearing this.


    Instead, the pharaoh turned its eyes to me.


    It looked at me for a bit which made me a bit nervous before saying, "Who is this?"


    The mummy leader revealed an angry look when it heard this before saying, "This is an issue between you and me! Stop getting distracted!"


    The pharaoh gave a snort before saying, "You''re the one that brought this one with you."


    Then the pharaoh looked more intensely at me as it said, "You have a power that is simr to the power of our lord, but there''s something different about it."


    The mummy leader had been about to say something, but it looked at me with a strange look after hearing this.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows a bit when I heard this.


    It seemed that this pharaoh really had more of the demon king''s power than I expected¡­it was even able to sense that I was apletely different demon king.


    The pharaoh then said, "Who are you and what do you want?"


    I didn''t say anything in response to this and just looked at the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader was looking at me with a strange look, but when it saw me looking at it, it suddenly came back to its senses.


    As if realizing something, it suddenly turned back to the pharaoh and said, "You think that you can distract me with this lie?"


    The pharaoh shook his head and was about to say something, but the mummy leader wouldn''t allow it. The mummy leader looked right at the pharaoh and said, "I won''t listen to any more of your lies. I''m here to end this and that''s what I''m going to do!"

 Chapter 261: Raid dungeon (53)

    The pharaoh looked at the mummy leader as if it was trying to figure out if it was being serious.


    But then when the mummy leader raised its hand to gather the same dark energy, the pharaoh gave a sigh as it said, "It seems like you really won''t listen to reason¡­then since that''s the case, I''ll respond in turn."


    The pharaoh raised its hands and there was a il and a crook that suddenly appeared in them.


    These were the symbols of a pharaoh in ancient times, so it only made sense that it would be using them now to fight.


    The mummy leader didn''t turn back to look at me, but it said, "Go andmand the others! Don''t let theme into this room and disturb us!"


    I quickly gave a nod and a moan before turning to leave.


    The pharaoh watched me as I left and it said, "You can leave for now, but I''lle find youter. I want to find out what secrets you are hiding."


    I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine when I heard this, but I suppressed this feeling and went out of the dungeon boss room.


    But the moment that I came out, I found that I was surrounded by spears.


    I didn''t know how the pharaoh had done it, but it hadmunicated to the guards without saying anything. So the mummy guards outside immediately turned around and pointed their spears at me when I came out.


    When our mummies saw this, they all suddenly became agitated.


    It was very strange to see this since I didn''t feel like they would get this agitated even if the mummy leader was being threatened like this. Yet they were doing this because I was the one having spears pointed at.


    It was almost as if they cared about me more than the mummy leader¡­


    I didn''t know what I had even done to get this kind of respect from them.


    Still, that was a question for another time¡­or a question that wasn''t even worth answering since I didn''t n on letting any of them live.


    For now, I had to escape from these spears that were being pointed at me.


    Since it was already the climax, it didn''t matter if I showed a bit of my power.


    So I muttered under my breath, "Faster and stronger."


    As soon as I muttered this, I could feel the power that filled me.


    Using this power, I suddenly crouched down and gathered the power inside of my legs.


    Then before any of the mummy guards could attack, I burst forth with all of that power and jumped over all of them.


    The mummy guards weren''t able to react in time since Long Shui Ling used her illusion to help make it seem like I had jumped higher than I actually did, which caught them all off guard. But even if they did react, they wouldn''t have been able to do anything since I had jumped out of their reach¡­or at least my illusion did.


    If they hadn''t been stunned by that illusion, they might have been able to throw one or two spears at me.


    But even then, I would have been able to block these spears easily.


    After I reached the other side, I quickly went back to our group of mummies and went to the middle where my group was waiting for me.


    Singed also quickly came over as if it was asking me what we should do.


    I didn''t hesitate to give a moan and as soon as I did, the mummies took a formation.


    This was the basic training that I had given them.


    I knew that it was impossible to teach them to fight properly in the short amount of time that I had, so I just taught them one simple formation. This was a simple formation that was effective enough that it would give anyone a fighting chance.


    Though in truth, that fighting chance was just to stall for time.


    They wouldn''t actually be able to do anything against properly trained troops.


    But that stalled time was all that I needed to put my n in action.


    Some of the mummies pulled out shields, some of the mummies pulled out spears, and some of the mummies pulled out bows.


    This was a simple formation where there would be a shield wall to block the advance of the enemy, while spears and bows would back them up.


    This would be a hard formation to prate, but once a hole opened up¡­it would be over.


    And that was what I was waiting for.


    The mummy guards did their best to try to prate the walls, but these mummies had been decently trained that they wouldn''t break that easily.


    They were even able to take a few of the mummy guards down with them.


    It even seemed like they would be able to do some damage to the mummy guards at this rate.


    But during all of this, I was waiting for something to happen.


    After a few minutes, it didn''t seem like either side would back down, but someone tapped on my shoulder.


    When I turned, I saw that it was ire.


    She had been silently watching the surrounding area, as if she was looking for something special. Read new chapters at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    So when she came over, she must have seen it.


    "They just gave the signal." She whispered in my ear.


    I gave a nod before turning to Singed to give a moan.


    Singed was surprised to hear this, but it quickly went forward to give the orders that I had given it.


    Once the order was given, there was a hole that was formed in the shield wall.


    The mummy guards were surprised to see this, but they quickly reacted and sent a group to attack that hole. They didn''t understand why they would do this, but it was an opportunity for them that they didn''t want to give up.


    So they quickly went forward to charge that hole.


    As they did, I revealed a faint smile.

 Chapter 262: Raid dungeon (54)

    When the mummy guards reached that hole and were about to stab out with their spears, they found that there was something that was flying towards them.


    They immediately stopped moving forward and raised their spears to spin around in an attempt to block the thingsing at them.


    This was a wave of arrows that had suddenly been shot from the back of the formation.


    Until now, the bows hadn''t been used as much during the fight.


    There were only a few arrows that came out from time to time since they had been fighting in close range. If they used the arrows, they might have harmed their allies instead of hurting the enemy.


    Only now did a wave of arrowse out like this.


    That was because the enemies had been gathered in a single spot for them to shoot.


    It was impossible for them to miss like this.


    Though they attempted to use the spears to knock down the arrows, they weren''t able to get them all in the end.


    So there were a few of the mummy guards that were injured by these arrows.


    But that wasn''t the end of it.


    Since they were distracted by the arrows, the mummies with spears in the formation also came forward to stab at the mummy guards. They were too distracted by the arrows to properly block and quite a few of them were stabbed by the spears.


    These mummy guards quickly backed away when they saw theirrades being stabbed like this.


    The mummies in the formation wanted to chase, but Singed quickly gave a moan that stopped them.


    As Singed gave this moan, it couldn''t help being surprised by how well this worked.


    It had thought that it was crazy to open up a hole in their formation like this, but now it understood that it acted as the perfect bait. As long as they were able to work properly, they would be able to bait them in and get them while they were all grouped.


    Understanding this, Singed didn''t hesitate to give the order for another hole to be made in their formation.


    However, it was clear that the mummy guards were wary this time.


    They had already seen what had happenedst time, so they knew that they couldn''t rashly charge at this hole.


    But one of the mummy guards suddenly said, "Go, charge in."


    The mummy guards looked at each other with confused looks, but in the end, they still went forward.


    That was because the one that had spoken was one with a headdress just like the one that had led the other mummy guards by the entrance to the third floor. It was clear that this one was in charge of this group of mummy guards.


    They were hesitant, but they still went at the hole that was made.


    Singed revealed a disdainful look.


    It didn''t know what these mummy guards were nning, but since they were volunteering to charge into the formation, then it wouldn''t hesitate.


    Singed gave another moan and all of the mummies took their positions.


    These mummies were all prepared for these mummy guards toe in.


    But before the mummy guards reached them, the mummy with the headdress said, "Split up!"


    The mummy guards suddenly split into two groups.


    One was still charging at the formation and they were going even faster than before. The other had slowed down and was getting further away from the first group, but they were stilling at the formation.


    This sudden change caught the mummies of our group off guard.


    The archer mummies all turned to Singed with looks like they were asking what to do.


    This gap was all that they needed to break through.


    The ones that had stalled behind suddenly raised their spears and threw them at our formation. They went over the shield wall that had been spread to create this gap andnded where the archer mummies were.


    Some of them hit targets, but most of them missed.


    However, that was more than enough to stop the archers from firing their arrows and providing cover fire for the ones in front.


    The ones that had charged forward suddenly breached the hole and started breaking down the formation from within.


    In a matter of seconds, the situation hadpletely copsed and the shield wall around that hole also started to break.


    The mummies with spears tried their best to push back the mummy guards, but there was a fundamental difference in power between the two sides.


    The mummy guards were elite monsters of the third floor while the mummies with spears were nothing more than normal monsters of the first and second floor.


    They wouldn''t be able topete in the first ce.


    Singed saw that it was all copsing and it quickly came back to my side to ask for help.


    However, I didn''t say a single thing as I watched all of this happen.


    Then when the second group of mummy guards pushed into the formation¡­


    "Boom!"


    No one was able to react to this in time as an explosion suddenly rang out.


    This explosion happened right where the hole had been created, wiping out the mummies of the formation and the mummy guards.


    No one moved an inch as they all waited to see what happened.


    When the dust settled and the mes disappeared, arge gap was revealed as many of the mummies had been killed in that explosion.


    They didn''t expect the explosion, so naturally they didn''t have their guards up when it happened.


    When these mummies were hit by the mes, they were all burned away to ashes.


    Not a single mummy here understood what happened, but they also didn''t get a chance to even think about it.


    "Charge!"


    This voice rang out from behind the mummy formation.


    When they all turned in the direction of that voice, they found that there was a group of humans that were suddenly charging at them.

 Chapter 263: Raid dungeon (55)

    When they saw these humans, both groups of mummies immediately stopped fighting and tried to organize themselves.


    But it was already toote for that.


    They had beenpletely thrown into chaos by the explosion and their formations were a mess right now.


    The group that Singed led was closer, so they received the brunt of the attack.


    Or it could be said that they didn''t stand a single chance as the humans tore right through their formation.


    However, they didn''t stop to cut them down as they kept charging at the mummy guards.


    The mummy guards also hadn''t gotten back in formation yet, but they were stronger than the other mummies. So at the very least, they were able to put up more of a fight against these humans.


    That was until a certain human came forward.


    This human was very strange¡­instead of looking like a normal human, his skin had turned dark and looked like metal. No matter how they tried to stab him with their spears, they weren''t able to hurt him at all.


    But he kept swinging his sword and cutting them all down.


    The mummy guards couldn''t keep up with him at all as they were cut down by this human alone.


    Then when the other humans followed this human, they were pushed back even more by them.


    Singed thought that this group of humans would leave them alone when they saw this, but it found that there were a few humans that wereing in their direction as well.


    Singed tried its best to gather the mummies to stop them, but they were just too scattered and the humans were too fast.


    By the time that Singed tried to gather everyone, the humans were already wreaking havoc in their lines and pushing them back.


    Singed knew that they were in a very dangerous situation, so it turned around to look for Lin Fan.


    But when it did, it found that Lin Fan was gone.


    Singed couldn''t help being shocked seeing this, but it knew that it couldn''t remain shocked for long.


    Singed quickly went around looking for Lin Fan or the mummies that had been with Lin Fan, but it couldn''t find a single one of them.


    That was until there was a cry that rang out.


    One of the humans had suddenly been pushed back by some kind of explosion.


    This human wasn''t injured, but they were pushed back into the other humans and that stopped their charge.


    They were no longer able to charge at their group and they were able to stabilize around the one that had stopped the humans.


    When Singed saw who it was, it revealed an excited look of awe.


    That was because the one that it had been looking for was the one that had stopped this.


    I had stepped forward and stopped them froming further forward.


    This group was one of the groups that had been with me when we came to the mummy settlement and right now, they could see that it was me who had stopped them.


    When they saw that it was me that had stopped them, they immediately knitted their brows and looked like they wanted to question me. However, I just shook my head and gave them a look as if I was saying, "Go along with it."


    The Awakeners looked unhappy about this, but they remembered Tie Gang''s orders to go along with whatever I did.


    So in the end, even if they were unhappy, they turned around and went to support Tie Gang.


    They left our group of mummiespletely alone.


    Singed immediately came over to my side when it saw this and then it moaned as if it was suggesting that we attack the humans from behind while we had the momentum.


    But I just shook my head in response to this before giving a moan.


    This moan wasn''t for Singed, but rather some of the other mummies that were hanging around inside of the formation.


    When they heard this, they immediately came over to me.


    This was a group of mummies that I had picked out the day before that would report directly to me.


    I had even given them special training and equipment.


    So they could be considered a sort of elite squad.


    When they gathered, they all looked at me with surprised and confused looks as if they didn''t understand why they had been gathered. After all, they knew that they had been trained for a special purpose which was to¡­assassinate.


    They all had short daggers in their hands which would allow them to quickly stab a vital point and escape, which was what they had been training on the entire time.


    So for them to be called now, it must mean that I wanted to assassinate someone.


    But who would be important enough for them to assassinate?


    I looked at them and gave a moan.


    When I did, all of these assassins revealed surprised looks.


    That was because the moan that I had given was¡­for them to take out the mummy with the headdress.


    They had almost been certain that I would give the order for them to take out the humans, but they never expected me to give the order to take down the mummy with the headdress.


    I looked at them and gave another moan before they all revealed looks of understanding.


    They had forgotten why we were even here.


    We were here to support our leader who was currently in a fight in the dungeon boss room.


    So to ess the dungeon boss room, we needed to take care of the mummy guards and the mummy with the headdress.


    For now, the humans were actually helpful to us.


    Singed looked at me with a strange and worried look, it was as if there was something that it wanted to say.


    But in the end, it didn''t say anything.


    Since they understood what they needed to do, the assassins didn''t waste any time in heading out.


    As they left, I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile.

 Chapter 264: Raid dungeon (56)

    These assassin mummies smoothly made their way through the crowd.


    With the chaos that enveloped the battlefield, there wasn''t a single person or monster that noticed them as they made their way through.


    There were multiple chances for them to attack the humans, but they didn''t do it in the end. They had looked like they wanted to do it, but they held themselves back in the end and focused on their task at hand.


    Singed looked at them with worried looks before turning back to me to give a moan.


    It had held itself back earlier, but now it couldn''t hold back anymore.


    After all, Singed felt a very bad feeling from all of this.


    It didn''t know what this bad feeling was, but it felt like there was some kind of trap waiting for them.


    But I just shook my head and gave a moan telling it that it was fine.


    At the same time, I said that this was the only way.


    Singed looked like it thought otherwise, but it fell silent in the end.


    Still, the way that Singed gripped its weapon made it clear that there was something that it wanted to do.


    The mummy assassins soon made their way over to where the mummy with the headdress was.


    This mummy with the headdress was surrounded by the different mummy guards.


    After the humans had charged at them, the mummy guards gathered as tightly as they could to stop the humans from breaking through. They made sure to stand right in front of the door to the dungeon boss room so that no one would be able to break through.


    But in the end, there was still one human that was pushing his way through.


    That one human whose skin had changed colour and was hard as metal.


    When the mummy assassins were around the mummy with the headdress, they stopped moving as if they were waiting for an opportunity.


    They could have gone in and stabbed that mummy with the headdress, but it was too dangerous right now. The mummy guards around the mummy with the headdress were all elites and they were very tense.


    They could tell that as soon as they approached the mummy with the headdress, they would be discovered by these elite guards.


    However, an opportunity soon came for them.


    "Go and take him down."


    The mummy with the headdress suddenly said to these elite guards.


    The elite guards looked at the mummy with the headdress with concerned and confused looks.


    The mummy with the headdress had been silently observing the situation and knew that this was very bad for them. They had been given one task and even if there were all these variables, this was what they had to do.


    And this human¡­was the biggest variable that would ruin this.


    So the mummy with the headdress had no choice but to do this.


    Seeing that they weren''t moving at all, the mummy with the headdress said, "Stop questioning my orders and go. Do you not remember what the task we were given was?"


    The elite mummy guards looked at each other before they left the mummy with the headdress and started charging at the human with the metallic skin.


    The mummy with the headdress narrowed its eyes to look at this human before muttering under its breath, "Just where did this humane from? It''s been so long since thest human came¡­so why would they suddenly appear?"


    There was no answer for these questions.


    They could only do what they needed to do.


    But this gave an opportunity to the assassin mummies.


    Seeing that the elite mummy guards had left the area around the mummy with the headdress, they moved forward to get closer to the mummy with the headdress.


    When they were all in ce and saw that the elite mummy guards were now upied with fighting that human, they suddenly jumped out and stabbed their daggers at the mummy with the headdress.


    The mummy with the headdress was surprised to see this since it had been focused on the human, but it didn''t panic when it saw these assassins.


    After all, there was a reason why it was chosen as the leader of these mummy guards.


    When the daggers of the assassins came forward, the mummy with the headdress reached its hand out.


    In one swift move, it grabbed the arm of the closest assassin and suddenly swung that assassin around, catching the rest of them. With this assassin that it held in its hand, it used them as a bat to knock the rest of them away.


    Once the other assassins had been knocked back, the mummy with the headdress held the mummy assassin that it had caught in its hand up in front of it. It looked at this mummy assassin and said, "Ho, so you''re even capable of doing something like this? It seems like whoever''s¡­"


    Before it could finish speaking, it suddenly gave a grunt of pain.


    That was because there was another mummy assassin that had appeared behind that stabbed it in the back.


    The mummy with the headdress looked back at this mummy assassin who had stabbed it in the back and its face twisted in anger as it shouted, "You dare!"


    It turned around even though it had a dagger in its back and swung the mummy assassin in its hand at the one that had stabbed it.


    It seemed like it wanted to use this mummy assassin to crush the one that had stabbed it.


    The one that stabbed the mummy with the headdress let go of its daggers and wanted to run away to draw the mummy with the headdress into a bad position, but¡­


    None of them got the chance to do that.


    The mummy assassin that the mummy with the headdress had been swinging suddenly swelled before¡­it exploded.


    No one knew where this explosion came from, but the mummy with the headdress was caught in the center of this explosion.

 Chapter 265: Raid dungeon (57)

    When the dust settled and the mes disappeared, a charred figure was revealed.


    However, unlike before where the ones caught up in the explosion werepletely turned to ashes, this figure was still standing.


    Half of this figure was ckened by the mes of the explosion, but the rest of it seemed fine.


    It seemed that there had been something that had protected the other half of this figure.


    As for who this figure was¡­it was the mummy with the headdress, though it was missing the headdress now. That headdress had been melted by the heat of the explosion and was now clinging to the mummy''s head like a molten mess.


    With a cough of blood, the mummy roared, "You sons of b*tches! How dare you use this kind of sneak attack on me!"


    But not a single one of the mummy assassins could react to this.


    After all, they had no idea what had caused the explosion in the first ce.


    None of them knew that this explosion was even capable, so they were absolutely baffled by why theirpanions had exploded like this.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t have the time to think about this¡­


    All of a sudden, they started feeling this stuffed feeling inside of them, as if there was something that was expanding. They didn''t know what it was, but they started swelling up just like the other mummy assassin had.


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    The mummy with the headdress saw this and panicked before turning to run.


    It had already felt the force of this explosion once and knew that if it took another one of these hits, then it wouldn''t be able to resist it.


    If it was caught up in another one of these explosions, there was no doubt that it would die this time.


    So when its life was in danger like this, it only thought of one thing.


    It thought of how to ensure its survival.


    It no longer cared about any of the orders that it had been given, it didn''t even care about the mummy guards that were nearby that were depending on its orders.


    If it was a bit more rational, it might have even ordered them to charge at them to block the explosion with their bodies.


    But it was panicking right now and only thought of one thing¡­how to get out of there as soon as possible.


    The human with the metallic skin took advantage of this and charged at the mummy with the headdress.


    By the time that the mummy with the headdress noticed this, it was already toote. The sword of that human was already swinging down on it and it could only watch as that sword cut right into its head.


    In itsst moments, it just couldn''t believe that this was how it would end for it.


    It never thought that it would be forced into this situation and killed like this.


    On the other side¡­


    Singed had been shocked by the explosion that suddenly happened and was standing there in a daze as it tried to figure out what happened.


    But before it could¡­there was this painful sensation that came from behind.


    When it turned around, it saw Lin Fan was standing there with a sword that stabbed right through its chest.


    Singed looked back at me and gave a moan as if it was saying, "Why?"


    I looked right into Singed''s eyes and said, "This is the way that it has to be."


    There was no regret at all in my voice as I said this because I had already disassociated myself from this group.


    Thanks to Long Shui Ling''s illusion, the other mummies around us didn''t notice this at all.


    But the other Awakeners that were fighting the mummies could see the signal that we were giving them.


    They were confused about the signal that we gave, but they still listened and moved away from the mummies.


    The mummies were confused why the Awakeners did this until all of sudden¡­there were more explosions that rang out among the mummies.


    This time, the explosions rang out deep in the formation of the mummies, blowingrge holes all over the ce in their formation. It didn''t take long before most of the mummies had been blown up by the explosions.


    As for the stragglers, it seemed like they hadpletely lost all their will to fight.


    This was all prepared by me.


    I had saved some of the explosives that we were supposed to nt in the town and had used them on the mummies instead.


    I had found that as long as I used the Hypnosis, I was able to make them not notice the bombs that were hidden under their bandages.


    It was just a matter of setting them off at the right time like I had done.


    Now that the mummies had been cleared out with the explosions, there was nothing left for us to do except sweep through the remnants.


    So I gave a nod to my group and they started sweeping out the rest of the mummies.


    At the same time, seeing that the Awakeners were just standing there, I said, "What are you doing? Clear out the rest of them, don''t waste this chance!"


    They were stunned to hear me say this, but then they quickly came back to their senses and started attacking the mummies.


    The mummies were in no position to fight back since they had beenpletely scattered by the explosions.


    Even the mummy guards had been caught by this and had their formations scattered.


    Though, Tie Gang alone was enough to take them down after their leader had been killed.


    In no time at all, we sweeped through the rest of the mummies that were left.


    Though there were quite a few of them that looked at us with strange looks since the illusions were still up.


    Long Shui Ling had forgotten to take them off since she had been focused on fighting as well.


    I just ignored these looks, but it was clear that the rest of my group was a bit affected by this.

 Chapter 266: Raid dungeon (58)

    Once all of the mummies had been taken care of, I walked over to where Tie Gang was.


    Tie Gang was standing over the mummy guards that he had taken care of and seemed to be looking over them.


    As I walked over, I could see that there was something strange about his expression, so I asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Tie Gang looked back to see me before turning back to look at the mummy guard corpses on the ground. With a deep frown on his face, he said, "It''s strange how they don''t disappear."


    At first, I was confused by what he said, but then I realized what he was talking about.


    He was referring to the mummy guard corpses in front of us.


    That''s right, it was strange!


    The mummies that I had brought all scattered away and dropped loot items after they were killed, though some of those loot items were lost in the mes of the explosions that I had set.


    But these mummy guards¡­they didn''t seem to disappear.


    Even the mummy with the headdress that had its head split open by Tie Gang was still lying there.


    When I looked closely, I found that it was only the mummies that I had brought with me that had disappeared and turned into loot. The mummy guards that had originally been on the third floor didn''t disappear after dying.


    Though a few of the corpses had been burnt into ashes by the mes of the explosions, most of them still remained.


    What had happened in this dungeon that had changed these monsters like this?


    Tie Gang gave a sigh and said, "Let''s worry about thister. For now, there''s still one more thing that we have to do."


    But I wasn''t able to leave this matter so easily since I had a deeper connection to this than Tie Gang.


    As a demon king, I knew that it was the demon king energy that was affecting these mummies. That was what changed them and made them strange like this, causing them not to disappear after death.


    I could even feel the energy that was simr to Lilith''s energy escaping them as theyid there as corpses¡­


    But the most shocking thing was that there was this sensation deep inside of me that seemed like it wanted to absorb this energy¡­


    I had never felt this way before, it was only when there was thisrge amount of this strange energy that I felt this way.


    It really didn''t seem to make sense at all¡­


    However, the thing that I was most curious about was how these corpses remained after they had been killed.


    Before this, it was almost as if the monsters in the dungeon didn''t exist in this world until a dungeon break happened. That was the exnation that was generally epted by people on why monsters just disappeared in dungeons after they were killed.


    Though no one really had a theory as to what happened to them after they disappeared.


    But now it seemed like the demon king energy was capable of making these monsters real even though they were still in the dungeon.


    This opened up apletely new world for me.


    If I was able to use my Hypnosis powers to do the same with the monsters of the dungeon, wouldn''t that mean that I would be able to build up arge force that I could use at any time?


    Though there would be the problem of getting them out of the dungeon, hiding them in the human world, and many other things, it was still something that was definitely worth thinking about.


    In a worst case scenario, I would just be able to turn a dungeon into my personal safe zone. In the future, if anything happened or I needed to take care of someone, I could always use that dungeon.


    I couldn''t help feeling more excited as these thoughts came into my mind.


    But I was quickly pulled back from these thoughts by Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang came over and tapped me on the shoulder before saying, "Are you alright?"


    I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see his concerned expression before saying, "I''m fine."


    Tie Gang looked at me with the same concerned look before patting me on the shoulder and saying, "They''re just monsters. You don''t need to feel anything towards them. If they knew who you really were, they would have torn you to pieces. It''s just kill or be killed with them."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by his words before realizing that he had misunderstood something.


    He thought that I had been in a daze because I had felt guilty about betraying those monsters.


    But that was a good thing since I didn''t want him to even guess what I was actually thinking.


    I said with a nod, "Un, I know. I''ll be fine for the final battle, you don''t need to worry about me."


    Tie Gang saw the look in my eyes and gave a nod of appreciation.


    Then he turned to the rest who had finished cleaning up the mummies and said, "Everyone, get ready. We''re about to face the final boss."


    All of them revealed firm looks on their faces, but there were a few that had worried looks.


    These were the ones that had gone to see the mummy leader with me before.


    It was clear that they had a more clear idea of how strong this final boss would be.


    Stay connected with m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    But to give the rest a good idea, I suddenly said, "Let me tell you what we''re about to face."


    Tie Gang was surprised that I would step up like this.


    He had been nning on letting me hang back since he thought that I was affected by betraying the mummies, but seeing that I was already stepping forward, he took a step back for me to speak.


    "There are two bosses that we have to face. One of them is the mummy leader from before and the other is the dungeon boss¡­"

 Chapter 267: Raid dungeon (59)

    There was a sh of dark energy in the air before two figures were sent flying to opposite sides of the room.


    When they stabilized themselves, their appearances were revealed.


    One was a mummy that was currently holding a ball of dark energy in its hand.


    The other one was another mummy with a il and a crook in their hands.


    The two of them just red at each other with clear hostile intentions.


    It was clear that neither side liked each other and they even seemed like they wanted to see the other side die.


    At the same time, it didn''t seem like either side was about to back down.


    But neither side made a move as they just stared at each other.


    It was almost as if they were just having a stare down instead of fighting.


    But in reality, both of them were trying to size up the other side.


    Neither of them had been able to find an opening during their sh just now and they knew that they wouldn''t get anywhere if they kept fighting like this.


    Unless there was an opening, it would be impossible for them to inflict actual damage on the other side.


    So for now, it would be a waste of time to keep shing like this.


    The pharaoh mummy was more than happy to stall for time since it believed that its subordinates would be able to clear out the mummy leader''s troops ande help it.


    The leader mummy thought the same, so it was worried that the mummy guards woulde in soon.


    It felt more pressure than the pharaoh mummy to find a way to end this.


    But in the end, neither side was able to find a solution.


    That was until the door opened and a figure came in.


    When that figure came in, both of them immediately looked in the direction of that figure with sharp eyes.


    They knew that whoever''s side this person was on, that would be the side that would gain the advantage.


    When they saw who it was, the pharaoh revealed a disappointed and worried look while the mummy leader revealed an excited look.


    That was because it was Lin Fan who had suddenlye into the room.


    The mummy leader immediately said, "You''re finally here! Did you take care of the rest?"


    When I heard this, I gave a nod before giving a moan.


    The pharaoh mummy deeply knitted its brows when it heard this before saying, "Impossible, there''s no way that you took care of all my elite guards."


    The mummy leader revealed a wide smile as it looked at the pharaoh and said, "Nothing''s impossible."


    Then it turned back to look at me and asked, "Where''s the rest of them? Get them in here to help me with this thing."


    I shook my head and gave a moan.


    "They''re all injured and need time to regroup?" The mummy leader revealed an ugly look when it heard this before asking, "How long?"


    I gave another moan.


    The mummy leader''s brows unknit a bit when it heard this.


    "Ten minutes¡­alright, that''s eptable." The mummy leader said with a nod.


    But the pharaoh mummy revealed an ugly look.


    If this was true, then this was a very bad situation for it.


    Then when it tried to contact the mummy guards outside, it revealed an even uglier expression as it said, "What did you do to them?"


    I didn''t say a thing when I heard this, but the mummy leader didn''t hold back, "Huh? You can''t contact your cronies? It seems like the upper hand has changed."


    It looked at me and said, "Work with me to stall it for now. Once the otherse, we''ll take it down once and for all."


    I just gave a nod before moving forward.


    The pharaoh mummy saw this and it immediately dashed forward.


    It knew that if it remained still, then it would be forced into a bad situation.


    Sometimes, offense was the best defense.


    If it attacked first, then it would be able to control the situation and guide it to bing favourable for it.


    I just dodged out of the way and continued forward until I was at the throne of the pharaoh mummy.


    The pharaoh mummy ignored me and charged at the leader mummy.


    The leader mummy had to face the onught of the pharaoh mummy all on its own.


    When it faced this attack, the leader mummy shouted at me, "What are you doing? Come and help me!"


    But I didn''t go over to help the leader mummy.


    Instead, I pulled out a few talismans that I threw into the air, creating balls of fire.


    However, all they saw was me raising my hands and summoning fireballs.


    Both of them were surprised since they had never seen a mummy with this power before.


    This was all thanks to Long Shui Ling who was hiding herself in a corner of the room with her illusion power.


    She was perfectly coordinating the illusion with the things that I was doing.


    When the mummy leader saw this, it immediately charged forward to try and keep the pharaoh mummy in ce. However, the pharaoh mummy didn''t hesitate to pull back and run out of the direction the fireballs were aimed at.


    The fireballs quickly changed directions and followed the pharaoh mummy, but they weren''t able to hit it in the end. Readtest chapters at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    The mummy leader saw this, but it said in an excited voice, "Keep it going!"


    It didn''t know where I had got this power, but it knew that this was a very useful power.


    So it did all that it could to keep the pharaoh mummy in ce.


    What it didn''t know was that other than throwing out the talismans, I was doing something else at the throne.


    It didn''t take long before the door to this room opened again and there was another figure that walked in.


    Both of them quickly turned to look at that figure again with different expressions.

 Chapter 268: Raid dungeon (60)

    The figure that walked in¡­was not the figure that either of them expected.


    The one that came in¡­was a human.


    It was Tie Gang who came into the room.


    When they saw this, both of them looked at each other before jumping out in different directions.


    The pharaoh mummy jumped at the throne where I was, so I quickly moved aside as well.


    The mummy leader went to a separate part of the room that was equidistant from both Tie Gang and the pharaoh mummy so that it could react to anything that happened. I also went over to where the mummy leader was as if to provide backup to him.


    There was a tense silence that filled the room after Tie Gang came in.


    The one that broke the silence was the mummy leader who said to Tie Gang, "Human, why are you here? Where are my people?"


    Tie Gang looked at the mummy leader with a strange look.


    Though he had already heard about this mummy leader in the reports, actually seeing it was apletely different story.


    Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he could tell that¡­the reports didn''t give it justice.


    It was clear that there was something special about this mummy leader¡­no, it should be said that there was something that waspletely malicious about it. This dark energy was much stronger than the dark energy that had been in the report.


    This dark energy was alreadying close to reaching the A Rank realm, it was already close to being too much for him to handle.


    It had to be known that this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon!


    This ce should have been filled with monsters that would be easy for him to kill.


    Even the dungeon boss shouldn''t have been a problem for him.


    Yet, there was a monster like this here¡­


    No, it wasn''t just a single monster like this. There was another one who was standing by the throne at the back of this room.


    The pharaoh mummy had been able to fight this mummy leader for a while without losing. Even now, it didn''t seem like the pharaoh mummy was on the back foot in its fight with the mummy leader.


    So it could be seen that they should be evenly matched¡­ Continue your journey on m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    Two monsters that had the ability to face him, this really was hard for Tie Gang.


    His only hope was the person standing behind the mummy leader.


    His only hope was Lin Fan.


    He hoped that his n would work so that they could take them both down and leave this ce.


    Seeing that Tie Gang didn''t say a thing after being questioned like this, the mummy leader turned back to look at Lin Fan. The way that it looked at Lin Fan almost seemed like it was questioning him on what was happening here.


    Lin Fan just shook his head to show that he didn''t know.


    The mummy leader narrowed its eyes, but it chose to ept this in the end.


    After all, the fact that this human showed up here meant that the guards of the pharaoh mummy had been defeated.


    The more likely story was that after Lin Fan came in to support it, they were defeated by these humans who had suddenly appeared.


    It knew that there was no time to doubt Lin Fan since he was its only ally.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan wasn''t its ally in the first ce.


    But thinking this, it started thinking of a way to manipte the human into helping it.


    After all, it wasn''t the worst thing for this human to appear here.


    The mummy leader began thinking about how to convince this human to work with it against the pharaoh mummy.


    As long as it could get the human to work with it, then the pharaoh mummy wouldn''t stand a chance. After all, it could tell that this human wasn''t weak. At least this human was just as strong, if not stronger than it was.


    But if it took care of the pharaoh mummy and stole its ck energy, that wouldn''t be the case.


    So for now, it was better to work with the human against the pharaoh mummy before stabbing the human in the back.


    The pharaoh mummy also seemed to have this same thought as it said, "Human, this creature is an anomaly that has appeared in my sacred kingdom. As long as you help this one destroy it, then this one will reward you."


    The mummy leader deeply knitted its brows when it heard this before turning to Tie Gang to say, "Human, don''t listen to this tyrant. We are merely freeing ourselves from its tyranny, soe work with me to take down this tyrant!"


    Tie Gang couldn''t help narrowing his eyes when he heard this.


    He already heard that both of these monsters had intelligence, but he never thought that they would be smart enough to immediately try and convince him to work with them against the other.


    This kind of intelligence¡­was very dangerous.


    If he didn''t take care of these monsters today and they somehow found a way to leave this raid dungeon¡­then it would be dangerous for humankind.


    So he was filled with even more determination to take the two of them down here and now.


    But he knew that his opportunity woulde if he waited.


    So for now, Tie Gang put on a look of nonmitment as he waited to see what Lin Fan had nned.


    During all of this, I had been silently moving closer to the mummy leader.


    My sword appeared in my hand, but no one was able to see it since there was an illusion cast over it.


    In my other hand was a detonator.


    When I had been at the throne earlier, I had left a surprise that was now hidden with an illusion.


    Once I came up behind the mummy leader, that sword suddenly came up and¡­


    It stabbed right into the back of the mummy leader.

 Chapter 269: Raid dungeon (61)

    That sword pierced right through the back of the mummy leader.


    If it had expected it, then it would have put up its guard and it would have been hard for me to stab through this mummy leader.


    But since it never expected it, it never had its guard up for a full force stab from me.


    The mummy leader''s eyes opened wide in shock as it slowly turned back to look at me.


    When it saw me standing there with my sword in its back, it asked, "Why?"


    I didn''t say anything as I suddenly pulled the sword out of the mummy leader.


    The shock of this forced the mummy leader forward and it fell to its knees, but it didn''t remain there for long as it raised its hand towards me. It seemed like even though it was shocked and confused as to why I would do this, it was still nning on attacking me since I had now be an enemy.


    But that was the moment that I pressed the controller in my hand.


    The moment that I did, there was a beeping sound before arge explosion rang out.


    As for where this explosion came from¡­it was the throne behind the pharaoh mummy.


    Therge explosion suddenly came from behind the pharaoh mummy, catching it off guard. However, the pharaoh mummy came back to its senses quickly and turned to raise the il and crook in its hand to block.


    It was just that the force of this explosion threw this pharaoh mummy out, sending it flying to the center of the room.


    It thought that it was safe because neither Tie Gang or the mummy leader were there.


    But out of nowhere, there were ck mes that suddenly appeared in the air around it.


    Before the pharaoh mummy could even react, it waspletely surrounded in these ck mes.


    The ck mes quickly condensed in the center where the pharaoh mummy was standing and it seemed like there was nowhere for the pharaoh mummy to escape.


    But before it could be surrounded by these mes, the pharaoh mummy suddenly started spinning the il and crook in its hands. The spinning force of these two items generated a wind that started pushing back the ck mes around it.


    It was as if the wind was creating a zone around the pharaoh mummy where no mes could exist.


    One could imagine just how strong these winds were for such a thing to happen.


    Unfortunately for the pharaoh mummy, it wasn''t just the ck mes that wereing at it.


    There were arrows, icicles, rocks, and all kinds of other attacks that came from all around the pharaoh mummy. Just the wind alone wasn''t enough to push back all of these attacks.


    The pharaoh mummy did its best to dodge these attacks, but there were just too many of them for the pharaoh mummy to dodge.


    So in the end, the pharaoh mummy was hit with several of these attacks and knocked to the ground.


    Though it was hit with these attacks, the pharaoh mummy was tough. There were only small wound that appeared on it as it fell to the ground.


    The pharaoh mummy didn''t allow these wounds to affect it as it looked around for who had attacked when.


    When it looked around, it found¡­that there were now a bunch of humans standing around it.


    It didn''t notice them before and it was even as if they had appeared out of thin air.


    Just where did all of these humanse from?


    They had actuallye in with Lin Fan, but no one noticed them since there had been illusions blocking them the entire time.


    In the end, it was because they didn''t move that Long Shui Ling had been able to keep these illusions up.


    If they had been moving and fighting, then it would have been impossible for her to hide everyone like this.


    That was also the reason why Tie Gang hade in alone afterwards.


    Simply put, he was bait.


    After the pharaoh mummy recovered, it raised its il and crook as if it was about to attack the humans around it.


    But before it could attack, Tie Gang charged forward.


    Tie Gang had been standing there without moving because he had been waiting for this reveal. Now that they had been revealed and had surrounded the pharaoh mummy, it was his job to take it down.


    The ones that surrounded the pharaoh mummy quickly sent out attacks to support Tie Gang.


    The pharaoh mummy had no choice but to defend itself since it was being pushed back by Tie Gang and attacked from all sides. It just couldn''t push Tie Gang away to create space for itself.


    With this pharaoh mummy trapped like this, there was space created for a few of them to leave this encirclement.


    This was Lin Fan''s group who turned to go help him.


    After pulling the sword out, I quickly moved away from the mummy leader to create space between us while seeing what it would do.


    The mummy leader justid there on the ground for a bit as it recovered.


    As it did, the ck energy seemed to enter its body and close its wounds. But the more its wounds were healed, the more of the ck energy seemed to be consumed.


    It seemed like it was exchanging that ck energy to heal itself.


    I never expected that it would be able to use that ck energy that way.


    But I didn''t stop it because I could feel its aura was getting weaker.


    I let it heal because I wanted it to consume more of that ck energy.


    The more that it consumed, the weaker it became after all.


    During this time, my group came over to me to support me.


    They looked at me with a look as if they were asking if they should attack, but I shook my head to tell them to wait.


    Eventually, the mummy leader was able to heal itself.


    Only the ck energy that surrounded it was much thinner than before.

 Chapter 270: Raid dungeon (62)

    When the mummy leader fully healed, it didn''t attack right away.


    Instead, it looked right at me and asked, "Why? Why did you do this?"


    I was surprised by this since I thought that it should be clear why I did this, but then I saw Long Shui Ling wave her hand as if she was doing something.


    I realized that she hadn''t released the illusion until now since I hadn''t given the order to do so. She only just released it now because it didn''t feel like there was a point in keeping it up anymore.


    Once it was released, the mummy leader revealed a shocked look as it saw my transformation.


    "You, you, you were a human all along?" The mummy leader said in a shocked voice.


    I slowly gave a nod, as if I was stalling for time.


    The mummy leader didn''t notice at all as it just feltpletely shocked by this.


    After a moment of silence, it suddenly said, "But I could feel it, the energy of the lord. It''s stilling from you even now!"


    When my group heard this, they couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    I just ignored this as I said, "That''s why it was so easy to fool you."


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    The mummy leader revealed an angry look when it heard this, but it still didn''t attack.


    It almost seemed like it was stalling for time¡­


    I quickly realized what was happening and didn''t wait any longer to give my orders.


    Earlier, I had been stalling since I wanted to buy time for Tie Gang and the others to take down the pharaoh mummy while I kept this mummy leader busy.


    But when the mummy leader also tried to stall, I knew that this wouldn''t work.


    That was because I could see that the dark energy around the mummy was getting thicker.


    It was stalling to recover its powers.


    The more that it stalled, the stronger it would be.


    Compared to waiting for Tie Gang and the others toe to help, it was better if we just took down the mummy leader while it was still in a weakened state.


    So I decided that it was better to attack the mummy leader while we could.


    With a nod, there were ck mes that suddenly appeared in the air around the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader could feel the heat that came from the ck mes.


    Perhaps it wouldn''t need to be as worried if it was in a normal state, with the ck energy to protect it. But now that it was in this weakened state, it wouldn''t be able to block these ck mes if it were to take a hit head on.


    So the only thing that this mummy leader could do was¡­


    Instead of dodging backwards to avoid the mes, the mummy leader actually charged right at the ck mes in front of it.


    Kaito was caught off guard when he saw this, but he didn''t hesitate to bring the mes down on the mummy leader.


    The ck mes formed arge wall in front of the mummy leader and seemed like they would engulf the mummy leader. But before the ck mes could do that, the mummy leader suddenly raised the hand with the ck orb in front of it.


    That ck energy orb seemed to surge for a second before suddenly bingrger in the mummy leader''s hand.


    That ck energy orb was what met the mes.


    Instead of being burnt away by those ck mes as one would expect, the ck mes were actually pushed back by that ck energy orb.


    Then all of a sudden, there was arge gap that was formed in the ck me wall as the mummy leader roared, "Get out of my way!"


    The ck mes werepletely scattered and a path was created for the mummy leader right to us.


    The mummy leader didn''t hesitate to charge right at us after creating that gap in the ck me wall.


    As it charged at us, the mummy leader shouted, "You traitor! This is what you''ll get!"


    But even seeing the mummy leader charging at us, we didn''t panic.


    That was because there were more mes that appeared around us as ze stepped forward.


    This time, the mes weren''t ck mes, but normal orange mes.


    But these mes seemed even more intense than the ck mes.


    With a roar, ze swung his sword down at the mummy leader, causing the mes around him to fall down on the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader didn''t panic as it raised the same hand with the ck energy orb towards the mes that fell towards it. The ck energy orb surged once more as it gathered the dark energy around the mummy leader.


    This was how it had blown a hole in the ck me wall in the first ce.


    It had gathered all of its dark energy in a single point to push back the ck mes in front of it.


    It was doing the same thing now to push back ze''s mes.


    As it raised its hand, the mummy leader shouted, "You think that you can stop me with just this?"


    But ze didn''t take a single step back.


    That was because there were ck mes that also appeared in the center of his mes.


    Kaito was standing beside ze with a hand up, generating those ck mes that appeared.


    The two kinds of mes twisted together and formed a single wall of mes that fell down on the mummy leader.


    The two sides shed and there was a moment of equilibrium before the mummy leader was pushed back. However, at the same time, the me wall that had been gathered also scattered.


    It seemed like they had been even.


    The mummy leader narrowed its eyes to look at us before saying, "You think that you can stop me with just this?"


    I revealed a faint smile and shook my head before turning to look at Long Shui Ling beside me.


    She dropped the bottle that she had been holding and said, "I''m ready."


    I gave a nod before turning back to look at the mummy leader.

 Chapter 271: Raid dungeon (63)

    There was another reason why I had been stalling earlier.


    It was to let Long Shui Ling recover her mana.


    She had mana potions that were far stronger than anything that the guild gave her and they all came from her family. So even if she was drained keeping up the illusion the entire time, she was able to recover her mana quickly with these potions.


    Without her illusions, we really would only be fighting at half our power.


    But now that she had recovered, it was time to take down this mummy leader.


    The mummy leader had been standing there as if it was waiting for something, but then it felt like it couldn''t just stand there anymore.


    When it heard the bottle drop to the ground, it turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    For some reason, it felt a sense of danger from this little human girl. This was a sense of danger that was greater than it got from any other human that was here.


    It felt like it couldn''t wait any longer since that little human girl was about to do something.


    When pushed to the brink of desperation, the mummy leader could only use what it considered its final tactics.


    It raised its other hand and¡­there was a second ball of dark energy that was formed.


    All of us couldn''t help being surprised since we had thought that the first ball of energy was the limit for the mummy leader. But now it seemed that this wasn''t the case¡­


    It seemed that it had been holding back still in the end.


    Or at least that was what we thought, but in reality¡­


    "Ha, ha, ha!" The mummy leader started tough the moment that it summoned out this second ball of dark energy.


    Afterughing for a bit, it said, "The lord always provides! The lord would never abandon a loyal follower like me!"


    While we didn''t know why it said this, it was clear that it was talking as if it had just gained these powers.


    Was it because there was an actual demon king watching over this mummy leader, or was it because it had been forced into a corner and awakened this new power?


    Regardless of what it was, it was a fact that this mummy leader now had doubled its power.


    With two different balls of dark energy, it was able to do twice as much as before.


    But with the amount of flexibility that this gave the mummy leader, it wasn''t just twice as strong as before.


    It was now able to use the two balls of dark energy to attack in many different ways, which gave it countless methods to attack with and countless directions to attack from.


    So there was no letting our guard down anymore.


    Afterughing for a while, the mummy leader suddenly stopped and turned to look at us.


    When it did, its eyes narrowed as if it was sizing us up before saying, "If you surrender now, I''ll spare the rest of you." But its eyes turned cold when it looked at me and it said, "But the traitor must die."


    There seemed to be something different in his voice as he said this.


    It was almost as if he wanted something else from me, other than revenge.


    But not a single one of our group moved out of the way after they heard this.


    It was as if they were firmly determined to stay by my side.


    Seeing this, the mummy leader gave a sigh before saying, "Don''t say that I didn''t give you a chance."


    It disappeared as soon as its voice fell and when it reappeared, it had already closed half the gap between us.


    As it ran, it said, "Now you''ll regret the choice that you''ve made."


    As it came closer, it raised the balls of ck energy that were in its hands as if it was about to attack with them.


    ze and Kaito immediately went forward as if they were nning to meet the mummy leader head on, but Long Shui Ling stopped them by raising her hand.


    As they looked at her with confused looks, they found that she raised her hand and pointed it at the mummy leader.


    When she did, there was a mist that suddenly appeared around the mummy leader that made it stop.


    This mist wasn''t concentrated enough that itpletely blocked the mummy leader off, so we weren''t able to see it. But it wasn''t faint enough that it didn''tpletely surround the mummy leader.


    After the mist surrounded it, the mummy leader slowly came to a stop.


    With the look in its eyes, it was as if it was seeing something that was making it unable to move forward.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t lower her hand, but she turned around to say, "Do it now."


    The others were caught off guard by this, but they only hesitated for a second before gathering their mana.


    All of them aimed their strongest attacks at the mummy leader who had frozen in ce.


    They didn''t shoot it out right away since they made sure to gather as much mana as they could. At the same time, they made sure that they would be able to attack at the same time.


    Hayato also created a ball of wind around the mummy leader just so that ze and Kaito could use their strongest mes.


    Once everyone had gathered their strongest attacks, they exchanged looks before silently giving nods.


    All of them suddenly threw their attacks out, except for ze and Kaito.


    All of these attacks went right through the ball of wind around the mummy leader and hit the mummy leader head on.


    The mummy leader stumbled, but it didn''t fall from these attacks. At the same time, it didn''t seem like these attacks prated deep into the mummy leader.


    It was as if the ck energy around it had blocked these attacks.


    But what it did do was clear the look in the eyes of the mummy leader.


    Still, that wasn''t all that they had.


    Both ze and Kaito threw their me attacks right at the ball of wind.


    The moment that it made contact, the mes quickly spread across the wind and engulfed the mummy leader.

 Chapter 272: Raid dungeon (64)

    With the support of the orb of wind, the mes burned strong around the mummy leader.


    With how strong it burnt, it didn''t seem likely that there would be anything that could survive this.


    But I didn''t dare let my guard down for a single second as I said, "Don''t rx yet. We don''t know what will happen."


    When they heard this, everyone suddenly focused their minds again.


    They had been about to rx when they heard this, but since it was me telling them this, they immediately became focused again.


    And it turned out to be the right choice.


    The mes burned strong for a minute, but then there seemed to be something that came out of the mes.


    When we saw this, everyone couldn''t help being shocked by it.


    It was¡­a mummy that was surrounded by dark energy.


    Even though it had been engulfed in the mes, it had been able to use the dark energy as a barrier to repel all of these mes so that it wasn''t burnt at all.


    "Is it a monster?" I heard that from the group before saying with a bitter smile, "It is a monster."


    They looked at me with surprised looks before suddenly revealing faint smiles.


    They never thought that I would make a joke like this, but it did help relieve the tension at this moment.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at the mummy leader before saying, "Everyone get back. I''ll fight it now."


    They were all taken aback when they heard this.


    Long Shui Ling said, "But it''s dangerous to go alone. We should¡­"


    I looked at her and said, "It''s fine, just trust me."


    She opened and closed her mouth before giving a nod as if she believed in me.


    I looked at the others as well and they all slowly nodded in agreement.


    Though they had no idea what I was nning, they did trust me after everything that we''ve been through.


    I gave a nod to them before stepping forward towards the mummy leader who was making its way out of the mes.


    The mummy leader''s eyes still had a slight daze to them, but it looked right up at me before saying, "So you''re finally going to fight me."


    I gave a nod before pointing my sword at it.


    The mummy leader didn''t attack right away and instead looked right at me to ask, "Why did you do all of this? Even if you were a human, I would have worked with you because you too have the lord''s blessing."


    The way that the mummy leader said this, it was almost as if it was a lover that had been abandoned which made me reveal a strange look.


    But in the end, I said, "You are a monster and I am a human, this is just how it is."


    "I am a monster?" The mummy leader gave a bitterugh after saying this before looking at me with a sharp gaze, "From how I see it, you are the monster for all you''ve done."


    I didn''t say anything in response to this.


    From a certain point of view, everything that the mummy leader said was considered valid.


    After all, I had befriended the mummies and gained their trust, only to use it to betray them in the end.


    That was something that a monster would do.


    But this was what humans were like with those that they considered monsters, so I had already epted that this was how it was.


    Even if the mummy leader said this now, I would still act with the samemitment as before.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything and just looked back at it with the same calm look on my face, the mummy revealed a disgusted look before saying, "I will make you pay for all that you''ve done to myrades."


    I gave a simple nod in response before raising my sword, as if I was waiting for the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader took this bait and charged forward with both of its hands raised.


    As it came at me, the dark energy gathered in its hands as balls of dark energy.


    I didn''t panic seeing the mummy leadering at me like this. Your journey continues at m v|l-e''-NovelBin


    Right before it reached me, it suddenly disappeared.


    When it reappeared, it was already above me with its handsing down at me, as if it was going to throw the balls of dark energy at me.


    But before it could make contact, I suddenly said, "Dizzy."


    The mummy leader trembled a bit before its head suddenly fell forward.


    I took advantage of this to move slightly so that it would move right past me and then I shed at the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader''s eyes were narrowed and it looked like it was having trouble focusing, but it still used theyer of dark energy around it to block this.


    However, the moment that my sword made contact with thatyer of dark energy, there was a bit of it that had been shaved off. That bit of the dark energy that was shaved off went into my sword before disappearing without a trace.


    When I saw this, I revealed a look as if I had expected this.


    The mummy leader also recovered from the dizziness that it felt and jumped back away from me.


    It went several meters away before stabilizing itself.


    Once it stabilized itself, it looked at me with a cautious look as if it was worried about something. It just stood there without moving, as if it was trying to figure something out.


    I also didn''t do anything as I waited for the mummy leader to act.


    After a moment of silence, the mummy leader looked at me with a strange look and asked, "What did you do?"


    I didn''t say anything in response as I just waited for its next move.


    But even then, the mummy leader didn''t do a thing.


    It was almost as if it was hesitating to act.

 Chapter 273: Raid dungeon (65)

    The mummy leader slowly looked down at its arms where my sword had made contact.


    It slowly moved its arm up and down, as if it was trying to see if there was anything wrong with them.


    As it moved its arms up and down, it couldn''t help slightly knitting its brows as if there was indeed something wrong. But when it looked at its arms closely, it didn''t seem like there was anything wrong based on the look in its eyes.


    It was a very strange feeling for the mummy leader since it didn''t know what this feeling was.


    After a while, the mummy leader finally seemed to notice something.


    It started moving theyer of dark energy around it, as if it was trying to do something with thatyer of dark energy.


    Then it turned back to look at me and asked, "How?"


    Once again, I didn''t say a single thing as I just stared at it and waited for it to move.


    The mummy leader''s expression turned strange as it looked at me, almost as if it didn''t know what to make of me.


    But it became impatient in the end and couldn''t wait any longer.


    So the mummy leader suddenly jumped out at me, but it didn''t do the same thing as before.


    Instead of jumping right at me with the two balls of dark energy in its hands, itnded in the middle and then jumped out at an angle. It flew forward, but it wasn''t aimed at me this time.


    The mummy leader didn''t seem to be aimed at anyone as it jumped out.


    But it also didn''t seem like it was running away since its eyes were on me the entire time.


    It seemed like it was trying something desperate.


    After moving past me, it suddenly bounced off one of the pirs in this room and went in a different direction.


    It whizzed past me again and bounced off the floor before jumping into another pir on the other side.


    As it bounced around like this, the mummy leader started moving faster and faster.


    I didn''t understand what it was doing at first, but then I realized that it was nning on using its speed to make me lose track of it so that it could attack from a blind spot.


    It was just too bad that this was impossible since I still had another trump card up my sleeve.


    But before I had to use it, I wanted to see if I could do something about this mummy leader without it.


    After bouncing around a few times, it became so fast that it was actually hard for my eyes to keep up.


    Then with one more bounce, it suddenly disappeared from sight.


    The only reason that I even knew where it wasing from was because it suddenly shouted, "Die!"


    I quickly turned around, but I just saw the orb of dark energy in front of my face.


    But before it could hit me, it suddenly stopped.


    It seemed that I really didn''t have a choice, I had to use my trump card in the end.


    All of a sudden, time stopped all around me.


    I moved out of the way and saw the mummy leader just frozen there in space.


    I had been afraid that the mummy leader would be able to detect something or even have something that could stop this ability since it was rted to the demon king. However, seeing it frozen in the air like this, it seemed that I had been worried for nothing.


    It seemed that even if it had received this dark energy, it still wasn''t able to negate the power of a true demon king.


    I moved out of the way before raising my sword.


    There was a limit to this Time Stop, so it wasn''t as if I could waste time.


    I didn''t even know how long it would take for me to actually hurt this mummy leader, so I couldn''t waste time even if I wanted to.


    The first thing that I aimed for after raising my sword was its arm.


    I had already cut through the dark energy around its arm before, so I knew that it was possible for me to hurt it this way.


    When my sword made contact with the dark energy, it drained it away just like before.


    But the dark energy around it quickly surged forward to take its ce.


    Even though time was frozen, it seemed that this dark energy could still act.


    Unless I was fast enough or unless I was strong enough, I wouldn''t be able to break through the dark energy barrier of this mummy leader.


    But there was something that I was.


    Persistent.


    Since I was able to drain the dark energy, that meant that there was a way, though it would take a while.


    I continued to cut the arm of the mummy leader again and again, draining more and more of the dark energy from around the area.


    This caused the dark energyyer around the mummy leader to be thinner.


    It didn''t happen right away, but it happened after a few dozen cuts.


    Then after a few hundred cuts, it finally became thin enough for me to cut through the mummy leader''s arm.


    But I didn''t stop there.


    There were many different ces that I could cut, so I didn''t hesitate to keep cutting the mummy leader and draining it of its dark energy.


    Again and again, I cut the mummy leader until it waspletely covered in cuts and its dark energyyer was paper thin.


    In total, this took an hour¡­


    If it hadn''t been for the extra time that came with leveling up the Time Stop skill, I really wouldn''t have been able to do this.


    After catching my breath from all of that cutting, I went back to where I was before. However, I deviated slightly from my original position so that the mummy leader would go right past me instead of hitting me.


    Then I started time again.

 Chapter 274: Raid dungeon (66)

    As soon as time started, there was a burst of blood that came from the mummy leader.


    Though it was strange that blood woulde from an undead like the mummy leader who should have had all of its blood drained.


    None of the other mummies had released blood when they were killed¡­


    It flew right past me and fell to the ground since I had dodged out of the way.


    It was a good thing that I had dodged a bit more so that it wasn''t able to get any blood on me.


    After itnded on the ground, it didn''t move at all.


    Well, it tried to move, but it wasn''t able to move at all.


    It was as if it didn''t have the energy to move at all.


    Though with all those cuts on its body, it was a surprise that it didn''t fall apart to pieces.


    It seemed like this mummy leader''s body was much tougher than it seemed.


    But even then, it wasn''t able to move since I had made sure to sever all of the muscles that would have moved the limbs. I wasn''t certain if it would work since this mummy leader was an undead, but it seemed that it did work.


    When I looked closely, I could see something that was simr to living flesh under the bandages¡­


    The mummy leader''s eyes still had struggle in them, but it couldn''t move at all.


    So the only thing that it could do was, "How? What did you do just now?"


    I didn''t respond as I looked at the mummy leader staring up at me from the ground.


    Instead of saying anything, I raised my sword and walked towards it without hesitation.


    I had been cautious before since I had been dealing with an unknown demon king.


    But now that it seemed like the mummy leader wasn''t able to do anything, it was better to put it out of its misery before something changed.


    However, before I could stab down at the mummy leader, the look in its eyes suddenly changed. At the same time, the aura around the mummy leader becamepletely different.


    It was¡­a dangerous aura.


    I stopped moving forward and took several steps back, creating some space with the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader still wasn''t able to move, but it looked right up at me and said, "So you''re the one. You''re the one that ruined my vessel."


    I couldn''t help being shocked.


    It wasn''t because this was a voice that was unfamiliar, it was because I strangely felt some kind of resonance with this voice.


    It was as if¡­this voice belonged to someone that I instinctively knew.


    I slowly said, "Vessel? What do you mean?"


    The voiceing from the mummy leader gave a coldugh before saying, "You don''t even know something as simple as this? Then there''s no need for me to worry about you."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    The mummy leader continued by saying, "You can have this vessel and that one over there. I''ll just create an even better one."


    The aura that had been around the mummy leader started to fade away after it said this.


    I knitted my brows even deeper, but I said, "Wait, who are you?"


    But there was no answer to this question as the aurapletely disappeared.


    The mummy leader looked up in a daze, as if it couldn''t understand what had just happened.


    But then it revealed a look of despair.


    It looked down at itself and found that most of the dark energy that had been around it had faded away.


    It looked up again and said, "My lord, please don''t abandon me!"


    As expected, the one that had taken over the mummy leader just now was the demon lord that had given it the dark energy that it used.


    Seeing the mummy leader desperately calling out for it ''lord'', I figured that it was better to finish it off.


    There was nothing else that I could gain from this mummy leader and leaving it alive like this was¡­dangerous.


    This was usually where they gained special powers or awakened something.


    I wouldn''t let that g happen, so I would finish it off before anything could happen.


    I walked right up to the mummy leader and raised my sword over it.


    The mummy leader had still been pleading, but when it saw my sworde over it, it knew what was about to happen. Instead of pleading to that lord, it looked at me and said, "Wait, I''ll follow you as long as you spare¡­"


    It didn''t get to finish as my sword came down and cut off its head.


    There was no way that I would ever be able to use this mummy leader if I let it live, so I wouldn''t let it live.


    The mummy leader''s head rolled on the ground a bit as if it couldn''t believe that I would kill it so easily.


    When it was over, I turned back to the others.


    It was clear by the looks on their faces that there were questions that they wanted to ask, but I said, "Let''s go and finish this."


    They looked in the direction that I was looking in before turning back to give slow nods.


    We came together and headed over to where Tie Gang was fighting the pharaoh mummy.


    But as we walked over, I couldn''t help looking down at my hand and squeezing it, as if I felt something.


    Long Shui Ling was beside me, so she saw all of this.


    She came forward with a concerned look and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I looked back at her and shook my head to say, "Nothing."


    She looked at me as if she didn''t believe me, but I didn''t say anything else as I walked forward.


    In my mind, I couldn''t help thinking about what the demon king had said.


    Vessel¡­


    What did it mean by that?

 Chapter 275: Raid dungeon (67)

    When we came over, we found that Tie Gang was locked in fiercebat with the pharaoh mummy.


    However, it was clear that Tie Gang was pushing it back.


    The pharaoh mummy wanted to operate in a muchrger area, but it was impossible for it since it waspletely surrounded.


    The other members of the team had formed a blockade around the area where Tie Gang was fighting the pharaoh mummy.


    So no matter which direction the pharaoh mummy moved in, it was stopped by the others around them.


    It might have been able to push through if it wasn''t for Tie Gang pressing down on it since it was stronger than the Awakeners in the blockade. But with Tie Gang chasing after it the entire time, it wasn''t able to spend any time in breaking through this blockade.


    In fact, it made it worse for the pharaoh mummy if it approached the blockade since it was being attacked from two different directions.


    So the only thing that the pharaoh mummy could do was fight Tie Gang inside of this area that it could move in.


    Though it was very limited because of this decision since there was just too little space for it to fight with.


    Tie Gang was pressuring the pharaoh mummy, but he didn''t push it too hard.


    It was as if he was waiting for something.


    "I''ll back you up now!" I suddenly shouted when I came over.


    Tie Gang didn''t look back, but he said, "Use the illusions to trap it!"


    I was surprised to hear this, but I turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    She gave a nod before raising her hands and creating ayer of mist around both Tie Gang and the pharaoh mummy.


    When the pharaoh mummy saw this, it knew that this was bad.


    It started spinning the il and crook in its hands to generate wind in an attempt to blow away the mist, but it didn''t have any effect at all. It didn''t seem to be able to move the mist at all even though it was such a strong wind.


    The mist just swirled around the pharaoh mummy until the light in its eyes seemed to dim and it stopped moving.


    Tie Gang let out a sigh of relief when he saw this before quickly moving forward to strike the pharaoh mummy from different directions.


    However, whenever he struck at the pharaoh mummy, it would react and attack back at him.


    If it wasn''t for the illusions blocking the perception of the pharaoh mummy, it might have actually hit him.


    Find more chapters on mvl


    After hitting the pharaoh mummy a few times, Tie Gang said, "Alright, surround it and capture it. There are a few things that I want to ask this dungeon boss."


    The Awakeners around him were confused and a bit worried about this order he gave them, but they still moved forward towards the pharaoh mummy after receiving this order from Tie Gang.


    Once they surrounded it, they used their various abilities to trap the pharaoh mummy.


    There was dirt summoned that surrounded the pharaoh mummy and then when it tried to break free, there were mes and ice that wrapped around the dirt.


    They just kept buildingyers uponyers around the pharaoh mummy until it waspletely trapped.


    It wasn''t able to break free no matter what it did, but it certainly did all that it could to struggle and break free.


    Finally, it settled as if it realized that it couldn''t break free.


    It was then that Tie Gang came forward to stand in front of the pharaoh mummy and said, "Release the illusions."


    Long Shui Ling looked at me and I gave a nod before she released them.


    After the illusions were released, the pharaoh mummy slowly regained consciousness and looked at Tie Gang in front of it.


    It looked down at the bindings holding it and the part that was visible shook a bit as if it was trying to break free. However, it wasn''t able to do a single thing to the bindings around it.


    When it found out that it couldn''t break free, the pharaoh mummy looked at Tie Gang and said, "You weak humans! You can only do this to me because you group together like ants! With the power of the lord, you will never be able to stop me!"


    Tie Gang looked right at the pharaoh mummy and said, "But it''s with the power of these ants that you were captured like this, isn''t it?"


    The pharaoh mummy revealed an ugly look before saying, "If it wasn''t for the fact that I was exhausted from fighting that fool, do you really think that I would be trapped by this child''s y? If you''re really that powerful, then fight me all on your own!"


    Tie Gang shook his head and said, "Does it really matter in a life and death battle? All that matters is the fact that you''ve won, right?"


    The pharaoh mummy didn''t ept this at all and shouted, "You coward! Fight me fairly like a real man!"


    Tie Gang shook his head before raising his sword.


    The pharaoh mummy fell silent when it saw Tie Gang raising his sword like this and it closed its mouthpletely when it saw Tie Gang cing that sword right at its neck.


    Tie Gang looked right into the pharaoh mummy''s eyes and said, "It''s not your turn to make demands. Right now, all you have to do is answer my questions, understand?"


    The pharaoh mummy could see that Tie Gang was being serious, but that didn''t stop it from acting up as it slowly said, "And if I don''t?"


    Tie Gang didn''t hesitate at all to move the sword forward a bit to cut into the pharaoh mummy''s neck as he said, "I think my hand might slip if you don''t want to cooperate with us."


    The pharaoh mummy''s heart dropped when it felt the paining from its neck.


    But before it could say anything¡­the aura around it changed.

 Chapter 276: Raid dungeon (68)

    It wasn''t just me that felt this change in the pharaoh mummy''s aura.


    Everyone felt it and looked at Tie Gang asking for instructions.


    Tie Gang just calmly took two steps back and said, "Everyone move back."


    Though they moved away from the pharaoh mummy, they still made sure to keep the binding around it so that it wasn''t able to move at all.


    Tie Gang also raised his sword, as if he was prepared for anything to happen.


    But nothing happened in the end.


    All that happened was the same thing as before where the voice of the pharaoh mummy changed as it said, "So, you got this vessel as well. It doesn''t matter, you can have it since it''s just one of the spares."


    Everyone knitted their brows the moment that they heard this voice.


    After a moment of silence, I asked, "What do you mean by vessel?"


    The pharaoh mummy and the others all looked at me when I said this, but I just waited for whoever was controlling the pharaoh mummy to respond.


    After looking at me for a bit, the pharaoh mummy said, "You were the one that took out my other vessel. It seems that there''s some kind of fate between you and me."


    I deeply knitted my brows when I heard this, but I just once again stressed, "What do you mean by vessel?"


    The pharaoh mummy startedughing when it heard this before saying in a voice that almost seemed like taunting, "Well, I guess you do deserve a reward after all of this."


    The pharaoh mummy suddenly looked at me and said with what seemed to be a smile, "What do you think of when you hear the word vessel?"


    I couldn''t help revealing a confused look when I heard this before slowly saying, "Something that contains something else."


    The pharaoh mummy gave a nod before saying, "What do you think a vessel like this would contain?"


    All of us knitted our brows when we heard this.


    But I slowly came to a conclusion¡­


    What would use a monster as a vessel?


    It would have to be something powerful and something that was rted to the dungeon.


    The only thing that I could think of was¡­the demon king.


    A vessel for the demon king, that was the only thing that seemed to make sense.


    I immediately looked at the pharaoh mummy with narrowed eyes as if I wanted to confirm something.


    When the pharaoh mummy saw me staring at it like this, it revealed an even wider smile before saying, "It seems like you already have your answer. Then that is the only reward that you will be receiving today."


    It seemed like it was about to leave when it said this, so I quickly said, "Wait¡­"


    But it didn''t matter since the aura started to disappear already.


    The final thing that the pharaoh mummy, or rather the demon king said was, "In time, you will know."


    With these final confusing words, the aurapletely disappeared and the pharaoh mummy returned to normal.


    However, it fell into a daze just like the mummy leader as it stared up into the sky.


    Around it, the other Awakeners were slowly revealing looks of understanding as they wereing to their own conclusion about what the demon king had said through the pharaoh mummy.


    Tie Gang also revealed a deeply concerned look as he turned to look at me.


    In the end, Tie Gang turned back to the pharaoh mummy and raised his sword once more to say, "I''ll put you out of your misery now."


    The pharaoh mummy immediately reacted when it heard this.


    A look of panic appeared on its face as it said, "No, no! I don''t want to die! Lord, please don''t abandon your faithful servant like this!"


    But there was no response at all to the pharaoh mummy''s fervent pleading.


    The pharaoh mummy started looking around desperately for anything that would save it as Tie Gang came closer.


    It looked around and around until its eyes finally fell onto me.


    When its eyes fell onto me, they suddenly lit up as they revealed a strange look.


    I couldn''t stop the bad feeling from filling me when I saw the way that the pharaoh mummy looked at me.


    Before Tie Gang could reach it, the pharaoh mummy suddenly said, "You! You have the same energy as the lord¡­No, it''s different! But you are just like the lord!"


    Everyone slowly turned to look at me with strange looks of doubt when they heard this, but I just revealed a confused look to show that I didn''t know what it was talking about.


    The pharaoh mummy didn''t stop as it said, "Please! I promise to serve you as long as you save me! I''ll give you everything as long as you save me! I will be your dedicated dog, just save me!"


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows and turned to look at me, as if even he was starting to doubt me.


    All I could do was shake my head to show that I didn''t know anything about this.


    But deep down, I couldn''t help cursing at this pharaoh mummy.


    If you were going to die, you should just die.


    Why were you saying all of this and dragging me down with you?


    Tie Gang just continued to look at me with this doubtful look for a bit, almost as if he was judging me. However, he eventually just gave a nod to me and turned back to look at the pharaoh mummy.


    He brought his sword up to the neck of the pharaoh mummy and said, "That''s enough out of you. You won''t gain anything from trying to confuse us like this."


    The pharaoh mummy just ignored Tie Gang and kept pleading with me to save it.


    However, it didn''t work as I ignored it.


    In the end, Tie Gang cut the pharaoh mummy''s head off with a single sh and its head dropped to the ground with a sttering of blood.


    However, even after the pharaoh mummy died, everyone looked at me with strange looks. Your next read awaits at mvl


    Even if the pharaoh mummy was dead now¡­the seeds of doubt had been nted.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 277: Raid dungeon (69)

    There was a silence that lingered in the air after the pharaoh mummy was cut down.


    The main thing that everyone was staring at was not the pharaoh mummy, but me.


    There was a clear look of doubt that was in their eyes as they stared at me, making it very clear what they were thinking.


    Seeds of doubt had already been sown in their minds and now they were taking root and growing.


    If I didn''t do something soon, then it would only get worse.


    But if I said anything¡­wouldn''t that make me more suspicious?


    In the end, I was just d that Tie Gang said something.


    "Alright, that''s that. That''s the dungeon boss taken care of, so we should be able to leave the dungeon now."


    All of them suddenly looked at Tie Gang when they heard this with uncertain looks in their eyes, but they epted what he said in the end.


    However, they didn''t forget to give me onest look before moving around the room to find the exit.


    Tie Gang made sure that all of them had headed off to find the exit beforeing over to me to ask, "You alright?"


    I looked at him and slowly gave a nod, though I could still see the doubt in his eyes.


    Even he wasn''t unaffected by the words that had been said.


    He saw the look on my face as well and said with a smile, "For now, let''s go home. Once we''re back, we''ll get you checked out and see if they can find anything strange about you."


    He patted me on the shoulder before saying, "I''m sure that it''s all a misunderstanding."


    Though I could hear that slight trace of doubt in his voice.


    For now, this was all that we could do, so I just gave a nod.


    But I turned to look at the corpse of the pharaoh mummy on the ground and asked, "What do you want to do with this thing?"


    Tie Gang was surprised to hear this question and he looked down at the pharaoh mummy corpse on the ground.


    After staring at it for a bit, he realized what was wrong.


    "Eh? Why isn''t it disappearing and dropping the loot? The loot from this dungeon boss was one of the things that our guild wasmissioned to get this time¡­Does that mean we have to do this entire dungeon again if it doesn''t drop?" Tie Gang said in a genuinely surprised voice.


    But when everyone else heard this, they couldn''t help trembling.


    Again?


    He wanted to do this raid dungeon again?


    Even if they were dragged back in, they didn''t want to do it again.


    After a long silence where everyone held their breaths and looked at Tie Gang, he finally said, "Alright, for now, let''s just bring this thing back and see what they say. This is supposed to be the vessel of a demon king, right? Perhaps that should give us an excuse for not getting the drop."


    Everyone let out a sigh of relief when they heard this, but there was still a trace of worry in their hearts.


    If the guild really didn''t ept it, then they would have to do this raid dungeon again¡­


    They really didn''t want to do all of this again.


    But I knew that Tie Gang was just teasing them and raising their spirits.


    After all, this was a very important discovery. It far surpassed any request for items, so there was no way that we would be forced to go into this raid dungeon again.


    In fact, it was very likely that this raid dungeon would be closed by the Awakener Association and they would do some kind of investigation on what happened.


    It was impossible that they would allow us to raid it again before they found what had changed about this raid dungeon.


    So Tie Gang''s words didn''t mean anything.


    It didn''t take long for them to find the exit portal for this dungeon, it was right behind the throne that the pharaoh mummy had been sitting on.


    The strange thing was that the throne hadn''t been damaged at all even though I had used a bomb on it.


    It was unknown what kind of material this throne was made of, but it really was hard that even a bomb wasn''t able to do anything to it.


    This was definitely something that we would have liked to bring back, but if we can''t even destroy it with bombs, how were we supposed to bring it back?


    Perhaps if Tie Gang went all out against this throne, he might be able to chip it. But was it really worth it to damage his weapon to bring back this throne of unknown origin?


    This throne would always be here, so anyone could research it if they wanted to.


    For now, the more important thing was to bring back the corpses of both the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy.


    But we couldn''t just leave right away after finding the exit portal.


    The first thing that we had to do was gather all the people that had been left behind on the various floors.


    We had left people behind to maintain the camps that we had set up, so we had to get them up here to the exit so we could leave together.


    It was a good thing that the war between the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy had brought most of the monsters up to the third floor where they had been wiped out.


    The few monsters that were left were easily wiped out by the Awakeners and the path was cleared for them to reach the dungeon boss room.


    Though when they arrived, it was clear that they were looking at me.


    Tie Gang narrowed his eyes a bit as he looked at the Awakeners who had been sent to escort these members up.


    Not a single one of them dared to meet his gaze in the end.


    So Tie Gang just gave a sigh and said, "Let''s get out of here then."


    With that, our attack on the raid dungeon was over.

 Chapter 278: After the dungeon

    When we came out, the supporters from the guild immediately came forward to help us.


    However, Tie Gang waved them away before waving at the leader of this group toe over.


    The leader was surprised to be called by Tie Gang like this, but he came over to hear what Tie Gang had to say.


    Tie Gang drew that leader in and whispered a few things to him.


    When they were done, the leader looked at Tie Gang with a shocked look, as if he couldn''t believe what he had just said.


    However, when he saw the serious look that was on Tie Gang''s face, he had no choice but to ept it.


    This leader was someone who had worked with Tie Gang before, so he knew what kind of personality Tie Gang had. When Tie Gang had this kind of serious look, he knew that he was absolutely serious.


    Since that was the case, he shouldn''t waste any time.


    With a nod to Tie Gang, he quickly arranged for the support team to head to different locations.


    The support team all had confused looks, but they quickly followed these orders and prepared everything.


    There were some that went to secure a path, there were some that went to clear out the reporters that were waiting, and there were some that carefully came forward to receive the items that we had brought back.


    As for what these items were¡­it was the corpses of the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy.


    These two were the most important things we obtained from the raid dungeon this time, so they were absolutely careful when transporting these things.


    We had even been kept here as guards to make sure that the transport for these items were done properly.


    Only when several armoured trucks drove off with these things did we finally get dismissed.


    Tie Gang looked at us with a smile on his face as he said, "Everyone get home safely and rest up." His face then turned serious as he said, "But be sure to keep the information about this to yourself. No one should have loose lips, understand?"


    All of us were surprised by how serious Tie Gang was, but we could understand why he was being this serious.


    So we all nodded in agreement.


    As we left, I could see that there were still people looking at me with strange looks.


    It seemed that it would be a while before I could rid myself of this.


    ¡­


    The next morning, the news that came out shocked the world.


    When such a big event happened, it was impossible to keep it under wraps since there were always loose lips.


    It was certain that whoever was the leak would be punished, but the damage had been done.


    "Traces of the demon king found in The Pyramid."


    That was the headline that was at the top of every newspaper, every news site, the focus of every news show, and stered all over every form of media.


    In a single night, everyone learned of this matter.


    The inte exploded when the news of the demon king came out.


    There were many trolls that wanted to use this to gain attention, but there would alwaysbe the voice of truth that came through.


    I was surprised by how many details they were able to find out, it was almost as if they had been there themselves.


    But I knew that it was impossible for a second leak to happen.


    That was because I had already received a text from both the guild and Long Shui Ling.


    As soon as the leak happened, the guild had immediately cracked down on the person who did it. They had released their information on the guild''s forum to make an example out of them, so that no one else would do the same.


    So if anyone did actually leak more information, then it would be suicidal.


    Not to mention, Long Shui Ling''s text told me that the Long Family had gotten involved.


    They might not have gotten involved if it was a normal leak, but since Long Shui Ling had also gone into the raid dungeon and was involved in this matter, they had no choice but to get involved.


    One of the top guilds, Elementia and the richest family in the world, the Long Family.


    If someone wanted to make an enemy out of both of them, they would be insane.


    So for now, it would be impossible for anyone from the guild to leak anything else.


    The only ones that could leak information were the ones from the Awakener Association.


    The Awakener Association was a much more loosely gathered group with different factions, all of whom had different goals. There would even be people who would expose this information for their own benefits.


    Still, with Elementia and the Long Family working together, there was no information on those that had gone into the raid dungeon.


    Otherwise, my apartment definitely would have been surrounded by now.


    Though I knew that this was all for Long Shui Ling, rather than for any of us.


    Now that this information was out, I knew that something would happen.


    So the first thing that I did was seal off something inside of the safe that I had bought a while ago.


    When I put it in, it was struggling and fighting back, but it couldn''t do anything as I put it into the safe.


    Then it was all about waiting for what woulde.


    It was a text from Su Chen at first asking me if I was free right now.


    I texted back that I was and I waited for him toe pick me up.


    But it wasn''t just Su Chen who came.


    It was an entire group that came to pick me up and judging by the magic energying from them, they weren''t normal people.


    These were all powerful Awakeners.


    When we met, Su Chen said, "I''m here to bring you to the guild headquarters."


    The Awakeners seemed rxed, but I could see that all of their hands were on their weapons as if they were prepared to attack at any moment.


    I just raised my hands and said, "I''lle with you, there''s no need to look at me like that."

 Chapter 279: Cuffed

    Su Chen gave a nod with a sigh after hearing this.


    This was a sigh of relief since he had been afraid that I would do something that I couldn''t take back.


    But seeing that I was willing to go back with them, he really was relieved.


    However, it didn''t seem like the Awakeners that followed him felt the same.


    After seeing that I agreed toe with them, the Awakeners exchanged nces before they split into two groups.


    One of the group still had their hands on their weapons as if they were prepared to cut me down if I did anything. The other group, which was just two of them, came forward with something in their hands.


    They came up in front of me and one of them said, "Put your hands down and stick them out in front of you."


    As they came closer, I could see what was in their hands.


    It seemed like a pair of bracelets, but with how thick they were, it was clear that they were cuffs.


    These were clearly to suppress my powers and bring me in.


    Su Chen deeply knitted his brows when he saw this and he asked, "What are you doing?"


    The one holding the cuffs still faced me and waited for me to put my hands down. The other one turned to Su Chen and said, "These were the orders that we received. We cannot go against these orders."


    Su Chen knitted his brows even more when he heard this and he was about to say something, but he stopped when he saw me shaking my head at him.


    I had honestly expected this, though the cuffs were definitely a bit far in my opinion.


    Still, if I didn''t go along with it, it would only be much worse.


    So for now, it was better to suck it up and go along with what they wanted to do.


    I put my hands in front of me and they put the cuffs on my wrists.


    As soon as these cuffs were ced on my wrists, they immediately started to glow.


    I could feel a restraining sensationing from these cuffs on my wrists before they suddenly linked up with a magical chain. With this magical chain, they had be an actual pair of handcuffs.


    Only when those cuffs were on my wrists did the ones that were on full alert rx a bit.


    The one that had put the cuffs on my wrists reached their hand out to push my back and said, "Let''s go."


    I just let myself be pushed along by this person.


    When we passed by Su Chen, he looked at me with an apologetic and awkward look.


    But I just shook my head to show that I didn''t mind before saying, "Innocent until proven guilty, right?"


    These words of mine weren''t just for Su Chen, they were also for the ones that had been sent to capture me.


    However, I could see by the way that they were looking at me that they had clearly heard some things about me. It was clear that they didn''t trust me at all, they might have even thought that I was the enemy.


    The only reason they didn''t do anything to me was because they had been ordered not to.


    Whether that was because they were afraid that I might do something as the demon king, or if it was because they still trusted me, I had no idea. All I knew was that unless I got through this, it would be impossible to remain in human society anymore.


    When we came down, there were some people that looked at us with strange looks.


    I was certain that it would be hard to exin this to my neighbourster on, but there was nothing that I could do right now.


    As I was marched out, there was a familiar face who was waiting there for me.


    This was the same driver that hade to pick me up the first time.


    When he saw the way that I had been treated by the Awakeners, he narrowed his eyes to re at them.


    A few of them turned their gazes away, but the ones that were right behind me didn''t look away. Instead, they matched gazes with the driver, as if they weren''t afraid of him at all.


    The driver just looked at them for a bit before turning back to me with a smile and saying, "Young man, it seems like you''ve gotten yourself in quite a bit of trouble this time."


    I looked back at him with a smile as I said, "It seems so."


    The driver said with a nod, "Well, sometimes you get caught up in these things, but I''m sure that you''ll be able to get through this."


    I was surprised by what the driver said, but I still gave a grateful nod as I said, "Thank you."


    The driver gave a nod back before turning around to open the door for me.


    The ones behind me pushed me forward and into the car without any care at all.


    This caused the driver to re at them again, but they didn''t care as they came into the car with me.


    Su Chen was about toe in as well, but they stopped him from getting in the back with them. Instead, they pointed at the passenger seat beside the driver''s seat, indicating for him to go with the driver.


    Su Chen knitted his brows, but he stopped himself when the driver patted him on the shoulder and waved at him to follow.


    Su Chen gave a sigh along with the driver before getting in the front with him.


    From where I was sitting, I could see sneers from the Awakeners as they looked at the two of them.


    It was clear that whoever these Awakeners were, they looked down on both Su Chen and the driver.


    It was clear that whoever was behind these Awakeners¡­they most likely had it out for either me or Bing Lan since she most likely was the one that arranged for them toe with this group to get me.

 Chapter 280: Examined (1)

    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at the headquarters.


    When we arrived, I found that there was arge crowd that was gathered outside.


    With the cameras in their hands, it was clear that these people were reporters.


    When they saw our car pull up in front of the headquarters, they immediately came to surround us.


    The driver had wanted to go to a less conspicuous ce, but the Awakeners forced him to go to the front entrance.


    Then they pushed me out of the car and out in front of all of these reporters.


    The moment that they saw use out, there were many cameras raised and shes that appeared as they took their photos.


    These reporters immediately started asking all kinds of questions while taking their photos.


    "Is this another one of the whistleblowers?"


    "How do you feel about being caught like this?"


    "Can you please tell us what you did and how you feel about doing it?"


    In the face of all of this, I just held my head up high and walked forward without engaging with any of them.


    But the Awakeners that were behind me didn''t force me forward for once. In fact, they even grabbed the hem of my shirt so that I would be forced to walk slower in front of all these reporters.


    It was as if they were parading me in front of these reporters, giving them time to ask their questions and take their pictures.


    It was clear that whoever was targeting either me or Bing Lan had arranged all of this.


    There was nothing that I could do since I had the cuffs restraining my power and the Awakeners not letting me walk faster.


    In the end, it was Su Chen who pushed forward and pushed those Awakeners away from me, allowing me to walk faster.


    He red at them before turning to the reporters and chasing them off.


    He was a skilled handler, so he was used to doing things like this.


    But it was already toote to stop them since they had taken plenty of pictures.


    At the same time, I could see on the faces of a few of these reporters that they wouldn''t hesitate to write false stories.


    Whether it was because they had no conscience or if they were paid, I didn''t know. All I knew was that they would most certainly nder me however they could.


    Still, I didn''t show any signs of distress as I held my head up high and walked into the lobby of the headquarters building.


    When we walked in, the members of the guild who were walking around in this lobby all turned to look at me with strange looks. There were some of them that recognized me, but most of them were just staring to see what was happening.


    Still, it didn''t take long before whispers were spread by those who knew who I was.


    Throughout all of this, I just kept walking forward with a calm look on my face.


    Though I did stop for a bit since I had no idea where we were going.


    The Awakeners escorting me weren''t in a rush to bring me in and made us walk in the lobby in front of everyone for a bit before finally bringing us down a hall.


    We didn''t go to the elevator and go to Bing Lan''s floor.


    Instead, I was brought to arge conference room that was on the first floor.


    Once we arrived, they made us wait outside as they went in to report that we were here.


    When the door opened, I could hear many different voicesing from inside and from the gap that formed, I could see that there were many people sitting in there.


    It seemed that whatever this was, it wasn''t small¡­


    After a few minutes, the Awakeners who had escorted us here brought us inside.


    I saw some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces.


    But the familiar faces that I saw were those important people of the guild that I had met before when I worked with them to catch Motoyasu.


    It was clear that this meeting was not a meeting of low ranking members. Continue your adventure at mvl


    At the very head of this meeting was Bing Lan, so it was clear that this was a meeting for high ranking members of the guild.


    Once I was brought in, the room immediately fell silent as everyone turned to look at me.


    The way that they looked at me was strange, with many different emotions aimed at me.


    There were some gazes that had curiosity, there were some that hadplicated expressions, and some that had straight hostility.


    I didn''t need to think about it to guess what this was all about.


    The mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy had both stated it, so there was no hiding it.


    It was about the fact that they said I had the same energy as their lord in me.


    And this lord that they referred to was¡­the demon king.


    So by that logic, it only made sense that I was rted to the demon king in some sense.


    Since the demon king was the enemy of humanity, they naturally started to regard me as the enemy of humanity as well.


    The silence continued in the room for a bit before Bing Lan broke it by saying, "Who put those cuffs on him?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear that as her first question, but no one said a thing.


    The Awakeners who had done it couldn''t help taking an awkward step back and looking away from her, as if they didn''t dare meet her gaze.


    Bing Lan just remained silent, but her aura put pressure on everyone in the room as she remained silent.


    Finally, she said, "Why haven''t you taken them off him yet?"


    The Awakeners didn''t act when they heard this and some of the people in the room revealedplicated looks.


    After a bit of silence, one of them said, "Wouldn''t it be dangerous to take these cuffs off him?"

 Chapter 281: Examined (2)

    The moment that this was said, Bing Lan''s gaze immediately fell onto the one that had spoken.


    This was one of the people that I didn''t recognize, but for them to be here, it meant that they had an important position in the guild.


    But Bing Lan didn''t seem to care at all as she red at him.


    The pressure that she put on this person didn''t just suppress him, it even suppressed the ones that were sitting beside him.


    These people all red at the one who had spoken, as if they were ming him for getting them caught up in this mess.


    But even then, not a single person dared to speak.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan said, "So you''re saying that you can''t even trust a member of our guild now? If that''s the case, then does that mean that you doubt whether I''ll be able to refrain from hurting you? Are you going to say that I''m a danger just because I''m a S Ranker?"


    The person who had spoken opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he didn''t know what to say.


    In the end, it was someone else who spoke up for him.


    This person was much further up the table, showing that they were in an even higher position.


    With how far up they were, it seemed like they were one of the higher management.


    After all, they were sitting with the first dungeon raid team leader and third dungeon raid team leader that I had met before.


    If I had to guess, they were most likely also a dungeon raid team leader.


    "Guild master, that is apletely different situation. You should know that this is a demon king that we''re dealing with, this isn''t something that we can be callous about?" Stay tuned to mvl


    Though no one said anything, the nods that some people gave were more than enough to show that they agreed with this person.


    But Bing Lan had a different idea.


    She just gave a snort before saying, "Second dungeon raid team leader, can you not read?"


    Everyone looked at Bing Lan in shock when they heard this.


    After all, not a single one of them expected the first thing out of her mouth to be this kind of insult.


    The one who had been called the second dungeon raid team leader knitted his brows, but he didn''t say anything as he waited to hear what Bing Lan had to say.


    Bing Lan didn''t continue right away as she looked at the ones that had nodded in agreement. Only after ring at all of them did she finally say, "The report clearly stated that this was only what the dungeon monsters stated. If you read the report clearly, you should have known that they had already examined Lin Fan and found that there were no traces of this ''dark energy'' that they referred to.


    So I just want to know, is it because you can''t read or is it something else?"


    Everyone once again knitted their brows when they heard this.


    They knew that she was right, but this was something that was rted to the demon king, so it wasn''t as if they could ignore it that easily.


    Or rather, it was that they wanted the merit of finding something rted to the demon king that made them do this.


    If this Lin Fan really was rted to the demon king and they turned him over to the Awakener Association, then wouldn''t they be rewarded?


    At the same time, there were some that knew how close this Lin Fan was to Bing Lan, so they wanted to use this opportunity to hurt Bing Lan''s prestige.


    So it wasn''t as if they could back down now.


    Bing Lan naturally knew that this wouldn''t be enough, so she took a deep breath and said in a powerful voice, "We are humans and our only strength is our ability to work together. If we start attacking each other because of the words of monsters, then is there any difference between us and the monsters?"


    As soon as she said this, it made it very difficult for them to say anything else.


    After all, if they did, it would make it seem like they really were as she had called them.


    They would be lower than monsters¡­


    But in the end, the second dungeon raid team leader still spoke up.


    "Still, this is something that regards the future of the entirety of mankind. This is not something that we can be careless about."


    Seeing that someone was willing to speak up for them, the others let out sighs of relief and waited to back him up.


    The second dungeon raid team leader continued by saying, "I suggest that for now, we at least lock him up until we can be certain that there is nothing wrong with him. If there is nothing wrong with him, then we can release him."


    After saying this, he turned to look at me with narrowed eyes as he said, "We can never be too careful."


    Though his words sounded righteous, I could see the hostility that was in his eyes.


    It was clear that he was targeting me for some specific reason.


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything in response to this, which the second dungeon raid team leader mistook as agreement, so he said, "Then shall we vote on this matter? I believe that we should act as soon as possible so nothing can go wrong."


    This time, the others in the room started to nod in agreement to this, though it wasn''t everyone that showed their agreement for this.


    But before they could force this vote out, Bing Lan suddenly said, "You''re right about this matter being for the good of mankind, but I think you''re mistaking something."


    "Huh?" That was everyone''s response when they heard this.


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes to say, "We have already confirmed that there is nothing wrong with him, so why are you treating it as if there is something wrong? Or are you saying that you don''t trust the medical staff of our guild to do something as simple as this?"


    Everyone slowly came to understand what she meant.


    In the report that was submitted, there was a detailed medical report about this where they had already run a test on Lin Fan.


    In that test, it had shown that there was nothing abnormal about him even though the mummy leader said that he felt the ''dark energy''ing from him.


    So this could serve as evidence that there was nothing wrong.


    For them to keep pushing at this point meant that they were just trying to find fault where there was none.


    The second dungeon raid team leader revealed an ugly look, but he quickly made that expression disappear before saying, "Guild master, that was then and it was done in the middle of the dungeon. I don''t think we can say that those were the best conditions for a medical examination, right?"


    Bing Lan surprisingly gave a nod, but she also said, "That''s why I called him in today. We''ll be giving him another examination right now to prove his innocence."

 Chapter 282: Examined (3)

    No one responded after she said this.


    There was only silence that met Bing Lan as soon as her voice fell.


    However, she didn''t seem to care at all that no one said anything.


    No one said a thing because no one was able to say a thing.


    They all felt like they had just been yed by Bing Lan and in a sense, they had been yed by her.


    All of this could be solved by this, but they didn''t want it to end this way. After all, they wanted to manipte the situation to suit their purpose and maximize their benefits, but now¡­


    Everyone turned to look at the second dungeon raid team leader.


    He was the one that had led the charge against Bing Lan in the first ce, so they were looking to him to lead them again.


    But there was nothing for the second dungeon raid team leader to say.


    If he were to say something, it would be like he was going back on his words.


    The words that he said earlier used righteousness and caring for mankind as a base. The solution that Bing Lan gave was one that solved all of the problems that he mentioned, so it would be wrong for him to go against these words now.


    So there wasn''t a single person that was able to say a thing.


    Bing Lan gave them time to mull over this since she wanted to crush them if they had any objections, but it didn''t seem like they were able toe up with anything to her disappointment.


    Seeing that no one said a thing, she continued by saying, "Since no one has a suggestion, then let''s get this over with."


    She was about to stand up, but there was someone that suddenly spoke.


    This person seemed to be grasping at straws, but what they said did create ripples.


    "Will the Awakener Association really ept this?"


    As soon as this stone was cast into the pond, the ripples immediately started to spread across the pond and everyone jumped onto this.


    After all, this was the only scapegoat that they could use.


    The Awakener Association was following this case very closely, so they cared very much about anything that was rted to the demon king. They naturally also knew about Lin Fan and had inquired about him before, but strangely they never asked for him.


    So they wanted to use the Awakener Association as the shield against the willfulness of the guild master.


    Since no one from the Awakener Association was here, they could speak as if they were speaking on behalf of them.


    The second dungeon raid team leader also jumped on this by saying, "That''s right. Even if we can ept the results, the Awakener Association might now. We should think this through and talk with them before doing this examination."


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything in response to this.


    This was something that she had also considered before, but she had been ignoring it since she didn''t want to bring up something that would hurt her case.


    Still, since it was brought up, she had no choice but to address it.


    Before she could, the second dungeon raid team leader said, "I suggest that we detain him for now and contact the Awakener Association. Once we are in contact with the Awakener Association, we will be able to work along with them for this."


    This was just a move to buy time, but buying time was more than enough for now.


    As long as Lin Fan was ced in a cell, it would be easy for them to make a move against him.


    After all, it was impossible for Bing Lan to protect him forever.


    So they just wanted to stall for now to get some breathing room.


    Bing Lan didn''t really have any good counters to this since what he had said was very reasonable.


    But she knew that if this matter wasn''t settled today, then they would y their tricks and make things even harder for her.


    Bing Lan didn''t want to use this card since she knew that it would be bad for the unity of their guild if she used this card. However, it didn''t seem like they were going to give her that option.


    It seemed like she had no choice but to use force.


    So Bing Lan was about to release her aura once more to suppress everyone here.


    But before she could, the door to this room suddenly opened and a voice rang out.


    "I wonder if I can help with this matter?" Stay connected via mvl


    This was a voice that many people didn''t recognize, so they immediately turned to see who it was.


    When they saw who the person that walked in was, they couldn''t help being shocked.


    It only took them one nce to recognize this person, that was just how famous he was among the Awakeners.


    Normal people might not recognize him since he did a lot of behind the scenes work, but Awakeners were afraid of this person.


    That was because he not only took care of things in public, he also took care of things behind the scenes.


    That was why his moniker was the Dark de.


    When I saw this personing in, I also couldn''t help being surprised since I also recognized this person.


    But I didn''t recognize this person because of how famous he was, I only recognized him because I had seen him before.


    It was Elliot who I had met at the Irregr License Exam before.


    When he saw me looking in his direction, he looked at me with a smile and waved at me.


    I couldn''t really wave back since my hands were still cuffed, but I looked back at him with an awkward smile.


    After waiting for a bit, he walked right up in front of everyone and said, "I wonder if I can represent the Awakener Association in this matter?"


    Everyone couldn''t help giving a gulp when they heard this.

 Chapter 283: Examined (4)

    After Eliott said this, there was a long silence that filled the room.


    Everyone looked at him with cautious gazes since they had all heard of him before.


    For him to suddenly show up in this ce, it was clear that this was by no means a simple matter.


    The second dungeon raid team leader was the one that broke the silence.


    "Dark de, this is our Elementia. Is this really a ce for you toe and go as you please?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear this aggressive tone from the second dungeon raid team leader.


    However, it did remind them of an important fact of where they currently were.


    This was the headquarters of their Elementia guild and even if he had a high status in the world of Awakeners, that didn''t mean that this Dark de was allowed to move freely in their headquarters.


    If one put it lightly, this would be considered trespassing.


    If one put it more seriously, this would be considered an invasion.


    So all of them suddenly narrowed their eyes to look at Eliott.


    But Eliott didn''t seem to mind as he looked at the second dungeon raid team leader with a calm smile on his face and said, "But I was invited to this meeting today, so I think that I have a right toe here. I even knocked on the door before I came in."


    Everyone immediately knitted their brows the moment that they heard this.


    The second dungeon raid team leader looked at Eliott with narrowed eyes before saying, "May I ask who invited you here today?"


    Eliott just turned to look at Bing Lan and said with a wink, "Why it was your guild master."


    Bing Lan was surprised deep down, but she forced herself to remain calm at this moment.


    Though the ones that were close to her could see the trace of surprise that was in her eyes.


    After looking at Eliott for a split second, she calmly said, "That''s right, I was the one that invited him here today since I was nning on getting Lin Fan examined. He can represent the Awakeners Association on this matter, right?"


    Everyone knitted their brows even more when they heard this.


    There was nothing wrong with what she said, but it was clear that there was something off about all of this.


    The second dungeon raid team leader didn''t look at either of them and turned to look at the staff member who had followed Eliott in. This staff member had a look of terror on their face, showing that they werepletely caught off guard by this. Find more to read at mvl


    If Eliott had really been invited, would this staff member look this way?


    The second dungeon raid team leader narrowed his eyes to look at that staff member and put some pressure on him.


    When that staff member felt this pressure, he trembled before looking at the second dungeon raid team leader.


    The second dungeon raid team leader used his eyes to send a message that made the staff member even more terrified.


    It was as if he was saying, "Was he really invited?"


    But before he could force the answer out of the staff member, there was someone who moved in front of this staff member that blocked him from seeing them. At the same time, he could feel pressureing from this person that moved in front of the staff member.


    He narrowed his eyes to look at this person and found that it was a red haired young man who was standing there.


    When he saw this red haired young man, he narrowed his eyes even more as a look of recognition appeared in them.


    This red haired young man¡­he was an Awakener who was just as famous as the Dark de Eliott.


    And he had the power to back it up as he easily negated the second dungeon raid team leader''s pressure.


    It had to be known that one had to be an A Ranker to be a dungeon raid team leader, so this red haired young man had the power of an A Ranker.


    Everyone once again fell silent after Bing Lan said this.


    None of them knew what the situation was, but many of them could guess that this wasn''t the truth. After all, if Bing Lan had invited them, why would she wait until now to reveal them?


    So the only exnation was that it wasn''t as meets the eyes.


    But they couldn''t call Bing Lan out in this ce with these people from the Awakeners Association present.


    This would make Elementia seem weaker by showing them that they weren''t as unified as they seemed.


    So they had no choice but to¡­


    In the end, there were many that looked to the second dungeon raid team leader to lead them in this matter. However, the second dungeon raid team leader turned away, as if he was extricating himself from this matter.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan knew that there was no one left to oppose her.


    So she turned to look at the Awakeners standing behind me and said, "Why haven''t you uncuffed him yet?"


    This time, they didn''t hesitate as they felt the full force of Bing Lan''s pressure on them.


    This time, they could see that no one would be backing them up, so they had no choice but to follow Bing Lan''s orders.


    So they quickly came forward and took the cuffs off my wrists.


    But as they stood there in front of me with their backs to everyone, the looks on their faces made it clear what they were thinking.


    I just acted like I didn''t see anything, but I knew that this would spell trouble in the end.


    After seeing the cuffse off, Bing Lan stood up and headed to the entrance of this room before saying, "Then shall we?"


    The others slowly stood up and followed her, but no one came close since Bing Lan came over to where Eliott and that red haired young man were.


    Eliott looked back at her with a smile and said, "Let''s go then."

 Chapter 284: Examined (5)

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    They were about to leave before they realized that they were missing something.


    So Bing Lan turned to me and waved her hand for me to follow as she said, "Come on, we can''t do anything without you."


    I could feel the resing at me from the people still sitting at the table, but I ignored it as I went over to where Bing Lan was.


    Once I came over, they turned back around and started heading in a certain direction.


    Seeing that we were going without them, the ones that were sitting at the table had no choice but to stand up and follow us.


    Since we had left before everyone else, there was a bit of a buffer between us and them that I was able to talk to them in private.


    I turned to Eliott and said, "Thank you foring to help."


    Though I didn''t know what was going on, I did know that he showed up at my moment of need. So at the very least, I should thank him foring to help me.


    Eliott revealed a faint smile when he heard this and then he was about to say something, but Bing Lan cut him off.


    "You can''t steal him from us." She said in a cold and serious voice.


    Eliott revealed a wry smile when he heard this, but then he quickly raised his hands and said, "Of course I don''t have any intentions of doing that."


    Though he said this, it was clear by the smile on his face that he might have actually had other intentions.


    Bing Lan just red at him for a bit before saying, "Just tell me what you want. If it''s in my power, I''ll get it for you." But she also added, "Remember, you can''t take him from us."


    Eliott''s smile became more awkward, but he still said, "It''s not that. I just want the right to reserve him as a contractor for the Awakeners Association."


    Bing Lan raised a brow to show that she was surprised by this before saying, "Why would you want that?"


    Eliott revealed a wry smile again as he said, "There''s no need to hide it, we both know what kind of power this young man is hiding."


    Bing Lan still had one brow raised as she looked at him with a confused look.


    Eliott was a bit surprised to see this, but he didn''t think much of it since he guessed that she was just faking it to raise the price of the contract.


    With a sigh, he said, "He''s a buff type supporter, he''s one of the rare ones, so there''s no need to pretend. We know that his contract will be pricey, so there''s no need to pretend like this. We''ll give you an amount that will satisfy you."


    Bing Lan tried to stay calm, but there was a twitch that appeared in her eyebrows when she heard this.


    She had known that Lin Fan''s power was to buff, but she had thought that it was just a temporary buff and debuff that wouldn''tst long.


    But now Eliott was saying that he was a buff type supporter¡­


    That had a very different meaning from what she thought Lin Fan was.


    A buff type supporter meant long term buffs that ignored ability rank, so that meant that Lin Fan would even be able to buff her for a long time if he used his buff on her.


    This waspletely different from what she thought his power was before.


    She had only seen him use it on himself before, so she never thought that his ability could also be used like this¡­


    Bing Lan couldn''t help turning to look at Lin Fan with a gaze like she was ming him.


    When I saw this, I really didn''t know what to say since I had thought that she had known all along, which was why she had recruited me into Elementia in the first ce.


    Eliott was slowly realizing his mistake and he couldn''t stop his smile from turning awkward¡­but it was toote to take back what he said, so he could only keep going with it.


    Bing Lan finally calmed down after a while and said, "Alright, let''s go with the standard price for a buffer and I''ll give you 10% off for your help today."


    Eliott revealed a faint smile when he heard this.


    The standard price for a buffer wasn''t low, so 10% off was quite the amount.


    But it was the next part that really made him happy.


    "Plus, I''ll give you priority since you are our Lin Fan''s friend, so you can book him ahead of other Awakeners from the Awakeners Association."


    This was basically giving him exclusive rights to book him in front of everyone else from the Awakeners Association.


    Bing Lan saw the bitter smile that I had on my face, so she asked me with a smile, "What''s wrong? You''re not satisfied with this?"


    I quickly shook my head.


    It wasn''t that I wasn''t satisfied with this, it was just that it felt like I was being sold off.


    But I could tell from the context that this was a deal with arge amount of money involved, so I would be getting paid extra on top of just doing what I would normally be doing.


    Money was always a wee thing.


    At the same time, I would be able to repay Eliott for helping me today, so I was fine with this.


    But there was someone who wasn''t happy with this.


    The red haired young man came closer and said, "What about me?"


    Eliott gave a snort and said, "What about you?"


    The red haired young man red at him and said, "You get priority and I get nothing? I also came to help today, so shouldn''t I get something?"


    Eliott gave another snort before saying, "Didn''t you hear what the guild master just said? It''s because we''re friends that I get priority booking."


    "Friends?" The red haired young man repeated beforeing right up to me.


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard by his sudden actions, but then I was surprised even more by what he did next.


    He suddenly reached his hand out to me and said, "You''re Lin Fan, right? I''m Enma."


    Eh?


    That was all that I could think as I looked at the red haired young man named Enma with a surprised look.


    I didn''t understand what was happening, so I looked at Bing Lan and Eliott.


    However, both of them just shook their heads and gave sighs in the end.


    This didn''t really help me, so I could only deal with this myself.


    It was true that he hade to help me too by putting pressure on the second dungeon raid team leader, so I should at least repay him a bit¡­


    So I slowly reached my hand out to take his hand.


    When I grabbed his hand, he immediately shook it and said, "Nice to meet you."


    Then without hesitation, he turned to Bing Lan and said, "See, we''re friends as well. So how about me?"


    Bing Lan looked at me with a brow raised.


    All I could do was give a sigh and then nod in agreement.


    Seeing this nod, Bing Lan gave a nod as well and said, "Alright, you can receive the same treatment."


    Enma started cheering and Eliott just gave a snort when he saw this, but he didn''t do anything in the end.


    With this, we arrived at the medical bay of the headquarters.

 Chapter 285: Examined (6)

    Once we came in, the doctors that had been waiting inside immediately came over.


    It seemed that Bing Lan had already prepared everything as there were many of them just waiting inside for us.


    As soon as they saw us, they immediately came over.


    These doctors didn''t even look at Bing Lan as they came up to me and started looking at me from different angles.


    The way that they looked at me made me feel very ufortable.


    It wasn''t that they were looking at me in an inappropriate manner, it was just that¡­they weren''t really looking at me like I was a patient.


    Rather, they were looking at me as I was some kind of test subject.


    I couldn''t help looking at Bing Lan with an aggrieved look, but she just looked back at me with an encouraging look like she was telling me to just ept this.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more aggrieved when I saw this.


    After a while, the others came in and they couldn''t help looking surprised when they saw these people.


    Judging by this, it seemed like the doctors that had been gathered were quite famous.


    But these doctors didn''t seem to care at all about the rest of the people that came in as they started moving to different pieces of equipment.


    Some of them stayed at their stations while some of them brought the equipment over to use on me. They use this equipment to poke and scan me, which made me feel even more awkward.


    But there was nothing that I could do as I just let them do what they wanted with me.


    After a while, one of them suddenly came over to Bing Lan with a disappointed look and said, "Guild master, are you sure that this is the one?"


    Everyone revealed confused looks when they heard this, except for Bing Lan who asked in a calm voice, "What''s wrong?"


    The doctor who came over said with the same disappointed look, "We all gathered immediately when you told us that we would be studying something rted to the demon king, but there''s nothing here at all. No matter how we look at him, he''s just a normal person. Are you sure that you brought the right person with you?"


    Bing Lan revealed a faint smile while everyone else knitted their brows.


    Before Bing Lan could say anything, the second dungeon raid team leader suddenly came forward to say, "Are you sure about that? Could it be that you made some kind of mistake?"


    In his haste, he didn''t fully realize what he had just said.


    When the doctor and his colleagues heard this, they all looked at the second dungeon raid team leader with annoyed looks.


    It would be strange if they didn''t have these annoyed looks since he had basically called out their professionalism like this.


    But the second dungeon raid team leader didn''t have time to think about that.


    Bing Lan smoothed this matter over by suddenly saying, "How about you just run a few more in depth tests just in case."


    The doctor looked at Bing Lan with an unwilling look, but seeing the way that she looked at him, he knew what she was trying to say.


    So with another re at the second dungeon raid team leader, he gave a nod and went back over to the other doctors.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit afraid of what these in depth tests would be, but I knew that I had to go along with it.


    In the end, I was directed to something that I was familiar with.


    It was the ss tube filled with liquid.


    I was brought over and had several nodes ced on me before being put into that ss tube.


    Once I was in that ss tube, there was the tube that was put in my nose to help me breathe and I closed my eyes while waiting for the test to be over.


    A few minutes passed and I was soon let out of the ss tube.


    When I came out, I could see the expressions on everyone''s faces.


    It was clear that they weren''t happy with the results of the test.


    But the fact that they weren''t happy meant that I was happy with the results.


    It meant that they weren''t able to find a single thing off about me.


    The doctors still asked Bing Lan if I was the right person and she just told them that there was no one else.


    The second dungeon raid team leader led his people away since he knew that there was nothing that he could do about this. With results like this, it would be hard for him to do anything else here.


    So he left before anything else happened that would make the situation worse for him.


    It seemed like he wasn''t that rash of a person, knowing when to advance and when to pull back.


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    That kind of person definitely wasn''t someone that was easy to deal with.


    In the future, he might be a thorn in my side¡­


    After all, it was clear that he was targeting me or Bing Lan for some reason.


    Since the tests cleared me of all suspicion, Bing Lan looked at Eliott for his opinion.


    Eliott said with a smile, "Since the results are as such, we can conclude that our friend Lin Fan here isn''t rted to the demon king. It was just something that the monsters made up about him or a mistake that they made, so there''s no need to think about it any further."


    I let out a secret sigh of relief after hearing this, but I didn''t let my guard down as I kept my expression neutral.


    Bing Lan gave a nod before saying, "Thank you foring out today to help us with this matter."


    Eliott just waved his hand and said, "It''s a small matter."


    Then he leaned in to say, "Let''s talk about the details of our other discussion soon."


    Bing Lan nodded with a smile in response.

 Chapter 286: Transferred

    Once that was taken care of, Bing Lan waved her hand at me to follow her.


    I was surprised, but I followed her out of the medical department and to the elevator.


    We took that elevator to the same floor as before and went to her office which was empty.


    She gestured at the chair in front of the desk and said, "Sit. Let''s talk for a bit."


    I gave a nod before sitting down, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to speak.


    I knew that Bing Lan wouldn''t call me here for no reason, so I waited to see what she had in store for me.


    Bing Lan just sat down in her own seat and looked at me in silence for a bit.


    With the way that she looked at me, it was as if she was trying toe to a decision about something. It was as if she was still considering what she wanted to do with me.


    But that wasn''t strange after such arge matter.


    So all I could do was wait.


    Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "I''m going to be transferring you."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look before asking, "Transfer? Where?"


    Bing Lan gave a nod as if she was already expecting this before saying, "I''m just transferring you to another team. You''ll be working under the first dungeon raid team for a bit."


    "The first dungeon raid team." I slowly repeated before looking up at Bing Lan.


    She just calmly looked back into my eyes, as if she wasn''t bothered by the way that I was looking at her.


    Seeing her like this, I calmly said, "So am I still being watched or¡­"


    I didn''t finish my words, but the meaning was clear.


    I was being transferred not as a reward, even if being transferred to the prestigious first dungeon raid team could be considered a promotion.


    Rather, I was being transferred because they were watching over me or if need be, they could take care of me if anything happened.


    Bing Lan just calmly looked at me still before saying with a sigh, "This is something that has to be done. I can''t just ignore this, you should know that."


    I slowly gave a nod to show that I did understand the situation that she was facing.


    After all, this was an event that drew the attention of many people and many different forces.


    Even if she had already proven that there was nothing wrong with me through the medical examination, there was still the need to be cautious. After all, she was the guild master and she needed to take care of everyone in the guild.


    This wasn''t something that she could decide to ignore on her own.


    So I just nodded to show that I agreed.


    Bing Lan gave another sigh and said, "You''re already close to Rupert, so you should be able to fit in fine with his team. I trust that he''ll take care of you."


    I gave another nod in response.


    Then after a bit of silence, Bing Lan suddenly acted like she remembered something and said, "That''s right, I''m also transferring someone to your team."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look before narrowing my eyes to ask, "Who?"


    Bing Lan revealed a mysterious smile as she said, "It''s someone that you already know and are close to."


    My face filled with confusion when I heard this, but it seemed like she was doing this on purpose.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Am I supposed to guess who it is now?"


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything, but the smile on her face said more than enough.


    With another sigh, I said, "Let me guess, is it Bing Xin?"


    The smile on Bing Lan''s face turned stiff before she said with that stiff smile, "How did you know? Did she already tell you?"


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard when I heard this.


    Based on this, it seemed like it really was Bing Xin¡­


    But why would she suddenly have Bing Xin join our group like this?


    Bing Lan didn''t waste any time as she stood up and walked to the side door to her office.


    When she opened it up, it revealed Bing Xin who had been sitting in the side room.


    But the strange thing was that there was a blush on Bing Xin''s face as she looked down. From time to time, she looked up as if she was peeking at me before lowering her head again.


    Bing Lan revealed a smile seeing this before bringing Bing Xin over and saying, "Well, here''s your new teammate. I bet you''re surprised to see her, right?"


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this.


    Even though I had guessed Bing Xin, it was honestly a random guess that didn''t mean anything.


    I had only chosen Bing Xin because of Bing Lan.


    She was the first name that came to my mind.


    I never expected it to actually be Bing Xin.


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    Bing Lan then revealed a serious look and said, "She is joining you as a new member of your group, but she will suppress you if anything happens. In a sense, she will be your guard."


    I slowly revealed a look of understanding when I heard this.


    Bing Xin really was the best person for this.


    After all, it was known that she and I were close and she was a B Ranker, just a single rank higher than me, an Irregr C Ranker.


    So it made sense for her to join our group.


    And as Bing Lan said, she was there as a deterrent over what had happened in the raid dungeon.


    She was there to make sure nothing happened if it turned out that what the mummy leader and pharaoh mummy said were true.


    So this was killing two birds with one stone.


    I reached my hand out towards Bing Xin and said, "I look forward to working with you."


    Bing Xin took my hand and just gave a nod before lowering her head down again.

 Chapter 287: Tournament

    After watching us for a bit, Bing Lan waved for us to sit down again and we sat down in front of her desk.


    Once we were sitting, Bing Lan suddenly said, "Other than this, there''s something else that I want to discuss with you."


    I was surprised that there was more, but I gave a nod to show that I was listening.


    Bing Lan took out a piece of paper and put it in front of me before saying, "I need you to sign up for this."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this again before looking down at the piece of paper in front of me.


    I found that it was a flyer for some kind of event. Read thetest on §Þ??


    When I looked at it closely, I found that it was a flyer for a tournament.


    This tournament seemed to be one that gathered the newbies of the various guilds together and made thempete in events to see who was better. It was something that was done to show off the future prospects of the various guilds, while also building up fame for the various guilds.


    But the most important thing was that it was apetition for the top guilds.


    This was a chance that should be given to the best rookies, but now Bing Lan said that she wanted me to enter it, I couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    However, when I thought about it, I slowly realized what she wanted to do.


    "You want to use this chance to show that I''m harmless?"


    Bing Lan gave a nod as she said, "Isn''t it a good chance? With this incident, we need to do something to show that you''re fine or else people will start demanding that you be captured again. Since that''s the case, let''s make it as big as possible."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows slightly when I heard this.


    While showing off like this wasn''t something that I wanted to do, I recognized that it was indeed the best solution in this situation.


    After all, if you showed everyone that there was nothing to fear, then it would be easier for us to move past this.


    There was nothing better than a public disy like this.


    But at the same time, there was something to be worried about.


    This wasn''t just me that was being shown off, but the power of the entire guild.


    I wasn''t that confident that I would be able to defeat everyone that was at this tournament.


    So this n that hinged on me performing well at the tournament might not work since I couldn''t guarantee victory.


    There were a few things that I had to ask before entering this tournament.


    "Is it just me alone who is entering the tournament or will there be others with me?"


    Bing Lan took out something else and this time it was revealed to be a folder.


    She ced it in front of me for me to read at my own pace.


    I opened it to find that it was a detailed information packet about the tournament that would have answered all the questions that I had.


    After I opened it, Bing Lan said, "You can keep that and read up on the tournament on your own time."


    Then without any hesitation, she also pulled out another folder that she put in front of me.


    I closed the first folder she handed me and opened up this second folder.


    I found that this folder had some personnel files in it and these files were familiar to me.


    That was because these were files that were about my team.


    I looked through this folder and found that other than my team, there was no one else here.


    I looked back up at Bing Lan and found that she was looking at me with a smile on her face.


    With all of this, I knew exactly what she was implying.


    in and simple, she was saying that my group was the only group that would be sent to this tournament.


    I was fine with this since if I had my group, I would be able to aplish what I wanted.


    Though the one person missing was Bing Xin.


    It seemed that she didn''t count as a rookie anymore, so she wouldn''t be able to enter this tournament.


    But there was also something else that I wanted to add.


    "Can I bring some other people with me?"


    Bing Lan was surprised to hear this, but then she said, "Who do you have in mind?"


    The ones that I wanted to add were Kaito and his group.


    We had gotten along well during our dive into the raid dungeon, so I felt like they would be helpful in this tournament. They had abilities that worked well with our group''s, so it would be good if we could work together.


    Bing Lan quickly agreed to let Kaito''s group enter as well since they were at the top of the list if it wasn''t for me.


    With that settled, there was nothing left for us to discuss and I was allowed to leave.


    After exiting the office, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh of relief.


    I really had not expected things to go this way, but it was a good thing that things had worked out in the end.


    Otherwise¡­I might have ended up on a dissection table.


    Or even worse, I would have ended up six feet in the ground.


    But now that everything had been settled, I could feel my nerves rxing and my body rxing with it.


    It almost felt like I was about to fall forward.


    Before I could though, Su Chen suddenly appeared to catch me.


    With a shared smile, the two of us left this ce.


    ¡­


    "How could this have happened!"


    "Smash!"


    The sound of something being smashed against the wall rang out before the same voice as before shouted, "Everything had been prepared, so how could they turn out this way? How could he escape?!"

 Chapter 288: He must die

    The ones around this person all lowered their heads as if they were afraid of attracting this person''s attention.


    But this person''s eyes fell onto the ones around him and he said, "Well? Why did it fail?"


    Still no one said a thing as they all lowered their heads.


    Finally, one of them said, "It should be because of the appearance of the Dark de¡­"


    That person immediately turned to look at this person and said, "Why did the Dark de suddenly appear? Why did we not have information on this?" Continue reading at §Þ??


    Once again, everyone looked down and didn''t dare look up.


    Not a single one of them had an answer for this since they were just as surprised as this person when the Dark de appeared.


    Seeing that no one said anything again, that person mmed his fist down on the table in front of him and pointed at one of them to say, "Why didn''t you find anything about this?"


    This person that he was pointing at was the one that was in charge of gathering information for their group.


    So it could be said that it was his fault that they didn''t have this information.


    Everyone else let out a sigh of relief when they saw that this person was picked out since it meant that they would be spared the wrath of the leader.


    That person trembled when he was picked out and still didn''t dare look up.


    But feeling the pressure that fell on him, he had no choice but to look up and say, "I don''t know. We didn''t have any information on him making contact with the Dark de, so we have no idea when he became friends with him."


    The person in charge narrowed his eyes to look at this person before saying, "Are you sure that there was no information at all about this?"


    That person trembled when he felt the increased pressure, but then he suddenly remembered something.


    He quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and said, "There was some form of contact when he went to take the Irregr License Exam, but the time that they interacted was considered too short for them to form any rtionship."


    The person in charge took this sheet of paper and read the report on it before throwing it in the face of the person who handed it to him.


    "You idiot! Can''t you read between the lines!"


    That person didn''t dare react at all to the paper being thrown at him and quickly lowered his head once more.


    The person in charge mmed his hand down on the table and said, "It''s clear that he caught the attention of Dark de at the exam, or else Dark de never would have personally appeared to give him that reward."


    Then he looked over all of them and said, "He must have some kind of special power that could catch the attention of both the guild master and Dark de, yet not a single one of you could understand that?"


    All of them revealed embarrassed looks when they heard this.


    Once he said it out loud and they thought about it, they realized that he made sense.


    This was the only exnation that this could be, but they didn''t understand why they didn''t think of it earlier¡­


    It was as if there was something that made them miss this¡­


    After revealing an ugly look, the person in charge red at the person who was in charge of information and raised a hand.


    When that person saw this raised hand, he couldn''t help trembling as he said, "Wait, no, please, I''ll make up for this mistake."


    The person in charge just gave a cold snort and said, "It''s toote."


    Without any hesitation, he squeezed his hand together and that person twisted his face in pain.


    He quickly fell down atop the table while grasping at his heart and gasping for air. All the while, he was saying, "Please spare me, please spare me."


    After a minute of this, the person in charge finally released his hand and said, "I''ll give you onest chance, understood? If you can''t make this right, then you better run to the ends of the world."


    That person quickly nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I will make this right."


    The person in charge looked over the rest of them onest time before saying, "Get out."


    All of them looked like they had been spared as they quickly gathered their things and left this room.


    In no time at all, this person was all alone in this room.


    He didn''t say anything as he just stood there looking at this empty room.


    Then all of a sudden, he smashed his hand down on the table in front of him and said, "Damn that kid! How dare he approach the guild master like that!"


    He grabbed the broken table and smashed it against the wall, shattering it to pieces before shouting, "He dares get in between me and the guild master? Then he must die!"


    This person kept smashing up this room until there wasn''t a single thing left.


    By the end of it, he was panting and his hands were bleeding from being cut by the thing that he broke, but it didn''t seem like he noticed at all.


    After taking a moment to catch his breath, he wiped the blood from his hands with a handkerchief before reaching into his pocket to pull out a locket.


    He opened up this locket and it revealed a picture of¡­Bing Lan.


    He held this picture in one hand while his other hand came up to gently stroke the locket as he said, "Soon, there will be no one that will get in our way. When that timees, you will be mine."


    After that, he startedughing in a maniacal manner.


    It was like he hadpletely lost his mind.


    As for who this person was¡­


    It was the second dungeon raid team leader, the A Ranker, Orson Wright.

 Chapter 289: Absorbing demon king energy

    Now that it was all over, the only thing that I wanted to do was throw myself in bed and sleep the night away.


    But I didn''t get that chance¡­


    As soon as I came in, I found that a certain someone was banging against the walls of the safe that I put them in.


    After making sure that Su Chen was gone, I opened the safe to release Lilith.


    As soon as she came out, she red at me as if I was her enemy before saying, "Why did you lock me in there?"


    I revealed a bitter smile and said, "I didn''t have a choice. I just needed to hide you for a bit so that I could settle some things. You already know about what happened, so you should know how dangerous it was for me."


    Lilith''s anger didn''t subside as she said, "There were other ways that you could have done this. Did you really need to lock me up like this? I have ways of hiding myself, you know."


    I gave a shrug and said, "I was panicking and didn''t know what to do, so I just put you in there."


    Lilith came forward to hit me with those plush hands, but it didn''t hurt at all.


    Still, I just let her do what she wanted since I knew that it would be more annoying if I didn''t.


    After she hit me for a bit, Lilith''s anger finally subsided and she stopped hitting me.


    She looked at me and said, "Give me some of the demon king energy that you brought back with you."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this sudden request, but then I said, "I don''t have any left. It was all absorbed by the system already."


    As for what that meant, I found that my experience bar had filled up quite a bit after that trip into the raid dungeon.


    During the trip to the raid dungeon, I didn''t really do anything that would be considered acting as the demon king, so I wouldn''t have earned any experience that way. So the only thing that I could think of was the mummy leader''s energy that I had absorbed.


    When I fought the mummy leader, bits of its energy had been absorbed by my sword which had weakened it.


    That absorbed energy had been turned into experience for my demon king system, which was what greatly increased the experience bar.


    But of course, I didn''t have any of that energy left since it had already all been absorbed, so I didn''t know why Lilith was asking for it.


    However, after I said this, Lilith looked at me like I was an idiot.


    I didn''t know how to feel about this, so I didn''t say anything.


    After a long silence, she said, "There''s still some left in your sword, didn''t you know that?"


    I was surprised when I heard this before quickly pulling out my sword to look at it.


    But no matter how I looked at the sword, it didn''t seem like there was any of that energy left in it.


    Or at least, I couldn''t sense it.


    Lilith walked right up to the sword and raised a hand to touch it.


    When she touched it, there was ayer of dark energy that suddenly appeared around the sword that caught me off guard.


    I couldn''t help being shocked by this because this was the same energy that I had seen around the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy.


    I never thought that there would still be some of it left in my sword like this.


    Lilith raised her hand after making that dark energy appear and that dark energy seemed to follow the movement of her hand. The dark energy detached itself from the sword and started flowing into Lilith.


    As she absorbed the energy, she closed her eyes as if she was trying to sense something.


    The dark energy kept flowing from the sword and into Lilith until there was no more dark energy left.


    When all of the dark energy around the sword was gone, Lilith opened her eyes and said, "Hmm, I knew that it seemed familiar¡­"


    I couldn''t help asking, "What did you find?"


    Lilith looked up at me and said, "This energy, it''s the demon king of wrath."


    "Demon king of wrath?" I repeated in a shocked voice.


    Lilith gave a nod before saying, "There''s no doubt about it, it''s wrath. I''m very familiar with this sensation."


    I looked at her with a strange look when she said this.


    When Lilith saw this look, she said, "Wrath and lust have long gone together¡­Where there is love, there will be infidelity and wrath is naturally what follows after they are discovered."


    I slowly gave a nod since this did make sense.


    After a pause, Lilith added, "Wrath¡­that isn''t a good thing. Since the beginning, he and I have never gotten along. If it''s the demon king of wrath, he will most likely be your enemy rather than your ally."


    I deeply knitted my brow when I heard this before asking, "Are you sure?"


    Lilith just gave a slow nod in response.


    This was a demon king who was controlling monsters to form a vessel to manifest¡­


    This demon king would definitely be dangerous in the future and if I could only be enemies with him, then that would mean danger for me¡­


    But right now, I just had too little information on this demon king of wrath, so there wasn''t anything that I could do.


    I looked at Lilith and asked, "Is there any way that you could find this demon king of wrath so we can take him down while he''s still weak?"


    Lilith shook her head and said, "No, that isn''t within my abilities right now. I''ve regained some power by absorbing his energy, but I still barely have any powers right now."


    I gave a sigh when I heard this.


    Lilith walked over and patted me on the hand before saying, "For now, just do your best."


    Then without waiting for a response, she walked off to do her own thing.


    I was just left there with a bitter smile on my face.

 Chapter 290: First assignment with a new team (1)

    Several dayster, Su Chen came to pick me up.


    Today we were heading to a break zone.


    That was where our first mission with the first dungeon raid team would be.


    Our team had been given several days off to recover after the raid dungeon incident.


    At the same time, this was a break that had been given to us so we could avoid the media and avoid causing even more of a mess.


    The incident of when I had been brought into the headquarters, all of the reporters that had taken pictures of me in cuffs, not a single one of those pictures made it into any form of media.


    There wasn''t even a single picture that made it onto the inte.


    It seemed that there was someone who had made sure to cover this up.


    It was most likely Bing Lan, but I felt like there was also someone else who also helped with this.


    As it turned out, there was indeed someone else.


    It was Long Shui Ling with the influence of the Long Family.


    "Are you alright? As soon as I heard what happened, I immediately told daddy to help you take care of it all." Long Shui Ling said as soon as she saw me.


    She came to find me before everyone else arrived, making sure that Su Chen was gone to talk to me alone.


    I just looked at her with a grateful look and said, "Thank you. You did great."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a blush and a happy smile before saying, "How about a reward then?"


    I shook my head with a smile before raising my hand to pat her on the head.


    Though I was slowly raising my control of her, giving her this kind of affection from time to time wasn''t that bad. It would be a lie to say that it wasn''t warming to have someone care about me like this.


    But it turned out that was a mistake.


    Bing Xin arrived third and when she saw me patting Long Shui Ling on the head, she couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    I quickly pulled my hand away when I saw her.


    Long Shui Ling looked up at me with a displeased look, but she also quickly recovered when she saw Bing Xin standing there.


    With a smile on her face, she ran over to Bing Xin and said, "Big sister, I heard that you were joining our team. Wee to our team!"


    Bing Xin snapped out of her daze when she heard this and she walked forward to Long Shui Ling to say with a smile, "Un, I''m looking forward to working with you."


    Then the two of them walked over with smiles on their faces, almost as if what had happened just now didn''t happen at all.


    When they came over, I looked at Bing Xin with an awkward look, but she cut me off by saying first, "What''s wrong?"


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this.


    It was as if that strange look that she had now didn''t exist at all with the way that she said this. With the way that she was acting, it was as if I was the strange one for acting this way.


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "No, nothing''s wrong¡­"


    Still I couldn''t help feeling strange when I said this.


    After I said this, Bing Xin just said with a smile, "Then shall we go and meet everyone else?"


    I slowly gave a nod before turning to head to where everyone else was gathering.


    But after he turned around, there was another strange look that appeared in Bing Xin''s eyes.


    She didn''t know what that feeling was just now, but when she saw him patting Long Shui Ling on the head, there was this strange feeling that filled her.


    It should have been normal for them since they werepanions that worked together, that was what she told herself.


    But she really couldn''t stop that feeling that filled her.


    When we came over to where everyone was gathering, I found that everyone else had already arrived.


    Su Chen had been about to head over to call me and Long Shui Ling, but we had alreadye over before he could.


    It wasn''t just our group that gathered here, but also the members of the first dungeon raid team.


    This was the elite first dungeon raid team of Elementia, so everyone here was a powerful Awakener in their own right.


    But when I arrived, I could feel the way that everyone looked at me.


    It was as if¡­they were ming me for something¡­


    The members of my group and Kaito''s group gathered around me when they saw mee over.


    Kaito was especially excited as he said, "Boss, thanks for thinking of us!"


    I shook my head with a faint smile when I saw this.


    It seemed that not only him, but the rest of them had already taken me as their boss after what happened in the raid dungeon.


    But I knew that this wasn''t the only thing that he was thanking me for.


    During this time, Bing Lan must have sent someone to inform him and his team about the tournament that would be held. So they must know by now that they had been chosen as one of the participants for this tournament.


    That also wasn''t all that they were thanking me for.


    There was also the fact that they were now able to work with the first dungeon raid team, the elite team of the guild.


    So they were of course very happy to be here.


    While we were talking, there was someone that started walking towards us.


    When I saw this person, I immediately stopped talking with them and focused on them.


    The rest of our group was the same as they all turned to look at this person.


    This person was the leader of the first dungeon raid team, the A Ranker, Rupert Campbell.

 Chapter 291: First assignment with a new team (2)

    As he walked over, he raised his hand to wave at me with a smile on his face.


    Seeing this, I waved back at him.


    When he came over, he asked, "How are you feeling? Excited about working with our first dungeon raid team today?"


    Everyone in our group gave a nod, even me.


    After all, it was necessary to leave a good first impression.


    But it seemed like we couldn''t do that with the way that the others looked at us.


    Rupert came over to me and said, "I''m d to have you, though it is quite the boring job today. We''ll just be hunting in this break zone, so you''ll be free to go about as you wish."


    All of us couldn''t help being surprised by this.


    We had only been told toe to this break zone, but no one had told us what the mission was.


    I had thought that it was anotherrge group of monsters like when Bing Xue had been sent to that break zone, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    In short, they were here to babysit us.


    Since we weren''t allowed to go into the dungeons with what happened in the raid dungeon, we were only allowed to go to break zones. But how often would a problem ur with a break zone that would need handling from an elite team like the first dungeon raid team?


    So it was clear that they were just here to watch over us, or rather me as we hunted in this break zone.


    That was why they all looked at us with unhappy looks.


    I thought it was something else, but it was just that we were the reason why they had been demoted like this.


    Rupert saw the look on my face and he knew that I had figured something out, so he said, "It''s up to you to prove them wrong. Are you up for it?"


    Up for it?


    It didn''t matter if I was up for it or not when I was thrown into the pit like this, but there really wasn''t anything that I could do about it.


    I had no choice but to ept this and try my best to break the ice with the rest of the group.


    With a bitter smile, I said, "It''s not like I have any choice, right?"


    Rupert just looked at me with a knowing smile without saying anything.


    But then he came forward to ce his arm around my shoulder.


    When he came forward, the others couldn''t help moving out of the way for him.


    For some reason, both ze and Kaito had glowing eyes as they looked at him. It was almost as if they were looking at their hero as they stared at Rupert.


    With a smile on his face, he said to the others, "I have something to talk to your leader about in private? Is it alright if I steal him from you for a bit?"


    They were surprised to hear this, but most of them nodded without hesitation.


    There were a few of them that nodded after revealing aplicated look for a few seconds.


    That came from Bing Xin, Long Shui Ling, and ire.


    After getting their agreement, Rupert pulled me away with his arm around my shoulder and we went to the side where it was just the two of us.


    I knew that it wasn''t for no reason that he would pull me away from the others like this, he must have something important that he needed to tell me.


    So after being pulled away, I looked at him with a serious look and waited for him to speak.


    Seeing this look on my face, Rupert said with a smile, "There''s no need to be this serious, I just wanted to have a little talk."


    I just gave a simple nod, but I had the same look on my face.


    Seeing that I wouldn''t rx, he just said with the same smile, "We''ll be in the break zone for a few days for things to calm down and then we''ll be going into the dungeons again. You don''t need to worry about this, it''s just temporary."


    I was surprised when I heard this, but I gave a grateful nod when I heard this.


    It seems that Rupert had been worried about what I thought about all of this, so he wanted to make sure that I knew that we were only here temporarily.


    Then he added, "Of course, since it''s a ce without much danger, you should try and get close to the other members of the team. Even if they hate you now, as long as you show them a bit of power, they will change their minds."


    I was once again surprised by this suggestion from him since I didn''t expect him to give me such an aggressive piece of advice, but it was good advice regardless.


    Then as if it was an afterthought, he suddenly said, "I want you to know that it is my job to watch over you."


    Then his voice suddenly became serious as he said, "If anything happens, I will have to stop you with force. I hope that you can understand that I don''t want to, but I will have no choice."


    The sudden change in the tone of his voice caught me off guard, but I quickly realized that this was what he really wanted to talk to me about.


    The fact that he went out of his way to talk to me about this really moved me.


    After all, there was no need for him to do this since he was the leader of this group.


    The only reason that he did was because he wanted to show me respect.


    I gave a simple nod and said, "It''s not a problem. If it doese to that, I''ll understand." Then after a pause, I added with a smile, "I hope that you will show mercy if it ever does happen."


    Rupert just patted me on the shoulder with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 292: Exploring the break zone (1)

    After that talk with Rupert, I went back to my group and waved for them to follow me aside.


    They were surprised to see this, but they still followed me over to the side so we could talk alone.


    Once we were alone, I said, "I''m sure that many of you have already noticed that we''ve been getting a few looks."


    All of them revealed bitter smiles when they heard this before nodding in response.


    I also revealed a bitter smile before saying, "I''m sure that you can all guess what the reason is, but that doesn''t matter." I revealed a more serious look before continuing, "What does matter is what we''re here for today."


    All of them also revealed serious looks when they heard this.


    They knew that I wouldn''t say all of this for no reason, so there was something that I wanted to say.


    I gave a nod of praise seeing this before saying, "Since we''re here, naturally we have to show everyone just what we''re made of and make them ept us. So are you all ready?"


    There were excited looks that appeared on their faces when they heard this.


    Both Kaito and ze seemed especially excited for some reason as from time to time, they peeked back at Rupert in the distance.


    It was clear that there was a certain someone that they wanted to impress.


    But it was all good as long as they were motivated.


    Since staying here would just mean being looked down on by everyone, then there was no need to wait any longer.


    The base camp had been made, so it was time for us to head into the break zone.


    As we did, we passed by the other Awakeners who were just standing around the camp preparing their own things. As we passed by, they looked at us with the same looks and they didn''t even try to hide it.


    It was clear that they were ming us for them being sent to a ce like this.


    But it wasn''t baseless since this was the truth.


    The others looked at me with worried looks, but I just ignored them all as I said, "This is to be expected, we just have to prove them wrong."


    The worried looks disappeared from their faces and were reced with determined looks.


    After passing through the gate to the break zone, the surroundingspletely changed.


    Just by taking a few steps into the break zone, there were no more sounds around us other than the natural sounds of nature. All of the hustle and bustle that came with humanity just faded away once we were here.


    This was no longer the safe zone that had been created by humanity, but the dangerous break zone.


    But even though it was the dangerous break zone, we weren''t nervous at all.


    This was something that we were already familiar with, so we casually made our way forward.


    There really wasn''t a goal since our mission this time was just to ughter the monster that lived in this break zone. It was just a normal material collecting mission that was beneath the first dungeon raid team, but here they were.


    So for now, we just wandered around until we found some monsters.


    But since this was a break zone, it didn''t take long for us to find some.


    ire raised her hand to stop everyone before pointing in a certain direction.


    All of us stopped before moving forward slowly and more importantly, as quiet as we could.


    After moving a few steps, we saw what she was pointing at.


    It was a group of monsters that was just hanging out under a tree.


    As we came closer, we saw the appearance of these monsters.


    A dog head, that was the thing that stood out first. But when one looked at it closely, they would see that it wasn''t a dog''s head, but rather a cross between a dog and a lizard.


    There were scales, but also fur that covered that face.


    These creatures stood between two to three feet tall and had a variety of weapons in their hands.


    Kobolds.


    It was a pack of kobolds.


    These were the monsters that inhabited this break zone.


    While they didn''t seem that strong, the most terrifying thing about the kobolds was their ability to work together. They had a strong understanding that they could attack together even without words, which made it hard to deal with if one was alone.


    But for our group, it was easy to take down these kobolds.


    Not to mention, they weren''t aware that we were watching them at all.


    So they wouldn''t be able to guard against our ambush.


    Since it was just a group of kobolds, it didn''t seem like something that we needed to make that big of a fuss for.


    Rather, the bigger problem was deciding who would be the ones to take it down.


    Inspired by what I had said earlier, everyone wanted the chance to show off.


    I was surprised to see that even Bing Xin was joining in.


    In the end, we had no choice but to decide with the time honoured tradition.


    "Rock, paper, scissors."


    "Alright!"


    I was once again surprised since it was Bing Xin who won and gave this cheer.


    But then she quickly covered her mouth.


    It wasn''t that she was embarrassed to shout out like this, but rather it might have been a bit too loud that even the kobold could have heard her.


    Luckily, it didn''t seem like the kobold heard anything.


    During this entire time, the kobold had been standing under the tree grunting about something.


    With how they were standing there, it was like a group of co-workers who were on their coffee break shooting the breeze. It didn''t seem like they were terrifying monsters at all.


    However, they didn''t stand a chance against Bing Xin.


    After all, kobolds were only D Rank monsters in the first ce.


    It was easy for a B Ranker like Bing Xin to take them down.


    With a single flick of her hand, all of the kobolds were encased in ice.

 Chapter 293: Exploring the break zone (2)

    The moment Bing Xin froze the kobolds, the temperature around us dropped.


    It was so cold that we could even see our breaths in the air.


    That was how powerful the ice that Bing Xin used was, it was even able to affect the area around her like it was nothing.


    I was already aware of this, but the others couldn''t help revealing shocked looks when they saw Bing Xin''s powers.


    Though they knew that she was a B Ranker, they didn''t know just how powerful her ice abilities were other than from the rumours that they heard about.


    Now that they had seen it in person, they couldn''t help admitting that all the rumours were true. Bing Xin''s ice powers were indeed terrifying and worthy of being described as such.


    There was no doubt that she would be an A Ranker in the future.


    There was even a possibility that she would be a S Ranker.


    The ones that were the most affected were Kaito and ze.


    As the two of them stood there, ze couldn''t help asking, "Can you melt that ice?"


    Kaito looked at him in silence for a moment before saying, "Honestly, no. What about you?"


    ze shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "If you can''t, do you think I can?"


    The two of them just looked at each other with bitter smiles on their faces.


    This one move from Bing Xin had more than cemented her power in their hearts.


    After she was done with them, she turned around and asked, "What do we do about the materials? They''repletely frozen now¡­"


    Hearing her say this, everyone couldn''t help revealing faint smiles.


    I also couldn''t help feeling that this was a very normal thing for Bing Xin to say.


    Though others thought of her as a tough and cold person, I knew what the real her was like.


    I turned to Su Chen as if I was asking for his opinion.


    Su Chen looked at the kobolds that were frozen and then asked Bing Xin, "They''re dead, right? They''re not just frozen alive, right?"


    Bing Xin quickly gave a nod in response to this.


    Su Chen nodded back before turning to me to say, "It''s not a problem. We can just leave them here to thaw and bring them backter. I have a good idea of how long it''ll take from my time working with you, young miss."


    Bing Xin looked at Su Chen with a grateful look before saying, "There''s no need to call me that anymore, you can just call me by my name."


    Su Chen was surprised to hear this, but he gave a happy nod in response.


    Since that had been solved, there was no reason for us to stay here any longer.


    What we were after was much bigger than this, so we were far from done yet.


    These kobolds were the weakest monsters in this break zone, so they wouldn''t allow us to prove anything.


    What we wanted were the higher ranked monsters that reigned over this break zone, those were the ones that would give us the best materials to bring back.


    So after putting the koboldcicles away in a ce where no monsters would be attracted by them, we headed off looking for more monsters to take down.


    Since this was a break zone where monsters wandered around, it didn''t take long before we were able to find another group of kobolds. But this time, we didn''t attack them and instead ignored them.


    There was only so much that we could carry back, so we wanted to find stronger prey instead of loading up on those kobolds.


    But it didn''t seem like the stronger monsters were wandering around.


    After walking around for half an hour, we still weren''t able to find a single higher ranked monster.


    We were able to find several different kobold groups doing their own things, but not a single higher ranked monster.


    We could have continued walking around, but this really wasn''t the way to do it.


    If we kept trying to find the higher ranked monsters like this, who knew when we would find them.


    Just relying on luck wasn''t the way to go.


    The kobold group in front of us was walking around, as if they were on patrol.


    Since they were on patrol, that meant that they would eventually head back once they finished patrolling the area that they were responsible for.


    If that was the case¡­


    While the others in my team were still wondering what to do, my eyes followed the kobold patrol and I said, "Let''s follow them."


    They were all caught off guard by these sudden words, but I had already started following the kobold patrol.


    After looking at each other for a bit, they started following me to pursue the kobold patrol.


    Since they were patrolling, it wasn''t as if they were moving that fast.


    It took no effort at all for the rest of the group to catch up to me and with Long Shui Ling''s illusions, we easily hid ourselves from the kobolds. Though even without it, it would have been easy to hide from the kobolds in the first ce since they weren''t that perceptive to begin with.


    While they were patrolling, the kobolds seemed to be talking to each other even if they weren''t using words.


    It seemed that they were just using grunts and other noises to talk, but they looked quite simr to those that were just bored with their jobs.


    The patrol continued on for another half an hour before they finally started heading back.


    On the way, they ran into several different groups of kobolds that they talked to.


    With each group that they met, they always checked the traps that the groups were in charge of.


    It seemed that there were many areas of traps set up in this forest, but what they were using these traps for¡­it was unknown.


    Once they finished their patrol, they went back to this area that seemed to be a camp for the monsters.

 Chapter 294: Exploring the break zone (3)

    When these kobolds reached the camp, they walked in a very strange manner.


    But through the strange way that they approached the camp, we were able to notice something about this camp.


    If we didn''t see the kobolds entering the camp like this, we wouldn''t have seen it, but there were traps that were scattered all around the camp. The reason why they walked in that strange manner was because they were avoiding the traps that had been set.


    This was the safe path to the camp.


    But because of this, we weren''t able to see what was inside the camp.


    The only thing that we could tell about this camp was the aura that came from it.


    This was not the aura of a normal monster.


    Whatever was in that camp was definitely powerful, which meant that this was the prey that we were looking for.


    The only problem was how to attack it.


    This powerful monster was hiding in a well defended camp that had traps surrounding it, there was no way that we would be able to approach without being discovered.


    After all, there was only a single path into the camp.


    If we tried to sneak in with Long Shui Ling''s illusion, there was no guarantee that a group wouldn''te out of the camp. At the same time, even if we reached the walls, we didn''t know if there were more traps that were ced along the walls of the camp.


    So we really couldn''t charge in without getting more information.


    After talking for a bit, we decided to watch over the camp to see if there was anything that we could use for our attack.


    We settled in around the camp and carefully observed it.


    And half an hourter, we found a way to attack.


    "Are you sure that there''s no other way out of the camp?" I asked ire who had the sharpest eyes.


    She had been posted on a hill that looked right into the camp, so she had been able to see theyout of the camp.


    ire gave a nod and said, "There''s only a single entrance, which means that there''s also only a single exit. As far as I could tell, they only had simple structures in the camp, so it was impossible for them to have anything like a secret exit."


    I looked at the camp with narrowed eyes.


    This was a camp that waspletely made of wood and fur from animals.


    Monsters might try to build a society, but there was only so much that they could do with their limited intelligence and resources. This was nothing more than a primitive camp that only had traps as defenses.


    But since those traps created only a single path in and out of the camp, that meant¡­that it was also something that trapped them in this camp.


    Since they were surrounded by a wood wall¡­it was perfect for us to use one thing.


    This was the one trick that we had been using the entire time, but this time we had twice the firepower which made it even more effective.


    I turned to look at two matches that our team had and they looked back at me with a strange look.


    It wasn''t that they didn''t understand what role they had, it was just that the way that I looked at them made them feel ufortable.


    I walked up to the two matches and patted them on the back before saying, "Can you take care of this?"


    ze and Kaito nodded in response before saying in an enthusiastic voice, "Just leave it to us."


    With that, the n was set.


    The only problem was that we might burn all of the materials that we need to collect¡­


    But Su Chen solved that problem for me.


    "We can''t carry most of the kobolds back with us in the first ce, so it doesn''t matter if they burn away. The stronger the monster, the more resistant they are, so it shouldn''t be a problem for that higher rank monster to survive these mes."


    I had been thinking too much about taking all of the kobolds back.


    I shouldn''t have been blinded by trying to earn as much as possible, I should have just focused on the big prize. After all, it was the big prize that would earn us the most prestige with the rest of the group and that was the most important thing.


    So I stopped hesitating and gave a nod to ze and Kaito.


    The two of them went separate ways as they headed off towards the camp.


    Kaito took a high position that would allow him to see everything while ze walked right up in front of the camp with Long Shui Ling''s illusion on him.


    Everyone else surrounded the camp just in case there were any monsters that tried to break through the mes and seeded, though it was more of a precaution than it was a necessity.


    The main force stood in the forest not far from where ze was and by that, it was Bing Xin.


    Once everyone was in position, Kaito gathered several balls of dark mes around him before suddenly throwing them down at the camp.


    These balls of dark mes didn''t fall fast and they didn''t fall into the camp.


    They were aimed with purpose, falling on the walls that were around the camp.


    They fell at intervals on the wall so that they were evenly spread out and caused the walls to ignite around the camp. There wasn''t a single gap for the monsters to escape from.


    Once the walls were ignited, it didn''t take long for the mes to spread through the camp since the structures were made of wood and fur.


    The kobolds immediately rushed to the exit in a crowd and there were many that were trampled or trapped in the camp with the mes.


    There were only a few that made it out of the camp at first and they followed the path through the traps.


    But before they could leave, there was a wall of mes that appeared that stopped them.

 Chapter 295: Exploring the break zone (4)

    The kobolds that came out were already covered in burns since they had to run in between the ming gates.


    When they saw the wall of mes appear in front of them, they couldn''t help hesitating since they had been traumatized by mes at this point.


    However, they also recognized that there was nothing that they could do in this situation.


    Other than facing this me wall in front of them, they could face the burning camp and horde of other kobolds behind them or face the traps that were all around them.


    Compared to these other choices, the me wall at least gave them a chance to survive.


    If they push themselves, they should be able to run through this me wall without getting too injured.


    So the kobolds only hesitated for a bit before suddenly charging at the me wall.


    At this point, there were more kobolds that had pushed through the gates and were gathering with the ones that came out first.


    It was a decent sized group that pushed up to the me wall.


    It was just too bad that many of them didn''t get a chance to reach that me wall in the end.


    It was an arrow at first that hit one of the kobold''s right in the neck.


    That kobold that was hit wasn''t able to resist at all as it was picked up off the ground and thrown into one of the trap pits to the side.


    Then it was another kobold that was cut in half by a de of wind, with the upper half falling onto the kobold that was behind this one.


    There were more and more attacks that rained down on the kobold that had no cover at all.


    That was the problem with having these traps.


    They had to keep the area open so that the traps didn''t stand out, so there was no cover for them.


    These traps had be traps that kept them in this ce.


    These traps became traps that trapped them in this ce.


    This was not what they were designed for, but this was what they were being used for.


    Since they marched on the path and had no cover, they were easy pickings for those that were hiding in the forest.


    In no time at all, the kobold group lost 4/5ths of their numbers. There were only a few kobolds that were able to reach the me wall in the end.


    But they were not looking good.


    Still, they knew that this was the only way that they would be able to escape this ce, so they had no choice but to jump through the me wall.


    Bracing themselves, the kobolds jumped in a group to minimize the area that the mes could make contact with. But right before they could jump, there was a me sword that suddenly came out of the me wall.


    This me sword wasn''t that strong, but it was more than enough to pierce through the skin of the kobolds.


    This me swordpletely stopped the ones that wereing at the wall, pushing them back from it.


    It killed one of the kobolds, but the rest of them were still fine.


    The kobolds looked at the me wall with cautious looks when theynded, but they didn''t have time to do anything as more me swords came out.


    These me swords were the same as the me sword that killed the first kobold.


    The kobolds knew that they couldn''t move forward under this wave of me swords, so they raised their weapons to block it.


    But their weapons couldn''t do a single thing to these me swords that just melted all of their weapons before cutting into them.


    Under this wave of me swords, the kobolds were all killed.


    But in this situation, there were always more kobolds that filled the space of the ones that died.


    The ones that died were pushed out of the way by the kobolds that came from behind, being pushed into the traps on the side.


    However, that didn''t mean that they were safe yet as more me swords came through the me wall.


    They werepletely trapped in this space, there was no escape for them at all.


    It really seemed like the kobolds would be grinded down in this meat grinder in front of the me wall at this rate.


    But before that could happen¡­


    "Boom!"


    There was a loud sound that came from the gates to the camp.


    There was a mixture of mes and wood that flew out from the gate as something suddenly shattered the gate from inside.


    Right after the gate was shattered, this figure that wasrger than the other kobolds came out to reveal itself.


    It was just like the other kobolds, but it was much bigger than them.


    This was the special higher ranked kobold.


    This was a Kobold General.


    It was holding arge warhammer in its hands which it had used to smash the gate just now.


    After smashing the gate open, the Kobold General''s attention immediately fell onto the wall of mes that was blocking their path to freedom.


    Without a single care for the kobolds that were in its way, the Kobold General started pushing right for the wall of mes. The ones that couldn''t dodge in time because they were injured were squashed under the foot of this Kobold General that was more than twice their size.


    The Kobold General rushed right at the me wall and brought its warhammer down as if it wanted to smash the me wall away.


    But before it could, the me wall suddenly disappeared without a trace.


    The Kobold General couldn''t help freezing in shock and confusion when it saw the me wall disappear like this.


    However, before any of the kobolds could react, there was a chill that came over them.


    When they finally reacted, they found that all of them had been encased in ayer of ice.


    Even the Kobold General was frozen.

 Chapter 296: Bringing back the loot

    The cleanup was easy as the kobolds werepletely trapped between the me wall and the burning camp.


    There wasn''t another high rank monster that came out, so all of the kobolds that were left were easy pickings for ire and Hayate with their long range attacks.


    The camp continued to burn for a while until there was nothing left to burn.


    The wall around it, the buildings in the camp, and most importantly the kobolds that had been in the camp had all been burnt down¡­


    There wasn''t a single thing left of the camp once the mes had finished their rampage.


    The only things that were left were thecorpses of the kobolds that had died outside of the camp.


    Of course, that included the frozen Kobold General that stood there like an ice sculpture.


    Once it was confirmed that all of the monsters were killed, the porters went forward.


    ze''s me wall came down and they went forward to survey which ones we would be able to bring back with us.


    Though many of them were burnt because of the tactic that we used, it was still not a problem since these were minor burns¡­Well, that was just the ones from escaping the camp, there was no ignoring therge gaping wounds that were on their chests from the me swords.


    Since these were the only ones that survived the battle, they would do what they could with these corpses.


    It took them no time at all to cut out the parts that couldn''t be used and pack up the parts that could.


    As for the Kobold General, it was easier to just carry it back while it was frozen like this since it would deter other monsters and beasts from attacking them to steal it.


    Packing everything up, they went to pick up the kobolds that they had frozen before and brought everything back to camp with them.


    When they arrived, they naturally attracted everyone''s attention with therge Kobold General that they brought back.


    Seeing thisrge Kobold General, the people in the camp couldn''t help looking at us with strange and surprised looks.


    After all, they never expected us toe back with such a prize.


    Since we were at camp, there was no reason for the porters to keep hauling the Kobold General corpse.


    They put it down and Su Chen went to find the butchers that had been brought in to take care of this Kobold General.


    After a while, there were a few Awakeners that came over to take a look at this Kobold General corpse.


    The first dungeon raid team was made up of various levels of Awakeners.


    There were those at the top that were in the A and B Rank, but there were also rookies to the team who were in the C Rank.


    This Kobold General was a C Rank Monster that was close to B Rank, so it would be hard for them to fight this Kobold General themselves. Though the main reason why the Kobold General was considered close to B Rank was because of all the kobolds that it couldmand.


    If it wasn''t for that, they would be able to take down the Kobold General themselves.


    Still, for us to bring back a Kobold General just an hour after heading in, this really was a feat that was worthy of praise.


    The way that they looked at us started to change as some of the C Rankers even wanted to ask us how we had taken down this Kobold General.


    But before they could do that, there was someone that suddenly appeared and said, "These rookies just used a bunch of tricks to take down the Kobold General. They are nothing more than frauds."


    When everyone heard this, they couldn''t help revealing surprised and confused looks.


    However, it was one of the members of the first dungeon raid team that had made this im. So the Awakeners had no choice but to believe this person over Lin Fan''s group.


    They had to stick together as veterans of the first dungeon raid team.


    But since this person was calling my team out, naturally I had to step up as the leader of this team.


    I walked up to this person and asked in a cold voice, "May I ask what you mean by that?"


    That person looked at me and said, "If it wasn''t for your luck of finding the kobold encampment, would you have been able to take down this Kobold General?"


    I gave a cold snort before saying, "Luck? We found it by figuring out the patterns of the kobold patrols and then following them to their camp. Can you really call that luck?"


    That person justpletely ignored me as he said, "Not to mention, if it wasn''t for the trick that you used, you wouldn''t have been able to take down those kobolds. You just trapped them in the camp and used the mes to burn them out instead of fighting them head on. If you had fought those kobolds head on, you wouldn''t have survived."


    When he said this, the response that he received wasn''t as good as he thought.


    Instead of looking at us with looks of me, there were looks of praise that were thrown in our direction.


    It was as if they thought that our n was quite smart, but they just couldn''t say it out loud.


    Seeing this, that person that was using us felt that this wasn''t good for him, so he said, "Not only that, you burned all of the precious materials that we should have collected. Instead ofing back and calling for help, you chose to follow your pride and take care of it all on your own when you could have gotten everyone else involved."


    At this, the expressions on the faces of the others changed.


    It was one thing to take down a camp, but burning down the loot that they were supposed to collect¡­that was different.

 Chapter 297: That’s enough

    They were here on a mission and if there was loot that was wasted, this was not something that could ept that easily.


    If there was loot that they could have gotten, but was burnt because of one person''s pride, then they had to address this.


    So everyone stared at Lin Fan''s group and waited for an exnation.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows.


    I could also see the way that the others were looking at us, so I could guess what they were thinking.


    In the end, it seemed like this person had found a straw to grasp at and hung on firmly.


    After seeing everyone''s reaction, that person said, "I saw it all. They were scouting out the camp and had plenty of time to call for backup, yet they didn''t do that. They just went ahead with their destructive burning the camp n instead ofing to get help."


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It wasn''t because of what he said, but because of the fact that he had revealed.


    He had been following and watching over us the entire time¡­


    I couldn''t help looking at Rupert who was still in the camp, but it seemed like he didn''t know anything about it based on the look on his face.


    So why did this person follow us?


    I couldn''t recognize this person''s face at all, so I had no idea who this person was.


    Since I didn''t recognize this person, I had no idea if there was a grudge between us or not.


    If there was a grudge, then there was a reason why he would be following us.


    But if there wasn''t a grudge, just why was he doing all of this?


    Slowly, the Awakeners of the first dungeon raid team started to stir.


    They moved forward as if they were going to surround us, but they stopped before they came too close.


    However, with the way that they were standing, they were still close enough that we wouldn''t be able to leave if we wanted to.


    It seemed that they really wanted an answer to this question.


    I calmly looked at them and said, "We found a kobold camp and we took care of it. Is there anything else that needs to be said?"


    When they heard this, the Awakeners couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    The person who used us revealed a wide smile when he heard this and said, "Yes, but you could havee back to report it and requested backup. But instead, you burned all of the kobolds and ruined all of the materials that could have been gathered. This is a waste of resources."


    I looked right at him and said, "Then can you guarantee how many kobolds were in the camp? We had no idea what the enemy we were facing was like, so we chose to take quick action before they left."


    "They were in a camp, how could they have left?" That person argued back.


    "Can you guarantee that?" I said with a cold look on my face.


    This time, they didn''t argue back because they couldn''t argue back.


    No one could guarantee what the monsters would do in situations like this, so it was perfectly normal to do something like this.


    But they had already been stirred up by that person, so it wasn''t as if they could back down now.


    One of the Awakeners was about to step forward to say something.


    But before they could, Rupert suddenly gave a cough and said, "Are you done yet? Have you not had enough?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear him suddenly speaking up like this.


    Rupert narrowed his eyes to look at the person who used us and said, "They did what they should have done in that situation. They were without any information on the camp and there was no guarantee that the monsters would stay, so they were within their rights to do this."


    Rupert turned to the other Awakeners and said, "Don''t forget where we are right now. This isn''t the dungeon, this is the break zone."


    When they heard this, the Awakeners couldn''t help revealing awkward looks.


    They had their greed stirred by that person and had forgotten themselves.


    Rupert was right, this was the break zone and not the dungeon.


    In the dungeon, they would work together, so anyone that didn''t report these matters was in the wrong.


    But in the break zone,they were supposed to work in separate groups.


    So it was well within Lin Fan''s group''s right to do something like this.


    In fact, it wouldn''t even be wrong if they didn''t bring anything back since this was just how it was sometimes.


    They had gone too far in this matter and it was their fault¡­


    But they couldn''t just apologize to the new member of the team, especially one that everyone was angry with for causing them toe to this break zone.


    So the ones that came forward to surround Lin Fan''s group just gave snorts before turning around to leave.


    The person who instigated it was left standing there alone to face Lin Fan''s group.


    He had a look of shock and dismay on his face, but he didn''t dare push the matter and turned to leave.


    But before he could, he suddenly heard a low voiceing from behind him.


    "That''s enough. Don''t take this too far or else."


    Chapter Enjoy:


    He felt a chill run down his spine, but he didn''t turn back as he walked off.


    Rupert watched him walk away before giving a sigh.


    When he turned back to us, he said, "Sorry about that. It seems like they''ve taken rookie hazing a bit too far. I''m sure that they''ll calm down now."


    I gave a nod, but there was doubt in my eyes as I looked in the direction that person headed off in.


    Rupert could see this, so he gave another sigh and said, "He has his own circumstances, I hope you''ll forgive him."


    I looked at Rupert for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    Though I remembered what that person looked like just in case.


    It didn''t seem like he would give up¡­


    ¡­


    In a corner of the camp, the person that had used Lin Fan''s group was standing there with a locket in his hand.


    In that locket¡­was a picture of Bing Xin.


    He leaned in over that locket and stroked it gently as he said, "Soon, we''ll be together soon."


    His eyes quickly turned cold as he said, "I''ll take care of the ones that are getting in our way."

 Chapter 298: A date…or more than one

    After the incident at the break zone, we were given time off again.


    This time, it was much longer than usual.


    Ruper had said that it was for our hard work, but the way that he looked at the others¡­it was clear that there would be some things happening during this time.


    Regardless, it wasn''t up to us to say anything.


    All we could do was ept this and take this vacation.


    However, that vacation was anything but peaceful for me.


    That was because I received three different invitations.


    No, it was four by the time that I came back.


    The opportunity was too good that I couldn''t turn them down, but it really would be hard for me.


    If anyone were to find out about all of this, they would have thought that I was a scumbag since I had set up four different dates with four different girls.


    At first, it was just the three.


    It was Long Shui Ling, Bing Xin, and surprisingly ire who asked me out.


    All three of them luckily asked me out separately and they all asked for different dates, so I could fit them all in and agree to go with all of them.


    Then after arranging all three of them, I was contacted by someone that I hadn''t had contact with in a long time.


    It was the police detective, the one that wanted to be my older sister, Ling Yue.


    Since she came to see mest time, I hadn''t had any contact with her.


    It was as if she had suddenly disappeared, but since I had been busy with everything that came up, I didn''t even think about it. I had even almostpletely forgotten about her until she suddenly texted me asking to meet up.


    I was caught off guard, but I still hadn''t given up on getting this police detective as well.


    Having someone in the police force was definitely something that would be very useful in the future.


    So I also agreed to meet with Ling Yue.


    It was also a good thing that she had requested a different date, so I was able to fit her in.


    Chapter Find:


    As I sat there on my couch after taking a shower, I looked at my phone at the text conversations that I had with all four girls.


    It really was a shock to me who had been all along just a few months ago.


    But now, I had four girls that were texting me and asking me for dates¡­


    Was this a good thing or a bad thing?


    I really couldn''t tell, but it was just how my life was now.


    As I sat there, Lilith suddenly jumped up onto my leg and asked, "What are you thinking?"


    I had been lost in thought while staring at my phone, so I was surprised when I heard Lilith''s voice. I looked down at her on my knee, but I didn''t answer and just gave a sigh.


    Seeing this, she said, "You''re so young and you''re sighing like this, I can''t imagine what you''ll be when you''re older."


    She didn''t wait for me to answer as she came forward to look at my phone.


    Then she turned back to look at me with a smile as she said, "Young man, you''re having a date with four different girls, how is this a bad thing?"


    I couldn''t help being surprised as if she had read my mind, but then I said, "How is this not a bad thing? I''m a dick who is four timing four different women. I''m pretty sure that you can call someone like that a scumbag, right?"


    Lilith just looked at me with a smile on her face as she said, "For a demon king of lust, not to mention four women, even a hundred women wouldn''t be considered much. Young man, why are you so afraid of epting this?"


    I shook my head with a bitter smile before saying, "You have to remember that I was just a normal person before this happened and that was less than three months ago. Is this something that can be epted that easily?"


    The smile on Lilith''s face slowly disappeared and it became a serious look as she said, "But you have no choice, do you? Young man, you should know what bing the demon king means and since you are one, it isn''t as if you can just back down now. You might as well just ept it and do what you can."


    I gave a bitterugh as I said, "Lilith was an ancient demon that corrupted people, right? Are you telling me that you''re the same demon and I''m the one being corrupted now?"


    Lilith once again revealed a smile before saying, "Do you feel yourself being corrupted? Or do you feel yourself being liberated? This is a question that only you can answer and you know the answer to it in your heart."


    I didn''t say anything when I heard this since there really wasn''t anything that I could say in response to this.


    There was a long silence that followed this.


    Finally, I said with a sigh, "I don''t need you to cheer me up, I''ve already epted this."


    Then I looked at her with narrowed eyes and said, "What do you want? I''m sure that you didn''te here just for nothing."


    Lilith said with the same smile, "I''m the Aspect of Lust and you''re the Demon King of Lust, my champion. Is it that strange that I woulde and cheer you up?"


    I gave a bitterugh without answering.


    Seeing this, Lilith shook her head with that same smile before saying, "Alright, I do have something to share with you. Since you''ve been working so hard to level up and since you''ve brought the power of the other demon king back, I''ve regained some of my powers. I wanted to show you what new power I''ve obtained."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this before quickly asking, "What kind of evil tricks did you gain this time?"


    Lilith just looked at me with the same smile as she showed me her new ability.

 Chapter 299: First date (1)

    The first one that I had a date with was Long Shui Ling.


    She was the most anxious one and asked to see me the second day after our vacation began.


    When the day came, I was surprised to find a limo waiting outside of me.


    The one driving this limo was naturally Sebastien who had looked down on me before.


    But since Long Shui Ling was here, he didn''t dare do anything.


    After getting in the car, we headed off without any dy.


    I had no idea where we were going since Long Shui Ling had only asked me out on a date without giving me any more information.


    Now that we were on the way, I couldn''t help asking, "Where are we going?"


    "The zoo." Long Shui Ling immediately replied with a wide smile.


    What he would never know was how much effort Long Shui Ling had put into nning this date.


    She had thought of many different ces and many different scenarios, but in the end, it was the zoo that she chose.


    That was because she felt that this suited their personalities their best out of all the options.


    As for money, she never even considered it.


    As the young miss of the world''s richest family, she never needed to worry about things like money. Even if she wanted to rent out the entire zoo, it wouldn''t be a problem for her.


    It would just be a simple matter of snapping her fingers and someone would take care of it.


    But she wouldn''t do something like that.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t like using her family''s powers like this and she didn''t like being treated special. That was just how she had been raised by her family and there was no changing that.


    But at the same time, there was another reason why she didn''t want to do this.


    Mood.


    She wanted all the others there to give it the proper mood of a date.


    If it was just the two of them wandering around an empty zoo, it really wouldn''t have been interesting.


    When we arrived, I couldn''t help being surprised by Long Shui Ling sending off Sebastien.


    Naturally he wanted to follow us around to keep Long Shui Ling safe from all the people, but Long Shui Ling wouldn''t have anything like that. This was a precious date and she wouldn''t let anything ruin it.


    So Sebastien was sent off by Long Shui Ling.


    But we could feel that there were guards all around us.


    As Awakeners, our senses were sensitive enough to hear them.


    Still, we didn''t do anything since we knew that it would be more trouble than it was worth.


    Since that was the case, we should just let them follow at a distance.


    After entering the zoo, I looked around to see that there were quite a few people here.


    It seemed that no matter the day or time, arge zoo with an amusement park attached would be a popr ce. Even though it was a weekday and kids should be in school, he saw them running around with their parents.


    It seemed that it wasn''t just adults who liked ying hooky.


    As we stood there by the entrance, while I was looking around, Long Shui Ling reached into her bag to pull out a notebook and a map. While pulling these things out, there was a smug look that appeared on Long Shui Ling''s face.


    It was as if she was saying that she would show me once and for all¡­


    But it didn''t go her way.


    After taking out the map and notebook, Long Shui Ling opened it to find¡­


    They were both smudged.


    She didn''t understand how they could have been smudged like this, she had just prepared these thingsst night. They should have been brand new other than her writing in the notebook.


    What she wrote in the notebook was the n for this date.


    She had put all of the things that she wanted to do on it and had made marks on the map.


    But now¡­it was just too smudged for her to see.


    When she looked in her bag, Long Shui Ling found that it was because her water had spilled which was why this had happened.


    She quickly cleaned out her bag and made sure that it wasn''t damaged, but the look of disappointment on her face was clear.


    It was clear that she was disappointed by how this turned out, especially since she had put in all this effort.


    But when I saw her like this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a faint smile on my face.


    All of this reminded me of Long Shui Ling when I first met her.


    She had been chased by the monsters in the dungeon and she fell in front of me, which was why I had saved her in the first ce.


    It had been a while since I had seen this clumsy side of her and she had been getting stronger with her illusion powers.


    But now that I saw her mess up like this, I knew that she was still the same girl as before.


    The one that was a clumsy kind of cute.


    I couldn''t help feeling better since I had been afraid that my suggestions would have changed her.


    Seeing me shake my head like this, Long Shui Ling panicked and started waving her hand to say, "This, that, I¡­"


    She wasn''t able to form coherent sentences as she did her best to try and exin what happened.


    But she stopped in the end when I took her hand and said, "There''s no need for that."


    Long Shui Ling was caught off guard when she heard this and she revealed a confused look.


    I just said with a smile, "We''re here to have fun, right? Then there''s no need to think that much about how we''re supposed to have fun. We should just walk around and enjoy ourselves instead of following a strict n."


    Long Shui Ling was surprised to hear this, but she slowly gave a nod of agreement.


    I shook my head again before pulling her by the hand that I had taken and said, "Come on then, let''s go have some fun."

 Chapter 300: First date (2)

    After what I said, Long Shui Ling slowly started to rx and have fun.


    She had been too worked up trying to make everything perfect that she had forgotten the reason why we had evene here.


    It was to have fun and enjoy ourselves.


    That was the point of the date.


    So as time passed, she slowly got more into it and soon she had a wide smile on her face.


    It would have been a lie to say that I wasn''t enjoying it, but I didn''tpletely let my guard down.


    After all, there was a reason why I had agreed to this date in the first ce and I was just waiting for my opportunity.


    As we walked around, we were in in view.


    This was not a ce where I could do what I wanted with Long Shui Ling and by that, I meant putting my suggestions in her. If someone were to hear me as I put my suggestions in her, they would naturally be suspicious.


    Just one person being suspicious would be enough to rouse those guards that were still following us.


    Even though they didn''te near us, we could sense them still following us.


    They were in a circle around us, so they would be able to keep anything bad away and they would be able to help Long Shui Ling if anything happened.


    I didn''t doubt that they would do something bad to me if I did anything bad to Long Shui Ling.


    With them around, it was impossible for me to do anything.


    So for now, we just walked around until my eyes caught something.


    "Do you want to go and see that show?"


    Long Shui Ling had been admiring the elephants in front of us when I suddenly asked this.


    When she heard me, she immediately turned around and looked in the direction that I was looking in. As she did, she saw that poster that I was referring to.


    It was a poster for a penguin performance show.


    She immediately gave a nod and happily took my arm as we headed off.


    I also revealed a smile as we went along, but there was a hidden meaning in this smile.


    When we arrived at the show, it was already very crowded here.


    This was one of the main attractions of this zoo, so it was a ce that many people gathered in.


    It was a ce that the guards wouldn''t have an easy time following us in.


    So after we entered, we sensed that the guards had split off into two groups.


    There were still a few guards that followed us into the hall, but the rest of them surrounded the hall.


    With this, the first part of my n worked.


    Now the second part¡­


    As we took our seats, we were surrounded by people, but not a single one of them cared about us.


    They werepletely focused on the penguins doing tricks on the stage in front of us.


    It was very noisy as people cheered for the penguins.


    This was what I had been counting on.


    This might seem like the worst ce to talk in private, but this was what actually made it the best ce.


    Everyone was focused on the show, so they wouldn''t pay attention to what we were doing.


    Not to mention with how loud it was, unless they were right up in our face, it was impossible for them to hear what we were saying.


    So it actually created a perfect barrier against other people and the guards who had to sit a distance away from us.


    Long Shui Ling had been enjoying the show, but I suddenly moved in towards her.


    Long Shui Ling had been caught off guard when she saw this, but then she slowly closed her eyes and raised her lips, as if she was waiting for something.


    She hadpletely misunderstood, but that was fine for me.


    I did lean in closer, but I didn''t kiss her like she had expected.


    I went in beside her ear and whispered something to her.


    After a few seconds, Long Shui Ling slowly opened her eyes and she revealed a dazed look.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help revealing a sigh of relief.


    I had been worried that it wouldn''t work even though my suggestions had worked before.


    There was the whole matter of Lilith sensing the demon king of greed at the Long Family manor which I had been worried about. I had thought that this would mean that if I were to use stronger suggestions, she would be resistant to them.


    But it seemed like this wasn''t the case.


    I really couldn''t help wondering just what Lilith had sensed at the Long Family manor, but this wasn''t the time.


    There was only a limited time that I would be able to talk to Long Shui Ling alone like this, so I didn''t have time to dy.


    I whispered a few more things by her ear before pulling away again.


    To the people beside us, it seemed like we were just kissing, so they didn''t care about us.


    After a minute, Long Shui Ling''s eyes slowly cleared and she came back to her senses.


    She looked up at me and then there was a blush that came over her face.


    That wasn''t strange since mystmand was to make her think that we did kiss even if we hadn''t.


    She just lowered her head and acted shyly for the rest of the show.


    When the show was over, we walked back out and headed back to our date.


    But if one looked closely, there was something different about Long Shui Ling.


    Before this, she had been walking beside me, but now¡­she was walking two steps back.


    It was as if she was establishing herself in a lower position than me¡­


    That was the effect of my suggestions.


    While it would be gradual, I would make her more and more subservient until she was mine to fully control.

 Chapter 301: Second date (1)

    The second date that I had arranged was with ire.


    Unlike the first date, this couldn''t really be considered a date.


    After all, there was nothing between me and ire, so it wasn''t as if she could just invite me on a date.


    Instead, it was a trip to a special store for Awakeners.


    This was a store that waspletely filled with different items that Awakeners could use whether it was in the dungeon or the break zones.


    This was a store thatpletely satisfied all of the needs of Awakeners.


    Though there were also some wealthy people that also shopped there since the items for Awakeners definitely weren''t normal items.


    The excuse that she gave me for this date was to pick up items for our team to use in the future.


    Since I was the team leader, I couldn''t refuse this request that easily.


    But at the same time, I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to achieve what I wanted to achieve with ire.


    When I arrived at the store, I was early.


    I had made sure to arrive early just so I could prepare everything for what would happen today.


    However, when I arrived, I found that ire was already waiting there for me.


    How did I notice her?


    It was because she had attracted a crowd around her.


    She was a beautiful young girl with blonde hair in ponytails, fair white skin, and fine carved face, but it was different today. Normally, she had the look of a young girl, but today she had the look of a mature woman.


    She had dressed herself uppletely, which gave her a different feeling.


    Though her clothes didn''t show that much skin, they were form fitting enough to be stimting even without showing skin.


    They perfectly entuated her hourss figure, which had a fair sized chest, wide hips, and a thin belly.


    This gave one a very good sense of just what kind of figure she had and it really was dazzling.


    That was why there was a crowd that was gathered around her.


    It even seemed like there were several of them that had already tried to hit on her, but they werepletely rejected by her.


    Since I arrived, it wasn''t as if I could just ignore her.


    So I was about to go over to greet her.


    But before I could, ire also saw me and ran over to where I was standing.


    When the crowd saw this, they couldn''t help following her with their eyes. When the crowd saw that it was me that she was running to, all of them started to re at me.


    When she came over, I said, "It seems that you''re early too. Did you have to wait long?"


    ire just shook her head and said, "No, I just go here."


    My lips couldn''t help twitching when I heard this.


    If she really just got here, how could she exin thatrge crowd that had gathered around her?


    If she really just got here, would it make sense that all of these people had gathered here around her?


    She must have arrived early and had arrived quite early for such a crowd to gather.


    But since she didn''t want to admit it, I wasn''t going to expose her.


    So I just said with a smile, "Oh that''s good. I was worried that I had kept you waiting."


    ire just looked at me with a smile.


    The ones from the crowd that were close enough to hear what we were saying red at me even more, but I just ignored all of these res.


    Since that was dealt with, I turned to face the store and said, "Should we go in?"


    ire gave a nod before moving behind me.


    It was as if she was going to follow me instead of going in with me.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help raising a brow and asking, "What are you doing?"


    ire was surprised when she heard this and she looked down to realize what she had done.


    With an awkward look, she said, "I''m just used to following you because of our work in the dungeons that I instinctively moved behind you."


    I shook my head with a bitter smile when I heard this before saying, "Well we''re not in the dungeon now. If you walk behind me like this, it really will be hard for me to exin. So how about you juste forward and walk beside me?"


    ire gave a nod, but she didn''t move forward right away.


    She instead took a deep breath to calm herself before taking a step forward to stand beside me.


    As she stood there, she looked at me and I couldn''t help revealing an awkward smile since I didn''t know what she was doing.


    But ire revealed a smile as she looked at me like this.


    From the beginning, she had only ever been able to stare at his back¡­


    Now that she was beside him, she had to admit that this was a feeling that she liked.


    I didn''t understand what was happening, but that didn''t matter.


    So I chose to ignore it and said, "Then should we go in?"


    ire was still in a daze, but she eventually gave a nod.


    So the two of us headed into the store.


    Once we went through the doors of the store, the crowd that had been in a daze finally reacted.


    "Did you see the way that the two of them were acting?"


    "I did, I did. It''s clear that there''s some kind of strange rtionship between the two of them."


    "The way that she went behind him without even thinking¡­do you think that they have that kind of rtionship?"


    "Please don''t, I don''t even want to think about it. Such a beautiful girl and she''s being¡­"


    There were all kinds of whispers, but it seemed like the conclusion that they had drawn was the same¡­


    So the crowd followed them into the store.

 Chapter 302: Second date (2)

    Aftering into the store, we headed in a specific direction.


    This was my first time in this store of Awakeners, but since I came, I had already figured out what I wanted to get.


    I had no idea what ire wanted, but there were a few things that I did want. So I would take advantage of this chance to get them.


    ire seemingly just followed me as we went through the store.


    It didn''t seem like she knew what she wanted to get.


    When she acted this way, it made it very clear what she wanted, but there was a problem.


    Even if they tried to act like they weren''t looking at us, it was very clear that there was a group of people who were following us.


    From what I could see, it seemed to be the same group of people that had gathered around ire earlier.


    Were they still trying to get with her or was it something else?


    It had to be something else since I could see the way that they were looking at me.


    It wasn''t just them being angry at me, but rather it was as if they were trying to find something wrong with me that they could use.


    I didn''t know any of these people, so there shouldn''t be a reason for them to do anything like this.


    Just why were they following us like this?


    Could it be that they followed whoever had tried to trap me after the raid dungeon incident?


    Were they here to cause trouble for me or were they here for something else?


    For now, there was no need to think too much about it and I should focus on ire first.


    After walking around for a bit, I turned to her and asked, "What should we look at first?"


    They hade here to buy things for their group, or at least that was the excuse that ire had given him.


    Since that was the case, he wanted to see what kind of n she had to invite him here.


    ire had a surprised look on her face when she heard this before revealing an awkward look and saying, "I really don''t know. I didn''t think about what we would need, so I just thought that we could walk around and find something."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I heard this.


    I looked at her with narrowed eyes, as if I was trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.


    But the look on her face made it clear that she really didn''t have a n.


    She had actually been nning on just walking around without any clue of what they were supposed to buy.


    It seemed that her age was still something.


    She was younger than me, but I forgot that sometimes because of how well she followed orders.


    But in reality, she was just a teenager who didn''t think things through.


    Even asking me out like this was most likely an impulse that she suddenly had after everything that happened.


    I gave a sigh and said, "Haven''t you been looking for a new weapon? How about we go and find one for you?"


    ire revealed a surprised look when she heard this before giving a nod with a happy smile.


    She was happy because she never thought that he would remember something like this and even suggested they go shopping for a new weapon together.


    Seeing her act this way, I really couldn''t help giving a secret sigh.


    Who would have thought that such a simple girl would have caused me so much trouble recently.


    Because of how she kept shing with Long Shui Ling, she had caused me quite a bit of a headache before.


    But now she was being tamed so easily with just a few words¡­


    It really was a stark contrast.


    ire used bows, so we went to the ranged weapon department.


    This was a department that had all kinds of ranged weapons and as we walked through it, it would be a lie to say that my eyes didn''t wander. I couldn''t help being attracted by the guns that they had on disy.


    These were mana guns that used the user''s mana to shoot mana bullets.


    These were guns that could be used by any Awakener since all Awakeners had mana of some form. These guns were designed to absorb the passive mana of Awakeners and gather them in the form of bullets to shoot.


    So these were guns that most Awakeners would be able to use regardless of their rank.


    That was because they also epted mana from magic stones, so it didn''t matter how weak one was.


    But these were regted because of how easily they could be used and one couldn''t buy them that easily.


    Which was why I had never been able to buy them before.


    But they looked very cool and I thought that I would look cool holding one, so I had always wanted one.


    Still, it wasn''t the time for that now.


    I went over to the bow section with ire and waited on the side as she chose one that she liked.


    There really wasn''t much that I could add at this point since this was going to be her weapon. It was something that she would be using often, so it was something that she had to befortable with.


    The only way to make sure that she wasfortable with it was for her to test these bows out herself.


    After a while, she finally decided on two that she liked, but she could only buy one.


    It wasn''t that she couldn''t afford it, but rather the other would go to waste since she could only carry one of these bows with her at all times.


    Seeing that she was struggling to choose, I seized this opportunity and went forward.


    I went behind her and suddenly brought my arms up to reach around her.


    ire was shocked when she saw this, but in no time at all, my hands had taken her hands and were helping her hold the bow.

 Chapter 303: Second date (3)

    My arms were wrapped around her and my hands were holding her hands as we held the bow together.


    There was a blush that appeared on ire''s face along with that look of shock.


    It was as if she couldn''t believe what was happening right now.


    But I calmly said, "Alright, hold it like this and see if it''s good for you."


    However, ire was just in too much of a daze to hear me properly.


    When I held her like this, the people who had been following us suddenly reacted. Many of them revealed disappointed looks when they saw this which confused me, but I went along with it.


    Holding her like this, I turned ire around so that they would be able to see me holding her like this properly.


    I even said by her ear, "Alright, now just point it in that direction and pull on the bowstring to see how it feels."


    At this point, ire was like a mechanical puppet in my hands.


    I made her point the bow at the ones that were staring at us and then I had her pull the string back as if she was about to shoot them.


    I wanted to use this as a threat, but I didn''t expect the reactions that came from the watchers.


    It wasn''t looks of fear or looks of disappointment, these were looks of heartbreak that I just couldn''t understand at all.


    I had wanted to put pressure on them by having ire pull back this bowstring like this, but it seemed like something else had happened. I just didn''t understand what they were nning to do.


    I had thought that they were trying to get ire and me to fight to ruin the rtionship between our group, but that didn''t seem to be the case¡­


    After watching for a bit, those that had been watching turned and left with hurt looks on their faces.


    This just confused me even more¡­


    But at the very least, they were leaving us alone now.


    Once they left, I released ire''s hands and moved away before saying, "Alright, how do you feel about this one?"


    ire was still in a daze when she heard this, but there was a trace of disappointment that could be seen in her eyes.


    Seeing that she didn''t say anything, I said, "If it doesn''t seem right, how about we look at some oth¡­"


    "This one, I''ll take this one." She decisively cut me off.


    I was surprised by how firm the tone of her voice was when she said this.


    It was as if she would broker no argument on this matter.


    So I just gave a nod as I said, "Alright, if you like it, then you should get it."


    ire gave a nod before happily holding the bow in her hand, even though she hadn''t bought it yet.


    As she held it in her chest¡­it went right between her breasts, entuating them.


    Her figure definitely wasn''t small, so seeing them being pushed out against the bow like this really was stimting.


    But I forced myself to remain calm as I said with a cough, "You should go and pay for that bow, or else someone else might take it."


    She jolted out of her daze when she heard this and quickly went off to pay for the bow.


    I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief as I saw her go.


    The rest of the date went as normal.


    Since they had left us alone, I was able to easily input the suggestions into ire as we went about the store.


    When it was all done, the way that she acted around me had changed slightly.


    She acted more subserviently.


    It was just small things in her actions that showed this, but for the most part she still acted the same.


    As we were about to leave the store, ire suddenly said, "Um, actually I bought something for you as well."


    I was surprised to hear this and I turned around to see what it was.


    ire pulled this thing out from behind her and presented it to me.


    I was surprised to see what she had pulled out.


    It was a gun, but it wasn''t just any gun.


    It was the mana gun that I had seen earlier.


    ire saw the surprise on my face and she said with a happy smile, "I saw you looking at it earlier, so I figured that you wanted it. I just wanted to give you a small thank you present froming shopping with me today."


    There was a warm feeling that filled my heart when she took this gun out, but there was also a feeling of guilt that filled my heart¡­


    That was because I had onlye out with her because I had wanted to use her¡­


    In a sense, I was stepping on the feelings of this innocent young girl.


    So it could be said that I was a bad person.


    But I still said with a smile, "No problem, it was fun. We should do this again sometime."


    ire''s eyes immediately lit up when she heard this as she said, "Really? Do you mean it?"


    Seeing her like this filled my heart with even more guilt, but¡­


    I had alreadymitted myself to doing this, so there was no turning back now.


    Even if I felt guilt, this was something that had to be done.


    I steeled my heart and said with a nod, "Of course, we''re friends and you''re important to me. I''d be happy to hang out again with you."


    This time, ire''s eyes dimmed a bit as she whispered in a disappointed voice, "Just friends, huh?"


    But then she invigorated herself again as she said, "Sure, I would love to hang out again with you."


    Then in a softer voice, she said, "How about we go to another ce like an arcade or the aquarium next time."


    This was basically asking me out on a proper date, but I gave a nod in response that caused her to reveal a bright smile.


    I was alreadymitted, there was no guilt to be felt.

 Chapter 304: Third date (1)

    The third engagement that I had was with Bing Xin.


    To my surprise, she had actually called me to another break zone even though we were on vacation.


    It seemed that she just wasn''t content with sitting still, so she wanted to move her body a bit while we were still on vacation.


    Though moving her body a bit by fighting monsters¡­


    I never thought that this was the kind of personality that she had.


    But then again, her personality had changed many times during the time that we had known each other.


    When I had first met her in that first break zone, she had a cold and indifferent personality.


    Then when I met her again after that incident, she had be a gentle and kind girl.


    And now, she has be a tomboy.


    Were these all a part of her personality or was there something that was changing with her because of the meddling that I did?


    I really couldn''t tell, but it really didn''t matter at this point.


    Since we were here, I would just keep walking down the path that I was already walking down.


    As a beautiful girl, it was impossible for Bing Xin to not attract attention.


    We didn''te here on official guild business and just came to enter the break zone on our own, so there were plenty of other Awakeners that were here.


    When we arrived, they immediately turned to look at the beautiful Bing Xin.


    With her flowing blue hair, sparkling blue eyes, and fine carved face, she was like a doll that was made of ice. This caused all the men and even some of the women to look at her in a daze.


    But when they saw me, they immediately revealed looks of doubt and disdain.


    It was as if they were saying, "Is that really who this beautiful woman is with?"


    Bing Xin just ignored all of this as she went over to register so we could enter the break zone.


    But before we could reach the gate and register, there were a few people that walked over.


    It seemed that they couldn''t stand that I was with Bing Xin, so they were taking action to solve that.


    Judging by how the others reacted when they came forward, it seemed that they had a bit of a reputation that others would treat them differently.


    However, I didn''t feel any fear seeing theme over.


    Perhaps it was because I had been dealing with too many powerful people during my time in Elementia that I just didn''t feel anything from these people. The aura that they gave off was even weaker than the members of my group who were the rookies of Elementia.


    So they definitely weren''t strong at all.


    Though they could be considered strong among independent Awakeners.


    After they came over, the leader of the group ignored me and went over to Bing Xin to say, "This beautiful sister, how about youe with us into the break zone? We''re all experienced Awakeners and can guide you if this is your first time."


    As he said this, the others that followed him started moving towards me.


    It was as if they wanted to separate me from Bing Xin while their leader tried to get her toe with them.


    Bing Xin immediately narrowed her eyes and gave a snort when she heard this.


    This immediately sent a chill running down the spine of this group, but they also couldn''t help feeling even more enticed by her.


    After all, she looked even more beautiful when she acted this way.


    It was like she was an empress of snow and ice ruling over hernd.


    The leader wasn''t discouraged at all by this and came forward to reach for her hand as he said, "Now, now, there''s no need to be upset. We''ll make sure to treat you right if youe with us."


    Bing Xin narrowed her eyes even more when she heard this.


    With the way that she was raising her hand, they might have misunderstood that she was reaching out towards the hand of this person.


    But I knew that she was¡­preparing to freeze them all in ice.


    I could even feel the temperature around us dropping even if these idiots couldn''t.


    They werepletely full of themselves since they thought that it was a done deal.


    I knew that it would be a pain if I let Bing Xin take care of them since her powers were very shy. Freezing someonepletely in ice was sure to attract attention and when that happened, it would be reported to Elementia that we had been here.


    So I took action.


    I stepped forward, pushing aside the ones that tried to cut me off.


    They were surprised, but they tried to push me back when they felt me pushing forward.


    Then to their further surprise, they found that they couldn''t resist at all as I pushed them aside.


    It was like they were pushing against a brick wall with how they couldn''t move me at all.


    In the end, I pushed them all aside and went forward to grab the hand of the leader.


    The leader had noticed me at thest second and had wanted to pull his hand away, but he found that I was already grabbing his hand at the next second.


    The leader narrowed his eyes to look at me and said, "What do you want? Can''t you see that we''re busy here?"


    I just simply looked at him with a calm look and said, "She''s with me. Please stop bothering us."


    "Huh?" A vein popped out on the leader''s forehead when he heard this before he roared out, "You''re telling me that an ugly kid like you is with this beauty? Who do you think will believe you?"


    He reached out for the sword that was on his back, but before he could reach it, he suddenly started screaming in pain.


    His legs buckled under him and he fell to his knees in front of me.

 Chapter 305: Third date (2)

    Everyone was shocked to see this man fall down in front of me.


    They couldn''t help looking at me with strange looks as I stood in front of that man who was on his knees in front of me.


    The man just stayed there on his knees screaming in pain as I held his wrist, but eventually those screams of pain became softer and softer until it seemed like he was able to resist the pain.


    He slowly looked up at me and said through gritted teeth, "Let me go, now!"


    I didn''t respond at all as I just kept my grip around his wrist like that.


    Finally, the man couldn''t take it anymore and he reached his other hand up again in an attempt to grab the sword that was on his back.


    It seemed that he was done pretending to be civil and was nning on using force to achieve his goals.


    Since that was the case¡­then there was no need for me to y along with him anymore.


    Right before he could reach that sword, he suddenly screamed out in pain once more.


    I gripped his wrist even harder than before.


    The man looked at me in shock and disbelief while screaming in pain as he didn''t believe that I could squeeze his wrist even more than I was already doing.


    Up to this point, I had a vice grip around his wrist which was why he had fallen down in pain earlier.


    But that wasn''t anywhere near my full strength.


    The training that I had done with Su Chen had paid off, so I was much stronger than before.


    Normal Awakeners just wouldn''t be able to match me anymore.


    Still, it didn''t do me any good to let this man keep screaming and attracting more attention.


    It was better to just¡­knock him out now.


    I reached my other hand up and with a single flick, that man''s head fell backwards before hitting the ground. The way that he mmed into the ground looked painful and had even created a crater in the ground.


    But I didn''t really care since this was what he deserved.


    At the same time, it wasn''t as if he would die because of this because he was an Awakener.


    An Awakener was much tougher than one could imagine.


    After knocking him out like this, I didn''t waste any time in grabbing Bing Xin''s heart and running towards the entrance of the break zone.


    I just shed my special C Rank Irregr License to the registration people before rushing in before any of the guards could stop us.


    The registration people were shocked by the license since they had never seen it in person before even if they had heard of it.


    The guards had wanted to go and stop us, but the registration people immediately stopped them.


    If they offended someone with this special Irregr License, who knows what would happen?


    So they didn''t dare say a thing about any of this.


    After entering the break zone, we didn''t stop running until we were a certain distance away from the gate.


    Only then did I stop running and let go of Bing Xin''s hand.


    I could see that there was a slightly disappointed look on her face when I let go, but I just couldn''t keep holding her like this.


    There was an awkward silence that hung in the air as neither of us knew what to say.


    But in the end, Bing Xin broke that silence by saying in a soft voice, "Thank you for helping me."


    I just shook my head with a faint smile before saying, "No, there''s no need to thank me, I was just doing what anyone would have done in that situation."


    Bing Xin still lowered her head and said, "But I still appreciate it¡­It was like when you saved me back then."


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward look when she brought this up.


    The atmosphere between us became ambiguous because of this, but then¡­


    There was a goblin that suddenly jumped out of the bush and charged at us.


    Both of us were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of this goblin, but Bing Xin revealed a furious look after she came back to her senses.


    She muttered under her breath, "It was just getting to the good part and you ruined it all."


    There was blue energy that gathered around her hand and it seemed like she was about to release a big attack¡­A big attack that wasn''t suitable for dealing with just this goblin.


    I couldn''t help panicking a bit when I saw Bing Xin like this.


    If I let her release this attack, who knows what would happen?


    She might even change thendscape of this break zone with this one attack.


    So in a panic, I suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her from behind. I held her back while also throwing out a dagger thatnded right in between the brows of the goblin.


    The goblin was pinned right to a tree that was behind it with this dagger.


    But I had other things that I was concerned with.


    I quickly said, "Wait, wait, I''ve already taken care of it. You don''t need to do anything."


    Bing Xin had frozen when she felt my arms around her.


    From another angle, one could even say that this was¡­a hug.


    There was another awkward silence that filled the air after this, but then Bing Xin worked up the courage to say, "Hold me tighter."


    She didn''t know why, but she enjoyed the feeling of being held like this very much.


    It was like her ice magic was beingpletely melted by the heat that wasing from him¡­


    I didn''t mind this and used a bit more force with my hand to hold her tighter.


    But it wasn''t for the reason that she thought it was for.


    It was so that she¡­couldn''t run away.


    I started whispering into her ears and slowly, Bing Xin''s eyes turned dim.

 Chapter 306: Coffee date (1)

    Thest engagement that I had was with someone that I hadn''t met in a long time.


    In fact, it had been a while since she had even messaged me.


    It was as if she hadpletely disappeared, but I had been too busy to remember her in the first ce.


    It was the police detective Ling Yue.


    I had wanted to get her on my side for the police connections, but there had been too many things that happened that Ipletely forgot to check in on her.


    But now that she was contacting me, I wouldn''t let this opportunity go.


    So I went to the meeting ce that she had set.


    It was a cafe that wasn''t that far from where I lived.


    Since she knew where I lived, it wasn''t strange that she would pick a ce that was nearby.


    When I came in, I found that Ling Yue was already waiting for me.


    But the moment that I saw her, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because unlike all the other times that I had seen her before, she lookedpletely different this time.


    Instead of having the sleek look that she normally had, she was dressed¡­like a grandma.


    There was no style at all with her clothes and it was all too baggy to show her figure. It was as if she had just pped on whatever was avable and just came out without a single care.


    But the most surprising thing was the look on her face.


    She had dark circles under her eyes that seemed like she waspletely exhausted.


    Adding in the fact that she was dipping forward, almost as if she was about to fall asleep at any moment, it was clear that she wasn''t in good condition.


    I couldn''t imagine what had happened that would cause her to be like this.


    I slowly walked over and even then, she didn''t seem to react to me.


    It really seemed like she was about to faint at any moment like this.


    Only when I was right beside the table did she slowly turn to look at me.


    She just stared at me with those tired eyes as if she didn''t recognize me, but then her eyes suddenly lit up and she almost jumped out of the booth that she was sitting in.


    She calmed herself down, but she looked much more awake from the shock at the very least.


    When she calmed down, she said, "You''re here. Come and sit down, we have a lot to catch up on."


    I gave a nod before sitting down in the booth in front of her.


    After sitting down, I looked at her with a worried look and asked, "Are you alright? If you''re tired, you don''t have to push yourself toe and see me."


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "It''s fine, it''s fine. It''s just that I had to pull a double shift yesterday to get off work today. But it doesn''t matter since it''s business as usual for me now."


    I couldn''t help revealing a worried and confused look when I heard this.


    I slowly asked, "Is everything going alright at work? Why are you so busy now?"


    Ling Yue revealed a bitter smile when she heard this before saying with a sigh, "Since that case, they''ve beening down on us for not being able to solve it."


    As for what the case that she mentioned was, it was the one that involved me.


    It was about the murder of Wang Bing''s group of bullies.


    That was the one case that had been ''solved'', but the solution was not one that anyone was happy with.


    After a long silence, Ling Yue said, "The chief was pushed out of his position and was reassigned to a remote police station. Since I was the one that remained, they put someone else in the chief''s ce who would make it as hard as possible for me so that I would quit."


    I looked at her with a look of sympathy, not because I was the one that had caused this, but because she was suffering because of this.


    I patted her on the hand and Ling Yue looked up at me with a smile before saying, "Don''t worry, it''s fine. This is what I''ve been wanting to do since I was young, so I won''t let this little problem get in the way. As long as I work hard, it''ll eventually pass."


    I patted her hand again, but there was something that I had to ask.


    "What about your partner? Isn''t he able to help you?"


    When she heard this, the look on Ling Yue''s face turned ugly.


    She gave a snort before saying, "Him? I don''t even want to talk about that guy."


    I couldn''t help raising a brow and revealing a confused look when I heard this.


    As far as I could tell, they should have been close¡­


    So why was she suddenly saying this about him?


    Seeing the confused look on my face, Ling Yue hesitated a bit before saying, "He took some kind of plea deal and transferred out of our station. I have no idea where he went, but from time to time, he''s been messaging me to¡­"


    Her voice trailed off, but the way that she looked at me made it clear that this matter involved me.


    With a bitterugh, I said, "He wants you to use me as a scapegoat, doesn''t he?"


    Ling Yue bit her lip, but she gave a slow nod in the end without saying anything.


    I gave another bitterugh when I heard this, but I also didn''t say anything.


    Seeing the look on my face, it was Ling Yue''s turn to pat my hand and say, "Don''t worry, I know that you were nothing more than the victim. I''m not someone that will back down just because of a little hazing like this, so I won''t use you as a scapegoat."


    I looked at her with a grateful look when I heard this.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 307: Coffee date (2)

    Ling Yue then changed the topic as she said, "Alright, enough about me already. Let''s hear about what you''ve been up totely."


    I was surprised to hear her say this, but then I said, "Let me think, where should I begin?"


    Ling Yue shook her head with a faint smile when she heard this, "I''m sure that you''ve been up to many things. You were recruited by Elementia, was involved in thatrge incident with the demon king, and all kinds of other things, right?"


    I couldn''t help being even more surprised when I heard this.


    I looked at her with a brow raised and slowly asked, "How do you know all this?"


    Ling Yue said with a sly smile on her face, "Do you think that I haven''t been keeping track of you during this time? I know everything that you''ve been doing."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I just looked at Ling Yue with an unstable look, as if I was facing an enemy that I had never faced before.


    Seeing me look at her like this, Ling Yue finally couldn''t help bursting out inughter as she said, "You should see the look on your face, you actually believed my bluff."


    The corner of my eye couldn''t help twitching when I heard this as I felt like I had just been yed.


    Ling Yue wiped a tear from her eye fromughing before saying, "You should know that the police receive reports on important issues, so we receive reports on the things that you''ve been involved in. I identally saw some of them, so I know a bit about what you''ve been up to."


    Then her face turned sad as she said, "Big sister wanted to talk to you during this time, but I just couldn''t with everything that was happening."


    She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes and said, "You don''t me big sister because of this, right?"


    I was surprised to see this, but I slowly shook my head as I said, "No, no, of course not. You were busy and that was indirectly because of me, so there really is nothing that I can say."


    Ling Yue gave a sniffle before saying, "It''s not your fault. You were the victim being bullied by those other kids, so how could you say that it''s your fault?"


    Then in a softer voice, she said, "I think that they actually got what they deserved, if that means anything to you."


    It was a lie to say that I wasn''t caught off guard by her saying this, but I shook my head and said, "Even if they did deserve it, they didn''t deserve to die, right?"


    Ling Yue''s eyes softened and she gave a nod of agreement.


    She didn''t know what came over her, but thinking of how she felt when she read about all the things that Wang Bing''s group had done to Lin Fan, she couldn''t help feeling angry at them.


    She took a deep breath to calm her emotions before saying, "But that doesn''t matter now, right? You''ve worked hard and now you''ve obtained a position that many people would be envious of."


    I just gave a soft nod when I heard this.


    Though deep down, I couldn''t help giving a bitterugh.


    Ling Yue then said with a smile, "Big sister will have to depend on you in the future with the rate that you''re rising up."


    I just said with a smile, "Don''t worry, I''ll definitely take care of you in the future."


    Ling Yue''s heart couldn''t help skipping a beat at this.


    She didn''t know why she felt this way, but she felt that he was quite handsome when he said these words.


    After that, the two of us just chatted for a bit longer before she left to go rest.


    As she left, the light in her eyes had dimmed a bit¡­


    I had made sure to put in my suggestions while we were chatting.


    As I walked away from the cafe, I couldn''t help thinking about something.


    Xia Tian, the other detective who had been Ling Yue''s partner before.


    I knew that he wouldn''t give up on this matter¡­


    Wherever he had transferred, he most likely was looking for a way to strike at me from an unexpected angle. If I let him be, it would be a hidden danger in the future that could strike at any moment.


    So I should really be thinking of a way to take care of him¡­


    At the same time, I also thought about how to help Ling Yue.


    Seeing her overwork herself like this, I knew that she wouldn''t be of any help to me in the future.


    With the way that she was currently going, she might even work herself into the grave at this rate.


    So if I could find a way to help her, then I should help her.


    The ones that should have forced her into this situation were most likely rted to this case somehow. If I had to guess, it was most likely Wang Bing''s parents.


    Wang Bing had said that his dad was in a high position in the Awakener Association, that was not a position that could be taken lightly.


    If someone like that wanted to interfere with the police, especially with a single detective, it should be easy for him to take care of Ling Yue.


    Since this was something that was rted to the Awakener Association, that meant that I should have a say in this matter.


    It wouldn''t have been the case in the past, but now I was someone with connections.


    Though those connections hade to me on their own to be my friend.


    If I wanted to help Ling Yue, I should contact Eliott and see if he could do anything about this.


    I''m sure that with our rtionship, he would help me with this matter.


    After all, he seemed like he really wanted to be closer to me.

 Chapter 308: To the club again

    After all of those dates, I still had some time to myself.


    So I decided that I would go to the club.


    It had been a long time since I went to the club, so I wanted to see how it was doing.


    When I arrived, I was surprised to find that the club hadpletely changed.


    First, it seemed much bigger than before.


    I found outter that Sasha had doubled down on the business and had bought the store next door. After buying the store next door, she knocked it down and extended the club to be twice as big as before.


    It was no longer a small club, but rather arge club that was much bigger than the rest of the buildings on this street.


    There was even a line to get in that was closely managed by the bouncers.


    I could see that there were a few familiar faces among the bouncers.


    They were the ones that had been working here since the Red Gang incident.


    Though they were injured during that incident, we hadpensated them generously and it didn''t seem like they forgot about that since they were still working at this club.


    However, it seemed that I had been away from the club too long that some of the newer bouncers didn''t know who I was.


    When I tried to cut the line and go in directly, the bouncer at the door stopped me.


    "Name?"


    That was what he said when he saw me approach.


    I was surprised to be stopped like this since I had never been stopped from entering the club before. But seeing how busy it was, I guess that it was just a part of the new protocol.


    "Lin Fan." I said in a calm voice.


    The bouncer flipped through the list and then shook his head to say, "Not on the list. Get to the back of the line."


    Behind me, I heard a few snickersing from the people that were waiting in line.


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I wasn''t on the list?


    I owned half this store and I wasn''t even on the list for my own store¡­I really didn''t know what to say.


    While I was thinking about what to do, there was another bouncer that suddenly came over.


    This was a face that I was familiar with since it was one of the bouncers that had been working here since the beginning.


    He came over and said in a cold voice, "Let him in."


    The bouncer at the door was surprised by this, but he still opened the door in the end.


    The senior bouncer bowed his head and said, "Sorry for the trouble, he''s new. He''s only been working here for a week, so he doesn''t know all of the rules yet."


    I gave a simple nod and said, "Un, it''s no problem."


    I could see that there were people that were staring at us, so it was better for me to drop this matter than to hold it against them.


    Not to mention, it was a simple mistake.


    It wasn''t as if he had offended me, so I wouldn''t make a big deal out of this.


    Sometimes, being a good boss meant forgiving these small mistakes since everyone could make them. That would inspire loyalty among your subordinates and make them respect you more.


    Without another word, I went into the club.


    After he went in, the junior bouncer waited for a bit before asking, "Senior, was that really alright? He wasn''t on the list and everyone just saw him cut the line. Won''t this hurt the club''s reputation?"


    The senior bouncer hit that junior bouncer on the head and said, "What do you know? He doesn''t need to be on the list, he owns this club."


    The junior bouncer revealed a confused look as he said, "Isn''t the owner Miss Sasha?"


    The senior bouncer shook his head and said with a sigh, "Don''t you remember what Miss Sasha said? He''s the other owner."


    The junior bouncer suddenly revealed a look of understanding before revealing a look of panic.


    He said in a stuttering voice, "He, he, was the other owner?"


    The senior bouncer gave a simple nod.


    The junior bouncer trembled when seeing this before asking, "Will, will he hold it against me?"


    The junior bouncer had already heard about this other owner and he had heard about how Elementia was supporting this club because of this other owner. That was because this other owner was actually a member of Elementia.


    Anyone that could join arge guild like Elementia definitely wasn''t a normal person.


    If this other owner held a grudge against him because of this¡­wouldn''t his life be over?


    The senior bouncer shook his head and said, "Don''t worry, the owner isn''t as petty as you think. He just said that it''s not a problem, so you don''t need to worry. I''d be more scared of how Miss Sasha will punish you when she finds out about this."


    Though this junior bouncer was a man that was muchrger than the average person, he couldn''t help trembling when he heard this.


    It was clear that he was afraid of this Miss Sasha.


    He looked at the senior bouncer and asked, "Senior, what should I do?"


    This time, the senior bouncer just shook his head and patted him on the shoulder before saying with a sigh, "Just ept the consequences."


    The junior bouncer looked like he was about to cry when he heard this.


    After entering the club, I couldn''t help being surprised by how big it had be.


    There had even been a dance floor added in the center that had many people on it right now.


    It wasn''t just a cabaret club anymore, it was a proper club now that people could enjoy drinking and dancing in. Though I could see that there was still the option to call for girls to drink with since that was the foundation that this club was based on.


    With how big it had be and how many people were here, it was clear that business was good.


    Though with the support of Elementia, it would be strange if business wasn''t good.


    I couldn''t help wondering just how much money Sasha was earning with all of this.


    There was an ount that had been set up for me that Sasha would deposit my shares of the profits in each month, but I had never touched that ount before.


    I was earning good money from Elementia and there wasn''t much that I was spending on in the first ce since I still lived in the same crappy apartment, so I had never needed the money in the first ce.


    But now I couldn''t help just how much money was in that ount.


    It seemed that breaking Sasha and making her my puppet really was a good decision back then.


    Seeing how well she managed this business, it seemed that she really had a knack for this kind of thing.


    I wondered what else I would be able to get her to do if I needed her to do other things.


    Still, that wasn''t the reason I hade here today.


    For now, I would just do what I came to do and worry about that stuffter.

 Chapter 309: Grinding some more points

    I ignored what was happening in the club and walked over to the bar.


    Standing behind the bar was the same bartender as before.


    No matter how the club changed or how big it became, this bartender would be a staple of this club.


    When he saw me, he gave a nod to me and then waved for me toe over.


    I went over and went behind the bar with him before heading to the back.


    As we walked in the back, he chatted a bit with me.


    He was a silent person by nature, so him chatting with me was already a sign of respect towards me.


    He didn''t waste any time and brought me to Sasha''s office in the back.


    Since the club had be bigger, it was now a mess in the back as well. It was like a maze of corridors and if it wasn''t for the bartender bringing me back here, I would have really gotten lost.


    I gave him a grateful nod and he just gave a nod in return before heading back to the bar.


    Standing outside the door, I could hear the voices that wereing from inside.


    Well¡­it was just a single voice that wasing from inside, but I could hear that they were in several different conversations at the same time. It was clear that they were on calls with different people.


    "No, no, we can''t possibly fit an event of that size on such short notice. You have to either wait or give us a better price."


    "I told you, I need those supplies by the end of the week or else I''ll be calling your boss."


    "You think that I don''t know who you are? Just you wait and see. Trying to prank my club, you''ll suffer the consequences."


    "Like totally, I would have done the same thing."


    The way that she kept changing the tone of her voice, one might think that she waspletely crazy.


    But it seemed that this was just how talented Sasha was.


    She was able to deal with all these people at the same time without breaking even once.


    The one at the end even seemed like a personal call.


    I gave a soft knock on the door before opening it and walking in.


    Sasha was surprised to see the door open and she was about to wave this person out until she saw who it was.


    When she saw that it was me, she revealed a wide smile and waved for me toe in. She pointed at the seat on the side for me to sit down before mouthing, "I''ll be done soon."


    I didn''t mind and sat down to wait.


    In no time at all, Sasha just ended all of the calls.


    The other side was clearly surprised from what I could pick up with my sharp ears, but she didn''t seem to care as she quickly ended all of the calls.


    Once she ended them all, she looked at me with a smile and asked, "What are you doing here? You didn''t call me ahead of time at all."


    I said with a smile, "I wanted toe and see the new club. At the same time, since I''m here, I might as well make a spot check to see if there''s anything wrong with my club, right?"


    Sasha didn''t panic at all when she heard this as she went back to the desk to bring a pile of paper over for me.


    She put them on the coffee table in front of me and waited for me to take a look at them.


    I raised a brow to look at her, but I still picked up the piece of paper on top of the pile to take a look at it.


    Just a single nce was enough to tell me that this was some kind of ledger.


    It was most likely a ledger for the club, showing how well the club was doing.


    She took my joke seriously and even brought out all of this as if I was actually conducting a check.


    But I could tell that it wasn''t just because I had made this joke.


    The way that she stood there waiting for me to finish, the way that she looked at me with an expectant look, it was as if she was waiting for me to do something after I finished reading all of this.


    I could already tell what she was waiting for with the way that she looked at me.


    She was looking to be praised for her hard work.


    She was standing there like a child that was waiting for their parents to praise them.


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I saw this.


    I put the piece of paper down and waved my hand at her toe over.


    Sasha leaned in so that her face was right beside mine and waited to see what I would give her.


    I brought my hand up and moved it above her head to give her a pat on the head. As I patted her head, I said, "It seems like you''ve done a good job managing this club."


    Her eyes lit up when she heard this, but she didn''t get the chance to say anything as I suddenly stopped.


    She revealed a confused look as she saw my handing down.


    I brought my hand down to her cheek and then suddenly¡­I pped her.


    After pping her, I said, "But it seems like there were a few mistakes on this ledger. The amounts didn''t seem to add up."


    Sasha didn''t look hurt at all when I pped her.


    I could see that there was an excited look in her eyes.


    That was because the errors that I had pointed out had been made on purpose.


    She wanted to give me this error so that I would¡­


    Well, since she was asking for it¡­


    "Yes, I promise I''ll do better next time." There was an excited tone to her voice as she said this.


    I didn''t mind since this was rted to what I was here to do in the first ce.


    I was here to grind experience points.


    My hand went further down and grabbed her chest that was leaning forward with her.


    I pulled on it as I said, "Now, what should we do with you?"


    I could feel an excited shivering from her through my hand after I said this.

 Chapter 310: Being rough

    Sasha didn''t say a single thing, but it was clear by the look in her eyes that she was looking forward to what was about to happen.


    So I pulled her forward until she waspletely leaning in.


    I pulled her by the breast so that her face was right in the middle of my crotch.


    Holding her there, I said, "Shouldn''t you be doing something first."


    Sasha''s eyes lit up when she heard this and she didn''t hesitate to undo my belt before pulling my pants down.


    As she pulled it down, my dick flopped out onto her face and even pped her from being pulled out like this.


    There was a look of visible surprise on Sasha''s face, but then she didn''t hesitate to take it in one hand while she brought her mouth forward.


    Opening her mouth wide, she enveloped her lips around my dick in one single motion before bringing her head down as much as she could.


    I could see that she was struggling to take it all down her throat, but I grabbed her head and said, "Come on, you have to be sincere about this."


    Sasha didn''t fight at all as she let me grab the side of her head and push her down on my dick. With that push, she was able to reach the base of my dick, but¡­


    Her eyes were popping out and her face was turning red, as if she was choking.


    Still, I didn''t let her go as I held her in ce like that.


    Only when she seemed like she was about to pass out did I finally let go of her head and let her breathe again.


    When my dick came out of her mouth, it was covered in her slobber and there was drool dripping out the sides of her mouth. There were also tears that came out of the corner of her eyes, but the light in them didn''t dim.


    She looked at me as if she was just waiting for my orders even though she had just been choking a few seconds ago.


    I gave a satisfied nod before saying, "You know what to do next."


    Sasha gave an excited nod before turning around. She didn''t hesitate at all as she grabbed the hem of her pants and pulled it off.


    Then she thrust her butt forward towards me until it seemed like she was about to sit down on myp.


    She did sit down on myp, but in a very specific way.


    Before she sat down, she came up onto the couch that I was sitting on and positioned herself so that her legs were on both sides of me. It was almost as if she was standing over me like this, but she was actually squatting down.


    After she made sure that it was all lined up, she suddenly started squatting down.


    With her slobber all over it, lubing it up, there was no resistance at all as my dick went inside of her.


    It went all the way deep into her, with her insides perfectly wrapping around my dick.


    It was as if her insides had already been molded into the perfect shape for me.


    But with how many times we had done it already, this wasn''t a surprise at all.


    "Ah! This is it! This is what I''ve been waiting for!" Sasha cried out as my dick went deep into her.


    However, I didn''t do a thing as I justid there and let her do everything.


    During all of this, I watched as I gained experience points.


    This was another method that I had found to act like the demon king of lust.


    Domination worked in many ways and just giving orders without doing anything was considered a form of domination.


    So as long as I just gave orders and didn''t do anything, that counted as acting like the demon king of lust.


    But seeing that Sasha had stopped after taking my dick to the base, I said, "What are you doing, you little whore? Did I say that you could take a break?"


    Sasha trembled when she heard this, but she pushed herself off the couch again and stood up once more.


    Holding her entire body up like this and moving up and down was quite the tiring thing, but with me pping her butt like that, it was even harder. Still, Sasha forced herself to push up on the couch and stand up over me again.


    But she never let my dick go.


    She made sure toe right up to the tip and then let herself fall down on my dick again.


    All during this, I kept pping her on the butt as if I was forcing her to keep going.


    Thebined pleasure of all of this¡­


    "Ah, I can''t keep going anymore¡­" There was a tremble that came from Sasha after she took my dick to the base the second time.


    This trembling became stronger and stronger until she suddenly leaned back and pointed her crotch forward.


    There was a spray of liquid that shot forward as she said, "I''m cumming! I''m cumming!"


    She just sprayed out in front of us before falling forward andnding face first on the ground in front of us. As sheid there on the ground, she was moaning in pleasure while her lower half was pointed up at me, revealing everything.


    When she had fallen, my dick had popped right out of her, so it was now hanging right over her as sheid there.


    But I didn''t let her rest even though she came.


    I reached out with my leg and kicked her behind raised in the air as I said, "What are you doing? I''m not done yet and you''re already climaxing on your own? Get up and fix this now!"


    With each kick, I could feel Sasha trembling in pleasure.


    She really was a prime example of a masochist.


    But eventually, she stood up again and started serving me once more.


    All the while, I watched as my experience bar increased.

 Chapter 311: Are you ready?

    Over a month passed after that.


    We went back to the dungeons with the first dungeon raid team during this time and we learned quite a bit about raiding dungeons with them.


    The first dungeon raid team was the first dungeon raid team for a reason.


    The ability that they demonstrated was clearly not something that one could look down on.


    So we were able to learn quite a bit about raiding dungeons from them.


    The incident that happened the first day only happened on that first day. After that first day, the person who had used us had disappeared from the first dungeon raid team.


    Without that person inciting everyone, they slowly came to ept us for the ability that we demonstrated. Overall, it was a much better work environment for everyone.


    I didn''t know if Rupert had something to do with this or if he backed down willingly, but it was good that he was gone.


    All of us had also be much stronger because of this, so we were leagues stronger than before.


    That was good because it was now time for the tournament that Bing Lan had mentioned before.


    This was a tournament that was held jointly by therge guilds and even sponsored by the Awakener Association, so there was no doubt that this was a big deal.


    This was a tournament that was only for rookies, so as long as one was able to stand out in the tournament, one would have a bright future.


    But at the same time, that meant that the ones who were enrolled in this tournament were all powerful people as well. It would be hard to ce, let alone reach the top.


    On this bright morning, I found that Su Chen was there waiting for me.


    As usual, he came to pick me up, but this time he had a clearly different tone to him.


    This time, there was this strange sense of pride to his expression.


    It was almost like a dad who was seeing his son''s first real achievement.


    I couldn''t help feeling awkward seeing this, but I had to admit that if it wasn''t for Su Chen''s help during this time, I might not have been able to achieve all of this. He was the one that was fully in charge of my exercise program, the one who hadpletely rebuilt my body.


    Though I didn''t be as muscr as Su Chen, I could see that I was visibly more muscr when I looked at myself in the mirror.


    I knew that everything that he had done had helped me reach where I was today.


    After looking at me like this for a bit, he suddenly asked in a calm voice, "Are you ready?"


    I looked back at him and gave a firm nod without saying anything.


    At this point, there was no need for words.


    Just this action alone was already enough.


    Su Chen also gave a nod before opening the door to the car for me.


    The two of us just drove in silence as we headed to the transport gate.


    Since this was arge event, naturally it wouldn''t be held in a city like ours.


    Especially since Elementia''s headquarters were here.


    Elementia was only one of the guilds that sponsored this, so it wasn''t as if it could be held in their territory or it would send the wrong message.


    For this tournament, an ind in the middle of the ocean had been prepared.


    This was apletely deserted ind before the people of therge guilds had found it.


    Once they decided to turn it into the venue of the tournament, it hadpletely changed because of the power of theserge guilds.


    I had even heard that there was a city being built on the ind for this.


    But before heading off, we gathered with everyone.


    It wasn''t just my group, but also Kaito''s group that we gathered with.


    Last time Bing Lan had talked to me about this, I had brought up inviting Kaito''s group as well and she had agreed to this.


    Iter learned that because Kaito''s group had been added, we had used up all of our slots in the tournament.


    So it meant that our group would be Elementia''s representative in this tournament.


    There were no backups, we were it.


    So if we failed spectacrly, that would bepletely on us.


    If we failed, it would mean that we had lost face for Elementia which was something that was hard to live down.


    But were we bothered by that?


    After we had gathered, I saw all of them with serious looks on their faces.


    However, I knew that this wasn''t a problem since I could also see that there wasn''t a trace of worry or fear in their eyes.


    We had been focused on training for over a month now, so we were all much stronger than before.


    Naturally that also made us much more confident of our chances of winning.


    When they saw me arrive, they all gathered around me, but they all had the same serious look on their faces.


    Not a single person said a thing as they stood there.


    With the way that they were looking at me, it was as if they were expecting me to say something.


    I didn''t say much in the end since there was only one thing that needed to be asked.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Yes." All of them said this single word before giving firm nods.


    The power in their voices showed just how ready they were and how determined they were to win.


    With this, there was nothing left for me to say as we headed to the transport gate.


    Since we were going to the tournament on behalf of Elementia, we naturally received the VIP treatment and were allowed to transport from the private gate as soon as we arrived.


    This wasn''t much for Long Shui Ling, but it was definitely a lot of us who had lower status than her.


    When we arrived, we couldn''t help being shocked by the scene in front of us.

 Chapter 312: The power of the large guilds

    We had heard that they had built a city, but this was not something that we expected.


    After all, this wasn''t just a city.


    This was a city that was evenrger and more fancy than the one that we came from.


    This was a city that had all kinds of different attractions and all kinds of facilities that even our city didn''t have.


    It was a city that would be equal to a capital of a nation.


    That was just how well built this city was.


    But wasn''t this supposed to be a temporary city that was built for this tournament?


    Why would they put in so much effort to build a city that was on a deserted ind like this?


    It just didn''t make any sense¡­


    It didn''t seem like it was a matter of face at all.


    Still, that wasn''t something that I was supposed to be concerned about. After all, this was something that only the top members of therge guilds would know about.


    It definitely was not something that woulde down to the smaller members like this.


    So for now, we should focus on the tournament.


    Even though we had arrived early, we saw that this ce was already filled with different people.


    These were all people that hade to see the tournament, but we could tell that there were a few powerful Awakeners that were moving through the crowd. Judging by how young they looked, it seemed like they were ourpetitors.


    The rookies from the otherrge guilds, not a single one of them could be underestimated.


    This was just the power of therge guilds.


    Since we hade early, it wasn''t as if there was anything that we had to do right now.


    Though we hade here all serious, it seemed that it had been wasted since we couldn''t go to the venue yet as it was still being prepared.


    That was what we had found out after talking to the guides that were waiting to wee thepetitors.


    "You''re free to walk around the city until it''s time. We''ll give you a talisman that we can use to contact you whenever, as long as you''re in the city, so we''ll be able to tell you when you need toe to the venue." That''s what the guide said.


    While we were surprised to hear that the venue wasn''t ready yet, there was nothing that we could do.


    So the only thing that we could do was take that talisman and walk around the city.


    The first thing that we did was¡­


    "Sweets."


    That was what the girls demanded.


    It seemed that they had skipped breakfast and their blood sugar was low, so they needed some sweets to raise that blood sugar.


    I had thought that they were cranky, but I never thought that it was this.


    I just thought that they were focused for the match.


    Since they wanted sweets, we had no choice but to go to one of the cafes that were near the transport station.


    This was actually the cafe that the guide had rmended to us when he heard that we wanted to get some sweets.


    When we came in, we found that there weren''t that many people that were here.


    There were a few people that were sitting in booths, but they didn''t care as we walked in.


    The waitress just waved us in and said, "Sit wherever you want. There''s plenty of open tables."


    I gave a nod to her before leading our group into the cafe.


    Since we had such arge group, we had to take two booths and two tables in the end.


    It was just a good thing that this ce was rtively empty so that we could take up all of these tables.


    But it didn''t take long for me to realize why this ce was so empty.


    I looked out and coincidentally saw someone being knocked away when they tried to enter the cafe.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this, but then I quickly realized that there must be some kind of barrier around this cafe. It blocked people who it didn''t recognize from entering the cafe.


    And based on the ones that got blocked, it seemed that it blocked people who were below a certain level of power from entering.


    That was why we had no problem entering.


    Well, that was except for the handlers. I couldn''t exin that one until I saw the mark on the wall.


    Eden, it was one of therge guilds of the west.


    This ce was run by one of therge guilds, this was most likely why our handlers were able to ignore the barrier ande in with us.


    But if that was the case¡­then did that mean that the people around us were¡­


    I couldn''t help slowly looking at the others that were in the cafe with us.


    I could see that there were some unique individuals here that were also sizing up the people around them.


    At the same time, I noticed that there were some that clearly looked like handlers as well.


    It seemed that these people were Awakeners just like us, but if they were to gather here¡­they were most likely Awakeners from the otherrge guilds.


    It was no wonder the guide had advised us toe to this cafe.


    It seemed that this was one of the ces that thepetitors for the tournament were gathering in.


    So this was a ce where we could scout out ourpetition and make alliances if we choose to do so.


    Though I didn''t really care for thetter, the former was definitely a wee opportunity.


    We had received information about ourpetitors, but there was nothing like actually meeting them to see just what they were made of.


    Still, we couldn''t just directly go and talk to them.


    So for now, I kept all of this to myself since it didn''t seem like the others had noticed this yet.

 Chapter 313: Alex

    Since we were at the cafe, we naturally ordered some food as well.


    It didn''t take long for that food to arrive and once it did, everyone started to eat happily.


    Since this was a cafe that was established by one of therge guilds, Eden of the west, it was naturally a very well established cafe.


    The dishes were all delicious and even the coffee was the best of the best.


    The only problem might be the price, but that was all waived because they had a special token forpetitors.


    This would allow them to have everything paid for them since they werepetitors.


    This was one of the benefits of being apetitor.


    As we sat there eating, the others looked at us with strange looks.


    I immediately saw through those strange looks.


    It was as if they were saying, "How could they eat when we''re in a situation like this?"


    I couldn''t help giving a secret bitterugh and thinking that they really didn''t know anything about our group.


    But that wasn''t the most important thing.


    The most important thing was that we were drawing the attention of the otherpetitors.


    It was clear that they were paying more attention to uspared to before and that wasn''t a good thing.


    If everyone paid attention to us, when the time came, it would mean that they would gang up against this.


    This was not something that we wanted to see happen.


    So I decided that¡­I would tell Bing Xin and Long Shui Ling about this.


    There were just too many of them for me to take care of all of them alone, so I wanted the help of these two sensible girls to help me.


    I took them aside to talk privately, but I found that they already knew about this.


    They were just too good at acting that even I couldn''t see through their act.


    They were just pretending to enjoy themselves while also looking out for the others around us.


    Of course, they would have seemed much more convincing if it wasn''t for the cream that was on the corner of their lips.


    I did my best to not point it out, but it was definitely impossible for me to miss the cream that was on their lips.


    Still, since they already knew about this, then there was nothing for me to say.


    When we came back, we found that there was someone new sitting with us.


    This was someone that we didn''t notice before, which meant that they must havee into the cafe while we were away for that talk.


    But seeing how they easily blended into our group, it really was surprising.


    They didn''t blend in by hiding in our group, rather they were talking with our group and they all seemed quite happy to be talking to this person.


    This person seemed to be a handsome young man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.


    With his appearance, it would have been impossible to miss him earlier.


    However, to avoid attracting even more attention, I came over and asked, "Hey, who is this new friend who''s joined us?"


    They were happy to introduce him, but that blonde young man took the chance to introduce himself.


    "I''m friends with the owner of the store and seeing you all eat so happily, I knew that I had toe and talk to you. My name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex."


    As he said this, he leaned forward and lifted his cor to show me something.


    It was Eden''s mark.


    It seemed that this blonde haired young man named Alex was thepetitor from Eden.


    I gave a nod before saying, "Then let''s talk about these desserts that you sell. They really are something else."


    Alex gave a happy nod before saying, "Well, they were made with love, so of course they are delicious."


    Instead of sitting down at the same time, I sat down at another table that was apart from the others.


    Alex raised a brow to look at me, but then he stood up and went over to this table.


    Seeing this, the others wanted toe over to our table as well, but Bing Xin and Long Shui Ling stopped them.


    So it was just the two of us sitting there.


    I didn''t say a word as I looked at Alex with knitted brows.


    He just sat there with the same smile on his face.


    It became a race of chicken, to see who would give up first.


    In the end, Alex was the one that caved first as he said, "I''ll just say that I had no ill intentions."


    I gave a sneer before saying, "You had no ill intentions? When you''re the one that approached us like this? Only a fool would believe that."


    Alex just gave a shrug before saying, "You can say what you want, but I''ll just tell you my truth and you can choose to believe it or not."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I heard this.


    Alex continued by saying, "Besides, you''ve praised the goods of this store. I know that you''re not bad people since you enjoy the goods we sell here."


    Innocent?


    No, naive was the better world for this person.


    He believed someone just based on the fact that they enjoyed the desserts sold here.


    That kind of person wouldn''tst long, but I knew that he wasn''t that kind of person.


    If he was, he wouldn''t have approached us like this.


    I just said in a calm voice, "Just say what you want to say. We have other business to attend to."


    Alex gave a chuckle before saying, "Would you believe what I have to say at this point?"


    He looked at me as if he was really asking this question.


    I slowly gave a shake of the head to see what he had in store.


    Seeing this, Alex didn''t look offended as he said, "Well, then I just have to give you something that would make you trust me, right?"

 Chapter 314: Other competitors (1)

    I couldn''t help raising a brow when I heard this, but still I remained silent as I waited to see what he would give me.


    To my surprise, he ced what seemed to be a touch screen phone on the table, but I had never seen a phone like this before.


    Rather than a phone, it seemed to be some kind of tablet.


    After putting this down on the table, he didn''t say anything as he waited for me to take it.


    I looked at him with the same raised brow and confused look, but I still took it in the end to see what he would give me.


    When I turned this thing on, it didn''t seem to have anything.


    In fact, it seemed that it didn''t even function like a normal phone or tablet.


    The only thing that it was showing was the feed from the camera on the back of it.


    Holding it in my hand like this, it didn''t seem like there was anything special about this thing.


    I slowly looked back up at Alex and asked, "This is it?"


    Alex just raised a hand and wagged a finger before saying, "How could that be? Why don''t you try pointing the camera at someone?"


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard him trying to act all mysterious like this, but I didn''t say anything. Instead, I just followed his advice and pointed it up at him.


    Alex was caught on the screen, but still there was nothing that appeared.


    Seeing that I was pointing it at him, he said with a bitter smile, "I didn''t mean me. Try someone else in this cafe and you''ll see what I mean."


    I didn''t bother ying with him and turned it to someone else at random.


    As soon as I did, I was surprised by what suddenly popped out on the screen of this phone.


    As he had said, I really did understand what he meant as soon as this popped out.


    Svena Vasilev


    Guild: Siberian Wolves


    Awakener Rank: A (Currently at C Rank)


    Power: Wolf Companions (Summoning skill)


    The rest of the popup was a bunch of background information on this person and a bunch of information on what her powers were.


    There was also a small blurb about the weakness of her power, but¡­


    "For more information, please contact your local service provider and order a subscription."


    My lip couldn''t help twitching when I saw this.


    It was clear that this was done on purpose to annoy me, but I knew that this was the game that he wanted to y.


    So the gift that he gave me was this information and if I wanted more information¡­then I would have to work out a deal with Alex.


    This seemed very interesting, but I also couldn''t help feeling suspicious of this.


    Out of all the people that he could have chosen, why us?


    Like I would actually believe what he said before about us liking the desserts here.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help being amazed by just how advanced this technology was.


    I had never heard of anything like this before and wouldn''t have believed it unless it was in front of me like this.


    So seeing this firsthand really was surprising, but I didn''t let myself show it on my face.


    At the same time, there was no verifying if the information on this was even true or not.


    So for now, I would have to see what he wanted.


    I put the phone down after pointing it at a single person and then looked at Alex with narrowed eyes to ask, "What do you want?"


    Alex was surprised to see how forward I was, but he wasn''t offended as he suddenly revealed a wide smile and said, "Very good, I like forward people like you. It''s too much of a pain to beat around the bush all the time, just like my¡­"


    He went off to tell a story about a rtive that really didn''t have anything to do with this conversation.


    I didn''t interrupt him at first since I wanted to see where he was going with this, but it didn''t seem like he was going anywhere in the end.


    It seemed that he was the opposite of the kind of person he liked.


    He was someone long winded that seemed to like the sound of his own voice.


    If he was allowed to keep going, he most likely would have kept going for a long time.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to give a cough to bring him back to this conversation.


    As if he realized what he had done, Alex revealed an awkward look before saying, "Well, it''s very simple. What I want is to build an alliance with you for the tournament."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I didn''t say anything, I just looked at him as if I was trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    However, Alex didn''t look away as he looked back at me with a smile on his face.


    The way that he looked at me, it was almost as if he was saying that he had nothing to hide.


    Seeing him like this, I couldn''t help wavering a bit as I started to feel like he was being serious.


    But still, I didn''t let myself waver too much as I asked, "We have no idea what the tournament will entail, so how do you know that we''ll be able to make alliances?"


    Alex''s smile changed to be one that seemed like he had already expected me to ask this.


    With this smile he said, "Each guild was allowed to send many participants, why would they do that if they were just topete with each other in the end? So there must be some aspect of the tournament that allows you to cooperate with each other, right? That''s all I''m asking for, for you to work with me during those rounds."


    I raised a brow to look at him, but this time I didn''t question this.


    Instead, I asked, "Why us?"


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 315: Other competitors (2)

    Alex revealed a surprised look when he heard this.


    He looked at me with this surprised look for a bit before suddenly saying with a smile, "DIdn''t I say it was because you liked the dessert from our shop?"


    My expression didn''t change when I heard this.


    I made it very clear that I didn''t believe what he said, but he didn''t say anything else.


    So I just stood up and prepared to walk off.


    Alex revealed a slight look of panic when he saw this, so he raised his hand and said, "Alright, wait a minute."


    I didn''t sit back down when I heard this, but I did stop turning to leave.


    I turned back to look at Alex, with a look that seemed to be saying, "You better tell the truth."


    Alex revealed an awkward smile and said, "You should know that your guild Elementia and my guild Eden are close to one another. So is it really that strange that I want to approach you?"


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before giving it to him straight, "I''m new to the guild, so I have no idea if this is true or not."


    Alex''s chin dropped when he heard this.


    This time, it was his turn to see if I was joking or not.


    However, I really wasn''t joking.


    I had been involved in many different things since joining Elementia that I didn''t have time to learn about things like this.


    For all I know, it could be true what he was saying, but I didn''t know if it was true or not.


    So for now, I would act as if I didn''t know what he was saying was true.


    After seeing that my expression didn''t change, Alex gave a sigh and said, "A C Rank Irregr License, that isn''t something that has ever been achieved before. This is not something that anyone could have done, so I believe that you''re special."


    Hearing this, I narrowed my eyes again.


    But this time, there wasn''t the same doubt or judgement as before.


    It seemed that the informationwork of Eden was quite good that they were able to figure all of this out.


    Though this was public information, for Alex to say that to me meant that he already knew who I was and it was most likely for that reason that he approached me.


    This was not something that any informationwork could do.


    So the information that was on the phone was most likely true as well.


    I just looked at him for a bit before saying, "Is that really it?"


    Alex slowly shook his head in response to this before saying, "Do you think that I would act just on that?"


    I gave a slow shake of the head in response to this.


    Seeing this, Alex revealed another bitter smile.


    Both of us just sat there in silence for a bit until he finally broke that silence by saying, "I said that I like the way that you enjoyed our desserts."


    I looked at him with those same narrowed eyes of judgement, but he stared right back at me.


    I couldn''t see through him at all, but for now¡­this should be enough.


    He had put enough on the table that I could consider working with him for now.


    But there was still onest thing that I needed from him.


    "Alright, it isn''t impossible for us to work together." I said in a calm voice.


    When he heard this, Alex''s eyes couldn''t help lighting up.


    It was as if he could see that his efforts had finally paid off.


    It even showed in his voice as it perked up when he said, "Just tell me what conditions you have."


    I nodded and said, "You''ve offered plenty of information, but there''s one piece of information that you haven''t offered yet. As long as you give me this information, we can work together."


    Though this seemed like it would be good for him, Alex couldn''t help narrowing his eyes a bit when he heard this.


    He felt a bit of a bad feeling after hearing this, as if there was something wrong.


    But he still asked, "What information?"


    I looked right at him and said, "Your information."


    Alex revealed a bitter smile when he heard this as he thought to himself, "I knew it."


    It really was as bad as he thought.


    He had been trying to keep this information hidden as a final trump card, but it seemed like the other side wouldn''t be fooled by the bait offered.


    Unless one knew what one''s ally was capable of, it would be hard to forge an alliance.


    After all, there was no knowing when this ''ally'' would betray you.


    With a sigh, Alex said, "Lightning, my ability is electricity."


    Then he raised his hand and in between his index and thumb, there was a bit of electricity that gathered.


    When I saw this, I could guess what ability he had and I was honestly surprised.


    Lightning, or even the ability to control electricity was rare since it was very dangerous.


    Electricity was a very vtile form of energy, so it was a hard ability to control.


    Even if people gained this ability, there were very few that could actually master it to the point of using it skillfully.


    So those that could were all considered powerful Awakeners.


    This Alex seemed like a kind of whimsical person, but it seemed that he wasn''t simple.


    But he did give me the information that I wanted, so I had to stay true to my word at least.


    So I reached my hand out towards him to his surprise and said, "Alright, since you kept your side of the bargain, then I can at least keep mine."


    Alex reached his hand out with a smile and said, "Then I look forward to working with you."


    I just gave a nod and simply said, "Un."


    But then I changed the topic by saying, "Where''s the other information that you promised me?"

 Chapter 316: Other competitors (3)

    Alex just casually put another phone on the table for me.


    But then as if he realized something, he reached out to pick up that phone and stood up to bring his chair over to where I was sitting.


    I couldn''t help feeling strange seeing him sit beside me like this, but I could feel something else.


    There were res that wereing from another direction.


    There were three pairs of res to be exact that were aimed in my direction when Alex sat down beside me.


    Alex also felt them as he looked in the direction that the res came from with a strange look, but he wasn''t able to see a thing.


    Though I knew exactly who they wereing from.


    After a moment of silence, Alex turned back to me and raised the phone in front of us.


    Then he pointed it at one of the people that were sitting in the cafe.


    This person was sitting right beside my group and seemed to have been secretly keeping an eye on them.


    As soon as the phone was pointed at him, his information was revealed.


    Cheng Hui


    Beijing Tigers


    Awakener Rank: A (Currently at D Rank)


    Power: Echo Tiger Fist


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    Though I didn''t know anything about Eden, it was apletely different story for Beijing Tigers.


    This was a guild that we had been warned about beforeing to this tournament.


    This was a guild that had a bad rtionship with Elementia because of an incident in the past.


    The Beijing Tigers was a guild that was sponsored by the Chinese Government, so it was a guild with history.


    One such history was Bing Lan''s own history with China.


    As her name suggested, Bing Lan was once a citizen of China and had registered as an Awakener there.


    Butter on, she abandoned her citizenship and went on to create Elementia.


    However, since she was a S Ranker, it wasn''t easy for her to leave the country like that.


    They had wanted to keep her at all costs and as such, Bing Lan''s rtionship with that country became tense.


    Soter on when she formed Elementia, the Beijing Tigers that had been sponsored by the Chinese Government had always had a tense rtionship with Elementia.


    They worked together when they needed to, but there were many shes that happened between the two sides.


    It wasn''t strange to see him watching over us like this.


    But Alex must have also known this which was why he showed me this person first.


    It was clear by the smile that was on his face what he meant.


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Alex gave a nod before moving the phone to another person.


    Fubuki


    Amaterasu


    Awakener Rank: B (Currently at C Rank)


    Power: Blizzard


    Amaterasu, that was another guild that I recognized.


    It wasn''t one that we had been warned about, but it was one that I was personally concerned with.


    After all, it had been because of me that they had lost the bid for the SS Rank Dungeon.


    I had no idea if they knew about me, but I was certain that they wouldn''t leave things be. Whether that was returning the favour to Elementia or to me, I knew that something would happen in the future.


    But I was more concerned about why Alex showed me this.


    Did he know about my involvement or¡­?


    I couldn''t discount this since Eden had already shown how much information was under their control.


    Alex saw the way that I looked at him and he just turned the phone with the same smile on his face.


    It seemed like I really couldn''t look down on him.


    The third person that he pointed this phone at was¡­


    Reinhold Griner


    Lond Panzers


    Awakener Rank: A (Currently at B Rank)


    Power: Charge


    This wasn''t a guild that I recognized, but the person I did.


    That was because this person became an Awakener, he had been a pro athlete.


    He had yed in the international football league and had been one of the offensive centers on the German team.


    With his Charge ability, he had been able to push through everyone and had been named the MVP for two seasons in a row.


    But in the end, he was recruited as an Awakener.


    In thest interview that he gave as a pro athlete, he had said that he had gotten too bored with ying sports and wanted to try something new.


    It would be a lie to say that I wasn''t his fan since he had the ability that the past me wanted.


    The ability to charge through all opposition like a true hero.


    I was surprised to see him now because I didn''t recognize him at all.


    It seemed that going into the dungeon had really changed Reinhold¡­


    But I was also confused why Alex was showing his information to me.


    With a smile, Alex said, "He''s also someone that I''ve considered having an alliance with. I just wanted to see what you thought about it."


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit excited since I had always wanted to meet him, but then I calmed down and said, "You''re free to try whatever you want."


    I gave a vague answer since I didn''t want to be attached to this.


    Alex just gave a nod before saying, "We''ll see then."


    But he also put the phone down after saying this.


    I raised a brow as I looked at him.


    I just saw him take out another tablet that was bigger than the phone we were using before.


    He didn''t bring it up at first as he looked at me and said, "The ones that I''m about to show you next are the real ones. They are the ones that are favoured to win this entire tournament."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I could see how serious he was.


    So all I gave was a nod in response.

 Chapter 317: Other competitors (4)

    The first one that popped up on the screen was a person that I recognized.


    Tammy Wellen


    Sol Warriors


    Awakener Rank: S (Currently at B Rank)


    Power: Maiden of the Sun


    She was a famous Awakener from Greece.


    Her ability Maiden of the Sun had brought her many followers who worship her as the saintess of the Sun God.


    This was how the people of her country and the people from her guild had advertised her.


    However, the power that came from this ability was worthy of this treatment.


    That was because she was able to turn her entire figure into mes, mes that had the power of the sun itself. With this ability, she could charge into battle as mes and burn anyone that stood in her way.


    So she was someone that many people admired.


    Not to mention, she was also someone that was a future S Ranker since her power was S Rank.


    Once she fully mastered it, she would be the S Ranker that the world expected.


    I never thought that someone this high profile would be in this tournament, but when I thought about it, it seemed right. After all, it had only been a single year since Tammy had arrived on the scene.


    Before this, she had been protected by her parents and wasn''t allowed to be an Awakener.


    It was only when she turned eighteen that she was finally allowed to be one.


    So she definitely qualified as a rookie and could participate in this tournament.


    I looked at Alex and asked, "Does your guild have a close rtionship with her? Can you make her an ally?"


    Alex just looked at me with a smile and asked, "If I did, would I be here?"


    He didn''t hold back at all, but it really wasn''t painful since I knew that this was the truth.


    I just gave a nod and said with a sigh, "Are there any others?"


    Alex gave a nod before flicking with his finger on the tablet.


    When he did, the image on the tablet changed to the profile of another person.


    Ares


    Dawn of the World


    Awakener Rank: S (Currently at B Rank)


    Power: Ares Berserker


    This was a name that I didn''t recognize, even the name of the guild was one that I didn''t recognize.


    So I turned my attention to the description that came with this person.


    As it turned out, Dawn of the World was a small guild that only had a few dozen people, that''s why I had never heard of it before.


    Since this person was from a small guild, naturally he wouldn''t have fame like those from therge guilds.


    But he was a S Ranker, so it was strange that the big guilds would miss someone like this.


    There wasn''t much about this in the information provided, so I looked up at Alex for an exnation.


    He shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "I don''t know much more than this. No one really knows much about him since he suddenly appeared on the scene out of nowhere. No one even knows what kind of guild Dawn of the World is since they''ve always flown under the radar. You could say that he''s the ultimate dark horse for this tournament."


    Then in a more serious voice, he added, "I''ve heard that many guilds are looking to recruit this person and steal them from Dawn of the World."


    I looked at him with a strange look, but he just said with a smile, "We''re not in a position to recruit him now, so that''s why I''m giving you this information."


    I gave a slow nod, but I didn''t do anything with it either.


    If Elementia wanted to recruit this person, they would have already made their move.


    There wouldn''t be anything for me to do other than beating them in this tournament.


    Seeing that I didn''t have anything to add, Alex revealed a serious look and said, "The next one is the most serious one. This is the one that I''m the most worried about."


    Only after making sure that I was aware of this did he flick his finger to change the screen.


    Julius Rothschild


    Rothschild Family


    Awakener Rank: Unknown


    Power: Unknown


    There was no description of this person at all, it was as if this person was aplete mystery.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at Alex and he quickly exined, "Don''t look down on this. The Rothschild Family is not something to take simply."


    I raised a brow in confusion and asked, "What''s so special about the Rothschild Family?"


    This was a family that I had never heard of before.


    Alex was surprised to hear this before shaking his head and saying with a sigh, "The Rothschild Family was a wealthy Jewish banking family in the past before the world changed, but after that¡­they started amassing power through Awakeners. Currently, no one in the world knows just how many assets they have or how many Awakeners they have.


    However, there are spections that say that they are as rich as the Long Family and have as many Awakeners as the Awakener Association itself."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this before slowly asking, "Aren''t these just rumours?"


    Before Alex could say anything, there was a voice that said, "Rumours are rumours, but what will you do if the rumours are true?"


    Both of us were surprised to hear this.


    When we turned in the direction that this voice came from, we found a blonde haired young man with blue eyes and blonde brows sitting there. He looked like a fine porcin doll with this appearance and it even seemed like there was this strange glow to him.


    But we were shocked for a different reason.


    That was because we recognized this person right away.


    In fact, this person''s picture was currently on the tablet that we were looking at.


    This person sitting with us was Julius Rothschild, the young master of the Rothschild Family.

 Chapter 318: Other competitors (5)

    Seeing the two of us acting like this, Julius just raised his hands and said, "Ie in peace. I''m just here for a small talk."


    Both of us looked at him with a wary look before exchanging looks with each other.


    We could both see the doubt and hesitation that was in each other''s eyes.


    After all, even if he had appeared out of nowhere, there was a reason why we had been talking about him before.


    So if he really hade here in peace, then this would be a good chance to talk to this candidate that was considered one of the best in the tournament and broker an alliance with him.


    As well, if they could get some information about him regarding his powers¡­


    Then that would be even more helpful.


    So the two of us slowly sat back down in our chairs, but we made sure to move away from the chair that Julius was sitting in.


    He didn''t seem to mind as he waited for us to settle.


    Only when we had finished shifting our chairs did he finally say, "Then shall we order some stuff first before we talk? I''m actually a little hungry since I rushed over here."


    Both of us once again revealed strange looks when we heard this.


    We looked at him as if we were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    But he just sat there with a smile on his face while he was holding up the menu in front of him. The way that he was looking through the menu seemed like he had already picked out a few things that he wanted and was just waiting to order.


    So Alex stood up with a sigh and said, "What will you have?"


    As he said this, he took out a notepad and a pen. Holding them like this, he stood on the side like a waiter as he waited for Julius to make his order.


    Julius didn''t hesitate at all to pick out several things and then sat back without a care in the world. Even though he said that he was here to talk, he wasn''t talking at all as he just sat there like he was waiting for his food.


    Alex gave a sigh before bringing his orders to the kitchen.


    Even when it was just the two of us, he sat there with a smile on his face without saying a single word to me.


    It was as if he really came here to eat instead of talking.


    When Alex came back, he had a tray in his hand that had a teapot and several cups in them.


    He poured the tea for all three of us and then said, "It''ll take a while for the food toe."


    Julius gave a nod without saying a single word as he just sat there.


    It seemed like he really wasn''t nning on saying anything until he got what he wanted.


    This put the two of us in an awkward situation as we couldn''t really discuss anything while he was here. We still didn''t have a read on Julius, we didn''t know what he was here for and what he was capable of.


    Until we knew where his allegiance was, it wasn''t as if we could talk about things in front of him.


    So there was a very awkward silence that filled the air.


    Ten minutester, the waitress came out with the food, but Alex just had her go back as he took it from her. He took over her job and ced the food out on the table in front of us.


    Before he even finished, Julius had already picked up a te and brought it in front of himself before stuffing his face with the cake that was on the te.


    The way that he ate, it really seemed like he was here to enjoy sweets instead of doing whatever he was here to do.


    But after finishing, he looked at the two of us who were looking at him with strange looks and asked, "What''s wrong? Why aren''t you eating anything? It makes me feel awkward if I''m the only one eating, don''t you know?"


    But neither of us yed along with him and neither of us ate a thing.


    We just stared at him as we waited to see what else he would have to say.


    Seeing us like this, he shook his head and said with a sigh, "And here I thought that we could bond over some nice desserts, but that doesn''t seem like it''s possible."


    I just calmly said, "I don''t like sweet things and there are only sweet things here."


    Alex gave a nod of agreement to this.


    "Oh." Julius said with a surprised look before picking up the menu and saying, "Then should I have gotten some of the bittersweet stuff? Maybe this matcha cake would work for you?"


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before saying with a nod, "Alright, I''ll have that."


    Julius revealed a wide smile before turning to Alex to say, "Then we''ll have to trouble you for an order of the matcha cake."


    Alex''s chin dropped the moment that he heard this.


    He looked at me like I had betrayed him, but I didn''t react at all to this.


    So in the end, he stood up and went back to the kitchen to get this.


    This time, when he left, Julius looked at me and said with a mischievous smile, "I didn''t know that you had this side to you."


    It seemed that the gamble had paid off.


    I figured that stonewalling him wouldn''t do anything, so I chose to y along with him. The only way to y along with an unreasonable person like this was to act as unreasonable as him.


    So I went along with his crazy actions and put everything on Alex.


    As it turned out, it finally got a few words out of him.

 Chapter 319: Other competitors (6)

    However, I couldn''t let my guard down just yet.


    He was opening up a bit, that didn''t mean that he waspletely ready to open up just yet.


    It was like fishing.


    You had to let it run a bit before reeling it in. You would let it tire itself out before pulling in the big fish.


    So I was waiting for Julius toe into my.


    The only response that I gave was a simple nod, which caused another silence.


    After a while, Alex came back with a slice of matcha cake and set it down in front of me.


    Seeing the way that Julius looked at me, I took a bite of that matcha cake and drank some tea before setting the fork down.


    Then we just waited to see what he would do.


    Julius revealed a smile and shook his head before saying, "Alright, you''ve done so much to y along with me. At the very least, I can give you something to show that I''m being sincere."


    With a snap, there was a ding that came from the tablet that Alex had set down earlier.


    He looked at Alex with the same smile and said, "You might want to get that."


    Alex couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    That was because this tablet wasn''t capable of connecting to the. It was a special tablet that contained sensitive information, so it was something that couldn''t be essed remotely.


    The only way that it could be essed was through a physical connection and he could clearly see that this wasn''t the case.


    So how did Julius just suddenly send something to this tablet.


    Alex slowly opened up the two new folders that had been added and he couldn''t help knitting his brows the moment he saw their content.


    I also came over and knitted my brows as well when I saw what was opened.


    It was two more files that had been added on two differentpetitors.


    Both Alex and I looked back up at Julius, waiting for him to exin what this was.


    Julius calmly said while eating, "Well, your database doesn''t seem to be as up to date as you think. It''s not just three people that''s favoured to win, it''s actually five." Then after a pause, he added, "Though I would like to say that in my opinion, it isn''t just five, but actually six."


    As he said this, he turned to look at me with an intentional look.


    I just ignored this as I looked back down at the tablet.


    Alex looked at me for a bit, but he also looked back down at the tablet too.


    Eve Laurent


    Lumiere


    Awakener Rank: A (Current at B Rank)


    Power: Light Emission


    This one didn''t seem like anything special until we read a few things about her.


    She was someone that had also passed the Irregr License Exam like me because her power had been looked down on and she wasn''t allowed to join any guilds.


    The only one that believed in her was her teacher, the S Ranker from Lumiere.


    An Irregr B Ranker that was being taught by a S Ranker¡­there was no doubt that she was hiding some real skills.


    After all, I had seen firsthand what kind of person could pass the Irregr License Exam.


    Someone with a B Rank Irregr License definitely was a threat.


    The second one was¡­


    Dean Martin


    Super Stars


    Awakener Rank: E (Currently at C Rank)


    Power: Power Charging


    This person waspletely different from the rest.


    He wasn''t someone who had a high ranking power and had only be part of arge guild because of the Irregr License Exam.


    But the fact that he was able toe this far with just his will alone was more than impressive enough.


    It was clear that he had the will and imagination to break out of his mold and reach his current position.


    That was more than enough for me since I knew what he had to go through.


    As someone who had to do the same, I knew that he definitely wouldn''t be simple.


    But the key thing was that these two were both holders of the Irregr License.


    I looked at Alex and he calmly said, "I still don''t fully agree with this. Even if they have Irregr Licenses, that doesn''t mean that they were considered forerunners."


    Julius gave a shrug before saying, "It doesn''t matter what you think, all that matters is what our supeputer predicts. Or are you saying that you can calcte odds faster than our supeputer?"


    Alex looked at Julius with narrowed eyes, but he didn''t argue with him in the end.


    Julius didn''t keep up this topic either as he said, "Anyway, I think that you should be able to see my sincerity now. So let''s get to the main topic."


    He didn''t look at Alex and looked at me instead as he said, "Do you want to work with me?"


    Both Alex and I were surprised to hear this.


    Alex was the one that answered first as he said, "Why would you want to work with us?"


    Julius looked at him with a smile before saying, "It''s the same reason why you want to work with him. The C Rank Irregr License."


    Alex knitted his brows and wanted to say something, but Julius cut him off, "I just want you to know that it''s not you that I want to work with but¡­" He turned to look at me before saying, "It''s him."


    He turned back to Alex before saying, "Since you have already formed an alliance with him, I''ll let you tag along. But you should be aware of your own position and learn to be quiet when you should be quiet."


    Alex looked like he was a bit angered by this, but he held his tongue and didn''t say anything.


    Though the way that he looked at me, it was clear that he was advising me against working with Julius.


    But that didn''t matter to me.


    I just looked at Julius and asked, "Why us?"

 Chapter 320: Other competitors (7)

    This time, it was Julius'' turn to be surprised.


    He looked at me with one brow raised, as if he didn''t expect me to suddenly ask this.


    I knew that I had touched on something, so I continued by asking, "Or should I be more specific and ask, why me?"


    Julius wasn''t as surprised this time as he revealed a smile and said, "This friend, don''t you think that you''re being a little too egoistic? Why do you think that this is about you?"


    Though his voice was calm, I could tell that he wasn''t as calm as he seemed on the surface.


    It seemed that I had finally been able to shake this young man''s perfect image.


    I didn''t answer the question and just calmly said back, "Oh, then if it''s a mistake, I don''t think there''s a need to keep discussing this anymore, right?"


    I stood up and was about to leave when Julius suddenly said, "Alright, alright, we can talk this through."


    With this, I turned around with a satisfied smile and sat back down.


    The satisfied smile that I had wasn''t because of my ego¡­though it would be a lie to say that I didn''t feel a bit good about this.


    The real reason for this satisfied smile was because I had finally gotten Julius to fall into my trap.


    With this, the pacing of the discussion would gopletely different.


    Before this, Julius seemed to control the entire pace of the conversation since he was the one that had shown up all of a sudden and acted all unreasonable. We had no choice but to go along with him to see what he wanted.


    So when it came to negotiation power, it was all in his hand rather than being divided evenly between us.


    But now that he had done this, he had to give up the pace a bit and some of the negotiation power since he was forced to reveal his hand.


    It seemed that his target was indeed me.


    Only, what was so special about me that he would want me?


    I might have attracted quite a few women, but I never thought that I would attract a man as well¡­


    No, it shouldn''t be that¡­right?


    When I sat down and this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help looking at Julius with one brow raised.


    Julius also felt very strange when he saw me looking at him like this, so he revealed a look as if he was saying, "Why are you looking at me like this?"


    After sitting down, I looked like I was waiting for him to exin, but Julius just sat there in silence for a bit.


    The look on his face made it seem like he was still trying to decide what he wanted to say.


    Finally, Julius revealed a serious look for the first time and said, "Your ability is Suggestion, right?"


    I was a bit taken aback by this, but I gave a nod.


    This was public knowledge, so it wasn''t as if there was a need to deny this.


    Julius then asked with the same serious look, "How much of an increase can you give to each attribute and how long will itst? Is there anything else that you can do with your ability?"


    I was even more taken aback by this sudden question.


    However, this time I didn''t answer as easily as I said, "Sincerity begets sincerity. Questions should be responded to before more are asked."


    He narrowed his eyes to look at me before saying, "My power is known as The Divine."


    Just the name for now, but it was at least a step forward.


    Hearing this, I gave a nod and said, "I can increase power and speed by a factor of up to ten times since humans only use around 10% of their brain in the first ce. But you should know how dangerous removing limiters is."


    Julius revealed a shocked look when he heard this, but then his eyes lit up.


    At the same time, Alex who had been silently listening also revealed a shocked look.


    Not because he had heard what had been said, but rather because there was something that suddenly cut off the audio for him. It was as if the two of them were in their own isted world and he wasn''t able to hear a single thing.


    Julius then calmed down and said, "My ability allows me to change the world as I please, but it depends on how much mana I have."


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help being shocked when I heard this.


    I understood the words that came out of his mouth, but I really couldn''t imagine what kind of power this was.


    Change the world as he pleased¡­


    Did that mean that he was basically god?


    The Divine, it did sound like something that only god would have.


    Julius saw the look on my face and exined, "It takes a ridiculous amount of mana to do even the simplest things, so it isn''t as if I can do whatever I want. I can only do some small things with my ability without hurting myself. But with your buff powers¡­"


    I was slowly starting to understand why he was so excited, but I couldn''t help reminding him, "There are bacshes to using my power. Your body might not be able to handle the rebound."


    Julius just looked at me with a smile without saying anything.


    But he also reached his hand out towards me and said, "Let''s work together, alright?"


    He didn''t have any seriousness as he asked this.


    It was as if he was a kid that was asking someone to y with him.


    But this hand represented a great opportunity for me.


    The Divine¡­


    This was an insane power that I had never heard of, but I knew that I wanted him for myself when I heard this.


    If I was able to control him, then there was nothing that I couldn''t do in the future.


    It was just a matter of controlling him.


    Would I be able to do it?


    Slowly, I reached my hand upwards and took Julius'' hand.

 Chapter 321: A familiar face

    After the deal was reached, Julius told us a few more things.


    These were things that Alex clearly didn''t know about, even with the information that he had shown me before.


    There was even more detailed information about the three that he had shown me before that Eden didn''t have.


    It seemed that the Rothschild Family''s informationwork really was on apletely different level.


    When we were done, the three of us went our separate ways.


    But before leaving, Jullius made sure toe in front of me and before I could react, he reached his hands around me to give me a hug.


    I waspletely caught off guard by this, but I figured that this was how westerners said goodbye¡­


    At least that was until I heard his voice say, "Even after this tournament, I hope that we will be able to remain friends no matter what happens."


    I looked at him with a surprised look, but there was a very friendly smile that was on his face as he looked at me.


    I really couldn''t tell what he was thinking, but since he had already said and done all of this, the only thing that I could do was¡­


    I slowly gave a nod of agreement.


    Julius'' smile became even wider after hearing this before he finally let me go.


    Alex looked at the two of us with a strange look, but he walked off with a wave of his hand.


    When I went back to my group, the first thing that they asked was, "What happened?"


    I just gave them a general idea of what happened without giving them too much information. After all, this wasn''t the ce to talk about this.


    But before I could even finish exining the situation, there was a sound that suddenly rang out to say, "All contestants, please gather at the arena. We are now preparing to start the tournament."


    This was the talisman that we had been handed previously.


    The one that would tell us when we needed to gather so we could gather in time for the tournament.


    However, it wasn''t just a single talisman that went off.


    Most of the people around us had talismans, so it was quite loud with several of them going off at once.


    Of course, it also revealed that most of the people sitting here were contestants for the tournament. Though most people would already know this just based on the aura that the others released.


    Still, once it was out in the open, it was impossible to avoid it.


    Everyone started to look at each other with narrowed eyes, as if they were sizing each other up.


    But eventually there were some that left.


    With the flow of people that left, we also stood up and went out in the middle of the pack.


    There was one other group that seemed to follow us as we walked out.


    It was the group from the Beijing Tigers, led by the one called Cheng Hui.


    As we walked out together, he suddenly red at me and then walked off with a snort.


    Was this supposed to be his challenge?


    If it was, it really wasn''t that effective since I didn''t feel anything.


    Well, it would be a lie to say that it wasn''t effective at all since the younger members of our group seemed to be provoked by him.


    But I shook my head and stopped them in the end.


    Otherwise, they might have really started a fight right then and there.


    As we were heading to the arena, we could see that there were many people that were gathering.


    It seemed like they were all gathering for the tournament.


    However, it didn''t seem like contestants were the only ones that were gathering.


    It was Long Shui Ling who recognized these people, but it seemed like those that were important members ofrgepanies and organizations were also here.


    It seemed that they were here for one reason.


    They were here to scout out people.


    Though these contestants were mainly from therge guilds, there were some that weren''t. At the same time, even if they were from therge guilds, they could still sign contracts to work with different groups.


    Just like how I had signed a contract to work with the Awakener Guild.


    So it seemed like there was more at stake than I had thought.


    But out of the corner of my eyes, I could have sworn that I saw someone familiar.


    I didn''t know why this person would be here, but I could have sworn that it was someone that I knew¡­


    However, I wasn''t able to find them in the end.


    Bing Lan, who was walking beside me, asked in a concerned voice, "What''s wrong?"


    I slowly looked back and shook my head before saying, "Nothing."


    But there was still a disturbed look on my face.


    ¡­


    In the crowd, Yue Ling couldn''t help looking in a certain direction.


    She had been standing there in a daze as if she had seen something that had shocked her.


    The girl who was beside her suddenly asked, "Young miss, is there a problem?"


    Yue Ling slowly shook her head and said, "No, it was nothing."


    Another man who was also with them said, "Ho, little sister, are you getting nervous now that your engagement is about to be decided? After all that resistance that you put up, you''ve finally agreed to get engaged."


    Yue Ling''s face turned sad when she heard this, but then she said, "As long as they keep their promise, I won''t say anything."


    The man gave a snort before saying, "Still sitting on your high horse. Do you really think that your little boyfriend will be able to do anything to save you?"


    There was a trace of anger that appeared in Yue Ling''s eyes, but then she gave a sigh and walked off without saying a thing.


    The girl who was with her followed her off, but the man just looked at her with a sneer on his face.


    As she walked away, Yue Ling muttered, "Are you alright, now?"

 Chapter 322: Start of the tournament

    When we arrived at the arena, we were immediately brought into a waiting room that had been prepared for us.


    This was a private waiting room as it had our names on it.


    When we walked through the hall, we could see that all of therge guilds and even some of the bigger guilds had received private waiting rooms.


    It seemed that they had gone all out for this tournament.


    As we sat there in the waiting room, we were able to see everything that was happening on stage.


    It was a very fabulous show, worthy of a tournament jointly hosted by all therge guilds.


    There were world ss entertainers that came onto the stage one after another.


    At the end, there were even several S Rankers that came out to say a few words. These were the guild masters of the variousrge guilds.


    Of course, not all the guild masters came.


    S Rankers were busy people in the first ce and they weren''t able to get out of their work that easily. There were many things that needed S Rankers to personally handle, so they didn''t have that much free time.


    The ones that came were more than happy toe since it was a chance to ck off.


    That meant that Bing Lan wasn''t here even though Elementia was one of the sponsors.


    After this entire ceremony, they started introducing the contestants.


    The first contestants that were brought out were the ones that had made it through the general preliminaries.


    It wasn''t just only those from therge guilds that were at this tournament, but also the general public was allowed to enter. As long as they passed the preliminary tests and passed the open qualifiers, they would be allowed to join this main tournament.


    But that meant that the ones that were allowed to join the main tournament were all the cream of the crop.


    They were unaffiliated Awakeners who for some reason hadn''t been discovered by therge guilds yet.


    After they established their fame at this tournament, there was no doubt that they would be invited to join therge guilds.


    So this was not only an opportunity for them, but also an opportunity for therge guilds to find some more talents.


    After they were introduced, it was finally time to bring out the seeded contestants from therge guilds andrge organizations.


    We were called out in the middle of the pack.


    When we arrived on stage, we were immediately met with cheers just because of the fact that we were from Elementia.


    But in a certain corner of the crowd¡­


    "It really is him¡­How could it be him?" Yue Ling said in a shocked voice.


    The girl who was beside her noticed this, but she could see the way that the other members of their group were looking at Yue Ling. So she quickly patted Yue Ling on the arm to get her to calm down.


    Yue Ling didn''t react at first, but then she slowly calmed down and revealed an indifferent look.


    But the damage had already been done.


    "Check that kid. See what happened in the past few months."


    On the stage, we walked to our designated location and then stood there waiting for the tournament to start.


    Standing beside us was Alex and the group from Eden on one side and Julius and the group from the Rothschild Family on the other.


    I knew about Alex since he hade out before us, but I was surprised about Julius since he came out right after us.


    Even Alex seemed surprised by this.


    It seemed that he had used his influence to change his spot so that he would be called up after us.


    As we stood there, Julius just looked at me with a wide smile and said, "What a coincidence."


    Both Alex and I revealed bitter smiles, but we didn''t say anything as we waited for the host to finish all of their introductions.


    From time to time, I could feel that there were some unkind gazes that came in our direction.


    They weren''t exactly filled with hostility, but it was clear that they weren''t filled with kindness towards us either.


    After a long time, the host finally finished introducing everyone.


    Just this alone was enough to take an hour with how many different people had to be introduced. Though if they didn''t spend a few minutes for each person just introducing them, then it might not have been as long.


    But this was something that had to be done to build prestige I guess.


    After it was all done, I was surprised to hear that we were jumping right into it.


    "Now that everyone has been introduced, let me introduce the first round." The host gestured and there was a screen that came down.


    Once the screen fully came down, there was a set of rules that appeared on it.


    At the same time, there was what seemed to be a scoreboard that appeared on the side.


    To my surprise, I found that I was one of the few that was put on the scoreboard.


    The others were¡­the ones that were favoured to win this whole tournament.


    Was I one of the favoured ones as well?


    Why did I never hear about this?


    The host continued by saying, "Since our contestants are all Awakeners, naturally we will test them in the one environment that Awakeners are known for. Our first round will be a dungeon dive."


    As soon as his voice fell, there was a portal that suddenly appeared on stage with him.


    None of us were really surprised by the fact that it was a dungeon for the first round, but we were surprised to see this portal appear out of nowhere.


    None of us seemed to expect this portal to suddenly appear like this. At the same time, it was clear that we could all sense the strange sensation that wasing from this portal.


    It seemed that whatever this was, it definitely wasn''t normal.

 Chapter 323: First round (1)

    The host didn''t even react when the portal appeared.


    He just kept going as if the portal appearing here was a normal thing.


    "Your objective will be to earn points in the dungeon. The ones that earn the most points will be rewarded in the next round. The ones that don''t earn enough points¡­" His eyes turned sharp and his voice turned dark as he said, "You won''t make it to the next round."


    Then his voice went back to the happy tone that it had before as he said, "I hope that all of you will do your best and won''t leave any regrets."


    The host turned to look at the screen that had the rules on them and said, "The ways to earn points are all written on the board, so look carefully and remember them."


    Then he turned once more to the contestants to say, "Of course, you''re free to work with each other and against each other. You''re even free to go on a massacre if you''re so inclined to."


    This time, many of the contestants couldn''t help reacting.


    Was he basically telling us to risk our lives for this tournament?


    We had never heard anything about this¡­


    But the host didn''t give any time for us to think about this as he said, "Let the first round begin."


    Then without waiting for any of us to react, he suddenly walked through the portal and disappeared.


    All of us couldn''t help just staring at the portal in a daze, as if we were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    But since the host had disappeared and there was nothing else that happened, there were some people that couldn''t take it anymore.


    These people didn''t hesitate to go forward and enter into the portal.


    As soon as they walked through the portal, they disappeared along with the host.


    There were some people that were hesitating and there were some that were wavering.


    I was on the side that was still hesitating.


    But when I looked at the clock, I found that it was just past noon.


    In fact, judging by how much time had passed, the host had timed it perfectly so that the portal appeared at noon.


    Was it all a coincidence or was it¡­?


    It seemed that the longer that we wasted here, the worse it would be for us.


    So I waved my hand at my group and started moving towards the portal.


    When they saw us move, Alex and Julius'' group also started moving.


    The two of them came up to walk beside me and looked at me with smiles before turning to look at the portal.


    We walked up together and stood there in front of the portal for a bit.


    Then I said, "Hold hands, we don''t know if it''ll separate us."


    Everyone was surprised, but there was a mad scramble for my hand in the end.


    There were three of them that wanted it and there were only two hands, so they fought over who would take it.


    In the end, it was Long Shui Ling and Bing Xin who won.


    Even if ire had be stronger, she couldn''tpare to the two of them.


    The rest of our group just grabbed hands and lined up behind me, waiting for me to go into the portal first.


    Seeing that we were ready, I gave them a nod before walking forward into the portal.


    I could feel space distorting around me as I walked into the portal and when it stopped, I found that I was in apletely different ce. Though I wasn''t surprised that I was in apletely different ce since that was what the portal was for.


    What I was surprised by was that this ce was in the middle of the forest.


    Looking around, I could see that there were the people who had entered the portal before us standing there.


    I could also see the host from before standing there, but he wasn''t saying a single thing. He was just standing therepletely still, almost as if he was a statue instead of a person.


    Even if the people around him were saying things to him, he didn''t seem to react at all.


    It really seemed like he was a NPC from a game instead of an actual person.


    This seemed to be a dungeon of some sort, so at the very least, I knew that we were in the right ce.


    However, there were still questions that I had about this.


    How were they supposed to keep track of our points?


    The rules said that we would be able to get points from killing monsters or stealing them from other contestants, but it didn''t say how those points were recorded.


    I wanted to think about more things, but there were more peopleing out of the portal, so we had to move out of the way.


    It was Alex''s group that came after our group came in.


    When they saw us, they immediately came over and grouped up with us.


    I could also see that there were others that had grouped up together during this, so it seemed like we weren''t the only ones that had formed an alliance.


    Alex also looked around during this time.


    It seemed that he was trying to figure out what the situation was, just like I was doing.


    When Julius'' group came out, they also came over to me.


    However, Julius didn''t look around and just asked, "What are you guys doing? Let''s go and find some monsters to kill."


    Both Alex and I were surprised to hear this, but I couldn''t help asking, "Do you know if there''s anything that we need to get to record the points that we get? They didn''t give us any equipment at all."


    Julius looked at me with a raised brow as if he was trying to figure out if I was being serious or not.


    Seeing that I was serious, he shook his head and said, "Didn''t they give us tokens to register us as contestants? That''s what those are for."


    I suddenly remembered what he was talking about.


    Right, they had given us tokens earlier when we had been shown to our rooms.


    So that was what it was for.


    Then if that was the case, we should head into the forest while we could.


    After all, there was a twenty four hour limit to being in this dungeon.


    That was our limit to collect as many points as we could.

 Chapter 324: First round (2)

    Alex and Julius'' team followed close behind as we headed off into the forest.


    We didn''t need to go that far out to find our first group of monsters.


    It seemed that there were many different monsters that were wandering around in this forest, one just needed to take a few steps to find a group to fight.


    The one that we ran into was a group of goblins.


    Goblins were monsters that were hard for weaker Awakeners to deal with, but for people like us¡­they were nothing more than cannon fodder.


    It really was interesting to think about it.


    In the past, I never would have thought about fighting goblins, but now I could take care of them without even a single worry.


    I had really grown quite a bit from being the one that was bullied before.


    This group of goblins was rather big, so Julius made a suggestion.


    "How about we split them up into three groups and fight them separately?"


    Both Alex and I knitted our brows slightly when we heard this before Alex asked, "Are you worried about the point split? Can''t we just decide after defeating them? It''s not hard for us to hold ourselves back to not kill them all."


    Julius raised a finger and wagged it before saying, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, of course not. Do you really think of me as such a shallow person?"


    Both of us raised a brow to look at him.


    The way that we looked at him, it was almost as if we were saying, "You aren''t?"


    Julius revealed an aggrieved look before saying, "Let''s get to know each other first. The best way for that is to see what each of us are capable of, right?"


    Alex and I looked at each other before turning back to look at Julius and giving slow nods.


    When he said this, we understood what he was trying to say.


    He wanted to let our groups take care of them separately so we could see what each other were capable of.


    Even if we had information on each other, there was nothing better than seeing us use our abilities firsthand. There would be things that we would be able to learn about each other from seeing us use our abilities.


    In the future, it would make it easier for us to coordinate with each other if we knew what we were capable of doing.


    So his suggestion was actually quite a good one.


    Like this, we split up into three groups and we would all be responsible for fighting a group of goblins.


    Splitting them up was very easy since they were dumb goblins.


    Just two arrows from ire was more than enough to split them up.


    The noise created by these two arrows caused the goblins to stop before splitting up into three groups. One main group that would be responsible for defending if anything went wrong and two side groups that would be in charge of exploring what made those two sounds.


    Now it was up to us to decide who we would face.


    Julius was the first one to charge out with his group. While running forward, he suddenly said, "To the early bird goes the worm."


    The group that he charged at was the main group of goblins.


    This was the group that had the strongest goblins, so in a sense they could be considered a prize. But at the same time, it meant that they would be harder to deal with.


    They were harder to deal with since these goblins were stronger, but they were a prize because the stronger goblins would certainly be worth more points.


    I exchanged a look with Alex when we saw this and then we both gave sighs before heading in different directions.


    Since he had already picked the main group, it really didn''t matter which one we took since they had an equal number of goblins in them.


    So we both went to take care of our own group of goblins, while also making sure to see what the others were doing.


    The group of goblins that we chose was the one that went left.


    This was a small group of around ten goblins and no elite varieties, so it wouldn''t take long for us to take care of them. But the point of this was to demonstrate our powers, so we had to make a show of it.


    I held back and let the others take care of it since I didn''t want to show all my cards.


    While it was good to share what you were capable of, there were some things that I wanted to keep hidden.


    I also made sure that Bing Lan and Long Shui Ling stayed back as well.


    Their powers could be considered trump cards just in case anything bad happened.


    Luckily, the other members didn''t mind since they thought that this was their chance to show off.


    So they didn''t hesitate to use their shy attacks.


    Especially ze and Kaito.


    The two of them had been training together and they had gotten better atbining their mes together to use special attacks.


    Though I could see the re that Qin Yue Ru shot at them from time to time¡­


    It almost looked like she was looking at a love rival when she red at Kaito like this¡­


    But they were both men, it wasn''t as if anything was going to happen between them.


    They were just good friends, but there was nothing that you could say to a girl who was in love.


    The others also showed how much their training paid off with their different skills and I had to admit that I was impressed.


    It was clear that all of them had been working hard in the time period leading up to the tournament.


    As their leader, I was naturally proud of them.


    But for now, my attention wasn''t on them.


    Instead, my attention went to Alex and Julius'' group in the distance.

 Chapter 325: First round (3)

    The first one that I saw was Alex''s group.


    Alex himself didn''t do much other than shoot a few bolts of lightning from time to time.


    Instead, he left most of the work to his team members.


    These were the other contestants that hade from Eden, ones that I hadn''t spoken to before.


    But the moment that I saw their abilities, I knew why they were chosen for this.


    There wasn''t a single person that was chosen toe to this tournament who was weak. All of them had powerful abilities and skills that allowed them to make full use of said abilities, or they wouldn''t have been chosen.


    There were a total of five people in the Eden team other than Alex.


    Two of them had water based abilities, one of them had a sand based ability, and the other two seemed to have some kind of neutral ability, so I wasn''t really able to see what effects they had.


    The two with the water abilities were the main attackers for this group.


    They controlled water at such a fine level that they were able to make sharp needles out of water and use those to kill the goblins that they were facing.


    The one with the sand ability seemed like they were mainly using it to provide cover for the ones that were using the water abilities.


    As for the ones that had neutral abilities, they both used bows to snipe from afar.


    After running around for a bit, they all suddenly moved away from the group of goblins that were remaining.


    The goblins didn''t chase since they had been pushed back by them in the first ce. They wouldn''t have been able to chase even if they wanted to since their numbers had already been cut in half.


    But they didn''t seem to notice the real problem.


    They were all covered in water and there was a puddle of water that was at their feet.


    Alex waited until his people had moved away before raising his hand to gather some electricity.


    When the goblins realized what was happening, it was already toote since they were being shocked by the lightning bolt that Alex had shot out.


    The water conducted that electricity and fried all of the goblins that were covered in the water.


    It seemed that Alex''s group really had a goodposition.


    The two water users worked well with him, providing him with the medium to maximize the power of his lightning ability.


    Though when I thought about it, their synchronization with our team was actually quite bad since we had two fire ability users.


    You could say that it was literally trying to mix fire and water, it would never work.


    Still, at least knowing this was better than not knowing it.


    After they finished taking care of the goblins, I turned my attention over to Julius'' group.


    Julius'' group had run out first, but they hadn''t started fighting their goblin group yet.


    The goblins had taken a defensive position seeing Julius'' grouping over and had waited to attack. But Julius had stopped his group from attacking in the end and had just waited to see how the goblins would react.


    After the goblins saw that both my group and Alex''s group had taken care of the other two goblin groups, they could no longer stay still.


    They had been waiting since they had thought that they would be able to count on these two goblin groups for support. But now that they had all been wiped out, it was just them left and they had no choice but to fight.


    So the start of the battle came when the goblin shaman raised its staff to release a fireball.


    This fireball flew right at Julius'' group.


    During this time, the two goblin riders went in separate directions to nk Julius'' group while the rest of them charged forward, following behind the fireball.


    The fireball didn''t make it to Julius'' group as one of them suddenly raised their hand and a barrier appeared.


    After that, the barrier became wider and wider until itpletely covered them.


    All of the goblins that charged at them mmed into this barrier and weren''t able to break through it.


    But the worst part for the goblins was that the barrier had rebounded the force of their attacks, knocking them back. This had pushed them all off guard and they weren''t able to do anything as Julius'' group suddenly came forward.


    It seemed that all of them were trained in weapons as they all pulled out a weapon to cut down a goblin each.


    There were a total of ten people in Julius'' group including him, so each of them cutting down the goblin in front of them had cut the goblins down by quite a bit.


    There had been fifty goblins in the first ce, with ten going left and ten going right.


    This had cut the goblin group''s numbers down by half.


    And that wasn''t all.


    Since the goblins had charged forward, they had left the goblin shaman open.


    All Julius had to do was raise his finger and then shoot out a bullet of mana at the goblin shaman.


    That goblin shaman wasn''t able to resist that mana bullet at all as it pierced through its head and the goblin shaman dropped to the ground.


    Just like this, the rest of the goblins lost all that they could rely on and were cut down by the Julius'' group.


    They didn''t even have to show their powers other than the barrier power.


    Seeing the way that we looked at him, Julius just gave a shrug and said, "It seems like they were just too weak for us to demonstrate our powers."


    Both Alex and I shook our heads when we heard this.


    It seemed like there was a reason why Julius was known as one of the top contenders.


    But at the same time, we realized that we shouldn''t look down on the members of his group.


    It seemed that all of them were skilled individuals in their own rights.

 Chapter 326 First round (4)

    When it was all over, Julius came over with a wide smile on his face and said, "Well, what do you think?"


    I really didn''t know what to say in response to this since there was nothing that I could really say.


    We didn''t see much of their powers since they were so effective in dealing with the goblins, so there wasn''t much that I could say even if I wanted to.


    All I could do was give a thumbs up and say, "Good job."


    Julius'' smile became wider when he heard this and he gave a happy nod.


    With this, we at least had some idea of what each of us were capable of. So when the time came, we would be able to work together to a certain extent.


    Once those goblins were taken care of, it was time to n out our next move.


    But there really wasn''t any nning since all of us already had the same idea of what to do.


    Bosses.


    That was the only right answer in this situation.


    We had to go and find some bosses to take down since that was the best way to earn points.


    Though we had no idea just how many points each of the monsters that we found were worth, there was no doubt in our mind that all of the monsters added up wouldn''t be enough topare to the points that came from the bosses.


    The field bosses and the dungeon boss, all of theserge value targets were the ones that we would be looking for.


    But the only question was how to find them.


    In the end, the only real answer to this was brute force.


    We would just use tracking to see if we could find groups of monsters and then use those monsters to see if we could find the bosses.


    With that decided, we set off to find our targets.


    It wasn''t a good n, but it did pay off rather quickly.


    After all, we found another group of goblins and followed them back to a camp.


    We could feel the powerful aura that wasing from the camp, so we knew that there was a powerful monster that was inside of that camp.


    As we stood outside the camp, we had to decide how we would assault it.


    "Hit it head on."


    To my surprise, this was the suggestion that came from both Julius and Alex.


    It seemed that both of them didn''t think that we would have a problem taking down this goblin camp, so they didn''t hesitate to suggest attacking it head on.


    Though I didn''t really think the same.


    I was more of a cautious person and didn''t look down on even goblins, so I wanted to take a more tactical approach to this.


    However, there was nothing that I could say since they technically outvoted me.


    All of us were allies and we each had an equal say in the decision.


    With the two of them voting against me, it was two against one.


    So in the end, we decided to attack it head on.


    We didn''t even bother splitting into groups for this.


    The one that led the attack was ze and Kaito who createdrge fireballs that they threw into the camp.


    Theserge fireballs exploded in the center of the camp, setting it aze.


    The moment that the fireball set the camp aze, there were goblins that came out of the woodworks. They didn''t hesitate to run off in every direction, but they soon quickly gathered to see who was attacking them.


    That was because there was a roar that suddenly rang out through the camp.


    This roar suppressed all of the goblins that were running off and they quickly gathered in front of their burning camp.


    Then out of the center of the camp came a goblin that was muchrger than the others.


    When we saw this goblin, I immediately recognized it.


    It was a Goblin General.


    Both Alex and Julius seemed excited to see this, but I couldn''t feel the same way.


    After all, I felt that it was almost too easy how we pulled this Goblin General out.


    Stay connected with empire


    It almost seemed like there was some kind of trap.


    But in the end, it seemed like I was proven wrong.


    I just watched as the two of them fought the Goblin General, while also taking a few goblins for myself.


    I needed the points after all since I really hadn''t killed many monsters sinceing into this dungeon.


    The two of them were more than a match for the Goblin General.


    It almost made one feel sorry for the Goblin General with the way that it was abused.


    It was hit by lightning bolt after lightning bolt and during all of this, it was being pelted with mana bullets.


    These attacks just kept pushing it back, without giving the Goblin General a single chance to fight back. It couldn''t even approach them with how much these attacks pushed it back.


    So it was just passively defending and waiting for a chance to fight back.


    But just like this, it was beaten down by Julius and Alex until it couldn''t do anything.


    What finished it off was a bolt of lightning thatpletely filled its body with electricity and stopped its breathing.


    Though Julius was unhappy that he had the kill stolen from him, he knew that this was just how they had decided to share the points. It was whoevernded thest kill who would get the points.


    So he couldn''t get angry at all.


    When it was over, all of the goblins scattered, but everyone was ready for this as they had surrounded the goblins.


    It took us no time at all to take them all down and the entire camp was wiped out.


    During this whole time, I had been waiting for something else to happen since that was what I was used to.


    But nothing happened at all.


    In the end, it seemed like I had been thinking too much¡­

 Chapter 327 First round (5)

    When it was all over, everyone just picked up the items that dropped.


    Since we were in a dungeon, the monsters all dropped items when they were defeated.


    We had left the items from before because they were normal goblins, but not this time. This was a goblin camp, so the drops that came from this ce were much better than drops from normal goblins.


    After picking them up, we were about to decide where to go next.


    But then we heard a cry.


    "Stop it! Why are you doing this?"


    It was clear that this was a human voice.


    Julius and Alex immediately looked over at me and I just gave a nod.


    Then our groups headed off without any hesitation.


    We went in the direction of the voice, but we made sure to hide ourselves as well as we could.


    My group was covered in Long Shui Ling''s illusions.


    Julius'' group was covered in a barrier that seemed to make them blend into the background.


    And Alex''s group was covered in a dome of water that refracted the light shining on them to make them invisible.


    We quickly found the source of this voice.


    It was a group that was currently being besieged by another group.


    As for who they were, they were all humans.


    They were all contestants that were also participating in this tournament.


    It was clear that the group that was surrounding the other group was attacking them.


    None of us were surprised to see this since we had already expected something like this to happen. Even the host had clearly stated that this kind of thing was epted and it was clearly written on the rules that one could get points from other contestants.


    It was just that we never thought that it would be happening so early.


    It was only half an hour since this first stage had begun. Continue your story on empire


    It didn''t seem like enough time for people to gather points, so it seemed pointless to attack people now.


    But there were still people too dumb to realize that I guess.


    When we came closer, we were surprised to find that it was a group that we recognized.


    It was Cheng Hui and the group from the Beijing Tigers.


    They were the ones that had surrounded this group of people who seemed to be unaffiliated Awakeners.


    The group of unaffiliated Awakeners seemed like they were in a very bad position right now.


    One of them was even missing an arm, which they were now holding in their other hand.


    It seemed that the fighting had been quite intense before we arrived.


    As they stood there facing each other, one of the unaffiliated Awakeners shouted, "Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking us when there''s no grudges between us?"


    Cheng Hui and the rest of his group suddenly beganughing when they heard this.


    Afterughing for a bit, Cheng Hui said with a nod, "Indeed, there''s no grudge between us."


    The unaffiliated Awakeners couldn''t help revealing a confused look.


    It seemed that this was the first time that Cheng Hui had actually responded to them, so they were naturally caught off guard by this.


    But then the one who had spoken before couldn''t help asking, "Then why are you doing this if there is no grudge between us?"


    Cheng Hui looked at him with a wide smile and said, "Why does there have to be a grudge for us to attack you? Maybe we''re doing it just for the points?"


    The unaffiliated Awakeners immediately knitted their brows when they heard this before their representative said, "You''ve been following us from the beginning, you should know that we don''t have any points."


    Cheng Hui gave a shrug and said, "Does it really matter? Just the chance that you have points is enough for me."


    Looks of disbelief appeared on the faces of the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    They never thought that someone would be this unreasonable, but here was Cheng Hui acting this way in front of them.


    The representative of the unaffiliated Awakeners couldn''t help shouting, "How could you be this unreasonable? You''re representatives of arge guild and you''re acting this way? Isn''t this letting down the fame of your guild?"


    Cheng Hui gave anotherugh before his face turned cold and said, "Are you ndering our guild? Do you understand the consequences of these actions?"


    The other members of the Beijing Tigers group all suddenly had cold looks on their faces as well as they looked at the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    The unaffiliated Awakeners immediately felt the pressure that came from their group when their faces all turned cold.


    The representative quickly said, "No, no, we weren''t ndering your guild."


    But Cheng Hui wouldn''t listen to them anymore as he said, "For ndering our guild, the only fate left for you is death."


    As soon as he said this, the members of his group started attacking again.


    The unaffiliated Awakeners did their best to block these attacks, but they were pushed back even further.


    It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before they were crushed by Cheng Hui''s group.


    As we stood there watching, we saw all of this.


    As Cheng Hui''s group attacked, Julius and Alex both looked at me as if they were asking what I thought about this.


    I shook my head as if saying that I didn''t know what to do either.


    Our three groups just stood there watching this, but I was slowly thinking about doing something.


    Seeing them bully the unaffiliated Awakeners like this, there was a feeling that was rising inside of me.


    But I could justify it since they were enemies of Elementia in the first ce.


    If we were to take them out now¡­it would actually be good for us¡­


    So I was very tempted to just take them out here.


    Julius and Alex could see this, so they looked at me with looks like they were saying, "We''re behind you if you do this."


    In the end, I gave a nod and we made our move.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 328 First round (6)

    No one saw us as we came forward and we were able to take positions around their groups.


    They were just too focused on each other that they didn''t notice anything around them.


    Judging by the looks on the faces of the group from the Beijing Tigers, it was clear that they were enjoying this. It was as if they were enjoying the feeling of suppressing someone like this.


    But I could tell that it wasn''t just that.


    From time to time, I could hear a few whispers.


    "How dare you guildless trash dare think that you''re on the same level as us?"


    "You think that just because you have a bit of power, you can be on the same level as us?"


    "In your dreams!"


    It didn''t seem like an inferiorityplex since they were technically of higher status than these unaffiliated Awakeners.


    So it just seemed like they disliked unaffiliated Awakeners for some reason.


    It was hard to figure out just why they felt this way and I wasn''t really interested in them.


    After all, they were my enemies.


    There was no need for me to really understand what these enemies were thinking.


    Once we were all in position, there was no time to waste.


    With a nod to Long Shui Ling, there was a mist that suddenly appeared.


    When Cheng Hui''s team noticed this mist, they immediately stopped attacking the unaffiliated Awakeners and formed up together. The speed at which they came together really wasn''t normal.


    Even if they were terrible people, it seemed like they had trained properly.


    So that was one thing that could be considered admirable when it came to this group.


    But they were still enemies.


    Using the cover of this mist, the unaffiliated Awakeners were brought away by Qin Yue Ru, some members of Kaito''s group, and a few of Julius'' men.


    Once they were safe, we made our move on Cheng Hui''s group.


    ¡­


    "What''s going on here?" Cheng Hui said in an angry voice.


    But the members of his group weren''t able to say anything since they had no idea what was happening either.


    This mist had suddenly appeared and cut them off from the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    It was almost so thick that they weren''t able to see each other anymore.


    If they didn''t group up, it was certain that they would have lost each other.


    But just where did this miste from?


    Cheng Hui looked at one of the members of his group and that person nodded before letting out a breath.


    When that breath came out, there was another mist that suddenly filled the air that pushed out the mist around them.


    This was a purple mist that was different from the white mist that had appeared.


    With this purple mist around them, it was as if they had gained a barrier against that white mist.


    But that white mist was still very thick around them.


    Not a single one of them dared to move from where they were standing since they knew that there must be a reason why this white mist had appeared. So if they did move, there was no doubt that they would fall into some kind of trap.


    But what should they do now?


    It wasn''t as if they could just remain here forever.


    Cheng Hui bit his lip for a bit before saying, "Group up, we''re charging out."


    The other members of his group had surprised looks on their faces, but they nodded in agreement in the end.


    Then all of them came together and gathered their mana as they wanted to use their skills to charge out.


    They were prepared just in case anything happened, but it didn''t seem like there was anything that was going to stop them.


    There was ayer of lightning, ayer of fire, and ayer of rocks that formed in front of them.


    Once theseyers of energy formed, they immediately started charging forward with it as a shield.


    With these shields in front of them, they were able to move unimpeded for a few meters.


    But right when they were about to let their guards down¡­they suddenly hit something.


    They were able to react in time, but they found that this thing that they hit was not something that they could resist. It was a barrier that had suddenly appeared in the mist that shattered all of the attacks that they had gathered in front of them.


    If it wasn''t for the attacks, then they might have smashed into the barrier themselves and hurt themselves like that.


    But thanks to these attacks taking the brunt of it, they weren''t injured at all.


    After that, they immediately gathered more attacks to throw at the barrier.


    They didn''t know what this barrier was, but they were certain that whoever put it there wasn''t someone friendly.


    Since that was the case, there was no reason for them to hold back.


    They all used their different attacks to hit the barrier, but they were shocked to find that the barrier didn''t seem to take any damage at all.


    It was as if the barrier didn''t even exist as their attacks had gone right through it.


    But they didn''t have time to remain shocked as balls of fire suddenly rained down on them.


    They used different attacks to block these balls of fire, but they found that there were also some balls of fire that seemed to be fake.


    "Illusions." Cheng Hui suddenly said out loud.


    When he did, all of them suddenly realized what was happening.


    There was a skilled illusionist that was on the other side that was using illusions to make fake attacks and fake barriers. It was all a ploy to make them waste even more energy so that they would be easier to take down.


    Cheng Hui was about to say something, but before he could¡­


    There was a shock that suddenly came over them before any of them could react.


    They found that there was ayer of water that was at their feet and this was what was carrying the electricity to them.

 Chapter 329 First round (7)

    As the electricity coursed up through their bodies, they found that they weren''t able to resist at all.


    The power of this electricity was just too much for them and they all fell down.


    Some of Cheng Hui''s group weren''t even able to move anymore after being electrocuted like this.


    It was only Cheng Hui and one more member that was still able to move after this.


    But it didn''t take long before they were hit with another wave of attacks that knocked them to the ground.


    After being hit by this second wave of attacks, they justid there without being able to move a muscle.


    Once they were restrained like this, the white mist around them started to fade.


    When it faded, there were a few figures that were revealed to be standing there in front of them.


    Cheng Hui narrowed his eyes to look carefully at the figures before suddenly revealing a look of recognition. That look of recognition quickly disappeared from his face as he revealed a hostile look and said, "It''s you? Why is it you?"


    ¡­


    I was surprised by how smoothly it went.


    With the mist that Long Shui Ling created, we were able to lure them into the area that we had prepared for them.


    Then with the barrier, we were able to stall them until everything was set up.


    When they were electrocuted by Alex''s lightning, I couldn''t help being surprised by how smoothly everything went.


    When it was all over, we released the mist and came forward to confront Cheng Hui''s group.


    As soon as the mist cleared and we revealed ourselves, Cheng Hui immediately recognized us.


    "It''s you? Why is it you?"


    That was what he said the moment that he saw that it was us.


    I didn''t answer this and just looked at Cheng Hui with narrowed eyes.


    Seeing that I didn''t answer him, Cheng Hui then shouted, "How dare you attack us in such an underhanded method? Do you not have any shame?"


    Hearing this, I really couldn''t stop myself from giving a coldugh.


    Someone like him was saying that I had no shame?


    After all, I was watching when his group was tormenting the group of unaffiliated Awakeners just now. The way that they made sure to keep them alive as long as possible, just so they could inflict as much damage as they could on them¡­


    That was more shameless than anything we could have done.


    Seeing that I wasughing at him, Cheng Hui immediately roared out in an angry voice, "What are youughing at? You dareugh at me?"


    I shook my head when I heard his angry outburst.


    It seemed that I had overestimated this person.


    I had thought that he was a sly and shrewd person when I saw him sitting near our group back at the cafe. But now it seemed like he was nothing more than an impulsive person who didn''t really think things through.


    Wasting my time with someone like this wasn''t worth it.


    But there was one thing that I did ask.


    Earlier I didn''t care about that since I was still trying to figure out how to take down Cheng Hui''s group.


    But now that they had been taken down, I couldn''t help feeling curious.


    "Why did you target these unaffiliated Awakeners? They shouldn''t have enough points for you to care about this kind of thing."


    Cheng Hui looked at me with narrowed eyes when he heard this before asking back, "Why do you even care about them?"


    From this, Cheng Hui was able to tell that they had been watching them the entire time.


    I didn''t say anything as I narrowed my eyes to look at him, but then I raised my sword and said, "I guess it doesn''t matter then."


    Cheng Hui''s eyes opened wide when he heard this as he clearly didn''t expect me to do this.


    He quickly said, "What are you doing? Do you actually dare do that? Do you know who I am?"


    I just had an uncaring look on my face as I walked towards him lying there on the ground.


    Cheng Hui''s face twisted a bit and looked quite ugly as he said, "Wait, stop, don''t do it. I''ll answer your question."


    When he said this, I stopped and waited to see what he had to say.


    Cheng Hui looked at me with eyes that were filled with hatred, but he still said, "Why do you care what happens to those pieces of trash? They''re just dark skinned monkeys that eat fried chicken and r*pe women all day. Are they worth protecting?"


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help being caught off guard when I heard this.


    I looked at the other members of Cheng Hui''s group and saw that they all had the same looks on their faces.


    The representative of the group of unaffiliated Awakeners was a ck man, same with the one that had lost an arm.


    I never thought that this would be their reason for attacking them¡­


    It was just simply racism¡­


    This group really wasn''t anything good, they were all trash it seemed.


    But I should have known that already by how they were acting before.


    It seemed like there was no reason to leave them alive anymore, they would just cause more harm than good if I spared them.


    I turned to look at Julius and Alex and both of them nodded to show that they agreed with what I was about to do.


    So I raised my sword again without a word and brought it over Cheng Hui''s group.


    This caused them to all reveal looks of shock and panic.


    Cheng Hui gritted his teeth and said, "You''re actually protecting those ck monkeys! I swear that if I get back, I''ll expose you as the monkey lover that you are!"


    I shook my head with a sigh before bringing the sword down.


    Even in theirst moments, Cheng Hui''s group couldn''t believe that I would actually do it.


    Their eyes were filled with shock as their heads rolled on the ground.

 Chapter 330 First round (8)

    Once they had been taken care of, we quickly searched their bodies for their tokens.


    We had no idea how the point transfer worked, so we wanted to see if there was some kind of way to do it with the tokens since they were the one that recorded points.


    As for how to divide the tokens, there were six members of Cheng Hui''s group in the first ce, so we decided to give two to each of our groups.


    I received the one from Cheng Hui and the person who had released the purple mist.


    Then when it came to how we would divide it among our group, they all decided to give the points to me.


    So I held those two tokens in my hand, trying to figure out what to do with them.


    It was only after a while that I thought about taking my own token out to ce beside these two tokens that we took.


    When my token was ced beside these tokens, there was a glow that suddenly appeared.


    There were numbers that appeared above these two tokens.


    If I had to guess, this was most likely the score that we received in this round.


    But those numbers quickly changed.


    The numbers that were above the two tokens started to decrease while the number that was above my token started to increase.


    When it was over, the number from the two tokens had been added to my total.


    It seemed that this was the way to steal points from other contestants.


    Seeing what happened, Julius and Alex quickly did the same with the tokens that they received. Though, they didn''t receive as much as I did from the two tokens that I had.


    It seemed that Cheng Hui''s group had funneled most of their points to Cheng Hui and the person who used the purple mist. So most of the points had gone to me while they barely received anything.


    Still, they didn''tin since that was just how it was.


    It was a matter of luck to see who would receive the most points and they weren''t lucky enough to receive the points.


    They could only me their bad luck for not picking the right ones.


    After we finished transferring the points, we went back to where Qin Yue Ru was with the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    When they saw use over, they immediately raised their guards.


    However, Qin Yue Ru quickly calmed them down and they rxed enough to let us approach.


    Aftering over, I asked the leader of the group, "When did they attack you?"


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    The leader thought about it and said, "It was a few minutes after we came in, they already started chasing after us."


    I gave a nod to show that I understood, but I didn''t say anything else.


    After all, I knew the reason why they had been chasing them in the first ce.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, the leader of the group couldn''t help looking worried.


    It was as if he thought that I was debating whether I should take care of them or not.


    In reality, I was just thinking about how to send them off.


    I didn''t want to ruin the rtionship between us since I figured that I could use them in the future, so I couldn''t just tell them that they were free to leave. It would create distrust in them that would make it harder for us to work together in the future.


    But there really wasn''t anything that I could take from them¡­


    In the end, it was the leader of the group who gave me a solution as he said, "Um, thank you for saving us. If you don''t mind, would you like some information that we received as repayment for saving us?"


    My eyes lit up when I heard this and I quickly gave a nod in response.


    The leader of the group let out a sigh of relief and patted his chest before saying, "I heard from a friend that there were several groups that were gathering not far from here. It seems that they''ve found a powerful boss, so they are gathering different groups to fight it together."


    It wasn''t just me whose eyes lit up when I heard this. Julius and Alex who had been listening from behind me also had their eyes light up.


    This information was actually much more valuable than I had thought it would be.


    This was a location of a boss that would certainly be worth a lot of points, but at the same time, it was also the location of several groups of contestants.


    Now that we knew how to steal points from people, all of these contestants could be considered walking piles of points for us to take.


    Well, that also depended on the people.


    If we liked them and thought we could cooperate with them, we wouldn''t take their points.


    But if they were like Cheng Hui''s group, then there was nothing for us to agonize over.


    After he told us where to go, I said, "Thank you, this is very valuable information."


    The leader of the group let out a sigh of relief before waving his hands and saying, "No, no, it should be us thanking you for saving us. If it wasn''t for you, we might have died back there."


    Then after a pause, he asked, "Um, about the people who attacked us, did you¡­"


    His voice trailed off, but the meaning that he was implying was clear.


    I just shook my head and said, "It''s better if you don''t know."


    The unaffiliated Awakeners all revealed surprised looks, but they nodded in agreement in the end.


    Qin Yue Ru gave them a bit more treatment, but once she was done, we parted ways from them.


    Since we had a destination in mind, we didn''t hesitate as we headed deeper into the woods.


    Though we couldn''t help being curious just how powerful this boss was and how many points it would give us.

 Chapter 331 First round (9)

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    It didn''t take us long to reach the ce that the leader of the unaffiliated Awakeners told us about.


    But we didn''t go in right away.


    Instead, we all used our different camouge methods to hide ourselves before moving forward.


    As we came closer, we could see that there were several groups that were already gathered.


    There were some that we didn''t recognize, but there was also a group that we couldn''t miss.


    This was a group that was also favoured to win, just like Julius was.


    Tammy Wellen and the group from the Sol Warriors.


    This was who was in the center of this group.


    With how they were standing and with how they were surrounded, it almost seemed like they were the ones that were in charge of this meeting.


    From our position, we could hear a few things that they were talking about.


    "Did you hear about the boss? I heard that they found this very powerful boss that has two other side bosses."


    "Un, I heard that there are also a bunch of elite monsters as well."


    "Can you imagine all of the points we''ll get out of this?"


    It seemed like even those that were gathered weren''t certain on what the situation was. There seemed to be many spections about what the enemy they had all been gathered here for was, but no one seemed to have any concrete information.


    But there were also a few whispers that weren''t as kind.


    "Do you see how they are standing there? They''re acting like they''re the ones that are in charge of all of this."


    "Shh, don''t let them hear you or who knows what will happen. You should know what kind of temper she has."


    "That b*tch, if it wasn''t for the fact¡­"


    Based on these words, it seemed like Tammy didn''t have a good reputation.


    I looked over Alex and he gave a nod.


    It seemed like it was a well known fact that Tammy didn''t have a good reputation¡­


    This was most likely in the information that Alex had given me, but I hadn''t read all of it.


    After a while, the chattering finally stopped as a group came forward.


    This was a group that waspletely covered in cloaks, so no one was able to see their true appearance.


    The moment that this group appeared, everyone suddenly raised their guards.


    But the leader of this cloaked group suddenly said, "I''m grateful that everyone has gathered together so we can work together. Let me introduce myself." He gave a bow and said, "My name is Diablo and my group here is the Band of Demons. We have gathered you all here so we can fight the boss and get the points that we desire together."


    Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, but they didn''t let their guards down.


    The cloaked figure known as Diablo didn''t mind as he pointed at one of the members of this group.


    This cloaked figure he pointed at suddenly raised their hand and there was a screen that appeared.


    This wasn''t a screen like the TV screens, this was a screen that seemed to be made of water.


    This water mirror formed and then an image was shown.


    This seemed to be some kind of cave that they were looking at and in the center of it seemed to be something that was coiled up. They couldn''t see it clearly since it was coiled up like that, but after a while, the image cleared up as it zoomed in on this coiled up thing.


    It was a giant lizard.


    But it wasn''t just a normal giant lizard.


    There was a pair of wings on its back.


    "Dragon?"


    As soon as one person said this, the whispers spread through the crowd and they all were about the image that they saw.


    There were some that also thought that this was a dragon and there were some that were denying that this was a dragon.


    After all, a dragon was considered a peak monster.


    Even young dragons were considered A Rank monsters and true dragons were considered S Rank or even SS Rank depending on their power.


    So if this really was a dragon, then there was no way that they would be able to fight it.


    Diablo didn''t say anything as he let the crowd whisper amongst themselves.


    After a long while, when the whispers started to die down, he said, "I''m sure that all of you have your own thoughts on this matter, but let me say that it isn''t a dragon."


    One person couldn''t help asking, "How are you so sure about this?"


    Diablo nodded at that person and said, "I have my methods." Then without caring for a response, he turned to the rest of the group and said, "Through my methods, I have confirmed that this thing isn''t a dragon, but rather some kind of mutated Smander."


    Smander.


    If this really was a Smander, then this was apletely different story.


    After all, a Smander was only a C Rank Monster and something that they could handle.


    Even if it was a mutated Smander, it would at most be at B Rank, so they could still take it down.


    But they wouldn''t just trust the words of this cloaked figure that it was a Smander.


    Diablo also knew that this would be the case, so he said, "I shall bring you all to the location of this mutated Smander and you''re free to investigate it however you want. Once you confirm that it is indeed a mutated Smander, we can talk about how we will hunt it."


    There was a silence that filled the crowd after he said this, but slowly the crowd started to agree to this.


    After all, there was no harm in just following him to see it.


    Seeing this, Diablo gave a nod and then turned to head off in a certain direction.


    The crowd looked at each other before following behind him.


    Then behind all of them was our group with our camouge up.

 Chapter 332 First round (10)

    It didn''t take long for this group to arrive at the cave that had been in the image.


    This was a cave that was in a very strange area.


    This area waspletely barren.


    It wasn''t barren because thend was dead, but rather it was barren because of the extreme heat that filled the air.


    As soon as they came close to this ce, they could feel the temperature rising.


    Then when they came closer, the temperature suddenly increased by over fifty degrees.


    It reached a point that was unbearable to humans, let alone nts. If it wasn''t for the fact that they were Awakeners, then it might have been hard for them to stay here without being burnt to death.


    Though thend was barren, there were also a few nts that did grow here.


    These nts were nts that had adapted to the heat of this ce, so they were able to grow even under these extreme conditions.


    As they passed by them, there were quite a few people that were tempted to pick these nts.


    After all, these nts had gained special energies adapting to the heat of this ce.


    It could be said that these nts were filled with me energy from growing here, so they could be considered herbs filled with me energy.


    They would without a doubt be useful to anyone that had a me attributed power.


    Even if they didn''t have a me attributed power, there were plenty of people that had me attributed powers that needed this kind of herb.


    So if they brought this herb back, there was no doubt that they would be able to earn quite a bit of money.


    However, not a single person split off from the group to pick this thing.


    That was because they knew that they had to be careful in an area that could grow this kind of nt.


    After all, the heat that was around them and the nts growing were all indicators of something that was filled withrge amounts of me energy. This could only happen when there was an abundance of me energy that was released from something.


    And that something¡­was most likely the boss that they were here to take down.


    So it seemed that at the very least, Diablo hadn''t lied about a powerful boss being here.


    They just needed to see if he had lied about what the boss was.


    A Smander and a dragon, it was clear which one they preferred to fight.


    So they wouldn''t let their guards down until they saw the boss.


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    When they arrived at the cave, they could feel the heat that wasing from it.


    It was already hot in this area around the cave, but the air that was being blown out from inside of the cave was even hotter than this. It was clear that there was something that was generating arge amount of heat inside of here.


    This heat seemed a bit too strong for a Smander, but Diablo had said that it was a mutated Smander, so it wouldn''t be strange if the heat was a bit stronger than a normal Smander.


    They still held out hope that he wasn''t lying to them.


    Once they reached the entrance of the cave, Diablo suddenly stopped and turned to look at everyone else before saying, "This is as far as my group will be going. If everyone wishes to see the boss, you are free to do so as long as you don''t disturb it on your own. Once you are done, pleasee back out so we may discuss the terms of our cooperation."


    As soon as he said this, everyone looked at him with knitted brows.


    After all, the fact that he wouldn''t being with them was already suspicious enough.


    It made it seem very likely that there was some kind of trap waiting for them inside of the cave.


    As if he could see what they were thinking, Diablo calmly said, "You''re free to leave people out here to watch over us. I promise that we won''t do a single thing."


    All of them looked at Diablo with doubtful gazes, but he seemed to be sticking to his word as he went to the side with his group.


    Though the way that they sat down and rxed almost seemed like they were asking for a beating.


    After all, they looked like they were on a pic instead of being watched by everyone.


    Still, since they were willing to be watched to this extent, they didn''t think too much of it and split up their groups.


    There were some members of their groups that stayed out to watch over Diablo''s group and there were some members of their group that went into the cave to check the boss.


    As for us, we also split up into different groups.


    This time, we didn''t move separately as three different groups.


    Instead, we separated into just two groups based on the situation.


    One group would be going into the cave with the others while the other group stayed out here and watched over Diablo''s group.


    There was no knowing what would happen, so we made sure to cover all our bases.


    The group that was staying outside used the water barrier of the water user from Alex''s group to cover themselves.


    While our group that was going inside was using Long Shui Ling''s illusions to cover ourselves as we headed into the cave.


    After seeing it, Julius and Alex had to admit that the illusion ability really was the best cover that we could have used. The only reason that they didn''t use it before was because of their pride in their own people.


    With this illusion around us, we were able to easily sneak past the group standing there and headed into the cave.


    As soon as we entered the cave, we were hit by the heat that came from it. However, the other water user was able to block this heat for us by creating a very faint mist around us that cooled the area down.


    With this, we headed in after the group that went in first.

 Chapter 333 First round (11)

    That group moved slowly and carefully since they were looking out for traps.


    It was no problem for our group to catch up to them, especially since they already cleared the way for us.


    This cave wasn''t that big and there weren''t any monsters that were wandering around, so we were able to reach the final chamber quickly.


    When we came in, we immediately saw the creature that was lying there in the center.


    This was arge lizard that was coiled in the center of the room.


    Thisrge lizard was the one that they had seen in the mirror just now, the mutated Smander that Diablo spoke of.


    But just from this, it was hard for most of them to tell what exactly this thing was.


    They really wanted to get closer to it and see what it really was, to see if it really was a mutated Smander like Diablo had said. However, they also didn''t dare get too close to it since it was dangerous for them if they got too close.


    The only thing that they could do was watch from afar.


    However, that didn''t mean that everyone was powerless when it came to this matter.


    There were some people with special abilities that could see through the giant lizard even if they were far away.


    In the end, it was Tammy from the Sol Warriors who suddenly said, "It really is a mutated Smander."


    Everyone immediately looked in her direction, but she refused to borate any further on this. Instead, she just turned around and headed back in the direction that they hade from.


    Even the others from the Sol Warrior left with just a single wave of Tammy''s hand.


    The other groups just stood there looking at each other in nk dismay, not knowing what to do now that she left.


    But there were some other groups that also saw through this giant lizard and turned to leave without a word.


    Seeing that everyone was leaving like this, the ones that hadn''t been able to see through the giant lizard didn''t know what to do at first. But in the end, they chose to leave with everyone else since there was nothing to gain from standing here any longer.


    Seeing them all leave, we also followed behind them and left the cave as well.


    But as we were leaving, I looked over at Julius.


    He saw me looking at him, so he gave a nod to show that it really was a mutated Smander that was there in front of us.


    I didn''t know how he confirmed this, but I was certain that he wouldn''t make a mistake with this.


    Since he was able to see this, then we should think about whether we would work with them or take the boss from them.


    But before any of that, we had to see what decision they woulde to.


    When we came out, we moved over to where the rest of our group was.


    When we came over, they shook their heads to show that nothing happened before we turned our attention back to the different groups gathering.


    When Diablo saw theme out, he said in a confident voice, "I''m sure that you''ve all seen the mutated Smander by now, right?"


    There were doubtful looks on the faces of some people, but they didn''t say anything.


    Instead, they turned to Tammy and the Sol Warriors, as if they were waiting to see what she would say.


    Tammy just gave a simple nod and said, "How do we split the points?"


    Everyone was caught off guard by the question that she asked.


    She didn''t even ask about how they were going to take down the mutated Smander, she just asked about how they would divide the points.


    Diablo was also clearly surprised even though his expression couldn''t be seen as he didn''t say anything for a while. But after a moment of being surprised, he said, "Well, there are some minions that were hanging around the mutated Smander, so I''m sure that they are worth some points as well."


    The people around couldn''t help knitting their brows when they heard this.


    After all, they hadn''t seen this earlier when they had been observing the Smander.


    Tammy didn''t react at all when she heard this as she just stared at Diablo, like she was waiting for an answer. Find adventures at empire


    Diablo saw this and shook his head before saying, "Then let''s just use the time honoured rule, whoever gets thest hit takes the points?"


    There was a silence that hung in the air as everyone waited to see what Tammy would say.


    After a long silence, she finally gave a slow nod as if she agreed with this.


    There were a few people that seemed like they didn''t ept this, but there was nothing that they could do since most of the others seemed to ept this.


    Since that was the case, all they could do was ask, "What other monsters are there?"


    Diablo nodded to the same person as before and they created the water mirror again.


    The image appeared and it showed the same scene of the Smander from before.


    But this time, there were small mounds that suddenly came out of the ground around the Smander.


    Then all of a sudden, there were smaller lizards that came out of the ground around the Smander.


    When they saw this scene, everyone slowly started to understand what this was.


    They were hiding in the ground, that was why they hadn''t been able to see these other monsters that Diablo had mentioned before.


    But at the same time, they couldn''t help looking at Diablo''s group with strange looks as they tried to figure out how they had found them and forced these smaller lizards to show themselves.


    Diablo just ignored this as he said, "Since everyone has agreed to this n, then should we talk about how we will work together?"


    But to his surprise, Tammy suddenly said, "No need, we''ll just all fight on our own."

 Chapter 334 First round (12)

    When they heard this, everyone couldn''t help looking at Tammy in shock.


    After all, the suggestion that she made meant that they would all be fighting on their own. There would be no coordination with each other, which would go against the reason for them gathering like this.


    The strongest advantage that they had gathering like this was the ability to work with each other.


    They would be able to cover each other''s weakness if they worked together, but if they fought on their own¡­


    It would be a messy free for all.


    There was nothing to gain from doing this!


    So those gazes that were aimed in Tammy''s direction slowly changed to strange looks.


    There were some that even seemed to wonder if she was alright in the head.


    After all, anyone would be able to see that it was better to work together than to fight alone.


    Still, this was Tammy Wellen from the Sol Warriors that said this, so it was hard for them to say anything against her. She was one of those that were favoured to win this entirepetition, so she was someone that they didn''t want to offend for now.


    Or else their run in this tournament might end early because of this.


    In the end, the one that broke the silence was Diablo.


    "Fight on our own?" He said in a surprised voice.


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at him as she said, "Is there a problem with that?"


    Diablo turned to face her and then said in a cheerful voice, "No, not at all. I''m just surprised that miss Tammy was able to figure out my n already. As expected of the number one expert from the Sol Warriors."


    The moment that his voice fell, everyone turned to look at him with looks of shock. At the same time, there were traces of betrayal


    "Brother, please! You''re supposed to be talking her out of it, not agreeing with her!"


    That was what everyone thought as they stared at Diablo. However, he just ignored all of them as he kept facing Tammy.


    In the end, even Tammy couldn''t help raising a brow to look at Diablo.


    It seemed that even she had been caught off guard by how Diablo answered her.


    After all, she didn''t expect him to actually agree with her.


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at Diablo before saying, "What n are you talking about?"


    Diablo gave a nod before saying in an excited voice, "It''s very simple, we''ll split into two different groups and take on the monsters in the cave separately. Those in the first group will fight those monsters scattered around the cave while those in the second group will fight the mutated Smander."


    Tammy narrowed her eyes even more when she heard this.


    She looked at Diablo like this for a bit before suddenly asking, "How will the groups be split up?"


    Diablo gave a shrug and said, "It''s of course based on strength isn''t it? There are some that can''t even do a thing to the mutated Smander, so would there be anything to gain from having them fight it? Instead of sending them to their deaths, isn''t it better for them to take care of the monsters that will be popping out of the ground?"


    When they heard this, there were many people that couldn''t help revealing ugly looks.


    That was because they knew exactly who Diablo was referring to.


    They at least had some awareness of their own strength.


    It was just that the way that he had said this wasn''t really that pleasant to the ears.


    The way that he said it was really a sharp jab to their pride.


    So of course they couldn''t help ring at him with displeased looks.


    However, Tammy gave a nod of agreement to this.


    She was naturally able to see through the abilities of the groups that had gathered here, so she knew who would be useful in fighting the mutated Smander and who wouldn''t be.


    But she still asked, "Then the split?"


    Diablo just said in a cheerful voice, "Miss Tammy will lead the group that will engage the mutated Smander. You are free to choose who you wish to bring with you. As for the rest of us, we will figure out a leader once the first group is set."


    Everyone knitted their brows when they heard this, but no one said a thing.


    After all, they weren''t fools.


    They knew that this was indeed the best n.


    There was no way that there would be actual coordination between their groups, that was something that was impossible since they didn''t know anything about each other.


    So sending the strongest after the mutated Smander really was the best choice.


    It would spare them the fate of having to risk their lives to fight that thing.


    Though they wouldn''t get the points from the mutated Smander, it was still enough for them to take down the smaller lizards that were around the Smander.


    These were monsters that hung around the mutated Smander, so they wouldn''t be that weak. If they weren''t weak, then the points that they were worth wouldn''t be that little either.


    They would be allowed to fight a fight that wasn''t too dangerous and earn good points, so there was nothing wrong with this.


    It was just that their pride did hurt a bit from being called weak like this.


    Tammy gave a nod of agreement before saying, "Alright, then I''ll choose the ones that wille with me now."


    Those that weren''t confident in their power didn''t say anything since they knew that this wouldn''t be rted to them. Continue reading at empire


    Those that were confident in their power had confident looks on their faces as if they were certain that they would be chosen.


    But in the end, there were only three other groups that were chosen out of the ten groups that had confident looks on their faces.


    "Why wasn''t I chosen?"


    That was what one of those who wasn''t chosen suddenly said.

 Chapter 335 First round (13)

    This was a person that came from a small group of five.


    But even though their group was small, that didn''t mean that they were weak.


    The guild that they came from was only one of the big guilds and couldn''t be considered one of therge guilds. However, these five all had powers that were future A Rank powers, only they were currently in the C Rank.


    Tammy looked right at the person who said this and said, "You''re not satisfied with this arrangement?"


    That person was caught off guard by this question that Tammy asked him directly, but then he said with a nod, "Of course I''m not satisfied with this arrangement. How am I any worse than the ones that you''ve picked? I should clearly be on the team to fight the S¡­"


    Before he could finish, there was a pressure that suddenly fell onto him.


    This person gritted his teeth when he felt this pressuree on him, but he was still able to remain standing.


    However¡­that didn''tst long as the pressure became even stronger as it fell onto him.


    The pressure kept getting stronger and stronger until this person couldn''t resist anymore and fell to one knee. Even though he was on one knee, the look on his face made it clear that he wasn''t nning on stopping his resistance.


    It was just too bad that this wasn''t the end yet.


    The pressure once again grew as it pressed down on him.


    This time, he wasn''t able to resist at all as he was pressed down into the ground.


    There was an embarrassed look on his face as he was pressed down by this pressure in front of everyone, but there really wasn''t anything that he could do since the pressure was just too strong.


    In the end, Tammy said with a snort, "It seems like you''re only at this level. Then I guess you aren''t qualified to join my team."


    As soon as her voice fell, the pressure that had been falling down on this person immediately disappeared.


    That person slowly looked up from the ground at Tammy with a look of anger and hatred in his eyes, but that look quickly disappeared as he stood up.


    He tried to save what little bit of prestige that he had left, but it really was hard to do that with the way that he had been treated. It could even be said that whatever was left of his prestige had been smashed to pieces on the ground.


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    After standing up and dusting the dirt off himself, he turned to Diablo and said, "It seems that we are not appreciated here. Since that''s the case, we will not be joining you in this boss hunt."


    No one said anything to stop him since they knew that it was already toote for any kind of peaceful resolution to be reached.


    It was clear that this person''s face had beenpletely swept away, so there was only one way forward for him.


    Since that was the case, Diablo just gave a nod and said, "It seems that we are not destined to work together this time. I hope that we will be able to work together again in the future."


    Since Diablo hadn''t offended him, that person gave a nod and a bow before turning to leave with his group.


    Though it had to be noted that during this time, he didn''t look at Tammy once.


    Whether that was out of disdain or fear, no one knew except for him.


    But the fact was that he didn''t turn in her direction a single time.


    Once he was gone, Tammy looked at the rest of them as if she was challenging them.


    However, there wasn''t anyone that looked in Tammy''s direction in the end.


    With this, she had sessfully forced them into epting her decision.


    Diablo gave a cough to relieve the awkward situation before saying, "Then shall we decide who will be the leader of the second group?"


    When they heard this, everyone became much more spirited.


    This was not something that Tammy had control over, so at the very least, this was something that they could try to grasp in their palms. As long as they had control over the second group, it wouldn''t be hard for them to earn a bit more from killing the smaller lizards.


    There were many people that immediately came forward to volunteer themselves as the leader of the second group. It seemed like almost every single one of the groups in the second group wanted to nominate themselves as the leader.


    However, that would just make it harder for them to decide in the end since they would all have to convince each other to give up and ept them as the leader.


    It seemed like this would take a while to decide.


    Or at least that was how it seemed at first.


    All of a sudden, Tammy said, "You''ll do."


    As she said this, she reached her hand up to point at someone.


    Once she pointed at someone, everyone immediately turned to look at who she was pointing at.


    It turned out that she was pointing at Diablo.


    "Huh? Me?" Diablo said in a confused voice.


    His group was the only group that didn''t volunteer since he didn''t seem interested in it.


    But now, Tammy was directly nominating him as the leader.


    So not only him, but everyone else was caught off guard when they heard this.


    They all looked at Diablo with a strange look, as if they were trying to figure out if there was some kind of secret rtionship between him and Tammy.


    But Diablo quickly shook his head as if he was trying to deny it.


    Tammy didn''t care about any of this as she turned to face the cave and said, "That''s decided unless someone has an objection."


    No one said a word in response since they had all seen what had happened to thest person who hadined.


    Seeing this, Tammy said, "Good."


    Then without hesitation, she entered the cave.


    Everyone just looked at her as she walked into the cave in a daze.


    But Diablo quickly recovered and said, "Let''s go then."

 Chapter 336 First round (14)

    This time, we didn''t leave anyone outside since they all went into the cave.


    We followed closely behind the second group since we didn''t think Tammy''s group would do anything without the second group.


    So it seemed like the second group were the ones that would be in charge of starting the fight.


    But as we followed behind them, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    This n of theirs really was the worst n for us.


    After all, by having everyone do their own thing, there were just too many variables that we had to be concerned about. There were so many different ways that this could go wrong that it was very hard for us to do anything if we wanted to do anything.


    So that''s why we had to discuss this before they actually started fighting.


    I looked at Alex and Julius with a look that seemed to be asking their opinions.


    Both of them had bitter smiles on their faces, making it clear that they were thinking the same thing as me.


    The one that we felt the most bitter towards was naturally Tammy.


    If it wasn''t for her, we wouldn''t be in this mess.


    She had single handedly cowed everyone else in this group under her, so we didn''t have anything to exploit.


    The only thing that we could do was try to figure out some kind of w that we can take advantage of.


    "Neither of you have anything, do you?"


    Both Alex and Julius shook their heads when they heard this.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Then for now, let''s observe?"


    Both of them nodded in agreement before turning to look at the group in front of us.


    Since we didn''t have anything, naturally we could only tread cautiously and wait to see what we could find.


    But there was still something that I wanted to ask.


    "Is this her actual personality or is she just acting?"


    I asked Alex and Julius this as we followed behind their group.


    Both of them nodded in response before Alex said, "This is just how she was raised. Before the dungeons appeared, her father was one of the richest people in their country, so she was raised as a young miss. After the dungeons appeared, her father financed and created the Sol Warriors as her guards, so it could be said that she was still the young miss after the dungeons appeared."


    Julius then added with a nod, "She''s just like this naturally. When I met her at a party for rich people before, she acted this way to people that were trying to bully some of the weaker young masters and young miss. She''s someone that had a natural pride in her."


    I narrowed my eyes to look at Tammy after hearing this, but for some reason, I couldn''t help feeling that perhaps they had been misunderstanding her.


    After all, I had already experienced quite a few people who were hiding their real personalities in my time. So to a certain extent, I had developed an instinct for recognizing things like this.


    I also got the same feeling from Julius, that he wasn''t showing everything.


    Still, it was good to cooperate with him for now, so I ignored this instinct.


    For now, I just remained silent and watched for a w to exploit.


    It was the same as before where it didn''t take long to reach the inner cave with the sleeping giant lizard.


    It was still the same as before where the giant Smander was curled up in the center of this cave.


    It didn''t seem like the smaller lizards that Diablo had shown everyone before even existed.


    However, they stopped in the same spot as before and waited for Tammy to react.


    Tammy just calmly looked at Diablo, as if she was waiting for him.


    Diablo gave a sigh before saying, "Let''s spread out and get ready to attack."


    Everyone couldn''t help raising a brow in surprise when they heard this, but they slowly understood what he was saying. Once they understood, they followed his orders and spread out in this cave.


    They were spreading out so they wouldn''t get in the way of each other.


    They wouldn''t be fighting together, so it would actually hinder them to gather together.


    It would be better if they spread out so they all had space to fight.


    Once everyone was spread out, Diablo said, "Let''s go then."


    Without waiting for anyone to say anything, he jumped down with his group.


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    Seeing him jump down without any hesitation, the others didn''t waste any time as they jumped down as well.


    The moment that theynded in the cave, there were tremors that came from under them.


    At the same time, the moment that theynded, therge lizard that was in the center of the room seemed to shake. However, thatrge lizard didn''t seem to move as it settled again.


    Instead, there were mounds that appeared on the ground of this cave.


    After these mounds appeared, the dirt was flipped over to reveal lizards that were smaller than the one in the center, but were still quiterge.


    These lizards immediately turned in the direction of the humans who had jumped down.


    This scene was just like the scene that they had seen before, but there was something else that was different.


    As soon as the lizards came out, they raised their heads and there was a red light that came from their mouths.


    Then they all suddenly opened their mouths and shot out plumes of mes at the humans who had suddenly invaded their territory.


    This created a wall of mes that seemed to swallow all of these humans.


    It was as if they had been engulfed in mes and burnt to a crisp.


    But when the mes settled, all of the humans were just standing there without even a single burn.


    They were contestants from therge guilds, they were chosen for a reason.


    With that, the fight between the lizards and the humans began.

 Chapter 337 First round (15)

    The Awakeners that were fighting the lizards down below proved why they had been chosen to enter this tournament.


    Even if they were too weak to fight the mutated Smander, that didn''t mean that they would struggle against these smaller lizards that weren''t as strong.


    The mes that these smaller lizards shot out of their mouths were all easily dispelled by the Awakeners.


    There were many different skills used to dispel these mes, but there wasn''t a single person who struggled against these smaller lizards. They were able to easily break through the wall of mes that came at them.


    After these mes were dispelled, they didn''t waste any time in charging forward.


    It was clear to everyone that these lizards needed to recharge after firing these breaths of mes, so they wouldn''t waste this opportunity that they had been given. Since these lizards couldn''t use their me breath, it could be said that their strength had been cut by half.


    After all, other than their mes, they only had their strength as giant lizards.


    Just that alone wouldn''t be enough to stop these Awakeners.


    One minute, that was all it took for a lizard to die.


    It was one lizard at first, but then it was another and another that followed after this.


    It seemed that the lizards were beingpletely overwhelmed by these humans who had suddenly appeared.


    There were more giant lizards that appeared out of the ground that shot their me breaths at the Awakeners, but that didn''t help at all as they were just as easily dispelled by the Awakeners.


    It almost seemed like a one sided ughter with how easily they were taking down all of these giant lizards.


    As more and more giant lizards fell, thergest one in the center stirred.


    This mutated Smander couldn''t ignore what was happening in its territory anymore and turned to look at the humans that had invaded its cave.


    When it saw the humans ughtering its kin, it reeled back its head and gathered a red glow in its mouth.


    This was just like the other lizards, but the pressure that came from this waspletely different.


    It was clear that the breath of this mutated Smander would bepletely different from the rest.


    The Awakeners couldn''t help feeling worried when they saw this, but they didn''t have to worry for long. That was because the mutated Smander suddenly brought its head forward and released its breath at them.


    When it did, all of them couldn''t help taking a step back as they didn''t know how to deal with this.


    Luckily, Tammy made her move before it could go too far.


    Tammy suddenly raised her hand that transformed into mes and then she shot out a pir of mes at the me breath. When the two mes mmed into each other, the pir of mes that came from Tammy''s hand actually blocked the me breath.


    It not only blocked the me breath, but it actually scattered it.


    It seemed that Tammy''s mes were more powerful than the mes of the mutated Smander. Read new chapters at empire


    When the me breath stopped, the mutated Smander hadpletely woken up from its slumber. There was something that seemed like a shocked look that was on the face of the mutated Smander as it looked at Tammy.


    Tammy didn''t waste the opportunity that she had been given as she jumped out and said, "Your opponent is me!"


    Shepletely transformed into mes after jumping into the air and there was a jet of mes that appeared behind her as she propelled herself towards the mutated Smander.


    Unfortunately, Tammy had made a mistake.


    She thought that the mutated Smander was the same as the lizards.


    She assumed that it would have to recharge its mes after shooting that me breath, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    The mutated Smander quickly gathered another me breath and fired it out at Tammy.


    But this time¡­Tammy actually found it hard topletely dispel it.


    She was actually pushed back by the mutated Smander''s me breath.


    It seemed that the first attack had been a casual attack and this second attack was a more concentrated breath.


    It had far more power than it did before.


    Still, Tammy was able to resist it.


    When shended on the ground, she looked up at the mutated Smander and said, "It seems like it won''t be easy."


    However, there wasn''t a single trace of giving up that was on her face.


    She knew that even if it wasn''t easy, it was still doable, so she wouldn''t give up this fight.


    At the same time, the other members of the Sol Warriors and the other groups chosen by Tammy also started to make their move.


    They had wanted to see what the mutated Smander was capable of with Tammy taking the lead. Now that they knew what it was capable of, there was no reason for them to remain idle anymore.


    The Sol Warriors went down to support Tammy while the other split off to attack the mutated Smander from different directions.


    The mutated Smander quickly revealed an angry look before suddenly bursting into mes.


    It seemed like just shooting a me breath wasn''t all that it could do. It seemed like it could control mes on apletely different scale than the other lizards.


    But that didn''t bother these Awakeners as they attacked from different angles.


    The mutated Smander seemed like it was being overwhelmed when it was being grouped up like this.


    It seemed like it wouldn''t take long before the mutated Smander went down.


    Seeing this, we all split off as well.


    I had made sure that Long Shui Ling''s ability would cover us all when I made this n.


    Luckily, this cave wasn''t big enough that she wouldn''t be able to reach us anymore.


    The n was to split up and attack from different directions when the mutated Smander was about to go down.


    This wasn''t the best n, but at least it was a n that had a chance of sess.


    As for who would get thest blow, that was up to fate.

 Chapter 338 First round (16)

    The fight looked like it was about to be over, but before it ended¡­


    The mutated Smander suddenly used a different move.


    It started pping the wings on its back that seemed almost too small for its body once it was opened wide.


    After pping these wings a few times, the mutated Smander was carried off the ground.


    While this cave wasn''t thatrge, it did have a high ceiling so the mutated Smander was able to easily fly up into the air.


    When it did, the lizards that the other Awakeners had been fighting suddenly pulled back.


    The Awakeners didn''t stop them since their attention was fully on the mutated Smander that was in the sky.


    There were a few attacks aimed at the mutated Smander as it ascended into the air, but they were easily blocked by the mes that gathered above its skin. These mes formed ayer of me armour thatpletely protected the mutated Smander.


    Once the mutated Smander got high enough up in the air, the mes that had been around it started to flow up towards its mouth.


    At the same time, it reeled its head back as if it was gathering its breath and its chest seemed to swell to double the size as before.


    The pressure that came from this mutated Smander when this happened was so much that many of the weaker Awakeners couldn''t help feeling a trace of fear.


    Before it unleashed the breath that it was gathering, the lizards that had pulled away from the Awakeners suddenly dug into the ground. They once again went back into hiding underground in an instant.


    But that wasn''t the important thing.


    The important thing was why they did this.


    They were avoiding the breath of the mutated Smander!


    It was using a scorched earth tactic where it wouldn''t hold back in burning ally and enemies. It was using all of its power in a single breath to burn away anything and everything in its path!


    This was dangerous!


    Tammy knew how dangerous this was, so she shouted, "Formation!"


    As soon as she shouted this, the members of the Sol Warriors group took their ces around her. They didn''t hesitate to raise their hands and release their mana around Tammy.


    When they did, the mana that they released turned into mes that gathered around Tammy in a tornado of mes.


    As Tammy stood in the center of that tornado of mes, her figure started to change.


    It was the tips of her limbs at first, but the transformation quickly spread to the different parts of her body. In no time at all, she had turned into a maiden that waspletely made of mes.


    This was her power, Maiden of the Sun.


    It allowed her to turn herself into mes and control those mes to fight.


    This power was further empowered by the formation that her teammates had taken around her.


    The mes that were generated by her teammates were being absorbed by her, making her figure bigger and bigger.


    When both sides finished gathering their powers, they looked at each other.


    The mutated Smander looked down at the humans at first, but then it turned to look at Tammy.


    The mutated Smander could feel the sensation of dangering from this figure made of mes, so it changed the direction of its me breath. It was targeting Tammy now, wanting to use the full brunt of its me breath to wipe her out.


    Tammy didn''t mind this since she also wanted to use this chance to take down the mutated Smander.


    With a raise of her hand, the mes that had gathered around her formed a tornado that flew up into the sky.


    The target of this me tornado was naturally the mutated Smander.


    While sending this me tornado upwards, she shouted, "Die!"


    The mutated Smander responded in turn as with a roar, it released the me breath that it had been gathering.


    Unlike the me breath that it released before, it wasn''t a wave of mes that rained down on them. This time, it was actually concentrated mes in the form of a beam of mes that was aimed specifically at Tammy.


    The tornado of mes and the beam of mes shed against each other and it didn''t seem like either side was being pushed back by the other. It seemed like they were evenly matched in terms of power.


    That was until the beam of mes seemed to push back the tornado of mes.


    Tammy''s figure of me immediately knitted her brows when she saw this and said, "More power! Use everything you have!"


    When she said this, the others from the Sol Warriors let out a roar before they released even more mes with this formation.


    The mes quickly gathered around Tammy and strengthened the me tornado she released.


    When the me tornado grew, the power of it also grew.


    This time, it was the beam of mes that was pushed back.


    The mutated Smander revealed a look of shock before trying to use more power, but it really couldn''t.


    This was already all of the power that it could release, so there was no more power for it to draw on.


    It could only maintain the losing bnce for a few seconds before its me breath was scattered by the me tornado.


    The me tornado continued to sweep the mutated Smander in it.


    Though the mes seemed to want to obey the mutated Smander, they were still controlled by Tammy.


    So they burned through the thick skin of the mutated Smander, causing it to be covered in burns. At the same time, it burned through the skin of the mutated Smander''s wings, causing it to drop to the ground.


    As it mmed down on the ground, there was arge cloud of dust that was stirred.


    After the dust settled, the mutated Smander justid there without moving as it was covered in burns.


    But still it was not dead.


    Its thick skin had saved it in the end.


    "The time is now!"

 Chapter 339 First round (17)

    The three groups that had been chosen by Tammy to fight the mutated Smander chose to strike at this time.


    They had been waiting on the side the entire time, waiting to see how the fight between Tammy and the mutated Smander would go.


    When they saw that Tammy was spent and the mutated Smander was almost dead, they chose that moment to strike.


    That was why they had been waiting on the side the entire time.


    In fact, they had even been praying for the mutated Smander to survive Tammy''s attack, just so they could do this.


    Tammy and the group from the Sol Warriors knitted their brows when they saw this, but they couldn''t do a thing. Using that formation just now had exhausted them and they wouldn''t be able to fight until they recovered.


    Tammy wasn''t even able to maintain her me form anymore, so she had reverted back to her human form.


    Tammy and the Sol Warriors could only watch as these three groups charged at the mutated Smander.


    They all prepared their attacks and it seemed like they were about to take down this mutated Smander that couldn''t move anymore.


    But right before they could reach it, they were suddenly hit with attacks that came out of nowhere.


    Before they could even react, there was a mist that appeared at the same time.


    The mist covered up these three groups that had been attacked.


    Luckily for these three groups, they had been able to block these attacks that came at them.


    However, they had all been pushed away from the mutated Smander.


    "What is this?"


    That was the only thing that the members of these three groups could ask.


    After all, this mist had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. At the same time, they couldn''t sense anything from this mist.


    It was as if this mist existed and didn''t exist at the same time.


    Since they couldn''t see through this mist, they didn''t dare rashly.


    They just formed a formation and raised their guards to see if anything would happen while trying to figure out a way to break free of this mist.


    But as they had expected, the mist appearing wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    There were attacks that came out of nowhere,ing from different angles at them.


    If they hadn''t had their guards up, they definitely would have been caught off guard by these attacks.


    However, since they had their guards up, they were able to block them in the end.


    It should be said as expected of the ones that Tammy chose to fight with her.


    They definitely were much stronger than the other Awakeners that had been gathered.


    The only problem was¡­this was just the beginning.


    They soon found that there were attacks that seemed to fade away after they made contact. They raised their weapons to block these attacks that wereing at them, but these attacks seemed to disappear into thin air when they made contact with them.


    It was as if these attacks had never existed in the first ce.


    Seeing this, they started to figure out what this mist and these attacks were.


    "Illusions."


    All of them were able to figure it was illusions that had surrounded them when they saw this.


    But that didn''t matter.


    Even if they were able to understand that they were surrounded by illusions, that didn''t mean that they were able to stop it.


    They were overwhelmed by the number of real and fake attacks that came at them.


    They weren''t able to figure out which was real and which was fake, so they had to block every single one of them. The ones that they weren''t able to block hit them head on and did quite a bit of damage.


    Since they didn''t block them, there was no defense put up when they were hit.


    This direct hit would without a doubt cause some damage, even if they were elites.


    So eventually, they werepletely sted down and unable to fight at all.


    It was only then that the mist was released, but the true form of the ones that had attacked them wasn''t revealed.


    Instead, this time, it seemed that the mist was now surrounding the mutated Smander.


    When everyone saw this, they immediately wanted to do something.


    But what could they do?


    This mist covered the mutated Smander and cut it off from them.


    They could only watch as the mutated Smander disappeared from in front of them.


    There were some that wanted to approach the mist, but they found that there was a wall of mes that cut them off when they tried to enter the mist. If they tried to go any further, then they would be burned by these mes.


    So they had no choice but to wait and see what happened.


    Inside of the mist, our three groups stood there facing each other.


    In front of us was the giant mutated Smander.


    The three of us looked at each other before raising our weapons at the same time.


    We never thought that we would be in this situation, but this was a situation where we had no choice left.


    All three of us would attack at the same time and see who kills this mutated Smander.


    That was the only way that this would be considered fair.


    With a nod at each other, we all let our weapons fall at the same time at the mutated Smander.


    Though the mutated Smander was still alive, it had been knocked out cold by Tammy''s attack. So in the end, it didn''t suffer at all as we killed it in a single move.


    The mutated Smander didn''t even have a chance to make a sound as our weapons cut right into its thick skin.


    When it was over, the mutated Smander disappeared and dropped the loot items.


    After that, we all took out our tokens.


    We had learned that with the tokens we were able to see our point values.


    So we opened up the interface to see who received the points.


    When we did, we couldn''t help looking shocked.


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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 340 First round (18)

    That was because the points on our cards had all increased.


    In fact, the increase in points seemed equal for all of us, so it seemed that we had all gotten some points from killing the mutated Smander.


    But how did it know to do that?


    Or was it programmed to share the points with anyone that participated in eliminating it?


    If so, did that mean that the others also received points?


    We turned to look at the other members of our groups.


    They were confused why we were looking at them at first, but then they quickly took out their cards as well.


    When they opened up their cards, it seemed that it was indeed the case as all of them had received points as well. The points that they received weren''t any less than the points that we received.


    It seemed that we had indeed split the points from killing the mutated Smander.


    But how was it split?


    Was it just given to everyone that participated in the fight or was it distributed to the group of the ones that finished it?


    Did that mean that everyone else who had participated in the fight had also received some of the points?


    However, based on how many points we received, if it was really split between all those people, then this mutated Smander must have been worth a ridiculous amount of points.


    If that was the case, if only we had fought it alone instead of with everyone¡­


    Still, it was toote to regret.


    There were so many things that were unknown that it was hard to figure out what the real reason was.


    But that didn''t matter right now since I could see that Long Shui Ling was starting to struggle keeping up this illusion. It was fine when it was just us, but to create arge scale mist illusion to keep the area where the mutated Smander had been hidden was hard for her to keep up.


    After all, there was the mist that she had created earlier to trap the Awakeners.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That had also used up quite a bit of her mana. Your next read awaits at empire


    I knew that it wouldn''tst long, so we should get out of here as soon as possible.


    I looked at the other two and they could understand what I wanted to say just by the gaze that I gave them. They both nodded in agreement before they started moving away from where the mutated Smander had died.


    We quickly headed towards the exit with Long Shui Ling''s illusion on us.


    But the moment that we left the area with the mist, the mist started to dissipate.


    When the people who had been waiting outside of the mist saw the mist dissipate, they immediately ran forward as if they were fighting to get the share of the prize.


    It was just too bad that there wasn''t a prize left for them.


    The mutated Smander had disappeared and even the loot had been taken.


    So after everything that they''ve done, they didn''t get a single thing.


    There were some people that wanted to keep searching and there were some people that wanted to find the otherrge lizards.


    They wanted to at least earn a few points from therge lizards that were all over this room.


    However, they weren''t able to find a single one.


    Even when they dug in the area where the giant lizards had dug into the ground previously, they weren''t able to find a single giant lizard. It was as if they had all disappeared without a trace.


    How could this be?


    There were some that didn''t want to give up and kept digging in this cave even though they didn''t find anything.


    But there were some that also epted that there wasn''t anything here.


    Since they epted this, they no longer remained in this ce.


    The fight was already over and the prize had been taken, so there was no reason for them to stick around any longer.


    Instead, it was better for them to go looking for more monsters to kill.


    Time was still ticking, so they needed to earn points as quickly as possible.


    The three groups that had betrayed Tammy were among those that left.


    They knew that it was impossible for them to work with Tammy and the Sol Warriors after betraying them like this, so they didn''t bother staying here any longer.


    Tammy also didn''t stop them since she knew that this was over.


    But there was something that she and her group had been doing the entire time.


    They had been cautiously looking over the surrounding area, as if they were trying to find something.


    "Well?" Tammy asked them.


    The rest of the Sol Warriors group shook their heads and said, "We can''t find anything."


    Tammy revealed an unhappy look when she heard this, but she didn''t say anything else.


    After all, she knew how hard it was to find them.


    This was a group that had snuck in under everyone''s gaze and stolen the mutated Smander from them.


    Would this group be that easy to find?


    So with a sigh, Tammy said, "Alright, rest up and get ready to leave."


    The Sol Warriors nodded before sitting down and pulling out potions to recover their mana.


    Tammy was about to do the same when she suddenly saw a note fall out of her pocket.


    As the note fell to the ground, she looked at it with a stunned look.


    After a moment of silence, she looked around herself as if she was trying to find whoever had put this note in her pocket. However, she wasn''t able to find a single person around her.


    She wasn''t even able to sense a single aura around her.


    In the end, she just picked up the note and opened it to see what it said.


    "I apologize for stealing the boss, but this is just how this first round is. I do not wish to antagonize you and hope that we can work together in the future."


    It was a short and simple note, but it had plenty of information.


    Tammy revealed a faint bitter smile after reading this note.


    She shook her head with this bitter smile on her face before crumpling up the note and putting it in her pocket.

 Chapter 341 First round (19)

    After putting that note in her pocket, Tammy knew that there was no reason for them to stay here any longer. Experience new stories on empire


    With a wave of her hand, she said, "Let''s go."


    The other members of the Sol Warriors were surprised since she had just told them to heal up just now before telling them that they were leaving. However, they didn''t question her as they just followed behind her, leaving this cave.


    There were still a few people that remained, but when the majority of them saw that even Tammy and the Sol Warriors were leaving, they didn''t stay here any longer.


    One of the groups that stayed was Diablo and his group of cloaked figures.


    They just stood on the side and watched as the Awakeners kept digging in vain, trying to find the lizards.


    But no matter how much they tried digging, they weren''t able to find a single lizard that was hiding in the dirt.


    Eventually, all of them gave up with defeated looks on their faces.


    It seemed that their spirits were crushed by the fact that they weren''t able to find anything, so they just left this cave in search of other opportunities.


    The only ones that didn''t leave was Diablo''s group.


    They just stood there on the side of the cave, watching as these other groups dug.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    When these groups left, they couldn''t help looking at Diablo''s group with strange looks, as if they were suspicious of them. But they still left without saying anything to them since they knew that their time was short.


    They didn''t have time to waste on a ce that didn''t have any points for them to collect.


    Once thest group left, Diablo suddenly said, "It seems that kids really are impatient these days. We led them here and they just don''t have the patience to wait for the prize."


    He turned to one of the cloaked figures and asked, "How long has passed?"


    That person took out what seemed to be a strange phone that had a timer on it and said, "Thirty four minutes, on the dot."


    "So there''s another twenty six minutes left before it happens." Diablo said while stroking his chin. Then with a sigh he said, "Kids really are impatient these days."


    The other cloak figures didn''t say anything, but they did shake their heads in sympathy as if they agreed with Diablo.


    Their group just waited for another twenty six minutes in this cave.


    After those twenty six minutes passed, there was something that started to change in this cave.


    There was a rumbling sound that rang out before a part of the cave suddenly copsed.


    This was a part of the cave on one of the walls that suddenly had cracks form in it before breaking down. The part that broke down revealed a hiddenpartment in this cave.


    This seemed to be some kind of hidden room.


    Only when the dust settled did Diablo''s group start moving towards that hole in the wall.


    They walked right over to it and then stood at the entrance of this hidden room, looking in at the item that was inside.


    This hidden room was a very simple room that didn''t have much in it.


    The walls of the room werepletely white, even the roof and floor of this room werepletely white. The only thing of note in this room was a pedestal in the center that had something on it.


    This thing was a red gem.


    This red gem was the scarlet colour of the darkest mes.


    Seeing this gem, not a single member of Diablo''s group went forward to take it.


    Instead, they just stood at the entrance admiring it.


    After a long silence, Diablo finally said, "Hmm, since they didn''t take it, does that mean that the hidden condition for that event is met?"


    The same person who took out the timer earlier gave a nod before saying, "That''s right. The energy released by this Inferno Gem left behind will eventually spread to the different parts of this dungeon and incite the beasts to try and find the source. Once that happens, the beast wave will ur and the contestants will be swarmed by the monsters of the dungeon."


    Diablo gave a nod, but once again not a single member of their group came forward to take the Inferno Gem to stop this.


    After a long silence, Diablo said, "Well, this should be interesting to watch. I never thought that when we led these kids here, this was how it would end."


    The others nodded in agreement, but it was clear that they were also excited about this.


    The way that they were talking was very suspicious.


    It was almost as if they already knew everything that would happen.


    And that was because¡­they did know everything that would happen.


    Diablo and his group, they were actually part of the management.


    They were the ones that had led all of the contestants to this ce on purpose so they would fight the boss and clear this event. But they never expected the contestants to leave this thing here.


    After another long silence, another one of their group suddenly asked, "You said that they were impatient, but what about the ones that snuck the kill?"


    Diablo gave a chuckle when he heard this before saying, "Well, they werepletely surrounded, so I doubt they would have stayed. It was most likely because whatever they used to hide themselves was running out, so they had no choice but to leave."


    As he said this, there was a trace of admiration in his voice.


    After all, even though they were part of the management and much stronger than most of the contestants, they actually hadn''t been able to see through whatever they had used to hide themselves.


    It seemed that there were still some impressive contestants out there.


    Diablo turned back to look at the red gem in the center of this room and said, "I really can''t wait to see what happens next. This will definitely be much more exciting than we nned the first round to be."

 Chapter 342 First round (20)

    After leaving that cave, we really didn''t have anything else to do.


    We couldn''t gather any information since we had chosen to steal the boss, so all we could do was wander around like a headless chicken looking for monsters.


    It was a good thing that there were monsters all over this dungeon, so it wasn''t hard to find things to kill.


    The only problem was the amount of points they gave.


    These weak monsters didn''t even give one thousandth of the total points that the mutated Smander gave and that was after splitting it up. So it was clear that there was nothing to gain from fighting them.


    But the problem was that there was nothing else for us to fight¡­


    So it was making the best of the situation.


    All the while, we kept looking for stronger monsters.


    However, it was as if the stronger monsters had all disappeared.


    Two hourster, we were still no better off than we were earlier.


    We had stopped attacking the various small monsters that were around and gathered around.


    When we gathered, I was the one that said, "We can''t keep going like this. There are no points to earn from this, so we''ll fall behind the others at this rate."


    Everyone nodded in agreement to this.


    They weren''t fools, they all knew that our time was slowly ticking down.


    But no one said anything after this since they knew that there was nothing that they could say.


    There was only silence as we stood there until¡­


    "Roar!"


    There was this loud roaring that came from around us. This roaring wasn''t just the roar of a single beast, but the roaring of many beasts.


    It was almost deafening with how many beasts were roaring at the same time.


    As soon as we recovered from our daze, we immediately raised our guards and prepared for whatever wasing. After all, it was impossible that there would be nothing after this kind of roar.


    But just where did this roare from?


    That question was quickly answered by the things that came out of the forest.


    They came out of the forest just like they wereing out of the woodworks.


    There were many different beasts that suddenly ran out and they all swarmed towards us.


    Seeing this, we had no choice but to run.


    We could have fought them, but this was a very bad ce for us to fight them.


    After all, it was clear that this was a stampede.


    The only ending that we would have if we stood there was getting trampled by this stampede.


    There were just too many beasts that it was impossible for us to stop them if we stood in their way.


    As we ran, I had ze and Kaito leave behind a wall of mes to try and disrupt the beasts. However, all that happened was that they crushed through the wall of mes to still continue charging at us.


    In fact, it didn''t even seem like the wall of mes did anything to them when they hit it.


    It was as if it was just annoying them rather than hurting them.


    When the beasts charged into the mes, there was what seemed to be this invisible barrier that blocked all of the mes that were in front of them.


    This was the phenomenon that was formed when beasts gathered in a stampede like this.


    It was when all of their mana was gathered together and with this gathered mana, it formed a barrier in front of them that could block most attacks.


    That was why stampedes were so terrifying.


    In the end, the only thing that we could do was jump up into one of the trees in the path of the stampede.


    For some reason, we saw that the beasts avoided trees that were in their way even though they weren''t afraid of the me wall that ze and Kaito had formed.


    Though we didn''t understand it, we still jumped up into the trees that were in the path of the stampede.


    Once we jumped into the trees, it was as if magic happened as the beasts all ignored us.


    One moment, they had been chasing us and the next, they werepletely ignoring us.


    They moved past the trees and continued running forward in a certain direction.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It seemed that from the beginning, the beasts had never been targeting us.


    From the very beginning, they were just charging in a certain direction, with a goal in mind. As long as we didn''t get in their way, they wouldn''t care about us at all.


    But that raised the question.


    What were they targeting?


    The stampedested around ten minutes before all of the beasts disappeared.


    That was just how many beasts there were in this stampede.


    Though they had passed us, not a single one of us got out of the tree.


    We just stood there in the tree, looking in the direction that those beasts had run off in.


    There was only one thought in our minds.


    "Look at all those points!"


    Every single one of the beasts would be worth points and there were so many of them in that stampede.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that there were so many of them, we might have fought them to get those points.


    But that didn''t mean that we didn''t have a chance to collect those points.


    I looked at Alex and Julius who were both in their trees with their group with a look that made my intentions clear.


    Both of them nodded in agreement when they saw that I was looking over at them.


    It was only then that we jumped out of the trees and started following the tracks of the stampede.


    With how many beasts there were and how many tracks they left behind, it wasn''t hard for us to follow these tracks.


    But as we did, I couldn''t help feeling a bit strange.


    It was that the direction that this stampede was heading in seemed familiar.

 Chapter 343 First round (21)

    I was right, it was a familiar ce.


    After following the tracks of the beasts, we found ourselves back at the cave where we had fought the mutated Smander.


    The beasts werepletely crowded around this cave, but it didn''t seem like they were about to push in. Instead, it almost seemed like they were just guarding the entrance to this cave, so that no one would be able to enter.


    It seemed that they were guarding something that was important to the cave.


    With how many beasts were gathered, it didn''t seem like just the stampede that we had encountered earlier was here. It seemed like there were even more beasts than what was in the stampede.


    But why did they all gather here?


    No, it was better to ask, just what had they gathered to protect?


    With the way that they were standing around the cave, it was clear that they were protecting something.


    The thing that could bring all of these beasts together would without a doubt be something very powerful and rare.


    It didn''t take long for our greed to be provoked.


    However, we weren''t the only ones that had been drawn to this.


    Since everyone was standing in the trees to avoid the beasts, it was easy to notice each other.


    This time, we didn''t surround ourselves in the illusion, so the others were able to notice us.


    If we kept using the illusion, when it was discovered that we were using the illusion, those that we had stolen from with this power would realize that it was us. With how many Awakeners had been in the mutated Smander''s cave when we killed it, there was no doubt that it would be quite troublesome to have to deal with them.


    So for now, it was better to not use the illusions.


    As we looked closely, we could see a few people that we recognized in the trees around us.


    These were the ones that Alex and Julius had told me to pay attention to when we had been in the cafe. These were the ones that were considered to have some kind of skill.


    That included Tammy and the Sol Warriors who we had stolen from earlier.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Everyone was wary of each other, but no one made a move.


    After all, the first person to make a move would without a doubt be surrounded by everyone else.


    That was just how tense the situation was.


    And with each passing moment, it became more and more tense.


    After all, even if we had no idea what the beasts were doing, we were certain that there would be other beasts inside the cave that we couldn''t see. We had no idea what those beasts inside of the cave would be doing, but there was no doubt that the situation wasn''t good for us.


    As the pressure fell onto us, there was finally someone that couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Men! Follow me!"


    This was a group from one of therge guilds.


    It was a group from a big guild from Australia called Kangaroo Jack.


    This guild wasn''t as big as therge guilds, but it was still a guild that could be considered first rate.


    So the ones that came from this guild certainly wouldn''t be weak.


    After the leader of the Kangaroo Jack group shouted this, he and his men jumped down onto the ground and charged at the beasts.


    The moment that theynded, the beasts immediately turned to face their direction.


    However, unlike before, they didn''t charge at them like when they were stampeding.


    Instead, they just strengthened their position and prepared for the offense of the Kangaroo Jack group.


    When the leader of the Kangaroo Jack saw this, he immediately said, "Spread out!"


    The members of his group went off in different directions, though they all kept going forward to hit the wave of beasts in front of them.


    It seemed that their n was to strike at different parts of the beast wave.


    If they could strike from different parts of the beast wave, with the power that they had, there was no doubt that a shockwave would spread through the beast wave. This shockwave would surely shake the unity of the entire beast wave, making it easier for them to take it down.


    But they found that it wasn''t as easy as they thought.


    The beasts that they tried to attack all had powerful defenses.


    They found that their attacks weren''t able to pierce through these defenses at all, so their charge waspletely stopped.


    Once they lost the momentum of this charge, there were various attacks that came in their direction.


    It took all that they had just to dodge out of these attacks, though there were still some that hit them.


    As they fled, the Kangaroo Jack group all looked very sorry.


    At the very least, the one good thing was that they didn''t suffer any casualties.


    Though they were heavily injured, at the very least, they were all able to get out of there with their lives.


    But this just went to show how powerful these gathered beasts were.


    Those with sharp eyes immediately noticed why this was the case.


    It was the unity of the beasts, it was the fact that they were all working together that made them hard to deal with.


    Individually, the beasts weren''t that powerful.


    However, when they all came together like this and gathered their power, they became hard to deal with.


    This was not something that any single group would be able to deal with on their own.


    There were just too many beasts here.


    Everyone had learned from the mistakes of the Kangaroo Jack group and there wasn''t a single person who jumped down to challenge the beasts after this.


    But they also couldn''t just give up whatever treasures were inside of the cave.


    Aftering this far, they couldn''t just turn back and give up now.


    So there were some ideas that were floating among these Awakeners.

 Chapter 344 First round (22)

    There were looks that were exchanged between Awakener groups.


    Eventually, there were meetings that were called between Awakener groups.


    There were small meetings that were called at first as those that were familiar with each other met to discuss the matter of the beast wave. Discover stories at empire


    But they knew that this was far from enough to deal with all of these beasts.


    So through mutual acquaintances, eventually all of the Awakeners were gathered in a single meeting.


    That included our group.


    It was through someone that invited both Alex and Julius.


    As for us, we didn''t really get invited since we weren''t that close to any of the other guilds.


    If it wasn''t for Alex and Julius proposing this alliance, we would have most likely been wandering this dungeon all by ourselves.


    For thisrge meeting, it was only the representatives of each group that came. However, even with just the representatives meeting, there were over fifty different people that were gathered.


    That just went to show how many people had been participating in this tournament in the first ce, as well as showing how much prestige could be gained from this tournament that so many people signed up for it.


    When we all gathered, no one really said anything as they all warily looked at each other.


    This was the first time that most of us were meeting each other and we were allpetitors with each other, so it was hard for everyone to ept each other that easily.


    The silence was only broken when Tammy suddenly came forward to say, "Which one of you stole the mutated Smander from us?"


    The moment that she said this, everyone looked at Tammy with surprised looks.


    After all, not a single person had expected her to suddenly say this.


    However, there also wasn''t a single person that said a thing.


    They could see the look that was on Tammy''s face, so they knew that whatever this was about, it wasn''t a good thing.


    Not to mention, there were quite a few of them that had gone with Tammy to fight the mutated Smander. So they also wanted to see if anyone would admit to taking it from them.


    As for our group, we acted like we didn''t know anything.


    I was certainly surprised to hear her suddenly ask this, but of course I wouldn''t throw myself into the mes. Alex and Julius also understood this, so they all revealed calm looks of surprise.


    I also made sure to look at Long Shui Ling just in case.


    If anything happened, we might need her illusion to get away.


    After all, there was no reason for Tammy to suddenly ask this unless¡­she had some ideas of who it was.


    Tammy saw that no one came forward to say anything, so her eyes swept over everyone here.


    After a long moment of silence, Tammy said, "I''m not angry about what happened. I just want to know if you received something special from killing the mutated Smander that might trigger this event."


    When she said this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit strange.


    That was because I couldn''t help finding myself agreeing with her.


    I hadpletely missed this since I was worried that she had figured out something, but it seemed that Tammy had been thinking rationally.


    However, I also knew that it was impossible for it to be the item that the mutated Smander dropped that caused this. If it was, they wouldn''t have swarmed this cave and would have swarmed us instead.


    Not to mention, the item that had been dropped had already been put into the Storage Ring.


    The Storage Ring''s space was a separated dimension, so it was impossible for any of its aura to leak out. So it was impossible for the item that had been dropped to cause this.


    The item that was dropped was a scale of the mutated Smander, so that was possible that they were drawn by it.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Could it be that there was something that they had missed when they rushed to leave that cave?


    Perhaps there was another scale that dropped that had caused the beasts to gather like this?


    It was a mutated beast, so there must be something special about it.


    This something special would draw in the other beasts that also wanted to be stronger, which could exin the beast wave.


    As these thoughts passed through my mind, I maintained a calm look on my face.


    I looked over at Alex and Julius and both of them had the same calm looks.


    It seemed that both of them agreed that we should still remain silent about this even if the information that we had would help everyone.


    Seeing that no one came forward still, Tammy gave a sigh and said, "Then I guess we have to do this without any information."


    She went back to the Sol Warriors and didn''t say anything else.


    The others all looked at each other with wary looks, as if they were trying to figure out if any of the others were the ones that Tammy had mentioned before.


    However, not a single person said a thing or was able to discover anything.


    There were some gazes that were cast in our direction, but they also didn''t find anything since we had calm looks on our faces.


    After a long silence, there was a blonde haired young man that came forward.


    This was a handsome blonde haired young man with hair that wasn''t too long and eyes that were as blue as the clearest water.


    He was dressedpletely in white and there seemed to be a book in his hand.


    When one looked at it closely, they saw that this was the bible that he was holding.


    Aftering forward, this blonde haired young man said, "Everyone, let''s not worry about this right now. Let''s talk about how we should handle this situation in front of us."


    As soon as he came forward, he started trying to take control of the situation.


    That made everyone slightly knit their brows.


    But in the end, no one said anything against it.

 Chapter 345 First round (23)

    When the blonde young man saw this, he said with a nod, "We''ve alle here with the same intentions, so I feel that we can all work together regardless of what maye between us."


    Everyone looked at each other.


    There were some that looked at their enemies and there were some that looked at their friends.


    It was clear that there was aplicated web of rtionships between everyone that was here. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    But still, it didn''t seem like anyone was against cooperating.


    On the other hand, I narrowed my eyes to look at this blonde young man who hade forward.


    I recognized him since I had seen his file on the device that Alex gave me.


    This person''s name was Michael Grace and he came from a guild named Deus Mecum.


    This name meant "God is with me".


    As the name suggested, this was a guild that had been formed by the Vatican and was the central pir of Christianity in this world filled with dungeons. This was a guild that gathered all those that believed in God and worked to further the spread of Christianity.


    In a sense, it was no different from a cult.


    Though if one were to call it a cult, they would certainly be put on the enemy list.


    The Vatican had stored up quite a bit of power and had even shown some sacred relics before. These sacred relics had all powered up after mana filled Earth from the dungeon breaks, so those sacred relics couldn''t be looked down on.


    That was how Deus Mecum had be one of thergest guilds.


    Though it helped that they were thergest religion before the appearance of the dungeons.


    Right now, the reason why everyone went along with Michael was because Deus Mecum liked to portray itself as a neutral guild.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Following the scriptures of their religion, God loved everyone and we were all children of God, so they remained neutral in most matters.


    As such, this Michael could be trusted as a neutral party to gather everyone together because of Deus Mecum''s prestige.


    In fact, they actually hoped that he would help them navigate theplex web of rtionships between them with his neutrality.


    Seeing that no one said anything still, Michael continued by saying, "For now, how about we all put aside our differences and figure out a way to reach the center of this cave."


    After a pause, he added, "I''m sure that the longer we wait, the worse the situation will be for us."


    At this, everyone narrowed their eyes to look at the cave.


    They hadn''t been able to sense it earlier, but they could feel an increasing auraing from the cave. It was as if there was something inside the cave that was getting stronger and stronger.


    While they had no idea just what it was inside the cave that was getting stronger, they knew that this would be bad for them.


    Not to mention the boss of this dungeon, just these monsters that came out after they finished powering up would be too hard to fight.


    So for now, it was better to take down whatever was in the cave while we still stood a chance.


    Of course, it would be a lie to say that there wasn''t a trace of greed hidden in this.


    To everyone''s surprise, I suddenly said, "I agree with this."


    They all looked at me, but the ones that red at me the most were Alex and Julius.


    It was as if they were saying, "What are you doing?"


    But they moved closer to me as if they were prepared to help me if anything went wrong.


    It was just that things didn''t go as they thought they would.


    After looking at me for a bit, the others turned back to look at Michael and they also started to state their agreement with this. It was as if I had beenpletely forgotten even though I had been the first one to say something.


    When they saw this, Alex and Julius understood what I was doing.


    There was no reason for anyone to suspect me, so even if I said something, they wouldn''t think anything of it.


    Rather, by being the first one to say something, they would think of me as cannon fodder.


    That was because I was someone that agreed so easily, there would be no way that I would be anyone powerful if I folded that easily. This would just make them think even less of me and let mepletely fly under the radar.


    After understanding this, there was even a trace of regret that appeared in the eyes of Alex and Julius.


    If they had followed me and had agreed along with me, then they would have been treated the same way as me.


    This would greatly help uster on when we went into the cave.


    There was a benefit of being underestimated.


    It would make your enemies let their guards down and it would make your friends want to protect you.


    While they didn''t have many friends, there was no doubt that they had many enemies after what had happened with the mutated Smander.


    So for now, it was best to fly under the radar as much as possible.


    After everyone agreed to this, Michael suddenly said, "Then we shoulde up with some kind of n for this."


    With a nod, there were two others that came over to his side before he said, "If everyone is alright with this, I would like to rmend that the three of us have jointmand over this mission. We will not force you to follow our orders, but it would at least be helpful for us to have some form ofmand to coordinate our actions, right?"


    The two that he had called up were from guilds in European countries that were close to the Vatican.


    It was clear that this was all premeditated, but slowly everyone nodded in agreement.


    It was all because of thetter part that he added.


    He wouldn''t force anyone to follow hismand.


    That was the only reason why this flimsy alliance was built.

 Chapter 346 First round (24)

    Once the flimsy alliance was formed, we didn''t waste any time jumping down from the trees.


    The beasts that surrounded the cave didn''t really react to us.


    They were no longer stampeding and seemed to be guarding the cave instead.


    It was clear that whatever was in the cave was their main goal, so we didn''t rush into a fight.


    We knew that there was a limited amount of time before the beasts inside the cave became stronger, but that didn''t mean that we should rush into a bad situation. The first thing that we had to do was find a way into the cave itself without taking too much damage.


    If we drained ourselves before we even got in the cave and fought the bosses inside in that condition, there was only defeat waiting for us.


    The first thing that we had to do was observe and find a weak spot in their formation to prate from.


    It took a while, but we were able to find it in the end.


    The distribution of beasts was actually strange, it was that most of the beasts were gathered around the back of the cave rather than the front where the entrance was. This created an uneven defense that made it easy for us to break through the front if we wanted to.


    However, no matter how we looked at it, it really seemed strange.


    But when we looked at it, we found that there was nothing strange about the back of the cave.


    It seemed that there weren''t any hidden passages that could lead into the cave or any special items that were there. It just seemed that the beasts were just gathered there for no special reason.


    After taking some time to confirm this, we decided to not worry about it and charge the cave still. Continue your adventure with empire


    With the different groups, we were able to quickly find a vanguard that would lead the way.


    However, it was a surprise to everyone who this vanguard was.


    "I''ll do it." Tammy suddenly spoke up again.


    After what she had said earlier, she had fallen silent and hadn''t said another word.


    That was until she suddenly said that she would volunteer as the vanguard.


    Everyone looked at her with strange looks as if they were trying to figure out just what she was trying to do, but Tammy ignored them as she looked at Michael and said, "Unless there''s a problem with me taking that position?"


    Michael also had a strange look on his face at first, but then he quickly revealed a smile that made him seem very friendly as he said, "Of course not, there''s no problem at all."


    Though the Sol Warriors and Deus Mecum were both based in Europe and seemed neutral, there was actually a hidden grudge between them.


    I only knew this because of the information from Alex.


    On the surface, it didn''t seem like there were any tensions between the two sides, but beneath the surface¡­


    The reason for this tension between them was actually very simple.


    It was simply because they were both religious organizations.


    One worshipped Christianity while the other worshipped the sun goddess.


    So it was simply a fight for believers and followers.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Still, they had to remain neutral on the surface, so it wasn''t as if Michael could do anything to Tammy.


    He could only ept her proposal and wait to see if there was any chance for him to strike.


    But Tammy was just too powerful for that.


    Tammy turned into mes as she charged forward and swept across the beasts that were in front of the entrance. These beasts tried their best to fight back, but without the momentum of the charge from earlier, they just weren''t able to resist the mes that came at them.


    Seeing these mes, I couldn''t help turning to look at ze and Kaito.


    Both of them were watching Tammy push through the beasts and when they saw me looking at them, they shook their heads with bitter smiles on their faces.


    They knew what level of power they were at and they knew that they wouldn''t be able to do the same as her with their firepower.


    They had to admit that her mes were better than theirs.


    But of course, that didn''t mean that they would give up in the future.


    This just made it clear why she was one of the favoured contestants in this tournament.


    With Tammy''s mes clearing the way, we quickly made our way to the entrance of the cave.


    There was even arge area in front of the cave that was leftpletely open by the beasts.


    The moment that we arrived in this area, we immediately understood why it was left open by them.


    The heat was just too much.


    This heat was even greater than before when we came to this cave.


    It was almost so hot that we received burns just from standing there.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that we were Awakeners, we might have really been burnt by all of this.


    It was no wonder there was ack of beasts that were standing in front of the cave itself.


    They were trying to avoid this heat that wasing from inside.


    But why was this heating out like this?


    Or rather, just where was this intense fire energying from?


    That was what was causing the heat, it was arge amount of fire energy that wasing out of the entrance of this cave.


    No one had any idea where this fire energy came from, but we did know one thing.


    This kind ofrge amount of fire energy usually meant that there was some kind of treasure.


    It seemed that there really was some kind of treasure in this ce that was attracting all of the beasts.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit of pity since this should have been ours.


    After all, the only exnation was that it was linked to the mutated Smander and we had left it behind.

 Chapter 347 First round (25)

    As we headed into the cave, there were many different people that used their powers.


    They didn''t use their powers on anything that was in the cave, but rather to surround their own group.


    That included our group, or rather Alex''s group''s water ability Awakeners.


    They raised their hands and gathered some mist around us, which cooled the area around us. The only ones that didn''t enter this mist were ze and Kaito.


    They declined the offer to enter this mist so they could walk around in the fire energy.


    Though that was because it would be good for them to walk around in this fire energy.


    Since they were me attributed Awakeners, they could absorb this fire energy that was around them. So the longer that they stayed in this dense fire energy, the stronger they would be.


    The stronger they became, the stronger their mes would be.


    It was clear that they had been incited by the disy that Tammy had put on earlier, so they were doing all that they could to grow stronger while they had the chance.


    I didn''t want to put a damper on their mood, but it was clear that this wasn''t something that could be achieved in just one or two days.


    Still, it was at least good that they were motivated since this didn''t seem like it would be simple.


    That was because as we walked through the cave, there were no beasts at all.


    We had thought that we would run into a few beasts as we made our way deeper into the cave, but there weren''t any that appeared. It was almost as if this cave waspletely empty.


    However, we knew that this wasn''t the case since we could feel the aura growing stronger in front of us.


    The n had been to go slowly since there was no knowing what was waiting for us, but after seeing that there weren''t any beasts to get in our way, there was a hint of impatience that appeared over the group. Stay updated via empire


    Finally, Tammy wasn''t able to take it anymore and started moving faster.


    When she moved faster, the other groups weren''t willing to let her get ahead of them, so they also started moving faster.


    In the end, they didn''t care about being cautious at all as they headed deeper into the cave.


    While they went deeper, I made sure to hang back with my group.


    I didn''t know what was ahead, but I was certain that it wouldn''t be easy to deal with.


    Since there was cannon fodder that was willing to take this risk, there was no need for my group to go.


    When we reached the cave where the mutated Smander had been, we were surprised by what we saw.


    It waspletely filled with beasts.


    There was only the entrance to this room that was open and free of beasts, but every other ce was filled with beasts. Moreover, when we looked closely, we found that all of these beasts were covered in mes.


    It seemed that all of these beasts were me attributed beasts and they were absorbing the fire energy that was in the air, which made them stronger. The longer that we let them be, the stronger they would be and the more dangerous they would be.


    So Tammy looked at her group and then jumped down to face the beasts.


    There were some others that also jumped down, but most of us remained up here.


    Though these beasts would certainly give us points, it wouldn''t be smart to waste our energy right now. Not to mention, there were more beasts than humans here, so we would be immediately swarmed if we jumped down.


    But that quickly changed when we saw something in the distance.


    It had been blocked by the beasts at first, but the disturbance that Tammy created caused the beasts to shift out of the way, revealing what they had once covered.


    It was a room.


    There was this hidden room on the opposite side of this cave.


    Though we couldn''t see what was inside of that room, we could feel the fire energy that wasing from it.


    Whatever was in that room was the source of therge amounts of fire energy.


    The alliance that we had created was fragile to begin with and now there was this that was thrown in there, there was no way that this alliance would remain.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Michael was the first one to try and take advantage of this alliance by saying, "Everyone, please work together to clear a path!"


    However, his words fell onto deaf ears.


    Everyone knew that he was just trying to use them to clear a path to that room for himself, so they all ignored him and did their own thing.


    Most of the people here immediately jumped down to fight the beasts with Tammy.


    As they jumped down, there were some minor conflicts that came up.


    "Get out of here, this is our area!"


    "Who died and made you king? I can go where I want!"


    It was mainly conflicts over where they were fighting the beasts.


    However, with the valiant efforts of Tammy and the others that had jumped down earlier, arge space had already been cleared. There was plenty of room and plenty of beasts for everyone.


    As more and more people jumped down to face the beasts, there was a tension that fell over the ones that remained.


    It pressured them into wondering whether they should jump down as well.


    That naturally included our group who just stood above and watched everyone fight.


    In the end, I turned to look at Alex and Julius to say, "Should we just observe them for now?"


    For the first time, Julius shook his head in disagreement and said, "No, staying here will actually be worse."


    I revealed a confused look, but I waited for him to exin.


    Julius just simply pointed at a few beasts that were on the side when he saw this.


    When I looked at the beasts, I immediately understood what he was talking about.

 Chapter 348 First round (26)

    These beasts hadn''t engaged with the ones that had dived down and were just moving around them.


    Instead, they were climbing up the walls of the cave and heading towards this cliff at the entrance of this cave where we were standing.


    It would only be a matter of time before they reached where we were.


    Once that happened, they would be surrounded and cut off from the rest of the cave. They would be pushed back out of the cave by the beasts that wereing at them or at least stalled by these beasts that they wouldn''t be able to fight for the treasures.


    In short, there was nothing to gain from staying here.


    Though jumping down also posed a risk.


    After all, with the beastsing over, it would only be a matter of time before the exit to the cave was blocked by them. Once that happened, it would be hard for us to leave even if we wanted to.


    Once that happened, the only way forward was to charge into therge group of beasts in front of us.


    After a moment of hesitation, I saId with a nod, "Alright, let''s go. We''ll hang at the back of their group and follow them."


    Alex and Julius both nodded in agreement when they heard this since this was the best decision.


    Though following them would mean that we would have to fight as well, it was still better than not following them since the vanguard would clear out most of the beasts. The ones that would be left for us would be the weak ones that escaped through the cracks, so it would be easy for us to finish them off.


    It would allow us to save energy until we reached that room that was releasing this energy.


    So without any further hesitation, we jumped down and followed behind the groups that had jumped down already.


    It didn''t take any time for us to hear screams and cries of retreating from behind us.


    It was clear that these came from the ones that weren''t fortunate enough to escape in time. Your next chapter is on empire


    They were most likely seriously injured and had no choice but to back down.


    After all, once we jumped down, we found that there wasn''t a single beast that was weak here.


    They were just as strong as the C Rankers and with their numbers, they would certainly be hard for normal C Rankers to deal with.


    Of course, with theposition of our group, it was easy for us to deal with these beasts. Plus, most of the beasts that reached us all had burns on them, showing that they were already injured by the vanguard.


    So this made it very easy for us to take them down.


    Since we had caught them off guard by suddenly appearing, the speed at which we went through the cave was very fast.


    By the time that the beasts recovered and regained their senses, our group had already made it halfway across the room. No, looking closely, it was more than halfway.


    There was only a bit left before reaching the room where the fire energy wasing from.


    Since we were so close, I was actually able to see a bit of what was inside the room.


    It seemed that there was some kind of red lighting from the room and I could see that there were a few beast corpses that were lying by the entrance.


    These beast corpses were not beasts that we had killed¡­so there had to be something inside of there causing the death of these beasts.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It was most likely whatever was left behind by the mutated Smander.


    It seemed that even if we wanted to get the treasure from that room, it wouldn''t be easy since the treasure wouldn''t let us take it so easily.


    There were others that also noticed this and a few of the sharper groups moved backwards.


    Tammy also naturally noticed this, but she couldn''t move back since she was the vanguard. So she had no choice but to keep using her mes to push the beasts out of our way.


    While we were getting closer and closer, I said to Alex and Julius, "Let''s hang back."


    However, this time, both of them didn''t seem as willing to ept this.


    It was as if they had already been nning to charge in to see what was the source of thisrge amount of fire energy.


    But in the end, since I was the one that said this, they agreed with me.


    I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief when I saw this.


    If I didn''t say anything, would I have been forced to go in with them?


    That was thest thing that I wanted.


    No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like there would be some kind of trial that we would need to pass to get to the treasure.


    I wouldn''t risk my life for something like that.


    I would prefer to be the oriole behind the mantis as it stalked the cicada.


    Though there was only a bit of distance left between us and that cave, thesest few meters were the hardest.


    That was because the beasts that were gathered outside of this room were the strongest ones out of all the beasts here.


    They didn''t go down in one blow from Tammy''s mes and many of them were even able to fight back.


    Seeing this, Tammy said, "Attack together or else we''ll never make it!"


    When they heard this, the ones that had been charging with her looked at each other before following her orders.


    They knew that they were just a bit away from the room, so they had no choice but to work with her to reach it.


    With all of these Awakeners working with Tammy, they were able to create a path to that room releasing the red light and therge amounts of fire energy.


    When we reached the entrance to this room and saw what was inside, we were shocked.

 Chapter 349 First round (27)

    Inside of this room, there were many beast corpses that were scattered around.


    The smell of blood was still fresh and strong in the air, showing that it hadn''t been long since they died.


    But that wasn''t the most shocking thing.


    The most shocking thing was the pedestal that was in the center of this room with this red gem on it that was releasing arge amount of fire energy.


    As soon as we saw this, we knew that this must have been the thing that triggered the beast wave.


    At the same time, when I saw it, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief.


    It really wasn''t something that we had left behind. After all, this red gem was ced in this special room with a pedestal holding it up, this was not something that the mutated Smander should have dropped.


    This was most likely some kind of mechanism of the dungeon that had only been unlocked when the mutated Smander died.


    We didn''t see this since we had left right away, but I couldn''t help being curious about something.


    There was no doubt that Tammy and the others should have stayed behind to search this cave after we left. They should have seen this room with the red gem in it even if we hadn''t.


    So why did they not take this red gem?


    When I looked over at Tammy, I found that she had a frown on her face as she looked at this red gem.


    At the same time, it seemed like there was a look of unfamiliarity as she looked at this red gem. It was almost as if she was seeing this red gem for the first time.


    When I saw this look on her face, I couldn''t help thinking to myself.


    "Did she not know about this?"


    If she didn''t know about this, then it made more sense.


    After all, if Tammy did know about this, then there was no way that she or the others would have left it behind. There would have been arge fight over this red gem and maybe even some deaths would have urred.


    So there must have been some kind of hidden condition that had triggered that had caused this red gem to appear.


    But what was that hidden condition?


    I had no idea at all.


    After my thoughts settled on this matter, I started turning my attention to the beast corpses that were scattered across the ground.


    It was clear that they had been killed by something and it seemed like it was quite the gruesome death.


    But what had killed them?


    There didn''t seem to be anything in this room¡­


    No, when a room was too clean, it would be suspicious.


    There was most likely some kind of trap that was here¡­


    I looked over at Alex and Julius and it seemed like they had figured out the same thing as me. So we all made sure to stand away from the center of the room, moving close to the exit just in case anything happened.


    But we also made sure to leave some people behind us so that they would have to fight the beasts that were following behind us instead of us.


    We were in the perfect position to observe the situation.


    After a long silence, there was someone that finally couldn''t take it anymore.


    This person was a part of one of the groups that had jumped down right away with Tammy''s group as part of the vanguard.


    It seemed that this person had quite the courage since they were able to follow Tammy in the vanguard. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    But it also seemed like they didn''t have that much of a brain as they charged forward without any hesitation.


    At first, it seemed like nothing was about to happen as they ran across the wide room towards the red gem.


    When the others saw this, they couldn''t help feeling a bit of regret over not going forward first. There were also a few people that took a few steps forward, as if they were preparing to go forward as well.


    Though the reason they were about to go forward wasn''t the same reason as why this person charged forward.


    They were nning on surrounding this person that had run forward after he grabbed the red gem off the pedestal. They were nning to surround him and take that red gem with force.


    As that person that ran out got further and further away from us, as well as getting closer and closer to the red gem, he said in an excited voice, "It''s mine! It''s all¡­"


    All of a sudden, that person stopped talking and they suddenly froze on the spot.


    They looked down for a second before suddenly bursting into mes.


    These mes were so strong that we couldn''t help raising our hands to protect our eyes. At the same time, with how hot the heating from these mes were, we had no choice but to also take a few steps back.


    When the beasts that were still in the room saw this person burst into mes, they gave a snort as if they were saying, "What an idiot."


    Naturally, not a single one of them did a thing to help this person that was covered in mes.


    They also moved away from that person, as it seemed that these mes were also too hot for them even though they were me attributed beasts.


    When it was all over, the mes had burned that person to ashes.


    No, it was so powerful that even the ashes immediately turned white.


    It seemed that the mes were nothing to scoff at.


    When it was all over, the ashes scattered away and that person disappeared without a trace.


    It seemed that there were traps that were around this red gem, that was why the beasts hadn''t approached it yet.


    At the very least this person''s life hadn''t been lost in vain.


    At the very least, they showed us one of the traps that was in this room.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 350 First round (28)

    But it turned out that the person that ran forward hadn''t done so in vain.


    There was a fluctuation in space near the group that this person belonged to before something came out of that fluctuation in space.


    It was like something was ripping through the fabrics of space, creating a crack that they came out of.


    This was a person.


    It wasn''t just any person, it was the person that had been burnt in the mes just now.


    Once they came out, they rubbed their neck and said, "I never thought that I would use one of my clones so quickly."


    I couldn''t help being shocked when I saw this before raising the device that Alex had given me before to point at this person.


    When I saw the information given, I understood what happened.


    Clone.


    That was the ability that this person had.


    However, it wasn''t as overpowered as one might think since it was an A Rank ability that was currently at B Rank.


    For now, it only gave this person the ability to form three clones. Or at least that was what the official released description of this power stated, but who knew if this was urate or not.


    It was very likely that they had hidden the real number of clones that they were able to make, but that was understandable. This was their trump card, so it was best for them to keep it hidden if they could.


    So it wouldn''t be strange if they had understated it in the official description or had bribed someone to change it.


    But there was another ability that caught my attention as well.


    It was the spatial ability that had been used.


    When that clone hade out of the crack in space, it was clear that whoever had caused that crack in space had some kind of spatial attributed ability which was very rare.


    I found that it was one of the girls who was in that group.


    Her ability was called My Dollhouse.


    It was the ability to create a separate subspace inside of the dollhouse that she carried around and to control dolls that were ced inside that dollhouse.


    While this didn''t seem that powerful, someone with sharp eyes would be able to see the true power of this ability.


    It was the part about creating a subspace.


    This subspace didn''t have a limit on living creatures, so it could carry people inside of it as well.


    Paired up with the person with the Clone ability, they could be considered a powerfulbo.


    The one with the My Dollhouse ability would store the real body of the person with the Clone ability, releasing many different clones that would fight, distract, or do anything else that was necessary.


    In short, her ability made the person with the Clone near invincible which made them the perfectbination.


    Though the others didn''t have the same information as us, they could see that this person that had been turned to ashes by the mes had seeminglye back to life.


    Since that was the case, they looked at him as if they were expecting him to go forward again to test for traps.


    But that person just stayed with his group and didn''t seem like he was going to move forward.


    Seeing the way that everyone looked at him, he just ignored them all as he observed the red gem on the pedestal.


    Discover more content at empire


    Seeing that he wasn''t nning on doing anything, Michael suddenly came forward and said, "This brother, since you have the ability to revive, how about you help us scout out the way? We promise that we''ll repay you when it''s all over."


    There were some looks of disdain that were cast in Michael''s direction when he said this, but they didn''t say anything as they waited for a response from that person.


    After all, though he was shameless for asking this, he did what many of them had wanted to do.


    This person''s ability really was the best way to explore this ce.


    After a moment of silence, that person gave a snort and said, "Don''t you have any shame at all? Why don''t you explore by yourself instead of begging someone else?"


    Michael ignored the disdain in this person''s voice and calmly said, "This brother, you should know how dangerous this ce is. This isn''t something that we can explore without any caution like you. We already agreed to work together, so don''t you think that this is in everyone''s best interest?"


    That person gave a disdainfulugh as he said, "In everyone''s best interests? Alright, let''s see some sincerity then. Take out your tokens and let me take your points. If you do, then I''ll do it for you."


    Michael and the others revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But then Michael continued by saying, "This brother, you should know that cooperation is based on trust. You should trust us since this isn''t the best ce for negotiations like this."


    That person gave another snort as he said, "You also said that we''re free to do what we wanted and I don''t want to. Unless you''re nning on forcing me." As he said this, he narrowed his eyes to look at Michael.


    Michael also narrowed his eyes to look at this person before looking at the others.


    It was as if he was trying to get the crowd behind him to put peer pressure on this person to go.


    There were a few that moved over to where he was, but there were many that didn''t move.


    After all, if they did, it would mean that one of the fundamental uses of their cooperation would be reversed.


    Once this happened, it would mean that they would ept Michael as their leader and he would be able to force them to do things that they didn''t want for the ''good of the group''.


    So there were people that weren''t blinded by benefits and stuck firm.


    But there were also many that were on the fence since this person''s ability really was best for this.


    "Enough."

 Chapter 351 First round (29)

    Everyone looked in the direction that this voice came from and they saw that it was Tammy who spoke.


    Michael immediately knitted his brows when he heard this since she was thest person that he wanted to deal with.


    She had already shown her power, so she had already established her prestige that could rival his. At the same time, she was from the Sol Warriors which was a guild that went against his Deus Mecum guild.


    So there was no doubt that Tammy would be against him.


    As he expected, she said, "If he doesn''t want to go, no one can force him."


    She stated this calmly like she was just saying something, but the firm tone in her voice made it seem like a fact. It was as if she would defend this person if anyone tried to force him to go.


    Hearing this, that person with the Clone ability revealed a grateful look before moving closer to Tammy and her group.


    Seeing this, Michael couldn''t help revealing an ugly look as he realized that he had just shot himself in the foot.


    Tammy had waited for him to do all of this before stepping up to help that person. In this way, she would make it seem like he was against him and that she was helping him.


    She had used him as a tool to gain the trust of this person with the Clone ability.


    When he had been used like this, Michael couldn''t help feeling annoyed, but he quickly forced that feeling down since he knew that getting angry now wouldn''t be of any use. He knew that he had to do something to salvage this situation, or his position would get much worse. Explore more adventures at empire


    After all, he had tried to use pressure to force that person to go and that had hurt his reputation since he had stated that he wouldn''t force anyone to do anything. It was clear by the way that the others looked at him that they no longer trusted him like before.


    So he had to say something to calm the situation down.


    Michael took a deep breath and forced down the anger that he was feeling before forcing a smile onto his face.


    He looked at the person that he had been trying to force to go forward before and calmly said, "I apologize if I came off a bit forceful, it was the stress from the situation that made me act irrationally. I hope that we can move past this and still work together."


    The person with the Clone ability looked at him with a look of disdain before giving a snort and turning away.


    Though he was more than capable of turning him down, this person didn''t do so since he knew that this was a bad idea.


    Right now, they were in a dangerous ce, a ce where they needed to work with each other.


    If he really turned down Michael''s apology, the tense situation would go from bad to worse.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    So even if he didn''t like it, he had to ept that they would still be working together.


    But from now on, he would remain near Tammy since he could tell that she was able to suppress him. At the same time, it was clear that Tammy was the one that most people were choosing to follow because of all that she had done.


    Michael was only the leader in name, but most people would rather follow Tammy than follow Michael.


    Once this matter was settled, everyone turned back to looking at the red gem in the middle of the room.


    As they looked closely, they could slowly see what had caused the person with the Clone ability to go up in mes earlier.


    Therge amounts of me energy right near the red gem created abustion zone. Anything that could catch on fire that got too close would immediately burst into mes like the person with the Clone ability had.


    It seemed that the beasts that were still in this room were avoiding thatbustion zone, but it also seemed like they were slowly getting closer.


    That was because they were absorbing the fire energy that wasing from the red gem and slowly decreasing thatbustion zone. At the same time, they were getting stronger and stronger as shown by the mes that surrounded them, allowing them to resist the fire energy more and more.


    It seemed that it would only be a matter of time before they reached the red gem in the center.


    It wasn''t hard to imagine what would happen if they reached the red gem.


    They were already bing stronger from the fire energy that the red gem released, so they would almost definitely be stronger if they absorbed the red gem directly.


    So they had to stop them.


    But how?


    Tammy had been observing the red gem the entire time instead of looking at the beasts around the red gem.


    While the others were still observing the beasts with uncertain looks, Tammy suddenly started moving forward.


    As she moved forward, she said to her group from the Sol Warriors, "Don''t follow me and watch out for the others."


    Without waiting for a response, Tammy walked right up to where the person with the Clone ability had burst into mes earlier.


    She was just a single step away from that zone as she stopped.


    Taking a deep breath, she took that final step and suddenly burst into mes as well.


    But it was different from before.


    Instead of being burnt by the mes, the mes seemed to be absorbed by Tammy.


    It was as if they were bing a part of her rather than hurting her.


    Everyone was shocked when they saw this and a bit lost as to what to do next.


    That was except for me who had a look of deep thought in my eyes when I saw this.


    Staring at Tammy absorbing those mes, I slowly had an idea.

 Chapter 352 First round (30)

    The others in the group all watched Tammy as well to see what would happen.


    The look on Michael''s face made it clear that he was hoping to see her fail, but the rest of them were actually looking forward to seeing the results.


    But of course, everyone also made sure to position themselves a bit more forward.


    It was as if they were preparing to make a move just in case Tammy were to seed.


    In the end, it was all about their own benefits.


    Even if they were clinging to Tammy''s leg now, it was only a matter of time before they stabbed her in the back for the red gem. That was why they were all moving into position to make sure that this was possible.


    Though there were a few that went over to where the Sol Warriors group was.


    At the very least, they were nning to stay with them until the end.


    During this time, I moved closer to Alex and Julius to share my idea with them.


    "Let''s work with Tammy."


    Both of them revealed surprised looks when they heard this before quickly asking with serious looks, "Why?"


    They didn''t reject this idea right away and instead wanted to see what I was thinking.


    As expected of the ones that I chose to work with.


    I just calmly said, "She''s the better one to work with out of all of them."


    They raised their brows as if they doubted this, but that wasn''t strange since that was actually the situation that we were in. Out of the two sides that we could have worked with, Tammy was the side that was weaker.


    While she had her supporters, the majority of the group were waiting to steal the red gem from her.


    So the moment that we helped her, it would mean going against everyone here.


    But we, or rather my group, had something that could counter that.


    So I said, "Trust me, it''s the better of the two options. That is unless either of you needs the red gem?"


    Both of them looked at the red gem before slowly shaking their heads.


    It was clear that this red gem with its fire energy was something for Awakeners with me attributed powers. It wouldn''t be of any use to them, who didn''t have any me attributed powers.


    Though they couldn''t help looking at ze and Kaito who were standing behind me with bitter looks.


    I just ignored the two of them who wanted this red gem for themselves and said, "Then since neither of your groups need it, why not give it to Tammy so we can work together with her?"


    The two of them looked at me with hesitant looks at first, but in the end, it was Julius who gave a nod of agreement first. Seeing this, Alex also gave a nod of agreement even though there was still a look of hesitation in his eyes.


    I wasn''t surprised by this since they clearly couldn''t see the benefits that came from this cooperation.


    So I waved my hand at them and they came closer so we could talk in secret.


    With everyone watching Tammy, it was a very good chance for us to talk in secret like this.


    "You see, even if she takes this, there are still many beasts that are outside¡­"


    I slowly told them my n and there were looks of deep thought that appeared on their faces.


    After a long time, they finally nodded in agreement to this n of mine.


    Though it seemed risky, it was the kind of risk that they were willing to take.


    But there was one problem with my n.


    "How are we supposed to contact her without the others noticing?"


    None of us had a power for this kind of situation, so it wasn''t as if we could just say these things out loud since we were trying to plot with Tammy against the others that were here.


    In the end, it was Julius who gave me a solution.


    "I can do it. Did you already forget what I said about my power?" Julius said with a smug smile.


    The Divine, he could change the world however he wanted¡­


    Readtest chapters at empire


    Right, he did say that before.


    This kind of power should be able to mimic many other different kinds of powers, so being able to talk mentally should be one of the things that he could do.


    So I said to Julius, "Can you connect me to her?"


    Julius gave a simple nod before raising a hand and gathering some mana.


    I could feel that there was this strange mental link that formed in my brain, but I didn''t do anything until Julius gave me the go ahead signal.


    "Is this miss Tammy of the Sol Warriors?"


    I was also looking at Tammy while this was happening.


    There were knitted brows on her face as she struggled against the mes, but then there was a look of surprise that appeared on her face as she looked around.


    There was no response, but it was clear that she heard what I said, so I continued by saying, "If there''s something that you want to say, just think it and I''ll be able to hear it. Though I can''t hear any thoughts that you''re not willing to share, so you don''t need to worry about that."


    That was apletely different power and to do that, Julius would need to expend arge amount of mana. It would be far greater than just linking our minds to talk just like he was doing now.


    There was a long silence before Tammy''s voice rang out in my mind to a bit of a surprise to me.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Who are you and what do you want?"


    She didn''t beat around the bush at all.


    "I am the one who said that we can work together."


    There was a look of surprise that appeared on Tammy''s face and seeing this, I kept pushing.


    "I am the one who stole the mutated Smander."

 Chapter 353 First round (31)

    There was only silence that followed after I confessed this.


    I could also see that there was no change in expression on Tammy''s face when I said this.


    It was as if she didn''t have any reactions to this.


    Was it because she was shocked or was it because of something else?


    After a while, seeing that she still wasn''t saying anything, I couldn''t help saying, "Are you still there?"


    Tammy''s voice responded, "I''m still here."


    I couldn''t help letting out a secret sigh of relief since I had been scared that she was angry and had suddenly decided to cut this conversation short. But it seemed that she was just unhappy about what I had said since she spoke in a curt voice.


    I decided to provoke her a bit as I said, "It seems that you''re angry about what happened?"


    A snort rang out in my head.


    It seemed that even these small noises could be transferred which made me question Julius'' power even more. I really couldn''t help wondering just how much of my mind he was able to read with his power.


    If he really could read that much of someone''s mind¡­then wouldn''t he also be able to hear this?


    I looked over at Julius and he just looked at me with a smile.


    I really couldn''t see through him¡­


    But Tammy''s voice rang in my mind again.


    "This is a tournament where we''re all supposed topete with each other, so it isn''t strange if you steal a monster away from me." Experience tales at empire


    She tried to say this in a voice that was as calm as she could make it, but it was clear that there was a trace of annoyance that was in her voice.


    No matter how hard she tried to hide it, it was impossible to hide this.


    It wasn''t strange since I was the one that had stolen the monster that she had worked so hard to kill.


    I didn''t say anything and this time, it was Tammy that broke the silence by saying, "Alright, what do you want? You said that you wanted to work with me? What did you mean by that?"


    The rushed manner that she said this, it seemed that my goal had been aplished.


    It was clear that her emotions were a bit disrupted which was what I had wanted to see since it would make negotiations easier. With her emotions disrupted like this, she wouldn''t be able to think as clearly as she normally would, allowing me to control the flow of the conversation.


    I just calmly said, "While you might be able to get the red gem now, what are you nning to do once you get it? You should know that everyone is nning on stealing it from you the moment that you take it, right?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There was no response, but I could see from the knitted brows on Tammy''s face that she also recognized this.


    She was well aware of the situation that she was in, but she hadn''t been able to do anything since there was no solution that she coulde up with.


    I didn''t say anything since I just wanted to let her stew on this for a bit.


    After a long silence, Tammy gave another snort as she said, "Then you''re saying that you know of a way to get me out of this."


    Once again, I didn''t say anything as I waited for Tammy to say something.


    She didn''t take that long to say, "Then you''re saying that you really have something?"


    I just calmly said, "Well, it depends on what kind of terms we can reach. I can say that we do have methods to get you out of her safely, but I think it will depend on your sincerity."


    Tammy deeply knitted her brows this time as she didn''t respond.


    After a long silence, she finally asked, "Then what do you want? The red gem?"


    I quickly said, "No, not at all. That thing has no use to us."


    Tammy revealed a surprised look as she immediately replied, "Are you sure that you don''t want this thing? Can''t you see how many people are fighting over it? Even if you can''t use it, don''t you think that you could get quite a few points for it?"


    Once again, I said, "Like I said, we have no use for this thing."


    There was another silence that followed before Tammy said, "Just what do you want then?"


    It seemed like she was tired of ying games, so she was no longer holding back anymore.


    I revealed a faint smile as I started telling her my demands.


    When it was over, Tammy couldn''t help asking in a surprised voice, "Are you serious?"


    I just calmly said, "That''s right, these are my demands."


    Tammy was silent for a bit longer before saying, "Alright, as long as you can get me out of here safely, then I''ll follow the terms of this deal."


    In response to this, I said, "Alright, tell me when you''re about to grab it and we''ll start."


    "Un." That was Tammy''s only response.


    I could see that she was looking at the crowd as if she was trying to find who she had been talking to, but none of us gave her a clue as we cut off the connection.


    ¡­


    Half an hourter, Tammy didn''t seem like she was any closer to the red gem in the center.


    However, all of sudden, the beasts that were around the red gem reacted.


    They seemed to look around as if they were trying to find something before their eyes suddenly turned to Tammy.


    When they looked at her, there were looks of anger and hatred that were in their eyes.


    It was as if she had done something, but Tammy had just been standing there the entire time.


    Then before anyone could react, the beasts suddenly charged at Tammy.


    They didn''t hesitate at all as they jumped into the air and shed at her with their ws all together.

 Chapter 354 First round (32)

    Though the beasts were charging at her, it didn''t seem like Tammy was reacting at all.


    The closer and closer that they came, it didn''t seem to bother Tammy at all.


    She just stood there covered in mes as she continued staring at the red gem.


    When everyone saw this, they couldn''t help turning to look at the group around the Sol Warriors.


    It didn''t seem like they were reacting either. They all just stood there as if nothing was wrong.


    Some of the people watching couldn''t help finding this strange.


    It would be fine if Tammy didn''t react since it was possible that she might have some kind of hidden ability that would allow her to escape this situation. However, it would be impossible for this group to be this calm, especially since there were plenty of people that weren''t as familiar with Tammy.


    They were just Awakeners from other guilds that were currently cooperating with Tammy, so they wouldn''t know her true abilities.


    It would be impossible for them to be as calm as this.


    Something had to be wrong¡­


    The ones that realized that something was wrong moved closer to the exit, as if they were preparing to run at any moment.


    The one that was the most into this, the one who was the most invested in this didn''t find anything wrong. Though he should be the one that should have noticed first if something was off with Tammy, he didn''t notice a single thing.


    Michael just clenched his fists and watched with serious eyes.


    The look in his eyes almost made it seem like he couldn''t wait to see Tammy being ripped apart by the ws of the beasts.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His obsession with this made him miss the clues that the others had seen.


    Finally, the beasts reached Tammy and shed at her with their ws.


    However¡­there was no contact made.


    The moment that the beast ws should have made contact with Tammy, there was this strange phenomenon that happened.


    It was as if Tammy suddenly faded away for a second before she reappeared in the same spot, but it seemed like the ws of the beasts didn''t make contact with her at all. It was as if the ws of the beasts just went right through her body, like it wasn''t there.


    It wasn''t just one beast that this happened with, it was multiple beasts who tried shing at Tammy and they all missed.


    After they missed, theynded around her and looked at Tammy with shocked and confused looks. It was as if the beasts couldn''t figure out just what was happening.


    There was a long moment of silence before the beasts started shing at Tammy.


    This time, theypletely surrounded her and shed at her from every direction. No matter how one looked at it, there really was no escape for her.


    However, the same thing happened where their ws just seemed to phase right through her without any resistance. It was as if Tammy didn''t exist at all, which was why they couldn''t touch her.


    Eventually, the beasts had no choice but to give up.


    After all, it didn''t seem like anything was going to work.


    One of the beasts suddenly gave a roar and the others all looked at that beast.


    It seemed that they had suddenlye up with an idea as they all looked at that one beast that gave a roar. Then all of them turned back to Tammy before being covered in mes.


    These mes didn''t hurt the beasts and they even came together around Tammy.


    Then all of a sudden, the mes came from all around her, surrounding her without giving her a single inch to move.


    These mes would without a doubt be powerful since these were the mes that concentrated the power of all these beasts together. There wasn''t a single Awakener that was watching that would have been able to resist these mes. Find your next read on empire


    But still, the mes didn''t do anything to her.


    The mes just surrounded her and didn''t actually make contact with her.


    Tammy was able to stand in these mes like she wasn''t bothered by them.


    Even the expression on her face didn''t change as the mes surrounded her.


    In no time at all, she waspletely engulfed in mes, but there was no change in her expression still.


    However, there was something that did change.


    As she was surrounded by the mes, her figure started to fade.


    In no time at all, she disappeared without a trace.


    When this happened, the beasts had been so shocked that they suddenly stopped releasing mes. The mes that had surrounded Tammy disappeared, but Tammy was no longer there.


    When the Awakeners looked more carefully, they noticed that the Sol Warriors and the others around them were also gone.


    But most importantly of all¡­the red gem was gone.


    They finally realized why the beasts had suddenly attacked Tammy, but they also realized why Tammy didn''t react at all to the attacks of the beasts.


    She was just an illusion.


    Under this illusion, Tammy had already taken the real red gem and had run away.


    When the beasts lost the thing that they were after, they naturally turned to the one that was closest since they thought that she stole it. But when it turned out that Tammy didn''t do a thing, when Tammy disappeared like this, their attention turned to the others that were in the room.


    The Awakeners all cursed under their breath and tried to find where Tammy was, but they didn''t find a trace of her in this room.


    At the same time though, they didn''t have that much time to look for her since the beasts wereing closer.


    The beasts lost Tammy as a target, so they changed the target of their rage to the other Awakeners that were in this room.


    It seemed that they had really been screwed over this time.


    They had wanted to steal the red gem from Tammy after she took it, but instead she had turned them into a scapegoat for the angry beasts.

 Chapter 355 First round (33)

    When the Awakeners saw these beasts charging at them, they didn''t hesitate at all to turn and run.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    They could feel the auraing from these beasts and they had seen the attacks that these beasts could do, so they knew just how powerful these beasts were.


    While it was possible for them to defeat these beasts, there was no doubt that it would take them quite a bit of effort to do so.


    Once they defeated these beasts, what would happen to the beasts outside?


    In fact, if they fought these beasts, would the beasts outside just ept this and let them fight without charging in?


    No, that was impossible.


    The moment that the fighting began, they would be surrounded by the beasts. They would be pinched in between the beasts that were outside this room and the beasts that were inside.


    They would have nowhere to run and if they wanted to escape, they would have to pay a heavy price.


    Not a single person was righteous or selfless enough to sacrifice themselves for the others, so naturally they wouldn''t do that.


    The only option that was left for them was to run out of this room.


    They would break through the beasts that were waiting for them outside and try to reach the exit of this cave.


    As long as they could break out of this cave, they would be able to run away and escape this beast stampede. Once they were out of the cave, it would be easy for them to pick these beasts off one by one.


    When the time came, there wouldn''t be ack of points for them.


    So they just needed to get out of this ce and they would be able to get out of this predicament.


    But the entrance to this room was already blocked by the beasts.


    In fact, the beasts seemed like they were about to enter the room since they had felt the fire energy disappear. Find your next read at empire


    Once Tammy took the red gem, the intense fire energy that had beening out of the room had already disappeared. The heat that they had felt earlier was just from the residual fire energy and the illusion.


    But the beasts outside didn''t feel the same thing, so they came over to check what happened once the fire energy disappeared.


    That was why they were blocking the entrance.


    Seeing that it was very likely that they would be trapped, Michael finally couldn''t take it and said, "Push through!"


    This time, he wasn''t talking to everyone, but rather to his own group.


    They had saved their energy since they had relied on Tammy the entire time, so this was the time to use it. The alternative to not using it was being trapped, so it was better to use it all for the chance to survive.


    The moment that Michael gave this order, the members of his group immediately charged forward and cut down the beasts that were in front of them. The beasts had beenpletely caught off guard since they had been investigating the entrance to this room.


    For them, the only exnation that the fire energy disappeared was if the beasts that led them absorbed the red gem. They assumed that the humans had already been wiped out, so they were caught off guard when these humans suddenly appeared.


    Being caught off guard like this, they weren''t able to fight back at all as the human weapons cut into them.


    But the beasts were able to regroup since there were so many of them, the humans just couldn''t cut them all down.


    In the end, there was a path that was created by Michael''s group.


    The others had been hesitating since they didn''t know if they should follow him or not, but the moment that they saw the path being created, they knew that they had no choice. They all raised their weapons and followed Michael''s group, helping them cut out a path.


    With the rate that they were going, it seemed very likely that they would be able to make it to the exit of this cave.


    Though there were some people that fell prey to the beasts along the way, they didn''t stop for a single moment.


    The ones that caught were left to fend for themselves, there was nothing that they could do for them.


    It seemed like they would make it, but¡­


    There was a faint light that came from the ground in front of them before a burst of mes suddenly appeared.


    Before they could even do anything, there were a bunch of mes that appeared in front of them. These mes gathered together to form a wall that blocked the way forward.


    These mes created arge wall that went from one side of the cave to the other side of the cave,pletely cutting it off.


    It was like this cave had just been cut in half by thisrge me wall.


    The moment that they saw these mes, everyone immediately recognized what these were.


    It was without a doubt Tammy!


    Michael took the lead as he came forward first and shouted, "What do you think you''re doing? Are you trying to trap us all here? Let down the me wall now!"


    But there wasn''t a single reaction from the me wall as it remained up.


    Seeing this, the expressions of the Awakeners all turned ugly.


    They could see the beasts that wereing from behind getting closer to them, so they had no choice but to raise their weapons and send their attacks at this wall of mes.


    The attacks hit the wall of me head on, but they found that they weren''t able to do a thing to it. Even though they hadbined all of their powers, they just couldn''t chip this wall of mes.


    But not giving up, they kept attacking the wall of mes with more and more attacks.


    It was just too bad that nothing worked in the end and the beasts caught up.


    So in the end, they had to turn around and face the beasts that caught up to them.

 Chapter 356 First round (34)

    On the other side of the me wall.


    After the me wall came up, we immediately went forward to surround Tammy''s group, ze, and Kaito.


    It was them working together that had raised this wall.


    But the key to this me wall was actually something else.


    It was the red gem that was being held in Tammy''s hand that was what made this me wall powerful.


    She was drawing on the endless fire energy that came from the red gem to power up the me wall that she created. With all of that fire energy, she was also benefiting since she was absorbing that fire energy that came out.


    Of course, it wasn''t just her that benefited from this.


    It was also the members of the Sol Warriors, ze, and Kaito who helped with the me wall that benefited from this.


    They were also able to absorb the energy that came from the red gem, so their mes were also getting stronger.


    But since they were setting up this wall, that meant that they were vulnerable. Even with the power of the red gem, the wall itself took all of their power to maintain.


    So they weren''t able to move as they were focused on the wall.


    Even though there were some beasts that were held back by this wall, there were still some other beasts that were on this side with us. When they saw the wall, they immediately found the source since there was arge amount of fire energy that wasing from where Tammy''s group was standing.


    These beasts wereing at them to bring down this me wall.


    That was where we came in.


    We had to stop these beasts and prevent them from reaching Tammy''s group.


    But that was also what we wanted.


    After all, all of these beasts were worth points.


    This was actually the deal that I had made with Tammy.


    It was to give her the red gem while we got the rest of the beasts that were here. As long as we got these beasts, it was very likely that we wouldn''t need to worry about passing this first round.


    Seeing the beastsing, our three groups moved in different directions.


    In a situation like this, it was better for everyone just to fight on their own since there was no threat from these beasts. There was no need toplicate things by forcing us to cooperate with each other.


    The fighting was intense, but it didn''tst long.


    These beasts were the ones that had been left out here, which meant that they weren''t strong enough to resist the fire energy. When they faced us, we were able to easily lure them with Tammy''s support.


    From time to time, the me wall would have extra segmentse out that hit the beasts that we were fighting.


    These beasts fell to the ground covered in mes, making it easy for us to kill them.


    Just like this, the rest of the beasts were wiped out.


    The only other incident was¡­one of the groups that had followed Tammy had tried to steal the red gem while we were fighting the beasts.


    The ones that stopped them were the group with the person that had the Clone ability.


    They stopped that group while we were still fighting the beasts.


    It seemed that Tammy hadn''t helped them in vain.


    When it was all over, Tammy didn''t let down the me wall.


    Through this me wall, we could hear the sounds of fightinging from the other side.


    It sounded very fierce and it sounded like there were quite a few casualties, but we didn''t react at all after hearing this. If the situation was reversed, there was no doubt that they would have acted the same way.


    So we just waited for the fighting to end.


    When the sounds from the other side stopped and it was all over, Tammy finally let the me wall down.


    There were beast corpses that were scattered all around, but there were also human corpses lying among these beast corpses.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    At the very center was a group that was covered in blood and injuries.


    Whether this blood was theirs or the beasts, it was hard to tell, but they werepletely soaked in the blood.


    Seeing the me walle down, they immediately turned in the direction of the exit and wanted to dash out. However, they found that there was another wall of mes that surrounded them before they could react.


    This wall of mes just trapped them in the center of this cave.


    One of them gritted his teeth and said, "Let us out! You think that you''ll get away with betraying us like this?"


    This person was Michael.


    He no longer had the same friendly look as before and instead he spoke in a voice that was filled with malice.


    The others also had looks of hostility in their eyes, but they were more cautious than him.


    Tammy just came forward and said, "Is that so? Then what do you think will happen if we don''t let you go?"


    All of them trembled when they heard this.


    They had thought that Tammy would be just as drained as them, but they could hear it in her voice¡­she wasn''t tired at all.


    It seemed that she was still filled with energy and would have no problem fighting.


    That was because Tammy had been relying on the power of the red gem to put up that me wall, so she had barely used any of her own power during this time. She had more than enough power to fight these people who had beenpletely drained fighting against the beasts. Find adventures on empire


    At the same time, we also had plenty of power since we had fought with the support of Tammy''s mes.


    These mes had made it easy for us to take down the beasts, so we didn''t strain ourselves at all.


    Between a side that was exhausted and a side that was still filled with energy, it was clear who would win.

 Chapter 357 First round (35)

    Michael knew that acting tough in this situation wouldn''t do him any good, so he said, "What do you want?"


    The other Awakeners that were with him were surprised to see him back down, but they didn''t say anything. After all, they knew exactly why he was backing down at this moment.


    Before Tammy could say anything, I suddenly said, "Let''s just kill them all and be done with it." Read exclusive chapters at empire


    As soon as I said this, all of them looked at me in shock and disbelief.


    It was as if they never thought that I would suddenly give this suggestion.


    Then before anyone could respond, Michael suddenly pointed his finger at me and said, "Who do you think you are to propose something like this? This isn''t a ce for someone like you to¡­"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Before he could finish, Tammy cut him off by saying, "He is my partner, so he can say whatever he wants."


    As soon as they heard this, they once again revealed shocked looks.


    Michael and his group all looked at Tammy, as if they were trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.


    But Tammy just had a poker face, so they couldn''t see anything from it.


    At that, they couldn''t help feeling a bit worried.


    This was someone that Tammy treated as an equal, so what would happen if she suddenly decided to listen to him?


    Would they really die here?


    All of them couldn''t help feeling a chill run down their spines as soon as this thought ran through their mind.


    These Awakeners were the prized rookies of therge and big guilds, so they had an arrogance that others didn''t have. This came from being looked up to by everyone else, which stroked their egos until they reached this point.


    This built up their confidence until they thought that they were more important than anyone else.


    But that also made it so that they were more afraid of death.


    They firmly believed that they were destined to achieve something great, so when their lives were in danger, they were more afraid than anyone else.


    With death so close, they couldn''t help feeling scared.


    But it was Tammy who spoke up for them in the end by saying, "They''re from the variousrge and big guilds, there''s no telling what they''ll do in the future if we kill all of them. Leaving them might mean having to face them in the future, but at the very least, the guilds behind them won''t pursue this matter."


    After she said this, everyone looked at me as if they were waiting for my reaction.


    I didn''t say anything at first as if I was unwilling to ept this, but in the end, I said, "Fine, we don''t have to kill them."


    When they heard this, all of them let out sighs of relief.


    But the next words caused the ugly looks to appear on their faces again.


    "However, we can''t just let them go without suffering a single consequence." I said in a cold voice.


    Hearing this, Tammy gave a nod of agreement before looking back at Michael to say, "What do you think that your punishment should be?"


    Michael had a very ugly expression on his face when he heard this, but he quickly calmed himself down to say, "Haven''t we already been punished enough. How are we supposed to keep earning points in this condition? How do you expect us to pass the exam in this condition?"


    After a pause, he said in a gentler voice, "As long as you let us go, I promise that we will drop this matter and won''t bother you in the future."


    I just shook my head and said, "Not good enough."


    Then I also looked at Michael to say, "At the very least, we need to take your points as well. After all, you just gained a bunch from ying these beasts, right?"


    All of the Awakeners revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.


    They had been hoping that they would forget about this, but it was true that they had earned quite a few points from fighting those beasts just now.


    As long as they were able to leave this ce safely, then they wouldn''t need to worry about earning more points. With the points that they currently have, it should be easy for them to make it to the next round.


    That is as long as nothing happened to their points.


    But now they were being robbed for their points.


    Michael took a deep breath and said,"You should know your limits and know when to¡­"


    Before he could finish, I had alreadye forward to kick Michael down on the ground before saying, "Give me the token now or else."


    Michael looked up at me with a shocked look on his face.


    It was clear that he never expected me to suddenly get violent like this.


    Seeing that he wasn''t doing anything, I raised my foot again as if I was about to kick him once more.


    Michael hesitated for a second, but in the end¡­he took out his token for me.


    I snatched the token from his hand and brought out my own token.


    When I did, the other Awakeners looked at me with strange and confused looks, as if they were trying to understand what I was doing.


    Though there were a few that understood what was happening.


    Michael was one of the ones that didn''t know what was happening, so he said, "What are you doing?"


    I just ignored him as I brought my token up to his token.


    Then holding the two tokens, I brought out the score on both of them.


    Everyone was surprised to see this since they clearly didn''t know that the token had this function. Even Tammy had a surprised look, showing that she didn''t know about this as well.


    After that, I brought Michael''s token over to my token before putting them together.


    The moment that they came together, the point value started to change.

 Chapter 358 First round (36)

    The points from Michael''s badge started to decrease while the points that were on my badge started to increase.


    In no time at all, all of the points had disappeared from Michael''s badge and had gone to mine.


    Once I was done, I just tossed the token back to him like it was worthless.


    Michael caught it and looked down at the number that was still projected.


    With a bitter look on his face, he just stared at therge goose egg that was in front of him.


    Then he looked up at me with a look of rage, as if he was saying that he would get me for this.


    I didn''t care at all as I turned to the others and said, "Bring out your tokens or else."


    All of them had seen how I had treated Michael, so they knew that I was serious.


    However, there were many of them that were hesitating to take out their tokens.


    Once they did, they would lose all of the points that they had obtained. Once they lost those points, it would be very unlikely that they would be able to make it to the next round.


    After all, half of their time had already passed and if they lost all of their points, how would they catch up to those that still had their points?


    Not to mention, they were all injured and needed time to heal, so they would have even less time to make up for the point difference.


    They knew that as long as they handed over the token, then it would all be over.


    So there were some that were thinking of different ideas.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    They wanted to find a different method to end this so they wouldn''t have to give up their tokens.


    After a long silence, one of them suddenly came forward to say, "How about we give you something else? We have plenty of treasures here and as long as you''re willing to take them instead of the token, then we''ll give you everything."


    As they said this, they took out several items that they ced in front of them.


    These items were the items that this person''s guild had given them for this tournament.


    These were items that had been specifically given to this person for the tournament, so there was no doubt that they would be precious items. These items had been prepared by their guild to help them pass this tournament, but now they had no choice but to offer it up.


    After all,paring the two, the points on the token were more important.


    While these items might help themter in the tournament, there was no meaning to these items if they couldn''t make it past the first round.


    If they were knocked out in the first round, then it would be a major blow to their prestige and their position in their guilds. In short, it would be like saying that there were no prospects for them in the future.


    So this was thest thing that they could allow to happen.


    It was just too bad for them that I didn''t care at all about them.


    I gave a nod to the others and they also came forward to kick these people down to take their tokens.


    Right now, the most important thing was passing this first round and taking out as many of our rivals as possible. It didn''t matter how they begged us since there was a need to take them all down to ensure that we would pass since we didn''t know just how many people would pass in the first ce.


    But there were a few that were spared from having their points taken in the end.


    It began with Tammy saying, "Can you spare that one?"


    I had been about to take this person''s token when Tammy had suddenly spoken.


    When I turned around to look at her, she exined, "Their guild has a working cooperation with our Sol Warriors, so we need to give him some face at least."


    Hearing this, I slowly gave a nod and let that person put the token away.


    But I didn''t let things end there since there was a chance that they might be a rival in the future.


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    Since I couldn''t knock him out here, then I would just take what they would rely on in the future.


    Like the first person suggested, I took the precious items of this person.


    These were the items that their guild had given them, the items that they would have relied on to do better in the next round. So I was weakening them in preparation for the future.


    Since I made one exception, there were other exceptions that were made.


    These were the ones that had connections to Alex and Julius, as well as those that had connections to Elementia.


    It was Bing Xin who told me about these ones since I didn''t know as much about the working rtionships of Elementia.


    Other than these ones, the rest of them all had their tokens taken from them and their points stolen.


    The way that they looked at us, it was clear that we had made quite a few enemies.


    However, that was just how things were.


    As for the distribution of these points, we made sure that everyone received a fair share so that all of us would have around the same amount of points.


    But to my surprise, everyone had insisted that I take more of the points than them.


    I didn''t know what they were nning, but I received enough points so that I was far ahead of everyone else.


    Though it seemed like a kind gesture, I couldn''t help feeling that there was something here that I couldn''t see¡­


    Still, this wasn''t the time to think too deeply about this since we were still inside of the dungeon.


    The only thing that I could do was ept this gesture of theirs and move on.

 Chapter 359 First round (37)

    When it was all over, when we had finished robbing them, we finally let them go.


    The group led by Michael looked at us with strange looks, but they didn''t hesitate to head to the exit of this cave.


    The way that they red at us made it clear that they wouldn''t forgive us for this matter, but they definitely didn''t move slowly as they moved towards the exit of this cave.


    The looks on their faces also showed that they didn''t understand why we would let them go that easily.


    We didn''t move at all as we waited for them to leave this cave.


    Only when they left did we start to follow them.


    We made sure to stay far enough behind that they wouldn''t worry about us following them. After all, we also needed to leave this cave, so it was only natural that we would follow behind them.


    It would have actually been bad for them if we didn''t follow them out.


    But before we could reach the exit, we suddenly heard screams and sounds of fightinging from in front of us.


    The moment that we heard this, I gave a nod to Long Shui Ling.


    She gave a nod back before raising her hands, though there was a strained look that appeared on her face.


    When I saw this, I immediately wanted to go over and help her, but she shook her head at me to show that she was fine.


    Once I received this shake of the head from her, I didn''t waste any time.


    I knew that the more time that we wasted, the harder it would be on Long Shui Ling.


    So I looked at everyone and said, "Let''s leave this ce as soon as possible."


    They nodded in agreement before following me and Long Shui Ling.


    They followed us since it was Long Shui Ling''s powers that were hiding us, so there was no one better to lead.


    As we reached the exit of the cave, we could hear the sounds of fighting and pained cries even more clearly.


    We could even see the fighting that was happening at the entrance of the cave.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Michael''s group had forgotten one thing in their ordeal¡­there were still a bunch of beasts that were waiting outside.


    These beasts might be weakpared to the ones that had been inside of the cave, but they were injured and found it hard to fight. They didn''t even have half of their usual fighting capabilities because of this.


    Plus, there were far more beasts out here than there were in the cave.


    With these numbers, just a single stop of spit from each beast would be enough to drown them.


    This was not something that they could handle in their current state.


    They did their best to fight back against the beasts that surrounded them, but they just couldn''t do enough to create a path for them to escape from.


    Seeing that their situation was bad, Michael suddenly waved his hand and said, "Back into the cave! We''ll lead the beasts to them!"


    ''Them'' that he was referring to was our group.


    At the very least, it seemed like he was still thinking clearly.


    Since there was only one path out of the cave, there was no doubt that we would have to fight these beasts if we wanted to leave this cave. So Michael''s n was to lead these beasts to us so that we had no choice but to fight them.


    It was just too bad that this n wouldn''t work since we were already out of the cave and beside them. They just didn''t see us because of Long Shui Ling''s illusions.


    At the same time, the beasts also didn''t see us, so they didn''t turn their attention to us.


    It was a smart move to try and force a fight between us and these beasts, but it wouldn''t work out for them.


    In fact, it actually helped us that they started leading the beasts into the cave.


    Because of the way that the cave was shaped, this caused the beasts heading into the cave to form a narrow line.


    This narrow line left space on the side for us to escape.


    Since Michael''s group was so gracious to help us establish this escape route, there was no reason why we shouldn''t take this.


    We went around the beasts that were charging into the cave and quickly disappeared from this area.


    Looking back at the cave, I could already imagine what kind of scene was happening inside.


    Once they realized that we weren''t there, they would have no choice but to fight the beasts to get out of the cave again. That would be a brutal fight since the beasts wouldpletely take up all the space inside the cave, giving them no space to fight these beasts.


    They would be trapped by the beasts, with only a single path out and more beasts swarming in.


    In short, it would be like hell for them.


    If any of them survived, it would be very surprising.


    But this was just the consequences of their own actions.


    After all, Michael and the others had been nning to use us to take care of these beasts.


    Since that was the case, they deserved whatever they received.


    After we left this area, we didn''t stop until we were at least several kilometers away.


    Only then did we finally stop to catch our breath from running continuously.


    Long Shui Ling also quickly fell to the floor on her butt since it had taken a lot of mana for her to maintain the illusion this long.


    I went over and handed her a mana potion before making sure that she was alright.


    But Bing Xin took over since there was someone that wanted to talk to me.


    Tammy was standing there in front of me, looking at me with a strange look before she suddenly said, "Thank you for helping us. If it wasn''t for you, then we might not have made it out of there."

 Chapter 360 First round (38)

    I looked at her with a calm look before waving my hand and saying, "There''s no need to thank us, we just used each other for our own gains."


    Tammy gave a nod, but she still feltpelled to say, "If it wasn''t for you, we really might not have made it out of there alive."


    The other members of the Sol Warriors nodded in agreement when she heard this.


    But I made sure to raise my hand and say, "Please don''t misunderstand, there was no deeper meaning to it. We were simply using each other."


    I didn''t know what she was doing, but it didn''t seem like a good idea for her to think too much about this. Instead of letting her think more about it ande up with some ideas of her own, it was better to shut her down here and now.


    Seeing that I just would not ept her gratitude, Tammy gave a sigh and said, "Alright, we''ll leave it at that."


    Then she turned around and looked at the other groups that followed her to say, "You can go now. There''s nothing left for you here."


    They were surprised to hear this, but they didn''t reject this.


    After all, we were stillpetitors in this tournament and they had gained plenty from this.


    We had given them tokens from the other group as well, so they had also earned quite a few points from all of this.


    Now that they''ve earned that much, it was better not to be greedy.


    As long as they were able to keep a hold of the points that they currently had, it wouldn''t be a problem for them to make it to the next round.


    So right now, all they wanted to do wasy low until this round was over.


    Since Tammy was giving them permission to leave, they didn''t hesitate to do so.


    They just thanked us and then turned to leave.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    In the end, this was apetition and everyone had to look out for themselves. Even if we had worked together now, that didn''t mean that we would be able to work together forever.


    It was very likely that we would bepetitors in the next round.


    The one thing that I was surprised by was that Tammy had decided to stay.


    I couldn''t help asking her, "Our deal is over, there''s no need for you to stay here any longer, right?"


    Tammy just looked at me and said, "I''ve said that I would work with you, so I''ll work with you until the end of this round."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I could see the look in her eyes.


    She was someone that stuck to her convictions and since she had said this, it would be hard to chase her away. So there was no need to force this matter and just let her stick with us.


    After all, even if she betrayed us, we had a way of dealing with her.


    But as an ally, she was quite reliable with the red gem that she had obtained.


    How that would affect us in the future¡­it was hard to tell.


    I waited for the groups that were leaving to disappear before suddenly saying, "I think that it should be time to reveal yourselves, right?"


    Everyone looked at me with a confused look when they heard this.


    Well, everyone except for Julius who looked at me with a faint smile.


    There was a silence that hung in the air as everyone waited to see what happened.


    But then there were several cloaked figures that jumped out of the trees around us andnded in front of us.


    When they did, everyone in our group immediately pulled out their weapons and raised their guards. That was everyone except me and Julius.


    I just raised my hand for everyone to calm down before looking at the cloaked figures to say, "I figured that you would be around."


    As soon as theynded, everyone immediately recognized them.


    It was Diablo''s group.


    Diablo came forward to say, "How did you know? I think that we hid ourselves quite well."


    I just said with a smile, "Well, it seems not well enough."


    In truth, I didn''t actually know a single thing about this.


    It was more instinct that had made me ask this.


    I figured that it usually wouldn''t end here and there would be something else that happened since the boss of this dungeon hadn''t been found yet. Before that happened, there would still be something left.


    Of course, I never expected Diablo''s group to appear.


    Diablo gave a chuckle before saying, "Then how did you notice?"


    My brain quickly turned before I came up with an excuse, "You''ve been acting suspicious since the very beginning, do you really think that no one would notice?"


    Diablo gave another chuckle before saying, "Well, it seems that dropping clues did pay off."


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before saying, "Who are you and what do you want?"


    Another chuckle rang out before he said, "So it seems that you don''t know everything. Should I say that you''re lucky or should I say that you''re perceptive?"


    I didn''t say anything in response to this.


    After a momentary silence, Diablo said, "Can I see the Inferno Gem?"


    I narrowed my eyes again before turning to look at Tammy.


    She was the one that had the gem, so I would leave this up to her.


    She looked at me before looking at Diablo for a bit. After a bit of silence, she pulled out the gem for him.


    Diablo looked closely at the red gem that he called the Inferno Gem before saying, "It''s the real thing, good job."


    As if to praise us, they suddenly raised their hands and started pping.


    For some reason, it almost seemed sarcastic the way that they were pping.


    I narrowed my eyes again and asked, "So what now?"


    To my surprise, Diablo gave a shrug as he said, "It''s not what you think, we just have to find the one that took this Inferno Gem and give them something special."

 Chapter 361 First round (39)

    None of us said a thing after hearing this.


    We just looked at Diablo with looks of suspicion and confusion.


    What did he mean by this?


    Diablo didn''t mind the looks that we gave him at all as he just said in a casual manner, "Man, I really never expected anyone to get that thing. After all, even if you were to make your way through all of those beasts, there are all those that are waiting outside and even humans that want to take this thing from you. No one is immune to a treasure like the Inferno Gem after all."


    There was nothing wrong with the words that he said, it was just that the way that he said it was a bit infuriating¡­


    The cloaked figures around Diablo nodded in agreement before giving their own opinions.


    It seemed that all of them were the same as Diablo, even the words that they said sounded simr to what he said.


    It made all of us reveal dark looks on our faces.


    But from the things that they said, there was something that I slowly realized¡­


    The way that they were talking, it was as if they knew more than they put on. It was almost as if they were the ones that had nned everything.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at this group before suddenly revealing a look of realization.


    At the same time, I could see that Julius had the same look of realization as me.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Both of us looked at each other with smiles before shaking our heads.


    The others looked at us with strange looks, as if they were wondering what we were doing.


    I gave a cough and said, "I never thought that you would be people on the side of the administration. So you were leading us here and set up the event?"


    Stay tuned with empire


    When they heard this, Diablo''s group stopped talking and turned to look at us.


    Though we couldn''t see their expressions, it wasn''t hard to guess that they were most likely looking at us with smiles on their faces.


    Diablo gave a nod and said, "So you figured it out in the end." After a pause, his tone changed to one that almost seemed a bit disdainful as he said, "A bit slow since we''ve already given you so many hints."


    My lips couldn''t help twitching when I heard this, but I didn''t refute him.


    I just waited for him to finish what he was doing so he could tell me what was going to happen now.


    But he just didn''t stop as he started discussing this matter with the other cloaked figures.


    It seemed that they weren''t happy unless theypletely bashed into the ground.


    I could see that Julius had a relieved look since he had also figured this out, but had left it to me to confront Diablo.


    After taking a while to bash me, Diablo finally turned back and said, "That''s right, we work with the administrators of this tournament to y a role. Our role is to lead people to that cave and then initiate that event."


    All of the things that he said were things that we had already figured out, so there was nothing to say in response.


    What I was waiting for was¡­


    "Since you have obtained the Inferno Gem, that means that you have obtained the right to receive some special information."


    Finally, he was getting to the part that we actually cared about.


    It was the reward that came from clearing this event.


    Otherwise, who would have listened to all of their insults?


    Diablo''s voice suddenly turned serious as he said, "As the ones that obtained the Inferno Gem, you have the right to obtain information on the final boss of this dungeon."


    But then he suddenly stopped before saying the rest and turned to Tammy to ask, "You''re the one that obtained the Inferno Gem in the end and the one that is entitled to this information." He slowly turned to look at the rest of us to say, "Do you want to step aside to talk privately or do you want me to say it in front of everyone?"


    There was a worried feeling that filled me when I heard this, or at least that was what was starting to develop. It didn''t get a chance to be a proper worried feeling since Tammy responded right away.


    "There''s no need to hide it from them. I wouldn''t have gotten this if it wasn''t for them."


    She had said this without any hesitation, as if she had already made up her mind.


    Diablo gave a nod before saying, "Good, it seems like there''s nothing to worry about."


    We couldn''t help revealing confused looks when we heard this, but he didn''t borate further on this.


    Since he didn''t borate, it wasn''t as if there was anything we could do about that.


    Diablo just simply said, "The final boss of this dungeon is a dragon."


    Dragon¡­


    That was a terrifying word.


    After all, all dragons were considered at least A Rank Monsters with how powerful they were and those were only the weakest dragons. The stronger ones would easily be considered S Rank Monsters.


    Those were monsters that were as strong as the guild masters of therge guilds.


    Seeing the look on our faces, Diablo slowly said, "But of course, it''s a young dragon, so it''s only B Ranked."


    We all looked at him with bitter looks when we heard this.


    His face was hidden by the cloak he was wearing, but I was certain that he should have a smile on his face with the way that he was looking at us.


    He was clearly teasing us by giving us the information bit by bit instead of all at once.


    But I couldn''t help feeling that it was a bit strange.


    There didn''t seem to be anything to gain from doing this with us.


    Could it be that there was a reason for him stalling like this?

 Chapter 362 First round (40)

    The more that I thought about, the more likely that I thought that this was the case.


    After all, it wouldn''t take this long just to hand over some simple information and this was a trial that had a time limit.


    But the most important thing¡­it seemed like he was deliberately stalling with how much he was talking.


    Perhaps there was something special about the final boss of the dungeon?


    Perhaps it required time to be stalled to be stronger?


    So the more time that Diablo wasted, the stronger the dragon would be?


    There was an ill feeling of premonition that filled my heart the moment that I had this thought.


    I decided to trust my instincts and suddenly turned around to say, "If you''re not going to give us the information that you''re supposed to, then I guess there''s no reason to stick around any longer."


    The moment that I said this, there was a silence that lingered in the air.


    Diablo, who had been talking the entire time, finally fell silent.


    The way that he looked at me, I could tell that he was shocked by what I said even though I couldn''t see his face.


    But he quickly recovered as he turned to Tammy and continued to talk.


    However, that didn''tst long since he found that Tammy had also turned around to leave.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This time, he couldn''t remain still as he said, "Wait, don''t you want the information on the dungeon boss? If you leave now, there''s no chance to get this."


    Tammy didn''t respond at all as she just looked at me, as if she was expecting something from me.


    So with a sigh, I said, "We would like this information, but when will you give it? Instead of wasting time here, isn''t it better to go and find more beasts to take down?"


    At first, everyone looked at me with confused looks.


    But the moment that they heard this, they slowly began to understand what I was implying and started following me as I walked away.


    In an awkward voice, Diablo said, "Isn''t it just taking some time to talk? Can''t you consider the price of making a friend?"


    I turned back around and said, "I make friends with people that I want to make friends with. For someone as suspicious as you, I would rather not. Who knows if by the time that I get there, there will be a trap waiting for me?"


    After a moment of silence, Diablo suddenly burst out inughter.


    Instead of being offended as one might expect, he justughed it all off before saying, "You got me, I was indeed told to stall for whoever got the Inferno Gem. It is as you expected, there is a hidden mechanism to this dungeon."


    As soon as he said this, everyone immediately raised their guards as if they were prepared to fight.


    However, I just raised my hand to stop them before turning to Diablo to say, "So why reveal that now?"


    Diablo gave a shrug as he said, "Since you already know, is there a reason for me to hide it anymore? Not to mention, there''s a prize for discovering this, don''t you know?"


    I gave a slow nod without saying anything as I waited for Diablo''s next words.


    Seeing this, he said in a serious voice, "As you expected, there is a special thing about this dungeon, but I can''t tell you too much. All I can say is that if you want to take down the dungeon boss, do it as soon as possible."


    As I had expected, it seemed that the dungeon boss became stronger over time.


    If I had to guess what it was, there was something that nurtured the dungeon boss as time passed.


    It might be a young dragon now, but there was no telling when it would grow up to be a proper dragon.


    Once it became an actual dragon, then all of us fighting together might not be enough to take it down.


    So before that happened we needed to take down the dungeon boss.


    But I couldn''t help thinking of another thing after learning of this.


    The dungeon boss became stronger over time and calcting the time since we hade into the dungeon, twelve hours had already passed.


    The amount of time that we had in total was twenty four hours.


    Assuming that the dragon reached its peak before the time ended, whether it was an hour or two before this stage ended, the dragon should already be halfway matured.


    At this point, it might even have reached A Rank or even the peak of the A Rank¡­


    So it might already be something that we couldn''t take down.


    Diablo could see the look that was on my face and as if he could tell what I was thinking, he said, "Whether you go or not, it''s your choice. However¡­" At this, he reached his hand up and pointed at the Inferno Orb that Tammy was still holding, "If you want a chance at victory, then you should bring this orb along."


    I raised a brow as I looked at him, as if I was asking him what he meant.


    However, Diablo just spread his hands and shook his head to say, "That''s all I''m allowed to say." Then he looked back at me to say, "That''s your reward for seeing through my attempts to stall. You won''t get anything else out of me."


    But after his voice fell, he also threw something at me. I looked down to see that it was a folded piece of paper.


    With that, he gave a nod to his group and then all of them suddenly disappeared.


    We didn''t know how they disappeared, but all I could think was as expected of people on the administrator team. They really were far more powerful than we were.


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    Once they disappeared, everyone looked at me as a silence hung in the air.


    I opened up the folded piece of paper to find that it was a map.


    I just ignored all this as a look of deep thought appeared on my face.


    After a long time, I finally said, "Well, what do you think about this? Should we go for it?"

 Chapter 363 First round (41)

    Everyone looked at me in silence at first before slowly giving nods.


    They had taken a moment to weigh the pros and cons of this decision, but in the end, it seemed like the pros outweigh the cons in this case. After all, this was the final boss of this dungeon, one that they were making such a big deal over.


    It was clear that there would be something special about this final dungeon boss.


    So they really wanted to see just what was special about it.


    But before going, I turned to look at Tammy and slowly asked, "Are youing with us?"


    Everyone was surprised that I would ask such a thing. Stay tuned with empire


    It was only Alex and Julius who had a serious look as they looked at me before turning to look at Tammy.


    They understood why I asked this.


    Tammy had obtained the Inferno Gem, something that seemed to have an infinite amount of fire energy to it. This was something that was very valuable to someone with a fire attributed power like Tammy.


    Now that she had obtained more than enough points to pass without fighting any more beasts, there was no doubt that she would want to find a safe ce to absorb this Inferno Gem.


    But Diablo had said how important the Inferno Gem was in fighting the final boss of this dungeon, so they were worried that Tammy would go off with it and leave them helpless against the final boss.


    So what they cared about the most right now was how Tammy would react.


    Tammy just gave a simple nod without any hesitation as she said, "The deal was that I would help you fight the monsters. Since you''ve given me something this precious, naturally I have to repay that favour."


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a faint smile when I heard this.


    All of us knew that this deal only applied when we were in the cave.


    Now that we were out, there was no deal holding us since Tammy wasn''t obligated to help us fight beasts anymore.


    But she was saying that she still wanted to follow this deal.


    Was it because she felt that what she had done in the cave wasn''t enough to repay us?


    No, I could see it in her eyes.


    She was using us as an excuse, she also wanted to see what the final boss of this dungeon was like.


    Since that was the case, it worked out in our favour.


    After all, Diablo had said that we would need the Inferno Gem that Tammy currently wielded to fight this final boss.


    So it was for the best if Tammy coulde with us.


    With this decided, there was no more hesitation that came from our group.


    With a nod from me, I said, "Then let''s go find this boss."


    Everyone nodded in agreement before following me as I had the map.


    With this map, we were able to quickly find the path to the dungeon boss.


    Though even without the map, it would have been very likely that we would have found the dungeon boss once we arrived in the area.


    That was because there was something very striking about this area that made it easy to find where the dungeon boss''ir was.


    Opposite of the area around the mutated Smander''sir, this ce waspletely covered in ice and snow. It was so cold that even our breaths could be seen in the air even though we still hadn''t arrived at the nest of the dragon.


    There was no need to guess to know that this dragon was an ice attributed dragon.


    It was no wonder that Diablo had said that the Inferno Gem was needed to take down this dungeon boss.


    The Inferno Gem released an endless amount of fire energy and against the ice attributed dragon, that was the best weapon that we could have.


    But of course, we couldn''t just charge into their of the dungeon boss without any preparations¡­


    So the first thing that we had to do was scout out the area.


    As we were wandering around this frozen wastnd, we found many different things.


    There were different nts that had ice energy in them that Bing Xin harvested for herself.


    Since she had an ice attributed power, these would definitely make her stronger.


    At the same time, there were many ice attributed monsters that were wandering around this ce.


    However, they were likembs to the ughter in front of Tammy.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    With the Inferno Gem, her mes had reached apletely different level that these ice attributed monsters just couldn''tpare to.


    There was no resistance at all that came from these monsters as they were mowed down by the mes that Tammy released.


    When it was all over, there was just a puddle of water and a burnt corpse that was left.


    The one other thing that was discovered was¡­a few corpses.


    These were human corpses that had been left in the snow.


    As soon as we came upon them, I immediately used the phone that Alex gave me to find that these weren''t any of the rookies from therge guilds.


    It seemed that these were unaffiliated Awakeners that had identally stumbled upon this ce and had lost their lives¡­or at least that was what we thought at first.


    When we looked more closely, we found that there were stab marks on these corpses.


    It seemed that someone else had found this ce before us and had silenced these unaffiliated Awakeners so that no one would be able to find this ce.


    We didn''t bury them, but we did offer them a prayer for their soul.


    Though that was mainly because we took their tokens from them.


    These tokens even worked when the ones that owned them died, so we transferred their points over.


    Aspensation for these points, we offered them the constion of taking care of the ones that had done this to them.

 Chapter 364 First round (42)

    After wandering outside the cave for a bit, we turned our attention inward.


    After all, it wasn''t as if we could just keep wasting our time outside.


    There was only a certain amount of time that we had before the dungeon boss became too strong for us to handle, so we couldn''t waste more time. Discover hidden tales at empire


    But to our surprise, we found that the dungeon boss'' cave was actually quite clear.


    It didn''t seem like there was anything that was there.


    The only thing that came out of this cave was a slight chill.


    It seemed that it was even colder inside of the cave than it was outside, but that wasn''t strange since that should be where the source of this ice energy came from in the first ce.


    It was only when we walked through the cave that we finally realized that something was off.


    It wasn''t the fact that there were no monsters walking around here, it was the few burns that I found that lined the walls. There were burnt spots where the ice was melted and the cave was charred ck.


    This was a clear sign that there had been some kind of fight here earlier.


    If I had to guess what it was, it was most likely the ones that had killed the unaffiliated Awakeners that we had seen outside.


    Since there were signs of fighting here, it was very likely that they had cleared out all the monsters here and were currently fighting the dungeon boss. It seemed that someone had made it here before us, but who could it have been?


    I wasn''t the only one who realized this, the others also realized the same thing from the clues that were around us.


    After sharing a look with each other, we immediately started moving further deeper.


    But at the same time, I made sure to have Long Shui Ling put her illusions around us.


    We didn''t have the illusions on us right now because I had been nning on killing the monsters that we encountered. Leaving them in this cave would be bad for us since it would mean having to fight them when they were attracted by the noise of the fight with the dungeon boss.


    It was better to clear out all of the obstacles that were in the way before that.


    However, there was another problem as we went further into the cave.


    It could be considered a problem that also wasn''t a problem since it was that kind of thing.


    The problem was that there was no sounding from deeper in the cave.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    If there was a group that was fighting the dungeon boss, then shouldn''t there be some kind of sound echoing out from the depths of the cave.


    If there weren''t any sounds, then did that mean that they had finished fighting the boss?


    Did they defeat the dungeon boss or¡­?


    There were just too many unknown variables that we couldn''t help feeling a bit nervous.


    After all, just like how Diablo had told us about the dungeon boss, there could have been others that had been sent by the administrators to tell the participants about the dungeon boss.


    So it was very likely that the group that hade before us also possessed information about the dungeon boss and that they might have taken down the dungeon boss first.


    Since that was the case, did that mean that this was a wasted trip?


    Or would we be walking into a trap set for those that came to fight the dungeon boss?


    Anything was possible at this point.


    Finally, we saw the end of the tunnel and what seemed to be arge cave in front of us.


    We didn''t go in right away and instead just sent one person to peek in.


    I was the one that was chosen to peek in, or rather I insisted on being the one that peeked in.


    Once I poked my head in, I couldn''t help being shocked by what I saw.


    This was a cave that was like the one that the mutated Smander had been in.


    No, when I looked at it closely, it seemed like it was just the same as the one that the mutated Smander had been in. The only difference was that instead of being incredibly hot in here, it was freezing cold.


    The walls, floor, and ceiling were all lined with ice.


    This wasn''t just any normal kind of ice, but rather ice that had formed inyers. It was ice that had ice on top of it because of how cold it was.


    In the center of the room was something that was different.


    Instead of arge coil, it was arge ball of white that was lying there on the floor.


    Just a single look was enough to tell that this was an ice dragon, but I could also tell that it was still young based on its appearance.


    It almost had a cartoonish feel to it rather than giving off the seriousness that one would expect from an actual dragon.


    But when I looked closely, I could see that there was ice energy that was slowly flowing into the ice dragon as itid there. It seemed like there was something inside of this room that was filling the ice dragon with this ice energy, allowing it to mature at a fast rate.


    After seeing all of this, I turned my attention to the room to see if I could find what was sending that ice energy into the ice dragon.


    However, my attention was caught by a certain thing.


    Or rather by a few certain things that were in the room.


    These were sculptures made of ice that were just standing around in this room.


    They were grouped together and they were in different positions, but there was one thing inmon between them.


    All of these statues seemed to be human shaped.


    After a while, I understood what these were.


    They were the ones that hade to fight the dungeon boss before us.

 Chapter 365 First round (43)

    I pulled out the phone that Alex had given me to point at them, though I didn''t know if it would still work with them being frozen like this.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did still work.


    They were not a group that was worthy of note.


    They were just a group from one of the big guilds and not one of the ones that was favoured to win.


    Though I would have liked to learn where they had received information on this dungeon boss from. Or did they discover all of this on their own and found the dungeon boss out of pure luck.


    Regardless, this meant that others would be able to find this ce and there was the chance that someone would interfere.


    So it was better to be safe than sorry.


    The other thing I was worried about was the fact that they had been turned into ice sculptures.


    They couldn''t be considered that weak since they were still from a big guild, yet they had still been turned into ice sculptures.


    This made me worried about just how powerful the attacks of the ice dragon were if even these people couldn''t block it¡­


    At least we had the Inferno Gem that they didn''t, but that didn''t give me much assurance.


    Other than that, there was nothing else in the room, so I poked back out and exined the situation to everyone.


    There was a long silence that fell over the group until Tammy suddenly said, "Shall we attack it then?"


    We all looked at her with surprised looks, but none of us thought that she was dumb for suggesting this.


    We had already seen everything that Tammy was capable of, so there was no one that would think that she was dumb.


    It was only that¡­this idea did seem a bitcking¡­


    As if she understood what we were thinking, Tammy raised the Inferno Gem in her hand and said, "Isn''t this the best assurance that we have? I''m sure that there''s a reason why he told us that this was important."


    All of us fell into deep thought after hearing this.


    Right, there was still the Inferno Gem that these other Awakeners didn''t have and there was the Sol Warriors with their powerful mes. So even if we can''t take down this ice dragon, we could at least get away without much harm.


    The most pressing issue was our time limit and the fact that wecked information.


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    Still, we couldn''t get more information unless we faced the ice dragon head on.


    In the end, it was useless to think too much about this.


    I spread my hands and gave a shrug before saying, "You''re right, let''s do this."


    The others slowly nodded in agreement, showing that they had also thought this through.


    Sometimes, it was better to just go with it than to think too much.


    However, it wasn''t as if we could just ignore all thoughts.


    I grabbed one of the frozen sticks on the side and then started drawing up a n in the snow on the ground as I said, "We''ll use this as a basic n. If you have any suggestions, feel free to give them."


    ¡­


    "Face me!"


    Tammy yelled this as she charged into the cave.


    The moment that she yelled this, the ice dragon immediately woke up and turned to look at her standing there.


    It had a very confused look on its face as it didn''t seem to understand what was happening, but that was when fireballs rained down on it.


    Tammy had distracted the ice dragon so that it didn''t notice the fireballs until it was toote, so it took the full brunt of this attack.


    When the mes subsided, the ice dragon had several burns on its body.


    It seemed that mes were indeed very effective against this ice dragon.


    However, those mes just weren''t strong enough that the ice dragon was seriously injured. These burns only seemed to be on the surface and they also seemed to be slowly healing.


    Still those fireballs were nothing more than tests in the first ce.


    It wasn''t as if they had expected these weak fireballs to work.


    They just wanted to see what kind of resistance the ice dragon had.


    Now that the ice dragon waspletely awakened and had a good idea of what was happening, a look of anger appeared on its face. This wasn''t a proper look of anger, but rather a look of anger that a child might have.


    It seemed like it was pouting, like it was throwing a tantrum, like it was saying¡­


    "Who are you to disturb my nap!"


    The ice dragon reared back its head and started gathering ice energy in it.


    As it did so, one could even see moisture in the air freezing and turning into ice, showing just how cold the ice dragon''s breath really was.


    Tammy of course threw out attacks at the ice dragon while it was gathering its breath, but it just didn''t make it in time as the ice dragon suddenly brought its head down to release this breath at Tammy.


    Tammy didn''t panic as she raised her hand that had the Inferno Gem in it and created a wall of mes in front of her.


    The breath of ice mmed into the wall of mes with arge "ci" sound.


    It was the sound of ice being melted by the mes.


    In the end, it was the mes thatsted longer than the ice breath.


    After its ice breath was stopped, the ice dragon couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    It was as if it couldn''t believe that there was someone that could stop its invincible ultimate move like this¡­


    But Tammy also had a surprised look on her face.


    She looked down at the Inferno Gem before looking up at the ice dragon with a strange look on her face.


    It was almost as if¡­she was disappointed by the ice dragon.

 Chapter 366 First round (44)

    The reason that Tammy looked like this was because she found that the ice breath was just too weak.


    It had barely consumed the fire energy that she had tapped into from this Inferno Gem to form this barrier.


    In fact, she still had plenty of energy left after stopping that ice breath.


    Too much that if she didn''t use it, it would actually hurt her.


    So Tammy gathered more fireballs around her and shot them at the ice dragon.


    This time, the ice dragon didn''t just stay there to be hit by the fireballs.


    Instead, the ice dragon spread its wings and prepared to fly into the sky to avoid these fireballs. Or at least that was what it had been nning to do before it suddenly realized that this wasn''t possible.


    That was because these fireballs were much faster than before.


    It was just too fast for the ice dragon to dodge in time.


    All it could do was gather ayer of frost around itself in an attempt to shield against these fireballs.


    The fireballsnded right on the ice dragon and there was arge burst of mes that exploded. These mespletely engulfed the ice dragon and it disappeared from sight.


    However, we didn''t let our guards down as we waited to see what the ice dragon would do.


    Only when the mes disappeared¡­we found the ice dragon lying there on the ground.


    It seemed that this ice dragon was covered in burns, but this time the burns didn''t seem light at all. It seemed that the ice dragon had suffered quite heavy burns from being hit with these fireballs.


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    The way that itid there, it was almost as if it was only a single step away from death.


    So we all couldn''t help feeling suspicious.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Would the ice dragon really be that weak that it was defeated that easily?


    This had to be some kind of trap, right?


    However, even after waiting for a bit, it didn''t seem like the ice dragon was about to stand up again. It seemed that this ice dragon waspletely down as it justid there without moving.


    Still, we didn''t let our guards down, so we all started using long range attacks.


    For those that didn''t really have the power for long range attacks, we took out weapons that had been prepared for us and bombarded the ice dragon with them. Though we kept hitting the ice dragon, it didn''t seem to react at all.


    Or rather, with the way that itid there, it seemed like it didn''t have the energy to fight back anymore.


    None of us knew what to do in this situation since we had been expecting a much fiercer fight.


    With the way that the ice dragon fell so easily, it really seemed like some kind of trap to make us let our guards down¡­


    So in the end, I turned to Tammy to give a nod.


    She nodded back before gathering more fire energy from the Inferno Gem to form arge fireball in the air above her. She was making sure to take her time in gathering this fireball, almost as if she was trying to give the ice dragon time to react to this and get out of the way.


    But the ice dragon just didn''t move at all.


    No, it wasn''t that it didn''t move at all, it was that it couldn''t move.


    We could see that the ice dragon was struggling to move, but it didn''t have the strength to move its body at all.


    The eyes that the ice dragon had looked like it was filled with despair in this situation.


    It didn''t seem¡­like a trap.


    After a while, Tammy finished gathering the fireball above her and she didn''t hesitate to throw it at the ice dragon.


    But this fireball went as slow as it could.


    The ice dragon had a look of terror on its face as its ws tried grabbing on the ground to pull it out of the way, but it seemed that it was just too slippery for the ice dragon to move out of the way.


    In the end, the ice dragon could only watch as the fireball fell onto it.


    When the fireballnded, there was arge burst of mes that came from it that engulfed the ice dragon once again.


    When these mes subsided, there was a crispy charred ice dragon that was left.


    The flesh of the ice dragon even turned a delicious brown colour, as if it had been cooked perfectly. At the same time, there was a delicious smell that filled the air that made our saliva drip a bit.


    It was just too bad that we were in a dungeon, so the corpse of the ice dragon disappeared without a trace.


    There were just a few items that dropped where therge corpse of the ice dragon had been.


    However, not a single one of us moved forward to pick up those items.


    Instead, we raised our guards and waited to see if there was anything else that appeared. After all, it seemed like it was just too easy for that to be considered the dungeon boss fight.


    It almost seemed like it was a prelude to what would be the real dungeon boss fight.


    Unfortunately, there wasn''t a single thing that happened.


    It seemed that this ice dragon really was the real dungeon boss¡­


    As that realization sank in, we couldn''t help feeling disappointed.


    This was just too easy of a fight that it didn''t seem like it should be the dungeon boss fight.


    So I was nominated to go forward and collect the items.


    In the end, we were only disappointed after collecting the items and finding out that our points had increased by arge amount.


    This ice dragon that Tammy had bombed to death with just a few fireballs was really the boss of this dungeon.


    As we epted this, there was a strange feeling that lingered in our hearts.


    It was as if this wasn''t enough for us¡­

 Chapter 367 First round (45)

    Once that was finished, there was nothing else for us to do.


    This ice dragon that we had ughtered was the boss of the entire dungeon, so there wasn''t much else that would be good for us to kill.


    When it came to points, there was no need for us to care any longer since our points were more than enough.


    All of us had received points after killing the ice dragon, so we now had triple the points that we had before. We had already been certain that no one would be able to kick us out of the spots that would pass this round, but now we were even more certain of that.


    So we decided that there was no need to hunt even more.


    Instead, we just made this ice cave our base.


    This was the nest of the dungeon boss, so this was not a ce that normal monsters could approach. At the same time, it had already been cleared out by the ice statues that were standing nearby, so there wouldn''t be any monsters that would attack us.


    We really doubted that the monsters would spawn that quickly after the dungeon boss was killed.


    So this ce was actually a very good ce to hole up in.


    There was only one exit that could be easily fortified and this ce wasn''t that easy to reach in the first ce because of the cold. We were only fine because we had the Inferno Gem to generate heat for us.


    When it wasn''t being used for fighting, it really was a powerful heater that created a zone of heat that kept the cold away.


    Speaking of the statues¡­


    "What should we do with them?" I asked everyone else.


    No one really said anything as they looked at the statues with strange looks.


    I could already guess what they were thinking, so I didn''t hesitate to kick one of them to the ground.


    As soon as that sculpture hit the ground, it shattered to pieces.


    Everyone looked at me with a surprised look at first, but then they all revealed smiles as they understood what I was doing.


    Then without hesitation, they also turned to a sculpture of their own.


    There weren''t enough for everyone to take one for themselves, so they shared a few of them.


    Then all of them kicked out at the sculptures in front of them, knocking them to the ground.


    As soon as they hit the ground, they immediately shattered to pieces, just like the first sculpture that I kicked down. With this, all of the ice sculptures that had been in the room were shattered.


    In this way, we took revenge for those unaffiliated Awakeners that had been killed by these ice sculptures. Though it really wasn''t revenge since they were already dead from the ice dragon''s ice breath.


    Still, we at least didn''t leave them with aplete corpse, so that was some form of constion.


    The items that we received from the ice dragon weren''t that special, so we each took what we wanted.


    There was one thing that I wanted, so I was able to get that for myself.


    But the most shocking thing was that an hour after we had set up here, there was a door that opened.


    We had been surprised by this door, but we found that it was simr to the one that had opened up in the mutated Smander''s nest. When we looked in, we also found that there was arge amount of ice energying from it.


    If this was left on its own¡­then it was very likely that the same thing that happened with the Inferno Gem would happen here.


    But we had someone that could take care of it.


    Bing Xin.


    Bing Xin had an ice attributed power that wasn''t weaker than Tammy''s fire attributed power.


    So with our help, she was able to break through and get the blue gem that was on the pedestal.


    As soon as we put this away and cleared out the ice energy, we quickly went to the exit to see if the same thing would happen.


    But after waiting for an hour, we didn''t find anyone.


    It seemed that the ice energy hadn''t spread far enough to attract the beasts like the Inferno Gem had done, so it seemed that we were safe for now.


    Of course, we didn''t let our guard down and ced someone outside to guard the area.


    We went in shifts so that no one would have to do it for too long since it really was cold outside.


    With all of that settled, it was now just about waiting for the end of this first round.


    Both Tammy and Bing Xin had things to do since they had obtained the Inferno Gem and the blue gem respectively. I could feel the power around them growing which seemed like a bad thing for us.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Well, not Bing Xin getting stronger being bad for us, but Tammy getting stronger was definitely bad.


    She was ourpetitor in the end and there was no guarantee that the next round would be one where we could cooperate with each other.


    So this would hurt us in the future¡­


    Before this first round could end, Tammy suddenly came to me and asked, "Can we talk? Alone?"


    The moment that she said this, there were three pairs of eyes that turned in her direction.


    It was naturally from Long Shui Ling, ire, and Bing Xin.


    But she just ignored them as she looked at me, waiting for my response.


    I had to take a minute to think about it, but in the end, I gave a nod of agreement.


    I could feel the looks that came from Long Shui Ling, ire, and Bing Xin, but I ignored them as I went with Tammy to an isted corner of the room where we could talk in private.


    As soon as we were alone, she suddenly said, "You''re something else, aren''t you?"

 Chapter 368 First round (46)

    The only response that I could give was a surprised and confused look since I didn''t expect this from Tammy.


    After all, I really had no idea what she meant by this.


    Was interesting a good thing or a bad thing?


    Seeing that this was the response that I gave, Tammy revealed a faint smile as she said, "That is what I mean. This look of yours, it really is funny and interesting."


    I was even more confused when I heard this, but I asked, "What do you mean by this?"


    Tammy gave a nod before saying, "I won''t lie, you''ve caught my attention more than I''ve thought and I''m acting on that now."


    I didn''t say anything as I just waited to see what she would say.


    Tammy suddenly took a step forward towards me and said, "You''re not dating anyone, right? If so, be my man."


    My chin dropped the moment that I heard this.


    I gave a gulp as I looked at her, as if trying to figure out if she was joking or not. However, from the look in her eyes, I could tell that she wasn''t joking which shocked me even more.


    She just silently looked at me, as if she was waiting for my response.


    But what response could I give?N?v(el)B\\jnn


    After a long silence, I took a deep breath to calm myself before saying, "Why? I don''t think that there''s anything that special about me, right?"


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    Tammy nodded before shaking her head as well and saying, "You can''t say that there''s nothing special about you. There''s just this feeling that I get from you that you''re different from other people. I think that''s what attracted me to you."


    Different from other people¡­


    Well, I was certainly different from other people since I was the Demon King of Lust, but it wasn''t as if I could just say that out loud.


    I had thought about getting Tammy under my control as well before, but I had figured that it would be too much trouble at this stage. I had nned on bing friends first and then working from there.


    I never thought that she would be so direct that she would confess to me like this.


    After some thought, I came to the conclusion that¡­


    I couldn''t ept this.


    Even if I was beaten to death, I couldn''t ept this.


    After all, the moment that I did, everything would fall into chaos.


    The careful bnce that I had created would instantly be destroyed and many different things woulde to light. Before I had prepared everything with the other girls, I couldn''t gather more girls.


    So I bowed my head and said, "I''m sorry, I can''t be with you."


    Tammy was genuinely surprised as if she couldn''t believe that I would turn her down.


    To my surprise, she suddenly brought her hands to her chest and pushed them up as she said, "Am I not beautiful enough? Or is it that I''m not strong enough? Not rich enough? I don''t think there''s a reason for you to turn me down, right?"


    Beautiful?


    She definitely was a beautiful girl with her long flowing red hair, piercing red eyes, finely carved face, fair skin, and her hourss figure with just the right amount of curve in each ce. Her chest wasn''t too big and her bottom wasn''t too wide, she had just the right amount of fat in each ce.


    This kind of beauty wasn''t inferior to the other girls.


    As for the other things that she listed, I didn''t know too much about her, but I was sure that she wouldn''t becking as one of the prized rookies of the Sol Warriors.


    It was just that¡­


    I shook my head and said, "It isn''t any of that, it''s just that I barely know you and I don''t think that it would be right for us to go out. Maybe we should start as friends first?"


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at me before suddenly saying, "It''s because of those other girls, right? You''re close to them?"


    I couldn''t help trembling when I heard this, but then I forced my face to be calm as I said, "What are you talking about? I don''t know what you mean."


    Tammy revealed a faint smile before saying, "There''s no need to hide it, I can see how you treat them and how they look at you. I''m a woman as well, so I can understand how they feel."


    I really was taken aback when I heard this.


    I didn''t really understand what she was talking about, but I could tell that it was quite impressive.


    Still, I couldn''t get sucked up into her pace, so I shook my head and said, "It isn''t like that, we''re just friends."


    Tammy said with the same smile on her face, "Just like how you want to be friends with me?"


    I couldn''t refute this since I knew that it was a trap.


    If I refuted it, it would be the same as admission through denial.


    If I didn''t refute it¡­well, I would be admitting it through silence.


    So there was nothing that I could say in response to this.


    Tammy didn''t mind that I was silent as she reached out to pat me on the shoulder and said, "Don''t worry, I won''t be defeated. Let''s start as friends and I''ll take care of the rest. With me here, you don''t need to worry about anything."


    I really didn''t know what to say, but at least she epted that we would be friends.


    That would at least buy me some time until I figured out what to do¡­


    When we came back, I could feel three res directed in my direction.


    But Tammy was the one that met those res as she looked at the three of them with a smile on her face.


    All three of them were taken aback by this before ring at me even more afterwards.


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face.

 Chapter 369 Results of the first round (1)

    Time passed very quickly as we made our camp in that nest of the ice dragon.


    No one actually came to challenge the ice dragon after us, so there were no disruptions.


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    The only thing that we did have to take care of were a few monsters that had wandered in from outside, but that really wasn''t a problem since they were weak monsters. Just the guards that were at the entrance were more than enough to take care of them.


    When time ended, we were curious about how we would be able to leave this ce, but that was answered very quickly.


    There was something that started to glow and release strange fluctuations.


    When this happened, all of us pulled out the things that were releasing these strange fluctuations.


    It was the tokens that we had been given.


    Some of us recognized what was happening and some of us didn''t.


    The ones that didn''t¡­


    "What is happening?"


    "Why is there this strange auraing from this thing?"


    The ones that did just remained silent as they waited for what would happen to happen.


    Though those that had a greater understanding knew that to do something like this definitely wasn''t cheap. The amount of Return Stones that were needed to achieve something like this¡­was surely not something that a single guild could provide.


    As expected of a tournament that was being held by multiple differentrge guilds.


    After the light built up for a bit, there was arge sh of light that came from these tokens.


    The one thing that I noted was that the tokens on the ground by the ice sculptures that we destroyed had never lit up. It seemed that they already knew that their owners were dead, so they didn''t react at all.


    If they knew that their owners were dead, did that mean that it was also reported to the ones that were outside?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Then did that mean that the organizations behind the ones that we killed already knew that their people were dead?


    If that was the case, I could only wonder if they knew who did it¡­


    No, even if it didn''t show who did it, it should have been clear just based on the change in points. I was certain that they would have disyed the amount of points earned by each person outside, so they should have seen when the points of their rookies disappeared and when our points increased.


    It shouldn''t be hard to guess what happened after seeing that.


    It seemed like there was trouble waiting outside for us¡­


    When the sh of light cleared, we found that we were in the same ce as before.


    When we appeared in front of the crowd, we were immediately met with cheers and apuse. This crowd seemed different from the one that was here yesterday, but it wasn''t hard to guess why that was.


    This first round took an entire twenty four hours, so it wasn''t as if the crowd from yesterday would have remained sitting here for that long. After the first round started, they would have been sent off and they would have been gathered again before the first round ended.


    But there were those that only had tickets for the first day and not the second day, so there would be a change in the audience.


    However, the ones from the guild didn''t change.


    I could also see Su Chen and the rest sitting there in the audience waving at us.


    After giving us some time to adjust, the host suddenly said, "Let''s wee our contestants back!"


    As soon as the host said this, the apuse and cheering became even louder.


    There were some that embraced this and waved back to the crowd, but there were also people that were too tired after what had happened inside the dungeon. They just moved to the corner and waited for this to be over.


    Not a single one of them left since they wanted to hear the results of the first round.


    At the same time, there were some that were looking for faces that they recognized.


    That included Michael who was looking in our direction at this moment.


    You would think that the one that he red at would be Tammy, but it was clear that he was ring at me. After all, I had been the one that had trampled on him and taken his token from him.


    If looks could kill, there was no doubt that he would have wanted to kill me.


    But he couldn''t do anything in front of everyone like this, so he had no choice but to hold back.


    If he bit his lips any harder, there was no doubt that he would be bleeding.


    It wasn''t just Michael alone who was ring at someone.


    There were many others who were also ring at each other after the first round.


    It was clear that there were many grudges that had been formed because of what happened in the dungeon, so it wasn''t strange to see everyone acting this way.


    The host let the crowd go for a bit before saying, "There were many things that happened in this first round and it was a rollercoaster seeing all different changes in the score in real time."


    As expected, they had been watching the score and they had made it avable to everyone to watch as well.


    If cameras had been allowed in dungeons, there was no doubt that they would have filmed us the entire time.


    But if cameras had been allowed in, plenty of deaths could have been avoided.


    That would have cut into the theme of this first round, so they wouldn''t have sent in cameras even if cameras had worked in the dungeon.


    This was just how this first round was.


    The host continued by pointing at a screen that suddenly came down in the center of the stage and saying, "Now, let''s see what the final scores are and who the winners of this first round are."

 Chapter 370 Results of the first round (2)

    After the screen came down, there was a list that appeared on it.


    It was a list of all the participants in this tournament and on the side was a list of numbers that corresponded with these participants.


    These were the number of points that they had obtained in this first round.


    It was a very long list, but at the bottom, there were some names that were grayed out.


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out that these names at the bottom were the names of the ones that had died in the first trial.


    I also recognized one of the names that was there.


    Cheng Hui, the one from the Beijing Tigers.


    His group was the group that we had killed right away after entering the dungeon since he was the one that had tried to pick on those unaffiliated Awakeners.


    Speaking of the unaffiliated Awakeners, I could see them not far away.


    They had waved at us with smiles when they saw us earlier and I had acknowledged them as well.


    This list was very long and had many different names, but everyone was able to quickly find themselves since they had a general idea of where they would be. That was because in these twenty four hours, everyone had figured out how the tokens work.


    They had been able to see their points, so they just had to look at the second half of the list and then find their names after finding their points.


    I started from the bottom and worked my way up since I didn''t want to be too far up, but I couldn''t help feeling more and more anxious when I couldn''t find myself near the bottom of the list. The further up I got, the more anxious I became.


    That was until I reached the very top of the list.


    There were over a thousand participants in this first trial, so I started to panic when I reached the top hundred. Even then, I still wasn''t able to find my name, so I had to keep going up higher.


    I went all the way to the top of the list and that was when I finally found my name.


    It was right there on the very top¡­


    My name was on top of every other name that was on this list.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Then right beneath me were Tammy, Alex, and Julius'' names. Further down from that were the names of my group, Alex''s group, Julius'' group, and Tammy''s Sol Warriors.


    It seemed that we had far surpassed anyone else who had been in the dungeon with us, so we were without a doubt the top contenders.


    I had thought that there would have been others who would have been able to surpass us, but that didn''t seem to be the case¡­so that put me right at the top and that gathered everyone''s attention.


    "It''s him! It''s that person from Elementia that everyone was talking about."


    "It seems that he teamed up with Tammy¡­did you see how close they were?"


    "He doesn''t really seem that handsome, does he?"


    Thatst one hurt.


    I had to admit that thest one hurt.


    The host had given everyone time to look at the rankings for the first round, but after that he didn''t waste any time in saying, "Those that ranked at the top of this first round will receive a special reward. This will help you in the second round."


    Though he said this, there was no one that came forward to hand over these special rewards.


    Was it because they would be giventer or was it because of something else?


    No one really got a chance to ponder that question as the host continued by saying, "We shall now begin the second round."


    When he said this, everyone was shocked.


    After all, not a single person had expected the tournament to run like this.


    They had just spent twenty four hours in a dungeon, which was something that was quite tiring. Now they were being told that they would have to go through the second round right after that without any rest¡­


    It was naturally hard for them.


    There were many that looked at the host with looks ofint, but the host just ignored all of them as he continued by saying, "I''m sure that all of you are wondering what this second round will be."


    With a snap of his fingers, there was a door that suddenly appeared out of the ground.


    Though to call it a door was a bit strange since this really wasn''t a door because it didn''t really lead anywhere. It was better to call this thing a portal since there was a swirl of energy that was inside of this door frame.


    After this portal appeared, the host said, "You will now take this portal to the special zone set up for this second round. There you will find a test that will measure your various stats and abilities. This will measure your basic abilities and measure how qualified you are to be here."


    All of the participants couldn''t help revealing strange looks when they heard this.


    This almost seemed like an insult to them since they were all chosen from therge guilds in the first ce. It was as if they were saying that they had been chosen for their connections rather than their abilities.


    They naturally couldn''t ept this that easily.


    But I had something else in mind.


    They didn''t say who had passed and who had failed this first round.


    The only thing that they did was bring this board up in front of us with our names and scores, there wasn''t any indication on who passed and who failed.


    As if in response to this, the host suddenly said, "Oh right, before I forget."


    There was another snap of his fingers before holes opened up in the ground. These holes appeared under certain people and those people dropped down into those holes without being able to react.


    The host then said with a smile, "There, those are the ones that failed."

 Chapter 371 Second round (1)

    Once those people disappeared, the host turned to look at me and said, "Now, please enter the gate in the order of your rankings. The top ranker will enter first and everyone after the top ranker will enter in order."


    As he said this, everyone turned to look at me.


    There were some people that didn''t know who I was because they had never met me before.


    But now that the host had singled me out like this, everyone knew who I was.


    Everyone immediately looked at me with different intentions.


    It was clear that everyone wanted something from me now that I had be the top ranker.


    At the same time, everyone regarded me as a potential rival since I was the top ranker.


    I had only obtained the top ranking for the first round, but that was still enough to prove that I had abilities to earn this. This ability meant that I would be a danger to them in theter realms, so they were taking note of me now.


    In a sense, part of my goal had been achieved.


    Bing Lan had sent me here to establish myself for the future SS Rank Dungeon Raid.


    Only by establishing fame would I be able to secure a spot on that raid team, so I had to spread my name even if I wanted to be lowkey to hide the fact that I was the Demon King of Lust.


    This first ce in the first round would allow me to aplish that.


    After a moment of silence, I stepped forward towards the gate.


    As I walked over, I looked at the host and asked, "What about the prizes that were promised to the top rankers? We haven''t received them yet. Aren''t they supposed to help us in the next round?"


    The host had a look of praise in his eyes when he heard this.


    He had thought that everyone had forgotten about this since he had blindsided them with the second round. But it seemed that there were still people that were able to keep their cool and think things through.


    The host put the mic down so that what he said wouldn''t be broadcasted before saying, "The prize will be given once you enter the portal. The second round is in an isted space created by the organizers, so there''s someone waiting inside to give you your prize."


    I was surprised to hear this from the host, but I was actually more surprised by the information that I had received from what he said.


    Isted space¡­


    It seemed that there was some kind of controlled aspect to this second round.


    The first round was in the dungeon, so I could use my abilities without worrying since there would be few people that would see it. But it was different in this second round.


    Since it was an isted space created by the organizers, there was no doubt that there would be some kind of surveince set up in this ce. That meant that they would be able to see everything that I did and show it to everyone watching.


    That meant that I had to hold a few things back since I had no idea what would be caught¡­n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    After a moment of silence, I gave a simple nod to the host before walking up to the portal.


    Taking a deep breath, I walked through the portal and the sounds around me disappeared.


    The moment that I stepped in, it was as if everything had suddenly gone dark and silent. Even though my eyes were still open, it was as if I couldn''t see a single thing in front of me.


    It was as if all the light in this world had suddenly disappeared and I was left inplete darkness.


    I only took a few steps beforeing to a stop.


    After turning my head a bit, I couldn''t help turning around and reaching out with my hand behind me. I wanted to see if the portal that I had gone through was still behind me.


    However, my hand touched nothing at all.


    The portal that I had walked through had disappeared without a trace.


    I was just left alone in this darkness.


    As I stood there in the darkness, I was wondering what I should do.


    But before I could think of anything, there was a clicking sound before a light appeared.


    The beam of light fell down from the ceiling¡­no, it didn''te from the ceiling. It was just a beam of light that seemed toe down from above, without a source to it.


    The first reaction that I had to this was to cover my eyes.


    After all, I had been in the darkness for some time and my eyes had adjusted to this darkness.


    Being suddenly thrown into the light like this was something that was hard for my eyes to adjust to, so I had to cover them to prevent the light from hurting them.


    But eventually my eyes adjusted and I was able to see that there was a figure that was standing in the beam of light.


    This figure just stood there without saying a single word, almost as if they were waiting for something.


    When my eyes finally adjusted, I found that it was a beautiful girl who was standing there under that beam of light. She was a beautiful girl in what seemed to be a gothic loli dress with her blonde hair in twintails.


    Once she saw that I was looking right at her, she said, "Wee to the second round. I am your guide that will help you as you embark on this trial."


    "Guide?" I couldn''t help repeating before revealing a bitter smile.


    The way that she had said this, it was almost as if this was some kind of game¡­


    The guide didn''t take offense to the way that I said this.


    In fact, she even ignored me as she said, "Now, please ept your prizes for the first round."

 Chapter 372 Second round (2)

    As soon as her voice fell, there were several things that appeared in front of me.


    They just floated there in front of me, as if they were waiting for me to take them.


    It was a set of armour, a sword, and a token.


    I looked at these things with a raised brow before asking, "These are?"


    The guide pointed at the sword and armour first to say, "These are the special equipment that have been issued to you for this second round. They will increase your power by 100% while you are in this trial."


    A set of equipment that could double my power as long as I was in this ce, that was definitely something very precious.


    But there were a few concerns that I had about this.


    First, what was considered double?


    Was it double my base physical stats or did it also double the amount of mana that I had?


    There were many things that I couldn''t help thinking about since double was just too general of a term.


    However, that only lingered on my mind for a few seconds before I moved on to the next thing.


    Trial.


    This guide had called this ce a trial¡­what did she mean by that?


    Also, what would the trial entail?


    As I was lost in thought, the guide continued exining a few more things about the armour and sword that I didn''t find that interesting, so I didn''t really pay attention to them. That was until there was a certain thing that she said that I had no choice but to pay attention to.


    This was something that had caught my attention right as soon as she said it.


    "In case the armour and sword are damaged, they will not repair themselves during the round. You will have to wait for the end of the round for them to be repaired."


    Trial and round, those seemed like the key words to pick up from her exnation.


    But before I could ask her questions about this, the guide had already moved onto the second item.


    "This token¡­it''s hard to exin what this token is without exining what the second round is like. So before I tell you the function of the token, I''ll tell you about the second round."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I quickly focused myself as she began her exnation.


    Without even needing to ask anything, she was about to answer my questions herself.


    So naturally I would pay attention to what she was about to say.


    As it turned out, this second round was really a trial like the guide had said before.


    It was a test of one''s power and one''s adaptiveness.


    The trial would be fifty rounds of fighting with different enemies being spawned in each round. As long as all of the enemies were defeated, then the next round would start.


    But that wasn''t the only way for a round to end.


    There was another way for a round to end, which was going over the time limit.


    There was a time limit of ten minutes given for each round and once that time limit was reached, it would be considered a failure.


    However, failing a single round didn''t mean that it was over yet.


    There were a total of three lives that were given.


    That meant that one could fail a total of three times on one stage and still pass it.


    Though the lives were shared across all of the stages instead of just three lives for each stage. Once all three lives were lost, that meant that one would fail the trial and would be sent out.


    However, it wasn''t as if one would fail to reach the third round because of this.


    The guide clearly exined what the criteria for who passed this round was.


    "Those that pass all fifty rounds will reach the third round, but it''s impossible for everyone to pass all fifty rounds. It will even be likely that there will be no one that passes all fifty rounds."


    The way that she said this was like she was exining this trial, but there was a strange intonation to her voice that strangely irritated me¡­


    I didn''t know what it was about the way that she said it, but it really didn''t sound nice.


    "So of course we can''t just kick everyone out of the tournament since that would mean the tournament would be cancelled. Instead, we will take the top fifty who make it the furthest in this trial. So it''ll all depend on how many rounds you can clear if you want to make it to the next round."


    Once again, the words that she was saying weren''t strange, but the way that she said it¡­


    It strangely got on my nerves.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The guide suddenly took a step forward to grab the token that had been floating there in the air. She lifted it up in front of me and said, "This token will allow you to skip five rounds. That is your right as first ce in the first round. You better appreciate it."


    I finally understood why she strangely got under my skin¡­


    It was because she was talking like an ojou, like she was better than me¡­


    Still, I resisted the urge to dropkick her and reached out for the token that she was holding.


    The guide just casually threw it to me, though the throw that she made was really bad. It barely reached me, so I had to take a step forward to grab it.


    Still, now that I understood what this token was for, I understood how important it was.


    But there were still questions that I had to ask.


    "When can I activate it? Can I do it in the middle of the round or do I have to do it right away before the round starts? Can I see the enemy first before deciding whether to use the token or not?"


    Faced with this barrage of questions, the guide couldn''t help taking a step back with a surprised look on her face.


    It was clear that she didn''t expect me to ask all of these questions.


    However, she didn''t answer them as she said, "Alright, it''s time for you to go."


    Before I could say anything, there was a sh of light that appeared in front of me.

 Chapter 373 Second round (3)

    This sh of light became stronger and stronger until I was forced to close my eyes.


    When the sh of light was gone and I was able to see again, I saw that I was in apletely different ce.


    This was apletely different room, but there seemed to be some kind of light that came from above that lit up this room. With this light, I was able to see the inside of this room perfectly.


    This was a room that was circr in shape and was quite big.


    It was a room where if I ran, it would take me around five minutes to reach the other side.


    So there was quite a bit of space to move around in.


    But while looking around, I found something strange.


    There was no roof¡­


    I didn''t know where this light came from, but it seemed like it wasing from above. The only problem was that once it reached a certain height, it was as if the light had been eliminated as nothing was reflected.


    It was as if after a certain height, all light was stopped.


    This room really seemed like a strange room, but I didn''t get to look around for any longer as there were growls that came from in front of me.


    When I looked in the direction that the growls wereing from, I found that there were some goblins standing there.


    The guide had said that I would have to fight certain monsters each round and that would be the way to pass the round. It seemed like for this first round, the monsters that I would have to defeat were this group of goblins.


    But seeing these goblins, I couldn''t help revealing a strange look.


    There might have been a time where these goblins were too strong for me to deal with, but now¡­


    All I could see was cannon fodder.


    These goblins couldn''t pose any threat to me at all since they were nothing more than E Ranked Monsters. I was someone that was even able to fight against C Rank or B Rank if I went all out, so it was like using a bazooka to kill an ant.


    It was just too much.


    Since they were here, I didn''t waste any time thinking about it anymore.


    "Let''s just finish this quickly and see what else this ce has."


    As soon as I muttered that to myself, I immediately charged at the goblins.


    As expected, the goblins weren''t able to keep up with my speed at all.


    But that wasn''t just because of my normal speed.


    I had put on the armour and held the sword before charging at these goblins.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The moment that I dashed forward, I found that I was more than twice as fast as before.


    Just like the guide had said, my speed had actually doubled¡­No, it was actually more than double since it wasn''t just my speed that increased. The armour seemed to increase all different kinds of aspects, some of which indirectly affected my speed.


    So in truth, I was actually more than twice as fast.


    Even at my normal speed, it would have been hard for these goblins to keep up with me.


    But with more than twice my normal speed, I was like a blur to these goblins.


    "Kree!"


    The goblins screamed out in pain as I cut them down.


    But as I cut through the goblins, I couldn''t help looking at the sword in my hand in shock.


    That was because it had been too smooth, it was like a hot knife cutting through butter when I cut these goblins down.


    "Isn''t this a bit too much?" I couldn''t help muttering to myself.


    The guide had said that it was impossible for the participants to finish all fifty stages, but if the stages were like this¡­wouldn''t it be too easy?


    Even if theter stages became harder, it shouldn''t be that much harder, right?


    I was filled with confidence as I cut down the rest of the goblins.


    Once all of the goblins had been cut down, there was a door that appeared in front of me. Along with this door, there was a timer that appeared above the door that was decreasing.


    The time that the timer had at first was fifteen minutes and it was slowly going down.


    This timer¡­was most likely the amount of rest time that I had before I had to go to the next stage.


    But I didn''t need it.


    The goblins had been too easy to take care of, so I hadn''t used up any energy at all and I was still good to go. I didn''t waste any time in stepping into that door and then with a sh of light just like before, I found myself in a room that was just like the one from before.


    Only this time¡­


    "GRR!"


    It was a group of orcs that were waiting there for me.


    Orcs were D Ranked Monsters, so the difficulty was indeed increasing.


    Though to me, orcs and goblins really weren''t that different.


    They might have been hard for the past me to deal with, but the current me was much stronger than the past me.


    Not to mention, I was filled with confidence because of this special equipment that I was wearing.


    You could even say that I was on a high because of the increase in power this equipment gave me.


    Still, I was much stronger than the orcs, so it didn''t take any time for me to deal with them.


    In no time at all, the orcs were lying dead on the ground.


    As soon as the orcs were taken care of, there was the same door that appeared in front of me with the same cooldown.


    It should be that all of the stages had simr break periods, but I didn''t need this one either since the orcs were just too easy.


    Without wasting any time, I stepped into the door.


    With another sh of light, I was in a new room.


    But this time¡­I couldn''t help being surprised by the monster waiting for me.

 Chapter 374 Second round (4)

    It was a mountain.


    Well, it wasn''t exactly a mountain, but it was arge pile of rocks that was in the center of this room.


    This monster waspletely covered in rocks and looked more like it was just a pile of inanimate rocks than anything, but if one looked closely, they would be able to see the hide that was underneath.


    It seemed that there was ayer of rocks that formed a shell on this thing''s back while the underside wasn''t covered by anything.


    As soon as I saw this, I could guess what kind of animal it was.


    It was some kind of armadillo.


    Though I didn''t really know what the name of this monster was, I just temporarily named it rock armadillo in my mind.


    But judging by the aura that wasing from it, it was clear that this thing wasn''t weak.


    With my experience, I could guess that this thing should be around C Rank.


    First a bunch of E Ranked Monsters, then a bunch of D Ranked Monsters, and now a C Rank Monster¡­


    This was only the third round!


    With the trend that this was going at, wouldn''t it mean that the next round would have a B Ranked Monster and the round after that would have an A Ranked Monster?


    If that really was the case, then how was anyone supposed to finish this entire trial?


    After all, there were fifty rounds of this!


    I couldn''t even begin to imagine what woulde after an A Ranked Monster if this really was the case.


    Would they even trap a S Ranked Monster in this ce and make it an enemy.


    S Ranked Monsters¡­these were definitely not jokes.


    In the outside world, S Ranked Monsters would be considered disasters. Any S Ranked Monster would result in the evacuation of an entire province or country, that was just how dangerous they were.


    But back to this rock armadillo, it didn''t seem like it was nning on doing anything.


    However, if one thought about it, it seemed like this kind of monster would be something that would rely on its defenses and would be a more passive monster. So it wasn''t strange that it wouldn''t be doing anything.


    In fact, I could see that it was looking in my direction, only it didn''t seem like it was nning on doing anything.


    After a moment of silence, the rock armadillo even raised one of its wed hands and gestured at me.


    It was almost as if it was saying¡­


    "Bring it on."


    It was clear that this rock armadillo had intelligence, more intelligence than a normal monster like it should have. This rock armadillo should have been trained or it should be a monster that was naturally smarter than other monsters.


    But the way that it chose to use this intelligence¡­


    I really had nothing to say about this.


    Still, I wasn''t one to back down from a fight.


    Since it wanted a fight, then there was no reason for me to not take advantage of this. Since it was so eager to fight, it was clear that this rock armadillo would make many mistakes.


    I would go along and provoke it to take advantage of said mistakes.


    As long as I led it on, this should be an easy fight.


    It was only a few slow steps at first, but seeing that the rock armadillo didn''t seem to move, I started moving faster towards it. Eventually, I was running right at the rock armadillo with my sword at the ready.


    But even then, the rock armadillo didn''t seem to do anything.


    That was until I came close to it.


    The rock armadillo brought its head forward and then curled itself up like an armadillo would.


    When it did this, it took the form of arge boulder.


    Then using the force of it tucking itself in, the rock armadillo started to spin towards me.


    This thing was fully using its anatomy as an armadillo to attack. At the same time, since it was covered in rocks, the defense of this rock armadillo should be very strong.


    This was basically a sturdy boulder rolling at me at this point.


    I was caught off guard by this since it was much faster than I thought, it didn''t seem like I would be able to get out of the way in time.


    If this was a normal situation, I would have used the Time Stop skill to get out of the way and then counterattack. However, I had no idea who was watching and what they were capable of, so I had no idea if they would be able to see through my Time Stop skill.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As long as that was the case, I wouldn''t take this risk¡­


    So I gritted my teeth and said, "Stronger."


    After saying that, I swung the sword out at the boulder that wasing at me.


    In response to this, the rock armadillo actually jumped up into the air and fell down towards me. It seemed like this rock armadillo was nning on adding gravity to its attack.


    I didn''t know how heavy this rock armadillo was, but it was covered in these heavy rocks.


    So no matter how one looked at it, it didn''t seem like it would be that light.


    But there was nothing that could be done since it was already falling down at me.


    The only thing that I could do was swing my sword up to meet the rock armadillo.


    The moment that the sword connected with the rock armadillo, I was shocked.


    That was because I didn''t feel the resistance that I should have felt as I cut into the rock armadillo.


    There was nothing that stopped me from swinging all the way through.


    When it was over, there was something that mmed into the ground, creating arge crater behind me.


    But it didn''t do a single thing to me as I stood there with my sword held up high after that swing.

 Chapter 375 Second round (5)

    When I looked down, I saw that there were two halves of the rock armadillo lying there.


    It had been cleaved right in half from its head and the parts had smashed into the ground, forming arge crater.


    When I looked up, I saw that there was a door there with a timer on it waiting for me.


    This time, I didn''t go through the door right away.


    Instead, I lifted up the sword and looked at it carefully.


    After all, I knew that it wasn''t because of me that this rock armadillo had been cleaved in half. Even if I had buffed myself, I shouldn''t have been strong enough to cut this rock armadillo in half like this.


    No, in the first ce, a normal sword wouldn''t have been strong enough to cut through the rock armadillo directly like this. The only way that a sword could cut so smoothly was if it was very sharp.


    This was a testament of how sharp this sword that I had been given was.


    At the very least, my normal sword wouldn''t have been able to do the same even though it was a magic weapon.


    But even then, it felt like something was off.


    After all, I shouldn''t have been strong enough to cut straight through the rock armadillo like this.


    So I looked at my own hands and said, "Stronger."


    When I did, I entered the same state as before when I attacked the rock armadillo.


    The moment that I felt this state, I understood what happened.


    I had buffed myself by making myself twice as strong as normal, but this feeling that I had right now¡­it wasn''t just double my strength. When I slowly swung my hand, I could feel the powerful wind that was generated.


    With the feeling inside of me, I could tell that this was at least four times my normal power.


    No, it should be even more than four times my normal power¡­


    "The sword and armour. That''s what must be buffing me." I slowly said in a voice of realization.


    This sword and armour had the ability to double my stats, but I never thought that it would also be able to double those stats when I used the Suggestion buff on myself. So that meant that when I buffed myself with double strength, this equipment actually increased that to four times my normal power.


    That just went to show how amazing this equipment was.


    But that also wasn''t the most important part of this.


    The most important part was¡­there were no side effects to this increase.


    Unlike my ability which increased one''s stats through releasing their limits with hypnosis, this just directly increased their stats with some kind of magic.


    When my ability was used to increase stats, the limiters inside of their brains were released.


    However, that came with a cost.


    The limiters that humans put on themselves were there for a reason. It was so that humans wouldn''t exert too much strength that they would hurt themselves.


    So while I was also able to buff by four times, that would mean almost releasing all limiters and causing the muscles of the body to rip apart from that strength. In that way, it was like a final resort that could only be used when one was in absolute danger.


    It wouldn''t kill, but it would definitely seriously injure the one using it.


    Unless it was absolutely necessary, this wasn''t something that should be used.


    But now¡­I was able to use the same level of power without even suffering from the consequences.


    This sword and armour really were divine items!


    I really wished that I was able to keep them after this trial, but I knew that this would be impossible.


    The guide had said that this was only something that would be avable during the trial.


    If this was something that could be used in the outside world, there was no doubt that everyone would want this sword and armour. It was such an overpowered item that even wars would be fought over it.


    Still, I didn''t go through the door as I walked over to the corpse of the rock armadillo.


    Using the sword, I started cutting up the rock armadillo.


    It wasn''t that I was angry with it or anything, it was just that I wanted to test how strong I was and how sharp this sword was. This rock armadillo was the perfect thing to test all of this on.


    Though if anyone was watching me, they certainly would have thought that I was crazy.


    Still, that wasn''t necessarily a bad thing¡­


    Only after cutting that rock armadillo into small bits did I finally walk through the door that was there. The countdown on the door only had a minute left, so I would have been forced out of this ce regardless.


    With a sh of light, I found myself in a new room.


    There was only a single thing in this room just like the others, but I was surprised to see this.


    This thing was arge monster right in the center, but the most shocking thing was the blue tone to its skin.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This blue tone was without a doubt an irregr tone, one that wasn''t normally found on monsters.


    As for the monster, it was an ogre.


    This thing was a Blue Ogre, a B Rank Monster like I had expected¡­


    Did that mean that the fifth round would really have an A Ranked Monster and the sixth round would have a S Ranked Monster?


    Was this even a trial anymore?


    If this was how the first few rounds were, then who would be able to even reach fifty rounds?


    It was no wonder the guide had said that it would be impossible for someone to clear all fifty rounds¡­


    But as I was trying to figure out what to do, I realized something about the Blue Ogre in the center.


    It didn''t seem to move¡­


    It had its eyes closed¡­


    It even seemed like it was snoring¡­


    It was almost as if this Blue Ogre was sleeping!

 Chapter 376 Second round (6)

    I carefully observed the Blue Ogre and I could see that there was even this snot bubble that wasing out of its nose.


    It seemed like it was in a deep sleep and no noise would wake it up.


    But even then, I still didn''t approach the Blue Ogre.


    I wanted to observe the Blue Ogre first to see if there was anything that I could use against it. At the same time, I also wanted to observe the room around me to see if there was anything here that I could use.


    However, the room didn''t seem to have a single thing in it.


    It seemed that the best way to do this was to take down the Blue Ogre before it woke up¡­That meant using one attack with unparalleled power to take it down right away.


    Or else it would be messy if I had to fight the Blue Ogre head on.


    However, it wasn''t as if I could waste too much time thinking about this.


    The rounds onlysted ten minutes each and I had already spent a fourth of my time observing this room. If I wasted any more time, I would be the one that suffered in the end.


    It seemed that this was one of those cases where it was better to act instead of thinking too much.


    Luckily for me, I had something that gave me the confidence to take down this Blue Ogre in one move.


    I looked down at the sword that I was holding in my hand and revealed a confident look.


    Right, if it wasn''t for this sword and armour that I received as a reward for cing first in the first round, I really wouldn''t have been confident in taking down this Blue Ogre. But with these incredible items in my possession, I was feeling confident enough to take it down.


    Taking a deep breath, I calmed my mind before locking my eyes on the Blue Ogre.


    If I wanted to take it down in a single blow, I would have to make the perfect strike in just the right spot to kill it in one shot.


    So even if it took a bit more of my time, I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect.


    I took the time to move closer, as close as I can without waking the Blue Ogre up.


    When I was close enough, I looked carefully at the Blue Ogre to see which part of it would be the best to attack. In the end, I settled on the neck since that was always the best way to attack.


    There was nothing that could survive after its head was cut off.


    No, there were things that could survive after their heads were cut off, but I wouldn''t ever want to meet those things.


    After making sure that everything was prepared, I took my stance and brought my sword up.


    Taking a deep breath, I said in a soft voice, "A lot faster and stronger."


    I could feel the power filling my body when I said this. It was a kind of power that was far beyond anything that I had ever felt before.


    With this power, I was certain that I would be able to take down this Blue Ogre in one shot.


    So once more, taking a deep breath, I prepared myself.


    Then with a single step, I found that I was flying forward towards the Blue Ogre. The speed at which I charged forward was almost too fast for me to handle, but I was able to keep up in the end.


    With one single swing, the sword came forward to cut the Blue Ogre''s neck.


    To my surprise, I found that there was no resistance at all from the Blue Ogre.


    It was as if I had a hot knife that was cutting through butter instead of a sword cutting through thick Blue Ogre hide.


    When it was over, I saw that there was something that was spinning through the air.


    Then when I came to a stop, I looked at it to see that it was the head of the Blue Ogre.


    The body copsed behind me with arge ''thud'' and a sshing sound.


    The moment that I heard that ssh, I quickly moved out of the way.


    As expected, there was a spray of blood that came out from the Blue Ogre''s body hitting the ground. If I had dodged a bitte, then the blood might have sshed onto me.


    Looking at the Blue Ogre''s head and body, I couldn''t help revealing an amazed look before looking down at the sword in my hand.


    I had already known that this was a very sharp sword, but I never thought that it was so sharp that it was even able to cut through a Blue Ogre this easily.


    But without it, it might not have been as easy for me to take down this Blue Ogre, so I was grateful for this sword.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That didn''t stop the painful feeling from filling my body though.


    This painful sensation was the bacsh of the ability that I just used.


    It was the muscle ache that came with releasing my limits.


    Of course, it wasn''t as bad as ripping apart my muscles by fully releasing my limits, but my muscles would be sore for a bit without being healed. I would need healing to reach my peak form quickly, which was a problem since there were still the next forty six rounds to deal with.


    It seemed like the guide was right, this really was impossible if this was the rate that the difficulty of this trial increased at.


    What was waiting for me should be an A Ranked Monster, right?


    Well, let''s see how this goes¡­


    But of course, I wouldn''t head into the next round right away.


    Before that happened, I would use the break time to heal up.


    Fifteen minutes wasn''t a lot, but it was better than nothing.

 Chapter 377 Second round (7)

    The moment that I stepped through the portal, I could feel the waves of energy assaulting me.


    The waves of energy that hit me in the face were much stronger than the ones that I felting from the Blue Ogre just now.


    As I had expected, there was an A Ranked Monster that was waiting for me.


    Along with the waves of energy that were hitting me, I also felt the heat that wasing from the center of the room.


    Standing in the center of this room was arge mass of mes, but it looked like it had a certain form to it. Thisrge mass of mes looked like it took the form of a shirtless man.


    It was hard to make out the features of this thing since it was madepletely of mes, but it seemed like some kind of handsome young man that was made of mes.


    Ifrit.


    The moment that I saw this, I realized what it was.


    As a member of Elementia, I had received some teachings of what kinds of powerful monsters were out there.


    This Ifrit was one of those that I had been taught about.


    Ifrits were spirits of fire that controlled the very essence of fire.


    At a minimum, these monsters were at least A Ranked.


    Feeling the heat and the aura that wasing from it, I didn''t doubt this ranking.


    There was no doubt that this thing was very powerful¡­


    Too powerful for me to fight at least.


    Even with the buff of the sword and armour, this wasn''t a fight that was good for me.


    After all, this Ifrit was a fire spirit, a being that was madepletely out of energy.


    A being made out of energy couldn''t be hurt unless it was hit with an energy attack, so the physical attacks that I used werepletely useless in the first ce.


    At most, I would be able to scatter the mes of the Ifrit.


    I wouldn''t be able to do anything to the Ifrit itself with my physical attacks.


    Unlike with the Blue Ogre, this Ifrit immediately noticed me when I appeared in this room.


    As expected of a high ranked monster¡­is what I would have liked to say.


    But in reality, what I really said was¡­


    "Damn it! Why did it notice me so fast!"


    As soon as the Ifrit noticed me, it didn''t waste any time in gathering mes around itself.


    The mes swirled around the Ifrit like a tornado of mes that grew stronger and stronger. It seemed that at this rate, the entire room would be engulfed with mes with the way that this tornado grew.


    But that tornado of mes soon settled and disappeared, revealing the Ifrit once more.


    When I saw the Ifrit, all I could say was¡­


    "Damn! Is this its battle form!?"


    The Ifrit had grown to twice the size that it was before, but that wasn''t the most shocking thing.


    It still had the face of a handsome young man, but the body underneath the face was anything but that. It was the body of a muscr bodybuilder that was on par with Su Chen, while also being covered in armour made of mes and holding a sword of mes.


    This Ifrit was clearing gearing up for a fight.


    Once its battle form came out, the Ifrit didn''t hesitate to charge at me.


    With its sword raised and the mes surging around it, the pressure that this Ifrit put on me really was something else.


    I knew that I wouldn''t be able to beat this Ifrit unless I was willing to show some things that I wasn''t willing to show.


    So I decided that I wouldn''t beat it.


    My goal was just to pass this round and rank as high as I could so I could reach the round of the tournament.


    So there was no real need for me to fight this Ifrit.


    I had an item that would allow me to skip this stage after all.


    After taking out the token, I tried to figure out how to use it.


    I looked at it from many different angles and poked at it from all over, but it didn''t seem like it would work.


    That was until I said, "I want to skip this round."


    As soon as I said this, there was a light that came from the token.


    This light grew stronger and stronger until it suddenly burst forward from the token, forming argeyer of light that spread across the room.


    It hit the Ifrit''s sword that was just above me, only a few inches away from my head.


    The moment that it hit the Ifrit''s sword, the sword suddenly froze in the air.


    It was as if there was some kind of battle between this light and the Ifrit''s sword, but the sword was dispelled in the end.


    The wave of lightpletely scattered the mes of the Ifrit''s sword and then it scattered the mes that made up the Ifrit itself.


    As I watched all of this, I couldn''t help muttering to myself, "Just what is this light?"


    The light continued scattering the mes, even going as far as pushing the Ifrit away and scattering the mes that made up the Ifrit''s body.


    The Ifrit looked like it wanted to run away, but it couldn''t outrun the light as it scattered the Ifrit''s mes.


    When it was over, the Ifrit disappeared without a trace.


    Once the Ifrit was gone, the same door as before appeared in front of me with a timer above it.


    It seemed that this token really was useful.


    So if there was a S Ranked Monster in the next room like I thought there would be, there would be no hesitation in whipping out this token to skip that room.


    As I was about to step into the door, I found that there was something strange around me.


    The light had also cleared the ash that had been on the floor, revealing these strange tiles on the ground.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    For some reason, I could feel a cold feelinging from these tiles.

 Chapter 378 Second round (8)

    When I saw these tiles, I stopped heading towards the portal that was there and went over to look closely at the tiles that were on the ground.


    When I looked down, I saw that there were some strange patterns that were on these tiles.


    After looking at it for a bit, I realized that the patterns on these tiles were simr to the ones that were on the talismans that I had received when we went into the raid dungeon before.


    Those talismans that added a me effect to my sword.


    That meant that these tiles on the floor most likely had some kind of effect when they were activated.


    Based on the chill that wasing from them, it seemed likely that these things would release ice energy when used.


    Looking at the different tiles on the floor, I could see that there was the same pattern that was on all of the different tiles.


    These tiles should all release the same ice energy¡­


    But why were they ced in this room?


    I looked at all of these tiles carefully and found that they were ced in a pattern as well.


    The way that they were ced, it was almost as if the tiles formed an evenrger array.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Of course, I didn''t mess with these things since there was no knowing what they did.


    I had already cleared this round, so I wasn''t about to cause more trouble for myself.


    Still, seeing this made me realize something.


    They created the trial for this tournament, that meant that it was impossible for there not to be a way to pass these rounds. No matter what they would have prepared a way for the contestants to pass the rounds.


    Even if they were facing an A Rank Monster like the Ifrit.


    Thinking back to how the Blue Ogre had been asleep¡­this seemed even more likely.


    The Blue Ogre being asleep and this array in the Ifrit''s room, they were clearly ways for people to pass.


    Perhaps there was something else that was hidden inside of the Blue Ogre room that I didn''t find.


    If there was something, it was most likely some kind of thing that would allow the user to one shot the Blue Ogre like I had done. That would be the only way to guarantee that someone passed, which was what was needed.


    After all, there were some that didn''t have attack abilities in the first ce like Qin Yue Ru.


    I couldn''t help worrying about everyone else as they took their trials¡­


    But there was no time to worry about that.


    The time on the timer had gone down because I had wasted quite a bit of time looking around this room. If I didn''t go now, I would be forced out anyway.


    So I didn''t waste any time in this Ifrit room anymore and prepared for the next room.


    But as I walked through the door, I suddenly realized something.


    Why weren''t my muscles aching anymore?


    ¡­


    Outside of the trial, there were many different screens showing the progress of the different contestants.


    Some of the screens were bigger and some of the screens were smaller.


    The ones that were smaller were clearly the ones that weren''t doing as well, so they didn''t receive any attention.


    The bigger screens had the scenes of those that were at the head of the pack.


    So the biggest screen that was right in the center¡­had Lin Fan on it.


    Everyone had been surprised when they saw how far he was able to get.


    On the other side, there was no one that had gone past the fourth floor. There were even quite a few people that had gotten trapped on the third floor.


    These were people that didn''t have the offensive capabilities to break through the rock shell of the rock armadillo.


    So they were still stuck trying to figure out how to defeat the rock armadillo.


    The ones that had made it to the fourth stage had tried the same thing as Lin Fan.


    However, there hadn''t been a single person who was capable of defeating the Blue Ogre in a single shot like Lin Fan did. All they could do was injure the Blue Ogre and then slowly bring it down.


    Butpared to the exciting fights that Lin Fan gave them, the crowd didn''t really pay attention to the smaller screens.


    The only ones that did were the fans of those others or those that were in the same guild as them.


    When Lin Fan used the token to clear the fifth stage, there were many people that reacted.


    "Is he cheating?"


    "What is that token that he just used? Was that allowed?"


    "This¡­isn''t that too powerful?"


    These were the whispers that echoed through the crowd when they saw him use the token to skip the fifth round.


    The host was the one that calmed them all down by exining, "This is the prize for being first ce that contestant Lin Fan received. This token allows him to skip five rounds without having to fight the enemies there. Since he has used it to skip the fifth floor, he now has four more uses of this token."


    They hadn''t seen the scene of Lin Fan with the guide, so they hadn''t heard her exnation of the items that she gave Lin Fan.


    That was why the crowd didn''t know about these prizes.


    After settling, they all carefully watched as Lin Fan observed the special tiles.


    There were many in the crowd that were confused what these tiles were, until a certain person said¡­


    "That''s the Ice Pir Array!"


    There were looks of confusion that filled the crowd when they heard this, but there were some that recognized this name.


    The host was the one that filled the gaps in knowledge by saying, "The Ice Pir Array is a special array that will create a pir of ice above it, freezing everything in its range once it''s activated."


    As he said this, the crowd finally started to understand why this Ice Pir Array was special.

 Chapter 379 Intermission during the second round

    Since there was something like this ced in the same room as the Ifrit, this must be the designer''s way of making this possible.


    Otherwise, there would have been people who would haveined about this second round.


    After all, a round that was impossible was not something that they could ept.


    This was a tournament that was being held by many of therge guilds, so they didn''t think that they would do something like this.


    But still, the difficulty level of this trial¡­was a bit too much¡­n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    After all, they had to find all the different tiles and activate the Ice Pir Array to even have a chance to take down the Ifrit.


    That meant having to dodge all of the attacks of the Ifrit while looking for these tiles that they didn''t know existed. So unless someone was very powerful and had exceptional insight, then it would be impossible for them to do something like this.


    But in a way, they could ept that this was something that was created by therge guilds for this tournament.


    This level of skill was only something that those that were from therge guilds would have.


    "Isn''t that kid from Elementia just lucky that he had a token that allows him to skip that room?"


    It was only a singlement, but soon it started to spread.


    After all, even though Lin Fan had passed that room with the Ifrit, it was all because of the token that he received. So there were naturally people that were dissatisfied with this since it seemed too easy.


    The ones that started this whisper were the ones from the other guilds that were just jealous of Lin Fan''s abilities.


    Even if Lin Fan had used the token to skip the room with the Ifrit, there was no denying his power since he had taken care of the Blue Ogre in a single strike. That strike was far beyond what most of them were capable of, especially those that knew just how hard Blue Ogre hide was.


    This was not something that they could do, even if they used all of their power.


    But just like a wildfire, the rumour started to spread and many people started looking down on Lin Fan.


    Those that didn''t know were caught up in the voice of the crowd and soon started doubting Lin Fan''s abilities just because of this rumour.


    However, in a private box¡­


    "Ho, it seems that this kid really has some special abilities. It seems like you made the right call in getting that contract with Elementia."


    The one who spoke was a handsome young man with white hair sitting in a chair with a ss of wine in his hand. There was a smile on his handsome young man''s face as he looked at the screen.


    Standing behind this handsome young man was someone that Lin Fan would have recognized.


    It was Eliott, the one that hade to save himst time.


    But Eliott was standing behind this handsome white haired young man, with the way that he was standing making him seem like he was the subordinate of this young man.


    His next words proved that this was the case.


    With a bitter smile on his face, Eliott said, "Boss, I didn''t know that he was this powerful back then. I thought that it would be good if he could buff by 200%, but it seems that it''s even beyond that now. I don''t know how he''s be so strong in such a short period of time."


    Though he had a bitter smile on his face at first, the bitterness soon disappeared and he just had a normal smile on his face when he finished speaking.


    The handsome young man narrowed his eyes for a bit before saying, "It''s not just that. It seems like he''s still hiding some things with the way that he moves."


    Eliott couldn''t help revealing a confused look before asking, "Boss, what do you mean by that?"


    The handsome young man revealed a smile as he said, "It''s the way that he moves. As long as you have enough experience, you can see that there''s a bit of stiffness as he moves."


    Eliott still had a confused look on his face, so the handsome young man exined, "There''s clearly another way that he''s used to fighting that he''s not showing now. That means that he''s hiding his real power."


    Eliott was surprised before pulling up the rey from earlier.


    If they were in a normal seat, they might not have been able to do this, but this was a special VIP seat. The things that they could do here werepletely different from the normal seats.


    After watching the rey for a bit, he slowly said, "You''re right¡­he really freezes from time to time, showing that he''s hesitating on what to do. But isn''t this just because he''s adapting to the situation?"


    The handsome young man shook his head before saying, "No, if it was that, he wouldn''t have that look in his eyes. The look in his eyes shows that he clearly knows what he wants to do, it''s just that he''s holding himself back."


    Eliott didn''t say anything this time, but the look on his face made it clear that he had his doubts.


    The handsome young man didn''t care as he kept looking at the screen with narrowed eyes.


    After a long silence, he finally said, "Test him with that dungeon. I want to see what he''s really capable of. If he is good, then we''ll be able to use him in the future."


    Eliott just gave a simple nod in response to this, but the look in his eyes showed his feelings very clearly.


    Shock, there was only shock in his eyes.


    But once again, the handsome young man didn''t care as he muttered under his breath, "I hope that you will be who I think you are. I really hope that you won''t disappoint me."

 Chapter 380 Second round (9)

    When I appeared in the next room, I had been fully expecting to be hit with arge wave of energy.


    I was expecting to bepletely suppressed by what was in this room since I thought there would be a S Ranked Monster here.


    However, that didn''t seem to be the case.


    When I appeared in the room, I couldn''t help feeling that it was a bit dim.


    It was as if there was something that was covering the light that wasing from above.


    When I looked up, I found that there was indeed something that was covering this light.


    It was the foliage from a bunch of trees.


    Then when I took the time to look around, I found that I waspletely surrounded by the trees that the foliage came from. I found that I was in the center of what seemed to be a forest.


    I was no longer in the same room that I had been in previously.


    But the problem was¡­where was the enemy that I had to fight?


    There were only ten minutes here and I couldn''t even see the end of this forest, so how was I supposed to find the enemies like this?


    Or at least that was what I thought until I heard some rustling in the bushes in front of me.


    I quickly pulled out the sword and pointed it in that direction, as I waited for whatever wasing toe out. However, it didn''t seem like there was anythinging out of those bushes.


    There was only a rustling sound that came from it before everything went silent.


    If I hadn''t heard it clearly, I might have even thought that I was imagining it.


    But I knew that I heard the sound of rustling, so I knew that there must be someone or something who was currently stalking me. Though I wasn''t able to make out just what it was that was there around me.


    I couldn''t even sense an aura from these things.


    It was as if they hadpletely hidden themselves as part of the forest, making them invisible to anyone else.


    "Hmm, so that''s the way that you want to y, is it?" I said under my breath before slowly pulling out something from my Storage Ring.


    I put this thing on the sword before saying, "Faster and stronger."


    As soon as I said this, I swung out in front of me with the sword in one clean arc.


    The sword that was swept out cut right through the trees that were in front of me, cleanly cutting right through the trunks. But at the same time, there were mes that were created the moment that the sword cut through the air.


    These mes seemed toe out of nowhere as they streaked through the air.


    The trees that had been cut were lit on fire and then flew out in front of me.


    As they flew through the air, the mes from the trees started spreading in all directions.


    Since this was a forest, there was plenty of timber for these mes as the surrounding trees also caught on fire. The fire quickly spread through these trees and it didn''t take long before the whole forest around me was covered in mes.


    Just like this, I had set the entire forest aze.


    I could hear the screams of pain and panic that wereing from around me after the forest was lit on fire like this, but there was still a problem.


    I was also right in the center of the mes.


    Though I had blown them back with the sh of my sword just now, it would only be a matter of time before the mes reached me.


    After all, there was still grass that was under my feet that could bring the mes to me.


    The only way to stop this was to find some way to block the mes.


    But I didn''t panic when I saw the mesing closer to me.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Instead, I took out a stone that I ced over my sword.


    Before putting the stone on the sword, I quickly ripped off the remains of the me talisman, causing the mes around the sword to disappear. Then once those mes were gone, I put the stone on the talisman.


    There was a chill that appeared around the sword as ayer of ice appeared around the stone, freezing it to the sword.


    Only when it was stuck to the sword like this did I suddenly swing out with the sword again.


    The moment that I did, there was ice that formed in the air before forming a wall of ice all around me. This wall of icepletely separated me from the mes that were all around me.


    Once this ice separated me from those mes, I could feel the temperature dropping.


    "Ah, now it feels much better." I said to myself as I casually put my sword down and waited for the sounds around me to disappear.


    I could hear the screams of pain and panic, I could hear the sounds of something hitting the ice wall around me, I could hear the mes crackling as they burned strong.


    But I ignored all of this as I casually waited for all these sounds to disappear.


    Though from time to time, I did have to lift the sword and swing it again to rece the ice that had been melted.


    When the sounds finally disappeared, I released the ice wall that was around me.


    As I did, I couldn''t help looking at the gem that was on the sword.


    This was a Frost Gem that Bing Xin gave me, which I never thought that I would need to use.


    However, I was very grateful that she had given it to me or else I wouldn''t have had the confidence to do this. It would have been much harder for me to clear this stage if it wasn''t for this Frost Gem.


    When the ice wall disappeared, I saw the portal with the timer in front of me.

 Chapter 381 Second round (10)

    Though the portal had already appeared, I didn''t go right into it.


    Instead, I looked around the room to see if there was anything special about it.


    It seemed that the monsters that had been stalking me were goblins. Or at least that was what I thought they were, though the corpses were a bit too burnt and maimed for me to identify them properly.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Still, I could at least tell that these were goblins because of the shape and their sharp ears.


    There was no mistaking the sharp ears that these goblins had.


    As for the rest of the room, it didn''t seem like there was anything special about this ce.


    Well, it was only a bunch of goblins that were hiding in the forest, so it wasn''t as if they were that hard to take down in the first ce. It was only because I was being cautious that it had be this big in the first ce.


    After realizing this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    Well, since there was nothing for me to do here, I didn''t bother staying in this room any longer.


    I walked right through the portal and went to the next stage.


    ¡­


    "Ugh, this thing really is disgusting."


    I couldn''t help saying this as I pulled my sword out of the monster that was on the ground.


    The blood that leaked out of the monster and went into the water that was also at my feet.


    Because there was so much water, I wasn''t able to avoid it at all as the blood of the monster soaked me.


    At the very least, I would be cleaned up once I reached the next round.


    That was something that I had discovered during my time here.


    With each round cleared, the contestant would receive a full heal and bepletely cleaned by some kind of magic. These were the things that I discovered when I went from the fourth floor to the fifth floor and from the sixth floor to the seventh floor.


    I had been so focused on the Ifrit when I was on the fifth floor that I didn''t notice that all of the aching from my body had disappeared.


    The aching that came from using my power to take down the Blue Ogre hadpletely disappeared the moment that I went to the fifth floor.


    So it turned out that one could fight with all their power on each floor and then be healed by whatever it was in this trial.


    At the same time, I found that they cleaned my clothes since I had been covered in soot when I went from the sixth floor to the seventh floor because of the burning forest.


    All of that soot had disappeared without a trace and I had been cleaned uppletely.


    I didn''t know what was doing this in this trial, but I was grateful since it did help.


    Currently, I was on the ninth floor and I had just finished stabbing this merman to death.


    This wasn''t the normal merman that one might see in movies, but rather a fish like creature that walked on two legs. This thing used a trident and was able to swim very fast, which made it hard to deal with in this room, which was a room that was filled with water.


    Each of the floors after the sixth room had been like this.


    There was a different environment for each and the monsters that were there gained advantages from those different environments.


    For the seventh and eighth floors, the monsters there were only D and C Ranked, so I was able to find some way to deal with them with brute force. Though when it was over, I found that there were mechanisms in those rooms that allowed me to negate those advantages of the monsters.


    That was the way that I was supposed to clear those rooms, instead of just using brute force to kill the D and C Ranked Monsters.


    However, this ninth floor wasn''t the same since the merman that was here was a B Ranked Monster.


    It was just too strong for me to beat up with brute force and it was just too fast with the speed buff that it received in the water.


    But I had found that way to negate this in the end.


    Before I negated the merman''s advantage, this room had been filled with water. There were only a few spots that I had been able to step on without falling into the water.


    So it had been really hard for me to fight the merman while it was swimming under the water.


    But luckily I had figured out the mechanism for this room.


    Those few spots ofnd, they had to be destroyed to drain the room of the water that was in it.


    Those were the parts of the plugs for the drains that stuck out of the water. So they had to be destroyedpletely to allow the water to drain away.


    The more plugs that were destroyed, the faster the water would drain.


    This was not an easy thing to do since each plug destroyed meant lessnd to stand on.


    As for fighting a merman in the water¡­there was no better way tomit suicide.


    So that wasn''t an option.


    I had to use all my powers to keep the merman at bay while dealing with the decreasing amount of space that I could stand on.


    So it was a race to see if I fell first or if the merman ran out of water first.


    In the end, I was the one that had won that gamble.


    Seeing the merman lie there on the ground bleeding out, I really felt the urge to stab it another time because of all the trouble that it caused me.


    But I held myself back in the end since I was certain that people were watching.


    Looking at the door, I steeled myself since the next room was the real room.


    It seemed that the pattern was that each five rooms had an A Ranked Monster.


    So the next room would without a doubt have one waiting.

 Chapter 382 Second round (11)

    When I stepped through the portal, I was hit with an icy wind right in the face.


    This wind was so cold that it seemed like it would freeze me at any moment.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I was an Awakener who could resist this icy wind with my natural magic power, then it would have been very likely that I would have been frozen right away.


    Standing in the center of this blizzard was a single figure.


    It was hard to see this figure at first, but then it was as if the snow parted in front of me to reveal the appearance of this figure.


    It was a beautiful woman who was standing there in the center of this room.


    But the strange thing about this woman was that she waspletely blue.


    It wasn''t just her hair, her eyes, or even her clothes that werepletely blue.


    It was her skin that was even blue.


    It was like she waspletely made of ice with the way that her skin looked.


    Though it did look a bit strange since her lips were blue, as if she was suffering from frostbite. It was too deep of a blue color for it to be considered lipstick, so it just looked very strange¡­


    But that wasn''t the most important thing.


    It was that her hand had been raised.


    That was what had caused the gap in the snow in front of me, showing that she was the one that controlled the snow that was around us.


    Snow Woman, that was the name of this monster.


    It was an A Rank Monster that was inplete control of ice and snow, making it very difficult to fight.


    The smart move now would be to use the token and skip this round, but I didn''t do that.


    After all, there were fifty rounds and the distribution of the rounds seemed to be that there were A Ranked Monsters every five rounds. The token that I had would allow me to skip five rounds, which meant that at most, I would be able to reach round thirty before being wiped out by the A Ranked Monster there.


    That was unless I was able to take down the A Ranked Monsters on my own without needing to use the token.


    The less that I used the token, the greater my chances of clearing this second round was.


    So until I absolutely needed to use this, I wouldn''t use it.


    The Snow Woman just stared at me for a bit before suddenly opening her lips.


    I was surprised to see that she wanted to talk to me, but that expression on my face quickly changed to a bitter smile.


    That was because although the Snow Woman opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, there wasn''t a single sound that came out. It really looked like she was saying something, but I wasn''t able to hear a single thing.


    Even when I tried to read her lips, I couldn''t understand a single thing.


    But that was more because I didn''t know how to read lips in the first ce.


    If I did, maybe I would have been able to do something.


    However, since I didn''t, I wasn''t able to do anything.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Seeing that I wasn''t reacting to her words, the Snow Woman shook her head before flicking her hand again.


    As soon as she did, the gap in between the snow closed once more and she disappeared from sight. The snow became even stronger as itpletely whited out everything that was around me.


    However, the strange thing was that there wasn''t much snow around the area that I was in.


    It was as if the snow was avoiding me¡­


    But I knew that this wasn''t a good thing.


    I could guess what the Snow Woman''s n was to surround me in snow like this.


    She was most likely trying to restrain my movement so that she could end this in one move. At the same time, she was trying to block my vision so that I wouldn''t be able to react to the attack that she threw at me.


    This Snow Woman seemed much more intelligent than the other monsters that I had faced, but it wasn''t as if I would just let her take care of me that easily. I had to at least put up a fight so that I would be able to see if I had a chance against her.


    But the thing was¡­I didn''t know what I had to do.


    The only thing that I could do was put another talisman on my sword and then swing it around to create mes around me. These mes were able to push the snow back a bit, but it didn''t seem like it was doing much.


    This was the difference in power between my talisman and the Snow Woman.


    The Snow Woman was a proper A Rank Monster while the talisman was just something that I had received to fight weak mobs with.


    I didn''t really have anything stronger.


    While waiting for the Snow Woman to attack, I was looking around the room to see if there was anything at all that I could use.


    But it was hard since the room was whited out because of the snow around me.


    I was lost until I looked up at the ceiling.


    When I looked up at the ceiling, I found that there was something above me that caught me off guard.


    It was that moment when I was caught off guard that I sensed something from in front of me.


    When I looked back down, I saw that there were several icicles that wereing out of the snow cover in front of me. These icicles were moving incredibly fast and they looked very sharp.


    Seeing this, I took a deep breath and said, "Release all limiters."


    This was my final move and I would be barely able to move once this was used, but I would be healed when I went to the next room.


    With what I had seen on the ceiling, it was worth it to take this risk.

 Chapter 383 Second round (12)

    Once all of the limiters were released, the amount of power that filled my body was insane.


    The limiters that the body ced on itself greatly inhibited one''s strength.


    At best, it only allowed one to use a fifth of their power at most.


    But once those limiters were released, I would be able to gain power that was over five times greater than what I currently had.


    No, it wouldn''t just be five times greater since it would fluctuate depending on how much strength I used. After all, human muscles didn''t just use 100% of their power all the time, so humans used different amounts of strength from time to time.


    With the limiters released, it could go from five times to over ten times the amount of power that I normally had.


    Then add in the doubling effect of the sword and armour¡­I felt that the amount of power that I had was infinitely close to reaching that of a S Ranker.


    I knew that there must be a single step away since S Rankers were so special for a reason.


    However, to face the A Rank Snow Woman, this should be enough.


    The only problem was that this couldn''t be maintained.


    The longer that I stayed in this state, the more I would hurt myself.


    After all, humans put limiters on their powers for a reason. Without limiters, one wouldn''t care about what happened to one''s body.


    This amount of strength that I had was more than enough to rip the muscles of my body with just a few simple moves. So I had to be careful with how I moved my body and I couldn''t maintain this state for long.


    But a few seconds was all that I needed to take care of the Snow Woman.


    With the speed that I had, I immediately dodged out of the way of the icicles that wereing at me.


    Then without any hesitation, I kicked off the ground and flew up towards the ceiling.


    The moment that I kicked out, I could hear the snapping sound that came from my legs.


    It was just a single leg that I used, but the bone had snapped from the force of the kick.


    It was a worthy sacrifice since it was enough to propel me to the top of this room.


    At the top of this room, I had seen several tiles that were just like the ones that I had encountered in the previous room.


    But this time, I could feel heating from them when I came near them.


    Without any hesitation, I pped the me talisman on my sword and swung out at the tiles that were in front of me.


    The mes quickly gathered in the air around the sword before being absorbed by something. They were pulled away from my sword and quickly moved through the air before disappearing without a trace.


    They had been absorbed by the tiles that were on the ceiling.


    I didn''t know if this was the way to do it, but I hoped that it worked or else I would have no choice but to crush the token that I had been hiding in my pocket.


    After seeing nothing happen for a few seconds, I brought my hand close to my pocket as if I was about to use it. But before I could, I suddenly saw mesing out of the tiles.


    I didn''t know if this seeded or not, but at the very least, something was about to happen.


    When the mes came out of the tiles on the roof, the snow down beneath suddenly stopped and revealed the Snow Woman standing there.


    She looked up at me with a look as if she was ming me for doing something bad.


    Was it really that bad that she would have to look at me with such an evil re?


    But there was no time for her to worry about this as the mes being released by the tiles were getting much stronger. It was so strong that I was even starting to get hurt even though I had wanted to stay away.


    This feeling was like being in a sauna, but it wasn''t the pleasant kind of sauna.


    It was the kind that was hard to stay in since someone put too much heat into it, but you also couldn''t get out because of reason.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Still, since it had worked, I didn''t have any ns to stay here, so I used the momentum of gravity to bring me down.


    Before I couldnd on the ground, the Snow Woman suddenly jumped up at me.


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard by just how strong her legs were as she jumped up at me. It was almost as strong as my legs after I had buffed them.


    As expected of an A Rank Monster.


    The way that she was flying up at me, it was clear that she was ming me for all of this.


    She reached her hand out as if she wanted to grab me and choke me out, but it was hard for her with the heat of the mes.


    It was even so hot that she was unable to keep her body intact.


    It was so hot that even parts of her started to melt.


    During all of this, she still jumped at me as if she wanted to grab me and throw me down.


    However, I was already prepared for this.


    "You might want to bring me down, but I''m not ready to die yet. So I''ll have to use you for a bit to help me block these mes."


    I still had the power of the suggestion on, so I was able to move at incredible speeds to move out of the way. By the time that the Snow Woman reacted, I was already behind her.


    I pointed up at the mes in the sky and said, "You should do your best to block these."


    She looked at me like I was a crazy person.

 Chapter 384 Second round (13)

    When the mes scattered and the dust settled, the snow had disappeared.


    I was standing there on the ground and behind me was the burnt corpse of the Snow Woman.


    She had tried her best to block those mes that wereing from the ceiling while also dealing with me, but the mes came too quickly. The Snow Woman had no choice but to focus on the mes that wereing at her.


    But how was she supposed to stop them?


    Even when she gathered all of her snow and ice powers, she wasn''t able to stop the mes in the end.


    So all that was left was the burnt corpse of the Snow Woman.


    Though thanks to the Snow Woman, I was able to block the damage that came from the mes.


    In fact, I had been partly frozen because of the Snow Woman and that actually helped me block some of the mes that went past her. The rest were blocked by the blue gem that Bing Xin gave me.


    However, if it wasn''t for the fact that most of the mes were blocked by the Snow Woman''s power in the first ce, I wouldn''t be standing here right now.


    The most important thing was that¡­the door to the next floor opened up with the same timer.


    With one leg, it was hard to get over to the portal, but I was able to make it over in the end.


    Looking back at the Snow Woman, I let out a sigh of relief before walking through into the portal.


    ¡­


    The twenty fifth floor, that was the floor that I was about to step into.


    Ever since beating the Snow Woman, I had been steadily making progress through these floors.


    The eleventh to fifteenth floors, it had a gimmick just like the sixth to tenth floors.


    The gimmick of the sixth to tenth floors were the terrain fields that the enemies could take advantage of.


    The gimmick of the eleventh to fifteenth wererge numbers of enemies.


    There were goblins on the eleventh floor just like the first and sixth floor, but there were so many goblins that it was an entire tribe. There were over a hundred goblins that I had to fight and there was even a hobgoblin that was leading them.


    Still, they weren''t a match for me.


    But when it came torge amounts of higher ranked monsters, that was a bit harder.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    However, the designer of this trial wouldn''t make it impossible.


    They would include a way for the contestant to beat this round.


    The method that they gave was¡­once again a special array that had an effect.


    Taking advantage of this, I was able to take down all of the monsters that came at me.


    Even the two A Ranked Monsters that appeared on the fifteenth floor.


    There was another special gimmick for the sixteenth to twentieth floors.


    Then there was another special gimmick for the twenty first to twenty fourth floors.


    This gimmick was the addition of traps.


    There were various traps that were scattered around the rooms that would randomly trigger.


    I had to avoid all of those traps while still fighting the monster in front of me.


    If it wasn''t for the increased speed, I might have really been unable to keep up.


    In the end, I was able to pass all of those floors and reach this twenty fifth floor.


    But the moment that I stepped onto the twenty fifth floor, I knew that this ce was different.


    This aura that hit me in the face was much stronger than the aura of any other A Ranked Monster that I faced in this trial. In fact, it seemed more like the aura that I encountered when I met the guild master.


    Could it be that¡­


    "Roar!"


    As soon as this cry rang out, I immediately realized what this was.


    It was a sound that I had heard before during the first round.


    It was the same cry that the dungeon boss of the first round had.


    It was a dragon.


    But this time, it wasn''t a young dragon.


    This was a fully developed dragon, which meant that this was a S Ranked Monster that was at its peak that I was facing.


    This was not something that I could defeat, or even have a chance of fighting.


    So I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile on my face as I thought, "Isn''t this a bit too much?"


    Still, I didn''t panic since there was a n B that I could use.


    I could always just use the token that I had been holding onto.


    This token was something that would allow me to skip five levels and so far, I had only used it once for the fifth floor. For the other floors, I had used my own power to break through and I had been able to defeat those A Ranked Monsters on my own.


    Though to defeat them, I had to exploit the things that had been included in the design of these trials, but that was what they were there for in the first ce.


    This floor with the S Ranked Monster, that seemed like the best ce to use such a thing.


    But I didn''t use it as soon as I came into the room since¡­there was something that I wanted with the S Ranked dragon.


    I had found that it was very good training fighting against these A Ranked Monsters.


    The different situations that I had been put in had given me many new experiences, giving me experience that I could use in the future.


    There was no doubt that this would make me much stronger.


    So along the way, I had started to see this as training rather than taking a trial.


    It was the same for this S Ranked dragon.


    Eventually, I would have to fight S Ranked Monsters.


    However, unlike this ce where it was just a trial, I could actually die in the real world.


    So wasn''t it better to test myself against the S Ranked dragon?


    Taking a deep breath, I looked at the dragon and said, "I''ll be counting on you."

 Chapter 385 Second round (14)

    The dragon naturally didn''t understand what I was saying.


    I also didn''t have time to waste with the dragon as I started looking around the room.


    There had to be something that would allow me to defeat this dragon, so I was trying to find it.


    The dragon didn''t waste any time ying around with me as it suddenly reared its head back.


    The moment that it did, there was this strange flow that appeared in the room.


    It was a flow of air that was pulling the air around me upwards.


    That was because the dragon was much higher up than me and with the mes that it was gathering in its mouth, it created an area where there was a concentrated space of heat.


    This concentrated heat pulled the air up since hot air flowed upwards.


    That just went to show how hot and powerful the breath of this dragon was that it was even able to pull air from just gathering its mes.


    This dragon was definitely in apletely different league from the ice dragon that I faced before.


    But I was still looking around the room, trying to find anything that I could use against this dragon.


    Before I could find it, the dragon had finished gathering its breath.


    "Roar!"


    With a single powerful roar that almost shattered my eardrums, the dragon released that breath that it gathered.


    Seeing this, I didn''t hesitate to say, "Release all limiters."


    This S Ranked dragon was not something that I could fight without going all out.


    Even then, it was very unlikely that I would even be able to do anything to this dragon.


    So without any hesitation, I released all of the limiters that were on my body.


    As soon as the limiters were released, the same thing happened where my body was filled with energy. However, I was fully healed aftering into this room, so there was nothing holding me back.


    In fact, I had released my limiters a total of three times now and every time that I was healed up, I found that I was even stronger than before.


    So the current me couldn''t bepared to the me that had been on the tenth floor.


    I was more than twice as strong as I was then.


    With a single step, I was able to clear the dragon''s breath and this time, I didn''t shatter my leg bone. I had found out just how much strength I needed and how to use it so that I didn''t break myself when using this power.


    That was also the experience from fighting three different times with my limiters released.


    Once I cleared the dragon breath, I didn''t hesitate to slice the ground in front of me.


    It wasn''t that I was running out of ideas or I was desperate, I did it because it created a plume of dust that suddenly covered me. I was using this dust as a smokescreen to lose the attention of the dragon while taking that chance to search the room.


    It was just too bad that the dragon wasn''t willing to y along.


    Though there was this dust cloud that filled the room, it didn''tst at all as a gust of air suddenly blew that dust cloud away.


    This gust of air came from the dragon suddenly turning around and sweeping its tail out.


    When it did, thisrge gust of air was formed that blew away all of the dust and revealed me.


    I was shocked since I never thought that the dragon''s tail swing would be this powerful.


    No, even before that, I didn''t think that the dragon would suddenly use a tail swing like this since it wasn''t something that one would think of when it came to a dragon. They would usually use their breath or use their ws, it was rare to see a dragon swing its tail like this.


    But I still had my limiters released, so I quickly jumped out of the way.


    It seemed like I was about to clear this tail that was like arge building flying at me, but then¡­the tail suddenly sped up.


    I didn''t know how it did this, but that speed was not something that I could keep up with.


    I was still mid jump, so there wasn''t much that I could do. I tried twisting my body to avoid this tail sweep, but it was pointless.


    I was grazed by the tail.


    Though I sacrificed one of my legs to push off in the air for more speed, it didn''t work.


    I cleared most of the tail, but there was a bit left that I didn''t clear that caught my leg.


    The moment that the tail made contact with my leg, I could feel the forceing from that tail that swept me away.


    This force was too powerful for me to resist and I could only let it carry me as I flew out from being grazed. Though since I was only grazed, that meant that I didn''t fly straight.


    The power that was transferred from the tail to me came at an angle so I actually spun many times in the air as I was sent flying before smashing into the wall of this room.


    The breath was knocked out of me when I hit the wall like this, but at least the dragon wasn''t attacking anymore.


    Or that was what I thought.


    I soon felt the flow of air around me, telling me that the dragon wanted to fire another breath attack.


    However, I could barely move this time¡­


    My body ached all over and I was even a bit embedded into the wall.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I couldn''t get out in time no matter what I did.


    A bitter smile appeared on my face, but there was never a look to give up that appeared in my eyes.


    I was just realizing how weak I was in front of a S Ranked Monster.


    This really was the difference between us and I couldn''t be mad about it.


    The only thing that I could do was try to improve so that I could fight this dragon one day.


    But before that¡­


    "I want to skip this round."

 Chapter 386 Second round (15)

    The light suddenly appeared on the token and then there was a wave of light that came out from it.


    This wave of light spread out in front of me and mmed into the concentrated mes that were aimed at me.


    When the wave of light made contact with the concentrated mes, it scattered it right away. There was no resistance at all that came from the mes as they were blown away by the wave of light.


    The wave of light went right up to the dragon and then hit it without any resistance.


    The only difference this time was that the dragon didn''t disappear.


    It was as if the wave of light couldn''t erase the dragon like it had done with the Ifrit previously.


    Was that because the Ifrit was a being that was just made of energy while the dragon was a being that was made of mass?


    Still, at the very least, it seemed like the dragon had been frozen because it had been enveloped by that wave of light.


    It was still in the middle of releasing its breath as it just froze there, but it didn''t seem like it would move again.


    After the wave of light spread to the walls of the room, the portal finally opened up in front of me.


    When I saw this portal, I let out a sigh of relief.


    I knew that with this portal, it meant that I had passed this round.


    I had been a bit worried when I saw that the dragon didn''t disappear, but seeing the portal relieved all of that anxiousness. At the very least, even if something happened, I wouldn''t have to do this round again.


    A S Ranked Monster¡­it really was just too much for me to handle.


    As I was about to step into the portal, there was a voice that suddenly said, "Child, wait. Let''s talk for a bit."


    I looked around myself and found that there was nothing around me.


    So after a moment of silence, I asked, "Who''s there?"


    As soon as my voice fell, there was a light that suddenly came from beside me.


    It was only a faint glow at first, but it quickly became too bright that I had no choice but to close my eyes and look away. It was only when it faded a bit that I was able to open my eyes and see what it was.


    It was the frozen dragon that had suddenly started to glow.


    This glow had dimmed because there was something that wasing out of the dragon.


    It had taken all of the light that had covered the dragon with it, almost as if it was the condensation of all of this light.


    When it came out, I was able to see what it was.


    It was a miniature version of the dragon.


    Well, to call it a miniature version wasn''t correct either.


    It was better to say that it was a cross between a SD dragon and a baby dragon that came out of the dragon.


    Aftering out, it just floated there in the air for a bit as if it was getting used to its surroundings. Then all of a sudden, the small dragon turned to look at me to say, "Young man, let''s talk for a bit."


    Seeing this small dragon that looked like a baby dragon calling me ''young man'' like it was my elder, it really was a strange feeling.


    But I knew that this small dragon was anything but simple.


    After a moment of silence, I slowly asked, "What do you want to talk about?"


    The small dragon suddenly revealed what seemed to be a smile as it said, "Well, it isn''t often that someone reaches this far into the Tower of Trials, so I wanted to see what kind of person you are. If possible, I want to see if there''s a chance we can cooperate in the future."


    "Tower of Trials?" I asked in a confused voice.


    The small dragon raised a brow as it looked at me before saying, "That''s right. You didn''t know that?"


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "I was sent here by someone else. I have no idea what this ce is."


    "Ho, is that so?" The small dragon looked at me with an amused look before suddenly raising its small arms up.


    Those small arms were ced in front of it and there was what seemed to be a screen that appeared in front of the small dragon. After this screen appeared, the small dragon waved its hands a few times before saying, "Interesting, very interesting."


    I had been silent since I wanted to see what the small dragon was doing, but I couldn''t hold back anymore when I heard the small dragon say this, "What''s interesting?"


    The small dragon looked up from the screen in front of it and said, "The fact that you''re from an unregistered world."


    Your journey continues with empire


    "Unregistered world? What does that mean?"


    The small dragon revealed another smile as it said, "It just means that there are many things that I can''t tell you. Including what it means to be from an unregistered world. But it does make things much more interesting for me. I might even be tempted to throw you a bone if you evere up to where I am."


    I couldn''t help feeling even more and more confused when I heard this, but there was a small part of me that knew that putting on a weak look right now wasn''t a good idea.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    So I gave a snort and said, "It''ll only be a matter of time before that happens."


    The small dragon was silent at first, but then it burst intoughter as it said, "Is that so? Then I''m looking forward to that."


    It keptughing for a bit before finally wiping the tears in its eyes and saying, "Since you''ve managed to make meugh, I''ll give you a reward. I''m sure that it''s what you wanted in the first ce, I''ll answer a few of your questions as long as I can answer them."

 Chapter 387 Second round (16)

    As soon as I heard this, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    Though I had no idea who this small dragon was, my instincts told me that it definitely wouldn''t be anyone simple.


    So perhaps I might be able to get some very important information from it.


    After a moment of silence, I asked the obvious first question, "Who are you?"


    The small dragon gave a chuckle before saying, "We both know that it''s impossible for me to answer this question. You don''t have to y around like this, you can just ask what you really want to ask and I''ll answer."


    I revealed a faint smile as well when I heard this.


    Yes, like the small dragon said, this was just a test to see what it would say.


    I hadn''t expected anything out of this, but hearing the small dragon say this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit disappointed. After all, there was a small part of me that had hoped that I had been wrong.


    So I thought about it a bit while muttering, "So I assume that the unregistered and anything rted to that is the biggest taboo there is¡­"


    The small dragon gave a nod as it said, "That''s right."


    I just ignored it as I continued talking to myself as if I was thinking things through.


    But there was something that caught my attention out of the corner of my eyes.


    It was the timer that was above the portal that was still counting down.


    Right¡­it wasn''t as if I had infinite time here.


    There was a limit to the time that I had, so I couldn''t waste it trying to figure out what to ask for too long.


    I looked back up at the small dragon and asked, "What is this ce?"


    For now, that was the most important and most pertinent thing to me.


    There must be a reason why the small dragon appeared in front of me in this trial, so it was better to figure out what this ce was.


    The small dragon gave a nod before saying, "Alright, I can answer that."


    The small dragon spun around while gesturing as if it was referring to the room that we were in before saying, "This ce is called the Tower of Trials, it is a ce that is connected to many different worlds. It is a ce that is used to test one''s abilities and one''s talents and those that receive a high enough rating¡­"


    The small dragon was about to keep going, but it found that there was something that was preventing it from saying the next words.


    After trying a few times, the small dragon said with a sigh, "I guess that''s censored then. It''s not something important, but they are actually censoring this¡­Well, I guess that''s fine since it''s not that important. You wouldn''t understand even if I told you."


    Your journey continues with empire


    I couldn''t help being a bit taken aback when I heard this, but then I asked, "What''s in the floors above this. I heard that there are a total of fifty floors, so can you tell me what''s above this?"


    The small dragon thought about it before nodding and shaking its head. After it did this, it said, "I can''t tell you everything, but I can give you a few hints."


    I just gave a simple nod in response and waited for these hints.


    The small dragon stroked its chin as if it was thinking before saying, "The thirty seventh floor, look carefully to the east. At the edge of this room, there''s one tile that is loose that contains treasures that will be useful to you."


    I was even more surprised when I heard this before quickly asking, "Then the rooms that I''ve already done¡­"


    I didn''t finish my words, but the meaning behind it was clear.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The small dragon revealed a faint smile as it said, "Well if you miss it, you miss it. There''s nothing that can be done about that, right?"


    A bitter smile crept on my face when I heard this, but I also didn''t have a choice but to ept this.


    After all, the small dragon was right.


    After a moment of silence, the small dragon added, "For thest floor, you will meet an old acquaintance. If you n on beating her, then be sure to do it within five minutes. If you take longer than that, then something bad will happen."


    There was a part of me that really wanted to ask what this bad thing was, but I couldn''t just ask since I knew that I wouldn''t get an answer.


    If it wanted to tell me, then it would have said it directly.


    Since it didn''t want to say it, then there was nothing that I could do.


    After gathering my thoughts, I took a deep breath and turned to head to the portal.


    There were still five minutes left on the timer, but I didn''t think that I would be able to get anything out of this small dragon. Since I wouldn''t be able to get anything, there was no point in hanging out here any longer.


    But the small dragon suddenly said with a smile, "Young man, you really are in too much of a rush. You should slow down from time to time and learn to enjoy life while you can."


    I turned around to look at the small dragon before turning back to the portal.


    Seeing this, the small dragon shook its head and said, "Wait, I still have something that I want to discuss with you."


    I was surprised, but I did turn back since it seemed like the small dragon did want something with me. I just had no idea what it wanted.


    After a pause, the small dragon said, "I want us to be closer, but to do that, I would need to¡­"


    It didn''t finish as it fell into deep thought before suddenly saying, "Alright, I know what to do."


    There was another bundle of light that appeared on the frozen dragon.

 Chapter 388 Second round (17)

    This bundle of light floated there in the air for a bit before suddenly flying out to stop in front of me.


    I couldn''t see what this bundle of light was at first, but when the light slowly faded, I was able to see the true appearance of this bundle of light.


    It was an egg.


    It wasn''t thatrge of an egg, it was just around the size of arge watermelon.


    But I could feel the heat that wasing from it, showing that it wasn''t a normal egg.


    Since it was an egg that came from the dragon, it was most likely one of the dragon''s eggs.


    "You''re a female?" I couldn''t help asking in a surprised voice.


    The small dragon gave a chuckle before saying, "You humans always seem to care so much about gender. But I''m not a female, I''m a male. This is an egg that came from my wife and me."


    "Wife?" I repeated in a softer voice.


    It turned out that dragons also had the concept of marriage that they called each other wife and husband.


    It really was a strange thing learning about the customs of the dragon like this, but there was something that was more important to figure out.


    What did the small dragon mean by giving him this egg?


    As if it could guess what I was thinking, the small dragon said, "This egg is one of many that my wife hasid. However, it is one of the weaker ones that doesn''t have a chance to be a true dragon. Normally, we would abandon this egg and let it fend for itself, but it is still our child in the end. I want to at least provide a safe ce for it, even if it is temporary." Read new chapters at empireN?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Temporary?" I asked when I heard this.


    The small dragon gave a shrug as if it didn''t really care before saying, "It can be temporary or it can be for longer. That is all up to you since this child will not have any prospects in the future."


    I shook my head with a bitter smile.


    A dragon regardless was an A Rank Monster, that was not something that could be ignored.


    So I would of course never abandon this thing if it was offered to me.


    Instead, I asked the small dragon, "Why me? Why do you want to build a rtionship with me?"


    The small dragon just revealed a faint smile before saying, "I have a good feeling about you. I''ll be waiting for you when you leave this ce ande to the real world."


    "Huh?" I was confused when I heard this, but I didn''t get a chance to ask anything else.


    That was because before I could react, there was something that suddenly sent me flying.


    When I looked down, I saw that it was the egg that had pushed me away.


    This egg had suddenly mmed into me as if it was trying to hug me, but all that did was push me right into the portal that was behind me.


    When the small dragon saw us flying away like this, it raised a hand and waved it to say goodbye.


    Once they had disappeared, the small dragon suddenly said, "That feeling around that child¡­It should be the feeling of the world that he belongs to. I hope that he will be able to resist the invasion ande up to the stars."


    Then the figure of the small dragon faded before disappearing without a trace.


    ¡­


    I was standing in front of the portal on the forty ninth floor.


    It had been a hard journey making it all the way here and I even had to use all of the chances to skip a round that the token gave me.


    So I couldn''t help feeling a bit helpless as I stood in front of this portal.


    After all, there was no way to skip this next trial and it was a trial that held an old acquaintance of the small dragon.


    That small dragon came from a dragon that was a S Ranked Monster, so the old acquaintance of this small dragon shouldn''t be weak. It wouldn''t be strange if this old acquaintance was also a S Ranked Monster.


    Other than the twenty fifth floor, there hadn''t been another S Ranked Monster.


    It was all A Ranked Monsters in every fifth room that I reached.


    Though I did have to use the token for three of them.


    They really were just too hard for me to beat on my own.


    Not to mention¡­the egg kept getting in the way.


    This egg kept floating on its own and getting in the way, so I really had no choice but to use the token to skip those rounds.


    As for the treasure on the thirty seventh floor, it was just a bunch of trash¡­


    When I opened up the tile with an expectant look on my face, all I found were a feather, a scale, a tuft of white fur, and what seemed to be a fragment of some kind of shell. At first, I had thought that it was some kind of dried turd, but it turned out to be a piece of shell.


    I really didn''t understand what the small dragon was talking about when it referred to these things as treasures.


    After all, there were no signs of energying from these ''treasures'' of his.


    They didn''t seem like they were items that had any form of magic in them.


    So I really couldn''t help feeling disappointed.


    After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked at the egg beside me and asked, "Are you ready?"


    The egg moved up and down as if it was giving a nod.


    I wasn''t surprised by this anymore since I had long figured out that the egg was able to understand what I was saying and could respond even though it didn''t hatch.


    Taking another deep breath, I walked through the portal.


    The moment that I did, I was hit with the heat that came from in front of me.

 Chapter 389 Second round (18)

    There were powerful mes that were in front of me the moment that I walked in.


    These mes released a heat that made me feel like I was melting.


    Even with the natural defenses that I had as an Awakener, this was still just too much for me.


    So I had no choice but to take out the gem that Bing Xin had made for me.


    This gem wasn''t just used with the sword, it could also be used to create a chill that would cool me down, which was exactly how I was using it now. It was only because I was using this gem like this that I was able to stand in the face of these mes.


    The mes that were in front of me were so hot that they had even turned blue.


    These were mes of the highest quality that no other mes could beat.


    These were mes that were so powerful that they could even melt down the strongest ice in the frozen arctic.


    But what attracted my attention wasn''t these mes, but rather the figure that was lying right in the center of these mes. There was a small bundle that was lying right in the center that seemed to release these mes with each breath.


    It seemed that this bundle that was sleeping was the one that was releasing these mes the entire time.


    For this thing to release these mes while asleep, it really was something else.


    This just went to show just how powerful this thing was that it could release this kind of mes.


    But this was also a chance for me since this thing was sleeping.


    It was just like the Blue Ogre on the fourth floor.


    As long as I could kill it in a single strike, then I would be able to clear this floor without any problems.


    But would it really be that easy?


    That was the doubt that was lingering in my mind.


    No matter how I looked at it, it didn''t seem like it would be so easy that I would be able to kill it in a single strike. Then once that strike failed, it seemed like it would be very likely that I would be struck down by the awakened enemy¡­


    There was a long moment of hesitation as I deliberated what to do, but then¡­


    I suddenly started walking towards the small bundle in the middle.


    Though it was hard with the mes that this thing released, I was able to walk up to it in the end. However, it really felt like I was being cooked alive as I stood there in front of that thing.


    Once I was there, I took a deep breath which was painful since the air was burning hot and said, "Hey, wake up."


    This might seem crazy, but there was a part of me that felt like this was the right choice.


    I didn''t know which part of me thought this was the right choice, but there was that part of me that thought that this was the right thing to do.


    It mustn''t have been a very smart part of me since the moment that I said this, therge bundle in the middle started to stir. After stirring, this thing revealed its true appearance.


    It was a bird, but it wasn''t just any bird.


    It was a phoenix.


    It was a beautiful phoenix with blue feathers that seemed to be made of mes.


    Even as a human, I couldn''t help being surprised by how beautiful this phoenix was.


    After waking up, the phoenix looked around itself as if it was confused to be woken up like this and then it turned to look at me.


    As it looked at me, I could immediately feel the pressureing from the phoenix.


    This thing was powerful, even more powerful than the dragon that was on the twenty fifth floor.


    If I had to qualify this pressure that I felt, it should be in the SS Rank instead of just the S Rank.


    This trial really was something else if it even used a SS Rank to guard the final floor¡­


    There was a moment of silence as the two of us looked at each other before the phoenix finally opened its mouth.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    I thought that it was going to say something, but it didn''t say a single thing.


    The only thing that this phoenix did was open its mouth to release mes at me.


    With the distance between us, I wasn''t able to escape at all as the mes engulfed me.


    The moment that the mes did, I learned how it felt to be cooked alive. There was nothing that I could do to resist this as I could feel the flesh sliding off my bones as I was being melted by these mes.


    I just looked up at the phoenix with a bitter smile on my face as I asked, "Why?"


    The phoenix suddenly stopped breathing the mes on me and said, "If you want to wake ady up from her sleep, you should do it more gently. Try to do better next time."


    I didn''t know what to say in response to this, but the bitter smile that was on my face became even more bitter.


    This phoenix was calling itself ady, it really was something else.


    Still, at the very least I had confirmed one thing.


    This final round could be done without fighting.


    That was the most important thing because¡­I had deeply learned just how powerful this phoenix was. The mes that she shot out were just a simple breath from her, yet the power contained within the mes were enough to melt me.


    It didn''t just cook the meat of my body, it actually melted my flesh away.


    That was enough to show just how powerful the phoenix was and how my instincts had been correct, it would have been impossible to kill this phoenix in a single strike and I would have just wasted my chance.


    My vision faded as I died and when I woke up, I found myself in an empty white room.

 Chapter 390 Second round (19)

    After waking up in this pure white room, I looked around myself to see if there was anything here.


    However, there wasn''t a single thing that was around me.


    There wasn''t even a way out of this room.


    It was just a room that had pure white walls and nothing else.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit scared since this almost seemed like some kind of psychiatric ward. It was like one of those nicely padded rooms where they kept crazy people¡­


    The only thing that was missing at this point was the straitjacket that kept me from hurting myself.


    As I was about to start attacking the room around me, there was a person that suddenly appeared in front of me.


    I didn''t attack this person, but I also didn''t put my sword down as I waited for them to finish appearing. When they did, I immediately recognized this person even though it had been a while since I hadst seen them.


    It was the guide that had appeared when I had first entered the tower.


    After appearing, she looked at me with a look of praise as she said, "I never thought that you would make it this far without dying once. Though it seems like you''ve already used up all of the attempts on that token of yours."


    I gave a nod before taking out the token to toss to her.


    The guide caught the token and said with a smile, "Are you returning it or are you hoping that I''ll give you another chance to skip with how well you''ve done?"


    I didn''t say anything, but the way that I looked at her made it clear what I was thinking.


    She just looked back at me with the same smile as she tossed the token back at me.


    It seemed like she was refusing to give me anything, but that wasn''t surprising at all.


    It would have actually been more surprising if she had chosen to give me something.


    After catching the token and putting it away, I asked, "What is this ce?"


    The guide gestured to the room around us and asked, "What do you think this ce is?"


    Now that I''ve calmed down, I had a good idea of what this ce was. However, it wasn''t as if I was in a hurry to answer since there were some things that I wanted to obtain from this guide.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I might not have cared before, but after meeting that dragon¡­


    I just looked around as if I was inspecting the room until I calmly said, "This is the respawn point."


    The guide gave a nod before saying, "Yes, this is the respawn point. It''s amazing that you were able to guess it right away since most people wouldn''t think of that. They would usually refuse to believe that they died, but that''s just how people with pride are."


    I revealed a look as if I was interested in this and said, "Oh? People with pride? What kind of people with pride?"


    The guide looked at me with narrowed eyes for a bit before saying with a sigh, "Oh, you know those people that think that they''re better than others. The ones thate from rich families that think that they are above themon men."


    Hearing this, I just gave an understanding nod before saying, "Hmm, it seems like there are those kinds of people from all different kinds of ces."


    The guide nodded as she said, "That''s right. They really are a pain in the butt since I have to deal with them when theye into the tower. Especially those young masters from the other races¡­or you would expect me to say."


    The guide''s expression suddenly changed into a taunting smile as she continued, "Did you really think that you could use a leading question to get me to confess the information that you wanted? You think that I''m really that easy to fool?"


    Though I was surprised, I forced myself to remain calm on the surface.


    Instead, I said with a confused look, "What do you mean? I have no idea what you''re talking about."


    The guide didn''t care about what I said as she narrowed her eyes to look at me while saying, "It seems that someone has been interfering. Let''s take a look to see who it is."


    After a moment of silently looking at me, particrly at my chest, she said, "Oh, it seems like someone has made contact with you and it seems like they did it through the tower. It seems like I''ll have to talk to themter."


    Once again, I shook my head with a confused and dumb look as I said, "I really have no idea what you mean."


    The guide just looked at me with a smile as she said, "So you''re telling me that you''ve always had that dragon egg inside of you?"


    Since I had been exposed, there was no longer a need to hide it.


    I looked at her with a surprised look and asked, "How did you know?"


    The guide said with the same smile, "You can try to hide things from me, but it doesn''t work inside of this tower. The inside of this tower is my domain and as long as I want, I can learn anything about what''s inside of this tower. So there''s no use trying to hide from me."


    After narrowing my eyes to look at her for a bit, I just calmly said, "Then is there anything that you can tell me?"


    The guide shook her head and said, "If I could, I would have already told you for your achievements, but there''s nothing that I can say. You can only me the world that youe from, that is what the restrictions are."


    I just deeply knitted my brows after hearing this.


    At the very least, I had confirmed that there were many other worlds out there and that this Tower of Trial connected to those other worlds.


    But it really was a surreal feeling having this confirmed.

 Chapter 391 Second round (20)

    Seeing the look on my face, the guide calmly said, "That should be enough of a reward for you."


    She turned around and tapped the air in front of her.


    When she did, there was this door that suddenly appeared in the middle of this room.


    After making this room appear, she turned around to look at me and said, "When you''re ready, this door will bring you back to the fiftieth floor."


    Though the guide said this almost like I had all the time that I wanted, I could see the time that was above the door.


    At the very least, she was giving me twenty minutes instead of the normal ten minutes. That was better than nothing since I needed all the time that I could get to think of a way to deal with the blue phoenix.


    After all, there was nothing that I possessed that gave me confidence to deal with it.


    Even my powers as a demon king seemed useless in front of this blue phoenix.


    I doubted that I would be able to use my Hypnosis to control the blue phoenix and at the same time, I didn''t want to use my Time Stop skill since that was my final trump card.


    The rewards that came from this trial wasn''t worth revealing my power here, so of course I wouldn''t do it.


    But as time went down, I still wasn''t able to figure out a single thing.


    There was just nothing that I could do since it was just too powerful for me to fight.


    Even when it came to talking to it, it didn''t seem like there was anything that could convince that blue phoenix to not kill me.


    So when the time came to an end, I gave a sigh and walked up to the door as I said, "I guess I''ll just try to stall for as long as I can and see if I can find anything about the blue phoenix."


    But right before I stepped through the portal, I suddenly thought of something.


    "She called herself ady¡­maybe I can try that?"


    As my voice fell, I had already stepped through the portal and was hit with the heat once more.


    But this time, the blue phoenix wasn''t sleeping.


    Instead, it was just sitting there in the center of the room, staring at me.


    Even before I appeared, it was already staring in this direction as if it already knew which direction I would appear in. It seemed that this blue phoenix knew much more about this ce than I had thought.


    But even after seeing me appear, it didn''t seem like it was going to do anything.


    It was almost as if it was waiting for me to do something.


    So I took a deep breath and started moving forward.


    As I moved forward, I could see the wary look that she cast in my direction. It was clear that she didn''t trust me, but it would be strange if she did.


    However, I made sure to raise my hand up to show that I meant no harm at all until I was right in front of the blue phoenix. It was hard to stand there just like before, but it also felt like I was a bit better offpared to before.


    At the very least, I wasn''t sweating like a dog this time, so I had at least adjusted to the heat a bit.


    Once I was in front of her, I suddenly reached my arm forward to give a bow before saying, "Mydy, I apologize for being rude earlier. If I may, may I make your acquaintance?"


    There was no answer that followed which worried me a bit, so I couldn''t help peeking up at the blue phoenix.


    I saw that she was just staring at me without even blinking, almost as if she was sizing me up. As such, I could feel the pressure that wasing from this powerful SS Rank Monster, but I didn''t buckle under this pressure.


    Finally, the blue phoenix said, "Now this is the way that you''re supposed to act. Finally, someone who understands how to treat ady."


    With a smile on her face, the blue phoenix said, "Alright, you can stand up and talk to me."


    I let out a sigh of relief before standing up to look at the blue phoenix.


    After a moment of hesitation, I suddenly said, "My name is Lin Fan. May I ask thedy what your name is?"


    The blue phoenix gave a nod before saying, "My name is¡­"


    Though she clearly said her name, it was almost as if there was something that blocked her words as I couldn''t hear what she said.


    The blue phoenix revealed an annoyed look when this happened before saying, "I guess for now, you can call me Blue Phoenix."


    I slowly gave a nod, but there really wasn''t much that I could ask since I didn''t know what to say.


    In the end, I didn''t beat around the bush as I said, "Mydy, is there some way that you could allow me to pass this trial?"


    The blue phoenix gave a nod as she said, "Of course, this trial is one that''s meant to be passed in the first ce. I''m not a fan of fighting in the first ce, but they always try to attack me right away, so there''s no point in talking to them. However, it seems that you''re different."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I let out a sigh of relief when I heard this before saying, "Then is there anything I can do to prove that I should pass this trial?"


    The blue phoenix tilted her head as if she was thinking about it before saying, "Then how about you run a hundredps around this room?"


    My chin dropped as I looked at the blue phoenix in shock.


    After a few seconds, I asked, "Are you sure that this is all you want?"


    The blue phoenix raised a brow to look at me before saying, "What? You don''t want to do it?"


    "No, no." I said as I shook my head before saying, "I''ll do it, I''ll do it."


    The blue phoenix said with a smile, "Then go ahead. I''ll just watch over you."

 Chapter 392 Second round (21)

    There was a moment of hesitation as I looked at the blue phoenix as if I was trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.


    But in the end, when she was about to say something again, I started running around the room.


    The room itself wasn''t that big of a room, but it wasn''t that small either.


    To run around it, meaning to go a singlep was to run around two kilometers.


    Meaning that to run a hundred times around the room was to run around two hundred kilometers. That meant that I would have to run the distance of over four marathons to run a hundredps around this room.


    At the same time, I only had ten minutes to do so since there were only ten minutes per round¡­


    This was definitely not a speed that normal people could reach.


    No, it wasn''t even a speed that normal Awakeners could reach.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had trained with Su Chen and had the ability to increase my power, then even I might not be able to do such a thing.


    I had looked down on this trial since she had said it so casually, but running a hundredps in this room definitely wasn''t that easy. So I didn''t hold back at all as I buffed myself from the beginning.


    "A bit faster and stronger."


    It was only a small buff since like a marathon, it was important to pace oneself while running long distance. If I used all of my energy from the beginning, then I would find myself running out at the very end.


    Of course, I made sure to hold the sword in my hand and wear the armour while running.


    Since I was going to do this, I made sure to have this set of equipment that doubled my stats while doing it. I wasn''t a fool that I would just ignore them just because it made it a bit easier to run.


    The payoff would be too much.


    Though I did cut a strange figure while running because I was holding a sword and was in full armour.


    The good thing was that the blue phoenix seemed to find this funny, so she didn''t mind that I had these buff items on while running.


    Or at least that was what I thought at first¡­


    "You look strange running like that. If you''re going to run, you should at least use proper form."


    I was focused on running, so I didn''t hear it at first, but¡­


    "You should swing your arms and raise your knees when you run. Only then will you be able to run properly."


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this as a strong urge to curse the blue phoenix out appeared deep inside of me. But I resisted that urge in the end and was able to hold myself back.


    This was the blue phoenix''s trial, so of course she could tell me to do whatever she wanted me to do.


    Since she was telling me to run with my knees up and with my arm swinging, I had no choice but to do so. Though it did make things much harder since I was holding a sword and wearing armour that got in the way.


    I was going much slower because of it, so I had no choice but to say.


    "Faster and stronger."


    With the added buff, I was able to maintain the same speed as before, but the strain on my body was clearly much greater. I had to maintain the buff while also using more power to maintain this.


    But as long as it was just this, then I wouldn''t have a problem maintaining this.


    It was too bad that the blue phoenix didn''t leave things like this.


    "The way that you''re holding that sword, it really does look strange."


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this. For the blue phoenix to suddenly say this, it was clear that there was another request that she was going to make¡­


    As expected, she said, "You know, it would be really cool if you ran like you were marching. It would give it a very good feeling."


    March?


    She wanted me to march while I was running?


    I really didn''t know what to say in response to this.


    So instead of responding, I just kept running as I was already doing as if I didn''t hear what she said.


    But¡­she said it again and she stared right at me the entire time as if she was putting pressure on me.


    So in the end, I pulled out a potion and stuffed it in my mouth after saying, "Much faster and stronger."


    This was me going all out since there was nothing else I could do at this point. Since this was what she wanted, the only thing that I could do wasply.


    At the very least, I would be cured when I left this trial, so this was all that mattered.


    If I could pass this, then it would be worth it.


    Finally, the blue phoenix was satisfied when she saw me marching along at incredible speeds. With how fast I was going, it was hard to believe that I was just marching.


    But I did all that I could to maintain that marching form.


    It seemed that at this rate, I would be able to make it.


    That made me feel relieved.


    One thing of note was that the heat had dropped since I wasn''t right by the blue phoenix anymore.


    Since I was running around the edge of the room, it meant that I was in the coolest ce since the blue phoenix was right in the center.


    Or at least that was what I had thought.


    But after a while, I couldn''t help feeling that it was getting hotter and the increasing temperature wasn''t stopping¡­


    As for the time¡­it had been around five minutes since I arrived in this room.

 Chapter 393 Second round (22)

    After the first moment, I realized that the temperature was rising rapidly.


    Since that five minute mark, it was as if the temperature of the room kept climbing and climbing. It was as if we were in an oven and someone had just turned that oven on.


    The heat was simr to getting closer and closer to the blue phoenix at first, but then it became even hotter than standing beside the blue phoenix.


    This was a heat that was making me sweat buckets, but that wasn''t it.


    I could actually feel my skin getting burned from the air that was around me.


    This was not a heat that I could endure at this rate, so I had no choice but to stop running and take out the gem that Bing Xin gave me to keep myself cool.


    This only worked for a few seconds before the heat was too strong even for the gem to stop.


    I had no choice but to put the gem away since I could feel that its powers were weakening under this heat. If I kept this gem out, there was no doubt that it would be destroyed by this heat in a matter of time.


    Seeing that I stopped running, the blue phoenix asked, "What''s wrong? Why did you stop running?"


    Hearing this, I immediately turned to her and asked, "Mydy, do you know why it''s getting so hot?"


    The blue phoenix had a confused look at first as she looked around herself and said, "It''s not that hot."


    But then after thinking about it, she suddenly said, "Oh right, that''s the natural heat thates from my body. Once the challenger enters the room, the room seals and the heat gets trapped inside of this room. Until the challenger disappears, the heat will continue to build up inside of this room until it reaches high temperatures."


    Then as if it was an afterthought, she said, "But it shouldn''t be that hot that it would affect you."


    The way that she said this was so casual that it didn''t seem like it was important at all, but¡­


    This was a very big deal for me!


    After all, I was currently being cooked alive by the heated air of this room.


    The longer that I stayed in this ce, the more that I would be cooked by the heated air.


    I had to figure out a way to reduce the heat or get out of this ce as soon as possible.


    Getting out of this ce¡­there were only two ways.


    One was to let the blue phoenix let me pass this round and reach the top of the Tower of Trials.


    The second was to die and return to that respawn room.


    Of course I would prefer one over the other, but it didn''t seem like the first option was going to happen. After all, the blue phoenix was currently looking at me with a look like she found this boring.


    There was no doubt that she wouldn''t allow me to pass with just this.


    As for finishing theps¡­there was no way that I would be able to do that.


    This heat was just too much for me to even stand there, let alone run like that.


    So the only thing that I could do was¡­


    "Mydy, is it possible to turn down the heat? I''m sure that this isn''t much for someone as great as yourself, but for a lowly mortal like me¡­Well, I''ll die at this rate." I tried to act as humble as possible since that was the most likely way to convince her.


    The blue phoenix looked at me with a gaze that almost seemed like it didn''t matter to her.


    But then she said, "Oh, is that so? It''s too bad that I can''t actually do anything about this. Even if I were to stop the heating from me, it won''t get rid of the heat that is already in this room. So if you can''t ovee the current heat, then you''ll still die."


    My chin dropped when I heard this, but this wasn''t the worst part yet¡­


    The blue phoenix then said in a softer voice that I was still able to hear, "Not to mention, it will be ufortable if I do hold back my powers. So I really don''t want to."


    I really didn''t know whether tough or cry at this point.


    My life was worth so little that she didn''t want to suffer a bit of difort just to help me get rid of this heat.


    I could feel that the heat was still climbing around me which meant that the blue phoenix hadn''t turned off the heat that wasing from her yet.


    I could even see my skin turning red at this point, just like the colour a lobster would turn if they were boiled.


    The only thing I could do was say with a bitter smile, "Then what should we do?"


    The blue phoenix didn''t hesitate at all as she looked at me and asked, "You still have one more attempt after this, right?"


    I was surprised and caught off guard by this sudden question from the blue phoenix, but I still slowly gave a nod in the end.


    The blue phoenix suddenly revealed a smile as she said, "Then all you have to do ise back again. Once you die, the heat will dissipate and then you cane back to try it again. Topensate you, I''ll even cut theps that you have to run in half."


    I just looked at the blue phoenix with a look as if I couldn''t tell if she was being serious or not.


    But the blue phoenix''s expression didn''t change at all as she said this.


    It seemed that she was indeed being serious about this.


    However, the fact that she had said this with a straight face really made me want to curse her and punch her in the face!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 394 Second round (23)

    I tried to hold on for as long as I could, but the heat really was something else.


    This kind of heat was not something that a mortal could resist.


    This was something that only those immortals that I read about could resist.


    Though it was too bad that there were no such immortals in our current world.


    Even after the appearance of the dungeons, there were only some cultivators that had appeared. However, these were worldly cultivators that hadn''t broken through the shackles of this world and could only be considered powerful Awakeners.


    The strongest cultivator was someone who had created his own force called the Mount Hua Sect.


    They were a mysterious sect that closed themselves off from the outside world to cultivate ording to their techniques. They rarely opened up to the world and rarely came out, so they were a force that was filled with mystery.


    But the strength that their members demonstrated made them a ce to fear.


    Just the ones that hade down to the world to participate in events were already high ranking Awakeners.


    So far, there had been two S Ranks, five A Ranks, and dozens of B Ranks that hade from the Mount Hua Sect.


    No one knew just how powerful this sect really was.


    Perhaps it really was a ce where immortals cultivated¡­


    But putting that digression aside¡­the real problem now was the heat that was around me. It was getting stronger and stronger without a single chance to resist it. The longer that I stayed in this room, the more that I was cooked by this room¡­


    I really couldn''t do anything against this heat.


    It even started to hurt to breathe.


    Was this how it felt to be cooked alive?


    I looked at the blue phoenix as if I was hoping that there was something that she could do for me.


    But the blue phoenix just looked at me as if she was waiting for me to die.


    The only thing I could do was give a bitterugh as I felt my body functions slowing down.


    Eventually, I couldn''t feel anything anymore and I fell down on the ground.


    With myst bit of strength, I could see the blue phoenix looking down at me with what seemed to be a smile.


    That was when I really wanted to punch her in the face.


    ¡­


    "So you failed again."


    When I appeared in the white room, I found the guide standing there waiting for me with a smile on her face.


    That also made me want to punch her in the face, but I was able to hold myself back.


    Instead, I asked, "Where does that blue phoenix evene from? Why is she so unreasonable?"


    The guide stood there with a faint smile on her face without saying a thing.


    The way that she looked at me, it was almost as if she was saying that I already had my answer¡­


    What answer?


    All that happened was that I got killed again!


    But seeing that she wasn''t going to say anything, I gave a sigh and said, "Just leave me alone if you don''t want anything. I want some time alone to think."


    However, the guide didn''t disappear after I said this.


    She just stood there looking at me with the same smile on her face as she said, "Who says that I don''t have anything for you?"


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a surprised look when I heard this before asking, "What is it?"


    The guide raised a hand and tossed something over to me before saying, "Since we won''t meet again the next time you die, I figured that I should give this to you now."


    I easily caught this thing since it was a simple toss that came my way, but when I saw it, I couldn''t help being confused.


    That was because the thing that the guide had tossed me was a simple coin.


    There wasn''t anything special about this coin nor were there any special markings, but this coin was clearly something special. I could tell because of the material that this coin was made of, it was not a material that I was familiar with.


    After looking at the coin for a bit, I looked back up to find that the guide¡­was gone.


    After she tossed me the coin, she disappeared without saying a thing while I was distracted by the coin.


    As for what this coin was¡­I still had no idea.


    Shaking my head with a bitter smile, I eventually put the coin away.


    But at the same time, I couldn''t help looking at the timer that was over the door.


    I only had ten minutes left.


    I had wasted ten minutes trying to figure out what that coin was¡­


    Was it all a ploy by the guide?


    No, she wouldn''t be that mean, right?


    I really had no idea since I didn''t know the guide well enough toment on this.


    Still, since she gave this thing to me, there must be a reason for her giving me this coin.


    I would just see what I could do with it in the future.


    For the rest of the time, I tried to figure out what to do.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It was just too bad that I wasn''t able to figure out a single thing.


    Though I did remember something from the twenty fifth floor.


    The small dragon had told me something about this fiftieth floor.


    He had told me that if I wanted to fight the blue phoenix, I needed to make it quick.


    He had said that five minutes would be my time limit.


    Thinking about it now, I finally realized what he meant by five minutes.


    It was the five minute time that I had before the heat suddenly turned up, that was what the small dragon had been warning me about.


    Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the portal since there was nothing else that I could do.


    Whether I was prepared or not, this was my final attempt.

 Chapter 395 Second round (24)

    When I stepped through the portal and appeared in the room, the first thing that I did was head to the edge of the room.


    Once I was there, I turned back to the blue phoenix and said, "Should I start running then? Will you count theps that I did before or do I have to start all over again?"


    The blue phoenix revealed what seemed to be a smile before shaking her head and saying, "Child, there''s no need for that anymore."


    I couldn''t help revealing an ugly look when I heard this.


    It seemed like the blue phoenix''s personality hadpletely changed¡­


    Did that mean that it was going back on its words?


    If that was the case, then this really would have all been a waste of time for me, so I couldn''t let that happen.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "No, it''s fine, I can keep running. You don''t need to worry about me, I can do this just fine."


    The blue phoenix shook her head and gave a chuckle before saying, "Child, you''re misunderstanding. I''m saying that you''ve already passed, so there''s no need for you to keep running."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I had been about to start running when I heard this.


    For a moment, it was as if time stopped.


    I froze there as if I was making sure that I had heard the correct thing before turning to look at the blue phoenix and asking, "Can you say that again? I don''t think I heard the right thing."


    The blue phoenix gave a nod before saying, "I said that you''ve already passed, so there''s no reason for you to keep running anymore."


    She created a chair out of thin air and said, "Alright,e and sit so we can have a chat before you leave."


    I looked at the blue phoenix with a very strange look, but eventually I came over to sit down in front of her.


    Then before I could react, the blue phoenix suddenly started to shrink.


    She continued to shrink until she was the same size as the small dragon from before.


    She also created a chair for herself to sit in before creating a table in between us that had some tea and cookies on it. Without a care, she just poured herself some tea and ate the cookies that were there before saying, "Go on, have some tea and cookies. I''m sure that you''re parched and tired after all of that."


    I didn''t have anything on the table as I just looked at her with a strange look.


    The blue phoenix could see the way that I looked at her, so she said, "Don''t worry, this isn''t a trick or anything. I just want to spend some time talking to you before you pass. Though it has been a long time since someone has passed this entire Tower of Trials, so I''m sure that you''ll create arge stir when you go out."


    Hearing this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile since I knew that she was right.


    Though I didn''t know how far the others got, I was sure that it wouldn''t have been as far as me.


    As well, there were some things that shouldn''t be known to others that would be broadcasted¡­Those were things that I wanted to hide if possible, but it didn''t seem like it was possible.


    However, as I was thinking this, the blue phoenix suddenly said, "There are things that the tower itself will censor, so you don''t need to worry about our conversation being leaked. In fact, your other conversations with certain individuals should have also been censored by the tower, so you don''t need to worry about that."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this before asking, "Isn''t this tower controlled by therge guilds, why would they do that?"


    The blue phoenix gave a chuckle when she was asked this before saying, "While I don''t know what these rge guilds'' are, it seems like you''re mistaking something. You think that those people might control this Tower of Trials, but that is not the case. The Tower of Trials¡­is far greater than you think."


    There was a part of me that had already suspected this, but I never thought that this would actually be the case.


    But I knew better than to keep asking.


    The look on the face of the blue phoenix made it very clear.


    Even if I wanted to keep asking, there was no chance that she would even answer my questions.


    So I didn''t bother asking them.


    At the very least, I had confirmed what I wanted to confirm.


    There was something greater than all of this about this tower and that there were other worlds out there. While I didn''t know what kind of worlds were out there, this confirmation was more than enough for me for now.


    After all, I still had trouble in my own world, so I didn''t want to get involved in other worlds.


    The blue phoenix saw the changes in my expression and she said with an appreciative nod, "Smart child, as expected of the one that I chose."


    I knitted my brows again when I heard this before asking, "Why did you suddenly decide to let me pass?"


    The blue phoenix had been in the middle of sipping her tea when I asked this, so instead of sipping her tea, she just looked at me with a smile as she said, "Why do you think that I chose to do this suddenly?"


    I was surprised to hear this before asking, "What do you mean by that?"


    The blue phoenix''s smile became wider as she said, "Well, it''s simply because this whole process has been a trial for you. If you had made even a single wrong decision, we wouldn''t be here right now."


    I was even more surprised after hearing this, but after thinking about it, I realized that¡­she was right.


    It finally exined the strange way that she had been acting.

 Chapter 396 Second round (25)

    The blue phoenix went on to exin, "There were three things that I tested you on since you arrived here."


    I couldn''t help being surprised since I never thought that there were specific things that I was being tested on.


    At most, I thought that it was just the trial of running a hundredps that was a test for me.


    The blue phoenix continued by saying, "First, it was a test of intelligence. I pretended to be asleep to see what you would do when you met an opponent who was stronger than you. If you had been dumb enough to think that you could defeat me, then you would have failed."


    When she said this, I couldn''t help giving a bitterugh deep down.


    There had indeed been a part of me that had thought that I could take down the blue phoenix in one strike. I had even thought about how I would do it and what I would do if it failed.


    But in the end, I figured that there was more to gain from seeing if I could talk to the blue phoenix than if I could kill it. It was because I had talked to the small dragon that I came to this decision.


    It wasn''t because I was smart.


    "Second, it was a test of perseverance. I wanted to see if you would persevere even when met with powerful opposition, such as dying again and again. In the end, you came back even though I killed you twice and made you fail twice, so that was enough to show your perseverance."


    I could have sworn that I saw something wrong¡­but when she said this, it was almost as if there was this faint smile that was on her lips. It was almost as if she found something funny as she said this.


    For her to be smiling as she said this, there could only be one reason and it rubbed me the wrong way, but I endured it.


    However, there was something that I felt I should say.


    "So if I didn''t have all three attempts left, I would have failed the perseverance portion?" I asked in a very strange voice.


    After a moment of thought, the blue phoenix gave a slow nod as she said, "That''s right. If you didn''t have all three attempts, then you would have failed."


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard this.


    Did she know just how hard that was in the first ce?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had the token that allowed me to skip five stages, it would have been impossible for me to reach this point on my own. It would have been more likely that I would have been stopped on the twenty fifth floor because of the S Ranked dragon.


    For her to require all three attempts to be kept¡­


    It seemed that she really was quite the demanding person.


    But there was a part of me that also thought¡­


    "I didn''t do it because of my perseverance, but because I had no other choice. Even if I didn''t want to, it wasn''t as if I could just waste my three chances, right?"


    "The third thing that I was testing for was your patience. I made all kinds of unreasonable demands and you were able to keep up with all of them. That shows that you are a person with patience, someone that can endure when the going gets tough. It is people like that who will go far in this world."


    Once again, I couldn''t help giving a secret bitterugh.


    Patience?


    It was just that I couldn''t beat her.


    If I could beat the blue phoenix, I would have already done so and moved on.


    It was only because I couldn''t that I had gone along with all those demands since I couldn''t see any hope of getting through this trial without doing them.


    So I didn''t think that I had any of those traits that she thought I did.


    If anything, it should be said that I just had luck because I stumbled upon all of these things.


    I didn''t think that I had the abilities that she was praising me for.


    Eventually, these thoughts leaked out of my eyes and the blue phoenix was able to see them.


    With a chuckle, the blue phoenix said, "You shouldn''t look down on yourself too much."


    I was surprised when I heard the blue phoenix say this before shaking my head with a bitter smile and saying, "It''s true, I really don''t think that I have any of the traits that you say I do. I think that it was all luck that I passed all of those tests of yours."


    The blue phoenix shook her head with a smile on her face before saying, "You shouldn''t sell yourself short too much. You have much more potential than you think."


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face.


    The blue phoenix looked at me for a bit before saying, "It seems that youck confidence, but that''s not something that I can give you right away. It''s something that needs to be built over a long time and it''s clear that you haven''t been able to do so. I hope that when we meet again, you will be different."


    I was surprised and confused when I heard the blue phoenix say this, but it didn''t seem like she was about to say anything else.


    Once the blue phoenix finished saying this, she changed the topic by saying, "For now, let''s talk about your reward. Since you''ve passed my trial, then that means that I should give you some kind of special reward."


    I couldn''t help raising a brow when I heard this.


    Does it really mean that or did this blue phoenix have something else in mind?


    The blue phoenix just revealed a smile and said, "Since that dumb dragon gave you one of his children, then it only makes sense that I give you one of mine."

 Chapter 397 Second round (26)

    As soon as she said this, there was this ball of light that came out of the blue phoenix.


    This ball of light floated out towards me before stopping right in front of me.


    As the light faded and it started to take form, it finally settled on the form of an egg.


    But the moment that it settled on the form of an egg, the other egg that was inside of me suddenly came out. That dragon egg floated there in the air, as if it was sizing up the phoenix egg that was in front of it.


    After a long time, both of the eggs suddenly started to move.


    They went right at each other and mmed into each other, as if they were fighting.


    But it was just two eggs that were mming into each other like this.


    The only thing that I thought when I saw them doing this was¡­


    Will they break each other like this?


    So I was about to go forward to stop the two of them, but the blue phoenix said with a smile, "Just leave them. Kids will be kids, they will fight with each other and then they''ll be friends."


    But then as if it was an afterthought, she added, "But then again, it''s that old stubborn fool''s kid¡­will it inherit his stubbornness? No, it shouldn''t since it''s her child as well, so they should be able to be friends."


    It seemed that the blue phoenix and the small dragon really went far back, though it was clear that they didn''t like each other.


    However, it was like she said.


    After the two eggs mmed into each other a few times, they finally stopped and just floated there in the air for a bit. After floating there for a bit, the two of them came at each other again, but it was different this time.


    Instead of mming against each other, it was as if they were rubbing up against each other.


    It seemed that they had finally made up and this was their version of a hug, or a handshake to patch it up.


    It was like two yankees who fought on a riverbank and then became friends after the fight.


    I even felt as if there was a sunset cast on the river behind them as they did this.


    But then the two of them came over to me and then went right into my body.


    Without even waiting for me to do or say anything, they just went right into my body.


    I really didn''t know what to say, so all I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    These kids really did whatever they wanted.


    Still, I just left them be since a dragon and a phoenix¡­these were both S Ranked Monsters. Not to mention, they were clearly intelligent based on how they were acting.


    In the future, if I had these two beasts by my side, there was no doubt that they would be very useful.


    Of course, they would be my hidden trump cards.


    Once the two eggs settled, the blue phoenix turned to me to say, "I hope that you will take care of my child."


    I gave a nod to the blue phoenix before saying, "I will take care of them like they were my own child."


    The blue phoenix just gave a nod, but the look in her eyes made it clear what she was thinking.


    Still, there was nothing that I could do about this.


    This was certainly something that all parents felt when their children left the nest, so there was nothing that I could say that would make the blue phoenix feel better. The only thing that I could do was understand and just ept this fact.


    Since it was all over, there was nothing left for the blue phoenix to say.


    So instead of talking to me, she said, "I hope that you will be stronger when youe back. But even if you aren''t, you''re free toe back at any time."


    Though when she said this, she did say it in front of me since the egg had already gone inside my body.


    I could feel tremors from the egg, but they weren''t sad tremors.


    Instead, it seemed like they were annoyed tremors that almost seemed like a child that wasining about a parent embarrassing them. Though in the context of the situation, it was simr to that.


    The blue phoenix gave a softugh before saying, "Alright, I won''t bother you anymore."


    She moved aside before gesturing to the portal to say, "You should go now. Take care that you don''t miss the chance to leave this ce."


    As she said this, I realized that I had actually lost track of time.


    There was only a minute left on the timer that was above the door and it was still going down.


    Seeing this, I quickly went over to the door, but I didn''t walk through.


    As I stood there in front of the door, I turned back to look at the blue phoenix onest time.


    I saw that she was still looking at me, but the gaze in her eyes wasn''t for me.


    Rather that gaze was most likely for her child that was inside of me now.


    After this onest look, I walked through the portal and I found¡­n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I was back in the same room as when I had first entered this Tower of Trials.


    This was just like the room where I had met the guide and received the prize for the first round.


    So that meant that¡­


    I looked up to see that the guide was standing there waiting for me with a smile on her face.


    As she looked at me, she suddenly said, "So you made it in the end."


    I just gave a slow nod before asking, "So now what?"


    The guide suddenly revealed a smile before saying, "Since you have passed the Tower of Trials, naturally you will receive a prize worthy of this aplishment."

 Chapter 398 Second round (27)

    Though this sounded like something good, I couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong with this.


    Since the guide had talked to me alone in the white respawn room, I had felt that there was something off about her.


    It was almost as if she had other intentions talking to me.


    As if there was something that she was expecting of me.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, the guide didn''t care as she waved her hand.


    The moment that she did, the sword and armour that I had been wielding suddenly disappeared.


    I hadpletely forgotten about them since they felt so natural, like they were a part of me. But the moment that they disappeared from me, I could feel the differencepared to when I had them on.


    The increase in power really was something else¡­


    It almost felt like my body was a bit heavy now that I didn''t have this increase on me.


    It was almost like I was weighing my body down with some weights for training like this.


    But there wasn''t anything that I could do.


    In the first ce, the sword and armour were things that had been given to me by the guide. So even if she wanted to take it away, all I could do was watch as she took them away from me.


    It had almost been too easy for her to take these things away.


    It only took her a wave of her hand.


    At the same time, this confirmed something.


    The sword and armour were not the prizes that I would be receiving for clearing this Tower of Trials.


    If these were the rewards, then was there a point in taking them away?


    No, it would be pointless to do something like this.


    So I couldn''t help feeling curious about what the reward would be.


    Once the guide had finished taking the sword and armour away, she narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Other than those things, it seems like you''ve obtained quite a few things during your time in the tower."


    I was surprised to hear this, but that surprise didn''tst long.


    The blue phoenix had already said that it was impossible to hide things from her when I was in the tower, so naturally it would be the same for the guide who managed the tower.


    It was impossible to hide the dragon and phoenix egg that I received from her eyes.


    The only thing that I was concerned about was how she would take care of this.


    Would she ignore it or¡­would she take them away from me?


    Though I didn''t really care either way, I would naturally prefer to be able to take these eggs away with me.


    They were free eggs for powerful creatures that I could hatch in the future, so naturally I would want to take them with me.


    I could see that she was deliberately staying silent, as if she was teasing me which caused a bitter smile to appear on my face.


    It was only when this bitter smile appeared that the guide finally said, "With my privilege, I should be able to call this a special reward from the Tower of Trials and allow you to take them with you. I hope that you will show your gratitude for this one day."


    I just gave a simple nod, though I had no idea when this one day that she mentioned would be.


    After all, I highly doubted that I would be able to meet them again in my lifetime.


    I now knew that they were from apletely different world.


    I already had plenty of things to deal with in my own world, so it was very unlikely that I would ever be able to go to another world.


    I just thought that they werepletely overestimating me.


    The guide gave a satisfied nod when she saw this before saying, "Other than this, I still have some things that I want to give you."


    With another wave of her hand, there were a few gems that appeared in the air in front of me. These gems were of different colour and size, but I could feel the energying from them that told me that these were not simple gems.


    Once she was satisfied with my reaction to these gems, the guide said, "These things are your reward for clearing this Tower of Trials."


    I raised a brow as I looked at these gems before asking, "These things are?"


    The guide didn''t answer my question and instead said with a smile, "Why not take one of them and try it out?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I looked at her with a doubtful look, but I still followed her instructions and grabbed one of those gems.


    The moment that I did, I realized just what these gems did.


    They boosted the stats of the person who wielded them.


    As I grabbed this gem, I could feel my body bing lighter, just like when I had been using the sword and armour. Though this feeling wasn''t as good as when I was using the sword and armour.


    It seemed that even if these gems boosted stats just like the sword and armour, they weren''t as good as them.


    The guide waited for me to grab each one to test them before saying, "It''s a full set of gems that increase your power by 50%." She gave a shrug as she said, "I would have given you a full set that doubles your power, but that wasn''t up to me. I could only give you this, but it should be fine since it''ll help you to not have one that powerful."


    I raised a brow, but she answered me right away by saying, "It would be hard to hide things like this, right?"


    I immediately understood what she meant and gave a nod in response.


    She was right, precious things were hard to hide and treasures like this would surely attract the greed of others.


    It was better to have a weaker version so there would be less people lusting after it.

 Chapter 399 Questioned (1)

    Once she finished giving me all the rewards, the guide looked at me and said, "I hope that we will be able to meet again one day."


    I couldn''t help feeling surprised and confused when I heard this, but¡­there was no reason to offend the guide.


    So all I could do was give a nod in response.


    The guide gave a nod as well before raising her hand to form a portal.


    Once that portal was formed, she said, "This portal will bring you back to your own world."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I didn''t hesitate to head over.


    I had been worrying about how to leave this ce, but now the exit was ced in front of me. But there was a part of me that couldn''t help feeling a bit worried seeing this exit in front of me since it had been formed by the guide.


    There was this strange feeling that I had about the guide ever since we had met.


    It wasn''t that I didn''t want to trust her, but¡­this feeling made it hard for me to do that.


    I really didn''t know what it was about her that made me feel this way, but I did feel this way.


    Still, there was no other way out, so I just stepped into the portal.


    As I stepped in, I turned back to say, "Thank you."


    The guide gave a simple nod without saying anything else.


    Once he had disappeared, there were two figures that suddenly appeared beside the guide.


    It was a small dragon and a small phoenix who had appeared.


    After appearing, the guide asked, "What do you think about him?"


    The dragon and phoenix looked at each other and gave a snort before turning back to the guide to give their opinion.


    "He''s an interesting young man. I hope that I will see him again."


    "He''s a kind and patient man. I hope that nothing bad will happen to him and my child."


    The guide nodded in response to what they said before turning to look back at the portal to say, "I think that he will bring great change once he leaves his world. But until then, it seems like I''ll have to prevent others from finding out about him."


    As soon as they heard this, the small dragon and phoenix looked at the guide with narrowed eyes.


    Both of them seemed like they were sizing up the guide.


    But then they both said, "We won''t say a thing. You don''t need to worry about that."


    The guide gave a simple nod before saying, "Thank you. That was what I was hoping you would say."


    Then before waiting for a response from them, she waved her hand and sent them away. As they were disappearing, the small dragon and phoenix didn''t seem to mind that they were being sent away like this.


    Once they disappeared, the guide muttered under her breath, "I hope that you will be the person that I believe you are."


    ¡­


    When the sh of light disappeared, I found that I was standing on stage in front of everyone again.


    But there wasn''t a single sound that rang out when I appeared.


    I could see that everyone was looking at me, but it was as if they were all shocked by my appearance. They were so shocked that not a single person seemed to be making a single sound.


    After a long time, the host was the one that reacted by saying, "We have our final contestant here, making his way out of the second trial. I''m sure that it was all very exciting watching him, so let''s give him a round of apuse."


    But even with the host trying to break the ice, there wasn''t a single person that actually pped for me.


    It seemed that all of them were just too shocked to react normally.


    The host revealed an awkward smile, but he had a job to do. It wasn''t as if he could just ignore this just because no one was reacting.


    However, before the host could say anything, there was something that rang out in his ears.


    He seemed to be muttering something, or at least that was what I saw.


    After muttering for a bit, the host came over to me and said in a soft voice, "The organizers would like a word with you."


    I revealed a bitter smile when I heard this, but it would be a lie to say that I hadn''t already expected this. I knew that because of all the unexpected things that happened in the Tower of Trials, I would surely be called to talk to the organizers.


    So I just simply gave a nod in response and waited for him to bring me away.


    But it wasn''t the host that led me away.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Instead, there were a few cloaked figures that suddenly came up to stage to surround me and escort me away. The way that they did this made it seem like they were protecting me, but I could clearly tell that they were preventing me from running away.


    After all, when I stood in the center of them all, I could feel all of them putting their pressure on me as if they were trying to keep me suppressed. At the same time, I could feel the gazes that were cast in my direction, making it clear that they wouldn''t let me escape.


    But I had no intentions of escaping since I knew that there would be no way to escape.


    This tournament was held by therge guilds together, so unless I couldpletely avoid all of theserge guilds, it would be impossible to turn.


    But these wererge guilds for a reason.


    These guilds had wealth, power, and influence that couldn''t be ignored.


    So I just had to go along with them.


    Led by this group, I was brought to an empty room with a mirror wall and made to sit down.

 Chapter 400 Questioned (2)

    After sitting in the room for a while, there were two men that came in.


    Just their appearance alone made it clear what they were here to do.


    They were clearly here to question me.


    But at the same time, I could see which one was supposed to be the good cop and the bad cop.


    That was usually how things were done in these cases.


    The one that was the bad cop pped his hand on the table and said, "You better tell us everything that we want to know, or else!"


    Then the good cop said, "There''s no need for that, we just want to have a talk with you."


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile on my face before saying, "You''ve never said what you were looking for, so what am I supposed to say?"


    The two of them looked at each other with awkward looks before the bad cop pped the table again to say, "Stop ying the fool! We want that information now!"


    The good cop once again said, "Just talk to us and we''ll be able to do something for you. But if you don''t say anything, then there really isn''t anything that we can do."


    Though he was supposed to be the good cop, the words that he said really sounded like what a bad cop would say. It seemed that when I didn''t react at all to his words, he started to buckle and revert to his original personality.


    I really didn''t know who got the two of them to do this, but it was clear that they weren''t qualified for this.


    It was clear that these two had no idea what they were doing and were just creating a bigger mess by trying to interrogate me.


    Was this really the best that thoserge guilds had?


    That was what I thought until the door opened and another group came in.


    This was a group of five that looked much more professional than these two.


    The one who was leading them was a blonde haired young man who seemed like a proper interrogator.


    To my surprise, when the two that were currently interrogating me saw this group, they showed shocked looks like they weren''t expecting them. Then they suddenly looked like they were kids that had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.


    It was like they had just been caught doing something bad.


    The blonde haired young man narrowed his eyes to look at the two of them before asking, "What are you doing here? Why aren''t you properly guarding the door like you''re supposed to?"


    The two of them revealed even more awkward looks when they heard this, but they didn''t say anything.


    After he said this, I was slowly figuring out what had happened.


    These two that hade in with the good cop bad cop routine¡­it seemed that they weren''t supposed to be here. If I had to guess what they were, they were most likely the ones that should have been guarding the door to this room.


    As for why they were in here, I already had a guess.


    After a long silence, the bad cop finally said, "We thought that we would be able to make him talk."


    The good cop backed him up by saying, "Yes, we thought that as long as we put some pressure on him, we would be able to make him talk. If you just give us a bit more time, then¡­"


    "Stop." The blonde haired young man cut him off when he heard this and said, "Leave now and collect your severance cheques. There''s no need for idiot guards in this ce."


    As expected, the two of them had been guards that were supposed to be guarding the door.


    But for some reason, they had left their post and hade in on their own to try interrogating me. If they had good techniques, then I might have called them smart, but with the techniques that they had tried to use¡­I could only call them idiots.


    Then again, only idiots would have thought that they could interrogate better than those that were trained for it.


    Only idiots like them would think that they could do something like this and would be rewarded for it.


    The two of them looked like they wanted to say something, but they weren''t able to say a thing in the end as they were hit with the pressure of the blonde haired young man. They had no choice but to lower their heads and walk out in shame.


    Though as they were walking out, I could hear them muttering a few things.


    "I told you that this was a bad idea. Now we even lost our jobs."


    "You''ll never be able to rise up in the world as long as you don''t take risks. That''s why I''m telling you that this was our chance."


    "But it wasn''t, we got fired in the end."


    "Not all things work out in the end."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Yep, they were idiots.


    I had thought that there might be the chance that this wasn''t the case, but they wereplete idiots.


    When those two left, the five of them came forward to where I was sitting.


    It was only the blonde haired young man who sat down, the rest of them all stood around the table where we were sitting.


    They weren''t standing too close, but they also weren''t standing far away. It was as if they would be able to react as soon as anything happened.


    So it was very likely that they were here to make sure that nothing happened while the blonde haired young man was in this room. It didn''t seem like they were here to stop me at all.


    That made me even more curious as to who this blonde haired young man was.


    With a smile, he said, "I''m sorry about that just now. It seems like we really hired some fools."

 Chapter 401 Questioned (3)

    I narrowed my eyes to look at this blonde haired young man, but I didn''t say anything in response.


    After all, it didn''t seem like there was anything that I could say in response to this.


    No, it was better to say that there was nothing to gain from responding since it was clear that he was just trying to build a false rapport with me.


    He was trying to put on a friendly appearance to make me let down my guard, but I wouldn''t be fooled that easily.


    Seeing that I wouldn''t respond, the blonde haired young man didn''t seem to care. Though the guards that were standing around were all looking at me with looks of judgement, as if they were angry that I had ignored the blonde haired young man.


    But to be fair, I also ignored them as I focused on this blonde haired young man.


    It was clear that he was the one that was in charge here.


    The blonde haired young man didn''t care about the way that I ignored him and just continued by saying. "I''m sure that you''re wondering who I am, so let me introduce myself. My name is Eric Vanderbilt, it''s a pleasure to meet you."


    After saying this, he reached his hand out towards me, as if he was waiting for a handshake.


    I looked down at the hand for a few seconds, but I still reached my hand out to shake it in the end.


    Though I could have ignored it, there was a part of me that told myself that I shouldn''t ignore it. I didn''t know which part of me it was, but it was there telling me not to ignore this person.


    After shaking his hand, Eric continued by saying, "I''m sure that you''re also confused about why I''m the one who is here talking to you. Well, that''s simply because the Tower of Trials that was used in the tournament belongs to my family."


    I slowly began to understand what was happening when I heard this.


    The information that I had obtained from the guide and the two beasts in the tower was already more than enough for me to know what the tower was.


    It was not something that was created by therge guilds, it was definitely some kind of treasure that they obtained and used for the tournament.


    Of course, they most likely never expected someone to clear the entire Tower of Trials, so that was why they had locked me up like this.


    Seeing the look on my face, Eric continued by saying, "I just want to say that I don''t have any ill intentions towards you. It''s just that our family has had this Tower of Trials for a long time now and we still haven''t been able to figure out anything about it. I was hoping that you would be able to give us some information about the tower and the trials you encountered inside."


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him, but it really seemed like he didn''t have any ill intentions.


    But I couldn''t help asking, "Shouldn''t you have seen everything that I was doing in the tower? Is there a need to ask me these things?"


    Eric chuckled as he nodded in agreement before saying, "Indeed, it was broadcasted, but¡­there were some parts that were cut off. It seemed that there were certain floors that we weren''t allowed to see¡­such as the twenty fifth floor and the fiftieth floor. We were hoping that you would be able to tell us what happened on those floors specifically."


    The twenty fifth and fiftieth floors¡­n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    As expected, it was the two floors with the big bosses that they hadn''t been able to see.


    I knew that it would be impossible topletely deflect this, so I had to gather my thoughts to figure out how much I should tell them.


    After a while, I said with a nod, "The boss on the twenty fifth floor was a S Ranked Dragon and the boss on the fiftieth floor was a SS Ranked Phoenix."


    As soon as I said this, the four guards that were around looked at me with gazes filled with disbelief. It was clear that they didn''t think that someone like me would be able to defeat them.


    Eric was much more calm, but he still said, "Is that so? Then how did you defeat them? If you can tell us, we would be happy to reward you for this."


    I just looked back at him and calmly said, "There were mechanisms in the room that when activated would allow you to win against the bosses. I''m sure that you''ve seen them when I was taking care of the other floors."


    Eric gave a nod of agreement before saying, "Then can you tell me what those mechanisms are?"


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "When I left the tower, there was a restriction that was ced on me that prevented me from talking about these things. It seems that the tower doesn''t care about the regr floors, it''s just those floors that they want to keep secret."


    There was more doubt that was cast in my direction, but my attention waspletely on Eric.


    As long as he epted this, it meant that this matter was over.


    He didn''t say anything as he just stroked his chin, like he was pondering the matter.


    After a while, Eric finally said, "Alright, I understand your circumstances. I thank you for everything that you''ve told us today and I''ll make sure that the others understand as well."


    The others¡­he was referring to the organizers of the tournament.


    Did he really have that much power that he would be able to sway therge guilds that easily?


    But I didn''t have time to think too much about this as Eric suddenly stood up like he was about to leave.


    Before leaving, he turned back to me and said, "If you ever want to work together, please feel free to contact our Vanderbilt Family. Someone as talented as you is always wee."

 Chapter 402 Before the third round

    As he had said, I was let out of that room soon after and announced as the top ranker in the second round.


    When I saw the list of people who had passed, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because it had also listed how many floors they had been able to pass.


    Other than me, there was no one else who had even made it past the twentieth floor.


    The second top ranker was Tammy as expected since she had been second in the first round as well. At the same time, with the boost that she had obtained from the Inferno Gem, her mes had reached apletely different level of power.


    So it wasn''t strange at all that she had been able to make it to the twenty fourth floor.


    It was the twenty fifth floor that had stopped her in the end.


    The one that did surprise me was the one that hade in third.


    It was Bing Xin.


    I had thought that it would be Alex or Julius, but it wasn''t. The two of them hadn''t evene in fourth.


    It was Long Shui Ling who hade in fourth for this second round, but that wasn''t as surprising since I knew just how broken Long Shui Ling''s powers were.


    Bing Xin was aplete surprise since I didn''t think that she had this kind of power, but Iter learned that it waspletely because of the blue orb that she received from the dungeon boss.


    Just like how Tammy had gone to a different level of power with the help of the Inferno Orb, Bing Xin had gone up to a different level of power with the help of the blue orb.


    So she had been able to freeze many of her enemies.


    She had even been able to fight against the A Rank Monsters because of this orb.


    Though I also learned that it wasn''t just because they had these that they were able to make it this far.


    It was also because they had tokens that were simr to mine.


    Though the number of times that they could use their tokens was less than mine.


    For Tammy, who was second, she was only able to use it three times.


    For Bing Xin, who was in the top ten, she was only able to use her token once.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That was the crucial difference between Bing Xin and Tammy.


    Bing Xin had only reached the twentieth floor while Tammy reached the twenty fifth floor.


    Butparing myself to the rest, it seemed like I really was the outlier.


    It was no wonder the organizers had taken me away and had questioned me like that.


    Though thinking about it, it really wasn''t being questioned as just asked a few simple questions about the tower.


    I also couldn''t help thinking about what had happened to Eric.


    He was from the family that owned this tower, so surely he must be involved in this tournament in some way.


    For some reason, I felt like I had heard the name Vanderbilt before¡­


    It sounded strangely familiar¡­


    But there wasn''t time to think about this as I was being crowned the champion of the second round.


    When I was being ced in front of everyone, I could see the strange looks that they were giving me. There were manyplicated gazes that were cast in my direction, but it was clear what most of them were thinking.


    How did he do it?


    After all, I had done what no one else had been able to do.


    Not only that, I had far surpassed everyone when it came to how many floors were cleared.


    This wasn''t a small gap, especially for those that had been in the tower taking the trial.


    They knew just how hard each floor was to pass.


    So at the same time, there were also some people that were looking at me like I was a monster.


    While we were doing this, the host asked me, "What is your secret? How did you manage to figure out the mechanism for each floor and take advantage of it?"


    I really didn''t know what to say other than, "I just got lucky I guess."


    The host raised a brow as he looked at me before saying, "Really? Just luck?"


    All I could do was give a nod.


    The host had a disappointed look as if he was expecting much more from me, but there really wasn''t anything else that I could say. There were just too many things that I couldn''t mention about the tower without revealing things that I didn''t want to reveal.


    Luckily, this host was a professional and he knew what to do after this.


    Instead of dwelling on this, the host just went on to introduce the third and final round of the tournament.


    As expected, it was a tournament style fight between all of the contestants.


    But to my surprise, I found that I was given a bye all the way to the round of eight.


    Tammy was also given a bye to the round of sixteen.


    And there were others that were given byes to the round of thirty two.


    The ones that were truly unlucky were the ones that were at the very bottom of the rankings that would have to slog all the way from the first round to the finals. But it would be very unlikely that they would even make it past the first round.


    First, there was the fatigue to think about.


    Second, there was the fact that those that were stronger were automatically ced in the higher rounds.


    So even if the contestants in the first round won their fight, they would have to fight an opponent that was much stronger than them.


    The only thing that they could pray for was good luck to be matched with someone who had passed from the second round like them since the fights in each round would be determined by a draw.


    They could only hope that they had good luck.

 Chapter 403 Resting up

    This draw show wasn''t really rted to us, so there was no need for us to stay any longer.


    So most of us chose to leave since we were quite tired after dealing with the first and second round one after another.


    But it wasn''t as if the ones that were fighting in the first round would be fighting right away either. They were just here for the draw show and then they would be allowed to leave to rest up.


    We had been given a total of three days to rest up before the first round.


    That way, we would be rested and refreshed for the fight.


    There was nothing interesting about a fight between two half dead people after all.


    No one would be able to demonstrate their full power like this.


    Once we left the arena, we were immediately shown to a hotel by a group of guides.


    They were nning to bring everyone to different hotels at first, but when our groups said that we wanted to go to the same ce, they immediately settled it for us and brought us to the same hotel.


    This was thest time that we would be able to talk as friends and allies since after this, we would bepetitors.


    After everyone showered and came down to dinner, we had our final talk.


    Alex was the one that broke the silence by saying, "It really was a hard road, but it seems that we''ve all made it in the end. Though for some of us¡­"


    We all looked at a few certain people that were sitting with us.


    They revealed awkward looks, but it didn''t seem like they couldn''t ept this.


    After all, they knew the reason why they hadn''t been able to pass.


    Their powers just weren''t suited for the Tower of Trials, so they weren''t able to do anything when facing those monsters.


    For our group, it was Qin Yue Ru and two members from Kaito''s group. They had support abilities, so they weren''t really suited for fighting monsters like this.


    They hadn''t even been able to make it past the fourth floor, which was why they hadn''t been able to make it through.


    It was the same with a few members of Alex and Julius'' groups.


    The only group that had all of its members make it through was Tammy''s Sol Warrior group who all had fire based powers. Those fire based powers gave them a certain amount of fighting potential even if they were more support based.


    So in the end, they were able to squeeze in near the bottom, but not low enough that they would have to fight in the first round.


    Julius said, "It doesn''t matter since you''ve already made it to the second round and further than plenty of other people. You''ll still be recognized as talented people to watch out for in the future."


    Alex quickly nodded in agreement before saying, "Right, right, so don''t beat yourselves up about it. We all know that it was just because this trial was ipatible with your powers that it ended up like this."


    The more that he talked, the more he was stuffing his foot in his mouth.


    I really wondered if this was the same Alex that I had met back at the cafe a few days ago.


    Tammy was the one that stopped them by saying, "Alright, let''s not think about that anymore. For now, let''s just celebrate reaching the final round."


    With that, she raised her cup and said, "Cheers!"


    Everyone nodded and then raised their cups with her.


    With that, we started eating.


    I had to admit that the organizers really did know how to take care of us.


    The restaurant in this hotel that they put us in was top notch.


    I had never tasted anything like this before, but every dish that I had seemed to melt in my mouth when I tasted it.


    It certainly deserved to be the hotel that was chosen by the organizers.


    Or at least that was what I thought until I saw how Tammy and Julius act.


    These rich kids¡­they really didn''t seem like they liked these dishes. It was almost as if they thought that it wasn''t at the same level as them as they only had a few bites before stopping.


    They werepletely different from Long Shui Ling who was happily enjoying her dishes.


    It seemed that there was a difference in how they had been raised even though they were all rich kids.


    When dinner was over, the only thing that we thought about was going to bed.


    The fatigue had built up over the past few days and even as Awakeners, we could feel it hitting us.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    So no one said a thing as we all headed up to our rooms to sleep.


    The room was definitely a luxurious room since it was one that took up an entire floor. It was just like the one that the Awakener Association had prepared for me when I took the Irregr License Exam.


    No, it was decorated with even more luxurious decorations.


    It was just that I was in no mood to care about these things.


    Once I had finished changing and I reached my bedroom, the string of tension finally snapped.


    This was what had kept me awake all this time, but now that I could finally rx, it cut without a single moment of hesitation. I could feel my entire body loosening when this string of tension cut and I started falling forward.


    It was just a good thing that there was a bed in front of me, or else I would have fallen on the ground.


    At this point, even if I fell on the ground, I most likely would have just slept there.


    That was how tired I was.


    Darkness, that was all that followed next as I lost all consciousness.


    That was until I suddenly heard a noise that suddenly woke me up out of this deep sleep.

 Chapter 404 Intruder in the night

    It was definitely hard being knocked out of a deep sleep like this, but there was nothing that I could do when there was an intruder in my suite.


    So I immediately sat up and didn''t even get dressed.


    The only thing that I pulled out was my sword as I started heading out into the main living room.


    Beforeing out of the bedroom, I made sure to take a look at the main living room as well.


    It was a good thing that the lights for the main room were right by the bedroom, so I was able to reach it. With one hand on the light and one hand on my sword, I suddenly went into the main living room.


    The moment that I came out of the bedroom, I turned the light on to surprise whoever was out there, but that was a mistake¡­


    My own eyes were unable to adjust to the light that suddenly appeared.


    I had forgotten how bright this light was since I had been too tired before falling asleep, so I made this mistake of blinding myself temporarily.


    But when my eyes adjusted, I quickly looked around the room to find the source of that sound.


    It didn''t seem like anything was off until I looked at one of the chairs.


    This was one of the chairs for the dining table and it was out of ce, as if something had knocked it out of ce. It was clear that whatever had made that sound was still here in this living room.


    I moved myself so that my back was against the wall, but still close enough to the bedroom that I could move if necessary and looked carefully around the room.


    It didn''t seem like I was able to find anything, but for some reason, it felt like there was someone here.


    In the end, I just said out loud, "Is anyone here? If you are,e out and let''s talk."


    There was only silence that followed this as expected.


    If they really snuck into a ce like this, would they really juste out because I asked them to?


    But it wasn''t as if I could just leave them here, could I?


    So the only thing that I could do was move over to the phone and pick it up before saying in a loud voice, "I guess I''ll have to call the hotel staff and see if they can send someone to help me."


    At this, there were several figures that suddenly jumped out from their hiding spots.


    I was definitely caught off guard to see all of them here.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There were two that I might have expected, but the others were justpletely unexpected.


    Long Shui Ling and Tammy I could ept since it seemed likely that the two of them would do something like this.


    But for ire and Bing Xin to also be here¡­


    They just didn''t seem to have the personality for something like this.


    Once they were all out, I asked in an awkward voice, "What are you all doing here?"


    Tammy was the first one that spoke as she said, "I came to see you to have a small talk, but it seemed like the door was closed, so I had no choice but to let myself in."


    I turned to the other three and it turned out that they had seen Tammy breaking in, which was why they had followed after her.


    Enjoy more content from empire


    But there was something that I had to question¡­


    How did they see her break in?


    It wasn''t as if they were watching my door the entire time, right?


    Or else they shouldn''t have noticed something like this.


    It was just a good thing that I had ced the suggestion in them ahead of time or else this would have been bad. After all, they would have started to question why everyone else was here if they didn''t have the suggestion in them.


    But there was someone that didn''t have a suggestion in them.


    There was one person that looked like they were about to question things.


    So before she could, I said, "For now, how about we all go back to our rooms and I won''t say anything about this, alright?"


    As I said this, I put all of my power in my Hypnosis Skill so that they wouldn''t notice that anything was off.


    The only one that I was actually worried about was Tammy since there was the chance that it wouldn''t work on her with her powerful resistance. But it seemed that it still worked in the end as she slowly gave a nod.


    Everyone all agreed to leave matters as they were for the night, even though there were signs that they found something wrong. They just had no idea what was wrong about this situation that they couldn''t say anything in the end.


    Once they were all gone, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had already predicted something like this would happen and had put those suggestions in them, there was no doubt that there would have been a bloodbath tonight.


    At the center of that bloodbath would have been me¡­


    So I could only count my blessings that I had the insight to do this.


    But I never thought that Tammy would actually be this aggressive or that the other girls would be so obsessive that they would keep watch over my door¡­


    Was it because their feelings had been suppressed because of the suggestions?


    I couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong, but I just couldn''t put my finger on what it was.


    It felt like I was creating more danger for myself, but I also didn''t know how to solve it¡­


    I was too tired to keep thinking about this, so I threw away these thoughts and went back into the room to sleep.


    What I didn''t notice was that in the corner of these rooms, there were certain devices that could be used for listening in on what was in the room¡­

 Chapter 405 Third round (1)

    When morning came, I went down to an awkward scene.


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    It seemed that everyone remembered their actions fromst night and were now feeling shame about it.


    They wouldn''t look at me directly, so I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I saw them like this.


    But still, this was better than the alternative.


    If they had remained as aggressive asst night, that would have been bad for me.


    There was only so much that my suggestion could make them forget.


    Once they reached a certain point, it would no longer keep them in the dark and I wouldn''t be able to maintain the fragile bnce that I currently had.


    Luckily there were others that were able to make them forget about all of this.


    For the next two days, I was able to distract them by having the others do all kinds of activities with them that I was able to not be intruded on in the middle of the night.


    When these three days of rest were over, it was time for the third round to begin.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    We didn''t have to watch the first matches, but I wanted to since it would be a good chance to see what these other contestants were capable of. Even if I had the data that Alex gave me, nothing was better than seeing their power firsthand.


    So I wanted to see just what they were capable of.


    And I had to say¡­I was a bit disappointed.


    After seeing the powers that Tammy, Alex, and Julius'' groups had, the fights between those that were lower ranked seemed disappointing. Though there were a few interesting fights, they weren''t really considered that powerful.


    It was more that they had interesting powers that I had never seen before.


    I really couldn''t look down on the others from therge guilds.


    But there was also one more that I couldn''t help taking note of.


    It was one of the few unassociated people that had made it through the second round.


    This was someone who had a very interesting power.


    It might have seemed like a wind attributed power at first with the way that they were using it, but for those that had trained eyes, they could see that this wasn''t the case.


    This person was using wind des to attack their enemy, but that was only what it seemed on the surface.


    In truth, what they were actually doing was manipting space itself.


    So what they were throwing at their enemy were spatial shes.


    If any of these spatial shes hit their enemy, it would have certainly cut them cleanly in half. That was just how sharp these spatial des were, judging by how they cut cleanly through the stage.


    However, everyone else seemed to believe that this was just some form of wind power.


    When I raised the phone that Alex gave me to point at this person, I found that this person wasn''t actually in the database. It seemed that this person really was an unknown person based on the fact that even Eden''s database didn''t have any information on this person.


    I looked at Alex in another part of the arena and he looked at me with a bitter smile while shaking his head.


    I looked at Julius as well, but he also shook his head to show that he didn''t know about this person.


    When I turned back to look at this person, I couldn''t help taking a deeper look at them.


    This was a handsome young man with slicked back ck hair and sharp ck eyes. It seemed like he was a very serious kind of person with the way that this made him look, but he was also moving in a yful manner like he wasn''t taking this seriously.


    It really was hard to figure out just what this person was about, but one thing was for certain¡­


    He was strong.


    When it was all over, his opponent had no choice but to give up.


    His opponent had been one of the entrants from arge guild and he thought that it would be an easy victory since his opponent was an unaffiliated Awakener.


    But it had been a much closer match that he thought it would be.


    That was because the unaffiliated Awakener had been controlling him the entire time, to make it seem like a closer match.


    It was most likely to hide himself so he wouldn''t attract any unwanted attention.


    But this couldn''t be hidden from those with sharp eyes.


    From the movement of this young man, it was clear that he was controlling his enemy the entire time. He was using his attacks to guide his enemy to move in the way that he wanted the enemy to move, which allowed him to manipte his enemy how he wanted.


    The Awakener from therge guild never realized this.


    In the end, he just fell down and fainted because of exhaustion.


    It seemed that not everyone in the first round could be underestimated.


    There were some that were indeed powerful¡­


    As for the other fights in the first round, there wasn''t anyone else that caught my attention.


    There were some that could pose a threat, but they weren''t really that powerful in the end.


    Or rather, the young man with the spatial ability had left too big of an impression that I couldn''t feel anything about the others that didn''t stand out as much.


    So in the end, I could only pay attention to that young man.


    Once that first round was over, it was time to draw for the second round which was the round of thirty two that would start tomorrow.


    This time, it concerned us since our group was getting involved.


    I wasn''t since I had a bye to the top 8, but the rest of my group that had made it would be going into this second round.


    So once it was over, they were called onto the stage to draw for their fights tomorrow.

 Chapter 406 Third round (2)

    "Ha¡­"


    That was all that Kaito and ze could say when they came back.


    That was because their luck with the draws really were bad.


    In this round of thirty two, out of all the people that they could have drawn¡­they were actually matched with each other.


    It was a fight between Kaito and ze, one that no one would have expected.


    However, it would certainly be an interesting fight since they both used mes.


    At the same time, Hayate and ire were matched with one from Kaito''s group.


    This was a fight between members of the same guild, but it was almost expected since we had the most number of people in the top thirty two in the first ce.


    We had a total of ten people, six from my group and four from Kaito''s group, so it was to be expected that we would be matched with each other. But for so many of us to be matched with each other¡­it really was considered bad luck.


    Long Shui Ling, Bing Xin, and thest member of Kaito''s group had a better draw that they were matched with people that we had never interacted with before.


    The other fight that was interesting was a fight between Alex and Julius.


    It seemed that they hadn''t been lucky either and had been matched with each other.


    But there was nothing that could be done since it was a fair drawing in the end.


    If they wanted to me anything, they could only me their bad luck.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ¡­


    The next morning, it was time for the second round.


    The first fight of the day was actually ze versus Kaito.


    Before they entered the stage, neither of them had talked to each other.


    Since leaving the hotel, it was as if they hade to a mutual understanding and had avoided each other. It wasn''t that they weren''t friends anymore, but rather they acknowledged each other and the power that the other had.


    It was only when they stepped onto the stage that they faced each other again.


    Standing there on the stage, the two of them looked at each other with stern looks on their faces.


    With how they were facing each other like that, it almost seemed like they were about to swing punches at each other at any moment. But they didn''t do that in the end.


    All they did was reach their hands out in front of them and grab each other''s hand to give a firm handshake.


    Right after the handshake, they jumped back to the edge of the arena and started releasing their mes. They didn''t even bother waiting for the judge to tell them to go as they were already preparing for the fight.


    The judge shook his head with a bitter smile before saying, "Go."


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    But of course, no one paid attention to him.


    The crowd was shocked by the amount of mes the two of them created, but it was clear one side had the crowd''s attention more.


    Kaito''s ck mes really were eye catchingpared to ze''s normal red mes.


    The ck mes seemed like they would be more powerful than the normal red mes, but that wasn''t the case. After all, ze had been working with Kaito the entire time, so he knew just how strong Kaito''s ck mes were.


    Naturally, his mes would also be strong if they could work with these ck mes.


    Once they had finished gathering their mes, they suddenly charged at each other.


    The two waves of mes came right at each other before suddenly shing in the middle of the stage. There were mes that suddenly burst forth into the sky, forming a pir that was half red and half ck, reaching all the way to the clouds.


    With the way that they exploded into the sky, there was even a hole that was punched in the clouds in the sky.


    That was just how powerful their mes were.


    But it wasn''t as if the mes were only going up¡­they also went all around the two of them.


    There was a moment where the audience was terrified by the mes that wereing at them, but that fear quickly disappeared. That was because they saw that the mes were blocked by something in front of them.


    There seemed to be this invisible barrier in front of them that stopped the mes, allowing them to let out a sigh of relief.


    After the fear subsided, excitement quickly took over.


    This kind of shy fight was naturally something that everyone enjoyed watching.


    After the mes subsided a bit, they could see ze and Kaito just standing there in the middle. The two of them had their mes wrapped around themselves as they punched each other.


    It wasn''t that they were fighting properly, but rather they just stood there exchanging blows.


    No, it wasn''t even a proper exchange of blows.


    They just stood there punching each other one after another. It seemed that they were taking turns hitting each other and the one that fell would be the one that lost.


    It was like one of those movies where rivals fighting just took turns hitting each other.


    With each blow that was struck, there was a burst of mes that spread behind the person that was hit. This was a demonstration of just how much power was in the fist that hit that person.


    And with each passing blow, the mes were getting stronger and stronger.


    However, ze and Kaito both had rxed looks on their faces as they taunted each other.


    "Is that all you have? Did you not eat breakfast today?"


    "You''re the one that didn''t eat breakfast today! I can barely feel your weak punches!"


    "Well, then take a few more of them if you want!"


    "Why don''t you take a few of my punches as well!"


    Just like this, the two of them kept slugging each other as if they didn''t feel the punches, but it was clear by how their legs trembled that they were indeed feeling the effects of these punches.


    In the end, it was ze that was able to knock Kaito down with one final punch.


    After a moment of silence, there was a loud wave of apuse that came from the crowd.


    Watching two rivals fight like this was definitely a passionate match that could rile people up.

 Chapter 407 Third round (3)

    After that match, the next one seemed a bit disappointing inparison since it was just a normal fight between two Awakeners that didn''t have any shy abilities.


    They did their best to put on a show, but there was nothing that they could do. They just weren''t on the same level as ze and Kaito who had received power from the Inferno Gem.


    So the crowd just seemed bored of their fight.


    It didn''t even matter which one of them won, so they could only walk off the stage with bitter smiles in the end.


    The rest of the fights were also quite simple, so there wasn''t much to see.


    In fact, Bing Xin''s match was so fast that there was no suspense at all.


    Her opponent seemed to recognize her as he tried to flirt with her by saying, "Miss Bing, I''ll go easy on you. When this is over, I hope that I will have a chance to take you out to dinner sometime."


    But Bing Xin justpletely ignored this fellow, even if he was from one of therge guilds.


    The way that she did it made her seem like the Bing Xin that I had met all the way back then.


    It turned out that she acted that way towards people that she didn''t know just so they wouldn''t bother her. The her that I got to knowter on was the real her that she only showed to people that she trusted.


    Well, I already knew that, but this was a st from the past seeing Bing Xin act this way.


    I had to admit that this kind of Bing Xin did move my heart a bit¡­


    But did that mean that I was a M?


    I shook that though away as soon as it appeared in my mind.


    As for Bing Xin''s battle, it onlysted an instant.


    Her opponent didn''t even get a chance to make a move as he was surrounded by ice.


    When he did react, he found that he was being frozenpletely and he only had the chance to say, "No, wait, don''t!"


    But before he could finish his thought, he was encased in ice andpletely frozen.


    Bing Xin didn''t even bother sparing him a nce as she walked off the stage.


    It should be said that she had gained quite a few fans because of this.


    The other battle of note was between Alex and Julius.


    When the two of them stepped out onto the stage, they had apletely different look on their faces. They were no longer facing each other with smiles, but rather serious looks.


    No, there was still a smile on Julius'' face, but that was just how he looked naturally.


    It was the look in his eyes that were different as they had be much more serious.


    The two of them did the same thing as ze and Kaito where they shook their hands, but their fight waspletely different.


    That was because it waspletely one sided.


    I had thought that it would be a more even match, but that wasn''t the case at all.


    There was one side that was clearly doing better than the other.


    Though he tried his best, Alex just wasn''t able to do a single thing to Julius.


    As he was firing his bolts of lightning one after the other, there was a bitter smile on his face as if he had already expected something like this to happen. It was almost as if he already knew that he would be suppressed by Julius like this.


    As for how he knew¡­


    Well, there was a reason why Julius was favoured to win this tournament in the first ce.


    As I watched their fight, I realized that I hadpletely underestimated Julius'' power.


    The real power that came from Julius'' ability was the flexibility behind it.


    Instors, that was how Julius had defeated Alex in the end.


    He kept creating different instors around him that blocked the lightning that Alex threw at him. So no matter how Alex tried to attack Julius, he was able to stop all the lightning bolts that he threw.


    Since he couldn''t do anything with his lightning bolts, he was pushed back by Julius until he reached the edge of the stage.


    Then with a single push, Alex was knocked off the stage and lost the match.


    It didn''t even seem like Julius had broken a sweat during this fight.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    However, Julius did reach down over the edge of the stage to give his hand to Alex to help pull him up. It seemed that the friendship that they had developed wouldst which was also a good thing for me since we were all friends.


    After pulling him up onto the stage, Julius seemed to whisper something into Alex''s ear that suddenly made his chin drop. He looked at Julius for a bit before suddenly cupping his hands and saying, "I admit my defeatpletely."


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    Julius just waved his hand and said, "There''s no need to be that formal."


    Just this alone was enough to establish Julius as one that was far above the others.


    Though many people already knew this.


    The fights kept going and it didn''t seem like there would be anything else interesting happening before it ended.


    But then the final fight caught my attention.


    That was because this was a fight between one of the members of my group and someone that had caught my eye before.


    This was the unaffiliated Awakener who had used the spatialws, the one that no one had known about previously.


    I had only remembered how he looked, but I didn''t know his name.


    But after the fight with the member of my group, his name was imprinted in my mind.


    That was because¡­it wasn''t a fight.


    Rather, he was just ying with that member of my group.


    It was almost as if he was trying to break thempletely so they would never be able to fight again.

 Chapter 408 Third round (4)

    The member of my group, who was originally one of Kaito''s group, was named Yun Che.


    He was someone with an ability called Heretic''s Gates.


    What this ability allowed him to do was open the gates that naturally existed in his body to increase his own power.


    These gates were limiters that his body had set on itself that would prevent it from breaking down. But the moment that he released these gates, his body would absorb far more magic power than usual.


    This would allow him to increase his physical abilities by several times, while also putting great strain on his body.


    Normally, he would only be able to go up to the third gate since that was his limit.


    However, this time, he had pushed himself all the way up to the fifth gate which increased his physical attributes by five times. Though it was only for a few seconds, he should have been far faster than the unaffiliated Awakener.


    Still, he had failed in the end as he mmed into the wall of the unaffiliated Awakener.


    It was the only time that he didn''t mess around with Yun Che.


    After that, Yun Che fell to the ground where he was being tortured by the unaffiliated Awakener.


    He wanted to say that he gave up, but it seemed that there was something that stopped him from saying it. So the judge had no choice but to let it continue even though most people couldn''t watch anymore.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore and jumped down along with Kaito.


    We would have been stopped, but it seemed that certain people also couldn''t take it so they allowed us to stop the match since we were from the same guild as Yun Che.


    I had to hold Kaito back in the end since he looked like he wanted to attack the unaffiliated Awakener.


    When it was all over, I could see that there was a broken look in Yun Che''s eyes, as if he had sumbed to the torture that he had been put through and no longer had the desire to fight.


    If this was left alone¡­it would leave a deep scar in his heart that would continue to affect him in the future.


    The only thing that I could do for now was¡­


    "Calm your mind. You''re alright now."


    After hearing this, his eyes started to rx a bit before his eyelids started to close.


    When they finally closed, he drifted off to sleep and the medics were able toe forward to treat him.


    It was a good thing that the judge had been watching, or else he might have been seriously injured. There were a few cuts on Yun Che''s body that were just a few centimeters from reaching vital parts of his body.


    We were certain that if the judge hadn''t been watching, the attacks of the unaffiliated Awakener might have slipped and done some serious damage.


    It was clear that this person held some kind of grudge that they were willing to go this far¡­but why?


    We didn''t know this person at all, so there was no reason that this person should have held a grudge against us¡­


    When the unaffiliated Awakener saw us like this, he looked at us with narrowed eyes as if he was sizing us up. Then he just gave a snort and turned around without a word, as if he didn''t care about us.


    The judge had already judged that the fight was over, so there was no need for him to stay around anymore.


    For the first time, I took note of this person''s name.


    His name was William Reid, a person that waspletely unknown, but seemed quite powerful.


    But that wasn''t the most important thing right now.


    Kaito had looked like he wanted to fight Wiliam then and there, but once William left, he turned his attention back to Yun Che on the ground.


    Seeing us standing over them, one of the medics said, "For now, his wounds have been treated, but¡­there are still the wounds in his heart that won''t be cured that easily. We''ll have someone take a look at him once he wakes up."


    I gave a simple nod and said, "Thank you."


    As the leader of our group, it was my responsibility to make sure that everyone was alright and to take care of matters like this.


    Since Kaito was no longer the leader of the group, he was able to act a bit more selfishly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But it was impressive how he was able to hold himself back.


    Or at least that was what one thought until they looked down to see his trembling hands. They were trembling from how much he was clenching them.


    I patted Kaito on the shoulder and said, "It''ll be fine."


    He looked up at me with a gaze that clearly said that he didn''t believe me, but that expression soon disappeared from his face.


    He just gave a simple nod in response.


    Kaito knew that there was nothing that he could do by being agitated, so all he could do was calm down and trust that they would do their best for Yun Che.


    The two of us followed the medics as they transported Yun Che to the medical bay in the stadium. Once we arrived, we found that the others were already waiting there for us.


    There were even Alex, Julius, and Tammy''s groups that were there.


    They looked at us as if they were asking how he was.


    I just shook my head and said, "We still need to see how he is when he wakes up. They''re going to run some tests and then bring in a professional to help him."


    Everyone just nodded before watching as Yun Che was taken in by the medics.


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    Before any of us were able to say anything else, there was another figure that suddenly walked in.


    This was someone that none of us expected to see here.


    It was Bing Lan who suddenly walked in.

 Chapter 409 Third round (5)

    When Bing Lan came in, she also had a surprised look on her face.


    That was because she was looking at Alex, Tammy, and Julius'' group.


    It was clear that she was surprised to see them here as well, especially since the one that was hurt was a member of Elementia.


    After looking at them for a bit, she turned to look at me as if she was asking for an exnation.


    I just calmly said, "They are friends that are visiting."


    She looked at them once more before nodding with a smile and saying, "I hope that you will keep taking care of my guild members in the future."


    Bing Lan as the guild master of Elementia was considered one of therge guild masters, so she had also been involved in the nning of this tournament.


    She knew a few things about what would be included in the tournament, so she knew about the first round and how it required people to cooperate. So she figured that the members of her group must have worked with these people and developed bonds with them.


    That was good since this was also part of the reason why they were holding this tournament.


    They wanted to let the younger generation get to know each other so that they could work together in the future.


    Their three groups were surprised to hear this from Bing Lan, but they quickly said that it was no trouble at all.


    Tammy even tried to say something else, but she was stopped by a cough from me.


    After that, Bing Lan turned to me to ask, "How is he? I''ve only heard that he''s being looked after, but I didn''t hear anything other than that."


    I told her the same thing as I had told the others, but I was looking at Bing Lan with a strange look after exining this.


    After all, I didn''t think that this was the only thing that Bing Lan was here for.


    She was the busy guild master of Elementia¡­


    If she coulde running whenever a member of her guild got hurt, then she wouldn''t have any free time at all.


    There was no way that she was here just because Yun Che had gotten injured.


    "So we''ll just have to wait and see how it goes¡­" Bing Lan muttered under her breath.


    But I suddenly asked, "Guild master, what are you really here for?"


    It wasn''t just Bing Lan who was surprised when she heard this, the others all seemed surprised by this as well.


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    Bing Lan looked at me with a strange look for a bit before suddenly saying, "How could you tell?"


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile before saying, "Lucky guess."


    Bing Lan gave a sigh before looking over at the other three groups.


    When they saw this, they realized that this must be something that was private for Elementia, so they didn''t stay any longer and excused themselves.


    When it was just us, I looked at Bing Lan and asked, "So, what is it?"


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything as she just gave a sigh and sat down on one of the chairs in this waiting room.


    It seemed like there was something weighing on her that stopped her from saying anything, but this wasn''t useful for us since we needed to know what she wanted to say.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    So I gave a cough and said, "Is there something you want to say?"


    Bing Xin came over to Bing Lan''s side and patted her hand.


    When Bing Lan saw this, she gave Bing Xin a nod before looking up at us and saying, "This matter is partially my fault, but also Elementia''s fault."


    We all looked at her with a confused look, as if we couldn''t understand what she was saying.


    Bing Lan gave a sigh before continuing, "William Reid, he is the son of an old member of Elementia who was with us in the beginning. But because of differing opinions, we had no choice but to let him go. However, William''s father, Richard Reid couldn''t let things go, so he tried to harm Elementia in the end to get revenge. We had no choice but to put him down and make him disappear."


    Bing Lan paused for a bit before she continued with another sigh, "His son William is most likely here to take revenge for his father, which is why he was targeting Yun Che in that fight."


    When I heard this, it was like the final puzzle piece was slotted into its position and I could see the full picture.


    It was no wonder that William was so hostile towards us.


    It turned out that I was right about the fact that we had never met before.


    It turned out that he was only hostile towards us because we belonged to Elementia.


    That meant that in the next round, if he was matched with someone from our guild¡­then he would most likely try the same thing.


    I looked around at our group and with a sigh, I said, "If you get matched with him, fight him if you''re confident. If you''re not, then just forfeit the match. We shouldn''t underestimate someone who irrationally is seeking vengeance."


    Bing Lan nodded in agreement before saying, "The most important thing is that you''re all safe."


    All of them couldn''t help revealing unwilling looks when they heard this.


    It was as if they couldn''t just let this matter rest.


    They wanted to take revenge for theirrade¡­


    But at the same time, it was also something that was decided randomly since we would have to draw for the next round.


    In the end, someone did get this chance to fight William.


    Since we had alle to see Yun Che, they did the drawing for us while we were gone. They understood the situation, which was why they had epted having someone draw in our ce.


    The one that was matched with William in the end was¡­


    Long Shui Ling.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 410 Third round (6)

    It took a while for Yun Che to wake up, but he woke up in the end.However, we weren''t allowed to see him right away as a psychologist was sent to look at him first.


    It didn''t take long for that psychologist to finish and we were allowed in.


    It seemed like Yun Che was fine when we saw him, but the psychologist really had a lot to say about this.


    "I saw the video of the trauma that the patient suffered and I couldn''t believe how calm he was when he woke up. It was as if he didn''t suffer at all from the trauma¡­I''ve never met someone with such a strong mind before."


    The psychologist went on to praise Yun Che''s mental fortitude, but Bing Lan was looking at me.


    I also realized what it was and revealed an awkward look.


    Pulling me aside, she asked, "What did you do earlier when you went to stop the fight? I saw that you whispered something to him."


    With a bitter smile on my face, I said, "I used my Suggestion to calm his mind. I didn''t think that it would have this much of an effect, I was just trying to put him to sleep so he would be able to calm down."


    Bing Lan looked at me with a strange look when she heard this, but she didn''t pursue it further.


    She just shook her head and said, "It seems that your powers are far greater than I thought. If this was known by the world, there would be far more people out there that would want you since mental illness is a thing that''s hard to treat. If your Suggestion works on other mental illnesses¡­"


    I gave a nod to show that I understood since I knew what she was referring to.


    Low grade healing magic didn''t work on the mind, it only worked on the body.


    The high grade healing magic that worked on the mind was only possessed by some of the most powerful healers, but it wasn''t as if they could heal every single person with mental illness.


    To even call one of those healers, it would take a large sum of money.


    At the same time, it would take a large amount of connections since those high grade healers were all those that were connected to powerful organizations, so they weren''t that easy to hire in the first place.


    Also¡­it would take a long time to heal the mind since it was a delicate thing. It would take many healing sessions that would all cost large amounts of money to book, so it wasn''t something that could be arranged that easily.


    If my Suggestion was a more effective method¡­then it would cause a large stir.


    Not only would it put me against those that had high grade healing magic, it would also make me a target of those that needed my help.


    Elementia might not be able to protect me when the time comes.


    But the thing that I was the most scared of was that people might be able to discover the other powers that I had because of this. If they figured out that I could affect other people''s minds with my Suggestion power, it wouldn''t take them much to figure out that I could hypnotize them¡­


    Once that happened, it would only be a matter of time before I was exposed¡­


    So I couldn''t let this get out.


    Bing Lan looked at me and said, "For now, let''s keep this a secret."


    I quickly nodded in agreement and we discussed this no further. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After making sure that Yun Che was fine, the rest of us went back to our hotel since it was getting late and there were still more fights tomorrow.


    Other than Long Shui Ling''s fight with William, there was another interesting fight tomorrow.


    Bing Xin would be fighting Tammy.


    A battle between fire and ice, but more than that¡­it was a battle between an ice cold beauty and a fire hot beauty.


    This would definitely be a fight that the crowd would be interested in watching.


    Before we went to rest, I went to find both Long Shui Ling and Bing Xin.


    Of course, I went to find them separately so I could give them more intimate advice.


    But to my surprise, both of them just said, "I''ll be alright. Don''t worry."


    It didn''t seem like they wanted to talk at all as they both closed the door in my face¡­


    Was it because they were nervous or was it because of something else?


    Instead of them feeling worried, I was the one that felt worried.


    ¡­


    When the morning came, Long Shui Ling had a serious look on her face.


    Her match would be the first match and it seemed like she was very focused on it.


    She didn''t even talk to anyone as we headed to the stadium.


    When we arrived, we bumped into William who had also just arrived.


    As we both came out of our cars, we looked at each other.


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    To our surprise though, William actually came over and said, "Forfeit. I won''t show any mercy."


    It seemed that while he didn''t hold back for Yun Che, he was holding back for Long Shui Ling.


    Was it because she was a girl, was it because she was from the Long Family, or was it because she was a beauty?


    Regardless of what it was, it didn''t seem like William wanted to fight her.


    But of course, it wasn''t as if he was going to give up.


    Long Shui Ling narrowed her eyes to look at him before saying, "I hope that you won''t forfeit. I still have to take revenge for my friend."


    William was surprised to hear this from Long Shui Ling, but he didn''t remain surprised for long.


    With a snort, he said, "I gave you a chance and you didn''t take it. Don''t expect any mercy."


    As soon as his voice fell, he turned around to leave without giving us a chance to say anything.


    I looked at Long Shui Ling with a concerned look, but she just said with a smile, "Don''t worry. I''ll take care of him."

 Chapter 411 Third round (7)

    The first match of the day was between William and Long Shui Ling.So not long after we arrived at the stadium, Long Shui Ling was already being called up to the stage.


    Before she left, I took her hand and squeezed it before saying, "Good luck."


    Though this might seem a bit suspicious before, it was fine now because the others had suggestions in them. So even if they were to see this, they wouldn''t really react to a small thing like this.


    Long Shui Ling looked back at me with a touched look before saying, "Don''t worry, I got this."


    Though I still felt a bit worried, I gave a nod to show my confidence in her.


    With that, Long Shui Ling headed off to the stage.


    ¡­


    William had arrived on the stage first, so he was already standing on the stage when Long Shui Ling came out.


    As he watched Long Shui Ling step onto the stage, he couldn''t help narrowing his eyes.


    Even if he was a fool, he would still recognize Long Shui Ling.


    William was a thorough person, so he had checked the background of all the people from Elementia before this tournament.


    He wanted to make sure that there wouldn''t be any problems with taking his revenge against Elementia.


    Long Shui Ling was one of those problems that he wanted to avoid.


    It wasn''t because she was a beauty that he hesitated to hurt her, it was because of her status.


    It was the Long Family that made him hesitate.


    He knew that Elementia wouldn''t be able to do anything to him if he were to hurt their members in this tournament.


    If they were to retaliate against him because of what happened in this tournament, there was no doubt that they would receive backlash. At the same time, the other large guilds would be there to support him since they would want him to join them.


    It was different with the Long Family.


    If he hurt Long Shui Ling and incurred the wrath of the Long Family, there would be no one to cover him. Even the large guilds that would want to recruit him would leave him to fend for himself.


    After all, the Long Family''s power couldn''t be looked down on.


    The power of money was not something that could be resisted.


    So William really didn''t want to do anything to Long Shui Ling.


    But he also couldn''t just let her go since she was a part of Elementia.


    If he really let her go, it would destroy his plan to get revenge on Elementia for his father.


    The only thing that he could do now was¡­


    "Surrender now and I''ll spare you." He had to put on a tough face and try to convince Long Shui Ling to surrender. As long as she surrendered, then he wouldn''t have to worry about all of this.


    But he wasn''t surprised when he heard her say, "I will take my revenge on you for hurting my friends."


    Inside, William was screaming, "Just surrender and leave me alone!"


    On the surface, he gave a snort as he said, "Have it your way. There will be no mercy."


    Seeing that the two of them had finished, the judge said, "Let the fight begin."


    As soon as the judge said this, William charged at Long Shui Ling.


    Around him were those same spatial blades that he had used before.


    He really meant it when he said that he wouldn''t be holding back as there were more of these blades than before. It seemed that he was planning on ending this in one move¡­


    But he still knew how far he should take this.


    The first spatial blade that he threw out was only supposed to leave a slight injury after Long Shui Ling dodged out of the way. But to his surprise, she didn''t move a single inch.


    It was as if she had no fear towards this spatial blade at all.


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    William didn''t divert the spatial blade at first since he was certain that she would dodge out of the way. He was certain that she wouldn''t just stand there for him to hit her.


    He never would have thought that she would actually do that.


    Before he could stop it, the spatial blade hit Long Shui Ling''s body and cut her right in half.


    The top part of her body fell to the ground while the bottom part of her body just remained there standing.


    William didn''t know what to think as he stared at the two halves of Long Shui Ling''s body.


    He didn''t even realize that¡­it was too quiet.


    There wasn''t a single sound around him, which was very strange since there should have been many spectators here.


    If they had really seen Long Shui Ling being cut in half like this, there was no doubt that someone would have made some sound.


    But there wasn''t a single sound around him. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While William was still dazed, he saw Long Shui Ling''s ''corpse'' suddenly start to move.


    The top part seemed to sit up on its own before starting to crawl towards William.


    He just watched as Long Shui Ling''s severed top half that was covered in blood started to crawl towards him.


    Seeing her like this made him reveal a look of fear and he couldn''t help taking a step back.


    But when he did, he found that he suddenly bumped into something.


    When he turned around, he found Yun Che standing behind him.


    "What are you¡­" Before he could finish, he found that Yun Che was already grabbing him from behind.


    He wasn''t able to break free of Yun Che''s grasp no matter how much he struggled.


    During this, Yun Che said, "How dare you do that to me!"


    William couldn''t take it anymore and said, "Judge, isn''t this against the rules!"


    But he found that the judge wasn''t there anymore.


    In fact, there was no one that was currently around him.


    It was as if he was in a completely different space.

 Chapter 412 Third round (8)

    As soon as he saw this, William realized that he had fallen for the enemy''s ability.Since he had already investigated those from Elementia, William knew exactly what Long Shui Ling''s power was.


    It was the power to create illusions.


    That meant that all of this should be an illusion¡­but for some reason, it just felt so real at the same time.


    After all, he could feel Yun Che pulling from behind him.


    However, since this was an illusion, that meant that none of this should be real.


    Taking a deep breath, William ignored the pulling that came from Yun Che behind him and told himself, "This isn''t real, this isn''t real."


    The only way to combat an illusion was to know that it was an illusion and then focus one''s mind to break through the illusion. As long as one had a strong enough mind, they would be able to break free of the illusion''s grasp and regain control of themselves.


    It seemed to be going well as William didn''t seem to hear Yun Che anymore.


    He didn''t even feel the sensation of Yun Che grabbing him anymore.


    It was as if Yun Che had completely disappeared.


    But then¡­there was another voice that rang out, "How could you do this to me?"


    William couldn''t help opening his eyes since this voice sounded very familiar¡­


    When he did, he revealed a shocked look.


    That was because the one that had grabbed his feet wasn''t the top half of Long Shui Ling as he had expected. Rather, this top half had changed into a completely different appearance, but the shock was there.


    That was because he recognized this top half with just a single glance.


    Even if he didn''t want to recognize this top half, it was impossible since it had been deeply imprinted in his mind.


    This¡­was something that came from his past.


    It was not something that Long Shui Ling should have access to.


    So how did she create an illusion of this?


    "How could you let me die?!" That top half cried out as she grabbed William''s leg.


    William couldn''t help trembling when he heard this and there was a small part of him that reacted to it. But he just kept telling himself, "This isn''t real, this isn''t real¡­"


    It was just too bad that this wasn''t the end of this. Experience more on empire


    There were more figures that suddenly appeared around William.


    With the appearance of each figure, the look on William''s face couldn''t help changing.


    It was as if he was becoming more and more shocked with each figure that appeared.


    All of these figures that appeared around him had different appearances and they all came forward to grab his arm before saying, "How could you do this to me?"


    With each figure that appeared, the reaction that came from William became stronger and stronger. It was as if there was some kind of trauma that was being pulled up from deep inside of him.


    Finally, he couldn''t take it anymore and shouted, "How! How are you able to do this!"


    He still believed that this was an illusion, but there was a part of him that started to waver.


    That was because every figure that appeared was one from his past and all of these figures should have been people that Long Shui Ling didn''t know. So he just couldn''t understand how she was able to create illusions of them.


    Or could it be that these weren''t illusions at all?


    No, if they weren''t illusions, what were they?


    After all, all of the people that had appeared around him were people that were dead.


    Before he came to participate in the tournament, William had done some shady things to survive.


    After his father had been kicked out of Elementia, it didn''t take long for him to fall into depression which he escaped from by drinking. The more that he drank, the more debt that he incurred.


    So when his father died, that debt had fallen onto William to repay.


    William had no choice but to do some shady things to repay this debt.


    That was what had led him to killing all of these people.


    As he was being dragged down more and more, William finally couldn''t take it anymore as he started shooting spatial blades all around him. He seemed like he wanted to cut down all of these figures that were around him.


    When the spatial blades made contact with these figures, they seemed to scatter them away which gave William a chance to move.


    But where was he supposed to go?


    It wasn''t as if there was a place for him to run to escape all of these figures that wanted to drag him down.


    That was until he saw a single path.


    After they had been scattered, it took a few seconds for these figures to reform.


    While they were reforming, he found that there was a space where there weren''t any figures at all. It was almost as if there was a path for him to escape being surrounded by these figures.


    William''s mind had already long collapsed, so he just took that opening and ran forward.


    Once he made it to that opening, he found¡­that he was falling.


    He didn''t know what it was that made him fall like this, but it felt like he was falling into the abyss.


    As he fell, all of the figures around him suddenly jumped onto him and started to pull him down. It was as if they wanted to drag him down into hell with them.


    Seeing all of this, William shouted, "No! Back! Stay back! I had no choice! I just did what I had to do to survive!"


    While shouting this, he waved his hand and sent out spatial blades as if he wanted to escape. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But this time, it didn''t have an effect at all on these people.


    The last thing that he saw were all of these figures surrounding him before he felt a blow come from the back of his head.


    This blow knocked him out.

 Chapter 413 Third round (9)

    The crowd was silent after what happened.That was because not a single person had understood what had happened.


    The moment that the match began, there was no movement from either side.


    Then all of a sudden, William had started throwing out spatial blades all around him.


    However, not a single one had been directed in Long Shui Ling''s direction.


    She had just remained standing there, watching him as he started shouting out into the void.


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    He screamed out many different things until he suddenly started running in a certain direction.


    This was the opposite direction of Long Shui Ling.


    In the end, William ran right off the edge of the arena and then slammed his head into the ground, knocking himself out. That was how this strange fight had ended.


    The judge wasn''t even able to react right away, but he still had his professionalism and called it a victory for Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling took her first steps after the match ended.


    She walked over to the edge of the arena and looked down at the unconscious William before saying, "This is what you deserved for the way that you acted. In the future, restrain yourself and you won''t be plagued with such guilt."


    With a sigh, she added, "I hope that you will be able to recover from this, but if you don''t, you can only blame yourself for your actions. You shouldn''t have touched my friends."


    She didn''t say anything else as she turned around and walked off the stage on the other side.


    Long Shui Ling could have gotten off the stage on the same side as William and it definitely would have been a shorter walk, but she clearly didn''t want to go down from the same side as him.


    That was how much she disliked him.


    Once she was gone, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers.


    Though they didn''t know what happened, they knew that it must have been related to Long Shui Ling based on what she had said.


    The funny thing was that what they were cheering for wasn''t even the fight itself, but rather they were cheering because it was Long Shui Ling.


    Simply put, the way that she had spoken after the fight was over was just too handsome that they couldn''t resist falling in love with her.


    So they cheered for her.


    There were some that even asked for her number or for a chance to get to know her better.


    There was no doubt that there would be people taking care of them later because of two people who were just too overprotective of Long Shui Ling.


    As I watched her come off the stage, I couldn''t help thinking that she had really become terrifying.


    I didn''t know what had happened, but I could guess that Long Shui Ling had obtained a new ability during her training. This new ability must have been what had caused William to go crazy like that.


    Judging by how he had acted, it seemed that it must have been quite the terrifying illusions that had been shown to him for him to react in such a manner.


    Long Shui Ling had really changed in the time that I had known her.


    From a girl who had been chased by monsters and wasn''t able to cast her illusions unless she had time to prepare to someone that could break minds with illusions like this.


    She had become a terrifying person.


    But the main reason for this wasn''t just because of the experience that she gained.


    It was also from the confidence that she had gained from diving into the dungeons with us.


    Long Shui Ling was a much more confident person and that was for the better.


    The next match wasn''t as interesting since it was just between two people that were considered regular.


    It wasn''t until the fourth match that something interesting happened.


    That was because the fourth match was the match between Bing Xin and Tammy.


    Before they had gone for their match, they had actually met once in the waiting room.


    I was watching from the waiting room since I wanted to be with everyone else, so I had also seen their meeting.


    The two of them just looked at each other before turning away to make their own preparations.


    When it was time for their fight, the two of them actually came over to stand beside each other again. The two of them just matched gazes and stared at each other for a bit before suddenly turning and walking out.


    But before they left, I could have sworn that the two of them had looked in my direction.


    While I didn''t know why they would do that, there was a bad feeling that filled me when I saw this.


    However, it had happened too fast for me to confirm this and when I reacted, they had already left the waiting room.


    When the two of them came out, they walked up to the stage side by side instead of entering from different doors like everyone else did.


    The moment that the two of them came out, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers.


    After all, the two of them were both beauties, so they naturally stirred up the crowd when they appeared. Especially when they walked in side by side like this, creating an even more beautiful scene.


    But the two of them just ignored the crowd as they walked forward onto the stage. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two of them walked up to where the judge was before suddenly stopping.


    However, neither of them did a thing as they just stood there.


    The judge looked at them with an awkward look since it was him that the two of them were staring at. It was just that he could tell that they weren''t really looking at him.


    Instead, they just seemed to be staring forward.


    The judge had wanted to say something, but then the two of them suddenly turned towards each other at the same time.


    As they did, they suddenly punched out at each other with their hands covered in fire and ice respectively.

 Chapter 414 Third round (10)

    The fists collided in the air and there was an explosion of ice and fire that came out from this collision.The fire spread out in a wave behind Bing Xin.


    The ice created a large wave of ice behind Tammy.


    But neither of them seemed injured by this.


    Their fists just remained in the air, making contact with each other.


    The judge had been nearby at first, but he had no choice but to jump back because of the extreme heat and ice that came from this collision. Even if the judge was a powerful Awakener that had been sent by the large guilds, this was just too much for him.


    After a moment of silence, both Bing Xin and Tammy jumped back a bit.


    They separated to create some space in between them.


    The judge looked at the two of them with a bitter smile on his face before saying, "Let the fight begin!"


    Though there was no need for him to say this since the two of them had already started the fight on their own.


    But after he said this, the two of them just remained idle again as they stared at each other.


    While they were staring each other down, the delayed cheers came from the crowd.


    The crowd hadn''t been able to react in time to this large spectacle at first, so they had remained there in a daze for a bit. But once they reacted, the reaction that came from them was very loud as they burst into cheers for this fight.


    This wasn''t just a fight between two beauties, this was a fight between two very powerful Awakeners.


    A fight between two powerful Awakeners was without a doubt a fight that they welcomed very much.


    Especially when it was a fight between two who controlled ice and fire.


    These two opposing elements slamming against each other again and again, it was not something that could be seen every day.


    After a moment of silence, they suddenly started releasing their energy around them.


    The energy that was released formed different attacks around them, but this time they weren''t planning on fighting in close range.


    There were fireballs that appeared around Tammy while there were icicles that appeared around Bing Xin,


    Once both of them had finished gathering their attacks, there was one single glance at each other before they shot these attacks at each other. There was no hesitation at all as they released these attacks.


    But none of the attacks were able to reach the other side.


    The fireballs and icicles clashed in the air and cancelled each other out.


    With each collision, there was what seemed to be a beautiful display that was released just like a firework.


    But those that could feel the energy fluctuations coming from these collisions knew that it wasn''t that simple. Those that could feel the powerful energy fluctuations could only reveal shocked looks in response since the power behind each of these collisions was just too much for them to handle.


    This went beyond what should have been considered a fight between rookies.


    This was a fight between true A Rank Awakeners.


    No, not only that¡­with the power that they demonstrated, they came infinitely close to the realm of S Rankers. So there were many people that started taking note of both Tammy and Bing Xin.


    There were people that already knew that it would only be a matter of time before Tammy reached S Rank.


    However, Bing Xin was a complete surprise to them.


    As far as they were concerned, Bing Xin had been second fiddle to her older sister Bing Lan.


    While Bing Lan was the powerful one that had become a S Ranker and established her own guild, people didn''t have the same hopes for Bing Xin.


    They thought that it would already be good enough if she was able to reach the B Rank. Anything past that would all depend on her, but no one really had any hopes for her going further.


    But now¡­the power that she demonstrated was already on par with an A Ranker and approaching that of a S Ranker.


    Just what had happened to her that she would become like this all of a sudden?


    Bing Xin and Tammy just focused on their fight, throwing more and more attacks at each other without stopping.


    Nothing really happened at first, but slowly¡­they were starting to affect the area around them.


    The fire and ice that scattered around them started to change the arena that they were standing in. The fire torched the ground, creating scorched earth while the ice froze the ground, creating a frozen wasteland.


    It was random at first, but then it created two different sides of the arena with the fire and ice continuing to spread.


    As for where it was spreading¡­it was spreading towards the audience.


    At first, the audience didn''t seem that concerned, but there was worry and fear that crept into their hearts. They could see the fire and ice slowly creeping towards them and it didn''t seem like it was about to stop.


    They couldn''t help being worried as they felt the heat and chill coming from this.


    But before it could reach them, there was a barrier that suddenly appeared in front of the audience.


    This barrier fell right down from the sky and appeared right in front of them, blocking the encroaching flames and ice from reaching them.


    Seeing this barrier, the audience couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief before they felt a bit silly. After all, this was a tournament that was being held by the large guilds, it wasn''t as if they hadn''t been prepared for this.


    They felt silly for even being worried about this.


    It was just that no one in the audience saw that there were faint cracks that were forming in the barrier.


    They were just too focused on the fight that was happening on the stage.


    But that didn''t mean that this wasn''t happening.


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    It seemed that even this barrier couldn''t contain the power of this fight.


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 Chapter 415 Third round (11)

    All of a sudden both Bing Xin and Tammy stopped firing their attacks at each other.The crowd immediately fell silent when they saw this and waited with bated breath to see what would happen next.


    Bing Xin and Tammy just looked at each other before Tammy said, "Let''s end this."


    Bing Xin nodded before releasing her energy.


    Tammy followed suit as she released all of her energy as well.


    The two of them no longer formed the small attacks, but it seemed like they were gathering their energy for one final big attack.


    When they saw this, the crowd was immediately filled with excitement.


    The entire crowd was silent as they watched with excited looks in their eyes.


    But there were people that were nervous as well.


    The barrier wasn''t able to hold up against the smaller attacks that they threw, so what would happen if they used this one final big attack?''


    Wouldn''t the barrier be shattered by the collision of this big attack?


    The judge immediately said something in that earpiece of his. With the nervous look on his face, it was clear that he was telling whoever was behind it to strengthen the barrier.


    The barrier didn''t change much, but those with sharp eyes could see that it became thicker.


    It seemed that they were putting more energy into this barrier out of fear of the attacks of these two.


    Anyone that could see this should be able to imagine just how hard the organizers of this tournament were being pushed because of these two. However, they didn''t stop them since this was what the tournament was all about.


    It was to showcase the new young talents that were emerging and these two were definitely at the very top.


    One might even imagine that this was the finals of the tournament and not just a match in the round of sixteen.


    Though some might feel that this would be the peak of the tournament since there might not be another fight like this.


    It took them a while to gather their attacks, but the energy that was coming out from these attacks made it clear that this was their final attack. They were using all of their power for this one final attack that would determine the fight.


    For Tammy, it was a lion that was made of flames.


    For Bing Xin, it was a mirror of ice.


    The two of them looked at each other for a moment before suddenly raising their hands and pushing them towards each other with a roar.


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    When they did, the flame lion and the mirror of ice started to move.


    The two attacks clashed in the air and it didn''t seem like either side was about to back down.


    There was no explosion of fire and ice when they clashed as it seemed that they completely cancelled each other out. The mane of the lion was getting smaller while parts of the mirror were also being melted.


    With the equilibrium formed, it was hard to tell who would win this clash. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But those that had sharp eyes could tell that the mirror of ice was melting faster than the mane of the flame lion was being extinguished.


    Though it seemed like an even match, there was one side that was being pushed harder.


    However, that person just had a firm look on her face as if she wasn''t bothered by it at all. She was putting on a strong look so that no one would be able to look down on her.


    That caused the other person to look at her with admiration, but that didn''t stop her from putting on the pressure.


    Eventually, a conclusion was reached.


    The mirror of ice started to have cracks form in it while the flame lion continued to push.


    It was clear that Bing Xin was the one struggling in this fight.


    Finally, the mirror of ice cracked and Bing Xin couldn''t help taking a step back.


    But she never turned away from the flame lion that was right in front of her.


    This flame lion charged right at her with its mouth wide open, as if it was about to swallow her.


    Then it slammed right down where Bing Xin was standing with its mouth wide open.


    The crowd gave gasps of shock when they heard this and there were many that were worried about Bing Xin. They weren''t worried because they knew her personally, but were worried because she was a beautiful woman that they wanted for themselves.


    But there was nothing to worry about.


    After the flame lion slammed into the ground, it burst into flames all around Bing Xin, creating a circle of fire around her. However, there wasn''t a single burn on Bing Xin as the flames kept a distance from her.


    It was clear that Tammy had held the flames back so that she wasn''t hurt by them.


    Bing Xin just silently looked at Tammy for a bit before saying, "It''s my loss."


    The judge didn''t hesitate at all to call the end of the fight, but he also let out a sigh of relief when he saw this.


    It seemed that the two of them had already noticed that they were breaking the barrier, which was why they had chosen to use this final attack to settle it. They had controlled the backlash of this final attack so that it wouldn''t affect the barrier at all.


    It seemed that the judge and everyone else had underestimated these two girls.


    When it was over, Tammy walked over to Bing Xin and reached her hand out.


    Bing Xin looked at her hand and then up at Tammy before reaching out to take it.


    A handshake to settle this fierce fight, it was the best conclusion that could come out of it.


    As the two of them shook hands, the crowd once again burst into cheers for the two of them.


    The cheers surged in this stadium, as if it was about to devour the stadium itself.


    That was just how exciting this fight had been.

 Chapter 416 Third round (12)

    When they came back to the waiting room together, it seemed that the relationship between Bing Xin and Tammy had become much better than before.As they were walking in, they were even chatting with each other in a friendly manner that was completely different from how they had been before the fight.


    It was as if all of the grudges that they had before had been forgotten and now they were close friends.


    When I thought about it, it was similar to how yankees fought each other and then became friends afterwards.


    Though these two were the furthest thing from that.


    Still, it was good to see that they had become close like this.


    First, there was their relationship with me.


    I didn''t want things to be rocky between them even though both of them felt something for me. I wanted them to at least be able to work normally since I would need them to do that in the future.


    Second, it was their future as powerful Awakeners of large guilds.


    There was no doubt that both of them would become even stronger with the Inferno Gem and the blue gem that they received from the first round. In the future, it was very likely that they would become S Rankers.


    When that time came, there was no doubt that they would have to work with each other.


    So it was good to see them get close for the time when they do work together.


    The rest of the fights after their fight were as expected.


    Blaze and Julius were both able to win their fights and make it to the next round.


    This time, I was also called to the stage for the drawing show since I was finally drawing for my fight.


    I hadn''t had to worry about this the entire time since I had directly made it to the round of eight. But now that the round of eight was here, it was my time to fight.


    However¡­I never expected the result that it gave me.


    Long Shui Ling.


    My first fight was with Long Shui Ling.


    She was just as surprised when she saw that I was the one that she was fighting, but she didn''t say anything more about it.


    I had wanted to talk to her about this, but seeing that she just ignored this topic whenever I brought it up, it seemed that I wouldn''t be able to talk to her about it.


    The other surprising result was Blaze against Tammy.


    It seemed that his luck in the draw had ended and now he was up against Tammy who he acknowledged had a stronger flame than his.


    However, he didn''t seem like he was depressed.


    Rather, it looked like Blaze was actually looking forward to this fight. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed like he wanted to test just how his flames would stand up against her flames.


    This would help him in the future as it would allow him to learn how to make his flames stronger.


    Since the drawing show was over, it was time for us to go back to the hotel to rest again.


    ¡­


    The next morning, it was time for the round of eight.


    This time, my match with Long Shui Ling was the first one of the day.


    I had fully expected her to treat me differently when we came down for breakfast in the morning just like how Bing Xin and Tammy had been yesterday. However, I was surprised to find that she was acting the same as always.


    It didn''t seem like she cared about the fight that we were about to have.


    It almost seemed like she wasn''t a participant in the tournament at all with how carefree she was.


    Rather, it made me look like the one that was the fool since I was the one that was worried about how this fight would go.


    Long Shui Ling was powerful, I had to admit that.


    If she was able to use her illusions right away, there was very little chance that I would be able to win unless I used my hidden trump cards.


    After all, the Time Stop and Hypnosis skills were just too broken to contend against.


    They were the skills of the demon king.


    But I didn''t want to use those skills unless it was absolutely necessary since this was a place where the world could see me. If someone with sharp eyes were to notice this, there was no doubt that my identity as the demon king would be exposed.


    So I was actually very worried about this fight.


    When it was time to leave, Long Shui Ling even took the same car as me and sat beside me without a single care in the world.


    It was like she didn''t care that we were about to fight after this.


    But I just couldn''t be the same.


    So even if she was happily talking to me, I just gave a few non-committal responses from time to time.


    She didn''t care as she happily chatted away.


    Even when we arrived at the stadium, she insisted on going into the same waiting room as me¡­


    It was as if she didn''t have a single care in the world.


    Still, I couldn''t say any harsh words to her, so I just ignored her and prepared myself.


    When it was time for the fight, Long Shui Ling suddenly said, "Look at you, all nervous for nothing."


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    Without explaining herself, she walked off to head to the stage.


    I was just left there with a confused look on my face as I wondered what she was talking about.


    But I still had to follow her onto the stage, so I left the waiting room.


    When we arrived on the stage, there were cheers that came from all around us.


    The audience seemed very excited about this fight, but that wasn''t strange since they had just witnessed Long Shui Ling''s power yesterday.


    At the same time, this would be the first fight for me, the number one person from both the first and second rounds.


    So it would be a very exciting fight.


    Or at least it should have been¡­

 Chapter 417 Third round (13)

    Once we were both on the stage, we stood there facing each other.Long Shui Ling just looked at me with a wide smile on her face which made me feel quite strange as I didn''t understand what she was doing.


    However, I didn''t have time to figure it out.


    The judge came forward and asked both of us, "Are you ready?"


    I could even hear it in the voice of the judge, it seemed that even he was excited for this fight.


    I just calmly looked at him and gave a nod.


    Long Shui Ling did the same thing before turning back to look at me with the same smile on her face.


    Once he received these confirmations from us, the judge suddenly said, "Then let the fight begin!"


    "I forfeit."


    The moment that the judge''s voice fell, Long Shui Ling said this.


    There was only silence that lingered in the air after she said this as no one was able to process this.


    Even I couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling in shock after hearing this.


    However, during all of this, she just had a casual smile on her face as if she didn''t care about this at all.


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    Finally, the judge recovered enough to ask, "I''m sorry, I think I misheard. Can you please repeat what you just said?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a casual nod before saying, "I said that I forfeit."


    The judge looked at her with a shocked look this time as he couldn''t hold himself back anymore. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if he wasn''t able to find the words that he wanted to say.


    But finally, he said, "Why?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a shrug before saying, "I have no reason to keep participating in this tournament."


    "Huh?" The judge really couldn''t understand what she was saying this time.


    This tournament was one that was being held by many large guilds, which meant that it was a very prestigious tournament. As long as an Awakener won this tournament, there was no doubt that they would become famous in the future.


    Yet she said that there was no reason for her to participate in this tournament any longer?


    No matter how he looked at it, this seemed very strange.


    So the judge turned to look at me with a look of suspicion.


    It was as if he was thinking that I had something to do with Long Shui Ling''s forfeit.


    But Long Shui Ling was unhappy to see this and said, "Does it matter if I forfeit? I''m free to do whatever I want, right?"


    The judge was taken aback when he heard this.


    If she was forced to forfeit, then Long Shui Ling wouldn''t have acted this way.


    So did that mean that she was really forfeiting of her own volition?


    That just didn''t make any sense at all!


    This completely shattered the world view of the judge since he thought that this tournament was a very prestigious event that anyone would want to participate in. However, it seemed that Long Shui Ling went against this norm which shattered that world view.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t bother with the judge anymore as she came over to my side and said, "Let''s go."


    She looked like she wanted to take my hand, but she held herself back in the end.


    Seeing this, I revealed a bitter smile and then followed behind her.


    Once we had moved away from the judge, I couldn''t help asking, "Why did you forfeit?"


    She just said with a smile, "Like I said, what reason do I have to participate any further. I think that I''ve already gone far enough, so there''s no need for me to remain in this tournament any longer. Not to mention, it''s more important that you go as far as you can. I want everyone to see how special you are."


    The way that she said this and the way that she looked at me when she said this, I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine.


    This was the fear that I had felt before when she and the others had appeared in my room.


    It was almost as if there was some kind of darkness inside of her that was corrupting her¡­


    I had no idea just what it was, but I could tell that it wasn''t a good thing.


    But how could I get it out of her?


    I had no idea.


    Just like this, the two of us headed back to the waiting room where Long Shui Ling was once again questioned.


    Though there were a few that didn''t question her on her decision.


    The ones that didn''t question her were Tammy, Bing Xin, and Claire.


    In fact, it almost seemed like they supported her in her decision.


    As for the rest of them, Long Shui Ling just said, "I have no reason to go any further than this like I already said. Don''t you want to see our leader go further and reach the top? So there''s no need for us to fight."


    Blaze was the one that corrected her by saying, "But if you forfeit like this, wouldn''t they think that he was won because of his relationship with you? This doesn''t really prove how powerful our leader is, right?"


    Long Shui Ling reacted in a strange way as she said, "Show me the one that thinks this. I''ll prove it to them."


    Blaze couldn''t help being surprised when he heard this, but that wasn''t it.


    Even Tammy, Bing Xin, and Claire also joined in on this by backing Long Shui Ling up.


    Faced with the four of them, Blaze had no choice but to back down.


    Though he did look at Tammy with a strange look.


    She was the one that he was supposed to fight, but to him¡­it didn''t seem like she cared about him at all.


    It was as if she thought that he wasn''t worth her time, so she didn''t bother caring about him. Instead, she focused on worrying about Lin Fan¡­


    There was a small part of Blaze that was unwilling to accept this.


    sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 418 Third round (14)

    The fight between Blaze and Tammy went just the way that one would expect it to go.It was a completely one sided fight.


    However, Tammy did hold back to a certain extent that Blaze was able to do a few things and pick up a few things from the way that she manipulated her flames.


    But it was also a large blow to his pride since it seemed more like a teaching spar rather than an actual fight in the tournament.


    Still, there was no other way since Tammy completely outclassed Blaze.


    She was already stronger than him in the first place since she was one of the favourites to win this tournament.


    Then there was the fact that she had obtained the Inferno Gem, which just made her even stronger. With this Inferno Gem, she was leagues above who she used to be before coming to this tournament.


    When it was over, at least it didn''t seem like there were any hard feelings between them as they still shook hands.


    At the same time, I could see that I didn''t need to worry about Blaze since Kaito and Qin Yue Ru were going to comfort him.


    However, it was funny seeing the two of them trying to cheer him up.


    Kaito acted more like a lover than just a friend to Blaze with how he tried cheering him up that it made Qin Yue Ru reveal a very strange look. It was almost as if she was envious of the relationship between the two.


    A small part of the expression on her face almost made it seem like she had been planning on taking advantage of this situation to put the moves on Blaze to see if they could get closer.


    All I could do was cheer her on.


    Or at least that was what I thought until Tammy suddenly came to our waiting room as well.


    She didn''t do this yesterday, but she suddenly came in front of me and said, "I won."


    I didn''t know what to say when she did this, but it looked like she was expecting something from me.


    So after looking at her in a daze for a bit, I said, "Congratulations."


    She seemed a bit disappointed at first, but then she said with a nod, "Just watch, I''ll win tomorrow too."


    I gave a nod to show that I wasn''t doubting this.


    At this point, it really seemed like Tammy would be the favourite to win this with the power that she demonstrated.


    Even I didn''t feel confident in fighting those flames with her after seeing how powerful they were.


    Still, I didn''t mind since I had already done enough in this tournament.


    Perhaps I should just forfeit if I were to be matched with her.


    But that didn''t seem to be the case.


    The other two matches weren''t as exciting, but they were still matches in the round of eight, so they received a lot of attention. The ones that passed in those two rounds were Julius and Ares.


    Ares, that was a name that seemed familiar, but it took me a while to remember.


    Well, it actually took Alex reminding me to remember who this was.


    This was one of the names that had been on the phone that Alex gave me.


    He was also one of those that had been favoured to win this entire tournament, but since there were people that stood out more than him in each of the rounds, I had completely forgotten about him. But it seemed that Ares had been slowly making his way up and had even reached the final four.


    This kind of ability couldn''t be looked down on.


    It was just that his skills with the draw really weren''t good.


    His luck was so bad that it had matched him with Tammy.


    Since he was matched with Tammy, it meant that the one that I was matched with was Julius.


    After he had made his draw, the two of us didn''t even need to draw to know who we were facing.


    Once that happened, Julius looked over at me with a smile.


    It was strange seeing this smile since it almost reminded me of how Long Shui Ling had been acting this morning.


    But that shouldn''t be the case, right?


    Why would Julius surrender when there was no reason for him to surrender.


    Long Shui Ling at least did it because she wanted me to stand out, but Julius shouldn''t feel the same way.


    Still, I couldn''t help feeling very strange because of the smile that he looked at me with.


    As if to counter this feeling, I walked over to him in front of everyone and raised my hand out towards him while saying, "Let''s have a good match tomorrow."


    The moment that I did this, everyone looked at the two of us.


    No one disliked a story like this.


    Two competitors acting as rivals as they prepared for their fight, this was the kind of thing that they expected to see in a tournament like this. Your journey continues at empire


    But to my surprise, Julius just said, "Why are you acting this way? I thought that we were close enough to be brothers already." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After saying this, he moved closer to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, really acting as if we were as close as brothers.


    I could see the flashing of cameras around us as this happened.


    While there were those that enjoyed a rival story, there were also those that enjoyed a story of rivals becoming friends. Especially when they were from two large organizations that had power like Elementia and the Rothschild Family.


    There would certainly be plenty more content to push out from them being friends than them having a fair fight as rivals.


    I could already imagine what some of the headlines will be after this tournament.


    But it wasn''t as if I could just throw off that arm that was on my shoulder since I did want to be friends with Julius.


    So all I could do was nod with a smile on my face.


    It seemed that he had countered my trap with a trap of his own.

 Chapter 419 Third round (15)

    The next morning, it was time for the round of four.There were only two matches today, so it wasn''t as rushed as before.


    At the same time, since the tournament was coming to a close, they were trying to show off as much as possible. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So instead of rushing to hold the matches, they held the matches separately.


    There was one in the morning and one in the afternoon.


    In between those matches were a bunch of different acts that would serve to entertain the crowd while also promoting different things. There were promotions for different products, companies, and even the large guilds themselves.


    However, since these promotions were flashy, people were happy to watch them.


    It was already close to noon when the first fight began.


    It was Tammy versus Ares.


    My match with Julius was being held in the afternoon.


    When she was about to head onto the stage, I found that Tammy suddenly came to my room.


    She stood there in front of me and said, "I''m going now."


    I was very confused why she would do this, but I just gave a nod and said, "Be careful, don''t let your guard down."


    She just said with a smile, "I won''t. I''ll definitely win."


    I was even more confused seeing her acting this way, but I didn''t think too much about it since I didn''t think that there would be a problem with her fight.


    And I was right.


    It was a completely one sided fight.


    Ares was powerful, but¡­he didn''t have the right things to deal with Tammy.


    It was a complete mismatch when it came to powers as he was a physical attacking Awakener while Tammy was an elemental power Awakener.


    With how powerful her flames were, Ares wasn''t able to approach her at all and was completely pushed back by her flames.


    He soon found himself completely surrounded in these flames with nowhere to go.


    It seemed that the fight was about to be over, but¡­


    Ares suddenly turned red.


    This was something that had never happened before, but it seemed that he had been holding back his power the entire time. This was a final trump card that he had never used until this very fight.


    At the same time, he pulled out this seemingly strange looking red club that worked with his new power.


    When he swung out with that red club, it completely scattered the flames that were around him.


    He had finally gained the power to fight back against Tammy''s flames, so one might think that he stood a chance.


    But it turned out that Tammy had also been holding back.


    Even though she had been fighting at the same level as her other matches, it turned out that she had been holding back.


    The only time that she had been serious was in her fight with Bing Xin, but even then, it seemed that everyone had underestimated her.


    Her flames¡­suddenly became stronger.


    They became as strong as when she used her final attack against Bing Xin.


    It turned out that the final attack that she used against Bing Xin was actually a state that she was able to maintain, it wasn''t a one time thing that used all of her power. This was her new elevated level of power.


    Drawing on the Inferno Gem, she was able to create these powerful flames endlessly.


    Even if he could scatter the flames previously, Ares found that his power was completely useless against these new flames.


    It turned out that even when he used his final trump cards, he still fell short.


    He was able to keep the flames at bay for a bit until he suddenly turned back to normal.


    That red hue that had appeared on his body disappeared and he was back to his normal state.


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    That red hue was only a temporary final buff, so he was actually weaker after that red hue disappeared.


    When that happened and he was surrounded by flames, Ares had no choice but to give up.


    That was how the first fight of the day ended.


    But I didn''t feel that way since there was another fight for me before my fight this afternoon.


    While everyone was excited about how powerful Tammy was, she didn''t care at all about this as she came to find me.


    Standing there in front of me, she leaned her head in and said, "Pat my head."


    I was completely caught off guard by this sudden request of hers.


    I looked at her with a very strange look before asking, "What''s going on here?"


    She looked up at me for a bit and said, "I did good in my fight, so I want a reward. Pat me on the head and praise me."


    I could only reveal an awkward look when I saw her like this, especially since the other girls were here.


    But to my surprise, I found that they actually agreed to this.


    They looked at me and gave nods before revealing encouraging looks like they wanted me to do this.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more confused seeing this.


    I would have rather fought a hundred dungeon bosses than be in this situation, but it seemed that I really had no choice.


    After all, no matter how I tried rejecting her, it didn''t seem like she was going to give up.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to pat Tammy on the head and said, "Good job."


    It was the bare minimum, but it was enough to make her look at me with a bright smile.


    The more that they acted this way, the stranger that I felt.


    It all felt like there was something wrong with this situation¡­almost as if I was being manipulated to a certain extent¡­


    But I was pulled out of my thoughts when Julius came over and said, "Brother, let''s put on a good show this afternoon."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I quickly said with a nod, "Right, let''s put on a good show."


    It seemed like Julius was finally motivated to fight.


    That alleviated a bit of the strange feeling that I had that something was wrong.

 Chapter 420 Third round (16)

    The performances that they put on were quite interesting.These were performances that showed off the power of the various other Awakeners from the large guilds. These were the ones that didn''t have a chance to enter the tournament since there were limited spots.


    I could see that there were the ones that had argued with us during the raid dungeon there as well.


    It seemed like Elementia had also prepared an act for this.


    After the performances and the lunch break, it was finally time for my fight with Julius.


    As we were called onto the stage, he once again looked at me and said, "Let''s put on a good show."


    I was surprised and confused as to why he kept repeating this, but I said with a nod, "Let''s put on a good show."


    He patted my shoulder with a smile before walking forward. Read exclusive adventures at empire


    I was a bit dazed by this, but I still followed him even if I was a bit behind him.


    By the time that we reached the end of the corridor and came out to the stage, we were walking side by side again.


    As soon as we came out, I could hear the cheers that were coming from the crowd.


    Though when comparing the cheers, it seemed like there were more people cheering for Julius than there were for me. At the same time, it was clear that most of the ones that were cheering for Julius were females.


    Right, when you compared the two of us, it was clear who was the more handsome one.


    I had a very ordinary appearance, even if it had been increased a bit once I became an Awakener.


    Julius was a very handsome blonde haired young man, so there was no doubt that he would be able to capture the hearts of the ladies better than me.


    But he just grabbed me by the shoulder and brought me in close before waving at the crowd. He looked at me as if he was expecting me to wave to the crowd with him.


    Seeing all the people staring at us, I had no choice but to wave back at them.


    However, deep down, I felt another strange feeling.


    It was almost as if he was trying too hard to convey that we were close to one another.


    It was almost as if he was trying to convince everyone that we were as close as brothers even though we weren''t actually that close.


    We were certainly friends, but that didn''t mean that we were the best of friends.


    We hadn''t known each other nearly long enough for that.


    Once we finished waving to the crowd, the two of us headed onto the stage together.


    When we came onto the stage, I found that it was the same judge as before.


    There was a rotation of three judges and this was the judge that had been in charge of the fight between me and Long Shui Ling.


    When he saw me come onto the stage with Julius, he couldn''t help giving me a strange look.


    The way that he looked at me was almost as if he was remembering what happened last time. It was almost as if I had left some kind of trauma on him with how the fight between me and Long Shui Ling had ended.


    That just made me reveal a bitter smile.


    Seeing this, he shook his head and revealed a smile as he looked at me, as if he was encouraging me.


    But I couldn''t return that smile since there was this strange feeling inside of me still.


    It almost felt like I had missed something, something that seemed quite important.


    I just couldn''t put my finger on what it was.


    When the two of us got onto the stage, Julius finally let go of me and walked forward before turning around so that he was facing me.


    This finally seemed like a proper fight, so I let out an internal sigh of relief.


    As if to probe him, I gave Julius a nod which he quickly returned.


    The judge also seemed much more assured when he saw this before revealing an excited look.


    This was a fight in the semifinals, so there was no doubt that this would be an exciting match.


    The crowd was already hyped for this, so there was no need for him to keep stalling any longer. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The judge looked at both of us before raising his hand and bringing it down to say, "Let the fight begin."


    Before I could take two steps forward, Julius suddenly said something that shocked everyone that heard it.


    My feet immediately froze when I heard him say this as I looked at him with disbelief.


    The judge was the same as he looked at Julius with disbelief, with his hand still out from starting the match.


    "I forfeit."


    That was what Julius had said as soon as the match began.


    The crowd had been cheering for the start of the fight, so they didn''t hear what was said clearly. However, they slowly stopped cheering when they saw the way that the judge and I were acting.


    It didn''t take long before there was a silence that filled the arena.


    After a long silence, the judge finally looked at Julius and asked, "What did you say? I don''t think I heard what you said correctly."


    Julius calmly looked at the judge and said, "No, you heard it correctly. I said that I want to forfeit."


    "Why?" The judge asked without any hesitation.


    Julius didn''t really give an answer as he said, "I have my own reason to forfeit, that''s all that I''m willing to say."


    The judge clearly wasn''t satisfied with this answer, but it wasn''t as if he could say anything else to Julius in this situation.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to ask him anything, it was just that he knew that it would be useless to ask him anything while he was acting this away.


    So instead, the judge turned to look at me.

 Chapter 421 Third round (17)

    Though he looked at me, I could only shake my head to show that I didn''t know what was happening either.The judge looked at me like he didn''t believe me at first, but he eventually turned away.


    I didn''t find it strange that he didn''t believe me since I should be the only one that benefited from Julius forfeiting like this. So it wouldn''t have been strange if I was manipulating him in some way.


    But this time, I really didn''t do anything. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was just as shocked as the judge when I heard that Julius was forfeiting.


    When the judge turned away, I looked at Julius and said, "Are you sure about this? Do you really want to surrender?"


    The judge turned back when he heard this and he nodded in agreement before waiting for Julius'' response. The way that he acted almost seemed like he would be willing to overturn Julius'' forfeit as long as he said anything.


    But Julius just calmly said, "Yes, I have no reason to keep going with this tournament. I''ve already accomplished my goals, so I''ll let my brother carry on for me."


    The look on my face turned stiff when I heard this.


    However, it was worse for the judge who really looked like he wanted to crack a few heads.


    I calmly asked, "What about putting on a good show?"


    Julius gestured around us and said, "Isn''t this a good show? Look at how they are all reacting."


    The stiff look on my face turned into a bitter smile when I heard this.


    There was even a part of me that wanted to crack his head now after he said this.


    The judge had progressed to looking like he was going to explode from anger.


    It really seemed like he wasn''t satisfied unless he enraged everyone that was around him, including me.


    The crowd that was slowly putting it together was getting more and more angry.


    Julius came over to put his arm around my shoulder again and said, "Then shall we go? There''s no need for us to stay here anymore."


    I just gave a sigh and gave up at this point since I knew that there was nothing that I could say that would convince him.


    It was better to get out of here as soon as possible since I could see that the crowd was getting disgruntled.


    With a nod, the two of us started heading off the stage. Continue reading at empire


    But it was at that moment that the crowd actually exploded.


    It was only a single person at first, but as soon as they did, everyone else quickly followed them.


    As soon as the first person threw something, it was as if the crowd had awakened from the daze that they had been in. There were more and more things that were thrown into the stadium.


    There were many things that were thrown at Julius and me, but none of them seemed to hit us.


    It was as if there was a barrier around us that no one could break through.


    I could see that the finger of the hand on my shoulder was pointing up, so it was most likely a barrier that Julius had put up.


    Even now, I still couldn''t get a gauge on just what the limits of his power were¡­So I was certain that I would have lost in this fight since I wasn''t planning on using my trump cards in the first place.


    Once we reached the exit, we could still hear the booing that was coming from behind us


    However, Julius looked at me and said, "You''re wondering why I forfeited, right?"


    I was caught off guard when he suddenly looked at me and said this, but I slowly gave a nod in the end.


    He just said with a casual smile, "Well like I said, there was nothing for me to gain from continuing on with this."


    I was even more confused when I heard this.


    He gave a sigh as he said, "I just want you to know that I don''t have any bad intentions towards you. I sincerely do want to be your friend."


    The more that he spoke, the more confused I became.


    But in the end, I still gave a nod to show that I understood.


    The smile returned to Julius'' face as he said, "Just know that the prize isn''t as useful to me as it would be for you. In fact, it should only be useful to you, so I doubt there would be anyone that would compete with you."


    Once again, confusion filled me as he spoke in these cryptic words.


    I tried asking him more about this, but it didn''t seem like he would be willing to say anything more than this.


    However, there was a strange feeling that filled me again after he said this.


    It was almost as if he was implying something at the very end¡­something that I hoped wasn''t true.


    After all, if this was true, then it would mean something just as bad would happen tomorrow.


    Since Julius didn''t seem willing to share any more information with me, I went to find the only other person that I might be able to get this information from.


    I went to find Tammy.


    She was still in the waiting room when I came back, so I went right up to her and said, "We''ll be fighting tomorrow."


    She gave a nod before saying, "Yes, it''ll be the two of us on stage tomorrow."


    I looked at her in silence for a bit before bluntly saying, "Are you planning on forfeiting tomorrow?"


    She didn''t give me an answer and just said instead, "I''m looking forward to seeing you on stage tomorrow."


    That wasn''t a yes and it wasn''t a no, but I could tell that there was something more to this that she wasn''t telling me.


    No, it was better to say that the answer was already there for me, but I was refusing to see it.

 Chapter 422 Third round (18)

    As I laid there in bed, I couldn''t help thinking about what Julius had said in the afternoon.He had told me that the prize wasn''t useful to him and would be useful to me.


    But even if that was the case, would he really forfeit like that?


    After all, even if the prize wasn''t useful to him, there should be a use to the fame and prestige that came from winning this tournament, right?


    So even if he didn''t want the prize, he should have remained just for that.


    So why would he forfeit that easily?


    I couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong with all of this.


    Julius and the Rothschild Family, they should have secrets that they wanted to hide, which was why they didn''t want the wrong kind of attention. As such, it was most likely because of this that he had forfeited in the first place.


    I also didn''t want the same kind of attention since I had secrets that I wanted to hide.


    Especially the one about my other identity¡­


    Then did that mean that I should also give up tomorrow?


    Yes, if I gave up tomorrow, it would be what everyone would expect.


    Tammy had already shown her power, so if I forfeited the match, it would be something that they could all accept.


    That would be the best case scenario, wouldn''t it?


    Slowly, I came to a decision and I was starting to feel tired as the strings of tension cut.


    Or at least that was what I thought was going to happen.


    But before I could fall asleep, there was a voice that said, "Wait a minute."


    I was surprised to hear this voice since it was a voice that I hadn''t heard in a long time. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since setting off for the tournament, this voice had been silent the entire time, no matter how I tried to talk to her.


    But now, she finally seemed willing to talk.


    Since she was willing to talk, I let her out.


    Standing in front of me was Lilith who had gone completely silent this entire time.


    As she stood there in front of me, she crossed her arms and looked at me with a serious look.


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I saw her acting like this since it was rare for her to act like this.


    Normally, she would be more carefree and would be teasing me.


    But now¡­it seemed like there was something serious that she needed to discuss.


    Seeing that she didn''t say anything in the end, I took the initiative to say, "What is it that you want to talk about?"


    Lilith looked at me for a bit before saying with a sigh, "Are you planning on forfeiting tomorrow?"


    I was surprised to hear this, but then again, she was the one that had put the demon king system in me. Back when she did it, she had spoken directly in my mind.


    So it shouldn''t be strange that she would be able to read my thoughts.


    I just gave a calm nod and said, "That''s right, I''m planning on giving up. What''s wrong with that?"


    Lilith didn''t say anything at first, but then she suddenly said, "You can''t forfeit. You have to win tomorrow and take first place."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this, but then I asked, "Why? There''s nothing to gain from winning this, is there?"


    Then before she could say anything, I suddenly asked, "Unless there''s something that you''re hiding from me?"


    The moment that I asked this, Lilith immediately fell silent as if she was hesitant to speak.


    It seemed that there really was something that she was hiding from me that she didn''t say anything this entire time.


    Finally when she spoke, she said something that I didn''t expect.


    "I''ll make this a quest and let you decide."


    With that, there was a prompt that appeared in front of me.


    I was caught off guard by this sudden prompt, but I was even more shocked when I saw what it was.


    It was a mission from the system and as expected, it was to win the tournament.


    However, the shocking thing was the prize that was offered.


    "A new exclusive skill for the Demon King of Lust."


    I couldn''t help looking at Lilith with a shocked look after reading this, but she didn''t seem to react at all.


    So at the very least, it seemed like this was real. Enjoy new stories from empire


    But what was so important about winning this tournament that she would even offer something like this?


    I couldn''t help feeling another bad feeling.


    It was like there was something that was very wrong with this situation that made me feel like it was very dangerous.


    But the temptation that came from a new skill being offered¡­


    The ones that I already had were very powerful, so if I were to get another one¡­


    I really didn''t know what to do anymore.


    I had already come to the conclusion that I should give up, but when this mission was offered to me, I once again started to hesitate.


    Should I give up and take the safe path or risk it and complete this mission, while taking the danger that came with it?


    Once again, I felt like I couldn''t sleep anymore.


    So I turned to Lilith and asked her something.


    It wasn''t about the match tomorrow, but rather about what had happened in the Tower of Trials.


    After she finished hearing this, Lilith just simply shook her head and said, "I have no idea what this is about. I''ve never heard of other worlds and intelligent beings on them before."


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a strange look that had a trace of doubt, but it really didn''t seem like she was lying.


    It seemed that she really didn''t know what I was talking about.


    So in the end, I just dropped this matter.


    As Lilith was returning to the Storage Ring, she said, "You should decide carefully what you want to do tomorrow."


    The way that she said this was almost like this wasn''t her problem anymore even though she was the one that caused this dilemma for me in the first place.

 Chapter 423 Third round (19)

    The next morning was time off for us.The fight was scheduled for the afternoon, so we didn''t have to be at the arena until after lunch.


    That was because there was a different show being put on in the morning.


    It was a demonstration of all the different things that the large guilds had discovered recently.


    Since there was nothing to do in the morning, I decided to head over to see what they were presenting.


    But I soon realized how bad of an idea this was.


    The scene from the fight with Julius yesterday had spread and I was easily recognized as a result of this. So it didn''t take long before people started pointing at me and whispering.


    There was no one that did anything, but it didn''t seem like that would last long.


    It seemed like there were people that wanted to do something to me getting ready¡­


    It was just a good thing that I had Long Shui Ling with me.


    Rounding a corner and having her place an illusion around me was enough to solve this.


    Well, it wasn''t just me alone that had an illusion cast around me. Since we had come in a group and we were all fairly well recognized, all of us had an illusion cast on us.


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    That included Tammy who strangely wanted to come with us.


    It seemed that this would be troublesome in the future¡­but that was for the future.


    I had tried to talk to Tammy this morning, but it seemed like she was completely avoiding what I wanted to talk to her about. This was the only thing that she wouldn''t talk to me about, it didn''t seem like she was holding back when it came to other things.


    The other members of the Sol Warriors group just seemed to awkwardly avoid me.


    It wasn''t that they didn''t talk to me, it was just that they went out of their way to talk to me.


    Was it because of Tammy or was it because of something else?


    In the end, I had no choice but to give up.


    As we walked around the exhibition, I had to admit that it was quite the interesting exhibition.


    The things that the large guilds displayed were all things that they had discovered in the dungeons.


    For example, new kinds of materials, new kinds of monsters, and all kinds of other things.


    These were just some of the discoveries that were made in the past few years.


    But the most interesting thing to me were the exhibits about S Rank Dungeons.


    There was rarely any information released about S Rank Dungeons other than what was made public. While I didn''t know why the large guilds chose to release this information now, it was definitely something that I couldn''t miss out on.


    That was because¡­I was looking for the other demon kings.


    There were more demon kings, I had already realized this fact after everything that I had encountered.


    But I had never met another demon king until this point.


    Well, I''ve met the proxy of a demon king, but that was it.


    I just knew that since the demon kings were the end goal according to the voice that gave everyone their power, then they should be related to the dungeons in some way.


    Demon kings shouldn''t appear in weak dungeons, they should only appear in the stronger dungeons like the S Rank Dungeon. Or even like the SS Rank Dungeon that we were still competing to explore.


    So if I could find anything about the demon kings from this information, it would be very useful.


    It was just that there wasn''t a single thing here.


    I couldn''t help feeling disappointed when I realized this, but I also knew that this was only normal.


    Demon kings weren''t that easy to find¡­


    After that exhibition, we went to have some lunch, but it really was hard to find an appetite in this situation. I was still facing a dilemma of whether I should give up or whether I should win this tournament.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile when I saw how easily Tammy was eating her food.


    It was as if she didn''t have a single care in the world¡­


    Compared to me, she seemed completely relaxed about our fight.


    But there was also something else that made things worse during lunch.


    It was an entire war that happened because Tammy had suddenly raised her fork with some food on it to my mouth while saying, "Ah¡­"


    As soon as she did this, the others immediately intercepted and did what they could to do the same.


    They wouldn''t have done it if she didn''t spur them on¡­but once she did, it became an all out battle.


    I was just glad that I wouldn''t have to see her anymore after this. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tammy really was a barrel of gunpowder that could explode at any moment and ruin my plans.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had already prepared by putting suggestions in them, this would have definitely been much worse.


    After lunch, we headed to the arena and it was time for our fight.


    Before we went up to the stage, while we were in the waiting room, the judge suddenly came to see us.


    The way that he looked at us¡­particularly at me made it very clear what he was here for.


    But in the end, he didn''t get what he wanted since Tammy just had a poker face the entire time. No matter what he tried to say to her, she just deflected it with a smile.


    The judge left with a depressed look, but he looked at me with a pleading look.


    I also deflected this since I didn''t know whether to forfeit or not, but it definitely wouldn''t be what the judge wanted.


    When it was time, Tammy looked at me with a smile and said, "Let''s go and put on a good show."


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile.

 Chapter 424 Third round (20)

    "Are you kidding me?!""What is this joke!?"


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    "Fight already!"


    Those were the shouts that came from the crowd around us.


    But it wasn''t like that in the beginning.


    When we first stepped out onto the stage, the crowd was cheering excitedly for us.


    It seemed like their expectations had been raised even though they had been disappointed previously.


    But it wasn''t strange that they were like this.


    After all, this was the final match of this tournament. No one would think that the final match would end just like the semi finals had, with one side forfeiting before they even started fighting.


    When we came up to the stage, we were introduced by the host that was waiting there.


    It seemed that this time, they weren''t just leaving everything to the judge.


    This time, they were actually properly holding a show before the fight began.


    Tammy was the one that was introduced first and there were loud cheers for her. It seemed that there were more females cheering for her than there were males.


    She had quite a few female fans, but that wasn''t strange since Tammy was what many of them would have aspired to be.


    When it was time for her to say a few words, Tammy said, "Please watch over me today."


    There was a moment of silence after Tammy said this as the crowd was a bit confused as to what she meant by this, but it didn''t take long before they started cheering for her again.


    It seemed that even if they didn''t understand what she meant by this, she was popular enough that it didn''t matter.


    Then after Tammy, it was my turn to be introduced.


    This time, the reaction from the crowd was much more tame than when Tammy was introduced.


    There were less cheers and there were even a few whispers.


    It was clear that I didn''t have the same reputation as Tammy, but that wasn''t strange because of everything that had happened. I was the only one who had advanced without fighting a single match.


    All of my opponents had forfeited before I even had the chance to fight them, so there were many people who even speculated that I had done something to them before the fight.


    I didn''t say a thing when I heard all of this since I already knew that it was impossible to change their view of me. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the host finished introducing me, he asked, "Is there anything that you have to say?"


    The way that he said this almost seemed like there was a deeper meaning to his words, but I just said with a sigh, "Let''s just get this over with."


    There were some people that reacted positively to this, but it also seemed that many people reacted negatively to this. They thought that I was being too arrogant for what I had done.


    I wasn''t bothered by this at all, but for some reason, it seemed that Tammy was bothered on my behalf.


    In the end, the judge came forward and started the fight¡­or rather before he started the fight, he looked at us and said, "Can you just give them a proper fight?"


    Neither of us said a single thing in response to this.


    This just made the judge give a sigh like he had already given up before saying, "Alright, get ready to fight then¡­" Then under his breath, he said, "Even if you don''t even want to."


    Tammy looked at me and I looked at her.


    There was a part of me that wanted to give up, but there was also a part of me that wanted to finish the mission that Lilith had given me last night.


    That moment of hesitation was all that Tammy needed to get the jump on me.


    As soon as the judge''s hand came down, she said, "I forfeit."


    The judge didn''t seem to react at all when he heard this as he just looked at her with a gaze like he had already expected this. Then he turned to look at me, as if he was waiting to see how I reacted.


    I hesitated for a moment which was why I was slower, but I also said, "I forfeit."


    The judge looked at me with a bitter smile.


    It was almost as if he was saying, "Why are you doing this to me?"


    But it wasn''t as if he could say anything at this point since both of us had forfeited.


    Though Tammy had forfeited first, so by the rules¡­I was the one that won.


    It was just that no one would be satisfied if things ended like this.


    As expected¡­


    The crowd suddenly started jeering us, which was what led to the scene of them shouting at us to start fighting.


    However, neither Tammy nor I looked like we were planning to do anything like that.


    The judge just looked at the two of us for a bit before saying, "I''m not getting involved in this, you decide who loses and I''ll make the call."


    He was actually shirking on his job as the judge and just leaving it to us!


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Why are you forfeiting?"


    I just looked at her and asked back without answering, "Why are you forfeiting?"


    She looked at me and said, "I have my own reason to forfeit, so just take the victory. Isn''t it a good thing for you to win this tournament?"


    I shook my head and said, "I have my own reason not to win either. So why don''t you just accept the victory instead?"


    Tammy knitted her brows before stepping forward and saying, "No, you have to win. That is what needs to happen for all of us."


    I was confused when I heard her say this, but I still shook my head and said, "No, I don''t want to win."


    Tammy leaned in and suddenly said, "If you don''t accept the victory, I''ll announce to the world that we''re together."


    I was shocked to hear her say this.


    I looked at her with a very strange look before saying, "Why would you do that?"


    She just calmly said, "It''s a threat."


    I didn''t know how serious she was about this, but I knew what the consequences of this were. So even if there was a slight chance that she would do something like this¡­I really couldn''t risk it¡­


    So I said with a sigh, "Fine¡­you win. Do what you want."


    Tammy revealed a smile, though a trace of disappointment appeared in her eyes as well as she said, "I never thought that you would be so against being with me. It really hurts, you know?"


    I quickly explained, "That''s not what I meant, it''s just that¡­"


    Tammy shook her head as she said, "There''s no need to explain, I understand your situation. But just know that I will make you fall for me one day."


    With that confident smile, she walked away and went over to the judge to say, "I''m forfeiting."


    The judge looked at me as if he was confirming this and I just gave a nod to show that it was the case.


    With that, the finals of this tournament had been settled.

 Chapter 425 A surprise guest

    Once it was announced that I was the winner, the crowd jeered even more.But today, they didn''t start throwing things into the stadium like they had done before. Discover hidden content at empire


    That was because¡­the organizers had already learned from their mistakes and had made sure that there was nothing to throw.


    Though it did cause quite a bit of a stir among the audience when they heard the new rules that had been implemented by the organizers.


    They weren''t allowed to bring food or drinks or anything else with them as they watched. This really did seem different from any other event that was similar to this tournament.


    But no one complained in the end since there was no way that they could complain.


    This was an event that was held by many of the large guilds jointly, so it wasn''t as if they could complain when they saw all the security that was there. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thinking about it now, it seemed like it had been a good idea to do this or else it would have been a mess here.


    Though that didn''t stop people from using their voices to complain.


    There were many complaints that came from all around us, that came down at us like a tidal wave. But it wasn''t as if there was anything that we could do about this since we were the ones that caused them to act like this in the first place.


    After the match was decided, it was time to hold the awards ceremony.


    Though this had to be the first awards ceremony to be booed at the entire time.


    Not a single person in the crowd was satisfied with how things ended and they wanted us to fight even though the matter had been decided.


    The rankings went me in first place, Tammy in second, and Julius in third.


    Julius being in third was decided this morning in a much smaller and private third place match against Ares.


    I heard that Ares had been completely outmatched by Julius, which just went to show how strong he really was.


    If he had been the one to fight Tammy, that really would have been the best fight to end the tournament with.


    It was just too bad that neither of them seemed interested in winning.


    However, that wasn''t the end of it yet.


    There was a special guest that had arrived during this awards ceremony.


    This person was introduced as a special guest without anyone being told who he was. This was a handsome young man with white hair who walked up to the stage with a smile on his face.


    As I looked in his direction, I couldn''t help revealing a strange look of recognition.


    It wasn''t the handsome white haired young man that I recognized, but rather the person who was walking behind him.


    It was Eliott.


    He didn''t seem to look at me as he walked behind the handsome white haired young man. It was almost as if he was trying to fade into the background as much as possible as he followed behind the handsome white haired young man.


    But since it was Eliott who came with the handsome white haired young man, did that mean


    The handsome white haired young man walked over to the host and then reached his hand out for the mic.


    The host handed it over without any resistance.


    After receiving the mic, the handsome white haired young man said in a soothing voice, "I''m sure that everyone is wondering who I am."


    The crowd fell silent when they heard this voice.


    They had been jeering still, but they were all shocked by how soothing this voice sounded that they couldn''t help falling silent.


    There was even more silence that followed after what the handsome white haired young man said, "My name is Asura, I am the chief of staff of the Awakeners Association."


    The moment that this was said, everyone looked at the handsome white haired young man in shock. Slowly, there were looks of recognition that appeared in the eyes of the crowd..


    That was because this person was a famous person.


    The chief of staff of the Awakeners Association, that meant that he was the one in charge of all the different heads of the different departments of the Awakeners Association.


    He was the number three person of the Awakeners Association after the president and the vice president.


    Someone like him was considered a very big deal in this world filled with Awakeners.


    Most people didn''t recognize him since this chief of staff of the Awakeners Association normally worked behind the scenes. He worked through the different department heads instead of taking action himself, so most people didn''t know him.


    But even so, there were people that did know him since he was just that important of a person.


    After the handsome white haired young man finished saying this, he continued by saying, "I''m here on behalf of the Awakeners Association today to offer a special prize to the winner."


    Once again, there was only shock and silence that followed after the crowd heard this.


    After all, not a single person had expected this kind of twist.


    This tournament was one that was held by the large guilds working together, it was something that had been done without the Awakener Association.


    But now¡­the Awakener Association had sent their number three to offer a prize to the winner.


    At the same time, it was clear that neither the host nor the organizers were stopping them, making it clear that they were agreeing to this.


    When did they come to this agreement?


    Wasn''t this supposed to not include the Awakener Association so that they could properly show off the talents of the large guilds?


    Why was the Awakener Association suddenly involved in this matter?


    Asura just ignored the crowd that looked at him in shock and confusion and walked over to the podium to stand in front of me.


    As he stood there in front of me, he looked at me with a smile on his face that made a bad feeling fill me.


    It felt like something was wrong when he looked at me like this.

 Chapter 426 The Awakener Associations gamble

    While looking at me still, Asura suddenly said, "We will be providing support to the winner of this tournament. They will be given priority in all dungeons managed by the Awakener Association and they will receive the greatest support of the Awakener Association staff."He went on to list a bunch of different benefits that would be offered to me, but I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I understood what Julius had meant by this previously right away.


    Cooperating with the Awakener Association, that was not something that everyone would benefit from.


    There were those people that would benefit from it since the Awakener Association did have immense resources. But for those that weren''t as close to the Awakener Association, this kind of connection with them wasn''t useful.


    It would actually bring more harm than help since it would force them to come to a confrontation with the Awakener Association.


    It made sense that this wouldn''t be as helpful to Julius since he was from the Rothschild Family.


    They were a family that had hid their wealth and power for a long time, so they naturally didn''t want to be exposed by cooperating with the Awakener Association.


    But that made me wonder why Tammy had given up.


    The Sol Warriors shouldn''t be at odds with the Awakener Association, so she should have benefitted from this as well¡­ S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for me, I would naturally benefit from this.


    After all, I had Eliott who I was already working with.


    I had already agreed to cooperate with the Awakeners Association through Eliott, so there was no doubt that this would only make our cooperation even better. As long as I didn''t do anything that would harm that relationship or Eliott suddenly didn''t want to cooperate with me, then nothing should have changed this.


    When he finished saying all of this, Asura came right up in front of me and reached his hand out as he said, "I''m looking forward to working with you from now on."


    I looked down at him and slowly reached my hand out to shake his hand.


    But I could feel that there was something strange about the way that he looked at me. Read the latest on empire


    It was almost as if there was something else that he wanted from me, but I didn''t know just what he wanted.


    After taking my hand, I suddenly felt Asura pulling me forward off the podium.


    I landed beside him and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder before saying into the mic, "This young man is a prime example of what the younger generation of Awakeners should be. Working hard to achieve a goal and becoming the best member of society that one can be. In these dark times, we should all strive to act in this manner to benefit society as much as possible."


    There was only silence that followed after Asura said this.


    The crowd just looked at him with very strange looks, as if they couldn''t understand what he was saying.


    Dark times?


    What did he mean by dark times?


    In this current era, humans were flourishing because of the resources that came from the dungeons. They had many new technologies that were fueled by the magic crystals that they farmed from the dungeons.


    So with the single threat that everyone united against, there was less open conflict.


    Though of course, it was impossible to completely get rid of all conflict since there would be a competition for resources no matter what happened.


    But it was far from calling it dark times since the world was overall better.


    So what was he talking about?


    Asura could see the way that the crowd looked confused and he suddenly said, "The reason I say that this world is now in dark times is because of the appearance of the final enemy for humanity. The reason I say this is because of the appearance of the demon king."


    There wasn''t a single mouth that was closed in this stadium after he said this.


    Even I couldn''t help looking at him in shock when he said this.


    Though this matter had been reported before, it was only regarded as traces of the demon king and no one had ever confirmed that there was a demon king.


    But now, Asura, the third ranked person of the Awakener Association was announcing the existence of the demon king. When someone of his status announced something like this, there was no way that people could ignore it.


    It was just¡­why would he announce something like this?


    Anyone who thought about it would be able to figure out that by doing this, he would be causing chaos.


    Just by announcing this, there was no doubt that people would panic and spread many rumours about this matter.


    So why did he do it?


    His next words explained it all.


    As soon as I heard them, I knew why he was doing this.


    "I''m sure that everyone is worried about this, but that is why I have come here today. I want to see the new generation of Awakeners with everyone. They will be the ones that will lead our world into the future and be our vanguard against the demon kings.


    I want everyone to know that our Awakener Association will be there to help everyone in the fight against the demon king." Asura said in a very passionate voice.


    He was creating a public enemy and then inserting the Awakener Association as the one that protected everyone.


    In this way, the Awakener Association''s prestige and influence would become much greater than before.


    They would be able to become the organization that everyone trusted and wanted to join once they established themselves as the greatest defender of humanity.


    But in a sense, this was also a gamble since it all depended on how the crowd reacted.


    If the crowd didn''t react, it didn''t matter what they said about themselves since they wouldn''t support the Awakener Association.


    But this gamble paid off for the Awakener Association in the end.

 Chapter 427 For the future

    The crowd''s reaction was quite intense as they cheered for what Asura said.It seemed that there were many that were excited because of what he said.


    Judging by the way that they looked and the aura that was coming from them, it was clear that they were Awakeners as well.


    They were excited because for them, it meant that this was a chance for the future.


    But even for normal people, they couldn''t help feeling excited.


    Since the dungeons had appeared over ten years ago, there had been no mention of the demon king. The demon kings were regarded as the final boss of this whole affair, but no one had even caught a glimpse of a single demon king yet.


    So when the demon king was confirmed by the Awakener Association, they could finally feel assured.


    The demon king was like a danger that had been looming over them the entire time.


    If there was a chance that this danger could be eliminated, they would naturally be happy.


    The crowd started cheering for what Asura had said and it seemed like there were many people who wanted to volunteer their powers to him.


    But Asura wasn''t finished yet.


    There was a reason why he had put his arm around my shoulder and brought me closer to him.


    I had no idea why he did this, but he definitely did.


    After pulling me in, he said, "In this new generation, we even have someone who has fought against the demon king before."


    As soon as his voice fell, all of the cheering suddenly stopped.


    Everyone looked right at Asura, as if they wanted to ask him just what he meant by this. However, he just calmly stood there with a smile on his face, as if he was teasing them.


    After a moment of silence, Asura said into the mic, "Our little friend Lin Fan here has already faced off against the minions of the demon king and has triumphed over them. In the future, I believe that he will lead us against the demon king."


    There was only silence that followed after he said this, but I could feel everyone looking at me.


    It was clear that they were sizing me up, as if they were wondering if this was even true in the first place.


    But after that moment of silence, there were cheers that rang out.


    This time, people didn''t seem to care about what had happened before as they cheered for me.


    Of course, it wasn''t just blind faith that they cheered for me like this.


    Rather, it was because it was Asura that they cheered for me like this.


    Everyone naturally knew that I was a part of Elementia and they knew that the incident involving the demon king before happened in a raid dungeon that Elementia was visiting. Though it had never been reported that I had been in that dungeon since there had been a coverup of that.


    But now that Asura said this, people naturally believed him because of his prestige.


    They thought, "There''s no need for him to lie to us, so it must be true."


    I could feel the excitement that came from the cheering around me, but I didn''t feel happy about it at all. Rather, I had deeply knitted brows as I watched everyone in the crowd cheering for me like this.


    I would have preferred staying in the shadows than being exposed like this.


    So I couldn''t help glaring at Asura after he said this.


    But he just ignored me as he continued, "In the future, humans will fight back against the demon kings and take control of the dungeons. We will no longer have to fear dungeon breaks, sudden dungeon appearances, or even demon kings! Together, we shall take down the demon kings!"


    The cheering reached a peak after Asura said this.


    Many people were cheering for the Awakener Association, but I could hear that there were also people that were cheering for me.


    With just a few words from Asura, my reputation had been completely turned around.


    I couldn''t help thinking if Lilith knew that this would happen that she created the mission for me to win this match.


    But then again, I didn''t think that it was very likely.


    She most likely had some other goal in making me win this tournament and I had gotten caught up in this because of that.


    As the crowd cheered around us, Asura leaned in and whispered, "I''ll explain later and I''ll be sure to compensate you properly. But for now, just go along with it and hype up the crowd."


    I didn''t know what to say in response to this, but I could feel his hand gripping harder on my shoulder.


    So in the end, I waved at the crowd which made them cheer even harder. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that everyone was cheering as if they believed in the future that Asura talked about.


    It seemed that they were cheering for the future where humans would defeat the demon king and bring this era of dungeons to an end.


    But it was unknown if they knew just what kind of cost would come at this.


    It was also funny that a demon king like me was being used as a tool to rally people to fight the demon king¡­


    Once he let the cheering go on for a bit, Asura said, "From now on, the Awakener Association will be accepting new members. If anyone wishes to join the Awakener Association and fight against the demon king, then please consider it."


    This was the other true goal of doing all of this.


    It was all to make the Awakener Association stronger.


    All I could do was reveal a bitter smile and wave at the crowd at this.


    I couldn''t help wondering just where I would fit in the future that he described.


    After all, as a demon king, it wasn''t as if I had a place in this future.

 Chapter 428 Im sure that you have your questions

    When the ceremony was over, I was called to meet someone like I had expected.When I entered the room, there were two people that were waiting there.


    It was Asura and Elliot.


    Asura was sitting down while Elliot was standing on the side, as if he was guarding the room.


    Once the two of them saw me come in, Asura waved his hand at me with a smile on his face, as if he was calling me to sit down with him.


    Elliot just stood there with an awkward look on his face, but the look that he gave me was as if he was asking me to go along with this.


    So I just sat down in the seat in front of Asura and waited to see what he wanted.


    After sitting down, Asura just looked at me with a smile on his face, as if he wasn''t bothered at all by this situation. It was as if he didn''t care about the awkward silence that lingered in the air at all.


    I just gave a cough before saying, "Is there anything you want from me?"


    Asura still didn''t say anything as he calmly looked at me.


    After a while, he finally said, "I''m sure that you have your questions about what happened earlier, so let''s talk about it."


    I was certainly surprised hearing how blunt he was with me, but it wasn''t as if this was a bad thing. The more forward he was, the sooner that I would be able to leave this place.


    There was no doubt that there were people watching, so I did want to leave as soon as possible.


    Asura saw that I didn''t say anything, so he said, "I know that we used you without your permission and that violates that contract that we''ve already established. However, you should know how dangerous the world is now that everything is changing."


    He narrowed his eyes to look at me before continuing, "Unless something changes, it''ll only be a matter of time before we are overrun by the monsters in the dungeons. Especially with the appearance of the demon king."


    I slowly gave a nod in agreement, but then I asked, "You think that the demon king is real? There are a lot of people that believe that this is nothing more than a hoax."


    Asura wasn''t offended when he heard this and instead looked at me with a smile before saying, "There''s no need for you to test me, I''m not one of those fools in power that can''t recognize the changes around them. I know that this is not a hoax."


    Then after a pause, he added, "Even if it was, it''s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to things like this, so you don''t have to worry about it. I guarantee that this has my full attention."


    There was a part of me that was worried when I heard this.


    I was testing him, but it wasn''t for the reason that he thought I was testing him for.


    After all, I was part of the problem, not part of the solution.


    I was on the opposite side, the side of the demon king.


    The more seriously that he took this, the worse it was for me¡­


    But I couldn''t show that, so I had to force myself to maintain a calm look on my face when I faced Asura.


    After taking a moment like I was letting this sink in, I said, "I understand, but that doesn''t explain why you''ve asked me here. That is unless you are planning to include me in something else, then I have to remind you that we already have a contract."


    Asura wasn''t offended at all when he heard this and just revealed a smile like he found this interesting.


    After looking at me for a bit, he said, "Of course not, we aren''t planning on doing anything to you at all. We just invited you here to give you compensation since we were the ones that involved you without asking for your opinion."


    This time, I was surprised.


    After all, this was not what I had expected to hear.


    I never would have expected them to compensate me on their own. I thought that I would have to get Elementia involved before receiving any form of compensation.


    Asura gave a nod to Elliot and he came forward to where we were sitting.


    He didn''t sit down as he waved his hand over the table and a briefcase appeared.


    After making the briefcase appear, he opened it up in front of me to reveal a black card and a crystal. Those were the only two things that were inside of this briefcase. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The black card was clearly a credit card, but it was one of those infamous cards that shouldn''t have a limit.


    The crystal was something that I didn''t recognize at all and at the same time, I didn''t dare use my demon king system''s appraisal on it because of who was here with me.


    So I just looked at it with a curious look as I waited for¡­


    "It''s an Evolution Crystal." Asura suddenly said when he saw the look on my face.


    I just looked up at him with a confused look since I had no idea what this Evolution Crystal was.


    Asura also figured that this was the case, so he continued by explaining, "This is an item that was discovered recently in one of the S Rank Dungeons. It''s an item that allows an Awakener to upgrade their skill."


    He didn''t say any more than that, but that was already enough to shock me.


    After all, it was common knowledge that one couldn''t increase the level of the skill that they awakened, no matter what they did. It was the innate level that the skill could reach and it wouldn''t surpass that, that was the rule that had been established.


    But now it seemed that this rule had been broken with the introduction of this Evolution Crystal.


    It was no wonder they believed that the world was changing.


    There was no doubt that this item would change the entire world.

 Chapter 429 Useless

    After he finished explaining what the Evolution Stone was, Asura said, "Do you want to use it here?"The way that he looked at me as he said this¡­


    It was clear that he wanted to see me use this Evolution Stone.


    It seemed like he wanted to see what would happen after my power was upgraded to the next level.


    However, it wasn''t as if that was something that I could show to just anyone.


    If my power was only Suggestion like they believed it was, then that might have been fine. However, I had a completely different power that I couldn''t show them or else it would be bad for me.


    So I couldn''t use this Evolution Stone in front of them.


    Shaking my head, I said, "No, it''s not safe to use it here."


    The two of them slightly knitted their brows when they heard this, but they eventually gave nods in response to this.


    I was prepared for them to look a bit offended, but it didn''t seem like they were offended at all. It even seemed like they completely understood what I was trying to infer when I said that it wasn''t safe here.


    Though it was also clear that they had some kind of misunderstanding when it came to their understanding.


    They didn''t know about my real powers after all.


    Since that was all that they had for me, Asura had Elliot escort me out just in case anything happened.


    The things that they gave me were considered quite valuable and it was a fact that I was meeting with Asura, one of the top people of the Awakeners Association. If there was anyone watching, now would be the time to strike even if they didn''t know the exact value of the items that I had.


    So he sent Elliot to escort me out just in case.


    As I was brought out, Elliot suddenly stopped and said, "I know that you must be feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this and I understand if you have your doubts about all of this, but I just want to say that the chief does have the world''s best intentions at heart. He''s just a bit¡­" There was an awkward look that appeared on his face before he said, "Well, he''s someone that goes at his own pace, so he isn''t someone that is easy to get along with."


    That could easily be taken as an understatement since I knew what kind of personality Asura had after my short meeting with him.


    But I also knew there was a reason why people were willing to follow him.


    So I just shook my head and said, "I understand. You don''t need to worry about it, I won''t hold it against him."


    Elliot was surprised to hear this before suddenly revealing a smile. With that smile on his face, he patted me on the back and said, "I knew that there was a reason I liked you. It seems like you really do have a good eye."


    I just smiled without saying anything.


    After making sure that I didn''t hold a grudge against them for what happened, Elliot sent me back to Su Chen who had been waiting for me the entire time.


    He was the one that would bring me home after all as my handler.


    It was a long few days, but it was finally over and I was able to go home.


    The first thing that I did as soon as I got home was crash on my couch, but it wasn''t as if I could completely crash yet. There was still something else that I had to take care of before crashing.


    I took out the card and the stone that I received from the Awakeners Association.


    The black card was certainly useful, but it wasn''t something that could be used a lot.


    Money was good, but it was also restrictive since it wasn''t my money.


    The Evolution Stone was what caught my attention more.


    I was thinking about using it to power up the Demon King System, but¡­


    "You should stop that thought. This is not something that you should use."


    Lilith suddenly came out of my Storage Ring and landed in front of me to take the Evolution Stone from me.


    After looking at it for a bit, she threw it onto the ground and said, "This thing is useless for you. You shouldn''t even think about using it."


    I was completely taken aback when I heard her say this as I didn''t understand why she would say something like this.


    I just looked at her in a daze for a bit before asking, "What do you mean by that?"


    Lilith turned back to look at me with a strange look and was silent for a bit before saying, "This thing doesn''t match you. It isn''t a good fit for your power."


    "My power? You mean the Demon King System?" I asked in a confused voice.


    Though there was a part of me that was already thinking that this would be the case. This was something that would upgrade the power of those Awakeners that fought against the demon king, so it shouldn''t be something that could be used to power up the demon king.


    That would just go against the purpose that it was created for.


    Lilith gave a nod before shaking her head and saying, "It''s not just that."


    I was even more confused when I heard this, but I still asked, "What about Suggestion? Wouldn''t it work to make that stronger? It would be a good cover for me, wouldn''t it?"


    Lilith shook her head again before saying, "You shouldn''t think about that. It''s not good for you if you rely on that power too much." S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t be more confused as I heard this.


    What she said didn''t seem to make any sense at all, but¡­


    It didn''t seem like she was planning on explaining herself as she said, "In short, this thing is useless to you and the people that are around you. You shouldn''t think about using this thing."

 Chapter 430 Strange response

    There was an awkward silence that hung in the air after Lilith said this.


    She had turned her head away as if she didn''t want to look at me, but there was a part of the way that she acted that seemed like she wasn''t able to look at me.


    It was almost as if there was some kind of secret that she was hiding from me with the way that she turned her head.


    I just remained in silence since I really didn''t know what to say in response to what she had said.


    There was a part of me that wanted to refute what she said, but I realized that I couldn''t since I didn''t know everything about this thing in the first place. At the same time, a part of me recognized that she must have her reason for saying this.


    It was just that she wouldn''t tell me that reason¡­


    Seeing her like this, I felt a bit conflicted.


    There was a part of me that wanted to ask this, but there was also a part of me that wanted to trust her to a certain extent.


    I knew that Lilith did many strange things, but the things that she had done had usually helped me in the long run.


    In the first place, if it wasn''t for her giving me the demon king system, none of this would have even happened.


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    So at the very least, I should show her this kind of respect and trust.


    In the end, I was the one that broke the silence by saying, "You should know that we are much more deeply linked than other people¡­or living beings. We should at least show that we have the minimum amount of trust in each other by sharing some information, right?"


    Lilith still didn''t look at me when she heard this, but I could see that she was slowly peeking back at me.


    At the very least, it seemed that she was a bit hesitant about keeping silent.


    It seemed like she had been moved to a certain extent by my words.


    Even though to others, it might have seemed like I was thinking too much since she was in a bunny doll in the first place.


    After a long moment of silence, Lilith suddenly gave a sigh before saying, "This is something that I can''t tell you about. It''s not that I don''t want to tell you, it''s just that you''re not ready to hear it yet."


    There was a very confused look that appeared on my face after hearing this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at her as if I was trying to see if she was being serious or not. After all, this was a very strange answer no matter how one looked at this.


    But looking at her, I could see that she was serious about this.


    It seemed that whatever trouble she was facing was serious enough that she was acting this way.


    It made me even more curious about what she wasn''t telling me, but since she was willing to take the first step¡­


    "Alright, I''ll trust you this time. I hope that you will be able to tell me more in the future." I said this with a deep sigh.


    Lilith looked at me with a strange look before giving a nod.


    This was the kind of nod that seemed to come from someone with something to feel guilty about.


    Though I had no idea what she would feel guilty about.


    I was about to turn in for the night, but Lilith suddenly stopped me by saying, "This is what''s best for you. I just want to tell you that if you want to know more, you have to become stronger. The more of a demon king you become, the more of the system you will have access to."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was something that Lilith kept telling me to do, but to become more of a demon lord was harder than it seemed.


    After all, to do the things that were required of a demon lord, especially a demon lord of lust¡­wasn''t that easy. It wasn''t something that I could just accomplish because she told me to do.


    It would attract a lot of attention to do things like that and this was not something that I could afford to do.


    Attention was the last thing that I wanted right now.


    So in the end, I just gave a simple nod without saying anything else.


    That was because there was something else that I learned from her words.


    She was telling me to act more like a demon king in a time where we were supposed to share more information with each other.


    This wasn''t a direct piece of information, but rather a very indirect piece of information.


    Lilith was trying to tell me that this warning of hers was related to¡­the origin of the demon king system.


    The reason she was stopping me was most likely related to the origin of this demon king system that I had.


    But what I didn''t understand was how the origin of the demon king system was related to this Evolution Stone. It didn''t seem like it would be related beyond the fact that they were both related to the dungeons.


    The dungeons were the domains of the demon kings and the Evolution Stone had come from a dungeon.


    That was the only link that they seemed to have.


    Lilith didn''t seem like she was going to say anything else.


    I could even see that she was trembling a bit while wincing her face.


    It seemed that she had already pushed herself to just tell me this much.


    If she were to try and tell me more¡­there was no doubt that she would be punished more by whatever was currently punishing her.


    In that case, as her partner, I should know not to push this matter any further than this and just accept what she could give me.


    But it all made me very curious as to what the origin of the demon king system was.

 Chapter 1 - 1: Awakening ceremony

    "Slay all the demon kings and save this world, chosen heroes!"


    With that one sentence appearing in the minds of everyone in the world, the world suddenly changed.


    There were dungeons that appeared all over the world and in those dungeons, there were people who awakened their powers.


    Ten years later, the world was completely different from the world of the past.


    ¡­


    "This is my last chance¡­" I said with a heavy sigh as I looked down at the sheet of paper in my hand.


    My name is Lin Fan and today is my final awakening ceremony.


    Since the world had changed, everyone was allowed to take an awakening ceremony that would grant them supernatural powers from the age of 16-20. That was the age that scientists had declared as the period where humans had the most potential.


    If one couldn''t awaken during that age period, then there was no chance that they would ever awaken powers.


    So if I didn''t awaken my powers at this ceremony, then I wouldn''t have a chance.


    Those that didn''t awaken any powers in this power based society were treated as second class citizens. They would never be able to get any good jobs and would be treated like slaves by those that had awakened.


    But I had failed in every single attempt that I had taken so far, so it was very likely that I wouldn''t be able to pass this awakening ceremony either.


    There were just some people that didn''t have what it took to awaken an ability and that just had to be accepted. I was most likely one of those people who couldn''t awaken an ability¡­


    It was just that I couldn''t help trying still since I didn''t want to let my parents and little sister in heaven down.


    They had died when one of the dungeons had suddenly experienced a dungeon break.


    In the ensuing wave of monsters that came out, they had been caught when my little sister had fallen over. My parents had rushed back to protect her and they had been trampled by the monsters.


    When I had been called in to identify their bodies¡­it had really been hard for me to look at them.


    That was why I at least wanted to let them know that I could take care of myself as a power awakener.


    So even if the chances were slim, I had to do this.


    With these thoughts in my mind, I took a deep breath and slapped myself on the face to calm myself down. Then I headed into the awakener center in front of me to register for my ceremony.


    But before I could reach the reception desk, I was stopped by a group that were standing in the hall.


    These people were people that I knew since I used to go to the same school as them. However, I had to drop out in the end to work full time to earn enough money to even take these awakening ceremonies on top of my living expenses.


    When these people saw me, they immediately stopped to talk to me¡­but it wasn''t as if we were friends.


    After all, these were the people who used to bully me.


    When they saw me here, they immediately revealed smiles like predators who had just found prey.


    It took them no time to surround me and bring me away to a hidden corner.


    As for resisting, it was impossible since they were all awakened. They all had the support of their families, so they were able to take as many ceremonies as they wanted. Though they didn''t need it in the first place since they were all talented people who had awakened their first time.


    "Thump."


    With this heavy sound, I fell to my knees as I was punched in the gut.


    "Ha, he even feels so good to punch!" Wang Bing, the leader of this group said as he punched me.


    "Shi, shi, shi. Make him jump a bit too, I like to see him jump." Mei Tang Tang, Wang Bing''s girlfriend, laughed as she pointed at me.


    The rest of them were all jeering along with this.


    Wang Bing gave a nod and said, "Alright, you heard Tang Tang, start jumping."


    I could barely stand at this moment, so jumping really was hard¡­


    But with how they threatened me, it wasn''t as if I had a chance¡­


    So I tried to force myself to stand up and jump for them. Unfortunately, my legs couldn''t handle it and I collapsed under my own weight, falling to the ground.


    When the bullies saw this, they began laughing again.


    Wang Bing came forward to grab me, but before he could, there was a cold voice that said, "Leave him alone."


    The moment that this voice rang out, everyone turned to look in that direction.


    Standing there was Yue Ling, my childhood friend and current A Ranker awakener.


    When the bullies saw her, they couldn''t help taking a step back because they were no more than D Rankers. The only one among them that was a C Ranker was Wang Bing.


    After being caught off guard, Wang Bing gave a cough and said, "Ling Ling, are you still hanging out with this trash? You should know that he isn''t someone that someone at your social standing should hang out with." S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Yue Ling gave a cold snort before saying, "Get lost."


    Hearing this, Wang Bing was caught off guard again since he never expected Yue Ling to be this direct.


    But she was an A Ranker¡­so it wasn''t as if he could say anything.


    He just glared at me and mouthed, "You''re dead later." Then he and his group of bullies quickly left this place.


    After they were gone, Yue Ling came over to help me as she asked in a gentle voice, "Big brother Fan, are you alright?"


    Seeing the way that she looked at me, I couldn''t help¡­feeling inferior.


    She was my childhood friend, I should have been the one to protect her¡­but it was the other way around.


    This feeling of inferiority ate me up on the inside, so I just curtly said, "I''m alright."


    Yue Ling knitted her brows when she heard this before turning to look in the direction that the bullies had gone off in. She muttered under her breath, "I really should have taken care of them earlier¡­"


    I didn''t hear exactly what she said, but it felt like she had said something, so I asked, "Did you say something?"


    Yue Ling looked back with a smile and shook her head to say, "Nope, nothing."


    Then she changed the topic by saying, "It''s finally your time today, big brother Fan. When you awaken, we''ll be able to go into dungeons together."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile before saying, "I might not even be able to awaken."


    After hearing this, Yue Ling pouted her lips out and said, "Big brother Fan, if you keep acting negative like this, Ling Ling will get angry."


    Even if I wasn''t in the mood, seeing her acting cute like this dragged it out of me in the end. I reached out to pat Yue Ling on the head, a right that only I had been given before saying, "I''ll do my best."


    Yue Ling gave a nod with a wide smile as she said, "Un, I believe in big brother Fan."


    ¡­


    "F Rank, Suggestion."


    The moment that I heard this, it felt like my world was collapsing.


    I had been ecstatic when I heard that I had awakened a power, but¡­then I heard that it was a F Rank skill and it was like falling from heaven to hell¡­


    F Rank, it was the lowest possible ranking for a skill and every skill that was ranked F Rank was considered trash. There was no practical use for any F Rank skill, so even if one was an awakener, a F Ranker would be treated like a non-awakener.


    After coming back to my senses, I quickly grabbed the person in charge of the ceremony and said, "No, this has to be a mistake! It can''t be a F Rank!"


    Seeing the way that I looked, the staff looked at me like I was trash. He didn''t hold back either as he pushed me back into my chair and said, "F Rank is F Rank! I guess those with trash powers have trash manners as well!"


    Without even waiting for me to say anything, he threw me a piece of paper and walked off.


    I picked this piece of paper off the ground and looked at what was written.


    Suggestion: F Rank


    Has the ability to make suggestions to people that will cause them to act a certain way for a short period of time. Success rate depends on the will of the target. If the target has a stronger will than the user, then the skill will fail.


    When I finished reading this short description, I couldn''t help breaking out in laughter.


    It was over, it was all over¡­


    This kind of trash skill, who would ever want this kind of trash skill?


    My life was over.

 Chapter 2 - 2: Desires

    I walked out of the ceremony hall in a daze.


    Standing there in the main hall of this awakener center waiting for me was Yue Ling. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When she saw me come out, she excitedly came over and asked, "Big brother Fan, what rank are you?"


    She didn''t even ask if I had awakened or not, she just directly asked me for my rank. If I hadn''t been so depressed, I would have been moved by the confidence that she had in me¡­but I really couldn''t be.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything in response, Yue Ling revealed a worried look as she asked, "Big brother Fan, what''s wrong?"


    I looked at her with those eyes filled with despair and then handed the piece of paper in my hand over to her.


    "F Rank, Suggestion?" Yue Ling said in a slow and confused voice.


    But then her expression fell as she turned to look at me with a complicated look. There were many changes to her expression, but in the end, her expression became serious.


    There was a silence that followed since everyone had been watching because it was Yue Ling, the A Ranker.


    But then there was a laugh that rang out through the hall.


    Since it was silent due to Yue Ling being there, it rang out even more clearly than it would normally.


    When everyone turned in the direction that the laugh came from, they saw that it came from Wang Bing.


    Wang Bing couldn''t control himself when he heard that Lin Fan had only awakened a F Rank skill, so he burst into laughter. But seeing everyone looking at him, including Yue Ling, he quickly covered his mouth.


    After all, there was no knowing what Yue Lan would do¡­


    She had defended Lin Fan before, so it was unknown what she would do to him now that he had laughed at him.


    But to his surprise, Yue Ling didn''t do a single thing.


    She just turned back to look at the piece of paper in her hand with a strange and complicated look on her face.


    Finally, after a long time, she looked up and handed the piece of paper back to me before saying, "Mister Lin Fan, I have to excuse myself. There''s something else I have to take care of now."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling that something was strange¡­it was like she was much colder than before¡­


    After all, she was no longer calling me big brother Fan.


    So I couldn''t help reaching my hand out and saying, "Ling Ling¡­"


    Before I could even say anything else, Yue Ling suddenly said, "Mister Lin Fan, please do not speak to me in such a familiar manner. We are not that close."


    Then without giving me a chance to say anything, she suddenly turned to leave.


    I was stunned on the spot after hearing this.


    After all, Yue Ling was the last person that I was close to in this life and now¡­she was also abandoning me.


    I wanted to chase after her and ask her what this was all about, but before I could¡­I was suddenly surrounded by Wang Bing and his group. Wang Bing himself quickly wrapped his arm around my shoulder and stopped me from moving, as he looked at me with a wide smile.


    The rest of his group also looked at me with wide smiles.


    However, I didn''t feel any kind intentions coming from those smiles.


    There were only bad intentions coming from them¡­


    Yue Ling hadn''t gone that far yet and she could see everything, but she didn''t turn back once as she walked away.


    It was as if I didn''t exist at all¡­


    Seeing this, the smiles on the faces of Wang Bing''s group became even wider.


    They grabbed me as I tried to run after Yue Ling and Wang Bing said to me with that wide smile, "Friend, let''s go and hang out."


    When I saw this, I felt a chill run down my spine.


    I tried to resist in the end, but Wang Bing and the rest of his group dragged me out of the awakener center. Even though there were plenty of people around, not a single person stepped forward to help me.


    Seeing this, there was a small part of me that died.


    This was a small part of me that had believed that there was still good in people¡­


    They dragged me all the way down to the river, to the place that was under the bridge that no one went.


    This was their secret hideout and the place that I had been brought to many times before back when we were in school together. Back in those days, they had brought me here to beat me up and take my money.


    But now¡­


    The moment that we arrived, the first thing that Wang Bing did was punch me in the gut.


    This was a powerful punch that knocked the wind out of me and brought me to my knees.


    Wang Bing was a C Ranker and he had a physical type of power, so it buffed his strength. That allowed him to punch much stronger than a normal person would be able to.


    It took me a while to catch my breath again.


    By that time, I found that I was completely surrounded by their group.


    All of them had looks on their faces like they were about to do many things to me.


    But it was normal since¡­they had been suppressed many times by Yue Ling because of me.


    Every time that they had tried to bully me before, Yue Ling was there to stop them.


    So that resentment had piled up inside of them until it erupted like today¡­


    But I had also become empty today.


    After what had happened with Yue Ling and my awakening, it felt like my entire world had collapsed.


    It felt like there really wasn''t anything that was worth living for in this world¡­


    A life of being suppressed by others because of this weak power¡­perhaps it was better to take charge now and end my life in my own way.


    So all of a sudden, I looked up at Wang Bing.


    Wang Bing had been looking down at me, so our eyes met the moment that I looked up.


    Wang Bing wanted to say something, but he couldn''t help being taken aback by the look in my eyes.


    After a pause, he gritted his teeth and said, "What are you looking¡­"


    Before Wang Bing could finish what he said, I suddenly charged at him.


    With what little strength I had in my body, I landed a punch right to Wang Bing''s face.


    He had been caught off guard, so he was pushed back by this punch even though it was weak.


    When he reacted, his face twisted with rage as he looked at me.


    My heart filled with fear when I saw this, but it was already too late to back down. So I gathered up all the courage that I had left and swung my fist again.


    It was just too bad that I was completely outclassed¡­


    So Wang Bing''s fist landed before my fist could even come close to him.


    Wang Bing punched me right in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me again.


    After that, he grabbed me and lifted me up.


    As he held me, he said through gritted teeth, "You piece of shit. This is the last time I have to deal with you."


    Then without any warning, he suddenly threw me into the river.


    This was a deep river, so I immediately sank down under the surface of the water.


    With the wind knocked out of me by that punch, I wasn''t able to swim up at all and I could only let my body sink deeper into the river.


    I knew that this was it for my life¡­


    If reincarnation was real, I hoped that I would be able to live a happy life next time¡­


    "Strong desires have been detected. A suitable host had been found."


    "Huh? Where is that voice coming from?"


    That was my only thought in response to this voice.

 Chapter 3 - 3: Demon King of Lust

    There was no response that answered my question as the voice that had spoken before remained silent.


    But that didn''t matter since I was slowly losing consciousness from drowning.


    So in the end, I just assumed that I was hearing voices because I was dying.


    I was about to forget about it when I suddenly heard something else.


    "Integration with the host has finished. The host has been selected as the Demon King of Lust."


    Once again I couldn''t help wondering where this voice came from, but it was too late as I lost consciousness.


    "The host is currently in a dangerous situation. The host will now be saved."


    After this, it felt like there was something warm and soft that had taken me in their embrace. As they held me, it was as if they were lifting me up out of the water.


    I didn''t know what happened, but it didn''t take long before I was able to breathe again.


    With the water gone and air taking its place, I didn''t hesitate to gasp for that air.


    I fell to the ground and took deep puffs of that sweet air.


    I was on all fours just sucking as much air into my lungs as I could.


    Finally, after taking deep breaths for a long time, I was finally able to catch my breath.


    I slowly looked up to see Wang Bing and his cronies looking at me with a strange look. It was as if they looked at me like I was some kind of monster that had just sprouted a second head.


    After a long moment of being dazed, Wang Bing said, "How, how did you do that?"


    I couldn''t understand what he was saying, so I didn''t answer. But there was a voice in my head that said, "Look at this fool and his cronies, you should get rid of them."


    I looked around myself, trying to find the source of this voice, but I wasn''t able to find a single thing.


    There was nothing around this area except for me and Wang Bing''s group who were standing here looking at me with shocked looks.


    There wasn''t anyone here that should have said what I had just heard.


    Could it be that I was going crazy?


    After a long silence, Wang Bing finally snapped out of his daze and came forward towards me. I couldn''t resist at all as he suddenly grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up off the ground.


    As he glared at me, he said, "How did you get out of the river alive?"


    There was genuine confusion and shock in his voice, but the strongest emotion was anger that things didn''t go the way that he planned.


    When I heard this, I really didn''t know what to say since I didn''t know what had happened either.


    One minute, I had been drowning and the next, I had been pulled out of the water with some strange power.


    Seeing the dazed and confused look on my face, Wang Bing surprisingly became even angrier.


    It was almost as if he thought that Lin Fan was making fun of him.


    Wang Bing raised his fist again and gathered his power before saying, "If you won''t tell me, then you can just tell the king of hell when you see him!"


    Without hesitation, he punched out with that raised fist at me.


    This time, he had completely lost himself in his rage and he didn''t hold back at all. With the power that he had gathered, it was likely that my head would have popped like a grape the moment that it hit me.


    But before it could¡­the voice spoke again.


    "This lowly human, daring to insult the demon king. You should just kill them all. Just tell them to stop and they won''t be able to do anything."


    I was very confused when I heard this, but I didn''t see any way out, so I decided to follow the instructions of this voice.


    "Stop!"


    I suddenly shouted.


    Wang Bing''s fist had been about to hit my head when all of sudden¡­it stopped.


    The moment that his fist stopped, Wang Bing couldn''t help knitting his brows.


    He just froze there for a few seconds before his arm started to shake and there were veins that popped out on his neck.


    It was as if he was doing all that he could to move his arm, but his body wouldn''t listen to him.


    No matter how hard he tried pushing, he couldn''t move a single inch, almost as if the muscles in his body were frozen.


    After struggling for a bit, Wang Bing finally turned back to me and roared out, "What did you do to me!"


    I looked at him in a daze as I didn''t know what had happened either.


    I had just shouted "stop" and then it seemed that he really did stop.


    But why would he do that?


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying anything and he still couldn''t move a single inch, without turning back, Wang Bing roared out, "Come and help me! Beat him up and I''m sure that I''ll be able to move again!"


    After hearing this, his followers who had been standing there in a daze finally came back to their senses.


    "Oh." That was what most of his followers said before they started moving towards him.


    When I saw this, I knew that this situation was still bad for me and I wanted to break free from Wang Bing''s grip, but I found that he was firmly holding onto my collar. No matter how I struggled, I wasn''t able to break free at all.


    It seemed that whatever was holding Wang Bing in place was also holding his hand in place, turning it into an iron grip on my collar.


    Seeing this, Wang Bing couldn''t help revealing a hint of schadenfreude in his eyes.


    He didn''t know what misfortune had befallen him, but at the very least, this punk wouldn''t be able to run away.


    Seeing that I was trapped and the others were coming over to beat me, I couldn''t help feeling worried and afraid.


    I quickly looked around for a way out of this, but there wasn''t a way out that I could see¡­until the voice that spoke before spoke again in my mind.


    "Just tell them to stop as well."


    This time, the voice was no longer the same as before. This time, the voice seemed like it was filled with exasperation with me.


    I didn''t know where this voice was coming from and why it felt this way, but I knew that the voice was helping me.


    So without hesitation, I said in a much louder voice, "Stop!"


    The moment that my voice rang out, all of Wang Bing''s followers suddenly stopped moving. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even Mei Tang Tang who had been standing there with a smile on her face couldn''t help knitting her brows as she found that she wasn''t able to move at all.


    All of Wang Bing''s followers revealed looks of struggle on their faces as they tried to break free of this bind, but they found that they weren''t able to move a single muscle.


    I didn''t know what was happening, but I was certain of one thing¡­


    The reason that they had all suddenly frozen like this was related to me.


    At this thought, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.

 Chapter 4 - 4: Status

    When Wang Bing saw this smile on my face, he didn''t know why, but there was a chill that ran down his spine.


    But his pride quickly pushed down that chill that he felt as he couldn''t believe that this spineless weakling could make him feel this way.


    He became angry out of shame and roared, "What are you laughing at, you little piece of shit? Do you really think that you''re safe just because something strange is happening? Just wait until I get free and then I''ll show you!"


    When I heard this, I flinched out of instinct, but then I remembered that he couldn''t do a single thing to me right now.


    So I looked right back at Wang Bing and stared right into his eyes.


    Seeing the way that he just stared at me like this, my mentality really couldn''t help changing.


    He was just a person like me and now that he was frozen like this, why was I still scared of him?


    It wasn''t as if he could do anything to me right now, so why did I flinch?


    As these thoughts passed through my mind, I couldn''t help feeling angry at the way that my life had gone. I felt angry at how nothing ever went my way and how everything that I loved abandoned me¡­


    But I really didn''t know who to blame¡­


    After feeling depressed for myself for a bit, I finally said, "Let me go."


    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, his hand that had been frozen on my collar released and I fell down to the ground.


    With this, it made it clear what had just happened.


    I had only been guessing, but it seemed that my guess had been correct.


    They had all stopped because I had told them to stop, that was why they were all frozen like this.


    Wang Bing realized the same thing the moment that he saw this and he realized that what had happened wasn''t an accident. Even if he was a fool, he would understand that I had caused this when he saw what I just did.


    Wang Bing''s face twisted with a strange look before he said, "What did you do?"


    I really didn''t know what to say when he said this since I also didn''t know what happened.


    Just why were they listening to me like this?


    I didn''t seem to do anything special¡­


    At this, the voice once again rang out in my head to say, "Say status."


    "Status?" I couldn''t help repeating out loud.


    But at that, there was a panel that appeared in front of me.


    Name: Lin Fan


    Age: 19


    Gender: Male


    Level: 1


    Experience: 0


    Job: Demon King of Lust


    Skills: Hypnosis, Time Stop, Eyes of Lust


    Strength: 5 S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Agility: 5


    Intelligence: 7


    Vitality: 5


    I couldn''t stop a surprised look from appearing on my face when I saw this status screen.


    This¡­was a very strange one.


    This was nothing like the status screen that I had heard about before, this one was much more detailed than anything I had heard about.


    Awakeners would have a status that would show them what powers they had and what rank it was, but he had never heard of it showing all of these other things before.


    Not to mention¡­there wasn''t a rank with any of the skills that he possessed.


    Three skills¡­he had heard of people possessing multiple skills before, but that was only at most two. He had almost never heard of anyone possessing three like he currently did.


    At the same time, the skill that he should have awakened had completely disappeared.


    Just what was going on right now?


    But if he had to mention the worst thing of all¡­it would be the skills that he had received.


    Hypnosis, Time Stop, and Eyes of Lust¡­


    It would be a lie to say that he didn''t do any research at all since he was still a man, so he did have his needs.


    These skills were the skills that were the most popular portrayed in the research material that he studied. Most of the protagonists in the research material that he studied had one of these skills.


    That was why these three skills were regarded as some of the worst skills that one could have because of how easily they could be abused.


    The Hypnosis skill, that should have been what had stopped Wang Bing and his followers just now.


    When I had told them to stop, the hypnosis of the skill should have convinced them to stop which forced their bodies to freeze like this.


    When I looked closely at the Hypnosis skill, I found that it didn''t seem to have a time limit or limit on its powers. So as far as I could tell, it should be possible to use this on anyone that I chose to use this on¡­


    Wasn''t this too broken?


    Then there was the Time Stop skill as well.


    I really couldn''t help wondering just how powerful this skill was¡­


    But before I did any of that, I needed to figure out just what to do with Wang Bing and his group¡­


    So I looked away from the window in front of me and looked at them.


    Wang Bing and his followers had been struggling against this thing that had frozen them in place, but when my eyes fell onto them¡­they didn''t know why, but there was a chill that ran down their spine.


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Wang Bing couldn''t help saying in a shaky voice, "What, what are you looking at?"


    As I stared at Wang Bing, all that I could remember was everything that he had put me through over the years. All the suffering that had come from his hands and even the fact that I had almost died because of him¡­


    All of this surged inside of me and my rage came up.


    At the same time, I remembered what had just happened at the awakener center, how Yue Ling had completely tossed me aside after my awakening ceremony¡­


    I had nothing left¡­


    So what was the point of being a good person in this world?


    It seemed that all that good people were destined for was to suffer, so why should I let myself suffer like this?


    Since I had gained the power as a demon king, why don''t I act like a demon king as well?


    There was no need to be a good person in the end¡­


    As these thoughts passed through my mind, the way that I looked at Wang Bing had changed and he could see that.


    The chill that Wang Bing felt became stronger and he finally couldn''t take it anymore as he said, "You! If you don''t let me go right now, I swear that you will never see the light of day again!"


    I would have been afraid of him in the past, but seeing him act this way now¡­it was like a little dog that was trying to act tough.


    He was completely trapped and he still wanted to act tough, it really was laughable.


    It was so laughable that I suddenly burst out in laughter after hearing him say this.


    Wang Bing couldn''t help shaking when he heard this and he was about to open his mouth to say something else.


    But I cut him off by saying with a faint smile on my lips, "What do you plan to do then?"

 Chapter 5 - 5: Revenge

    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, he looked at me in a daze as if he couldn''t understand my words.


    At the same time, he felt like he was about to be frozen because of the chill that he felt.


    That was because the moment that he saw this smile, he didn''t feel like it was the smile of a human¡­


    He felt that it was the smile of a demon.


    Though he technically wasn''t wrong since Lin Fan had now become the demon king.


    "You¡­"


    "Silence."


    Before Wang Bing could say anything else, I immediately shut his mouth.


    Wang Bing''s eyes opened wide in shock after this happened because no matter how he tried to open his mouth, he wasn''t able to move it at all. It was as if something had completely stapled his mouth shut.


    At this moment, even the followers and Mei Tang Tang realized that I had something to do with this.


    Seeing how easily I controlled Wang Bing, they all revealed looks of terror.


    Was this the same wimp that they had bullied throughout all those years?


    Was this the same wimp that they had been able to do whatever they wanted with?


    Why did he look so terrifying now?


    Seeing Wang Bing acting this way in front of me, I couldn''t help breaking out in laughter again as I muttered to myself, "What was I afraid of all this time? He''s just a pitiful fool who uses the little bit of power that he has to bully others."


    Wang Bing''s face twisted the moment he heard this, even breaking the fear that he had felt when his pride had been provoked like this.


    With the way that his face was turning red, it was almost as if he was about to explode at any moment.


    So in the end, I said, "Speak."


    The moment that I said this, Wang Bing exploded by saying, "You son of a bitch, do you really think that you can get away with this? This is a society with laws and what you''re doing now breaks those very laws! If you think that you''ll have a good life after this, then you''re dreaming! Just wait until my father is done with you!"


    Wang Bing''s father could be considered someone with a bit of influence since he was someone who worked for the Awakener Association, the group that managed awakeners all over the world.


    But the moment that I heard this, I couldn''t help breaking out in laughter once more since his words were just so laughable.


    Wang Bing glared at me as he said, "What are you laughing at, you bastard? Do you really think that you''ll get away with¡­"


    Before he could finish, I cut him off by saying, "Do you really think that you''ll get out of here alive today?"


    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, his expression suddenly froze and his mouth opened wide. He looked at me with a look of shock and disbelief, as if he couldn''t believe what I had just said.


    But seeing the look on my face, he knew that I wasn''t joking¡­


    At this, the expression on his face changed several times as if he didn''t know how to react to this.


    The others who had been listening in on our conversation also had strange looks on their faces as if they were trying to process this.


    Then Wang Bing suddenly said, "Do you think that you''ll get away with this? If you even touch a single hair on me, do you know what will happen to you?"


    I looked at him like I was looking at an idiot before shaking my head and breaking out in laughter.


    The more that I laughed, the more Wang Bing''s nerves were irritated.


    He couldn''t help getting more and more irritated until he finally couldn''t take it anymore.


    With what was almost a snarl, Wang Bing said, "What are you laughing at?"


    I looked at Wang Bing with a calm look and said, "Well, it is interesting what an idiot is capable of. At the same time, I find it funny how you keep trying to act like a tough guy in this situation."


    All of these words hurt Wang Bing''s pride, so with the same almost snarl he said, "You¡­"


    But before he could say anything else, I suddenly said, "Silence."


    The moment that Wang Bing heard this, he found that his mouth had¡­stopped listening to him.


    No matter how he tried moving it, he wasn''t able to say a single thing. He was only able to remain frozen there, staring at Lin Fan. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing the effect that I had on him with just a single word, I couldn''t help giving a satisfied chuckle.


    However, I held myself back in the end.


    After all, Wang Bing would be the main course and before that, there were a few appetizers that I could nibble on first.


    Ignoring the look that Wang Bing gave me, I turned my gaze to his followers that were frozen not far away.


    The moment that my gaze fell onto them, these followers couldn''t stop the shiver from running down their spines.


    They looked at me with wary looks, waiting to see what I would do¡­but as I came closer and closer, they couldn''t help feeling unnerved.


    Finally, they couldn''t take it anymore.


    One of them suddenly asked, "Lin Fan, what are you planning on doing? Don''t come over here!"


    I just looked at that person with a smile and said, "What do you think I''m planning on doing?"


    To them, this smile was like the smile of a demon that sent a chill down their spines¡­though this technically wasn''t wrong since I was now a demon king.


    Seeing this, they immediately started giving excuses even though they had no idea what I was planning on doing. They just knew that it must be something bad if I had this kind of smile on my face.


    "We didn''t mean to do it!"


    "It wasn''t our fault!"


    "Wang Bing forced us to do it or he would have done the same to us!"


    All of these excuses came out, but they fell onto deaf ears.


    No, they weren''t completely deaf ears since I did hear all of it and¡­it just made me more and more angry.


    Seeing these people who had helped Wang Bing bully me before, making all of these excuses for their behaviour before just made me feel¡­disdain and anger.


    The way that I looked at them completely changed as my eyes filled with hatred and vengeance.


    However, before I could do anything to them, there was a voice that said, "Please, just let me go."

 Chapter 6 - 6: Humiliation (1)

    When I heard this, I was snapped out of this hatred and anger.


    I turned my head to look at Mei Tang Tang who I had completely forgotten about.


    Then I realized that this wasn''t just about these bullies, but rather to take revenge on Wang Bing who had tortured me this entire time.


    The best way to take revenge on him was to¡­ Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So I ignored the followers who had been making excuses and begging for mercy and I started making my way over to Mei Tang Tang.


    But they just wouldn''t shut up and they kept getting louder and louder when they saw that I was ignoring them. It reached the point where they were starting to get annoying with the way that they were shouting at me.


    So I just simply turned to them and said, "Silence."


    When I said this, all of them immediately fell silent.


    It was the same thing that happened to Wang Bing. They found that no matter how hard they tried to open their mouths, they weren''t able to open them or say a single thing.


    They could only just stand there and watch in fear as I walked past them.


    Seeing that I was walking towards her, Mei Tang Tang tried to move back, but she found that her body wouldn''t move at all. Then when the fear took over her heart, she started crying as she screamed, "Don''t! Don''t come over here! I didn''t do anything! I didn''t do anything!"


    But all of these words once again fell onto deaf ears as I continued walking in her direction.


    Finally, when I was standing over her, I said, "Do you really think that you''ve done nothing wrong?"


    Mei Tang Tang fervently shook her head and said, "It wasn''t me! It was all that Wang Bing''s fault! He was the one that wanted to do all of this!"


    When Wang Bing heard this, his expression immediately sank.


    As I walked over, I had been secretly looking back at Wang Bing from time to time to gauge his reaction.


    Seeing the expression on his face as I walked towards Mei Tang Tang, it was clear that he cared about her to a certain extent.


    So when she cursed him out like this without hesitation, it was like driving a stake into his heart. There was no doubt that he had been crushed by this.


    This was exactly what I wanted to see, but just this was far from enough to be considered revenge. I had to go much further than this before I would be satisfied.


    As for the way to do that¡­


    I looked at Mei Tang Tang with a smile, as if I wasn''t moved at all by the way that she begged.


    I then came right up in front of her and stood there without saying a word.


    Being unable to move, Mei Tang Tang could only stand there facing me, looking into those eyes that she considered to be from hell.


    In a shaky voice, she said, "What, what are you planning on doing?"


    I just had the same smile on my face as I said one simple word, "Strip."


    Mei Tang Tang''s eyes opened wide and she had a look of disbelief on her face when she heard this, but she found that her hands were slowly moving towards her body.


    "No! What''s happening!" Mei Tang Tang shouted out even though her hands kept moving towards her body.


    No matter how she tried to stop it, she couldn''t stop those hands from slowly taking off her clothes.


    It didn''t take long before she was just standing there in her underwear¡­but the hands weren''t stopping.


    I peeked back at Wang Bing during this time and the look on his face seemed like he was about to explode from rage. The vein on his forehead almost looked like he was about to pass out from an aneurysm.


    For some reason, this filled my heart with joy seeing him like this.


    All at the same time, I just ignored the tears streaming down Mei Tang Tang''s face as she begged for me to stop.


    Soon, she was standing there completely naked and she wasn''t even able to use her hands to block her body. She found that after she took off her clothes, her hands went to the same position as before and she was frozen there like a statue.


    Seeing her like this, I couldn''t help¡­reacting.


    But it wasn''t my fault since I was a virgin and this was my first time seeing a girl naked like this.


    When Mei Tang Tang saw this, she quickly calmed herself down and stopped the tears from streaming down her face. She then tried to give her best seductive look as she said, "If you let me go, I''ll let you do whatever you want with my body."


    As she said this, I couldn''t help taking a closer look at her body.


    Those round peaks that weren''t too big or small, those plump and round legs, that perfectly smooth skin¡­there was no doubt that she was an attractive woman.


    But the disgust in my heart quickly drowned out any of these feelings of attraction that I had.


    That was because once upon a time, she had put me in the same position as this.


    She had once forced me to strip in front of them all¡­but luckily I had been saved by Yue Ling.


    When the words Yue Ling appeared in my mind, I couldn''t help thinking of what had happened before at the awakener center.


    At this, all other feelings disappeared as I all could feel was anger and hatred.


    I took a step back away from Mei Tang Tang at this.


    When she saw me moving away, she started to panic and quickly said, "Wait, wait, I''ll let you do whatever you want with my body! I''ll also become your woman and I''ll never tell anyone about what happened here today! As long as you spare me, I''ll do whatever you want!"


    Perhaps this would have moved another man, but all I could feel was disgust when I saw her like this.


    So I turned away to look at Wang Bing''s followers.


    All of them trembled when they saw me looking at them and they wanted to hide, but they still couldn''t move their bodies.


    Looking at them, I suddenly said, "Come over here and surround Mei Tang Tang."

 Chapter 7 - 7: Humiliation (2)

    The followers couldn''t do a thing as their bodies listened to Lin Fan''s command.


    At the same time, their mouths were completely shut by Lin Fan''s previous orders, so they couldn''t even make a sound.


    It didn''t take long before they had completely surrounded the naked Mei Tang Tang.


    Seeing the beautiful Mei Tang Tang completely expose herself in front of them, it was only natural that their bodies reacted.


    When Mei Tang Tang saw all of the tents that had been pitched, the only thing that she could feel was shame.


    In the past, she would have felt pride if others admired her beauty like this, but the way that they were admiring her now was completely different from how others admired her beauty in the past.


    She really wanted to cover her body with her hands, but she couldn''t do a single thing.


    So Mei Tang Tang wanted to say something to Lin Fan to make him stop this.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan had other plans.


    "Strip."


    That was the simple word that Lin Fan said, but these followers couldn''t resist at all as their bodies started moving as well.


    They took off their clothes, starting from the top even though they had clearly unwilling looks on their faces.


    And then¡­they took off the bottom parts, revealing their dicks to Mei Tang Tang.


    Seeing all of these naked men surrounding her like this, Mei Tang Tang wanted to scream, but Lin Fan was already ahead of her.


    "Silence."


    With this simple word from me, Mei Tang Tang found that she wasn''t able to make a sound.


    She wasn''t even able to open her mouth anymore.


    The only thing that she could do was¡­cry.


    While this was happening, I was watching Wang Bing out of the corner of my eyes.


    If gazes could kill, there was no doubt that he would want to rip me into pieces with just the look in his eyes.


    Seeing the girl that he loved being violated like this, he really wanted to rip them all to pieces. That included the ones that he had considered brothers because they were a part of all of this.


    When the followers felt Wang Bing''s gaze on them, they only felt bitterness since they were being wrongfully blamed.


    After all, it wasn''t as if they could do a thing right now.


    No matter how they tried to resist, they weren''t able to fight against the thing that was currently controlling their bodies.


    Once they were all standing there with their dicks out pointing at Mei Tang Tang, I kept going.


    After all, I wasn''t about to let it end there.


    "Start masturbating in front of her."


    All of them revealed shocked looks when they heard this, but then their bodies started moving on their own.


    They couldn''t stop themselves from bringing their hands down to hold their dicks and start masturbating to Mei Tang Tang''s body.


    Seeing them all rub their meat like this, Mei Tang Tang revealed a look of terror as she tried everything that she could to get out of this. However, the only thing that she could really do was close her eyes and pretend that she wasn''t here.


    But this made me dissatisfied since I wanted to see her suffer.


    So I said, "Everyone else is doing it, so you shouldn''t be left out too."


    I deliberately paused to torture her more, but then I found that her hands started moving on their own.


    With the tremble to them, I could see that they were moving against her will as they moved down in between her crotch.


    Once they reached that special place, they started moving as well.


    Mei Tang Tang''s eyes opened wide when she felt this and there was an unwilling look that appeared on her face, but before long, she couldn''t stop the moan of satisfaction that leaked out of her mouth.


    But during this, I couldn''t help being lost in thought at what had happened.


    I hadn''t given an order and had only teased her, so why did she suddenly do this all on her own?


    No, she should have understood what I was implying with those words¡­so could it be that the hypnosis even worked indirectly?


    As long as they understood what I was implying for them to do, they would still do it while under the control of the hypnosis skill?


    If that was the case, then that meant that this hypnosis skill was much more useful than I thought.


    If that was the case, then that meant that there were so many more things that I could do with this skill.


    After thinking this, I started thinking about all the different ways that I could use this. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Mmmmh!"


    This sudden moan pulled me out of my thoughts and I turned to see that it was one of the followers who made this sound.


    With the way that he was trembling and the way that his face twisted, I could tell that he was close to finishing.


    Since that was the case, I said, "You should receive their loads properly. Squat down and open your mouth. Also make a double peace sign to show how much you love it."


    As soon as this order was given, Mei Tang Tang immediately stopped playing with herself and started moving down.


    As her mouth opened wide, she had a look of absolute terror in her eyes.


    She kept looking in my direction as if she was begging me not to do this, but I completely ignored the way that she looked at me as I watched it all happen.


    When she squatted down, she was right in front of all the dicks that surrounded her.


    Then her hands came up and she gave a double peace sign, just like the scene in the research materials that I had seen before.


    When they saw her like this, all of the followers couldn''t help stroking themselves even faster¡­


    And then, the first one suddenly shot their load right into her face.

 Chapter 8 - 8: Humiliation (3)

    The aim on him really was something else as the first shot hit her right in the eye.


    Then the second shot that he took landed right in her mouth and on her tongue.


    The moment that Mei Tang Tang tasted this, she felt like throwing up.


    This was a taste that she had never tasted before because¡­she was actually still pure.


    She had been saving herself the entire time for the one that she truly loved, even though she clearly used her body and her beauty to get what she wanted.


    But she found that she couldn''t move her mouth at all to spit it out¡­so the only thing that she could do to get right of that taste was to swallow.


    With no other choice, she swallowed it which made her want to gag even more.


    However, it was at this moment that the other three also couldn''t take it anymore and shot their load on her as well.


    The two on the sides hit her right in the ears before their second shot fell down onto her body, landing right on her breasts.


    As for the one that was behind her, he shot his load right into the back of her head. It splattered all over her long hair, coating it with each shot he took until it was finally dripping down the back of her head.


    Even though they had finished shooting their loads and their dicks had gone limp, they were still stroking it. This was an action that they had been hypnotized into doing and they weren''t able to stop themselves.


    Seeing that they had finished shooting their loads on her, I said, "You can stop now."


    When I said this, they finally stopped stroking their dicks and returned to their normal positions.


    But there was no hiding the shame that was on their faces.


    At the same time, Mei Tang Tang had a completely dead look on her face as if she just wanted to kill herself.


    But the way that she was still in front of them completely naked like this made their dicks stand up once more.


    When I saw this, I said, "It seems like you''re ready for round two." S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the followers and Mei Tang Tang heard this, they all looked at me with shock and despair.


    Through their eyes, they tried pleading with me to let them go, but I ignored it all.


    I just calmly said, "All of you, violate her."


    I didn''t give them any specific instructions on what to do since I wanted to see if orders like this would work, but I did have an idea of what I wanted them to do in my mind.


    Then they all started moving.


    The one that was behind Mei Tang Tang grabbed her by the waist and then took a step back, pulling her back along with him. Then the one in front of her suddenly grabbed her head and forced her upper body down so that her mouth was in front of her dick.


    The two that were on the sides grabbed her hands and forced her to take their dicks, holding her hands as they made her stroke them.


    The one who was holding her waist didn''t move at first and the one who inserted into her first was the one holding her head. He held her head for a bit before suddenly pushing his dick into her mouth.


    It was only after this that the one behind her suddenly pulled on her waist as well, pushing his dick as deep as he could into her.


    Just like this, he penetrated her, causing her to let out a loud muffled scream.


    She would have screamed out loud, but she found that her mouth still didn''t listen to her.


    The five of them just kept going like this with looks of shame and wanting to die on their faces, but it also didn''t take long before they started letting out moans of pleasure.


    Since they couldn''t fight it, they decided to drown their brains with the pleasure to numb themselves.


    Seeing them like this, I turned and walked over to Wang Bing who had been frozen watching this whole thing.


    I came right up beside him and even wrapped my arm around his shoulder.


    When this happened, Wang Bing finally noticed my presence and looked at me like he wanted to tear me to pieces.


    I could also see that his eyes were bloodshot from the tears that he was shedding and it looked like he was about to cry tears of blood at any moment.


    If looks could kill, this definitely was a look that would rip me apart.


    But he couldn''t even say anything¡­


    The only part of his body that he could move was his head, so he started trying to bite at me like a wild dog.


    It was just too bad that there was a limited range of movement for his head and he couldn''t reach me in the end.


    I just revealed a wide smile when I saw him in despair like this because the more despair that he felt, the more joy that I felt.


    But letting him move his head like this was dangerous¡­not so much to me since he would never reach me, but to himself since he might rip a muscle at this point.


    So I said, "Freeze."


    When I said this, Wang Bing''s head suddenly froze and he couldn''t move a single inch.


    Then I said, "Speak."


    Wang Bing found that his mouth was listening to him again even though his head was now frozen, so he didn''t waste any time in saying, "You''re a dead man! When I get back, I''ll make sure that you and everyone that you love will be raped and killed! Just you wait!"


    I shook my head and gave a sigh before saying, "Like I said before, why do you think that you''ll get out of this alive?"


    Wang Bing had been too filled with rage at first to process this, but then a chill ran down his spine when he saw the serious look on my face.


    My smile had disappeared because I saw that I hadn''t broken his spirits yet, so I was a bit annoyed at all of this. Even though I did all that, he still was filled with confidence at getting out of here alive.


    Just what did I have to do to show him that I was serious?


    When Wang Bing saw this, the words that I said sunk in and he slowly said, "You''re, you''re really going to kill me?"

 Chapter 9 - 9: Killing each other

    When he started to hesitate, that was when I struck.


    I revealed a smile and said, "What makes you think that I won''t?"


    Wang Bing felt another chill run down his spine when he heard this.


    There was a part of him that thought that this Lin Fan wouldn''t dare commit something like murder in broad daylight like this since they lived in a society of laws, but now¡­he was saying something completely different.


    He started regretting dragging Lin Fan here where there were no cameras or surveillance¡­


    But not for a single second did he think that he had brought him here because he had been planning on killing Lin Fan as well. For him, his murder of Lin Fan was justified because he was on a higher level than Lin Fan, so he could do whatever he wanted with Lin Fan.


    But if Lin Fan tried to kill him¡­then things like laws started to matter.


    He really didn''t think about how hypocritical he was.


    I could see the fear that he felt, so I said, "Did you really think that I would let you go after what you did? Not to mention, even if I let you go, wouldn''t you just try to cause more trouble for me? So why would I do that?"


    Wang Bing opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but he found that he wasn''t able to say a single thing.


    It wasn''t because there was something strange that stopped him from talking like before, but rather because he found that there was nothing that he could say.


    There was nothing that he could refute Lin Fan with.


    As I saw his face like this, I just couldn''t help revealing a smile before saying, "It seems like you really are an idiot. You only know how to act tough when you''re in control, but once you''ve lost that control, you''re a coward."


    Wang Bing wanted to deny this, but there was once again nothing that he could say since he knew that he was powerless right now.


    What he cared about the most now¡­was his own life.


    Seeing him like this, I really enjoyed this feeling of having the shoe be on the other foot.


    But there was a sound that interrupted this. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were moans of pleasure that came from in front of us as the five engaging in the gangbang had finally reached their climax.


    All four of them climaxed at once, completely covering Mei Tang Tang in their cum.


    But even after they had climaxed, they didn''t stop moving.


    Since they had been given the order to violate her, even though their dicks had turned completely soft, they didn''t stop playing with her body.


    Still, I was done with torturing them like this, so I said, "Stop."


    As soon as I gave this order, all of them suddenly stopped moving and moved away from each other. They all released their grip on Mei Tang Tang and she fell to the ground with eyes that were completely dead.


    It was clear that her spirits had been completely broken¡­


    But that didn''t bother me at all.


    After giving this order, I said, "I think it''s about time to end this."


    When they heard this, Wang Bing and the followers all looked at me with shocked and confused looks, as they didn''t know what I was planning on doing.


    Only Mei Tang Tang just laid there with the same dead eyes, not reacting at all to what I had just said.


    All of them seemed like they wanted to say something, but it was only Wang Bing who was able to speak in the end.


    Wang Bing stuttered out in a broken voice, "What, what are you planning on doing?"


    I looked at him with a smile before ignoring him and walking over to the four followers.


    I didn''t even look at Wang Bing as I walked past and made my way over to the four followers.


    They wanted to flinch or move back, but they found that they were trapped in place and couldn''t move at all.


    When I was standing right in front of them, I looked at them with the same smile and said, "Choke each other."


    All four of them opened their eyes wide, but they couldn''t resist the force that was controlling their bodies as they started choking each other. They all reached their hands out forward and choked the person in front of them, creating a chain where they were choking each other.


    If one looked closely, they could even see the veins that were popping out from their necks as they choked each other.


    It was clear that not a single one of them was holding back when choking the other person.


    It was as if they were all determined to kill.


    This caused all of their eyes to fill with despair.


    They wanted to look at Lin Fan to beg for mercy, but they couldn''t move with how they were choking each other.


    So they could only try to open their mouths to make a sound, to beg for their lives.


    But as time passed, they could feel that they were losing their breath and coming closer to fainting. It seemed that there was only a few seconds left before their deaths, which made them start wondering where it had all gone wrong¡­


    Wang Bing, that was the conclusion that they all reached.


    If they hadn''t chosen to follow Wang Bing, none of this would have happened¡­


    But then before they did lose consciousness, I suddenly said, "Alright, release each other."


    As soon as these words were said, all of them immediately let go of the neck that they had been choking.


    All of them started panting for breath once they were able to breathe again.


    All of them started thanking whatever it was that had saved them from this fate of choking to death.


    They turned to look at me with hopeful looks that I would spare them, but all that they were met was the smile of a demon.

 Chapter 10 - 10: Ending it all

    They seemed like they wanted to make some sound to beg for their lives, but I didn''t give them that chance at all.


    "Three of you, go and choke Wang Bing. The other remaining one, go and choke Mei Tang Tang."


    Before they could do or say anything, their bodies were already moving.


    Three of them moved towards Wang Bing while the other one turned to look at Mei Tang Tang on the ground.


    Mei Tang Tang had been out of it, but seeing this person turn to look at her, she felt a shiver go down her spine.


    She did all that she could to struggle, but she found that she couldn''t move her body.


    Once the command had been released, she was frozen on the spot just like before.


    She wasn''t even able to say a thing as the follower approached.


    The only thing that she could do was look up in terror.


    As for Wang Bing, he was still able to talk because he had been released.


    As he saw his followers coming closer and closer to him, he snapped out of his daze and said, "What are you doing? Don''t come over here!"


    But they didn''t listen as they walked over with their hands raised.


    The target of those hands¡­it was Wang Bing''s neck.


    Then all three of them suddenly grabbed Wang Bing''s neck as the other follower started choking Mei Tang Tang.


    Neither of them were able to do a single thing as they just gasped for breath.


    Both of them were certain that this was it for them, but then¡­


    "Stop!"


    As soon as this was said, all of them stopped choking Wang Bing and Mei Tang Tang.


    But unlike before, they were still in the same positions, getting ready to choke them if need be.


    Seeing the marks that were on their necks, I gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Wang Bing, fight back a bit and rough them up. Mei Tang Tang, scratch your attacker."


    As soon as they received their orders, they started following them.


    Wang Bing picked up one of the followers and threw him aside before punching at the other two. These two weren''t able to fight back at all as they received Wang Bing''s full power punches.


    He had wanted to hold back, but he found that he wasn''t able to control his power at all as he started wailing on his followers.


    As for Mei Tang Tang, she used her sharp nails to scratch the person who was still over her. She scratched up his face, his arms, and his chest, but he didn''t resist at all.


    Rather, it should be said that he couldn''t resist as all he could do was wince in pain over being scratched like this.


    I just kept watch over this the entire time, waiting for a certain moment before once again saying, "Stop!"


    Once that was said, they stopped once again.


    This time, they were completely covered in blood from being beaten and scratched, but they still couldn''t do anything as they just stood there in pain.


    Seeing them like this, I once again gave a satisfied nod.


    Then I gave my final order.


    "Choke Wang Bing and Mei Tang Tang while drowning yourselves."


    This was the last order that I would give them, so as I was saying this, my voice couldn''t help shaking a bit.


    It wasn''t that I was scared, but rather I felt a bit emotional about finally cutting my long ties with these bullies of mine. After all, after today, they would all be dead.


    Finally, Wang Bing put it all together and understood what I had been doing.


    "You''re making it seem like we fought each other and then killed each other!" He said in a shocked voice.


    When I heard this, I revealed a faint smile as I looked at Wang Bing who was being pushed into the river by his followers.


    It seemed that I didn''t give Wang Bing as much credit as he deserved.


    It seemed¡­that he wasn''t as dumb as I thought he was.


    That''s right, everything that I had done before was to create evidence that they had fought each other and then killed each other by pushing themselves in the lake.


    That way, I wouldn''t be blamed for the murder.


    After all, even if there were no cameras here, there were still cameras in all other places.


    The police would be able to easily find that I was the last one with them after they had disappeared. So there was no doubt that the police would interrogate me over this matter.


    So before that, I had to make it seem like they had killed each other.


    That way, I could just pretend that I didn''t know anything about what happened after I left so that I would get away without any blame.


    Wang Bing looked at me like I was a demon as he was being pushed into the river.


    For his last words, he said, "Did you have to do that to Tang Tang? Do you have no shame?"


    After that, there was only the sound of gurgling as he had been pushed into the river.


    On the other side, Mei Tang Tang couldn''t help trembling when she heard this. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She had thought of Wang Bing as one of the men that she used and dumped, but hearing him care about her over himself in his last moment touched her heart.


    She couldn''t stop the tears that formed in her eyes before she too was dragged down into the water.


    But when it came to me¡­I was also affected by his words.


    That was because this was the one thing that I had hesitated over¡­


    I didn''t think it was necessary, but at the same time, I didn''t want to make a mistake that would cause me to be identified as the killer¡­


    The best way to fake a fight was if someone was sexually violated, so I decided to push it over the edge.


    But this was my first time doing all of this, so it was a lie to say that I wasn''t shaken.

 Chapter 11 - 11: Police (1)

    Once I saw the bubbles disappear from the surface of the water, I didn''t hang around this place any longer.


    I knew that the most important thing now was to get out of here as soon as possible.


    The longer that I stayed here and didn''t appear on any public cameras, the harder it would be for me to sell my story.


    So I rushed out from under that bridge as soon as possible and quickly returned home.


    I knew that for the first day, the most important thing now was to stay home to portray the image of a victim who had been bullied.


    But at the same time, that would only work for a single day.


    After all, I had another identity which was as a poor part time worker who has not awakened yet. Though I had awakened now, I still couldn''t change the poor part since I was only a F Rank Awakener.


    Still, that meant that I had to keep up the role and do things that a F Rank Awakener would do.


    Tomorrow, I will be heading into a dungeon to earn some money.


    This was without a doubt a very dangerous decision, but for some reason¡­I didn''t feel nervous.


    I even felt a bit excited that I would have a chance to test out my new abilities as the Demon King of Lust.


    ¡­ S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the police station.


    "Yue! I have a case for you!"


    Ling Yue who had just sat down and closed her eyes for a minute suddenly opened them again to see that it was her captain who was calling for her.


    So even if she was tired, she knew that she had no choice but to stand up and follow the captain into his office.


    When she arrived, she found that another detective was already sitting in the office.


    She recognized him since he was the detective that he was closest to in this precinct, Xia Tian. But even before working with him as detectives, they had grown up as childhood friends who had even entered the police academy together.


    Seeing him there, she gave him a secret look asking him what this was about.


    Xia Tian just gave her a look showing that he didn''t know either.


    So she had no choice but to sit down in front of the captain.


    Once they were both seated, the captain put a folder on the table in front of them and said, "I need you two to take care of this case for me."


    The two of them looked at each other with confused looks before picking up the folder together and taking a look at the papers inside. As they read them, they couldn''t help knitting their brows more and more.


    After a while, they finally said, "Captain, this case is¡­"


    They didn''t finish, but it was clear what they were implying with this.


    The captain shook his head and gave a sigh before saying, "My hands are tied here as well. The relatives of one of the victims is one of the managers from the Awakeners Association and they pulled some favours from their connections to force us to investigate this matter."


    Both of the detectives knitted their brows when they heard this.


    After all, it was clear that this was nothing more than a case of kids running away for some fun¡­and yet they were involving the police.


    It hadn''t even been 24 hours since the kids had disappeared, so it couldn''t even be considered a proper case yet.


    Yet their captain was forcing them to investigate this instead of using their time to investigate something more important.


    As police detectives, they had their own pride and their sense of justice, so doing something like this went against both of those things.


    But since it was an order from the captain, they had no choice¡­


    So the two of them took the folder and headed off to take a look at this case.


    Once they were back at their desks, they opened up the folder and started going through this case in detail.


    After a few minutes, Xia Tian said, "Since the family members said that they disappeared this afternoon after going to the awakener center, how about we start from there. Since the family member has connections to the Awakener Association, they should be able to get us the footage from the awakener center."


    Ling Yue looked at the case in front of her with narrowed eyes for a bit before giving a nod of agreement.


    An hour later, they had received the footage that they needed from the awakener center and they started going through it.


    "Wait, stop it there!" Ling Yue suddenly said, causing Xia Tian to jump slightly before he pressed the pause button.


    She pointed at a spot on the screen and said, "Look there, we can see them leaving the awakener center and it seems that they''ve brought someone with them. But it looks like¡­"


    The more that they looked at this screen, the more that they knitted their brows.


    As detectives, they noticed things that others didn''t, so they were able to see how Wang Bing was holding onto Lin Fan in this footage.


    It was clear¡­that they were bullying Lin Fan.


    After figuring this out, Ling Yue knitted her brows deeply before saying, "I can''t believe that we have to be assigned this kind of case. These kids are the worst kinds of people that will become even worse in the future because they''re spoiled by their parents."


    Xia Tian also agreed with this, but this was an order that came from the top¡­so they didn''t have a choice in this matter.


    After giving a sigh, Xia Tian said, "The rest of it is public footage, so let''s see where they are going."


    With a few taps of the keys of his computer, he started pulling up several different videos from several different perspectives. The one thing that all of these videos had in common was that they had Wang Bing''s group on them.


    They continued through the streets until they finally reached the bridge, but that was where the footage ended.


    Ling Yue looked at Xia Tian with a confused look and asked, "Don''t you have any other footage?"


    Xia Tian shook his head and said, "That bridge is a dead spot, there''s no footage from under there."


    Ling Yue deeply knitted her brows since she knew what this meant¡­


    But then she said with a sigh, "Fast forward the footage and see if we can find when they left. Perhaps we can keep tracking them from that."


    Xia Tian nodded and soon the video on the screen started speeding forward.


    In the end, they were only able to see Lin Fan leaving the place, but they were never able to find Wang Bing''s group leaving.


    Ling Yue said with a frown, "Only the bully victim is seen leaving, but their group never left the area¡­"


    Xia Tian nodded before saying, "It seems like we need to go and investigate the area."


    Ling Yue had a hesitant look at first, but she still nodded in agreement in the end.


    But before either of them could leave, there was someone that suddenly ran into the room that they were using.

 Chapter 12 - 12: Police (2)

    This was another one of the detectives that they worked with.


    Xia Tian and Ling Yue both looked at this person with confused looks, but that detective said, "Detective Ling, Detective Xia, come quickly! There were bodies that were found!"


    Both of them slightly knitted their brows, but they still had confused looks on their faces as Ling Yue asked, "What does that have to do with us? We''re already working on a case."


    The other detective revealed a bitter smile before saying, "The bodies that were found are the missing kids that you were trying to find."


    When Xia Tian and Ling Yue heard this, they immediately revealed shocked looks. But then they looked at each other with frowns before following that detective out.


    An hour later, they arrived at the scene of the crime.


    This was a bank that was further downstream of the river that flowed under the bridge.


    When they arrived, they found that there were people on the side with plainclothes officers.


    It seemed that they were the ones who had found the bodies or were nearby when the bodies had been found, so they were currently getting their statements taken.


    The two detectives ignored this since they could always get the statements later.


    Instead, they turned their attention to the area covered in police tape which was clearly where the bodies were.


    They moved past the police tape and couldn''t help looking away when they saw the crime scene.


    Dead bodies didn''t faze them, but this one¡­was just too tragic.


    The other five didn''t matter, but the sixth corpse was a girl who was completely naked and had strangle marks on her neck. As well, when they looked carefully, they could see that there was congealed blood under the nails of this girl.


    It was clear what had happened to her, but it was still hard for them to watch.


    So they took a deep breath to calm themselves before going forward to examine the corpses.


    With the clues that they found, it was very easy for them to make a deduction as to what had happened.


    It was clear that the girl had been raped by some of the boys and that had caused a struggle.


    At the same time, there was one of them who had fought against the others to save the girl from them.


    In the end, they ended up killing each other.


    But based on the information that they had received from the family members, this shouldn''t have been. After all, these were kids that had been friends according to them for many years now.


    This wasn''t something that would suddenly happen, so there must have been some form of catalyst¡­


    In short, there was something that smelled fishy about all of this.


    But there was no denying that there were facts in front of them, so they had to properly do their jobs and investigate the corpses.


    After they were done, they brought all the evidence that they had just obtained back with them to the police station.


    The rest would be taken care of by the forensics team who would give them a detailed report later.


    Once they were back in the investigation room, they found that their captain was waiting for them. The captain had a very ugly expression on his face which made it clear that he had bad news.


    When they sat down, the captain gave it to them straight, "The higher ups are very displeased with how this matter has turned out. They want you to make an arrest immediately or at least identify a murderer or else we''ll all be fired."


    Then with a sigh, he added, "Basically, the one who works for the Awakener Association is putting pressure on us to find his son''s murderer so he can take his own revenge on them."


    When the two detectives heard this, they both revealed angry expressions.


    This was a clear abuse of the justice system, but they weren''t able to do anything about it. So not only were they angry at themselves for being helpless, they were also angry at how useless the justice system was.


    But in the end, there was nothing they could do since this was how things were.


    The captain could see the looks on their faces, so he knew that it was better to leave them alone.


    The captain stood up and walked over to their side to pat them on the shoulder before saying, "I can hold them off for 48 hours, but past that¡­our asses will be on the line."


    Both of the detectives revealed heavy looks again, but as the captain walked out, they still remembered to thank him.


    After all, it wasn''t the captain''s fault that they were in this situation and he was even covering for them as much as he could. He was doing everything that he could for them, so they could only be grateful towards him.


    After a long period of silence, Xia Tian went back to his computer to pull up a video on the screen. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the scene of Lin Fan being brought under the bridge by Wang Bing and the others.


    After looking at this screen for a bit, Xia Tian said, "We should go and interrogate this person."


    When Ling Yue heard this, she immediately knitted her brows and said, "He''s a victim, how can you drag him into this?"


    Xia Tian shook his head and said, "We don''t know if he''s a victim or not. All we know is that he was the last person that was seen with them. It is our duty to talk to this witness and see if he knows anything."


    Ling Yue looked at Xia Tian with narrowed eyes before saying, "Is this all that your justice is worth?"


    Xia Tian''s face twisted when he heard this, but he didn''t have a response for this. Instead, he said with a sigh, "This is the only option that we have right now."


    Seeing the look on Xia Tian''s face, Ling Yue knew that he was right¡­


    So in the end, she also said with a sigh, "Fine, we''ll go talk to him. But we are talking to a witness, not a suspect. Do you understand?"


    Xia Tian gave a nod, but it was clear by the look in his eyes that he thought otherwise.

 Chapter 13 - 13: Interrogation (1)

    Early the next morning, when I was about to head out, I heard a knock on the door.


    When I looked out the peephole, I found that it was two people who looked like detectives that were waiting outside for me. I could also see the badges that were hanging on their bodies, showing that they were indeed cops.


    As soon as I saw this, my body couldn''t help start trembling.


    But then I quickly forced myself to calm down since I had already expected this to happen.


    I took a deep breath to calm down as much as I could before opening the door for them.


    When they saw the door open, they immediately turned their eyes to look at me.


    It was a pair of detectives, one female and one male.


    When they looked at me, it was clear what they were thinking since they didn''t even hide it in their gazes.


    The female detective looked at me like I was the victim and the male detective looked at me like I was the culprit.


    I didn''t know why they were acting this way, but I already knew who to focus my power on.


    After a moment of silence, I asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?"


    The two of them didn''t say anything at first before the female detective took the lead to bring out her badge. As she showed me her badge, she said, "I am Detective Ling with the city police. May we come in and ask you a few things?" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Po-police?" I stammered out before pretending to gather up the courage to say, "Is there a problem?"


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "We just have a few questions to ask you, it''ll be very quick."


    I hesitantly looked at Xia Tian who was still glaring at me.


    When Ling Yue saw this, she elbowed Xia Tian in the stomach before saying with a smile, "I apologize for him. He was just born with a natural mean face, so it''s just the way that he looks."


    I revealed a doubtful look, but in the end, I still said, "Alright, please come in."


    I led the two of them into my small apartment and then seated them on the chairs in the living room while I sat down on the floor. This was a small apartment and I lived alone, so there were only two chairs in the first place¡­though the second chair only came to be because of Yue Ling¡­


    After we were seated, Ling Yue asked, "Mister Lin, can you please tell me where you were last afternoon?"


    When I heard this, I immediately said, "How do you know my name already? I haven''t told you anything."


    Ling Yue just said with the same smile on her face, "Mister Lin, we are the police. We have already checked your information before coming here since it''s our job."


    I revealed a surprised look before saying, "Oh."


    Then I calmed down and said, "Well, after my awakening ceremony yesterday¡­I was dragged under the bridge by some bullies¡­"


    The way that I said it almost seemed like I was ashamed of what had happened, which would be the normal reaction.


    When Ling Yue and Xia Tian heard this, both of them immediately knitted their brows. But Ling Yue reacted first by calming down and revealing a smile again to say, "Can you please tell me what happened when you were with them?"


    I revealed an embarrassed look when I heard this, but I still said in the end, "They¡­they brought me down there to bully me and then they suddenly decided to try and kill me by throwing me into the river."


    Both Ling Yue and Xia Tian knitted their brows again when they heard this, but I had stopped at this point. I was acting as if I was too scared and embarrassed to say what had happened next.


    But both Ling Yue and Xia Tian needed to know what happened next, so Ling Yue pushed me by saying, "Mister Lin, can you please tell us what happened next? It is very important."


    I looked up at her with mist in my eyes when she said this and didn''t say anything else.


    However, seeing this caused Ling Yue to reveal a look of worry while Xia Tian knitted his brows even more.


    Ling Yue softened her tone and said, "It''s ok, take it slow and just tell us simply what happened. Nothing will happen to you."


    I didn''t react at first, but then I gave a slow nod in response to this before saying, "Alright, I''ll try."


    Ling Yue''s hand trembled for a second, but she kept it by her side.


    After taking a deep breath, I said, "After they tried to throw me into the river, they suddenly started fighting. I ran to the side when this happened hoping that they would forget about me, but I could hear a few things that they said. It seemed that the leader''s girlfriend had been cheating on him with one of his followers and they had started fighting because of that.


    As they kept screaming at each other, it didn''t take long before fists started flying as well. During the commotion of this, I quickly escaped since they had completely forgotten about me. It was a good thing that I escaped when I did¡­or else they might have started hitting me too¡­"


    Both Ling Yue and Xia Tian once again knitted their brows after hearing this.


    But this time, it was Xia Tian who recovered first by asking in a gruff voice, "So you''re saying that you don''t know anything else? You ran away even though you''re a man?"


    I flinched when he said this and just covered my head with my arms.


    Xia Tian was surprised when he saw this, but then he scoffed.


    But because of this, Ling Yue glared at him before standing up to come to my side. As she stood beside me, she patted me on the shoulder to calm me down.


    Eventually, I calmed down and looked back at them.


    Ling Yue said, "It''s alright now, it''s alright now. You''ll be fine now."


    I looked up at Ling Yue when I heard this before suddenly asking, "You keep asking a lot of questions about Wang Bing and his followers, it seems like you''re very interested in them. Could it be that your investigation is about them?"


    Neither Ling Yue or Xia Tian said a word in response to this, but that didn''t matter to me.


    I suddenly revealed an excited look and said, "I knew it, it was related to them. Could it be that they''re being investigated for their bullying? Or could it be that something finally happened to them? If it did, they completely deserved it!"

 Chapter 14 - 14: Interrogation (2)

    Both Ling Yue and Xia Tian looked at me with different looks after they heard this.


    Ling Yue was looking at me with a look of pity and understanding after hearing what I said.


    Xia Tian¡­was looking at me with narrowed eyes filled with suspicion, almost as if he doubted everything that I said.


    After a long silence, Xia Tian finally said, "You know¡­what you said just now could be considered a confession of guilt, right?"


    I revealed a shocked look the moment that I heard this as I looked at him in a daze.


    But before I could say anything, Ling Yue had already gone over to Xia Tian''s side and punched him in the arm before glaring at him.


    Under the pressure of this glare, Xia Tian had no choice but to back down and turn his gaze away.


    Then she came back to my side and to my surprise, she took me in her arms. She patted me on the back as she said, "It''s alright, it''s alright. I know that it feels like sometimes the world is against you, but you can''t give up hope."


    I just had the same surprised look on my face for a bit before letting myself sink into her embrace and give a small ''un'' sound.


    After hugging me for a bit, Ling Yue realized what she was doing and she quickly let go of me with a blush on her face.


    As she did this, Xia Tian looked over at us with a very strange look, but that look also quickly disappeared. If I hadn''t been peeking at Xia Tian out of the corner of my eyes, I definitely would have missed this.


    But this told me that¡­Xia Tian''s feelings towards Ling Yue weren''t normal.


    After another long silence, Ling Yue suddenly gave a cough and said, "Mister Lin, I think that we have everything that we need. Thank you for your cooperation and we hope that you will have a nice day."


    With this, she glared at Xia Tian who stood up and followed her to the door.


    I also followed them to send them off even though Ling Yue told me that there was no need.


    As I stood there at the door sending them off, I had a smile on my face. But when they were gone and the door was closed, that smile instantly disappeared as I revealed a serious look on my face.


    After a while, I said to myself, "I think they bought it¡­"


    But I still couldn''t help feeling unsure about this, so I opened the door again.


    ¡­


    In the lobby, Ling Yue suddenly stopped before turning around to look at Xia Tian with a look of blame in her eyes. Then she crossed her arms and asked, "What was that?"


    Xia Tian didn''t say anything as he just stood there with a calm look on his face.


    Ling Yue knew him better than anyone since they had grown up together, so she said, "You can''t get out of this one with silence. Tell me what that was about."


    Xia Tian still didn''t say anything, but seeing the way that Ling Yue glared at him, he said with a sigh, "He''s clearly guilty, you could see it in the way that he spoke."


    Ling Yue glared at Xia Tian even more when she heard this before saying, "You''re just trying as hard as you can to make him seem guilty so that we have someone to pin this on. Do you really think that I can''t see through that?"


    Xia Tian looked at her for a bit, but seeing the way that she glared at him, he turned away in the end.


    Ling Yue just calmly said, "Is this really all that your justice amounts to?"


    Xia Tian gave a sigh before turning to say, "My instincts tell me that he was the one that did it. All of that talk about how they got what they deserved, doesn''t that seem suspicious to you?"


    Ling Yue''s eyes suddenly filled with pain as she looked at Xia Tian. Then she said in a slow and shaky voice, "You have no idea what it''s like to be bullied¡­"


    Xia Tian suddenly revealed a complicated look as well since as childhood friends, he knew what she had suffered through.


    But he also knew that it would just bring up more bad memories if he were to bring it up¡­


    So he said with a sigh, "Let''s go back to the station and look over the files one more time. Perhaps we''ll be able to find another lead."


    Ling Yue''s eyes lit up when she heard this and she looked up with a smile before saying, "Un."


    Like this, the two of them left this building, but what they didn''t notice was that the intercom in the lobby was on.


    In the apartment, I had heard the entire conversation between the two detectives through the intercom.


    That was all a result of me using my Time Stop ability.


    After they had left my apartment, I had been following them with the Time Stop ability.


    Of course, I didn''t keep using the Time Stop since they wouldn''t move if I had used the Time Stop the entire time. I just followed them and only activated the Time Stop when it seemed like they would see me.


    Like this, I was able to follow them through the halls until the lobby where I dialed the intercom to call my unit, immediately picking up so that it wouldn''t make a sound.


    All of that practice last night before they came had really paid off.


    Listening in on them like this had allowed me to understand just what I needed to do.


    That male detective¡­he might need to disappear depending on what he did. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Because it was clear that he wasn''t going to let this matter go¡­


    But that female detective, it seemed that the Hypnosis training from last night had also worked.


    After all, I had been able to influence her with just indirect statements.


    It didn''t work for the male detective since his guard was up, but at least it had worked with the female detective. This would make it much easier to cover up what had happened.


    But that wasn''t the only thing that I had to do today.

 Chapter 15 - 15: Entering the first dungeon

    I still had to go to a dungeon today since this was what I should be doing as a poor F Ranker.


    I had to keep up appearances so that they wouldn''t suspect me for what happened.


    But in reality, I did have to make money as well since I was getting close to running out of money.


    I could have used my new powers to make money, but that wasn''t a good choice either since most of the things that I could do with these powers¡­were considered illegal. I didn''t want to pile on more crimes on top of what I had already done.


    So I headed to an E Rank Dungeon.


    There were F Rank Dungeons, but they were completely for beginners and wouldn''t earn me any money at all. The only things that were in those dungeons were trash monsters that wouldn''t drop anything worthwhile at all.


    So I had decided to head to an E Rank Dungeon.


    If I was a normal F Ranker, this might be considered suicide.


    After all, the monsters in E Rank Dungeons were much stronger than normal people who hadn''t awakened. Even D Rankers would find it hard to deal with some of the elite monsters that spawned there.


    As for why it was considered an E Rank dungeon, it was because in theory, a group of E Rankers should be able to clear it.


    A group of awakeners was different from a single awakener since they had different powers. Working together, they would be able to exert power far beyond what just a single one of them would be able to do.


    Tank, DPS, and healer, those were the three main roles that awakeners were divided into. There were also smaller roles as supporters to a party that some awakeners and non awakeners played.


    With the power that I had received, I would fit in that role of supporter.


    After all, Suggestion wasn''t considered a power that any of the three main roles would have.


    So when I arrived at the entrance of the E Rank Dungeon, I didn''t even bother looking around for a party.


    There were plenty of awakeners that were at the entrance looking for people for their parties, but I knew that it would be meaningless for me to try. If I were to try, I would just be ignored by them because of the power that I officially had.


    The other reason I didn''t bother looking for a party was¡­because there was no need for me to find one in the first place. I was more than capable of taking care of the things in this dungeon on my own.


    When I reached the entrance of the dungeon, the lady who managed the entrance looked at me with a raised brow after seeing my Awakener License.


    She was clearly doubtful of my chances of surviving in this place, but she didn''t say anything as she opened the entrance to the dungeon for me.


    There were no rules about what rank one needed to be to go into dungeons, so there was nothing restricting me from entering this place.


    But everyone knew that if a single F Ranker entered a place like this alone, it would be like seeking death.


    Still, in the end, she said with a sigh, "Good luck."


    And then she still opened the door for me.


    In front of me was a swirling blue thing that seemed like it was made of energy.


    It was without a doubt a very strange thing to see, but I wasn''t surprised by this since I already knew what this was. Everyone who wanted to be an awakener knew what this thing was.


    It was the entrance to a dungeon.


    Dungeons were spaces that existed outside of the space of Earth that contained monsters. If they weren''t cleared out regularly, there would be dungeon breaks that happened.


    Dungeon breaks were when the monsters inside of the dungeon spilled out into Earth.


    When the dungeons first appeared, dungeon breaks had happened quite often because people didn''t go into these dungeons to clear them.


    In those days, people were more interested in learning how to use the new powers that they had received instead of risking their lives fighting monsters.


    But nowadays, with the Awakener Association managing these awakeners, there were almost no dungeon breaks at all. Other than a few dungeons that appeared in uninhabited places where people didn''t find them until dungeon breaks happened, most dungeons were cleared out regularly.


    That was because each monster that was killed would drop some kind of loot and this loot would always be worth money.


    So in a sense, dungeons could be considered gold mines if you were strong enough.


    But if you weren''t, they were abysses of death that had danger around every corner.


    However, that was where I was heading now.


    Taking a deep breath, I thanked the receptionist before taking a step through the portal.


    When I walked through, I saw a bright flash of light before it felt like I was walking on air. When my foot landed on something, I found that I was inside of a cave.


    But I wasn''t surprised to find myself here since I already knew what I was getting into. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the E Rank Dungeon, the Beginner Cave.


    This was a dungeon that was filled with monsters that were perfect for a beginner to fight, which was how it had received its name.


    But one shouldn''t make a mistake in thinking that this place was easy.


    After all, this was still an E Rank Dungeon for a reason.


    The place that I arrived in was filled with people and was well lit because this was a dungeon that was managed by the Awakener Association.


    So they had already built up infrastructure inside of the dungeon for all those that came.


    But of course, that was only at the entrance where awakeners entered.


    Once one went further in, it became a more and more natural dungeon.


    With that, I took a deep breath and walked out into the dungeon.


    What I didn''t notice was that there had been a few pairs of eyes on me as I walked out.


    The look in them¡­certainly wasn''t kind.

 Chapter 16 - 16: First monster

    As I headed away from the entrance, my surroundings started to change.


    There were lanterns that were hung on the wall at first, but the further I went, the darker it became.


    It was a good thing that I had already brought a headlamp with me and when it became darker, I turned it on to light the way in front of me.


    Even if I had become a demon king, that didn''t mean that I had gained night vision.


    This headlamp was a special one that was created for awakeners that explored the dungeon. It used a small magic stone that was gathered from the monsters of the dungeon as a power source.


    With this magic stone, it created a magic light that didn''t just illuminate the area in front of me. This magic light was like a torch that lit up the entire surrounding area, but unlike a torch, I was able to use it without encumbering any of my hands.


    While heading deeper in, I didn''t encounter any monsters.


    It seemed that they had already understood that this was the palace where their enemies, the awakeners, gathered so they didn''t come near this place


    But once I got far enough, I could hear the sounds of things moving around me.


    At this, I reduced the light''s range around me so that I wouldn''t attract too much attention and I started moving slower just in case anything came at me.


    It didn''t take long though for me to encounter my first monster.


    I could hear the sound of something bouncing towards me, so I stopped moving and waited for this thing to show itself.


    When it came into the range of the light, I was able to see what it looked like.


    This was something that seemed like a sack of water that had a small blue bead in the center of it.


    This was a monster that everyone knew because it was a famous beginner monster.


    This was a slime.


    The slime seemed to be bouncing along at its own pace, but when it came closer to me, it suddenly started moving faster. It was clear that this slime had found me and was coming to attack.


    I didn''t know just how the slime detected me when it didn''t have any parts of its body that could detect people, but I didn''t have time to think too much about it since the slime was coming.


    It just bounced up and down as it came closer, but then once it had reached a certain range, it suddenly stopped bouncing.


    The slime suddenly contracted on the ground, contracting its body together as if it was building up tension.


    Then all of a sudden, the slime jumped up once more.


    This time, it was different from when it bounced up and down. This time, the slime suddenly shot forward with all of the contracted force that it had built and shot out like a bullet.


    Since I had been prepared, I was able to dodge out of the way at the last second, but it was without a doubt dangerous. If I had let my guard down for even an instant¡­I would have ended like the stalagmite beside me.


    This thing had its tip shattered to pieces by the force of the slime slamming into it.


    This was just like a cannonball as it shot out with the force that it had gathered.


    Even though these things had been called a beginner monster, they were still monsters in the end.


    However, I didn''t have too much time to think since the attack of the slime wasn''t over yet.


    The slime slammed into the wall of the cave behind me, creating cracks in it before suddenly shooting back.


    It was like a ball with how it suddenly bounced off the wall like this.


    I had already been moving, so I was able to dodge out of the way again. But since I was already moving, I was able to also slash out at this slime as it passed by. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was just too bad that I wasn''t able to do anything to it.


    My sword bounced off the slime''s blue skin and I was even pushed back by the force.


    When I landed on my butt on the ground, the slime was already bouncing back at me.


    This seemed like it was over, this seemed like I would have my bones smashed by this slime.


    But before it could hit me, I suddenly said, "Time Stop."


    The moment that I said this, it was as if this slime froze in the air.


    But it wasn''t just this slime that had been frozen.


    Everything around me seemed to stop.


    Even the drops of water that fell from the stalactite around me were frozen in the air.


    The only thing that wasn''t frozen was the light of the headlamp on my head since that was attached to me. Since it was attached to me, it was considered a part of me and wasn''t affected by the Time Stop.


    I slowly got up off the ground and then moved in front of the slime that was frozen in the air.


    After admiring this strange creature for a bit, I suddenly stabbed out at it, but¡­my sword bounced back.


    It seemed that I still couldn''t penetrate this thing''s skin¡­


    But I didn''t give up as I stabbed at it again and again at the same point.


    Eventually, I was able to do enough damage that I pierced through the skin of the slime and stabbed it right in the core.


    There was no resistance at all as I stabbed right through the core and when I pulled out, it didn''t seem like the core had been affected at all.


    But when I looked closer, I found that there was a cut on the core.


    So I moved away from the slime and then released the Time Stop.


    The moment that the time stop was released, the slime suddenly burst apart and the liquid inside splashed onto the ground. The moment that this liquid touched the ground, there was a sizzling sound as smoke came up from it.


    That was because the liquid inside the slime was actually acid.


    But then, all of that disappeared and it was replaced by a few items that just laid there on the ground.

 Chapter 17 - 17: First drops

    As soon as these items appeared, I didn''t hesitate to pick them up.


    These were the drops that came from defeating this monster.


    No one knew just where these drops came from, but they just knew that monsters would drop items after they were defeated.


    It was one of the unsolved mysteries of the world and people hadn''t been able to figure it out even after all this time. So most people just stopped thinking about it and accepted it as the norm.


    The one thing that I was surprised about was how many items had been dropped.


    This was much more than the normal amount that I had heard about.


    However, that didn''t stop my enthusiasm as I went over these items.


    The first things were a few copper coins that I just put in the special pouch that was on my bag.


    These copper coins were dungeon coins, the currency of the dungeon.


    They weren''t used in our world since we still had our own system, but they were used in the dungeon shops that appeared. These dungeon shops appeared randomly and they only accepted the currency that came from the dungeon like these copper coins.


    Though whether these copper coins were able to buy anything from the dungeon shops was a completely different question.


    After all, those dungeon shops only sold the highest quality items that even the top rankers were after.


    So dungeon coins weren''t used on Earth, but there was a market for them.


    It was just too bad that the exchange rate was very low since it was something that could be farmed quite easily. The only ones that actually bought them were the high rankers who needed a lot of dungeon coins to buy something special.


    Still, they were worth money, so there was no reason not to keep them.


    I moved on to the second item which was the standard magic crystal.


    This was something that every monster dropped as well since this was something that every monster had.


    Magic crystals had become the new power source in our world after discovering that they were a safe and clean source of energy. These were crystals that contained all of the mana that a monster had before it died.


    Scientists had found that this mana was a clean energy that could be used without limits, so it had become the energy that had replaced all fossil fuels. This had reversed climate change on Earth and had ushered in a new age of clean energy.


    Nowadays, most things run on magic crystals instead of any other form of energy.


    So magic crystals were always in demand.


    The third item was a vial of some kind of liquid.


    When I looked at it, there was a screen that popped up to show me what it was which surprised me.


    After all, normally one would need to bring these items out to an appraiser before they were able to find out what they were. Only those that had appraisal skills would be able to appraise these items dropped by the monsters in the dungeon.


    I didn''t have this appraisal skill, but I had¡­the demon king system.


    Could it be that the demon king system allowed me to appraise things like this?


    This really was a pleasant surprise since appraisal skills were rare and well in demand.


    But I realized a problem¡­


    I had already awakened and my power had been recorded. So if I suddenly appeared to have some kind of appraisal skill¡­that would attract a lot of attention and that would be very bad.


    After all, I was a demon king¡­the enemy of humanity.


    The moment that I was found, I would be hunted by every human out there.


    So it seemed like I had no choice but to keep silent about this.


    But still, for now, I could use this appraisal ability.


    [Slime Acid]


    A vile of acid from a slime. Has a strong corrosive ability.


    It seemed that this vial was filled with the acid that made up the inner fluids of a slime.


    I had already seen how powerful it was when I killed that slime earlier, so there was no doubt that this would be a useful item in the future.


    Then I turned my attention to the fourth and final item.


    Once again, as soon as my eyes fell onto it, there was a screen that popped up.


    But this time, it was different from before.


    [Strange Orb] S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unknown use.


    That was all that was written on the screen that had appeared.


    So I pushed that screen aside and looked carefully at this thing, but all that I saw was a black orb that seemed to have some kind of mist swirling inside of it. I couldn''t find anything special about this and it felt like it was just a normal orb.


    Well, the one thing that I did find was that it was quite fragile and it seemed like it would crack with just a bit of force.


    Of course, I didn''t crack it since I had no idea what this thing was.


    The appraisal of the demon king system had said that it had an unknown use, so there was no way that I was going to risk this while I was in the dungeon. There were still other monsters here, so I didn''t waste any time putting these drops in my bag and heading off again.


    But before I could go far, I heard the sound of more things bouncing in front of me.


    This was a very familiar sound, one that I had heard not that long ago.


    There was mistaking this since if there was one, there would be others, so I was certain that these were slimes.


    I had already taken care of one slime, so there was no reason for me to fear these ones even if there were more than before.


    So without hesitation, I headed towards the sound of the bouncing with an excited look on my face.


    After all, each monster killed meant money gathered.

 Chapter 18 - 18: Killing spree

    As the sounds came closer and closer, I finally saw how many there were.


    Three of them.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief.


    As they came closer and closer and the sounds became louder, I started getting worried that there might be too many of them because of all the sound that they made. But in the end, it was only three of them which was still in the realm of what I could handle.


    After all, the Time Stop skill wasn''t an omnipotent skill.


    It was still a skill that had restrictions.


    The Time Stop skill was currently at level one and at this level, I could only use it for ten minutes at max. Then for however long I used it, I would have to recharge that time by letting that amount of time pass without using the Time Stop skill.


    In short, there was a banked time for this Time Stop skill and every time I used it, I would drain from that banked time.


    It was like a battery for the Time Stop skill.


    Based on the time that it had taken me to kill the slime from before, I should be reaching the limits of the Time Stop skill by taking care of these three slimes.


    So I didn''t activate the Time Stop skill right away when I saw the three slimes approach.


    Instead, I started moving towards them on my own.


    The distance between me and the three slimes slowly decreased until they were in range to attack.


    Then just like the slime from before, these three slimes all stopped bouncing and tightened their bodies on the ground. All three of them were gathering tension to shoot at me like a cannonball.


    I stopped moving when I saw this and carefully watched these three slimes.


    Then all of a sudden, the three slimes shot out all at once.


    All three of them were aiming at me, but it seemed like there was some kind of coordination between them. Not all of them were aimed at the same spot.


    One was aiming at my head, one was aiming at my stomach, and the last one was aiming at my leg.


    It seemed that they knew that they wouldn''t be able to hit the same spot, so they divided their parts equally.


    I didn''t understand how these slimes knew to cooperate, but they were able to work together in the end.


    I didn''t have time to think about this since they were quickly coming at me.


    Seeing this, I finally didn''t hold back and released the Time Stop skill. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The moment that it was released, all three of the slimes were frozen in the air. It was just like before with the other slime.


    But I hadn''t remained idle like before.


    I knew that they would freeze, so I had already started moving the moment I released the Time Stop skill.


    I didn''t hesitate to stab at the nearest slime again and again until I was finally able to pierce through its skin. Then in one smooth move, I stabbed my sword right into the core of the slime.


    Then in one more smooth move, I pulled the sword out of the slime and turned to the second closest slime.


    Wasting no time, I started stabbing at this slime too.


    Just like this, I was able to stab through the core of all three of these slimes.


    But to my surprise, I found that I had only taken around eight minutes to do so. I had thought that it would take at least nine minutes to do so, but it seemed like that wasn''t the case.


    It seemed that I had gotten better at this.


    At the same time, I had forgotten about the fact that I had acted without hesitation this time. This has saved me quite a bit of time since I didn''t waste any time delaying my actions.


    I also didn''t waste more time after stabbing the core of the last slime. As soon as I stabbed it, I quickly moved away and released the Time Stop.


    The moment that the Time Stop was released, all three of the slimes exploded at the same time and dropped their acid innards onto the ground.


    After a while, all of the things left behind by the slimes disappeared and they were replaced by drops.


    It was only then that I relaxed my body and let out a sigh of relief.


    I had been prepared just in case anything changed, but it seemed like I had been worried for nothing.


    But of course, I didn''t waste any time in picking up the drops that had fallen to the ground and put them all away in my bag.


    Then I wasted no time in dimming the light on my head and finding a place to rest.


    I need to recover the time that I had spent taking care of these slimes.


    Only after all of that did I finally go find more slimes to take down.


    Just like this, I went on a killing spree of the slimes.


    ¡­


    Close to an hour had passed and I had gotten much better at killing the slimes.


    I had found that there were certain parts of the slime that were much weaker than the rest of the slime.


    These were parts of the skin that were thinner, making them more flexible which allowed the slime to contort its body like this.


    But since they were thinner, they were easier for me to cut through.


    Like this, I was able to increase the number of slimes I could take care of at the same time since I didn''t need to spend that much time on each of the slimes.


    I had gained quite a bit of loot this way, it seemed like I would make quite the killing when I got back.


    As I was preparing to hunt some more slimes after resting, I suddenly heard something coming from in front of me.


    "Help!"

 Chapter 19 - 19: Damsel in distress

    The moment that I heard this voice, I immediately knitted my brows.


    I could recognize that it was a female who was calling out for help, but I didn''t start heading in that direction right away.


    After all, there was nothing safe about the dungeon¡­


    But in the end, I still started moving in the direction that the scream for help came from.


    It wasn''t just a single scream for help, but several screams for help that came at irregular intervals.


    As I got closer, the screams became louder.


    But at the same time, as I got closer, I saw that there was some light coming from in front of me.


    Seeing that there was another source of light, I immediately turned off the light on my head.


    I cautiously made my way over using the cover of darkness and I was slowly able to see what the situation was.


    It was a classic damsel in distress.


    There was a beautiful girl who was being surrounded by ugly looking men. The leader of these ugly men had his hand around her arms and it seemed like he was trying to force himself onto her.


    This was one of those cliches that almost everyone had heard about.


    But I didn''t make a move when I saw this.


    After all, we were currently in the dungeon and it was a very dangerous place. Not to mention, while these men seemed ugly¡­they were armed with sharp looking weapons and they seemed quite strong.


    They seemed stronger than me at least¡­


    It would be smarter to just leave them be and let whatever happened here happen. I didn''t know any of them after all, so there was no need for me to get involved.


    But when the leader started reaching his hand towards the beautiful girl''s chest, I suddenly thought about what I had done to Mei Tang Tang.


    The bit of guilt that I felt towards the now deceased Mei Tang Tang filled my heart¡­so in the end, I couldn''t stop myself from moving forward.


    Using the cover of the dark, I made my way behind these men without attracting their attention.


    Then using the fact that they were focused on the beautiful girl, I made my way behind the leader.


    I smoothly brought my sword up to the leader''s neck and when they realized what had happened, I was already holding the leader hostage.


    Even though he had a sword to his neck, the leader still said, "Who, who are you?"


    Though he was able to keep himself calm enough to speak, it was clear that he was nervous since his voice was shaking and stuttering.


    Of course, I wasn''t much better since I wasn''t used to doing things like this. At the very least, I was holding out better than the leader who had a blade to his neck.


    I gave a cough to calm myself down before saying, "I''m not looking for any trouble. As long as you back down and leave, I won''t escalate this matter. So how about it?"


    The ugly men around me all had their weapons raised, but not a single one of them dared to swipe at me.


    It seemed that they valued their boss'' life at the very least.


    After a long and tense silence, the leader said, "If you let me go, we''ll leave."


    The men were surprised to hear this, just as surprised as I was that this man would back down that easily.


    But then I said, "How will we do this?"


    After all, it was just as likely that he was lying to me so that he could attack me as soon as I let him go.


    The leader said, "My men will leave first and I''ll unarm myself. Once they are gone, you can let me go and leave this place." Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I looked at him with a doubtful look, but in the end, there was no better choice here¡­so I said, "Alright."


    The leader tossed the sword he was holding to one of his men and then waved his hand for them to get out of here.


    Once they were gone, I slowly released the sword that was around his neck. While doing this, I was prepared to release the Time Stop skill at any moment just in case this man tried anything.


    But to my surprise, he didn''t do a single thing and just walked off. As he did, he suddenly turned around to look at me and said, "This isn''t over yet."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile since this was the most cliche line that he could have said.


    However, he didn''t give me a chance to say anything as he quickly disappeared.


    Once he was gone, I couldn''t help being surprised since this all seemed like it was too easy¡­I was honestly expecting something else to suddenly happen.


    But nothing happened at all.


    I was just standing there lost in thought until something suddenly hit me.


    It wasn''t some kind of thought that suddenly hit me, but rather a pair of something that hit me in the chest.


    This was a really soft pair of something¡­


    At the same time, there was a pair of arms that came around me while I heard someone start to cry.


    At this, I was pulled out of my thoughts and remembered that there was someone else here.


    As she cried, she kept saying, "Thank you, thank you for saving me."


    I felt very awkward since I didn''t have much contact with girls before, especially beautiful girls like this.


    So when she held me like this, I couldn''t help feeling awkward.


    But I calmed myself down and said with a cough, "Let''s get out of here first. They might come back at any time and we don''t want to be here when that happens."


    The girl looked up at me with tearful eyes before giving a nod.


    I turned on my light a bit so that we could see what was in front of us before quickly making our way out of this place.


    As we walked off, the girl held my hand and followed behind me.


    It wasn''t just her body that was soft¡­her hands were soft too.

 Chapter 20 - 20: Hero saving the beauty

    When we had gotten far enough, I turned on the light of my headlamp again.


    We were lucky enough to not run into any monsters in the dark and at the same time, it seemed like we were in a safe area.


    I didn''t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing since this safe area was much deeper in the dungeon than where we were before.


    After taking some time to settle down, I took out some water for the girl.


    She didn''t seem to react at first, but then when I tapped her face with it, she couldn''t help jolting.


    Seeing the water bottle I was holding out to her, she thanked me before taking it. After taking it, she started taking large gulps from this water bottle, as if she hadn''t had water in forever.


    But thinking of what had happened to her, that was most likely the case.


    I took this time to get a proper look at this girl.


    She was a beautiful girl, there was no mistaking it.


    With her beautiful long orange hair, her big green eyes, and her fair skin, she was a beauty that would make other girls jealous.


    I almost thought to myself that it was no wonder they had wanted to violate her, but I quickly corrected myself.


    It was a good thing that I hadn''t said that out loud.


    After she had finished chugging the water and she had calmed down, I asked, "So what happened?"


    She looked up at me in a daze and just remained silent for a bit.


    But in the end, she started telling me her backstory and it turned out to be quite the tragic one.


    She had come into this dungeon with her party, a group of four.


    They had thought that they would be able to earn a jackpot, but what they had never expected was tragedy.


    It had started before they had even encountered the group that had assaulted them.


    They were a group of E Rankers and they should have been able to deal with anything in this dungeon, but they had suddenly been ambushed by a group of goblins.


    Goblins were only considered E Rank monsters, but there had been too many for them to deal with. They had been completely swarmed by all of the goblins that appeared and it even seemed like more of them were coming out of the walls.


    So they had tried running away from the goblins.


    But in the end, there were variant goblins that appeared using both magic and bows. These variant goblins had sniped her party members and she had been the only one that had escaped in the end.


    Afterwards, she had run into that group of ugly men who had said that they would help escort her out of the dungeon.


    But it turned out that they just wanted to take advantage of her¡­


    After she had finished her story, she broke out in tears over everything that had happened.


    As I watched her, I didn''t know how to react since I had never had to calm a crying girl down before.


    In the end, I reached out towards her and patted her on the back to comfort her.


    After crying for a bit, she finally looked up at me with a hesitant look before asking, "Can you escort me back to where my party died? I want to at least bring back their bodies for their families¡­I know that this is asking a lot of you, but seeing as how you''re so big and strong¡­"


    Her voice trailed off, but she looked up at me with those expectant eyes.


    It was just too bad that they didn''t have any effect on me at all.


    I shook my head and said, "It''s too dangerous to do that. We don''t know what will be waiting for us if we try to do that."


    The girl revealed a disappointed look and didn''t say anything, almost as if she was waiting for something.


    But I didn''t say anything further.


    So in the end, she just gave a sigh and said, "You''re right, it''s too dangerous¡­"


    After a long silence, she asked, "Then can I ask you to escort me out of this dungeon? I just want to leave this place now and never come back."


    Once again, she looked at him with an expectant look, waiting for his response.


    This time, I wasn''t as opposed to this since I was planning on leaving this place as well. It didn''t matter if I helped bring her out as well.


    In the end, I had saved her, so I should do my duty and take care of her to the end.


    So after a moment of hesitation, I gave a nod in response.


    When she saw this, her eyes lit up and she jumped forward to hug me.


    As she hugged me, I could feel two soft things pressing up against my chest and I couldn''t help looking down.


    Because they had been tugged on early, her clothes were now a bit loose.


    So when I looked down, I could see right into the valley in front of me.


    This girl¡­she had a very good figure along with her beautiful appearance. This was a body that could even entice a monk and she was now flaunting it in front of me.


    So for me who had never been with a girl before, I couldn''t help myself. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was just a good thing that she didn''t notice in the end.


    After she let me go, she said with a serious look, "Thank you for everything. I promise that I will repay you once we get back to the surface."


    I just waved my hand and said, "It''s fine, you don''t need to worry about it."


    She was about to say something else, but then she realized something was wrong.


    She looked at me with an awkward look and said, "I never even asked your name¡­I don''t even know the name of the person that saved me¡­"


    I realized that she was right.


    We had been so focused on other things that we had never introduced ourselves to each other.


    So I simply said, "I''m Lin Fan."


    "Sasha." She said in response.

 Chapter 21 - 21: Curry

    I was about to say something else, but then I heard a strange sound. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I didn''t recognize this sound since it didn''t sound like anything that I had heard before, but then I saw that Sasha''s face had turned red.


    I didn''t understand why she was acting this way, but I saw that she was holding her stomach.


    Could it be that she had some other injury that I hadn''t noticed earlier?


    So I immediately asked, "Is there something wrong with your stomach? Are you hurt somewhere?"


    Hearing me ask this, her face turned even more red and she lowered her head as if she was hiding something.


    Finally, she said in a small voice, "It was my stomach, but I''m not hurt¡­It''s just that I haven''t eaten anything since this morning, so¡­"


    When I heard this, I finally realized what that sound was.


    It was from her stomach, but it wasn''t one that came from pain. It was a sound that was made because she was hungry.


    Since that was the case, it was much easier for me to solve.


    I sat back down and pulled the backpack off my back. Then I reached in and pulled out two bowls, some utensils, and a few bags that I placed on one of the flat rocks in front of us to show her what it was.


    Sasha looked up and her eyes lit up when she saw this, but then she hesitated a bit before asking, "Is it really alright for me to have some? This is the food that you brought in, so you don''t need to share anything with me."


    I shook my head and said, "It''s fine, I got plenty so I don''t mind sharing. I had prepared too much since I thought I would be in here longer, but it seemed like it was just too much for one person."


    Sasha lowered her head again before saying, "I''m sorry for ruining your plans."


    I shook my head and said, "No, it''s not because of you that I''m leaving early. I''m leaving early because I''ve already filled up my bag with loot. I can''t carry anymore even if I wanted to carry more."


    She lowered her head again as if she was apologizing, but she also muttered in a low voice, "Thank you."


    I was able to hear it and it brought a smile to my face, but I didn''t say anything since I knew that would just make it worse.


    The meal packs that I had brought with me were curry packs, so all that I needed to do was heat up some water for the curry packs and heat up the rice and we would be able to eat.


    I brought out the gas stove, but before I could turn it on, Sasha suddenly took a step forward.


    She caught me off guard by doing this and I couldn''t help looking at her with a strange look as I asked, "What''s wrong?"


    She didn''t say anything at first as she lowered her head in a shy manner, but then she suddenly looked up and said, "Can you let me prepare it?"


    I was confused why she asked this, but then she said, "You rescued me and you''re even sharing your food with me. If I don''t do anything at all, I just can''t accept this kindness."


    I raised a brow as I looked at her, but in the end, I handed over the stove and the ingredients to her.


    After taking it, she bowed and said, "Thank you. I promise to make the best meal for you."


    I just waved my hand and said, "It''s fine, it''s just curry. You don''t need to put in that much effort."


    But Sasha shook her head and said, "No, it''s a must! I have to put my heart into this and give you a proper love filled meal."


    I was taken aback by this sudden confession that she made and I didn''t know how to respond.


    Sasha had a confident look on her face when she said this, but then¡­she slowly started realizing what she had just said. As she realized this, her face started turning more and more red until she covered it up and said, "That''s not what I meant!"


    I just turned around and said, "I''m looking forward to it."


    At this, her eyes opened wide before she gave a soft ''un'' sound.


    Like this, I walked over to the side to rest while Sasha heated up the curry and rice.


    At the same time, I started checking the area around us just to make sure that it really was clear.


    If we were suddenly jumped by something in the middle of our meal, there was no doubt that it would be fatal.


    It didn''t take her long to prepare the meal since it was a premade meal.


    When it was done, she called out to me, "It''s ready."


    I came back over to the flat rock and found¡­that there was one dish that clearly had much more food than the other.


    When I saw this, I knitted my brows before picking it up to pour some of the curry and rice into her plate. But she quickly stopped me by saying, "No, no, it isn''t that I gave you more because of anything. It''s just that I can''t eat that much, so¡­"


    Her voice trailed off, but she was also looking at her stomach as she said this.


    Seeing this, I immediately understood what this meant and didn''t force it any more.


    After all, any topic related to weight was forbidden when it came to girls.


    So to cover up for this mistake, I picked up my spoon and took a sniff of the curry before saying, "It smells delicious."


    Hearing this, Sasha revealed a happy look before looking at me with an expectant look.


    In response to this, I took a spoonful of the curry and put it into my mouth before saying, "Um, it really is delicious."


    At this, Sasha''s face turned red and she lowered her head before tucking into her own curry.

 Chapter 22 - 22: Big surprise

    I lifted my spoon to take another scoop of the curry rice, but before I could, I suddenly felt that the world was getting dizzy.


    I tried holding onto the spoon, but soon my hand couldn''t take it anymore and the spoon dropped to the ground.


    I looked around myself to find the reason for this dizziness, but I couldn''t find a single thing.


    When Sasha saw this, she immediately came forward to ask, "What''s wrong?"


    I tried opening my mouth to say something, but it was just too numb to say a single thing.


    In the end, I fell face forward and landed on the ground.


    The curry that had been in my hand splashed to the side and created a large mess.


    At the final moment, I tried looking up as I lost consciousness.


    ¡­


    Watching him finally lose consciousness, Sasha let out a sigh of relief before saying, "It''s finally done. He just wouldn''t play along no matter what I did. If I didn''t make the excuse that I was hungry, he might have never let his guard down."


    After she said this, there were several figures that appeared around her and there were sources of light that appeared.


    With these lights that appeared, the appearances of the figures were revealed.


    They were the men that had tried to assault her before.


    Once they appeared, the leader of the group revealed a wide smile that was quite ugly and said, "Still, you did a good job. I''m sure that we can get quite a bit off of him. He was skilled enough to even sneak up behind me without getting caught, so he must have some skills."


    The others all nodded in agreement to this since they also hadn''t been able to detect Lin Fan when he snuck up on them.


    Sasha looked down at Lin Fan sleeping on the floor and gave a snort as she said, "Hmph, take care of this perverted man for me. I just can''t stand the way that this virgin acted around me."


    The leader of the group said with a smile, "What''s wrong? You didn''t like playing the role of the damsel in distress?"


    Sasha revealed a disgusted look as she said, "Damsel in distress? Just being close to this pervert made me feel disgusted."


    She looked back down at Lin Fan and said, "You can tell right away that this guy is a virgin. He got hard just from me hugging him and whenever I came close, I could tell that he was doing his best to sniff me. I also didn''t miss all the looks that he gave me when he thought that I turned away. It''s clear that he''s never had any experience before."


    The leader''s smile became even wider as he came over to Sasha. Then he reached his arm out over her shoulder and then wrapped it around her body while his hand came down to grab her breast.


    This was like when she was about to be assaulted before, but this time¡­instead of fighting it, she revealed a look of pleasure and gave a moan.


    With a slight blush on her face, she turned to the leader and said, "Master, you''re still the best! I can''t live without you and your magical touch!"


    The leader gave a proud laugh before saying, "Just keep doing your job and I''ll give you what you want." Then after a pause, he added with a dark undertone, "Of course, remember that your body is mine and mine alone. If you ever forget¡­"


    He let his voice trail off, but the implications that he was making were very clear.


    Sasha''s blush became stronger and her eyes lit up as she said, "Master, I will always be yours and only yours." After that, she jumped up into his arms and started fervently kissing him.


    The leader just went along with it, but it was clear that he liked this judging by the smug look on his face.


    The rest of the men all revealed envious looks, but they didn''t dare act on the envy that they felt.


    After all, their leader was much stronger than them.


    Even if he had backed down very easily early, that was all an act. Their leader was in reality a powerful E Ranker with the skill Super Strength. If he wanted to, he could rip them all apart with his bare hands.


    After they kissed for a while, Sasha finally released the leader and came down.


    As she came off him, her clothing that had already been loose became even more loose, showing off more of her skin. On the skin that she showed were tattoos that had been hidden previously.


    These tattoos made it very clear what kind of person she was.


    After Sasha let go, the leader came forward and grabbed her breasts with both hands, causing her to let out a moan.


    With the look in the eyes of the leader, it almost seemed like he was going to take her right here.


    But before he could, one of his men gave a cough and said, "Boss, shouldn''t we take care of the target? We shouldn''t stay in this place too long."


    After hearing this, the leader glared at the person who spoke, causing them to flinch at this. However, he knew that this person was right, so he calmed himself down and said, "Kill him and take his things. Then we get out of here."


    Since they had been given their orders, there was no need for them to hesitate anymore.


    The men all turned back to Lin Fan with their weapons raised and were prepared to slit his throat.


    But before they could do anything, they suddenly heard someone say, "You really do need to work on your acting. Otherwise, you make it just too obvious what you are planning on doing." Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When they heard this, all of them, including the leader and Sasha turned to look in the direction of this voice.


    They found Lin Fan just sitting there on the floor, looking up at them.

 Chapter 23 - 23: Monster (1)

    There was only a moment of being dazed before the leader suddenly said, "Take him out now!"


    As soon as the leader gave this order, all of the men suddenly charged out at Lin Fan who seemed to be sitting there without a care.


    Even though he could see that all of them were moving towards him, Lin Fan just had a calm smile on his face. It was almost as if he didn''t see them, or rather didn''t care that they were all charging at him.


    It was as if¡­they were nothing more than air to him.


    The men were all angered by this, but they remained focused as they surrounded him to make sure that he couldn''t run away. Then once he was surrounded, they all slashed out at him with their weapons.


    But right before their weapons to make contact, Lin Fan seemed to disappear.


    With the way that he disappeared without a trace, it was almost as if he had never been there in the first place.


    They all quickly looked around to try and find him, but they couldn''t find a single trace.


    That is until they heard a voice say, "Over here."


    Then they all turned in the direction of the voice and found that Lin Fan was standing behind the leader once more.


    The leader also wanted to turn to look at Lin Fan, but then he felt a bit of pain coming from his neck which caused him to stop turning his head. When he looked down, he found that Lin Fan had once again put a sword to his neck.


    The rest of them also saw this and they were about to move forward to surround him, but Lin Fan simply said, "Freeze."


    The moment that he said this, all of them found that they weren''t able to move a single inch. It was as if there was some kind of strange force that had frozen their bodies and they could only stand there in place.


    Seeing this, Lin Fan then said, "Drop your weapons."


    At this, all of the men looked on with shocked and confused looks as their hands released the weapons that they had been holding.


    Seeing this, the leader shouted, "What do you think you''re doing? Why are you listening to him?"


    But not a single one of them was able to give an explanation.


    They were all too focused on their own hands, looking at them with looks of confusion and shock.


    After all, not a single one of them could understand what had happened just now.


    There was some kind of uncontrollable force that had compelled their hands to open and drop the weapons that they had been holding. It was just as strong, or even stronger than the force that was freezing them in place.


    Since they couldn''t understand what was happening, they couldn''t say a single thing in response to this.


    Seeing that they weren''t saying a thing, the leader roared out, "Surround him and don''t let him escape! What do you fools think you''re doing!"


    All of them wanted to flinch, but their bodies wouldn''t listen to them. The only thing that they could do was reveal a scared look as they were frozen in place.


    The leader looked like he was about to explode when he saw that they didn''t do a thing, but Lin Fan just said, "Calm down, they can''t move even if they want to. Plus, all this yelling is hurting my ears."


    The leader''s face twisted when he heard this and he was about to turn his head to roar at Lin Fan even though there was the blade at his neck, but he found¡­that he wasn''t able to move at all.


    So instead, he opened his mouth to roar out again.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan had already expected this. He just calmly said, "Silence."


    As soon as he said this, the leader found that he couldn''t make a sound. In fact, he couldn''t even open his mouth as he was just frozen in place.


    At this, even if he was a fool, he understood what had happened.


    Everything that was happening now was all because of Lin Fan.


    The reason why they couldn''t move, the reason why his subordinates had dropped their weapons, the reason why he couldn''t say a thing¡­


    It was all because of Lin Fan.


    As he realized this, there was a shiver of fear that ran down his spine.


    He did all that he could to open his mouth and ask Lin Fan what he wanted, but he couldn''t open it no matter how hard he tried.


    Lin Fan just casually stood there behind the leader, but he no longer kept the sword at his neck. After all, it wasn''t as if the leader could do anything even if he didn''t keep the sword there.


    After taking a step back, he looked at the others with a smile on his face and said, "I bet all of you are wondering how I figured it all out, right?"


    They didn''t give a response, but it was clear by the look in their eyes that they were indeed curious about this.


    But then Lin Fan''s smile became wider as he said, "Is there a reason I should tell you? After all, you''re all going to die here."


    At first, they looked like they wanted to shout at him for playing him like this, but then the latter part of his words sank in.


    They all looked at him with shocked expressions, as if they couldn''t tell if he was serious or not.


    But just seeing that smile on his face and the way that they looked at him, they could tell that he was indeed serious.


    They wanted to say something, but they also couldn''t open their mouths at all.


    When Lin Fan had forced the leader into silence, they had also heard him say it, so they were also forced into silence along with the leader.


    So there really wasn''t anything that they could do now¡­


    S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 24 - 24: Monster (2)

    I didn''t care about the way that they looked at me or the things that they wanted to say.


    Instead, I just said to myself, "Now, what should I do to you all?"


    As soon as they heard this, all of them revealed looks of terror.


    But in reality, even though I had said this, there was another thought in my mind.


    I wanted to test the limits of my Hypnosis skill and I knew that I would need people to use in the future, so why not use the ones that were in front of me. They were a bit rough, but I was sure that I would be able to train them.


    Before dealing with these men though, I turned my attention to Sasha, the one who thought that she had honey trapped me.


    She had no idea how I had figured it out, but it was easy for me to use my Time Stop ability to see the things that she did to the curry. Then it was a simple matter of pretending to eat it and hiding the food that I faked eating to trick her.


    She really didn''t suspect a thing¡­but that didn''t mean that I couldn''t use her either.


    After all, if it was anyone else, they would have fallen for this kind of honey trap.


    That''s right, I just wanted to use her for abilities and not because I was interested in her appearance at all.


    Though I said this, I moved closer and closer to her body while she looked at me with a terrified look. She had also been frozen and had her mouth silenced just like the rest, so she was just as scared as them.


    As I stood there in front of her, I just looked down at her, who was sitting on the ground. She had fallen down when she had seen everything that had happened and then she was frozen on the spot because of my words.


    With how loose her clothes were, I could see even more of her skin.


    Seeing this, there was a faint light that appeared in Sasha''s eyes.


    After a moment of silence, I finally said, "Speak."


    As soon as I said this, Sasha found that she was able to move her mouth once more.


    She quickly said, "Please let me go. I was forced into this by them, they said that they would kill me if I didn''t go along with them."


    When the men heard this, they all looked at her in disdain.


    That was because they knew that¡­half of this plan had been thought out by her.


    She was a duplicitous woman who had many faces and the face that she had on now was just one of the few faces that she had.


    After seeing that he wasn''t saying anything, Sasha then said, "I''ll even let you do whatever you want with me, as long as you let me go."


    The more he didn''t say anything, the more anxious she became¡­


    But then I suddenly said, "I am your master now."


    Sasha revealed a surprised look like she didn''t understand the words that had just come out of my mouth, but then she revealed an obedient look as she said, "Yes, yes, you are my master now. I will serve you however you wish."


    She thought that she would see a happy look from him, but all that she could see was a disappointed look that she couldn''t understand.


    Didn''t men like being treated like this?


    Like they were the one in charge?


    But all I felt was disappointment when I saw this because I could tell that the Hypnosis that I tried using had failed. Her eyes showed that she was still very much in control of her own will and she would betray me if she wanted to.


    It was clear that this command hadn''t worked like I had wanted it to work.


    But I wasn''t all that surprised either since I knew that this was a different kind of command than the ones I had used before.


    The ones that I gave before were all physical commands that forced their bodies to stop. This didn''t directly clash against their will, so these commands weren''t resisted as much by the target.


    But this command was to change their fundamental thoughts.


    So as long as they had their own willpower, it was impossible for this command to take effect.


    So to make her think that I was actually her master¡­I would have to crush her will first.


    It was a good thing that I had chosen to test this skill on these people first. After all, if I had been forced into a situation where I had to use this skill to survive and it failed¡­that would be it.


    It was better to improve my skills while I still could so that I could save my life when the time came. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Hypnosis skill''s description had said that skill success would depend on the free will and resolve of the target. So to increase the success, I would have to crush her free will and resolve to increase the chance of success.


    She was a beautiful woman who used her body and charm to get the things that she wanted, but she was a woman in the end¡­


    The best way to completely crush a woman''s mind was¡­


    Sasha was about to open her mouth and try to please Lin Fan again with her words, but then she found herself looking right into his eyes.


    When she looked into his eyes, she couldn''t help feeling a strange feeling.


    It was like those eyes were piercing right into her and they reached her very core. Once they reached her core, it was like a fire had been ignited inside of her.


    This fire quickly spread all over her body, but it spread to one specific place¡­


    The place in between her legs.


    She didn''t know what was happening, but she was starting to feel turned on.


    Unfortunately, she wasn''t able to relieve this feeling at all since she was frozen in place.

 Chapter 25 - 25: Monster (3)

    Sasha did her best to resist this feeling that was filling her body, but no matter how hard she tried, she found that she couldn''t stop it.


    It didn''t take long for her to lose control of her breathing. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the burning sensation inside of her became stronger and stronger, her breathing also became heavier and heavier.


    She felt like she couldn''t take this anymore and that feeling was about to completely take over her mind. She didn''t care who it was, but she just wanted someone to help her relieve this feeling.


    So she looked up and said, "Please, help me relieve this feeling."


    But I didn''t do a thing as I kept staring at her.


    I had been watching her closely as her cheeks started turning more and more red and her breathing became heavier. I wanted to see just how much these eyes of mine would affect her.


    After all, I was using the Eyes of Lust on her right now.


    This was the only skill out of the three that I had received when I became the Demon King of Lust that I hadn''t used yet.


    It was a skill that couldn''t be used that easily, but in a dungeon like this where no one else was around, I didn''t have to worry about using it.


    So I had exerted the full force of the Eyes of Lust on her and I could say that I wasn''t disappointed. It was clear how turned on she was getting because of these Eyes of Lust, it was even faster than I thought it would be.


    Sasha looked up at me again with her face that had turned completely red now.


    As she stared into those eyes, she could see that there was some kind of strange pink hue to it.


    Then she said, "It''s you isn''t it? You''re doing something to my body aren''t you?"


    I didn''t say anything in response, but she didn''t care either as she continued, "Please stop it or at least do something to me to relieve this feeling! Either use my body or put me out of my misery!"


    When the men around us heard this, they all revealed strange expressions. That is except for the leader whose eyes were filled with rage and his face was twisted in anger, almost as if he wanted to rip someone apart.


    It was just too bad that looks couldn''t kill.


    I ignored them anyway and brought my hand forward.


    After a moment of hesitation, I grabbed one of Sasha''s breasts.


    This was a very soft feeling, one that I had never felt before.


    Her breasts weren''t too big and they weren''t too small, they were just the right size that my hand could perfectly cup around them.


    But after grabbing them, I didn''t move my hand in any way since¡­I was in too much of a daze.


    The moment that she felt his hand on her chest, it was like there was something burning hot that suddenly grabbed her. But this wasn''t a bad sensation as the heat that came from his hand holding her breast went all the way to her core before spreading through her body.


    Just this touch along was enough to fill her with pleasure.


    It was just too bad that this heat from his hand quickly disappeared since he wasn''t moving it at all.


    Once it was gone, she was tortured by the burning sensation that filled her body again.


    Sasha couldn''t take this and said, "What are you doing? Keep going? Why are you stopping your hand?"


    She looked up to find that I was staring at her in a daze before asking, "Could it be that you''re really a virgin?"


    When I heard this, it snapped me out of my daze and I couldn''t help turning my head to give a cough. Then when I turned back, I suddenly grabbed at her breast and pulled at it before letting go.


    All during this time, Sasha let out moans of pleasure even though I was treating her this roughly.


    At this point, she was just too numb from being turned on that she could only feel pleasure, regardless of how harsh I was being.


    Finally, when the feeling of pleasure disappeared again, she said in a desperate voice, "Do whatever you want with my body. I don''t care if you''re a virgin, you can have my body now!"


    I was surprised by how desperate she was sounding, but then I revealed a faint smile.


    It seemed that these Eyes of Lust really was the best way to break someone''s resistance.


    She no longer had the same look in her eyes as she had before. It was clear that there was only one thing that was on her mind now.


    Since it was being offered to me, I wouldn''t be much of a man if I didn''t take it.


    Not to mention, I could see the look on the face of the leader.


    It was clear that he would rip me apart with his teeth alone if he was able to do so.


    That was just how enraged he was right now.


    After all, Sasha was someone that he considered his property and she was being violated by someone else in front of him. If he didn''t get angry at this, he really wouldn''t be much of a man.


    I took a step forward, but I didn''t lean down and grab her chest like I did before.


    Instead, I went behind her and sat on the floor so that I was right up behind her before reaching my arms forward. I reached them past her sides and then brought them up to her chest before suddenly grabbing at them with both hands.


    This time, I didn''t stop as I started groping these breasts, squeezing and tugging at them.


    There was no experience at all, it was just tugging and groping from pure enthusiasm, but that was enough for Sasha who was completely taken by the hold of lust.


    She let out moans of pleasure as she felt these hands on her chest, each grab gave her such pleasure that she came closer and closer.


    But then I suddenly stopped since¡­I had an idea.


    She was still wearing her shirt and I was just groping her chest through it¡­wouldn''t it feel better if I took off that shirt?


    So I reached out and pulled her shirt over her head. Her breasts had been caught by the shirt and when they were released, they bounced up and down before coming to a stop.


    I was completely mesmerized by the scene of her bare chest bouncing up and down like this.

 Chapter 26 - 26: Monster (4)

    But then I was pulled out of my thoughts again by her soft voice saying, "Please, stop teasing me and give me what I want."


    I couldn''t help revealing an evil smile when I heard this and I suddenly pinched her nipples.


    "Yi!" She let out a cry of surprise that quickly faded into moans of pleasure.


    The moment that I had grabbed her nipple, it was like there was an electric shock that had filled her. Her body had started to tremble and she wasn''t able to control herself as a flood almost flowed down her legs.


    But this time, that feeling didn''t stop as I continued playing with her nipples and her chest. I pinched and pulled on one nipple while groping and playing with the other one.


    The more that I did this, the more that she moaned with pleasure.


    At the same time, the more that I did this, the more her body started to tremble.


    Finally, she said, "I can''t take it anymore!"


    As she said this, her body started to shake, especially her legs.


    She opened them wide and there was a sudden spray that came out from in between them.


    This spray flew out in front of her and splashed all over the ground.


    Then her body went soft and she fell back onto me, not moving a single inch as she laid there.


    Even if she wanted to move, it wasn''t possible for her since¡­she had already used up all her strength.


    But at the very least, the burning sensation that had been inside of her had started to calm down. She was slowly coming back down to a normal temperature and was no longer suffering from that unbearable heat.


    That is until my eyes fell onto her again.


    The moment that my eyes fell onto her, the same heat as before filled her body in an instant.


    "Ah, ah, ah, why?!" Sasha suddenly shouted, "Why is this burning sensation filling me again?!"


    I just didn''t say a word as I looked at her with that same evil smile on my face.


    Sasha''s body started to shake as she tried to use her hands to alleviate this feeling, but nothing she did worked. No matter how hard she tried to move her body, she wasn''t able to do a thing.


    Finally, she had no choice but to say, "Please give it to me again. Please help me alleviate this burning feeling."


    I just said with the same evil smile on my face, "You''re the one asking." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But of course, as I said this, I turned my face slightly so that I was facing the leader.


    The moment that he saw this, he started shaking.


    It wasn''t that he was afraid, but rather he was trying to forcefully break out from the binding of the Hypnosis skill. One could see the various veins that were popping out from all over his body.


    It was as if he pushed himself any further, he would explode.


    But I didn''t care as I turned back to Sasha''s body.


    I suddenly stood up, but as I stood up, I also grabbed Sasha''s legs and lifted her up.


    So when I was standing up, she was in my arms with her legs up and legs spread open.


    The only problem now was that she still had her pants on.


    Of course, that was easily solved with a single rip of her pants.


    To my surprise, I found that just like with her upper half, she wasn''t wearing any underwear down there.


    It was completely revealed the moment that I ripped her pants.


    Without any hesitation, I opened the zipper of my pants and pulled my thing out as well. But I didn''t thrust into her right away as I just held her over it.


    Being held like this, Sasha could feel the heat that was coming from it and it drove her even more insane.


    It was like having something be right within your range and not be able to get it.


    This feeling was just like torture for her and she couldn''t take it anymore.


    So she begged, "Please give it to me. Please put it deep into me and mess this slut up! I''m begging you, I don''t care anymore!"


    With this, I revealed an evil smile and brought her down atop my dick.


    As soon as I pushed her down, I couldn''t help being shocked by the pleasure that followed.


    She was right, I was a virgin, so I didn''t have any experience at all.


    So the first time¡­was just too much for me.


    I didn''t know what I was doing since it was my first time, but I at least knew to push it in and pull it out.


    But after pushing it in just a bit, I couldn''t control myself.


    I was already coming close to climaxing¡­


    It was just too much for a virgin like me¡­


    She was someone who had clearly done it many times, but it was still so tight inside of her. As I pushed my dick in, I could feel the walls of her pussy wrapping around me tightly, giving me pleasure with each inch I moved in.


    It was finally too much for me and I was about to climax.


    It was just a good thing that she also couldn''t control herself with all the lust that I had instilled into her with my Eyes of Lust.


    So when I came all of a sudden, she said, "Ah, it''s so hot! I''m cumming too!"


    Since I was holding her up like this, she released a spray right out in front of her that almost seemed like it would create a rainbow.


    One of the men was unlucky enough to be standing in that direction¡­so he was hit by a bit of that spray which made his face twist.


    After I finished pumping my load into her, I pulled my dick out and there was a white liquid that dripped down from between her crotch, falling to the ground.


    I let her go and she dropped to the ground, falling face first, but Sasha didn''t care at all since she had been lost in the pleasure of that climax.


    I ignored her and turned to look at the leader, but I found that there was a faint smile on his face.


    I couldn''t help being confused when I saw this, so I said, "Speak."


    After saying this, the leader found that he was able to move his lips again, so he said with a smirk, "You only lasted that long? You came right as soon as you put it into her, you really are a virgin."


    He didn''t say anything else as he started laughing.


    It was almost as if he was using this laughter to drown out the pain in his heart.


    But all this did was serve to enrage me even further.


    So what if I was a virgin?


    Was that something to be ashamed of?


    Everyone had their first time and even if mine was a bit late, it had still come!


    Since he was laughing at me like this, it seemed like he could take even more punishment¡­


    So with a simple "silence", I ignored him and turned my attention back to Sasha lying there.


    When the leader realized what I was going to do, the look of joy in his eyes disappeared and his eyes opened wide again.


    I grabbed her by the hair and said, "Rest time is over."

 Chapter 27 - 27: Monster (5)

    Again and again, I made Sasha cum in front of the faces of these men.


    At first, I wasn''t able to do much with my technique and made up for it with the Eyes of Lust.


    But as I became more and more familiar with her body, as well as what she enjoyed, I was able to last much longer and longer. Though that was also because I was slowly running out of cum in the first place from doing it so much.


    With each time that I made her cum, the more the face of the leader twisted.


    It was clear that his heart was being ripped apart as he saw this girl that he thought was his being violated like this.


    His rage was slowly consuming him and he was losing his mind.


    Whether he broke or not¡­that was uncertain, but there was no doubt that his mind was being pushed to the edge like this.


    Finally, I stopped when I felt like I was running out of stamina.


    I could see that these people were about close to being drained, so there was no need for me to continue.


    So I just tossed Sasha onto the ground and stood up to walk over to the leader.


    As I stood there in front of him, I looked closely at his face. I looked right into his eyes to see if he was in the right condition for what I wanted to do and it seemed like it was about right.


    So I said, "Speak."


    The moment that I did, the leader immediately roared out, "You and that slut are both dead! I swear, I will rip you all to pieces!"


    Even though he threatened me with such a powerful voice, I didn''t feel any fear at all, Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was because I knew that he wouldn''t be able to do a thing to me.


    I just ignored the shouting of the leader and said, "From now on, I am your master."


    The roaring suddenly stopped as the leader looked at me with a confused look before he suddenly shouted, "What kind of nonsense are you saying? You want to be my master? I will rip you to pieces!"


    I knitted my brows when I heard this.


    I had thought that anger would be enough to break his mind, but it seemed that this anger had actually strengthened it instead.


    Now there was only the focus that the anger gave him that made him want to rip me apart with his bare hands.


    I thought that he would become a broken man because of this anger, but it seemed that it had backfired.


    So should I try something else?


    But before I could think of anything else to do, there was a sharp howl that cut through the air.


    The moment that this howl rang out, I immediately turned in the direction of it to find that there was a large wolf that was there.


    This wolf¡­was bigger than any wolf that I had seen before. At the same time, I could feel that sense of danger that was coming from this wolf.


    It was clear that this wolf wasn''t a normal monster.


    So without hesitation, I used the Time Stop.


    I picked Sasha off the ground and quickly disappeared from this area.


    When I released the Time Stop, we had already moved over a hundred meters away.


    I could still see the faint outlines in the distance.


    As for the leader, when he saw that I had suddenly disappeared from in front of him, he couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    He had also seen the giant wolf that had appeared and he could feel the danger that came from it.


    The problem was¡­they still couldn''t move their bodies¡­


    So the leader immediately shouted out, "Wait! Let us go!"


    But there was no one to respond to this.


    All that this did was draw the attention of the giant wolf to them.


    The giant wolf had been looking at Lin Fan, but when he suddenly disappeared, the giant wolf had tried to find him.


    But then, the leader shouted out at this time which drew the giant wolf''s attention back to him.


    At this, the giant wolf decided to forget about Lin Fan and focus on the meal in front of it.


    The leader realized his mistake and closed his mouth, but it was already too late.


    The giant wolf was already moving towards them with its jaw open and drool coming out of it.


    It was clear that the giant wolf was planning on eating them¡­


    The leader knew that there was no point in closing his mouth anymore, so he shouted, "Save us! We''ll do anything you want if you save us!"


    But there was no response that came.


    The leader quickly looked around with his limited vision to find Lin Fan and eventually, he was able to see him in the distance.


    With his strengthened eyesight, he could still see Lin Fan''s face while he was standing so far away.


    A smile, the smile of a demon was on Lin Fan''s face.


    At this, the leader realized that they had provoked a monster¡­


    He was someone that didn''t care about what happened to them, he was just using them for his own purposes¡­


    In the end, they could only blame themselves for picking on the wrong person.


    The last thing that the leader saw was the fangs of the wolf closing in around his head.


    With one bite, the giant wolf bit off the leader''s head and his decapitated body fell to the floor, splashing blood all over.


    ¡­


    In the distance, I was able to see the bloody deaths of these thugs.


    I did feel a bit nauseous seeing this since it was my first time seeing this kind of gruesome death, but there was no guilt in my heart at all.


    After all, these people were bad people that robbed others.


    They would even drug and kill people, so there was no need to feel guilty about cleaning up this trash.


    But one thing that I realized was why this place was a safe zone.


    That giant wolf was a hidden elite monster of this dungeon, so this place was its territory. Because of that, the weaker monsters didn''t approach this place, which was why I hadn''t met a single one while resting there.


    The sound that we made must have awakened this giant wolf in the end.


    For now though, I shouldn''t stay here any longer.


    So I once again activated the Time Stop skill and walked off with Sasha in my arms.

 Chapter 28 - 28: Domination

    I made sure that I couldn''t see the giant wolf anymore before finally releasing the Time Stop skill and settling down.


    I found another safe area for us to hide in before setting Sasha onto the ground.


    During the entire time, she had a dazed look on her face as if she had no idea what had happened.


    She didn''t even seem to care that the people that she had worked with had all been killed by the giant wolf.


    There was only that look of pleasure that was on her face.


    But I didn''t mind this since this was what I had wanted to see in the first place.


    After setting her down, I looked at her for a bit before leaning in to slap her on the face.


    With that slap, she was snapped out of her daze and asked, "What''s going¡­"


    Before she could finish her words, I suddenly said, "I am your master now."


    Sasha''s mouth froze and her eyes suddenly dimmed before she said, "Yes, master."


    Seeing the empty look in her eyes, I immediately recognized that I had succeeded. It was clear that her will had been broken and she had completely fallen under the control of the Hypnosis skill.


    So it seemed that I could use the Hypnosis skill to induce personality changes in people, it all depended on how I broke their will or influenced them before giving the suggestion.


    Of course, I wouldn''t be able to do the same thing as I did with Sasha each time, but this possibility gave me many ideas.


    It was impossible to achieve my goals in this world by myself, so I would need to get more and more people on my side.


    With this discovery, it would be much easier for me to do what I wanted in the future.


    If I were to take control of some awakeners, I would be able to protect myself even if my identity was exposed.


    I even started having dreams about taking over A Rankers and S Rankers in the future.


    But I quickly snapped myself out of that dream.


    It was still quite far away in the future, so I shouldn''t let myself get lost in this fantasy. After all, just a single misstep right now would mean death for me if my identity was discovered.


    So I shouldn''t be dreaming about these big things and should be focusing on the small things I should do right now.


    For example, I should figure out a way to hide what had happened with those men just now.


    Sasha would be leaving with me and we needed to come up with some kind of cover story to explain how she looked.


    So I looked at her and moved a few steps back before saying, "Come over here." Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Sasha stood up in an almost mechanical manner and walked over to me like a robot.


    I slightly knitted my brows when I saw this.


    If she acted this way, it would make it very clear that something was controlling her. If this was discovered by the people from the Awakener Association guarding the entrance of this dungeon, they would immediately detain her.


    They would suspect her of either being controlled by some kind of monster¡­or being controlled by me.


    I couldn''t let that happen, so I said, "Act more like the way that you used to."


    When Sasha heard this, she froze on the spot. Then her body shook a few times before she finally revealed a wide smile.


    I was surprised by this sudden transformation since it was completely different from before.


    I quickly gave her a few orders to test her out and I found that she was acting like a normal human once again. She wasn''t like that mechanical doll that I had ordered around just a few minutes ago.


    This would without a doubt be enough to fool the guards that were outside, but to make sure that everything went smoothly, I would need to take a few more precautions. At the same time, I wanted to run a few more tests to see how useful this kind of mind control would be.


    So I said, "Alright, here''s the plan¡­"


    ¡­


    When she woke up, Sasha found that she was in a completely empty space.


    She looked around herself, trying to find a way out of this pitch black world, but she found that she wasn''t able to find a single thing around her.


    After a while, she finally said, "Hello? Is anyone there? Can you please tell me where I am?"


    Her voice echoed off into the distance, but there was no response that came.


    There was only silence that met her questions.


    Since there was nothing here, she tried her best to remember what had happened.


    The last thing that she remembered was that¡­she had been drowning in pleasure.


    No, it wasn''t just that.


    It was that strange person that she had met, the one that she had tried to rob with her man.


    But then everything had changed when he used those strange abilities.


    She had been filled with a fire that she hadn''t been able to control and she had allowed him to do whatever he wanted with her body, drowning her in pleasure.


    After all of that pleasure, she had lost consciousness and when she woke up, she found herself in this place.


    What had happened when she had lost consciousness?


    Once again, her attention was drawn back to this empty world around her.


    But then she suddenly realized something.


    Since this was a pitch black world, just why was she able to see anything?


    Shouldn''t it be pitch black?


    However, there was this faint light that filled this world that allowed her to see still.


    Where was this faint light coming from?


    She looked around herself again for the source of this faint light, but she wasn''t able to find a single thing¡­that is until she suddenly looked up above her and found the screen that was above her head, lighting up this world around her.


    But what was this screen?

 Chapter 29 - 29: Questioned (1)

    After discovering the screen, Sasha looked carefully at it to see just what was on this screen.


    She couldn''t see it clearly at first, but the more she looked at it, the clearer the picture became.


    It was a scene of the dungeon and in front of her was¡­that terrifying person.


    He just looked at her as he mouthed something, but she couldn''t hear any sound coming from the screen.


    She tried her best to read his lips, but she wasn''t able to understand a single thing.


    All she saw was that after he said something, the field of view would change and there would either be a pair of arms or some legs that appeared in this field of view..


    With the way that these limbs appeared in the field of view, it was clear that they belonged to whoever this field of view belonged to.


    Sasha didn''t understand what was happening at first, but then she saw something that made her understand.


    On the arm of the person this field of view belonged to¡­there was a tattoo that she recognized. That was because this was the tattoo that she had gotten when she had turned eighteen, the first tattoo that she had ever gotten.


    She looked more carefully at the other limbs and found that the other tattoos on them were also ones that she recognized¡­


    All of these were her tattoos!


    That meant that the field of view that she was currently looking at was her own field of view.


    However, she wasn''t able to control a single thing about it.


    It was like she was locked up from the outside world.


    After taking a moment to think about it, she slowly began to realize what was happening¡­


    She had been trapped in her own mind.


    She didn''t know how that Lin Fan had done it, but she was now trapped in her own mind and he was controlling her body like a puppet!


    "Let me out!" She shouted at the screen when she realized what had happened, but there wasn''t a single response.


    When she saw that it was all useless, she started running around, looking for a way out of this place. However, no matter how she ran, nothing seemed to change. Even the screen above her was still the same as before, almost as if it was following her.


    Slowly, she became exhausted from running and fell to the ground panting.


    Once she caught her breath, the last string of tension cut and she broke out in tears as she cried, "Please let me out! I''ll do whatever you want! Please let me out!"


    But there was only silence that met these cries.


    ¡­


    When we came out of the dungeon, as one had expected, we were immediately detained by the guards from the Awakener Association.


    After all, Sasha''s appearance made it clear that something had happened.


    It was just a good thing that I was able to find a piece of cloth for her, or she would have had to come out with her ripped clothes.


    As for where that piece of cloth came from, that was the biggest surprise.


    When I had been going through Sasha''s things, I found that she had a Storage Ring hidden.


    This Storage Ring wasn''t just a normal item, it was a super item that would make countless people drool over it. That was because it was the ultimate luggage item that one could have.


    As the name suggested, it was a ring used for storage, but it wasn''t just any normal form of storage.


    It was spatial storage.


    These were special rings that were brought back from the dungeons that had special extradimensional spaces in them. This allowed one to hold many things that would be hard to carry if they had to carry it themselves.


    The Storage Ring that Sasha had had a storage of two square meters and was already filled with things that she had put in.


    Since there was limited space, she didn''t put that much stuff in and she didn''t have a second outfit. Luckily, there was this cloth in there that should be a face washing cloth that I used to cover her lower half up.


    Once we came out, the guards immediately came forward to ask if we were alright before asking us to follow them for questioning.


    As we walked to the guard station, I could feel the gazes that were on me.


    Even though we both looked ragged, Sasha''s clothes had been ripped. One would think that I was the one that did this to her, which was why everyone looked at me with sharp gazes.


    Even the guards peeked at me with sharp gazes from time to time.


    But I just ignored all of them and followed the guards to the guard station.


    Once we arrived, we were brought into separate questioning rooms. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that they were afraid that I was the perpetrator and Sasha was the victim, so they wanted to separate us to allow Sasha to confess freely.


    This was made even more clear when the guards who came to question me came in with a bowl of katsudon.


    This was a move that was seen quite a lot in Japanese detective dramas, but to see it in real life really was something else.


    After the guard set the katsudon down, he said, "Let''s not make this long. Just tell us what happened and we''ll be sure to help you. If you confess now, I''ll make sure you get a lighter sentence."


    With a bitter smile, I said, "I think there''s some kind of mistake here."


    The guard slapped the table and said, "What kind of mistake could there be when there''s a beautiful girl in that state?"


    The bitter smile on my lips became wider. After a pause, I said, "Shouldn''t you try to listen to what I have to say before coming up with these judgments?"


    The guard realized what he was doing, so he gave a cough and said, "Right, let''s hear what happened then."

 Chapter 30 - 30: Questioned (2)

    Over the next half an hour, I gave them an account of what had happened in the dungeon.


    Or rather, I gave them an account of the story that I had come up with for what happened in the dungeon.


    The guards just knitted their brows as they listened to my story and by the end of it, they just looked at me in silence.


    During this time, the katsudon had completely gone cold, but no one paid any attention to it.


    When I was done with my story though, I felt that I was a bit hungry again since it was already getting late, so I turned my attention to it. However, when I tried reaching for it, the guard that had sat down in front of me reached out to take it away from me.


    I looked at the guard and saw that he was looking at me with narrowed eyes, as if he was trying to size me up.


    We just sat there in silence for a bit before this guard suddenly stood up and said, "Wait here. We''ll go confirm a few things before deciding what to do with you."


    Without even giving me a chance to say anything, this guard and the other two guards who had been in the room suddenly turned around and walked out. I was left all alone in the room and even the katsudon had been taken away.


    So the only thing that I could do was wait.


    However, I wasn''t worried at all since I had already planned for everything.


    I had made sure that everything they could check on had already been covered. They wouldn''t be able to find a single thing wrong with my story.


    Well¡­it was possible that they might find out that Sasha was under my control¡­


    That was the one and only thing that I was worried about, but there was nothing else I could do about this. If I didn''t control her, she would reveal everything¡­so all I could do was hope that she would remain under my control and it wasn''t discovered.


    For now, all I could do was sit here and wait in silence.


    After they left the room, one of the two guards beside the guard captain who came to interview Lin Fan asked, "Sir, do you believe his story?"


    The guard captain had his brows knitted the whole time as they walked out, so they thought that he had noticed that something was off.


    But the guard captain just said, "We''ll know when we double check with the girl''s story. Also, the group that was sent into the dungeon should be reporting back soon."


    The guards couldn''t help revealing strange looks when they heard this because they could hear that something was off in the guard captain''s voice.


    The guard captain noticed the way that they were looking at him, so he said, "There''s something off about the way that he said it. It didn''t seem like he was lying, but it also didn''t seem like he was telling the truth¡­"


    He let his voice trail off as he said this.


    Then he said, "Come, let''s go see what the other witness has to say."


    ¡­


    An hour later, the guards finally came back to my room.


    The two guards moved to the side to stand on guard while the one in the middle sat down again.


    When he looked at me, it was clear that his expression was different.


    It was as if there was more trust in his eyes now and even a bit of admiration.


    I revealed a confused and surprised look when I saw this.


    The guard reached out and patted me on the shoulder before saying, "We''ve already checked everything and you''re free to go. You''ve done a very good job saving her and escaping from the dungeon."


    The confused and surprised look on my face became even stronger, but the guards didn''t mind.


    The guard waved for me to stand up and I was led out to the front of this guard station.


    There I found that Sasha was waiting for me, but she had been given new clothes.


    When she saw me, she came over without hesitation and hugged me.


    The moment that they saw this, the other guards that were standing around in this place all narrowed their eyes to look at me. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I could feel the sting that was coming from their gazes, but I ignored it all.


    I just took advantage of this and moved closer to Sasha to say, "Come find me tomorrow at the address I told you. Don''t attract any suspicion and just follow your normal routine until you can come and see me."


    After that, I moved away from her.


    When I did, I heard a soft voice say, "Yes, master."


    At the same time, there was a blush that appeared on her face after I moved away.


    When the guards around us saw this, they all couldn''t help glaring at me again, but I ignored all of these glares and just turned to walk out.


    Sasha was about to follow behind me, but then she stopped and stood there as she watched me leave.


    When the guards saw this, they glared at me even harder until I left the guard station.


    There were a few of them that had wanted to go up to Sasha to comfort her, but she left before any of them could do a thing.


    All that was left was a sad feeling in the guards as they watched her leave.


    It seemed that the heroes who saved beauties would always get the girls and they would be lonely dogs forever¡­


    After we left, the guard captain picked up the report on the table and said, "Who would have thought that such an event would have happened today?"


    One of the guards beside him said, "It''s not that rare, but it sure isn''t a good sign."


    The guard captain gave a nod before saying, "It''s just another report for the system."

 Chapter 31 - 31: Police report

    Xia Tian suddenly burst into the room that Ling Yue had been using and dropped a report down on the table.


    Ling Yue looked at the report before looking up at him with a confused look and asking, "What is this?"


    Xia Tian didn''t give an answer and just mysteriously said, "Read it and you''ll find out."


    Ling Yue revealed an even more confused look, but she still picked up the report and read it.


    She had a calm look on her face at first, but she couldn''t help slightly knitting her brows after reading it.


    Once she finished reading it, she put the folder down and sat there in silence.


    Xia Tian just kept his eyes on her, waiting for her reaction.


    After a long silence, Ling Yue said, "What happened to him? Is he alright?"


    Xia Tian couldn''t help being caught off guard by this response since it was one that he never expected. He then knitted his brows and said, "Didn''t you read the report properly?"


    Ling Yue just calmly said, "I''ve read it, that''s why I''m asking this."


    Xia Tian knitted his brows even more when he heard this, but he still said, "I called and they said that he was released without a problem."


    Ling Yue let out a sigh of relief when she heard this, but that just went to making Xia Tian knit his brows even more, causing a big frown to appear on his face.


    After a long moment of silence, he asked, "Why are you acting like this? Can''t you see the bigger picture?"


    Ling Yue looked at Xia Tian with a confused look before asking, "What do you mean bigger picture? All I see here is a dungeon accident report."


    The report that Xia Tian had brought to her was the dungeon accident report for Lin Fan and Sasha.


    This was the report that the guard captain had mentioned putting into the system.


    This system was shared between the police and the Awakener Association just in case they needed to investigate matters in the dungeon. So the police would be able to access the reports that were made after any accidents in the dungeon like this.


    Xia Tian had been suspicious of Lin Fan since the last matter, so he had asked a friend for a favour.


    Now if anything related to Lin Fan reached their system, he would immediately get a notification.


    After a long pause, Xia Tian said, "It''s too much of a coincidence that two reports related to him came in after two days. It''s clear that he must be involved in both this matter and the previous matter. Why can''t you see this?"


    The moment that Ling Yue heard this, she immediately knitted her brows.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at Xia Tian before saying, "Why are you like this? Why do you keep insisting that he''s guilty? No matter how you look at it, this boy is quite pitiful since he keeps getting involved in these kinds of incidents."


    Xia Tian knitted his brows again when he heard this.


    Then he slammed his hand on the table and said, "I''m going to revise the report right now. It''s clear that he''s the one who caused the incident."


    The report that he was referring to was the report that they had submitted about the Wang Bing murder.


    In the end, they could only report that it was fighting amongst themselves that had caused that matter. That was why Wang Bing and his followers had all died.


    While they weren''t happy about this since it seemed like this was just an easy way to tie up loose ends, they had no choice on this matter. It was either turn in the report or lose their jobs.


    Plus, they had more than enough evidence to support this, so they were justified in doing this.


    But they both felt that this crime was almost too perfect that it seemed like they were missing something.


    That was why Xia Tian kept trying to prove Lin Fan guilty.


    But Ling Yue didn''t feel the same.


    She slapped the table and said, "Xia Tian, is this all your sense of justice is worth? You would rather frame an innocent person than find the actual culprit?"


    Xia Tian also slapped the table and said, "How can you still not see this? It''s clear that he''s the culprit!"


    Ling Yue narrowed her eyes and moved right in front of Xia Tian before saying, "If you do this, I will do all that I can to go against you. I don''t mind if we both get fired."


    Xia Tian couldn''t help trembling since he had never heard such a fierce tone from Ling Yue before. Even as childhood friends, he had never heard her take this tone with him.


    When he heard it, he couldn''t help feeling a tinge of pain in his heart. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So after a long silence, Xia Tian finally said with a sigh, "Alright, I''ll go over the report again and see if I can find anything."


    Without waiting for Ling Yue to reply, he quickly left the room.


    He was afraid that if he said anything else, he would just make her angry and that was the last thing that he wanted.


    But of course, in his mind¡­he still considered Lin Fan guilty.


    Once Xia Tian was gone, Ling Yue also gave a sigh before picking up the report from the table.


    She went over it again before putting it down with another sigh.


    She couldn''t help thinking of Lin Fan and how he had acted when she had seen him this morning.


    In the past, Ling Yue had been in a similar place as Lin Fan, so she knew what he had been feeling.


    That was why she had felt pity for him when she had met him and heard his story.


    But for some reason that she couldn''t understand, he had been on her mind the entire day.


    It was as if there was something about him that drew her in.


    She suddenly said, "Maybe I should go and check on him tomorrow¡­"

 Chapter 32 - 32: Sudden visit

    When I finally got home, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh of relief.


    It was only when I finally entered my apartment that all of the strings of tension were cut and I was able to relax again.


    There wasn''t a single moment where I thought that this was how this trip to the dungeon would turn out.


    After all, no one would ever think that they would be targeted by humans when they entered the dungeon. They would expect monsters to come after them, but humans¡­


    It seemed that human hearts really were the darkest sometimes.


    For now, all I wanted to do was sleep and that was what I did. The moment that my head hit the pillow, I immediately entered the land of sleep.


    When I woke up in the morning, I didn''t wake up on my own.


    But rather, I was woken up by the ringing of the doorbell.


    I opened my eyes to look at my phone and found that it was way too early. It was only five in the morning and someone was already ringing at my doorbell.


    I had thought about ignoring them, but it didn''t seem like they would give up¡­


    So I had no choice but to open the door to see who it was.


    When I did, I was surprised to find that Sasha was standing there.


    She was about to come forward and hug me, but I raised my hand and asked, "What are you doing here so early?"


    She just replied with a smile, "Master said to come as soon as I could, so I came as soon as I could."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows even more when I heard this before asking, "Did you really think that coming this early wouldn''t raise suspicion? What would the people who know you think?"


    Sasha just said with the same smile, "There''s no one like that in my life."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this.


    I had assumed that her life was bad because of the company that she had and the lifestyle that she chose, but I never thought that it would actually be that bad.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Alright, you can come in."


    With the same smile on her face, Sasha walked into my apartment.


    Once the door was closed, her hands came up and she started loosening her clothes before saying, "So master, are we going to have some fun now?"


    I couldn''t help being taken aback again by this sudden proposition from her, but then I quickly said, "Stop it."


    When I gave this order, Sasha seemed to suddenly freeze before a blank expression appeared on her face and she stood at attention in front of me. With that expression on her face and the way that she stood, it was almost as if she was some kind of doll.


    I looked at her with a surprised look when I saw her acting like this before suddenly understanding why she became like this.


    I gave a sigh before saying, "Just act normally, but stop playing around."


    With this order, the smile returned to Sasha''s face and she walked over to the sofa to sit down. As she sat there, she didn''t forget to sit in very specific positions that would reveal parts of her body, almost as if she was provoking me.


    I gave a sigh seeing this before thinking, "This girl really is hard to control."


    But there was nothing that I could do about this. I had already risked so much to control this girl and if I didn''t get something back from it, it would all be a waste.


    So I just took a deep breath to calm down before saying, "Tell me what happened yesterday after we were separated."


    Sasha''s provocative look disappeared from her face and she revealed a calm look as she told me everything.


    It was just like what had happened with me, the guards had taken her to a separate room and they had questioned her about what had happened in the dungeon. She told them the story that we had already agreed upon and they left without saying much.


    But there were also a few things that were different.


    One, since she had lost her identification card, they had used a drop of her blood to check her identity.


    This was a special item that each Awakener Association branch had since they were the ones that issued Awakener licenses in the first place. So they were able to quickly find her identification.


    Second, because she had registered going in with those men who had died in the dungeon, they had reported to her that they had found their corpses in the dungeon.


    They had offered her condolences for this and she had acted out her part as the grieving ally, but that was it.


    After hearing all of this, I suddenly asked, "Did the guards act in any special way while questioning you? Did they look at you in a special way?"


    Sasha tilted her head to think for a bit before saying with a shake of her head, "They didn''t seem like they suspected anything. In fact, they just looked at me with looks of condolence."


    I gave a nod before falling silent.


    It seemed that they didn''t suspect anything, but I wouldn''t let my guard down that easily.


    I knew that before all of this settled, it would be better if I didn''t attract any more attention.


    After all, these were two separate incidents in just two days¡­people might get suspicious at this rate.


    Seeing that I was just sitting there silently, Sasha suddenly got off the couch and came over to hook her arms around me before saying, "So now that we''re alone, what should we¡­"


    Before she could finish saying this, the doorbell suddenly rang. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I turned to look at it before looking at Sasha who was also staring at me. I asked her, "Are you expecting anyone?"


    Sasha shook her head and said, "It''s your house, so why are you asking me this?"


    I just gave an ''oh'' before standing up to look through the peephole.


    I was surprised to find a familiar face through it.

 Chapter 33 - 33: Take care of you

    It was Ling Yue, the police detective from before.


    But what was she doing here so early in the morning?


    Was it because of the Wang Bing case from before, or was it because of something else?


    Could it be because of what had happened in the dungeon yesterday?


    Since she was a part of the police, she should be able to access information related to this incident. Or it could be said that it should have been directly reported to them just in case they needed it.


    After all, the Awakener Association and the police did work closely together.


    So was she here to investigate me because she was suspicious that I was responsible?


    I couldn''t help feeling fearful, but I also knew that I had to calm myself down.


    If I didn''t, I would make mistakes. At this crucial point, mistakes were the last thing that I could make.


    So I took a deep breath to calm myself down.


    When I moved away from the peephole, Sasha had taken this opening to move forward to take a look through it.


    After seeing who was on the other side, she puffed her cheeks out and pouted her lips before saying, "Master, who is that?"


    I had been pulled out of my thoughts when I heard this, but I realized another problem as I looked at Sasha.


    It was Sasha herself.


    I couldn''t let her stay here while I met the detective, so I had to find a way for her to leave. But the door was blocked by the detective and I lived on a high floor, so it wasn''t as if she could jump out of the window.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying anything, Sasha said, "Master, are you avoiding the¡­"


    Before she could finish, I suddenly covered her mouth and said, "Be quiet. That is a detective outside, she might be here to investigate what happened yesterday. If she sees you with me¡­"


    I didn''t finish the words, but it was clear what I was implying.


    Even if Sasha was playful, she could understand how serious this situation was, so that playful smile on her lips disappeared and it was replaced with a serious look as she asked, "What do we do then?"


    I looked around my small apartment before finally saying, "The closet. Go and hide in the closet."


    "Eh?" Sasha raised a brow as if she was doubtful of this plan


    Even I was doubtful that this would work, but this was the only thing that would work at this point.


    In truth, I could have used the Time Stop to bring Sasha out of here and I did think of this after the detective left. But I found that I was someone that panicked and couldn''t think as clearly when I was under stress.


    This was definitely something that I would need to fix in the future, but for now¡­


    Back in the present, I pushed Sasha over to the closet and then threw something random on her in an attempt to hide her just in case before saying, "Stay quiet. Understand?"


    Sasha just gave a slight nod before hiding herself away.


    Once she was hidden, I stood outside the closet and took another deep breath to calm myself down.


    However, in the middle of this, the doorbell rang again.


    It seemed that I had no way of avoiding this, so I walked back over to the door and opened it. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When it opened, I found that the detective had been about to push the doorbell again.


    Seeing that the door opened, Ling Yue pulled her hand back and said with a smile, "Good morning."


    I raised a brow when I heard this before relaxing my expression and saying, "Good morning. Is there something that I can help you with?"


    Ling Yue nodded and said, "I heard about what happened yesterday."


    The moment that she said this, I couldn''t stop a shiver from running down my spine. My body was about to jolt, but I was able to control it at the last second.


    Could it be that she really was here to investigate what had happened yesterday in the dungeon?


    If that was the case, should I try to use the Hypnosis skill on her or should I do something more drastic?


    After a pause, Ling Yue said, "Can I come in and talk to you for a bit?"


    There was another silence that followed before I opened the door fully and said, "Alright, please come in."


    As Ling Yue came in, I said, "I''m sorry about the mess. I was dead tired last night after what happened, so I didn''t have time to clean. I just woke up, so I didn''t have time to tidy up this morning."


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "No, no, it''s my fault for bothering you this morning."


    Yes, it was very early, but this was the only time that she could come since she had come in her private time. She wasn''t on duty as a police officer, but she had come to meet him on her own accord.


    She didn''t know why she did this¡­but there was something that had compelled her to do that.


    After Ling Yue sat down, I said, "Do you want some tea or something?"


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "No, no, there''s no need to trouble yourself like that. I just came because I wanted to have a small talk with you."


    "Oh." I said before sitting down in front of her.


    There was an awkward silence that filled the air after I sat down, but Ling Yue broke it in the end by saying, "So how are you feeling after yesterday''s incident?"


    I was caught off guard by this sudden question, but I still said, "I¡­I''m alright."


    Because I had been caught off guard, there was a slight stutter to my voice.


    When Ling Yue heard this, she couldn''t help knitting her brows as a bit of worry appeared in her eyes.


    At this, she took a deep breath before suddenly saying, "Can I ask you one thing?"


    I was once again caught off guard by this, but I gave a slight nod and said, "Alright."


    Ling Yue looked right into my eyes before saying, "Can you let me take care of you?"

 Chapter 34 - 34: Big sister

    "Huh?" That was the only response that I could give in response to this.


    Ling Yue saw the confused look on my face and quickly waved her hand as she said, "It isn''t anything strange at all. I just simply want to take care of you."


    Though she said this, she didn''t explain any further what she meant by this.


    But the look on her face made it seem like she didn''t know how to explain this any further either.


    There was a long and awkward silence that filled the air until I finally asked, "Um, can you explain what you mean by taking care of me?" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ling Yue revealed an awkward look as she tried to figure out what to say, but in the end, she just said, "It''s taking care of you, kind of like a big sister."


    "Huh?" I was even more confused when I heard this.


    Finally, Ling Yue seemed to have thought of something as she said, "You know how you keep getting caught up in these events. I''m sure that they have affected you mentally in some way or another, right?"


    I was even more confused, but I still gave a nod since it seemed like the easiest way to handle this.


    Seeing this, Ling Yue''s eyes lit up as she said, "So basically, what I''m saying is that I''ll be checking up on you from time to time to see how you are doing. This is just part of my job as a police officer, so it isn''t anything weird at all."


    I couldn''t help raising a brow as I looked at her with a doubtful look.


    When Ling Yue saw this, she revealed an awkward smile, but she didn''t turn away from my gaze.


    Finally, I said, "Alright." Then with a bow, I said, "I''ll be looking forward to working with you in the future."


    Ling Yue quickly gave a nod and bowed to me as well before saying, "I''m looking forward to working with you too."


    After that, she turned to the side and couldn''t help letting out a secret sigh of relief as she patted her chest.


    She didn''t know what had come over her to make her say these things, but it was just a good thing that she had figured out a way to explain her actions. If she didn''t¡­it would be very hard for her to see this young man again and she didn''t want that.


    She didn''t know what it was, but there was a small part of her that wanted to see this young man she had just met two days ago more.


    Was it because she wanted to protect him, or was it something else?


    As for me, I couldn''t help letting out a secret sigh of relief as well.


    It seemed like she wasn''t here to investigate the fact that I was involved in the incident yesterday. It seemed that she was here for something else, which was confusing to me, but it didn''t seem like it was a bad thing.


    After all, building a relationship with the police was always a good thing.


    It would not only be a good source of information, it would also be useful when I was in danger.


    So I already had the idea of putting this female detective under my mind control as well.


    But before that, I had to take it slow since I couldn''t use the same extreme methods that I had used with Sasha.


    So first, I had to figure out a way to contact her.


    I took out my phone and said, "Should we exchange contact information then?"


    Ling Yue was caught off guard by how forward I was, but she didn''t waste any time in taking out her phone and nodding her head.


    Just like this, we were able to smoothly exchange contact information.


    When we did so, I could see that Ling Yue was peeking at my phone, as if she wanted to see how many contacts I had.


    I didn''t have anything to hide since I only had a few contacts in the first place.


    Also, I hadn''t added Sasha to my contacts yet.


    I would have if Ling Yue didn''t show up, so it was a good thing that she showed up early instead of late.


    Once we had exchanged contacts, the first thing that she did was call me.


    As soon as it rang, she hung up right away and took my phone out of my hand. Then after pressing a few buttons, she gave it back while saying, "I''ve set myself up as your number one speed dial. You just have to dial one and it''ll call me."


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a very strange look after hearing this, but I still gave a nod in response.


    Seeing this, Ling Yue''s eyes lit up and she revealed a wide smile.


    Then after hesitating a bit, she said, "Can I ask you for something?"


    I couldn''t help feeling very strange when I heard this, but against my better judgement, I still gave a nod.


    Ling Yue looked at me with shining eyes as she said, "Can you call me big sister?"


    I really didn''t know how to react in this situation, but seeing the passionate way that she looked at me, I really didn''t know how to say no¡­


    So I just said in a small voice, "Big sister."


    Ling Yue didn''t hold back at all as she suddenly came forward to take me in her arms, pressing my face up against her chest. The soft feeling that came from it really was something else¡­


    She was by no means small, so it was like being pressed into an airbag¡­


    But what I paid attention to was something else¡­


    "Don''t worry, big sister will protect you. That stinky Xia Tian, he wants to betray his sense of justice and frame an innocent victim as the criminal. I won''t let things go his way." Ling Yue muttered this, but I was still able to hear it since I was so close to her.


    It turned out that the other detective from before, the male one, still thought that I was guilty¡­


    It seemed that I would have to do something about it¡­

 Chapter 35 - 35: Next steps

    After hugging me for a bit, Ling Yue suddenly realized her mistake and let me go.


    She quickly said, "I''m sorry, I was too excited that I couldn''t control myself. I didn''t mean anything by it¡­"


    As her voice trailed off, there was a blush and an awkward look that appeared on her face.


    At the same time, there was an awkward silence that filled the air.


    But I broke that awkward silence by saying in a soft voice, "It''s alright."


    Then after a pause, I said, "I''ve also wanted a big sister, but I''ve never had one¡­"


    My voice slowly trailed off, but it was clear by the tone of my voice what I meant.


    When she heard this, Ling Yue looked at me with a surprised look. Seeing the look that was on my face, her eyes lit up and she said, "Really?"


    I didn''t answer right away, but after another pause, I said, "My family passed away when I was young¡­so I''ve always been alone. So that''s why I''ve always wanted a big brother or a big sister¡­"


    Before I could say anything else, she suddenly came forward and took me in her arms again as she said, "That''s great! I''ve always wanted a little brother too, but it never happened."


    She just held me in her arms like this and I couldn''t help feeling awkward¡­


    After all, there was a very soft feeling coming from in front of me¡­ sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When she finally let go, Ling Yue said, "From now on, you can take me as your big sister. If there''s anything you need help with, you can always call your big sister. Even if I don''t look like it, I am quite the reliable person."


    I didn''t react at first, but staring at her smiling at me like this, I eventually gave a slight nod.


    All that did was net me another soft hug.


    Since she had finished with her business here, there was no reason for Ling Yue to stay here any longer.


    Not to mention, she had come early in the morning so that she could come here before work. But with the time that she had already spent here, it was time for her to get back or she would be late for work.


    As she left, she waved her hand at me and said, "Big sister is heading off to work now. If there''s anything that you need, don''t hesitate to call me. I''ll come visit you another day."


    I just waved my hand at her with a smile as she walked off.


    Only when she entered the elevator did I go back into my apartment.


    As I stood there in front of the door, I didn''t do a single thing for a few seconds before suddenly letting out a long sigh.


    After all, this was definitely not the way that I had thought this would go.


    I had thought of many different ways that this situation could develop, but this definitely wasn''t one of the ways that I thought this would go¡­


    But the fact that she wanted to be my big sister this badly¡­no matter how I looked at it, it should be because of the Hypnosis skill¡­


    It seemed that even with unconscious actions, I was able to activate the Hypnosis skill against people who interacted with me. With the way that I acted, it gave her this sense of wanting to protect me. However, that was even more amplified because of the Hypnosis skill.


    It seemed that there was still more experimentation that I needed to do with the Hypnosis skill.


    While I was lost in thought, Sasha came out of the closet and walked up to me. However, I didn''t notice her even when she was standing there in front of me since I was so deeply lost in thought.


    She then asked, "Who was that?"


    When I heard her voice, I was pulled out of my thoughts and remembered where I was.


    I looked at her and said, "It was no one special."


    Sasha puffed out her cheeks when she heard this, but I completely ignored it as I said, "Give me your phone."


    Sasha was caught off guard by this, but she still took out her phone.


    I then added my contact information in her phone while adding her contact information in mine.


    Since I would be using her in the future, we needed a way to contact each other and the best way was to have each other''s contact information.


    Once I was finished, I casually handed the phone back to her.


    When Sasha took the phone, she quickly opened up her contacts and her eyes lit up when she saw my information. She didn''t waste any time in changing the name for that contact and when I saw that she had changed it to ''master'', I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    But I also gave a cough to calm myself down before saying, "Alright, from now on, you shouldn''t contact me unnecessarily. Also, I''ll need you to¡­"


    ¡­


    After I had finished giving Sasha her orders, she left my apartment.


    As she left, she puffed her cheeks again and teased, "But we didn''t get to have any fun."


    Without any hesitation, I slammed the door in her face without even sending her off.


    This girl¡­she really didn''t think about the neighbours at all.


    Sasha didn''t mind it and just happily walked off while humming a tune. I could hear it from my apartment as she walked off to the elevator.


    Once she was gone, I gave another sigh before saying, "What should I do now?"


    I couldn''t go into another dungeon because of what happened yesterday.


    If I did go into another dungeon and attracted another problem like this, wouldn''t that be casting even more suspicion on me?


    But I just couldn''t do nothing since I still needed money


    At the same time, I wanted to see if I could find a way to get closer to stronger Awakeners.


    If I were able to control them like I did Sasha¡­would I have anything to fear in the future?


    I took out my phone and looked at the job ads as I said, "What should I do now?"

 Chapter 36 - 36: Porter

    "Lin Fan, can you come and help over here?" The team leader called out to me.


    When I heard this, I immediately looked up and waved my hand while saying, "Got it! I''ll be there right away!"


    Then I dropped off the monster corpse that I had been carrying and walked over to the team leader.


    In front of the team leader and several other members of the team was a large orc.


    This orc was much bigger than any of us, so naturally it took a lot of us to carry.


    In fact, this orc was even bigger than normal orcs, which was why it took so many of us.


    "One, two, three!"


    On three, all of us suddenly lifted the orc up and we carefully carried it onto the butchering table. Once we set it down, the butchers grabbed their knives and set off to work while we headed off to carry the next load of monsters.


    The team leader came over and slapped me on the back as he said while laughing, "Lin Fan, you really are something else! When others join our team, they always slack off, but you''re just always ready to work and help others! It''d be great if you could work for us forever."


    I just nodded with a smile on my face and just casually responded with a few polite words.


    The work that he was talking about was as a porter.


    That was the part time job that I had taken.


    Porters were those that carried monsters or drops for Awakeners after hunts. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a very important support job, but since porters didn''t fight, or rather most porters weren''t able to fight, people looked down on them.


    Still, the porter job was a well paying one since it was still working with monsters and there was a factor of risk to it. Unless one was given proper compensation, there wouldn''t be that many people who would be willing to take this job.


    However, this was a job that only required physical strength, so anyone was allowed to do it. Even those that didn''t awaken or those that had terrible skills like me were allowed to take this job.


    It all depended on how hard one worked.


    As we walked over to the next batch, the leader put his hand over his eyes to block the sun before looking at the pile of orcs that were in front of us. He gave a sigh before saying, "Those Awakeners really don''t hold back at all. They don''t care about us porters and just tell us what to do. It seems like we have another day of overtime ahead of us."


    After he said this, the other porters on our team all gave a sigh.


    Seeing this, the team leader said, "Alright, alright, let''s not complain. At the very least, we''ll get overtime pay and I''ll make sure to get some proper takeout for everyone."


    When they heard this, the porters all revealed excited looks as they cheered for the team leader.


    I also looked at the team leader with a look of admiration.


    In the week that I''ve been on this job, I''ve seen many different teams of porters and team leaders.


    The team leaders of the other teams were completely different from our team leader.


    Some of them just kept their heads down and did their jobs without caring about their team. Others let their positions as team leaders go to their head and they started looking down on their subordinates, acting just as badly as the Awakeners.


    The former was better than the latter, but those teams were not good to work for.


    I had seen the bitter looks on the faces of the members of those teams, it was clear that they didn''t enjoy working here. The only reason they didn''t quit was because they needed the money, so they sucked it up and worked hard even if they weren''t appreciated.


    We were about to go pick up another orc corpse when a voice suddenly said, "Yo, look at all of these bottom feeders here. They''re just collecting scraps from the monsters that we killed."


    When we heard this, our team members knitted their brows.


    But the team leader revealed a smile as he turned to the one that spoke and said, "Sir Awakener, it''s an honour to talk to you."


    The young man who was in tank armour looked down at the team leader from the pile of orc corpses and said, "Ha, look at that smile. I bet I could cut off one of his arms and he would still thank us."


    The other young Awakeners who were with him all started laughing at this.


    I could see that it wasn''t just me who was getting angry, but all of our team members endured this. The team leader also just gave a small laugh to go along with this young man.


    The young tank suddenly jumped down from the pile of orcs and landed in front of the team leader. He pulled his sword out of his sheathe and then brought it up so that it was right above the team leader''s right shoulder.


    With a smile, the young tank said, "How about we test it out? Let''s see if he still keeps laughing if I actually cut his arm off."


    The other awakeners kept laughing at this, but the team leader couldn''t keep laughing anymore. After all, it was his arm that was being threatened right now.


    The team leader wanted to say something, but the young tank just threatened him with the sword when he was about to say something. It was as if he did say something, the young tank wouldn''t hesitate to cut off his arm.


    So the team leader could only remain silent.


    The young tank was about to do something, but before he could, there was a cold voice that said, "What do you think you''re doing?"


    When the Awakeners heard this, they immediately jolted before turning in the direction the voice came from.


    There was a beautiful young girl with long blue hair and piercing blue eyes standing there with a frown on her beautiful face.

 Chapter 37 - 37: Ice Princess

    When they recognized this beautiful blue haired girl, the Awakeners all stood there in a daze.


    However, it was clear by the anxious look in their eyes that they were afraid of her.


    Seeing that none of them said a single thing, the beautiful blue haired girl said again, "I said, what do you think you''re doing?"


    This time, the Awakeners had no choice but to respond.


    The young tank immediately said, "Team leader, we were just giving the porters here a few instructions about how to handle the monster corpses"


    The other Awakeners quickly nodded in agreement to this.


    When the beautiful blue haired girl heard this, she immediately narrowed her eyes to look at the young tank.


    When the young tank felt this gaze fall onto him, he couldn''t help feeling a shiver run down his spine. It was like he had suddenly been cast into a block of ten thousand year old ice that froze him on the spot.


    He didn''t understand why she was looking at him like this, but he did want to get out of this situation.


    Still, since she didn''t say anything, there was nothing that he could say. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was an awkward silence that filled the air for a while before the beautiful blue haired girl finally said, "Then why do you have your sword drawn?"


    When he heard this, the young tank couldn''t help revealing a confused expression.


    He didn''t know what she was talking about at first until he remembered that he had been holding his sword at the shoulder of the porter team leader the whole time.


    Since he was so shocked by her appearance, he had completely forgotten that he had done this earlier.


    The young tank wanted to pull back the sword he was holding out, but he froze once again when he felt the pressure from the beautiful blue haired girl fall onto him. It was as if she wouldn''t let him move unless she gave him her permission.


    The young tank could only stand there with an awkward look on his face, but his eyes showed that his brain was turning. He was trying his best to think of some kind of excuse for this.


    Then his eyes suddenly lit up as he said, "Team leader, this porter here said that he admired Awakeners and wanted to see my sword. That was why I had my sword out to show him."


    The young tank turned to look at the porter team leader before saying, "Isn''t that right?"


    There was an underlying threatening tone to his voice as he said this.


    The team leader knew what he had to do, so he was about to open his mouth to speak.


    But before he could say anything, the beautiful blue haired girl said in a slow and deliberate voice, "Is that so?"


    The young tank couldn''t help trembling again when he heard this and he opened and closed his mouth several times, but he wasn''t able to say anything in the end.


    The beautiful blue haired girl gave a cold snort and said, "Instead of wasting time here, why don''t you go and kill a few more monsters?"


    When the Awakeners heard this, they couldn''t help revealing a bitter look on their face.


    In fact, they had just come out of the break zone and had been planning on getting some rest. But in the end, they couldn''t defy the order of this beautiful blue haired girl since she outranked them¡­


    So the other Awakeners couldn''t help glaring at the young tank when they heard this.


    As for the young tank, there was no one that he could vent to, so the only thing that he could do was glare at the porter team leader.


    The porter team leader also couldn''t complain to anyone since he knew what the young tank was thinking. The only thing that he could blame was his own poor luck to bump into this young tank and the beautiful blue haired girl who made it worse.


    But at the same time, he couldn''t blame the beautiful blue haired girl since if she didn''t come, he might have lost an arm or worse.


    Seeing that they weren''t moving at all, the beautiful blue haired girl said, "Do I have to talk to the guild master about this?"


    When the Awakeners heard this, they immediately jolted and the young tank said, "Team leader, we''re going!"


    Without saying anything else, the group of Awakeners quickly ran back through the barricade and headed back into the break zone.


    As they were running off, the young tank didn''t forget to glare at the porter team leader.


    The porter team leader also didn''t miss this, but there was nothing he could do since the other side was an Awakener while he was a porter.


    Once they were gone, there was another awkward silence that followed since none of the porters knew what to say.


    The one that broke this silence was the beautiful blue haired girl who turned to the porter team leader and asked, "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"


    The porter team leader shook his head in a daze before suddenly reacting and bowing his head to say, "Thank you for your help."


    The beautiful blue haired girl revealed an emotionless look before saying, "It''s nothing, you don''t have to worry about it. It''s their fault that such a thing happened in the first place." Then after a pause, as if she remembered something, she said, "I''ll send in a report on this matter so they won''t dare try to get revenge on you."


    The porter team leader was taken aback when he heard this before he tried to bow again to thank her, but the beautiful blue haired girl was already walking off while waving one hand back at them.


    The porters all stood there in a daze watching her as she walked off before the porter team leader said, "As expected of the Ice Princess?"


    I couldn''t help asking in a confused voice, "Ice Princess?"


    The porter team leader looked at me like I was crazy for asking this question, but seeing the confused look on my face, he asked, "Do you really not know the Ice Princess?"


    I slowly shook my head.


    The porter team leader gave a sigh before saying, "You really don''t know the famous Ice Princess of our guild¡­" Then he gave another sigh before saying, "Young Lin Fan, you really should learn more about the place you''re working for before coming on the job."


    I just revealed an awkward smile and scratched the back of my head, but I had a curious look as I waited for him to explain.


    The porter team leader turned back to look in the direction that the beautiful blue haired girl had walked off in and said, "That person is the pride of our guild, Bing Xin, the Ice Princess. She is a famous B Ranker who is said to have a chance to become an A Ranker in the future. There are even people who think that she can become a S Ranker in the future."

 Chapter 38 - 38: Opportunity

    As the porter team leader said this, his eyes were sparkling as if he was bragging about himself.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile when I said this, but then I turned back to look in the direction that the beautiful blue haired girl had walked off in.


    At the same time, there was a faint sparkle that appeared in my eyes as well.


    Wasn''t this the target that I was looking for?


    This was the main reason that I had come to work as a porter in the first place.


    It did allow me to make money while hiding myself, but the real reason was that I wanted to find some famous and powerful Awakeners. That was why I had chosen to work as a porter for a guild instead of just as a general porter.


    Now that I found the perfect target, shouldn''t it be time to put my plan into action?


    I needed to find some way to approach this Ice Princess and slowly use my Hypnosis on her.


    Of course, I was also worried that it might not work, but that was something for me to deal with later. For now, I needed to find some way of approaching her in the first place.


    As this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help already imagining what it would be like to have a B Ranker or a possible A Ranker subordinate in the future.


    When that time came, wouldn''t I be untouchable?


    ¡­


    A week later.


    I still hadn''t found a chance to approach the Ice Princess.


    I had thought that I would be able to find some chance to talk to the Ice Princess by working here. I thought that I would eventually be assigned to a porter job for the Ice Princess, but that didn''t seem to be the case at all.


    After all, there was a large difference in status between the two of us.


    The Ice Princess had her own personal porters assigned to her by the guild and I was nothing more than a general porter that did everything.


    So even if we worked in the same place, we had no chance of ever meeting. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    During lunch break, I couldn''t help feeling more and more frustrated by this situation.


    I was even contemplating quitting since there was no longer a need for me to hide out like this and I had made quite a bit of money from just these few days of work.


    Speaking of which, I really had to appreciate the amount of money porters were paid. There was a reason why people took this job even with the disdain and danger that came with it.


    The money paid really was something else.


    I had other plans that I wanted to enact, so staying here as a porter definitely wasn''t something that I could keep doing.


    But while I was thinking this over, the team leader suddenly walked over to our group with a distraught look on his face.


    When the other porters noticed this, especially the veteran porters on our team, they could already guess what was going to happen.


    The team leader stood in front of all of us and suddenly gave a sigh before saying, "I have some bad news."


    As they had expected, it was indeed bad news.


    But they braced themselves and waited to see what it would be.


    The team leader gave another sigh before saying, "They want us to send one of our porters over to help with an expedition."


    The moment that the team heard this, they all revealed looks of despair.


    After all, this was no different from a death sentence.


    Seeing that everyone had looks of despair on their faces and not a single person said anything, the porter team leader didn''t blame them. After all, he knew why they were feeling this way.


    The expedition was a trip into the break zone with the Awakeners to hold things for them.


    That meant heading right into the danger zone instead of working outside of it.


    So he understood why not a single one of them wanted to go.


    But I raised my hand and asked, "Uh, do we know which Awakener we''ll be going in with?"


    When I asked this, I suddenly became the center of attention as everyone looked at me with strange looks. Even the team leader couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    But he still said, "It''s the Ice Princess."


    The moment he said this, everyone''s expression sank once more.


    After all, if it was the Ice Princess, there was no doubt that they would be heading somewhere dangerous. This was even worse than they thought it would be.


    The team leader didn''t keep them in suspense anymore and said, "One of the Ice Princess'' porter was injured on her last trip, so she needs a new one. We were the unlucky ones that were chosen to send someone her way."


    Everyone just revealed bitter looks on their faces when they heard this.


    Since they had been ''chosen'', there was nothing that they could do about it since this was out of all the porter teams out there, so they could only blame their bad luck for being chosen.


    But that didn''t mean that any of them wanted to volunteer for this job¡­


    That is except for me.


    When I heard that it was working for the Ice Princess, my eyes couldn''t help lighting up.


    After all, wasn''t this the opportunity that I was looking for?


    I had been trying to find a way to approach the Ice Princess all this time, but the guard around her was just too strong that I had never been able to talk to her.


    Now that this golden opportunity had fallen down in front of me, would I really let it go?


    So I quickly raised my hand before anyone else could and said, "I want to volunteer for this task! I''ll go with them on the expedition!"


    There was only silence that followed.

 Chapter 39 - 39: Good guy card

    Everyone was looking at me with a strange and confused look, but I just kept my hand up with a firm look on my face.


    This was what they wanted to see since they didn''t want to go themselves, but seeing this young person volunteer to take their place like this¡­they really couldn''t help feeling awkward.


    Lin Fan was the newest member of their team and was the youngest member here, along with only being a part timer.


    If they as veteran porters allowed the newest member to take their place like this, where would their face go as senior porters?


    But they really didn''t want to go since it would be very likely that they would die from going on this trip. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The porter team leader also looked at Lin Fan with a complicated look, but his position was different from the others. He was the team leader, so it was his job to take care of the others more than the senior porters.


    After a long moment of silence, the porter team leader asked, "Are you sure about this? Have you thought about how dangerous this will be? You shouldn''t make a rash decision like this."


    The others didn''t say anything, but they gave a nod to show their support.


    Since they were a team, they wouldn''t sacrifice one person just so they could survive.


    It was better if they chose the person with a draw or something that was more fair.


    But I shook my head and said, "I''ve already thought this out, that''s why I want to volunteer to go."


    The porter team leader knitted his brows when he heard this.


    No matter how he looked at it, this was a clear case of overconfidence because of youth.


    This youngest porter on their team was completely underestimating what this trip was. He was young and he wanted excitement in his life, but that didn''t mean that he should throw his life away for this excitement.


    If he didn''t correct this young man''s thinking, it would be something that he regretted for the rest of his life.


    The porter team leader revealed a serious look and said, "The break zone is beyond anything you can imagine. It''s filled with danger in every corner and isn''t a place that you can play around in. If you''re just going in to have fun, you''ll die before you even realize what happened."


    Seeing the serious way the porter team leader spoke, I couldn''t help being touched.


    After all, I could see that he was saying all of this because he cared for me.


    But I had my reason for going and no matter what, I wouldn''t give up on that.


    So I also revealed a serious look and said, "You should all know that I''m also an Awakener."


    The porter team leader gave a slight nod in response to this.


    This was something that was easily found because it was listed in the paperworks that had been sent with Lin Fan on the first day. In fact, Lin Fan had even admitted it himself and had demonstrated his power to them on the first day.


    So this was a well known fact among their team.


    Seeing this, I continued, "I also want to become a famous Awakener one day and this is my chance to follow a high ranking Awakener into a break zone. This is my chance to learn from a high ranking Awakener first hand. I am not doing this just to have fun, but for my own ambition."


    When the rest of the porters heard this, they couldn''t help being taken aback.


    When they saw the determined look that their youngest gave, they all realized that they were wrong.


    This youngest wasn''t playing around, but rather he knew exactly what he was doing.


    It seemed that they had completely underestimated this new youngest member of their team.


    So they had no choice but to accept his determination, even though they still felt a bit guilty about having him take their place.


    The porter team leader gave a sigh before saying, "I understand, it seems that I had been mistaken about you. Since you''re so determined, we''ll let you go."


    My eyes lit up when I heard this and I went to bow to the team leader, but before I could, the team leader came over to stop me as he said, "There''s nothing to thank me for. In fact, you''re doing us a favour."


    I was surprised when I heard this since in my mind, this should be a task that everyone wanted to do.


    After all, this was a chance to get close to one of the top Awakeners here and a chance to explore the break zone, which would surely earn a lot of money. This seemed like a golden opportunity to me.


    But that was only for me¡­


    The rest of the porters also looked at Lin Fan with complicated and guilty looks.


    After a moment of silence, the porter team leader took out a ball that he placed in my hands and said, "Take this with you. It''s a special smokescreen that you can use to escape the monsters if anything happens."


    This was the special item that his wife had bought for him just in case anything went wrong, but he was sure that his wife wouldn''t blame him for giving it to their youngest since he was taking this risk for everyone.


    Seeing this, the other porters all started taking out things that they handed to me that they thought would help me.


    I didn''t mind accepting them since these things were indeed helpful, but I couldn''t help feeling confused as to why they were giving these to me. After all, some of these things were just too expensive for them to be considered simple kind gestures towards a fellow team member.


    What Lin Fan didn''t know was that in the minds of these porters, he had become a nice guy¡­


    So even before he had gotten a girlfriend, he had been given a bunch of good guy cards from these porters.


    Though technically¡­he also wasn''t a virgin anymore.

 Chapter 40 - 40: New team

    The next morning, I followed the instructions the team leader gave me to find my new team waiting there for me.


    In the center of the team, I could see the same beautiful blue haired figure that I had seen before.


    But before I could go over to greet her and introduce myself, I was caught by a group of tough looking men.


    However, they didn''t have any ill will towards me.


    These tough looking men with all their bulky muscles were porters just like me. They were the special porter team that worked for the Ice Princess full time, so they were my new team as well.


    The one who put his arm around my shoulders was the leader of this team, he was a man named Su Chen.


    Su Chen pulled me over with the others and we soon arrived at a pile of equipment.


    I didn''t need to guess to know that these were the things that we would need to carry. There were even bags on the side for us to put everything in.


    Since we were here¡­we might as well start packing.


    As we packed, the team introduced themselves to me. It turned out that even with their rough appearances, they were actually quite good guys.


    It just went to show that one couldn''t judge a book by their cover.


    Soon, Su Chen was patting me on the shoulder and laughing as he said, "Little brother Lin, you really do have a good mentality. How about joining our team full time in the future?"


    I revealed an awkward look when I heard this before giving a polite rejection, "I''m sorry, I''m just doing this temporarily."


    Su Chen wasn''t offended at all by this as he revealed an understanding look. He slapped me on the shoulder and said, "I understand, I totally understand. You''re still young and you have ambitions, so there are probably things you still want to do. You should definitely pursue these things while you''re young, but know that there''s a spot here for you if you ever want to come back."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this.


    After all, I didn''t think that I had made such a good impression that he would be this firm about accepting me.


    But then I understood why.


    Su Chen came over and grabbed my arm. He squeezed my bicep as his eyes lit up and he said, "I knew it! I knew that there was something special about you!"


    I couldn''t help being a bit scared when I saw him acting this way. But for the sake of my plan, I had to befriend them, so I didn''t pull back even though I had wanted to.


    Su Chen didn''t stop with just my bicep, he started going all over my body, poking different parts of it. Finally I drew a line when his eyes went to my waist.


    Seeing my refusal, Su Chen revealed an apologetic smile before saying, "Sorry, I got a bit too excited. However, your body really is something else."


    I couldn''t help revealing a confused and slightly disgusted look when I heard this.


    Su Chen could see the way that I was looking at him, so he said, "It isn''t what you think it is. I''m talking about the quality of your muscles."


    Seeing the still confused look on my face, Su Chen explained, "I''ve been training all my life and I''ve trained many other people so I can tell with one look. Your muscles have a tone and density to them that other people just can''t match. I can tell that there''s no limits to the training that you can do for these muscles."


    I really never thought that Su Chen would want me to join the team just because of this, but looking at how muscular the other members of the team were¡­it seemed like it was about right.


    But before we could continue this talk, there was a group of people that walked over


    Judging by the equipment that they had, it was clear that they were Awakeners.


    But these were not Awakeners that would be coming on our trip.


    Since we were still in the base camp outside of the break zone, there were many Awakeners working for the guild that were just walking around.


    When these Awakeners saw us porters packing up, they came over with a wide smile on their faces. Just based on this, it was clear that they were new Awakeners that had arrived in this camp not long ago.


    They wanted to show off and when they had seen these porters packing up, they had thought that it was the perfect chance.


    So these Awakeners came over and ''accidentally'' kicked over some of the things that we had been packing up.


    Then the leader of this group came over to grab me since I was the smallest one here before saying, "Hey, what do you think you''re doing? Why are you just laying all of this junk on the ground like this?"


    When Su Chen heard this, he immediately narrowed his eyes.


    He came over and grabbed the arm of the Awakener which made him turn to look at Su Chen, but the Awakener couldn''t help being surprised.


    After all, there were few people as big and muscular as Su Chen, so he couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    But still, he was an Awakener, so he said, "What do you think you''re doing? Do you know who you are grabbing?"


    Su Chen narrowed his eyes to look at this Awakener and was about to say something.


    But before he could, there was a cold voice that rang out, "What do you think you''re doing?"


    The moment that everyone heard this, they couldn''t help looking in that direction because they all recognized this voice.


    There was a beautiful blue haired figure that was standing there with her arms crossed, watching all of this happen. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Awakeners wanted to say something, but they suddenly felt a chill run over them.


    It was like they had been thrown into ice in an instant.

 Chapter 41 - 41: First contact

    The leader of this Awakener group opened his mouth to say something, but all he could do was open and close his mouth like a fish.


    No matter how he tried to say something, he wasn''t able to get a single word out.


    The pressure of the blue haired girl in front of him was just too much for him to say anything.


    Even if he wanted to, his mind went blank and he didn''t know what to say.


    So all he could do was stand there like an idiot.


    Finally, it was Su Chen who broke the silence by speaking, "Miss Bing, these people came over to provoke us. We were about to teach them a lesson."


    The beautiful blue haired figure just gave a simple nod as if she was giving her permission.


    The Awakeners couldn''t help being shocked when they saw this. After all, no matter how they thought about it, this porter wouldn''t be able to do anything to them.


    However, since the Ice Princess was watching, it wasn''t as if they could hurt them too badly.


    So no matter how they looked at it, this was a loss for them. There was no upside no matter what they did.


    Since that was the case, the leader of this Awakener group said, "How about we just leave it here today? I''ll even apologize for causing trouble."


    But Su Chen didn''t seem to hear this at all as he moved towards the Awakener.


    Seeing this porter coming towards him, the Awakener raised his hands before giving a sigh, as if he didn''t want to do this.


    But there was a sharp glint in his eyes for those who had a sharp gaze. They could see that he was planning on creating an "accident" as revenge for causing this mess.


    It was just too bad that he never expected what happened next.


    Before he could even react, Su Chen was already right up in front of him. His right hand was raised in the shape of a fist.


    The Awakener tried to dodge out of the way, but he wasn''t able to move before Su Chen punched him.


    It was a simple jab, but it hit the Awakener right in the stomach.


    There was a single "oof" sound that came from the Awakener before he suddenly leaned forward. He fell right onto Su Chen''s shoulder and stopped moving.


    When the other Awakeners saw this, they all revealed looks of shock.


    It was clear that not a single one of them had expected this.


    This was an Awakener against a porter, it should have been like an adult fighting a child. However, what had just happened was like the child jumping up and punching the adult right in the jaw, knocking the adult out.


    It didn''t make any sense at all.


    But from what I could see, I could tell that the two of them were on completely different levels.


    I knew for sure that Su Chen wasn''t an Awakener since he had told me this himself.


    However, there was a clear difference in physique and experience between the two of them.


    Su Chen was someone who trained his body day and night. Even if an Awakener received a boost to their physique when they awakened, it wasn''t as if they would become supermen just because of that unless they had a power related to it.


    Based on what happened just now, it was clear that this wasn''t the case with this Awakener.


    The second deciding factor was the difference in experience between the two sides.


    Su Chen wasn''t someone who had little experience in fighting like this Awakener in front of him. He was someone that had followed the Ice Princess to many different dungeons and break zones, so he was someone that was already used to fighting.


    With this, he was able to easily see through the attack of the Awakener and even get into his blind spot to punch him.


    With this knockout punch, the fight was over in an instant.


    However, that didn''t mean that Su Chen was going to let this matter end so simply.


    He lifted the Awakener off his shoulder and then¡­there was another punch that went into the gut of the Awakener.


    I was surprised since I never thought that Su Chen would go this far and that even the Ice Princess would stop him, but she just silently watched over everything as if she was giving silent approval.


    The Awakener woke up from this punch and then tried to say something, but Su Chen was already slamming his body with even more punches.


    After a few more punches, Su Chen finally let the Awakener fall to the ground before turning to bow to the Ice Princess.


    She gave a nod in response to this before saying to the Awakener, "If you behave properly, this will never happen again, understood?"


    The Awakener didn''t know what to say, but it wasn''t as if he could complain to the Ice Princess¡­So the only thing that he could do was give a nod. Though the look in his eyes made it clear that he wouldn''t forget what happened today.


    The Ice Princess didn''t care as she said, "Get back to work."


    With this, the other Awakeners came over to help this Awakener off the ground and they walked away.


    But before they could leave, the Ice Princess said, "Also, they are not normal porters, they are my personal porters."


    At this, the Awakeners couldn''t help stopping and turning back to look at Su Chen''s group.


    This time, there was a bit of fear in their eyes.


    After all, personal porters meant that they were the Ice Princess'' people which was a completely different case than if they were just normal porters.


    Normal porters were below Awakeners, there was no doubt of this, but the personal porters of the Ice Princess meant that they were her people. Since they were her people, she would protect them no matter what happened.


    It was also no wonder that this random porter was so strong that he was able to fight an Awakener like this.


    Now instead of thinking about how to get revenge on this porter, they were thinking about¡­how to protect themselves.


    They knew that the Ice Princess wouldn''t just drop this matter here and making enemies of the Ice Princess was a path of death since in their guild, the Ice Princess was very influential¡­


    So they had to think of a way to protect themselves now.


    Once they were gone, Su Chen bowed to the Ice Princess again before saying, "Miss Bing, thank you for saving us."


    The Ice Princess just waved her hand and said, "Su Chen, when have you been this formal with me?"


    Su Chen also revealed a smile before saying, "Miss Bing, we are in public now."


    The Ice Princess gave a nod before turning to look at me and asking, "This is?"


    Su Chen said with the same smile, "This is our new member, the one that they sent to help us."


    The Ice Princess gave an ''oh'' sound before saying, "Thank you for coming to help us and I hope that we can work well together."


    I was surprised that she would say something like this to me, who was just a porter, but I quickly said, "No, no, it''s an honour for me to be working with you."


    The Ice Princess was about to say something, but then someone called, "Bing Xin, can you come and help with something."


    With this, the Ice Princess had no choice but to say, "Coming!" Then she turned back to Su Chen and said, "I''ll go take care of something. I''ll see you later."


    Su Chen nodded before sending her off with a wave.


    As I watched her leave, I couldn''t help revealing a disappointed look. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But then Su Chen placed his arm around my shoulder and said, "Are you that disappointed that you couldn''t talk to her?"


    I was caught off guard and was about to explain, but before I could, Su Chen said, "There''s no need for that. We are all fans of Miss Bing here, so we understand how you feel. But we will be working with her later, so you''ll have plenty of chances to talk to her. There''s no need to feel so disappointed now."


    I hesitated for a second, but I gave a nod in the end.


    That was right, this was just the beginning.


    There was still plenty of time left.

 Chapter 42 - 42: Setting out

    It didn''t take long for us to pack up everything, especially since people left us alone after seeing what had happened to those Awakeners.


    It had happened in quite an open place, so it was impossible for people not to see what had happened.


    Knowing that the Ice Princess was the one backing us really was a big boost to our prestige and it kept those that had bad intentions away.


    Once we had finished packing, we didn''t stay in the camp for long since the group that we were heading out with was already prepared. When we arrived at where that group was gathering, the first thing that we saw was a beautiful blue haired figure.


    The second thing we saw was that this beautiful blue haired figure was surrounded by other people, but that wasn''t surprising. After all, with how famous she was, it would be strange if she wasn''t surrounded by others.


    But when she saw us coming over, she waved for us to come to her.


    Su Chen took the lead and when he arrived, he gave a bow to the Ice Princess who just accepted it with a wave of her hand. Then the Ice Princess said, "Su Chen, go and get things ready for departure."


    Su Chen nodded before leading us away.


    But this time, the people around us looked at us differently.


    Just with this alone, it was to establish that we were the people of the Ice Princess.


    If anyone wanted to cause trouble with us¡­they would have to see how the Ice Princess felt.


    In a way, this was her way of protecting us.


    Su Chen brought us over to a spot that was out of the way before explaining a few things to us.


    In truth, there wasn''t anything that we needed to prepare since we were already carrying everything. The majority of what he had to explain to us was how to stay out of the way and make sure that no one caused any trouble.


    While we weren''t afraid of trouble because we were backed by the Ice Princess, it was best if we didn''t cause any.


    After all, we were heading into the break zone with danger around every corner.


    Staying out of the way and making sure that we didn''t do anything harmful to the rest of the group was the way to go.


    This was the break zone that we were about to head into.


    The break zones, they were different from the dungeons that had appeared.


    These break zones were actually areas where a dungeon break had happened before.


    This meant that there was an event where the mana in the dungeon had built up so much that it had exploded, releasing the monsters of the dungeon onto Earth. This was a disastrous event since not all humans were powerful awakeners that could fight against the monsters.


    It would be better if this happened in areas without people, but if a dungeon break happened in a place that was filled with people like the city, it would cause unimaginable damage.


    So that was why dungeons were carefully managed by the Awakener Association.


    But the break zones were the opposite of that.


    The break zones were areas where a deliberate dungeon break had been allowed to happen.


    That was because there were more benefits to be gained from this than to just maintain a dungeon.


    The break zone allowed monsters that once lived in the dungeon to appear on Earth, but there was one major difference between these monsters in the break zone and the monsters in the dungeon.


    It was the difference of loot.


    In the dungeon, the monsters that were defeated would be automatically turned into loot by the dungeon. The essence of the monsters would be reabsorbed by the dungeon to create new monsters while the ones who defeated the monsters would be rewarded with loot from the dungeon.


    But when they were outside of the dungeon, this monster corpse didn''t disappear.


    While that meant that there wasn''t any loot gained from killing the monsters, there was instead the monster corpse to harvest from. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For things like orcs, like the ones that Lin Fan had been carrying before, they were carved up for their meat, skin, and even their testicles.


    The meat of the orcs was delicious, being on par with the best raised pigs.


    The skin of the orcs was tough, so it could be turned into strong leather armour.


    And as for the testicles¡­they had a strong aphrodisiac effect, so there was always a customer for these things.


    So there were pros and cons to each method of killing a monster and humans had decided that it would be more fruitful to create these break zones to get monster corpses from.


    But there was the danger of monsters leaving the break zone, so there were strong barricades put around the break zone to prevent monsters from leaving.


    In short, everything came with a price.


    Since they were heading into this break zone where monsters lived, they would need to be careful since they could be ambushed at any moment.


    But there was still one thing that I was curious about.


    After Su Chen had finished giving his warning, I couldn''t help asking, "Why is Miss Bing going into the break zone this time? Is there a special reason for this?"


    Su Chen gave a nod and explained, "You''re new, so you don''t know this. But there''s been reports of an Orc King being born in this break zone. The Orc King is a powerful monster that can control all of the other orcs and if they gather like this, there will be the possibility of them breaking the confines of the break zone.


    That was why a powerful ranker like the Ice Princess was called to take care of the Orc King."


    "Orc King." I couldn''t help being surprised.


    Of course I had heard of this monster before because it was one that had caused a large disaster in Europe before, but I never imagined that I would be facing one so soon.


    Su Chen could see the look on my face, so he patted my shoulder and said, "Don''t worry, we have the Ice Princess here. As long as we have her here, there''s nothing you need to worry about."


    I knew that he had misunderstood the look on my face.


    It wasn''t that I was worried about the Orc King since I was still confident in escaping with my abilities.


    I was just worried that it would make it harder for me to approach Bing Xin¡­


    But since Su Chen took the initiative to comfort me, I said, "Un, it''ll be fine as long as the Ice Princess is here."


    Su Chen slapped me on the back before saying, "It''s good that you know."


    After that, there was a voice that rang out. It was coming from the front of this group.


    It wasn''t a voice that I was familiar with since it was a random Awakener that was there.


    But I learned later that this was a C Rank Awakener who was in charge of this group.


    As for why the Ice Princess wasn''t in charge, it was because she was the secret weapon for dealing with the Orc King. She wouldn''t be fighting until we found the Orc King, so it was better for someone else to lead this group.


    The C Rank Awakener said, "Let''s set off."


    With that, we headed into the break zone.

 Chapter 43 - 43: Princess carry

    Once the C Ranked Awakener leader said this, all of us headed through the gate of the break zone.


    This was a large group that was going in, so naturally it had attracted a lot of spectators.


    In the crowd, I found my former team of porters watching as we headed in and since I had noticed them, I raised my hand to wave at them.


    However, all they could do was look in my direction with worried looks and looks that were wishing me luck.


    It was as if they were sending someone off to their execution.


    I didn''t mind it since I could understand what they were thinking, I just focused my mind on what would come next so that what they thought would happen wouldn''t happen.


    After entering the break zone, the surrounding area suddenly became silent. Or at least there were still the sounds of nature and animals around us, but there were no sounds of humanity at all.


    It was like going back to nature once we entered the break zone, but that was to be expected since the only things living here were monsters.


    We didn''t pause for a single second and just followed the C Ranked Awakener leader deeper into the forest.


    With the way that he was heading forward, it was clear that he knew where he was going.


    But it wasn''t just him who knew where they were going, all of the members seemed like they knew which surprised me.


    I looked over at Su Chen and he seemed to be focused on something as we headed in. I couldn''t help moving closer to see what it was and I found that it was a map of the break zone.


    Su Chen naturally noticed me walking over, so he looked up and was surprised to see that I had that surprised look. So he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I pointed at the piece of paper in his hand and asked, "Where did you get that?"


    He looked in the direction that I was pointing in and seeing that I was referring to the piece of paper in his hand, he revealed a confused look as he said, "What do you¡­"


    Then all of a sudden, he revealed a look of understanding before saying, "Oh, that''s right! I forgot about that."


    He reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper for me before saying, "I completely forgot to give you this. You fit so well into our team that I already took you as a full member and forgot that you''re only a temporary member."


    I took the piece of paper from him and found that it was a map of the break zone, similar to the one that he had been studying just now.


    After seeing this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile, but I didn''t mind it and focused on the map.


    After handing me the map though, Su Chen reached into his bag to pull out a pen and waved for me to come back over.


    When I went over to him, Su Chen used that pen to make a few marks on the map that he gave me. As he made those marks, he kept looking back at his own map which I could see had these marks as well.


    Once he was done, he said, "This is the route we''re taking and the destination for this trip. Study it well so you can make it back to base if something happens."


    I gave a serious nod in response to this.


    This was a very important thing, so of course I wouldn''t slack off.


    After all, getting lost in this break zone was the last thing that I wanted to happen.


    Seeing the serious way that I studied the map, Su Chen gave a satisfied nod before turning back to his map.


    But not long after this, there was the sound of leaves rustling that came from around our formation.


    When this happened, the entire formation immediately stopped as a whistle rang out.


    With this, Su Chen led our group into the center of the formation where there were other people there as well. When I looked closely, I found that these were Awakeners that had healing and support powers.


    It seemed like they were taking a defensive position around us to make sure that we were kept safe.


    Not long after this, there were monsters that came out of the brush around us.


    Since this break zone was a habitat for orcs, naturally the monsters that attacked us were also orcs.


    But these orcs were weak compared to the formation that we had.


    Since this was a special mission, the weakest Awakener that was here was in the D Rank, so they weren''t weak. The line of Awakeners was able to easily hold back the orcs that charged at us.


    The orcs weren''t able to reach us who were in the center of the formation at all. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was until the situation suddenly changed with a loud orc roar.


    When we turned in the direction the roar came from, we saw an orc that was much bigger than the rest push through the brush.


    I recognized this orc with a single glance, this was an Orc General.


    This was an orc variant that was much stronger than the average orc and was even skilled in using weapons.


    In the hands of the normal orcs, there were only clubs, but this Orc General had a proper iron sword in his hand.


    With the appearance of this Orc General, the Awakener line was thrown into a tizzy and there were orcs that broke through. Most of these orcs were taken care of by the Awakeners behind the initial line, but there was one that broke through.


    I don''t know if it was bad luck, but this orc was running right at me¡­


    Seeing me standing there, the orc raised his club to attack me.


    I was debating whether to use my Time Stop skill, but before I could come to a decision, there was someone that grabbed my collar.


    They easily evaded the orc while lifting me off the ground.


    When I reacted, I found that it was Su Chen who was holding me in a princess carry¡­


    I couldn''t help feeling very strange when I saw this and I really wanted to get out, but he was just too strong for me. During this time, Su Chen had been focused on the orc that had broken through, so he didn''t see that I wanted to get out of his embrace.


    To the side, there were quite a few people who were giving me and Su Chen strange looks¡­


    Please, it wasn''t what you think!

 Chapter 44 - 44: First demonstration

    But of course, there wasn''t that much time to think about that.


    There were cries of pain that rang out not far away, along with the sounds of weapons clashing.


    When I looked in that direction, it seemed that the Awakeners of our group were struggling with the Orc General that had suddenly appeared.


    These Awakeners that made up the outer lines were only D Rank Awakeners, so they were the weakest members of our group in the first place. However, in a place like this, that should have been enough to deal with the orcs.


    It was the appearance of the Orc General that changed everything.


    The Orc General by itself was only considered a D Rank monster, but when it was with all of these orcs, its rank increased. It was only able to show its true power when it had minions to command after all.


    The ''general'' part of the Orc General''s name was not empty.


    When this Orc General appeared, the orcs had started moving in a much more coordinated fashion which made it hard for these Awakeners to fight them. After all, most Awakeners only worked in parties and only in large groups like this. So in terms of coordination, the Awakeners were weaker.


    It seemed that with just the D Rankers, we wouldn''t be able to take care of these orcs and the Orc General.


    So there were a few C Rankers in the center of the formation that were about to move.


    But before they could, there was an icicle that cut through the air.


    Before anyone could react, that icicle had slammed into the Orc General''s sword and pushed the Orc General back several meters. At the same time, the icicle exploded into ice particles that quickly covered the Orc General''s sword, causing ice to form over the sword itself.


    The Orc General couldn''t help revealing a slightly fearful look when he saw his sword being frozen like this, but then the Orc General slammed the sword down on the ground and shattered the ice surrounding it.


    It was just too bad that the icicle that had flown out was only a casual attack.


    The Ice Princess stepped out from the formation and said, "I''ll take care of this myself. The rest of you will clean up the orcs."


    The C Rankers were surprised to hear this order, but they quickly reacted and said, "Yes!"


    At this, the C Rankers spread throughout the formation that we were in. The C Rankers moved separately and to different parts of the formation, backing up the D Rankers as they fought the orcs.


    With the C Rankers helping, the D Rankers were able to push back the orcs without any problems even if the orcs were working together better.


    Back at the Orc General, the Ice Princess didn''t waste any time.


    She raised the sword in her hand and there was a world of frost that appeared around her. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The water in the air condensed into ice crystals that just floated there around the Orc General.


    The Orc General knew that he was in a dangerous position, so he didn''t make a rash move. Instead, he called out in the orc tongue, as if he was giving some kind of order.


    Then all of a sudden, the orcs that were behind the Ice Princess suddenly turned and raised their clubs at her.


    The Ice Princess had flown over the orcs and the D Rankers fighting to face the Orc General. This had put her in a position where she was in between the orcs and the Orc General.


    But once the orcs turned, the D Rankers and C Rankers immediately started cutting them down from behind.


    In fact, seeing that these orcs had wanted to attack the Ice Princess, they started fighting even harder as if they were her personal knights.


    One of the C Rankers even shouted, "We will never let you lay a single finger on our goddess!"


    It was clear that these D Rankers and C Rankers were fans of the Ice Princess as well.


    The Ice Princess had never turned back once during all of this.


    Even when the orcs were about to attack her from behind, her eyes were still focused on the Orc General.


    It was as if she already knew that the D Rankers and C Rankers would have her back.


    Seeing that he wouldn''t be able to count on the orcs to provide backup, the Orc General knew that he had no choice.


    The Orc General suddenly raised his head and let out a loud roar.


    As it roared, there were red veins that appeared on its green skin.


    It was clear that this Orc General was using some kind of buff skill to increase his power.


    However, the Ice Princess just stood there without doing a thing. It was as if she was even waiting for the Orc General to finish buffing himself before attacking.


    Finally, the Orc General brought his head back down and looked right at the Ice Princes.


    She looked back at the Orc General with ice cold eyes while still seemingly waiting for it.


    The Orc General couldn''t help feeling a trace of fear when he saw this, but he suppressed that fear and raised his sword to point right at the Ice Princess.


    Then with another roar, the Orc General started to move.


    But before it could take more than two steps, the Ice Princess suddenly pointed her sword at the Orc General.


    When she did, the ice crystals that had been floating there in the air suddenly started to move. They cut across the air, creating cold streaks as they flew right at the Orc General.


    The Orc General panicked when he saw this, swinging his sword out at the closest ice crystal.


    There was no resistance at all as his sword cut through the ice crystal, but after it had cut through the ice crystal, there were bits of ice that started forming on the surface of this sword.


    The Orc General didn''t notice this at first since he was too busy dealing with all the ice crystals coming at him. He kept swinging his sword out to cut through each of the ice crystals as they came closer.


    As he did, more and more ice started to form on the surface of his sword.


    And with more ice that formed on the sword, the Orc General''s movements started getting slower.


    At the same time, there were more and more ice crystals that started appearing around the Orc General. There were just too many of them for the Orc General to cut them all down.


    So these ice crystals that made it past the Orc General''s swings started clinging to his body.


    The moment that the ice crystal made contact with the Orc General''s body, a layer of ice started forming on the Orc General''s skin. Each ice crystal didn''t create that much ice, but there were plenty of ice crystals to make up for that.


    The Orc General did all that he could to avoid these ice crystals after seeing what was happening, but there were just too many for him to avoid.


    Eventually¡­a layer of ice formed over the Orc General and he stopped moving.


    What replaced the Orc General¡­was an ice sculpture that was shaped just like the Orc General.

 Chapter 45 - 45: Raising morale

    Once the Orc General had been turned into an ice sculpture, the Ice Princess flicked her sword to get off the ice that had formed on it before putting it back into its sheath.


    Without even caring about the rest of the orcs, she flew back into the formation and landed where she had been previously.


    It seemed like she wasn''t going to bother with the rest of the orcs at all, but the other Awakeners didn''t mind. After all, if she wasn''t going to take them, then there was no reason why they shouldn''t take them.


    Loot in this group was determined on merit, so the corpses would be given to the one that defeated the monsters.


    Based on that, the Orc General''s corpse and the expensive parts that came with it would go to the Ice Princess.


    For the rest of these Awakeners, the orcs that were easy picking were now piles of walking money. So if the Ice Princess competed with them for these orcs, then the money that they earned would decrease.


    Her showing that she wasn''t interested in these orcs won the praise of these Awakeners and they put in more effort to take down the orcs.


    With this renewed vigor, it didn''t take long for them to cut down the rest of the orcs.


    Once the orcs were taken down, all that was left was to butcher them and pack them up.


    They could have left the orcs here, but there was no doubt that these corpses would have attracted scavengers which was even more dangerous. Once those scavengers finished off the corpse and wandered around, it wasn''t impossible that they would run into their group.


    So they needed to clean up after their fight to make sure that nothing was attracted over.


    But there was the matter of the Orc General¡­


    The Ice Princess didn''t waste any time to say, "I don''t need it. You can just divide the spoils among the group."


    When everyone heard this, they couldn''t help revealing a surprised look.


    But at the same time, there were looks of joy that appeared in their eyes at the same time.


    For a B Ranker like the Ice Princess, the materials from the Orc General weren''t worth much, but that wasn''t the case for them. The Orc General materials sold for much more than the normal monsters that they hunted since it was considered a variant and a boss.


    Not to mention¡­the testicles of the Orc General worked much better than the testicles of ordinary orcs.


    There were many rich people that were willing to pay extra just for this¡­


    So even if it was a portion of the total amount, it was more than enough to repay them for this trip. Not to mention, there was a large bonus that would come at the end when they finished off the Orc King.


    So they couldn''t help feeling excited about this decision.


    The C Rank leader naturally knew the situation the best and immediately gave a slight bow to the Ice Princess before saying, "Thank you for your generosity."


    When the others saw this, they all bowed to her as well and started flattering her.


    But the Ice Princess just waved her hand as if this didn''t matter to her at all.


    During this, Su Chen had already understood what was happening and was moving towards the Orc General. He pulled out a knife and hatchet out of his bag as he walked over.


    At the same time, he waved at me to follow him so he could show me how to butcher up monsters.


    I had never done something like this before, but it definitely wasn''t a bad skill to have.


    But my main focus was still the Ice Princess.


    I had been carefully watching her to see what kind of person she was and I could tell that her move just now was very intentional. At the same time, it was a bad sign for what would come.


    The C Rank leader and the Ice Princess, neither of them had expected the Orc General attack just now.


    They had made it clear with the surprise that they had shown when the Orc General had appeared.


    It seemed that whatever was happening in this break zone was going against what they had expected¡­which meant that what followed definitely wouldn''t be easy.


    Of course, that didn''t matter to me since I had been trying to find a way to appeal to the Ice Princess.


    If I was able to help her or even save her in the end, there was no doubt that I would be able to get closer to her. So the more chaotic this mission was, the better it was for me.


    I had no fear for my life after all since I had a way of escaping no matter what.


    That was just how powerful the Time Stop skill was. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the Orc General being given to the other members of the party, it was just a way of raising morale. The best way to raise morale is always money and the money from these Orc General material was not small, so the excitement that fell over the group was almost palpable.


    It was just too bad that most of them would be sacrificed when the fight came and they would never even see this money.


    Or at least that was what my impression of this situation was.


    As I worked with Su Chen to dismantle the Orc General, I had to admire how much strength it took to dismantle it. At the same time, I understood why Su Chen worked so hard to build up all this muscle.


    Without that strength it would be impossible for him to cut through the hard monster flesh and skin.


    These monsters really were different from humans¡­


    Of course, it wasn''t just us alone who were cleaning up the battlefield. There were also general porters and personal porters of C Rank Awakeners that were here working with us to clean up the orcs.


    In no time, all of the orc corpses had been cleaned up and we were heading deeper into the forest.

 Chapter 46 - 46: Setting up camp

    That one ambush was the only outlier of this trip, the rest of the trip was almost too quiet.


    When we arrived at the area that was on the map, the C Rank leader immediately stopped our group and sent out the scouts to check the surrounding area.


    Not long after, they came back with reports of an orc camp.


    No one was surprised by this since this was what they had been looking for.


    An orc camp, that was the sign that an Orc King had appeared.


    The orcs would live in small groups or just live on their own, only gathering with their mates and children. If they suddenly started living together in a camp like this, it meant that there was something that had gathered them all together.


    An Orc General wouldn''t be enough for that.


    Only an Orc King would be able to gather up orcs on this scale.


    So that meant that the Orc King was surely in the orc camp as well.


    Since their target was here, there was no reason for them to run around like headless chickens looking for that target.


    The only problem was that the Orc King was deep in the orc camp and the orc camp was filled with many orcs. Even if they had brought many Awakeners, it would be too much for them to fight.


    They had to figure out a way to lure out the Orc King and kill it, while also scattering all of the orcs that had been gathered in the camp.


    At the same time, they were certain that it wouldn''t just be a single Orc General that was in this break zone. There should be other Orc Generals there as well, so they had to figure out how to fight them as well.


    In short, they needed more information before they could start doing anything to the orcs.


    So for now, the C Rank leader came to the decision to set up camp nearby.


    The orc camp was much bigger than they had expected and if they handled this rashly, it would result in many casualties.


    As the leader, the one that everyone trusted with their lives, he couldn''t accept this kind of loss.


    Instead of charging in, they would take some time to observe the orcs and see if there was something about the camp that they could exploit.


    Of course, none of that had anything to do with us.


    There were those that had special abilities for that, so it was better to leave it to them.


    For us porters, our job was to take care of the camp itself.


    The camp was set up in a cave not far away from the orc camp. This place was well hidden with a cave providing shelter and a source of clean water nearby in the form of a pond.


    With all of these things, it was easy for us to set up the camp.


    As for the things that we needed to set up camp, they were in my bag.


    The others were carrying things for other situations and were carrying material from the Orc General, I was the only one that was carrying the things that we needed to set up camp just in case.


    This was their way of taking care of the newbie.


    But what they didn''t know was¡­I had been cheating.


    In the bag that had been given to me, there was the Storage Ring.


    While it looked like I had packed my things in my bag, in reality, I had put it all in the Storage Ring that I had also placed in the bag.


    The Storage Ring was different since it was a different space, so the weight wasn''t transferred. It was as if I wasn''t even carrying those things and just carrying the Storage Ring, so it was much easier on me than the other porters.


    Still, I pretended to reach into the bag and pulled out the items that we needed.


    These items were also bigger than the size of the bag since the bags we were given were special bags that had the space inside of them widened. It was a form of spatial magic, but it was on a lower level than the Storage Ring since it was just a simple expansion instead of creating a separate space.


    Once the camp had been set up, Su Chen took the lead by cooking for us.


    It turned out that one really couldn''t judge a book by its cover.


    After all, a rough man like Su Chen definitely didn''t seem like he was someone that could cook. However, I was surprised to find that he not only knew how to cook, he was a masterchef. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t stop my hands as I ate the dishes that he put in front of me.


    I was so focused on eating that I didn''t notice the one strange thing that had appeared.


    Only when I started feeling full did I see¡­that the Ice Princess was sitting by me, eating Su Chen''s food with a happy smile on her face.


    Su Chen didn''t seem to mind at all that the Ice Princess was here and was even taking orders for more dishes from her.


    Seeing the way that I looked at her, the Ice Princess just said with a smile, "It''s good, isn''t it?"


    When I heard this, all I could do was nod in a daze.


    The Ice Princess then said with the same smile, "This is why I can''t give up Su Chen as my personal porter! I''ll die if I don''t get his food."


    Su Chen couldn''t help blushing when he heard this, but then he said, "Miss Bing, you won''t get any more for praising me. You know that we only have so much food and we have to ration it."


    The Ice Princess pouted out her lips and puffed her cheeks when she heard this, but she didn''t complain since she knew that he was right.


    As for me, I just sat there with a bitter smile on my face.


    I did want the chance to talk to the Ice Princess, but I never thought that I would be talking to her like this¡­


    It really was a surreal feeling.


    I guess one really couldn''t judge a book by its cover.

 Chapter 47 - 47: Orc camp

    This relaxing dinner time didn''t last long as the C Rank leader and some others came to find the Ice Princess.


    Though he was the leader of the group in name, everyone knew that it was actually the Ice Princess that was in charge.


    So they came to find her to discuss what to do tomorrow.


    They also wanted to move to a more secure location, but the Ice Princess rejected this.


    "I''m still in the middle of eating and I won''t move until I''m finished."


    The C Rank leader and the others looked at her with a helpless look since they knew that they wouldn''t be able to change her mind. So in the end, they had no choice but to sit down and discuss it here.


    However, there wasn''t a lack of disdainful looks directed in my direction and in the direction of the other porters.


    Seeing this, I was about to stand up and leave. However, before I could, the Ice Princess suddenly grabbed my hand and said, "Sit and finish your meal."


    All of us couldn''t help looking at her with surprised looks. I was the one that was the most caught off guard by this.


    However, it didn''t seem like she would back down on this.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to sit down and the C Rank leader and the ones following him also sat down.


    This time, they completely ignored me as they reported on the situation of the orc camp.


    As I listened to the report from the side, I couldn''t help slowly knitting my brows.


    What I didn''t notice was that the Ice Princess had been secretly watching me out of the corner of her eyes. When she saw that my brows had knit after hearing about the situation of the orc camp, there was a faint sparkle that appeared in her eyes.


    The situation of the orc camp was worse than we had thought.


    The orc camp was at least three times as big and had four times as many orcs as predicted.


    With all of these orcs, it was impossible for the scouts to sneak in to find out the situation of the camp. After all, there were just too many orcs and there was a limit to their stealth ability.


    So in the end, they weren''t able to find the Orc King inside of the camp.


    The C Rank leader then said, "We should take another day to watch the camp and see if we can pick them off one by one. We have plenty of people that we can surround the camp with and attack them from all directions so that they have no idea what''s happening."


    The Ice Princess didn''t react to this suggestion from the C Rank leader which made him sweat a bit.


    But in the end, the Ice Princess said, "Let''s talk about it tomorrow. I''m sure that everyone is tired, so let''s all get a good night''s rest before deciding."


    The C Rank leader and the others with him were surprised by this, but they agreed to her suggestion since they knew that she was right. They had been trekking through the forest the entire time and watching over the orc camp, so even they were feeling a bit tired. They could only imagine how the D Rankers were feeling.


    Since they had time, there was no need to rush and it was better to rest while they could.


    With this, the C Rank leader and the others bowed to the Ice Princess before leaving the tent.


    Once they were gone, the Ice Princess revealed a look of disdain.


    Not a single person here dared to say a word as they waited for her to say something.


    Since I had already finished my food, I didn''t want to get involved in this matter any longer and stood up to leave.


    But once again, before I could, the Ice Princess stopped me.


    She said, "Wait, let me ask you something."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this. I even looked around myself to make sure that she wasn''t talking about anyone else. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But she was looking right at me, so it was clear that she was talking to me.


    After a moment of hesitation, I asked, "Is there something that I can help you with, Miss Bing?"


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "What do you think we should do about the orc camp?"


    Once her voice fell, everyone here couldn''t help looking at her with a shocked and confused look. The one that had the most confused look on their face was me since I couldn''t understand why she was asking me this.


    However, the Ice Princess just looked at me as if she was waiting for an answer.


    I didn''t know what to make of this situation at first and I began hesitating on what to do.


    But in the end, I came to a conclusion that this was my chance to make an impression on the Ice Princess.


    While it would be like walking on thin ice since I didn''t know what she wanted to hear from me, it was still a chance to show off. I believed that I would be able to leave a good impression with my intelligence.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "I think that we shouldn''t waste any time in taking down the orc camp."


    The Ice Princess gave a nod when she heard this before saying, "But how do you plan on taking it down? It isn''t that easy to take down this orc camp after all."


    I gave a nod of affirmation before simply saying, "We burn it down."


    When the people around me heard this, they all revealed confused looks as they couldn''t understand what I was saying.


    However, the Ice Princess'' eyes lit up when she heard this.


    "It seems that I was right about you. Alright, let''s hear your plan."

 Chapter 48 - 48: Burning the camp

    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this and I wasn''t able to react right away.


    However, I was pulled back to my senses when the Ice Princess said, "What''s wrong? Tell me what you have in mind."


    I saw the way that she looked at me and I could tell that she was serious about hearing my plan. As for her reason why, I naturally didn''t know, but since she was willing to hear me out¡­then there was no reason to hesitate any further.


    I calmly said, "We have one advantage over the orcs which is our intelligence. With this intelligence, we can outsmart the orcs and force them in a situation where they won''t be able to escape. While it is dangerous to burn this orc camp since we''re in the forest, as long as we use our abilities to fall some trees to create a stopping zone, we should be able to avoid a full forest fire.


    When that time comes, the orcs will burn to death inside of the fire trap that we set. If there are any that survive, then they will be too weak to fight back in the first place."


    The Ice Princess nodded along to my plan before suddenly taking out a piece of paper that she put on the table in front of us. Then she looked at me while pointing at the map and saying, "Show me the area."


    I was once again surprised, but I took out a pen from my bag and started drawing out an area on the map.


    This map already had the orc camp marked on it, so based on that, I was able to segment out an area that I believed would be a good stopping area for the fire. As long as we cut out the trees in this area, the fire shouldn''t spread that far and we should be able to trap the orcs inside.


    The Ice Princess had been silently listening to me as I outlined this plan and drew this area.


    Only when I was done did she finally give a nod and say, "This plan is good. Let''s go with this plan."


    Then she looked at me with a smile and said, "I knew that I wasn''t wrong about you. When they mentioned the camp earlier, I could see that your eyes changed. You''re clearly someone who has intelligence and ambition, but it''s just that your abilities limit you. I really want to keep you as my permanent porter now."


    I was about to say something, but she quickly cut me off by saying, "But not right now. Right now, we should focus on the task at hand. Let''s talk about this in the future."


    I couldn''t help revealing a bit of a bitter smile when I heard this.


    I had thought that I had left enough of an impression on her to achieve my goal, but it seemed that she still needed to watch me a bit more before that happened.


    Still, I knew that I had at least left a good impression on her, so that was still better than nothing.


    The Ice Princess gave a nod before saying, "Alright, let''s leave it here for tonight. I''ll tell the others that this is our plan tomorrow. Get a good rest tonight, we still have plenty to do¡­"


    Before she could say ''tomorrow'', Su Chen suddenly said, "There''s a problem with this plan."


    Both the Ice Princess and I immediately looked at Su Chen.


    Su Chen had been looking over the map the entire time with a serious look on his face as if he was thinking about something.


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes to look at him before asking, "What is the problem?"


    There was no malice in her voice, rather she sincerely wanted to hear what Su Chen had to say.


    After all, there was a reason why she had chosen him as her personal porter and had worked with him all this time.


    As for me, I couldn''t help glaring at Su Chen, wondering if he was specifically targeting me with these words. After all, someone else who caught the Ice Princess'' attention would be bad for him.


    But when I heard what he had to say, I realize that this wasn''t the case.


    He was actually giving proper advice.


    "You forgot to account for the weather. There will be a westerly wind stirring tonight, so by tomorrow, there will be a powerful gale. Once that happens, you have to account for the embers carried by the wind and adjust the zones accordingly." Su Chen slowly explained.


    After he said this, he pointed at the western part of the camp and said, "You have to make this area bigger or else you won''t be able to contain the fire."


    Then he also pointed at some parts of the map to the north and south of the orc camp before saying, "You should also consider expanding out these parts just in case since the wind will cause trouble there."


    I went to the flap of the tent and peeked my head out to see that there was indeed already a breeze that was stirring.


    When I came back into the tent, I couldn''t help looking at Su Chen with a look of surprise and admiration.


    Su Chen just said with a smile, "You can''t be in the business for as long as me and not know things like this. A porter is responsible for supporting the Awakeners, so the things that we need to know are not just limited to carrying things. We need to know many different things that will be able to help those that we support." S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He said this with a proud look on his face that really made him seem cool.


    After a while, the Ice Princess said, "Alright, we''ll make the changes to the zones as proposed by Su Chen." She looked at the two of us and everyone else in the tent before asking, "Is there anything else?"


    None of us said a thing in response to this.


    Seeing this, the Ice Princess gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Get some rest, you''ll all be busy tomorrow."

 Chapter 49 - 49: Cutting trees

    The next morning, the C Rank leader and the ones he brought all had shocked looks on their faces when they heard the plan that the Ice Princess gave them.


    They looked at each other before the C Rank leader said, "Vice guild master, doesn''t this plan seem like it''s too much trouble? Are we really going to go through all that trouble when we can just as easily find and kill the Orc King? As long as we take down the Orc King, the rest of them won''t be able to do anything to us."


    When the Ice Princess heard this, she immediately knitted her brows as she looked at the C Rank leader.


    The C Rank leader couldn''t help slowly stuttering his words until he finally stopped talking.


    The Ice Princess then looked at them with narrowed eyes as she said, "You care more about profit than you do about human lives?"


    When this heavy accusation came down, the C Rank leader and the others all quickly shook their heads.


    When such a heavy accusation was thrown down, they were naturally terrified and went out of their way to deny it.


    But the Ice Princess still said, "Don''t think that I don''t know what you''re thinking. You don''t want to go through with this plan because it''ll ruin the corpses of the normal orcs. You wanted to cash in on all of the orcs and even the Orc General, right?"


    All of them couldn''t help giving a gulp when they heard the Ice Princess'' accusation and they slowly lowered their heads, as if they didn''t dare look right at her.


    However, her words had hit the target.


    Indeed, that was the main reason why they didn''t want to go through with this plan.


    There was a bit of concern about burning this large area in this break zone and how dangerous it would be, but it was mainly because of profit.


    After all, people only became Awakeners because of the money. Being an Awakener was a way to easily make money and many Awakeners were all about maximizing their profits.


    If they burned the orcs, they wouldn''t be able to sell their corpses or even salvage anything from them.


    So it was the last thing that they wanted to do.


    The Ice Princess didn''t stop there as she continued to say, "You should know that this isn''t just about clearing out the orcs and stopping the Orc King. This is also about protecting the people of the world. If the orcs gather too much power here and break out of this break zone, who do you think will suffer the most? Of course it will be the common citizens."


    They couldn''t stop their faces from turning red when they heard this since the logic that she used was airtight.


    In the end, they had no choice but to accept the plan.


    It wasn''t just because of her logic, but also because of the fact that she was the vice guild master. If they offended her over this, it was certain that they wouldn''t have a future in the guild.


    Even if they wanted to change guilds, with the vice guild master against them, they wouldn''t have a good time.


    It was similar to how if a worker at a normal company had a boss that they offended, they wouldn''t be able to easily find another job.


    In a way, being in a guild was like working for a company.


    Or at least it was like working for a company when it came to the culture.


    Since they had accepted this plan, all that was left was distributing the tasks.


    The Ice Princess knew that it would be hard for the D Rankers to accept this, so she personally came out to give them orders.


    If it was the Ice Princess giving the orders, there was no one that dared to disobey.


    So even if they didn''t like the plan for the same reason as the C Rank leaders and his followers, they still went to cut down the trees.


    Even though we wouldn''t be helping with cutting down the trees, us porters were still required to help out with transporting the wood that was cut. At the same time, we helped with cutting the wood that was cut into smaller kindling that we spread out across the forest.


    This would be used to make the flames burn stronger to completely smother the orcs in flames.


    Of course, it was impossible to completely hide this since the orcs did come out from time to time.


    So the orcs that came out were taken out by the scouts that were hiding in the trees. They watched the orcs in the camp and whenever a bunch of orcs came out, they would follow them and take them out silently so as not to attract attention.


    It could be said that these scouts had the hardest jobs in all of this.


    We just had to cut the trees, but they had to fight orcs and do it silently which made it harder. Especially since it was much easier to cut trees with the special abilities of these Awakeners. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was also because these Awakeners had special abilities that we were able to cut the trees down so quickly. It took no more than two hours to finish cutting the ring of trees around the orc camp.


    Once this was done, the main group gathered in front of the entrance of the orc camp. Of course, we didn''t remain out in the open and stayed in the forest near the entrance so that the orcs couldn''t see us.


    We were here because we knew that the orcs would come running out the entrance in an attempt to escape. If they ran in any other direction, all they would face is a wall of flames.


    After one last check, the signal was given to the Awakeners that were waiting.


    These were Awakeners that were scattered in the forest around the orc camp with torches in their hands.


    Once the signal was given, they dropped the torches in their hands onto the kindling in front of them.


    It took no time at all for the kindling to catch on fire and even with the strong winds, the fire soon spread to the surrounding trees.


    In an instant, there was a ring of fire that had been created around the orc camp.


    Just like that, the plan was set into motion.

 Chapter 50 - 50: Inferno

    As soon as the trees were set on fire, the orcs in the camp immediately started to react.


    At first, the orcs wandered around in chaos since they had no idea what was happening. But of course, that couldn''t be blamed on them since the forest around them had suddenly been set on fire.


    To make things worse, there were fire arrows that came out of nowhere that landed in their camp, setting the buildings on fire.


    The orcs were only trying to survive at this point, they didn''t care at all what had caused this fire.


    But since there was chaos, it was hard for them to escape.


    This was made worse since the line of fire was all around them.


    The only place that didn''t have fire was the entrance of the orc camp which was strangely free of any flames. So following their instincts to survive, they started running at the entrance.


    With how many orcs there were, it was inevitable that a stopper was formed since there was only so much space in the camp. In no time at all, they were all blocked from leaving the camp and many orcs were facing the flames that were encroaching around them.


    The ones that were at the front of the stopper, the ones that were able to leave the camp didn''t fare any better.


    That was because as soon as they came out of the camp entrance, they were hit with a volley of arrows. Before they could even react, there were several arrows that pierced through their thick skins and into their vital points.


    Before they could even find the attackers, the orcs dropped dead on the ground.


    There were more orcs that came after the orcs that died, but they also met the same fate of being stabbed by arrows.


    It didn''t take long before the orcs realized that there were enemies hiding in the burning forest in front of them, sniping them with bows. This made them more hesitant to run out¡­but they had no choice but to run out since behind them was a wall of flames.


    It was like being trapped between a rock and a hard place.


    With this blocking the flow of orcs, there were more and more orcs that were trapped by the burning flames encroaching from behind them.


    The ones in the back did all that they could to put out these flames, but they lived in a camp that was completely made of wood, sticks, and leaves. There was no way for them to control this blazing inferno when there was so much kindling available to the flames.


    So their attempts were in vain as they were swallowed by the flames.


    The orc killing went very smoothly, so smoothly that they couldn''t believe that it was this easy.


    However, that changed when a roar suddenly rang out through the camp.


    There were orcs that were picked up and thrown out of the way, as well as orcs that quickly moved to the side to create a path.


    The one that took this path and came out of the orc camp was an orc that was bigger than the others. This was an orc that was holding a large iron sword.


    It was another Orc General.


    But of course, those that were shooting the arrows didn''t delay when they saw this Orc General come out. As soon as it came out of the entrance, there were arrows that flew out through the trees at the Orc General.


    The Orc General swung his sword out to cut down these arrows, but there were just too many arrows for the Orc General to deal with. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As soon as the Orc General appeared, the arrows stopped flying at the other orcs and were completely concentrated on the Orc General alone.


    So even if the Orc General cut down a few of these arrows, the rest of the arrows stabbed right into the Orc General''s body.


    But this Orc General was a higher tier monster for a reason.


    Even with all of these arrows stabbing into him, he was still able to move and fight. This Orc General was like a rampaging monster as if continued to head towards the forest in front of him.


    That is until a sudden arrow of ice came out of nowhere and stabbed that Orc General right in the head.


    This arrow was disguised amongst the rain of arrows, so the Orc General wasn''t able to react to it until it was too late.


    With this arrow of ice stabbing through his head, the Orc General staggered for a second before collapsing onto the ground.


    Once the Orc General was dead, the arrows once again focused on the orcs that were escaping from the camp.


    The orcs that had used the Orc General as a distraction to escape the arrows found themselves being shot at once again. That was because they had been unable to escape while the Orc General was causing the distraction.


    They were completely surrounded in flames, so there was nowhere for them to run in the first place.


    If they had charged at the ones who were shooting the arrows while the Orc General was causing the distraction, perhaps they might have found a way out¡­


    It was just too bad that these orcs didn''t have this intelligence.


    So with the rain of arrows and the flames behind them, the orcs were trapped inside of this burning camp.


    The camp continued to burn for around an hour and the struggling stopped after half an hour. At that point, all of the orcs were being consumed by the flames inside of the camp and no more orcs ran out.


    Since there weren''t any orcs left, the arrows naturally stopped as well.


    Finally, after an hour, the kindling ran out and the flames slowly started to die down.


    The only things that were left was the burnt husk of the orc camp and the smell of burning orcs in the air.

 Chapter 51 - 51: Orc King

    When the flames had settled, the Awakeners looked at the camp with looks of shock on their faces.


    They had never expected this plan to go this well.


    All they had to do was hide in the forest and shoot arrows at the orcs from a distance. Just with that, they had been able to wipe out an orc camp that was three times larger than what they had been expecting.


    If they had fought the orcs hand to hand like the original plan, perhaps many of them would have been injured and there would have even been some deaths. But with this plan, there wasn''t a single casualty.


    There wasn''t even a single minor injury.


    The only thing that they felt regret over was the fact that all of the orc corpses had been burnt to a crisp like this.


    There was no way that they would be able to find anything that they could sell like this.


    So their hearts ached from the pain of losing this money.


    But they still understood that this was a major victory without any major injuries, so they should be happy about this. Even if they wouldn''t be able to earn anything from the corpses of these orcs, the guild would pay them handsomely for such a fine achievement.


    So in the end, there really wasn''t a loss for them.


    The only thing that was on their minds now was¡­to search the battlefield.


    Even if the land looked like it had been razed by flames, there was still a chance that there was something here for them. So they wanted to search this area to see if there was any loot for them to take back with them.


    Since they used flames to burn down the orc camp, it meant that it would be a free for all when it came to loot. Whoever found the loot first would be the one that would keep it.


    However, before they could go, the Ice Princess said, "Wait, it''s not over yet."


    When they heard this, all of the Awakeners couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    They looked at her with a strange and confused look.


    What was she talking about?


    Didn''t she see that the orcs had been burnt to ashes already?


    How could this not be over yet?


    But before any of them could say anything, there was a crumbling sound that came from in front of them. This crumbling sound was then followed by a large mass of something black shattering apart.


    There were cracks that appeared on this black mass before a hand suddenly poked out of it.


    Then following that hand, there was this large green thing that came out of this black mass on the ground.


    The moment that this thing appeared, all of the Awakeners couldn''t help feeling a chill run down their spines. The moment that this thing appeared, it was like all of their hairs suddenly stood on end.


    That was because they could feel the energy and pressure that was coming from this green mass.


    It was clear that this thing wasn''t a normal monster.


    If they had to guess what this was¡­it was most likely the Orc King!


    But just how had this Orc King survived being surrounded in flames like this?


    Even if it was them, they wouldn''t have been able to survive in this kind of environment with all of their powers.


    In fact, even the Ice Princess wouldn''t have been confident to survive this situation.


    But then the Ice Princess said something that answered all of their questions.


    "This beast, he used his subordinates to form a living wall around him and used that to block the flames." As she said this, there was a tone of disgust that filled the Ice Princess'' voice.


    When they heard this, everyone couldn''t help looking at the black things that were around the Orc King.


    When they looked carefully, they found that these black things weren''t just charcoal formed from the burning wood, but also the bodies of the orcs that had been gathered around the Orc King as a shield.


    It seemed that this Orc King really was ruthless, he didn''t even care about his subordinates and treated their lives like they were nothing.


    Even if they were orcs, they couldn''t help feeling sorry for them.


    Still, they didn''t have time to think that much about this since the Orc King was still there.


    The Orc King had only suffered minor burns from the fire, so it was still able to fight.


    This was a monster that was considered B Rank because of its abilities to command large legions of orcs to do its bidding. But without these orcs, the Orc King was actually only considered a C Rank Monster.


    However, when the C Rank Awakeners were in the face of this Orc King, they realized that even if it was C Rank like them, this thing was much stronger than them.


    Even if they were all in the C Rank, this Orc King was at the peak of the C Rank and they were at the very bottom.


    If they were to fight this Orc King themselves, they would never have a chance of winning against it.


    But it was a good thing that they didn''t have to fight this Orc King since there was someone else here that would do it for them.


    Not to mention, it was one of the strongest Awakeners in their guild.


    The B Rank Ice Princess, Bing Xin!


    As they had expected, after seeing the pressure that this Orc King released, Bing Xin said, "Everyone stand back. I''ll take care of this thing."


    When they heard this, they happily took steps back to create space for Bing Xin to fight this Orc King.


    The Ice Princess then said, "Create a perimeter and make sure that nothing disrupts my fight with this thing!"


    All of the Awakeners immediately gave serious nods before spreading out across this area. With the way that they stood guard, it was as if they wouldn''t let a single thing past them unless they died.


    The Orc King however didn''t care about this since he could feel the pressure that was coming from the Ice Princess as well.


    He knew that unless he defeated this Ice Princess, he wouldn''t be able to escape from this place.


    So the Orc King pulled out a sword from the ground and pointed it at the Ice Princess. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the Awakeners saw this sword, they couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    As Awakeners, they were naturally sensitive to mana. They could feel the magic power that was coming from this sword.


    But they never expected that this Orc King that had been born in this break zone would have a weapon like this. After all, magic weapons were rare items that were only created with great skill and precise magic control abilities.


    They weren''t things that were that easy to find.


    And of course, this Orc King wouldn''t know anyone that would be able to create a magic weapon like this.


    So this magic weapon was most likely a naturally formed magic weapon which made it harder to deal with.


    Those naturally formed magic weapons were always more powerful than forged magic weapons since they were formed from the magic of nature.


    The Ice Princess naturally knew this as well, so she knew that this wouldn''t be an easy fight.


    But even so, she didn''t back down.


    She even had a trace of excitement in her eyes.

 Chapter 52 - 52: True Ice Princess

    Neither the Orc King or the Ice Princess made a move even though both of them had drawn their weapons.


    With the way that they were looking at each other, it was clear that they were sizing each other up to see how to best cut down the other side.


    It was a battle of both patience and intelligence.


    But in the end, it was the Orc King that moved first.


    The Orc King had less patience than the Ice Princess, so it charged forward while swinging its sword out. This swing was much too early to be considered an attack on the Ice Princess, but it was a different story because this was a magic weapon.


    When the Orc King swung this sword out, there were vines that suddenly appeared in the air around the Orc King.


    These vines were aimed right at the Ice Princess.


    They came in different directions, as if they were targeting different parts of the Ice Princess.


    At the same time, using these vines as a cover, the Orc King started running right at the Ice Princess. He lifted the magic sword in his hand high up as if he was preparing to slash down at her.


    To everyone''s surprise, the Ice Princess didn''t make a single move as she watched the vines approach.


    Even when they were right in front of her, she didn''t move.


    In the end, the vines were able to wrap around the arms and legs of the Ice Princess, completely trapping her. They were even able to lift her up right in the air in front of the Orc King, giving him the perfect target.


    The Orc King didn''t hesitate at all when he saw this and brought the magic sword in his hand right down on the Ice Princess.


    When the sword made contact with the Ice Princess, there was no resistance at all as it cut right through her.


    Her body was cut in half from her shoulder to her waist and it crumpled to pieces as it fell to the ground.


    The Awakeners were all shocked when they saw this, while the Orc King had a look of triumph on his face. That was until they saw the real form of the Ice Princess'' corpse on the ground.


    It was just a bunch of ice.


    What the Orc King had just slashed was nothing more than a bunch of ice that had been formed in the shape of the Ice Princess. All that the Orc King had cut apart was an ice statue.


    The Ice Princess was already behind the Orc King with her sword raised.


    In one swift slash, she cut both of the Orc King''s arms, causing them to droop down in front of him.


    "So firm." She muttered under her breath.


    Even though she had used her full strength, she hadn''t been able to cut off the arms of the Orc King. She had only been able to make small cuts in the skin of the Orc King that made his arms go weak.


    But at the same time, she could see that¡­


    "Such strong regeneration." The Ice Princess muttered again.


    In front of her eyes, she could see that the wounds were closing at a visible rate. Even though she had frozen the arms of the Orc King with her ice power, it still wasn''t enough to stop the regeneration.


    "What monstrous regeneration powers¡­this b*stard¡­" The Ice Princess cursed under her breath.


    It took no time at all for the Orc King to regain the power in his arms and he turned back to face the Ice Princess.


    The Ice Princess had naturally also sensed this, so she had already moved away from the Orc King.


    But as she jumped back, people with sharp eyes could see that there were ice crystals that had formed where she was standing previously. At the same time, there were ice crystals that formed in the air in front of the Orc King.


    The Orc King didn''t see any of this and charged at the Ice Princess without a care.


    Then as expected, the ice crystals on the ground suddenly formed spikes in front of the Orc King that it could no longer avoid with the speed that it was going at.


    As for the ice crystals that were in the air¡­they clung to the Orc King''s skin and formed a layer of ice that quickly spread across the Orc King. This layer of ice went over the Orc King and seemed like it was about to completely freeze the Orc King.


    However, before it could, there seemed to be something that was resisting the spread of this ice.


    Eventually, the ice stopped spreading and even shattered apart.


    There were some parts of the Orc King''s skin that had turned a bit pale because of being frozen, but it was recovering at a visible speed.


    It seemed that regardless of what attacks she used, the Orc King would be able to recover from it.


    Unless she used an attack that was too strong for the Orc King to recover from, she wouldn''t be able to permanently hurt the Orc King with his monstrous regeneration.


    The Ice Princess bit her lip before saying, "Fine, I''ll fight you seriously then."


    The Orc King didn''t care about any of this until there was a sudden burst of energy that came from in front of it.


    Feeling this burst of energy, the Orc King finally stopped moving. At the same time, there was a layer of frost that appeared on the Orc King''s skin.


    When the Awakeners saw this, the C Rank leader immediately shouted, "Move back! Everyone move back!"


    He recognized this move from the Ice Princess and unless they moved away, they would be caught up in the fight. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As soon as they heard this, all of the Awakeners evacuated quite a bit away before they finally no longer felt the chill coming from the center.


    In the center of this circle, the Ice Princess was standing there surrounded in cold mist.


    Her hair had gone from that ice blue colour to completely white.

 Chapter 53 - 53: Sudden burst of energy

    The moment that the Awakeners saw this, they couldn''t help taking a deep breath of admiration.


    All of them knew what this form was, it was the special form that the Ice Princess took when she was fighting seriously.


    This was the True Ice Princess form.


    As for what the skill was called, it was called Ice Time.


    During this Ice Time skill, the Ice Princess would receive a buff from the skill that would increase her overall power by at least 20%. At the same time, it would increase the power of her ice attacks by 100%.


    But the downside was that this form couldn''t be kept up for long.


    It had a limit of however long her mana would last, draining her MP every second that this form was active. She could keep it up longer if she didn''t use large spells, but if she did and drained her MP with them, she wouldn''t be able to keep up this form for long.


    Once she was in this form, it meant that the Ice Princess was serious.


    It could be seen that as soon as she entered this form, the Ice Princess raised her sword and gathered several icicles around her.


    With a wave of that sword, the icicles immediately flew out in the direction of the Orc King.


    The Orc King had wanted to dodge, but he had found that it was just too fast for him to dodge¡­


    No, when one looked closely, it wasn''t that the icicles had gotten faster. Rather, it was because there was this white mist that was floating around the area where the Orc King and the Ice Princess were fighting.


    If they could touch this mist, they would find that this mist had a coldness to it that was unmatched.


    Whatever this mist touched, it could create a layer of frost over it.


    This was a special skill that came with the Ice Time called the Ice Domain.


    Whenever the Ice Princess entered the True Ice Princess form like this, the Ice Domain would appear.


    As for what this Ice Domain did¡­it was an area slow.


    In the area around the Ice Princess, anyone that was deemed an enemy by her would be slowed by the Ice Domain.


    So that was why the icicles seemed much faster to the Orc King.


    It had been frozen by this Ice Domain and wasn''t even moving half as fast as before.


    But the icicles didn''t hit the Orc King''s body, but rather landed on the ground around the Orc King.


    The Orc King had his arms up in a futile effort to defend against these icicles, but he found that he wasn''t pierced by them at all. When he did, he let out a roar of anger, almost as if he was being looked down on.


    After all, the icicles had been much faster than him and could have easily pierced into his body.


    But for some reason, they had all missed him.


    He knew that it wasn''t because he had dodged these icicles, but because the Ice Princess had done this on purpose. If this wasn''t looking down on him, then he didn''t know what was!


    But the Ice Princess didn''t care about the Orc King''s rage as she pointed her sword at the Orc King and said, "Ice Tomb!"


    The moment that she said this, there was a bright glow that suddenly appeared around the icicles that had surrounded the Orc King.


    The moment that this blue glow appeared around these icicles, they suddenly started to spread the ice that they had created on the ground. It wasn''t a slow spread, but an instant spread towards the center where the Orc King was standing.


    In an instant, the Orc King''s lower half had been covered in ice.


    The Orc King saw this and knew that he was in danger, so the Orc King started to swing his sword around in a futile attempt to shatter the ice.


    However, no matter how much of the ice that the Orc King shattered, it was immediately replaced with more ice from the icicles.


    No matter what the Orc King did, it wasn''t able to stop the ice from spreading up to his upper half.


    Finally, the ice spread to the Orc King''s arms and he found that he was no longer able to move his arms. He tried to move his body in an attempt to shatter the ice, but he found that he wasn''t able to move at all. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It took no time for the ice to spread all the way to the Orc King''s head before finally¡­the Orc King was entombed in this ice.


    When they saw this, the Awakeners all let out a sigh of relief.


    This was also the case for the Ice Princess since if this didn''t work¡­she would have to use her true final card, but that would leave her weakened and she had no idea what else could happen.


    But when she was about to release the True Ice Princess form, she suddenly knitted her brows.


    She looked at the Orc King that was encased in ice and knitted her brows even more.


    "This monster¡­even encased in the most powerful ice that I have, it''s still alive. It''s even still regenerating and slowly looking for a way to break out¡­It seems that I have to finish it off after all." The Ice Princess muttered to herself.


    Once she made this decision, she raised her sword and a blue glow appeared around it.


    But before she could release the power of this slash that she was clearly condensing, there was a loud ''boom'' that rang out.


    After that, everyone couldn''t help turning in a certain direction.


    That was because they could feel the flow of magic power in the air.


    There was something that had disrupted the magic power in this area and was currently creating some strange flows.


    After knitting her brows to look in that direction for a bit, the Ice Princess suddenly opened her eyes wide in shock and shouted, "Dungeon break!"

 Chapter 54 - 54: Thank you for your hard work

    But as the Ice Princess was caught off guard by this, there was a sudden cracking sound.


    When she turned back, she found that the Orc King covered in a green light had broken free of the Ice Tomb.


    This green light came from the magic sword and spread out all over the Orc King, giving him a power that she couldn''t see the bottom of. It was as if this Orc King had tapped into the power of nature itself to strengthen his body.


    But the worst part of it all was¡­that the Orc King was already charging at her.


    The Ice Princess had been distracted by the fluctuations that came from the Dungeon Break, so she hadn''t been able to react in time to the Orc King charging at her.


    At the same time though, the Orc King was clearly much faster than before now that he had this green glow around him.


    She had no idea what this green glow was, but she could tell that it wasn''t just his speed that was faster. She could feel the magic power fluctuations coming from the Orc King getting stronger.


    It was clear that this was a buff that increased the Orc King''s overall power, just like her Ice Time buff skill.


    But she didn''t know the extent of this buff¡­just how strong was it and how long would it last?


    With these unknown, she didn''t dare do anything rash.


    So the Ice Princess quickly brought up her sword to block the swing of the Orc King.


    She had been caught off guard, so the guard was hastily raised and she had underestimated the Orc King in the end. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the sword of the Orc King made contact with the Ice Princess'' sword, she couldn''t block it at all as she was suddenly sent flying back from the force of the Orc King''s attack.


    The Orc King revealed a wide smile when he saw this and even raised his chest as if to boast about this.


    When the Ice Princess landed, it was not a graceful landing.


    She fell on her back on the floor and bounced a few times before finally coming to a stop.


    When she came to a stop, she didn''t hesitate to stand up. But halfway up, she couldn''t help bending her body as she gave a cough.


    Though she tried to cover her mouth with her hand, she wasn''t able to stop the blood that trickled out through the slits of her fingers.


    It was clear that she had been seriously injured because of that blow from the Orc King.


    But the Ice Princess forced herself through this and stood firm as she raised her sword again.


    When the Orc King saw this, he revealed a displeased look before charging forward with a roar. This roar was even fiercer than his previous roar and it even shook the ground under it.


    The Ice Princess wasn''t affected by this at all as she stood firm with her eyes on the Orc King.


    It seemed that she wouldn''t back down no matter what came her way.


    The Orc King raised his sword and prepared to slash the Ice Princess once again.


    It was just too bad that the Orc King''s sword was never able to reach the Ice Princess.


    There had been a blue glow around the Ice Princess'' sword the entire time, this wasn''t something that was there for no reason. This had been the sign that she had been gathering her energy for her final move.


    In one swift slash, the Ice Princess released a wave of blue light that suddenly transformed into a wave of ice.


    This ice slash came right at the Orc King and even though the Orc King tried to block it with his sword, it didn''t matter. It was too fast for the Orc King to bring his sword down in time, so it landed right on the Orc King''s chest.


    Then¡­without any resistance, it cut right through the Orc King.


    In the end, the Orc King looked down at his body before the top half suddenly fell off.


    The bottom half had still been running, so the last thing that the Orc King saw was his own bottom half running forward in front of him before his eyes dimmed.


    After taking a deep breath, the Ice Princess fell to her knees.


    It was clear that she wasn''t in good shape, but at the very least, it didn''t seem like she was too heavily injured. It seemed more like she was suffering from having exhausted her mana.


    But she didn''t let herself relax too much since she could still feel the energy fluctuations that were coming from the distance.


    There was still a Dungeon Break that she had to worry about.


    The problem was that with the people that she had here, it would be impossible for her to take care of the Dungeon Break. So the only thing that she could do was bring this Orc King corpse back as soon as possible and gather rankers from the guild.


    With this determination, the Ice Princess stabbed her sword into the ground and shouted, "Clean up the area quickly! We need to head back!"


    But before anyone could move, the C Rank leader came forward and raised his hand for them to stop. He came right up to the Ice Princess and said, "Leader, we shouldn''t be in a rush. What if there are monsters coming from the dungeon that are wandering around here. With you in this state, we won''t be able to fight them properly."


    The Ice Princess deeply knitted her brows when she heard this, but in the end, she gave a nod to show that he was right. So she changed her order, "Clean up the area and scout a way back."


    The C Rank leader gave a nod, but he didn''t turn around to leave.


    Instead, he came forward with his hand raised as if he wanted to help her while saying, "Leader, thank you for your hard work."


    The Ice Princess'' hand was about to come up to wave him away, but before she could¡­


    She felt a sudden pain in the side of her waist.


    She looked down to see that there was a dagger that was now stabbing into the side of her abdomen.

 Chapter 55 - 55: Unlikely help

    The Ice Princess just looked at the dagger that was stabbed in her waist in a daze as if she couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    But then she suddenly looked up at the C Rank leader and said, "What is the meaning of this?"


    The icy tone of her voice was more than enough to freeze anyone that heard it, but the C Rank leader just calmly looked at her as if he wasn''t bothered by this at all.


    Seeing that he wasn''t going to answer, the Ice Princess wanted to raise her sword to threaten him with, but¡­she found that she wasn''t able to move her arm like she wanted to.


    She looked down at the dagger that was stabbed into her again and found that there was a strange purple hue to it¡­


    Poison?


    It was poisoned!


    As soon as she realized this, she felt a wave of weakness come over her body and she fell forward once again. If it wasn''t for her reacting in time to stab the sword in the ground, she would have fallen face first into the ground.


    Seeing this, the C Rank leader revealed a smile and said, "To see the great Ice Princess in this state of weakness, this really is something else."


    The Ice Princess was about to ask something, but before she could, she heard cries of pain from around her.


    She looked up to see that the other C Rankers were currently chasing and cutting down the D Rankers.


    It seemed that there wasn''t just one traitor, but multiple spies that had entered their guild and had made their way into her team.


    She wanted to say something, but she found that it was even hard for her to raise her voice.


    The Ice Princess didn''t know what kind of poison this was, but she knew that this was a powerful one that was even hard for her to resist.


    Even with all her mental will, she could feel how strong of an influence it had on her¡­


    The C Rank leader naturally saw this as well, so he said, "Even the mighty Ice Princess can become like this. It seems like we really got some high quality stuff."


    The other C Rankers all laughed when they heard this, but they didn''t stop killing the D Rankers for a single second.


    They were cutting away while laughing along with the C Rank leader.


    The C Rank leader didn''t make a move as he faced the Ice Princess.


    Then all of a sudden, there was a dagger that appeared in his hand.


    With a lewd smile he suddenly made a cut on her shirt, exposing the bra that was underneath. Seeing this milky white skin appear, he said with the same lewd smile, "Look at this beauty, she truly is deserving of the title Ice Princess."


    The others all gave lewd laughs along with the C Rank leader.


    But the Ice Princess'' face collapsed when she saw this.


    She had been trying to stay firm, but for the first time, there was a trace of fear that appeared in her heart.


    After all, she was still a virgin.


    She didn''t want this to be the way that she lost her virginity, raped by a bunch of men in the middle of the forest.


    So gripping the sword in her hand as tightly as she could, she raised it up in an attempt to face the C Rank leader. But all she could do was lift it halfway and then she couldn''t lift it any further.


    Seeing her raise her sword like this, the C Rank leader suddenly burst into laughter before slashing at her sword with his dagger.


    The Ice Princess wasn''t able to keep her grip on the sword at all and it was sent flying to the side. It spun a few times in the air before stabbing into the ground.


    The C Rank leader raised his dagger up to his mouth and licked the blade before saying, "It seems like our princess here still hasn''t given up yet. It seems that we need to punish her a bit before she becomes more obedient."


    When the C Rankers laughed along this time, the Ice Princess felt another wave of fear fill her heart.


    The C Rank leader didn''t waste any time in moving towards her.


    There was the dagger in one hand and the other hand had nothing, but it was raised and moving towards her.


    The way that his hand was moving¡­she didn''t like it at all.


    She could see what he was thinking just based on the way that his hand moved¡­


    But the Ice Princess wasn''t able to move an inch.


    Right before the C Rank leader was able to reach his hand out to touch her, there was a figure that suddenly appeared between the two.


    The C Rank leader couldn''t react at all as that figure suddenly swung their sword down at him. By the time that he reacted, he found that there was a large cut on his chest and blood was spurting out.


    The C Rank leader took a step back before sputtering out, "You, you, how did you¡­"


    He wasn''t able to finish his sentence in the end as he realized that there was another swing coming at him.


    This time, the C Rank leader was able to raise his dagger to block this attack, showing his skills as a C Ranker. However, he was still injured and because of it, he wasn''t able to use his full power.


    He was pushed back by this sword swing, stumbling back a few more steps.


    The Ice Princess had slowly looked up when she saw this figure appear and when she saw the face of this figure, she couldn''t help revealing a shocked look as she said, "It''s you?"


    When I heard this, I said, "Just leave this to me. I won''t let them do anything to you." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Ice Princess didn''t know why, but she couldn''t help feeling assured by this.


    As that feeling of assurance filled her, she started to tip forward before losing consciousness.

 Chapter 56 - 56: Time to take care of you

    I quickly turned around to grab the Ice Princess as she fell forward.


    When she fell into my embrace, I could feel a soft feeling on my chest which made me blush a bit.


    She really was big and soft¡­


    But I quickly shook that thought out of my mind since I was in a dangerous situation right now.


    Even if I had pushed back the C Rank leader, that didn''t mean that he was finished yet.


    He was still a powerful C Rank leader that normally someone like me wouldn''t be able to handle.


    That was right, the ''normal me'' wouldn''t be able to handle it.


    But that didn''t mean that I wasn''t able to handle it at all.


    That was why I was happy to see that the Ice Princess had fainted.


    If she hadn''t, then I wouldn''t be able to use my full powers.


    I lifted her up and held her in my hands as I started walking towards the forest.


    The C Rank leader and the other C Rankers were caught off guard seeing how calm I was.


    During the time that I had pushed back the C Rank leader, the C Rankers had already finished off the rest of the D Rankers or had chased them off. Those D Rankers didn''t stand a chance against the C Rankers, so they couldn''t do anything against them.


    They did their best to scatter in every direction and only a few of them had escaped.


    But there was also a poison that was in the air, which was why they weren''t afraid to let these D Rankers escape.


    They would die eventually from the poison, so there was no need for them to personally take care of them.


    They turned their attention to the one that had sent their boss flying. But when they saw who it was, they all started teasing the C Rank leader.


    "Boss, aren''t you letting your guard down too much?"


    "Even a kid like this can sneak up on you like this?"


    They began laughing, but the C Rank leader had his brows knitted the entire time.


    That was because he knew that Lin Fan wasn''t as simple as he seemed.


    Even though he looked like an amateur that couldn''t threaten him at all, there was something off about him that gave him a sense of danger.


    Not to mention¡­he hadn''t seen how Lin Fan had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, catching him off guard. It was almost as if Lin Fan had appeared out of thin air, but that shouldn''t be possible¡­


    As far as he knew, there wasn''t any power that would allow a person to do that.


    So even if his men teased him, the C Rank leader narrowed his eyes to look at Lin Fan before saying, "Who are you?"


    The other C Rankers all looked at him with a strange look since they recognized Lin Fan as the porter that had been with the Ice Princess. They had been with him for so long that they didn''t think that there was anything special about him.


    He had only caught the C Rank leader off guard to blow him away like this.


    With the poison in the air, it was a matter of time before he fell, so they didn''t even need to do anything to them.


    When I heard this question, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.


    I could tell from the looks on the faces of these C Rankers that they were completely looking down on me. The only one who actually thought I was a threat was the C Rank leader.


    And he was right.


    I just calmly said, "Freeze."


    The moment that I did, all of the C Rankers couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    They finally realized why their leader had been acting the way that he had been acting.


    It wasn''t that he was being paranoid¡­but rather there was a valid reason for him acting this way.


    They found that after hearing what Lin Fan had said, they weren''t able to move an inch.


    There were some that tried to resist this, but all that happened was that they started twitching. It was them trying to go against the strange force that was holding them, but they weren''t able to move at all in the end.


    The C Rank leader was one of the few who didn''t try resisting since he knew that it was impossible in the first place. Instead, he looked at Lin Fan and asked, "Who are you and why are you doing this?"


    When I heard this, I shook my head with a smile before saying, "Why are you attacking the Ice Princess in the first place?"


    The C Rank leader was confused at being asked a question in response to his question, so he didn''t know how to respond at first.


    But in the end, he said, "Does that matter?"


    I just calmly said, "Then why does it matter who I am?"


    The C Rank leader didn''t know how to respond to this since he still had the mentality of someone who considered themselves superior.


    After all, while Lin Fan was freezing them all here, he was someone that had the pride of being a C Ranker.


    That was like someone who drew the winning ticket in the game of life. So he had the pride of someone who considered himself a winner.


    That pride was not something that was shattered easily, so it didn''t matter if Lin Fan had caused them to be frozen in place like this. He would still act the same way that he did before.


    So I gave a sigh and said, "I think that it''s time for me to take care of you now."


    "Huh?" The C Rankers all revealed confused looks on their faces when they heard this as they had no idea what Lin Fan was talking about.


    I picked up the sword that the Orc King dropped and then walked over to one of the C Rankers.


    Then in front of the rest of the C Rankers, I lifted the sword to that person''s throat and slit it. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As that C Ranker bled out, he looked at me in disbelief as he couldn''t understand what had just happened.


    But I ignored him and turned to the rest of the C Rankers with a smile.


    At this, the C Rankers felt a chill run down their spines as they realized what I meant.

 Chapter 57 - 57: Being chased

    When she woke up, the Ice Princess found that she was being carried by someone.


    She slowly started to remember what had happened and when she did, she suddenly started to struggle.


    When I noticed that she was struggling on my back, I immediately said, "Wait, calm down! I''m not going to hurt you!"


    The Ice Princess was surprised by this voice and when she looked down to see who it was, she stopped struggling. But she quickly asked, "What happened back there?"


    I gave a sigh and said, "I could sneak up on that C Ranker, but I''m just a porter so it isn''t as if I could defeat him. All I could do was grab you and your weapon and run."


    The Ice Princess didn''t say anything at first, but then she slowly gave a nod of agreement as she accepted what I had said.


    What I said did make sense since she knew what kind of power I had. It definitely wouldn''t have been enough to defeat the C Ranker.


    But the thing that she couldn''t help finding strange was how I had managed to sneak up on the C Ranker in the first place. After all, from what she could see, it was as if I had suddenly appeared out of nowhere when I had arrived in front of her to save her.


    So she did have some suspicions about me¡­


    But in the end, she knew that what was important was getting out of her.


    At the same time, she didn''t feel any ill intent from me, so she could accept that I was trying to help.


    In the end, the most important thing was that she could still feel the poison inside of her body.


    Even after resting for a bit, she still didn''t have full control of her body and she knew that she wouldn''t be able to move if it wasn''t for me carrying her.


    However, there was still something that she had to do¡­


    So the Ice Princess said, "Wait, we need to go back and see what happened to the others. If there are any people that we can help, we need to go back and help them."


    I shook my head right away and said, "There''s no time for that."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows as she said, "Why? Isn''t it important that we save¡­"


    Before she could finish, I said, "We''re being chased, so we need to get out of here alive first."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows even more when she heard this and she focused her senses on our surroundings. It took her no time at all to find that I was telling the truth.


    She could sense that there were two people who were currently following us and they were getting closer and closer.


    As soon as she realized this, she immediately said, "Put me down and run. It''s clear that they''re after me."


    I just said with a bitter smile on my face, "How could I do that after I went through all of that to save you?"


    The Ice Princess said with a frown, "If you leave me now, you''ll have a chance to escape. If you don''t, you''ll die with me. I think you know what you should do."


    I shook my head and said, "Who knows? I like to believe that things aren''t destined in this world. As long as we do everything that we can, there''s a chance that things will change."


    The Ice Princess looked at me with a complicated look before saying, "You really are a strange one."


    I just revealed a smile without saying anything else, but I did pick up the pace.


    In the end though, the ones that were chasing us still caught up to us.


    There was a difference in physiques in the first place, so it wasn''t as if I would have escaped while carrying the Ice Princess.


    These were two of the C Rankers that had been with our group.


    When they came through the woods, they didn''t waste any time in running forward to block us from moving any further.


    Both of them had weapons in their hands and stood there in the way before one of them said, "You can leave if you leave her with us."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows when she heard this, but in the end, she still said, "Leave me here and go. You don''t need to get involved in this matter."


    I just revealed a bitter smile as I said, "Would they actually let me go now that I''ve helped you? The moment that I run off on my own, they''ll just hunt me down and kill me to tie up any loose ends."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows even more, but she didn''t deny this since she knew that I was right.


    As she knitted her brows, I could feel her gripping my shoulder even tighter.


    So I said, "I''m going to put you down for a second, is that alright?" S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was a trace of disappointment that appeared in the Ice Princess'' eyes when she heard this, but she gave a nod to show that she agreed with this.


    I went over to one of the trees and set her down, which the C Rankers allowed me to do.


    But to their surprise, instead of running away, I pulled out a sword and faced them head on.


    When the Ice Princess saw this, she had a shocked look appear on her face before she said, "What are you doing?"


    I didn''t answer this as I moved closer towards the C Rankers.


    Both of them also looked at me with surprised looks before one of them asked, "Are you serious? Do you really think that you will be able to do anything to us?"


    I didn''t say a thing, but I did take another step towards them.


    Seeing this, the C Rankers gave a sigh before they moved towards me with their weapons raised as well.

 Chapter 58 - 58: ‘Surprise’ ending

    No matter how one looked at it, it didn''t seem like this would be a fight.


    After all, it was a porter versus two C Rankers.


    This seemed like it would end in a one sided slaughter¡­


    Because of that, the Ice Princess couldn''t bear to look at first¡­but then she still opened her eyes since she knew that it was because of her that this porter was in this situation in the first place.


    No matter what happened, she would see this through to the end with her own two eyes.


    But the result wasn''t what she had thought it would be¡­


    The two C Rankers easily moved to both sides of Lin Fan with their superior speed and skill. Once they were on his side, they moved from different directions to attack both of his sides.


    Even one of them was able to easily take him down when it came to the difference in physiques, so the two of them acting this way was almost considered overkill.


    But right before one of them could reach Lin Fan, he suddenly stumbled.


    The C Ranker knitted his brows as he stumbled, but he quickly forced himself to stand firm with his other foot.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan didn''t miss this opportunity.


    As if by magic, Lin Fan suddenly started moving faster and at the same time, there was a green glow that appeared around the sword that he was holding.


    The moment that the Ice Princess saw this, she couldn''t help saying, "That sword!"


    Just based on that green glow, she was able to recognize the sword that Lin Fan used right away.


    After all, she had been fighting against the one who had owned this sword previously.


    It was the Orc King''s sword, the magic weapon that the Orc King used previously.


    The C Ranker wasn''t able to react in time to this sudden increase in speed and was completely caught off guard. Lin Fan suddenly made his way into the C Ranker''s space and in one swift swing, he cut the C Ranker.


    Then there was only a single C Ranker left.


    This C Ranker had seen everything that Lin Fan had done, so he didn''t dare act too rashly.


    Instead of charging right at him, this C Ranker created several balls of light in the air.


    These balls of light released the aura of magic as they floated there in the air.


    The Ice Princess was surprised by this since she knew that this person wasn''t just a swordsman, but rather a magic swordsman.


    As far as she could remember, she didn''t remember there being a magic swordsman among the group that she had chosen.


    It seemed that the enemies had hidden themselves much better than she had thought.


    She wanted to say something to Lin Fan to warn him off the approaching magic missiles, but she wasn''t able to gather the strength to raise her voice. It seemed that the poison was still heavily affecting her body.


    But even without her warning, Lin Fan was able to suddenly charge at the other C Ranker.


    Since he had turned, she was able to see his face this time.


    When he suddenly sped up, she could have sworn that she had seen his mouth move.


    Then when he approached the C Ranker, his lips moved once more.


    After his lips moved, the C Ranker knitted his brows just like the other C Ranker had done before stumbling a bit. He didn''t fall over, but it was clear that he had been affected by something with the way that his body wavered.


    The magic missiles that had been gathered in the air also shook when the C Ranker shook. Then after that, they suddenly disappeared without a trace.


    Taking advantage of this gap, Lin Fan suddenly came forward and once again ignited the green glow of the sword.


    With one slash, he cut the C Ranker across the chest and the C Ranker fell like the other C Ranker.


    When it was over, Lin Fan stood over the two of them with blood dripping down his sword.


    The Ice Princess just looked at Lin Fan with a look of shock on her face, but at the same time, there was a trace of doubt in her eyes.


    Lin Fan flicked his blade to get the blood off before turning to walk back to the Ice Princess. But when he came close, he could see the look of distrust in her eyes, so he asked, "Is something wrong?"


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes to look at Lin Fan before asking, "Just who are you?"


    Lin Fan revealed a confused look as he asked, "What do you mean by that?" Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Ice Princess looked at the two C Rankers lying on the ground and asked, "Do you really expect me to believe that you''re just a normal porter after everything that you''ve done?"


    Lin Fan revealed an awkward smile when he heard this, but he simply explained, "Well¡­I know that it''s a bit hard to believe, but I really am just a normal porter."


    The Ice Princess narrowed her eyes again to look at him, but her eyes relaxed soon after as she said with a sigh, "Alright, I guess that you have your circumstances. But you have to tell me what they are after we head back."


    Lin Fan narrowed his eyes a bit, but he still gave a nod in the end.


    The Ice Princess wouldn''t have believed him if not for the sincerity that he had shown in his eyes.


    She could tell that he didn''t have any ill intent towards her and in fact had admiration for her¡­It was almost a bit too much that she was actually a bit embarrassed about it.


    She couldn''t help thinking to herself, "Does he like me?"


    Lin Fan didn''t notice all of this as he came forward to help her up again before saying, "We should head back now."


    But the Ice Princess said, "No."

 Chapter 59 - 59: Being selfish

    Lin Fan looked at the Ice Princess with a confused look before asking, "What do you mean by ''no''?"


    The Ice Princess calmly looked at him and said, "We need to go back and rescue as many people as we can."


    Lin Fan deeply knitted his brows when he heard this before saying, "No."


    This time, it was the Ice Princess'' turn to look surprised and confused.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at Lin Fan before saying, "This isn''t a time to play around. There are people''s lives at stake here and we need to do all that we can to save them."


    But Lin Fan just calmly said, "I should be saying the same thing to you."


    The Ice Princess'' eyes opened wide in shock when she heard this before she revealed a confused look as she couldn''t understand what he was talking about.


    At the same time, there was a bit of a lost look in her eyes.


    She didn''t even know why she felt this way¡­but seeing Lin Fan who had acted humbly in front of her before acting this firmly now, she felt that there was something that was different¡­she felt like there was something that had been lost between them and she didn''t like it.


    Lin Fan took a deep breath and said, "I know that your heart is in the right place, but is it really the right thing to do in this situation? You should know that it isn''t just their lives that are in danger right now, but the lives of many other people. If we don''t go back and report the Dungeon Break, there will be many lives that will be lost when they try to subdue it."


    The Ice Princess knitted her brows when she heard this before saying, "The guild is closely monitoring the situation and will make adjustments based on what they find. They''ll have already noticed the Dungeon Break and will send people to take care of it. There''s no need for us to do anything."


    Lin Fan shook his head, "But do they know about the traitors?"


    The moment that the Ice Princess heard this, she deeply knitted her brows.


    After all, he was right and she couldn''t refute it.


    Even if they detected the Dungeon Break, they wouldn''t know about the traitors that had been in her group.


    While she wasn''t certain, she could guess that they were most likely related to the Dungeon Break. After all, their betrayal and the appearance of the Dungeon Break had been too coincidental for her to ignore.


    So while she didn''t know how they had induced the Dungeon Break, she was certain that they had a reason for it.


    That would mean that they would act against anyone who came to subdue the Dungeon Break.


    If they didn''t know about these traitors, there was no doubt that they would fall into some kind of trap prepared by those traitors¡­


    So she knew that he was right and she couldn''t go against it¡­


    But after a while, the Ice Princess still said, "We can split up. With your abilities, you should be able to reach the camp by yourself and warn them. I''ll go and save the¡­"


    Before she could finish, Lin Fan suddenly raised his voice and said, "Stop being selfish."


    The Ice Princess couldn''t help flinching a bit when she heard him say this. Seeing the serious look on his face, she shrunk back even more.


    It was almost like a child being scolded when she faced this kind of Lin Fan.


    She pouted her lips, but she didn''t say anything.


    Lin Fan continued by saying, "I think that it''s admirable that you want to help people, but you need to think about yourself as well. You should know what will happen if we go back to try and save them."


    The Ice Princess deeply knitted her brows when she heard this, but she had to acknowledge that he was right with a sigh.


    In the state that they were in, there was no doubt that they would be hunted down by the traitors. At that point, everything would be meaningless since they would be dead.


    But she had hoped that with the power that Lin Fan had demonstrated, he would be able to change this.


    Lin Fan could see this hope in her eyes, but he crushed it by saying, "I can''t use that power for long and I''ve already gone over my limits."


    When she heard this, the Ice Princess revealed a very disappointed look. But that look disappeared quickly since she knew that she couldn''t blame him for this. After all, he had risked his life just to save her.


    If it wasn''t for him stepping in, she would have already been violated and killed¡­


    So she couldn''t keep being selfish like this¡­


    The Ice Princess took a deep breath before saying, "You''re right. I can''t be selfish anymore and I need to do what I need to do."


    Lin Fan gave a nod and revealed a smile when he heard this.


    When the Ice Princess saw this smile on his face, she couldn''t stop her heart from skipping a beat. She didn''t know why she felt this way, but for some reason¡­she felt happy just seeing him being happy like this.


    Lin Fan turned around and got down so that she could get on his back again before saying, "Shall we?"


    The Ice Princess looked at this back and for some reason, she couldn''t help feeling assured.


    She didn''t know what it was about this back that comforted her like this, but she felt that things weren''t as bad anymore when she saw this back. She leaned forward and laid on his back, which gave her an even stronger sense of assurance.


    As she laid there on his back, she gave a soft ''un'' sound.


    With that, Lin Fan stood up and headed off, moving in the direction of the entrance to this break zone.


    ¡­ S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What she never would have known was that my heart had been racing this entire time.


    Even if I was in control of this situation because I had already given instructions to the C Rankers, if I couldn''t convince her of the dangerous situation¡­it would have all been for nothing.


    So when she finally conceded and decided to follow me, I couldn''t help letting a secret long sigh of relief.


    Then when she was on my back, she didn''t see the secret smile that appeared on my face.


    With this, I was certain that I would be able to accomplish my goals once we returned to the base.


    While there would be complications, I wasn''t worried about them since I knew that I had already moved the heart of the Ice Princess. As long as the Ice Princess was by my side, there was nothing that they would be able to do to me.


    At the same time, I could hear from the Ice Princess'' voice that she was starting to treat me differently.


    Rather than thinking of me as a subordinate, she was thinking of me more as an equal.


    That would go a long way in the future.


    As I walked off, I secretly said in my heart to the C Rankers who had died chasing us, "Thank you for your hard work."

 Chapter 60 - 60: Return

    When we returned, what was expected to happen happened.


    When the guards at the gate saw me carrying the Ice Princess back, they immediately raised their weapons and shouted, "Stop where you are and raise your hands!"


    Naturally they immediately suspected that I had done something to the Ice Princess.


    But if I had really done something, would I have carried her back like this?


    The Ice Princess quickly stopped the guards from doing anything rash and then quickly reported the situation.


    After they finished listening to her story, they looked at me with strange looks.


    Of course, I ignored them and just pretended that I didn''t see anything.


    In the end, the guards went to report this while a few of them stood by to watch over us. Though, it was said that they were watching over ''us'', it was clear that they were here to watch over me.


    Whether it was to make sure I didn''t do anything or run away, I couldn''t tell, but I once again ignored it.


    When more people came, I was separated from the Ice Princess and¡­put in jail.


    It wasn''t really a jail, but a temporary holding cell that they had created.


    From what I could see, this was actually a cell that had been created to hold live monsters that they wanted to transport back. After all, there was always some rich person that would want something like that¡­


    But now, it was being used to hold me.


    Still, I didn''t panic since I had already expected this to happen.


    This was all a part of my plan, so all I had to do was wait for what came next.


    However, now that things had settled, I really couldn''t help letting out a long sigh of relief.


    The trip this time had really been dangerous and there had been too many surprises.


    If I hadn''t adapted to the surprises as they came, I really might have died this time¡­No, I wouldn''t have died, but I would have been put in a very dangerous situation. Being exposed would be the same as dying¡­


    So I was glad that I was able to save the Ice Princess as a cover for myself.


    It was worth manipulating those C Rankers with my hypnosis.


    ¡­


    After killing the first C Ranker, all of the other C Rankers looked at me with eyes filled with fear.


    But I didn''t kill them right away since I had something that I needed for them to do.


    I chose two of them that seemed like they would make good pursuers and gave them their instructions. They would chase after me and the Ice Princess, always keeping their distance until the Ice Princess woke up.


    Only when she woke up would they slowly get closer and closer until they caught up to us.


    This would give me enough time to talk to her and catch her up on our situation. That way, I could make an even bigger impact when I saved her.


    As for the others¡­


    "You will go and fight the monsters that come out of the Dungeon Break. Don''t let a single one of them past you, even if you have to sacrifice yourself for it. If someone comes to subdue the Dungeon Break, you will throw yourselves at the monsters and let them kill you before they arrive."


    When the C Rankers heard this, all of them revealed looks of shock.


    However, that didn''t stop their bodies from moving forward.


    The moment that I had finished giving the order, they all started to move in the direction of the Dungeon Break.


    But as they moved, they started shouting out.


    Some of them cursed me, some of them demanded to know what was happening, and there were some that even begged me to let them go.


    But I just calmly watched as they left.


    Before they did leave, I suddenly remembered something.


    If they made too much noise, wouldn''t they be able to attract the attention of the ones that came to subdue the Dungeon Break?


    So I had to make sure that they wouldn''t be able to say anything to reveal my secrets.


    Before they could leave my range, I suddenly said, "Silence."


    As soon as my voice fell, all of them fell silent.


    They had still been shouting while they had been leaving and I had let them keep shouting because I thought that it would attract more monsters. But now it seemed like being silent was better.


    The noise that they made wasn''t worth letting my secret be revealed.


    As for trying to find out who had sent them in the first place¡­that wasn''t for me.


    After all, I didn''t want to get caught up in more things than I needed to. I just needed to care about myself and not about the plans of others.


    I turned to look at the two C Rankers who were still waiting and said with a smile, "Come and chase us after we''ve left for five minutes."


    Without caring about how they would react to this, I went over to the Ice Princess and put her on my back before heading off.


    With the map, I was able to easily find the way back to the camp. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the rest¡­it was history.


    ¡­


    Now that I was sitting here in the cage, the only thing that I could do was wait.


    I could see that the sky was getting darker as I sat here, so I should have been here for several hours already. Of course, I had no way of knowing since they had already confiscated my phone and everything else that I could have used to contact the outside world.


    But before the sun set, there were a few guards that approached my cage.


    They opened up the cage and pointed their guns at me.


    One of the guards who seemed like they were the leader of this group said, "Stand up and follow me."


    I didn''t resist at all as I followed their order and was led off to the main tent in this camp.

 Chapter 61 - 61: Questioned

    When I was brought into the tent, I found that there were people waiting for me.


    The Ice Princess was sitting there as expected, but she was sitting far away from the center.


    As I walked past, she looked at me with an apologetic look as if she had done something wrong that I couldn''t understand.


    In the center of this tent, there were several people sitting there waiting for me. But the only one that really stood out was the woman sitting right in the center.


    She stood out because not only was she very beautiful, she also looked very similar to the Ice Princess.


    They had the same beautiful features, but she had fiery red hair and fiery red eyes instead of blue hair and blue eyes like the Ice Princess. At the same time, she seemed a bit more mature than the Ice Princess, which gave her more of a sexy mature beauty look.


    It was clear that the two of them were related in some way.


    After being brought in front of them, the red haired beauty gave a nod to the guards who released my shackles to my surprise. Though when I felt the pressure that came from in front of me, I realized why they had done it.


    The red haired beauty was more than confident in subduing me if I ever tried to run.


    So there was no meaning in leaving me shackled like this.


    At the same time, I knew better than to run away. I could feel the pressure that came from the red haired beauty, she was definitely not someone that I could face even with my demon king powers.


    I also wasn''t a fool.


    I could tell that there was no malice behind this pressure, but rather a hint of curiosity, so there was no need for me to be rash.


    I just waited to see what they would do with me.


    After a long silence, the red haired beauty said, "So you''re the one that saved Xin''er?"


    I couldn''t help revealing a slightly confused look when I heard this since I didn''t know who she was talking about when she mentioned Xin''er.


    But after thinking about it, I suddenly remembered that the Ice Princess'' name was Bing Xin.


    For her to address the Ice Princess in such an intimate manner, it was clear that she was related to her in some way.


    So I just gave a simple nod in response.


    After seeing this, the red haired beauty said with a smile, "Then I have to thank you for that. If it wasn''t for you, I wouldn''t know what would have happened to my darling Xin''er."


    I was about to relax after hearing this, but her next words made me tense up again.


    The red haired beauty''s voice suddenly became sharp as she said, "But how do you expect me to believe that a part time porter like you would have the ability to save Xin''er from some C Rankers?"


    After saying this, the pressure that fell onto me was even stronger than before.


    It was almost so strong that I was crushed into the ground.


    It seemed that last time was just a greeting and this time¡­was the warning.


    But with my will, I was able to stand firm and look right up at her.


    When the red haired beauty saw this, there was a trace of admiration that appeared in her eyes since she knew how hard it was to face her pressure. However, that didn''t mean that she released that pressure.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "I might be a porter, but I''m also an awakener. I used my powers to save her."


    The red haired beauty gave a laugh when she heard this, but the laugh was very cold. After that laugh, she said, "You expect me to believe that a F Rank Awakener had the power to fight several C Rank Awakeners?"


    Then her eyes narrowed as she looked at me, causing a chill to run down my spine. At the same time, she said, "That''s like expecting me to believe that you aren''t working with them." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The suspicion in her voice was very clear, but it was also very justified.


    After all, the idea that I was working with the traitors was a very valid one and it would explain how I was able to get away.


    A F Ranker surrounded by C Rankers and still being able to escape, that sounded suspicious no matter how one looked at it.


    But I didn''t back down as I looked up at her and said, "I have a special way of using my power that allowed me to catch them off guard. That was how I was able to escape."


    The red haired beauty narrowed her eyes to look at me without saying a thing.


    After a bit of silence, she finally said, "Well, Xin''er did tell me that you showed some strange powers, so I already knew that. However, that still shouldn''t explain how you were able to escape, does it?"


    I shook my head and said, "I''ll demonstrate my powers and show you, would that be enough?"


    When she heard this, the red haired beauty couldn''t help revealing a surprised look.


    It seemed that she hadn''t expected me to actually offer to do this even though it was clear that she was trying to force me to demonstrate my powers. She had thought that I would try to hide it to the end instead of offering to demonstrate it like this.


    But she didn''t let herself be tripped up for long as she gave a straightforward nod and said, "Alright, let''s go and see what your powers can do."


    She suddenly stood up and prepared to walk out of the tent while all the others that had been sitting around her looked at her with shocked looks.


    The Ice Princess took advantage of this gap to come over and say with an apologetic look, "I''m sorry."


    I understood why she had that apologetic look earlier.


    It seemed that she had no choice but to tell this red haired beauty about what had happened in the break zone. That included the powers that I had used to fight the C Rankers with, which had led to this questioning.


    But I was fine with it since I also planned for this.


    After all, this was the only way to show how useful I was and to find a way to join their guild.


    So in a sense, the Ice Princess was doing me a favour.


    I just said with a smile, "It''s fine, I''m sure that you had no choice."


    When she saw this smile and heard what I said, the Ice Princess couldn''t help turning her head away.


    I could have sworn that I saw a blush appear on her face at the same time.


    But I didn''t think too much about it.


    I focused my mind instead on what was about to come.


    I had been given a chance to demonstrate my powers and prove how useful I was.


    As long as I could impress them, I would have a choice to join their guild and become connected to even more high ranking Awakeners.


    When the time came, it would be easy for me to bring more high ranking Awakeners under me.


    So I would be giving it my all in this demonstration.

 Chapter 62 - 62: Demonstration (1)

    But as we were heading out, I saw that the people that had been with the red haired beauty were currently surrounding her, complaining to her.


    "Guild master, you can''t do something like this. It''s too dangerous."


    "That''s right, guild master, who knows what kind of abilities he has? What if he suddenly attacks you with them?"


    "Guild master, please just hand him over to the authorities and let them handle him."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried.


    But then, the red haired beauty said with a snort, "Hmph, do you really think that I can''t protect myself against a new Awakener?"


    When she said this, all of them suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.


    They all revealed difficult looks as if they were put in between a rock and a hard place, but in the end, one of them said, "Guild master, we didn''t mean that¡­It''s just that this is a very tense situation and we should act carefully."


    The red haired beauty gave a nod as if she was agreeing with them which made them feel a bit better, but then she said, "So you''re saying that we should ignore our jobs and hand him over to the authorities without properly checking him? What if he does something to them and we''re blamed for it?"


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard them talking about me like this¡­but I tried to act like it didn''t bother me at all.


    To the side, the Ice Princess revealed an apologetic look when she heard all of this.


    In the end, the red haired beauty was able to talk down all of the people who had been trying to convince her of going through with this.


    As we were following her, the Ice Princess said, "I''m sorry about all of this¡­I couldn''t keep it a secret when my big sister asked me."


    "Big sister?" I asked back.


    The Ice Princess nodded and pointed at the red haired beauty as she said, "That''s my big sister and the guild master of our guild, Elementia, Bing Lan."


    I turned to look back at the red haired beauty with a surprised look.


    It wasn''t because she was the guild master, but rather that she was the Ice Princess'' big sister. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As we followed them, the Ice Princess told me more and more about Bing Lan, including her powers and her nickname.


    I was even more surprised to find that Bing Lan was actually a¡­S Ranker who was known as the Flame Empress because of her fire controlling abilities.


    One sister controlled ice and the other controlled fire¡­they really were opposites. Even down the personality with one being as cold as ice and the other being as fiery as flames.


    For some reason, when the Ice Princess saw Lin Fan looking at Bing Lan the way he did, she couldn''t help feeling a bit uncomfortable. She didn''t know exactly what this feeling was, but she knew that she didn''t like it.


    Instead of another tent, there was a building that was placed here instead.


    Based on the outside of the building, it seemed like it was quite the sturdy building.


    This place was either hiding a secret, or it was built sturdy for a reason.


    When we came in, I realized what this place was for.


    It was a training building.


    This was a place that was built sturdy so that Awakeners could use their powers at will, not having to worry about destroying the area around them. After all, some Awakeners had abilities that could destroy cities if they wanted to.


    So a place like this was absolutely necessary when they wanted to train or test things with their abilities.


    After entering this training building, Bing Lan turned around to me and said, "Go ahead, go in and let''s see what kind of abilities you have."


    I gave a nod and started heading into the training area, but then I realized that I didn''t have a weapon. So I suddenly stopped and turned around to say something.


    But before I could say anything, Bing Lan already said, "You''ll get a weapon when you go in. It''s loaded with every kind of weapon that you could want, so you''re free to choose whatever you want to use."


    I was caught off guard by how it seemed like she had read my mind, but I gave a nod and walked into the bubbled training arena.


    Even though the building was already very sturdy, there was another protective glass bubble around the arena itself. From what I could see, this should be a layer of bulletproof glass, so the defenses were quite strong.


    After walking in, there were two panels that opened up in the ground before two weapon shelves suddenly came out of those panels.


    It was just like Bing Lan had said, this training arena was equipped with all kinds of weapons.


    There were many different kinds of weapons here, from traditional weapons like swords and blades to more unconventional weapons like chakrams and karambits. It was almost like a display that gathered the weapons of the world.


    But for me, the thing that I was most comfortable with was the sword.


    It was what I had trained with before I became an Awakener, so it was the thing that I was the most comfortable with.


    Seeing that I had chosen a weapon, Bing Lan''s voice rang out again, "I''ll set up the practice target now."


    With the press of a button, there was another panel on the floor that opened before a wooden doll came up. This was a basic wooden doll that one would see in any movie training scene.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit disappointed.


    After all, compared to the rest of this facility, this seemed a bit too basic¡­


    Still, I didn''t let myself be affected by this that long.


    I took a deep breath and raised my sword.


    This was my chance to demonstrate my power, so I would take it.

 Chapter 63 - 63: Demonstration (2)

    However, before I started my demonstration, I suddenly turned to look at the group who was watching me.


    They were surprised to see me looking their way, but they calmly waited to see what I had to say.


    I gave a cough to clear my throat before saying, "I''m sure that everyone here already has an idea of what my awakened power is. Before I make this demonstration, I just want to remind everyone that it never says that my awakened power cannot affect myself."


    Then without waiting for a response, I turned back to face the wooden puppet.


    The others who had come with the guild master revealed confused looks, but Bing Lan herself revealed an interested look. It was clear that she understood what I meant with these words.


    And if they were true¡­then it would mean that she had found a true talent.


    The Ice Princess also had a strange look on her face.


    It wasn''t one of interest, but a look of slow recognition.


    It was as if she was slowly understanding something¡­something that she should have already understood.


    Back then in the break zone, when he suddenly appeared in front of her¡­could it be that he was using¡­?


    Facing the wooden puppet in front of me, I took a deep breath before suddenly saying, "Faster."


    Then with a single step, the scene in front of me suddenly changed. I had been a few meters away from the wooden puppet, but then I was suddenly in front of the wooden puppet.


    But before swinging down at the wooden puppet, I suddenly said, "Stronger."


    After that, I swung down at the wooden puppet with all my might.


    For the spectators, most of them couldn''t see what happened clearly. Even for me, I could barely keep up to the speed of my own swing.


    When the sword made contact with the wooden puppet, there was no resistance at all.


    The sword cut right through the wooden puppet and split it right in half. But there wasn''t a reaction from this wooden puppet at first.


    Only after a while did this top half of the wooden puppet slip off the bottom half and drop to the ground.


    There was a ''thud'' that came from the top half of the wooden puppet falling to the ground before silence followed after it.


    Not a single person was able to say a word as they stared at the wooden puppet halves that were in the arena.


    That was because while I didn''t know how strong these wooden puppets were, that didn''t mean that they didn''t know. They were from the guild that had built this training building, so they knew exactly what these wooden puppets were.


    These wooden puppets were strong enough to even resist the power of a rocket launcher¡­yet a single slash was enough to cut it in half like this.


    Didn''t that mean that this person''s slash was even stronger than a rocket?


    This person was clearly F Ranked, but this kind of power was definitely C Ranked.


    Could it be that the Awakener Association had made a mistake in this person''s awakening?


    Could it be that they had assigned him the wrong rank?


    That was the only thing that they could think of as they stared at Lin Fan who was standing in the center of the arena.


    But Bing Lan had a different look in her eyes.


    She narrowed her eyes as they filled with interest while she stared at Lin Fan.


    It was as if she had noticed something interesting about him.


    Then she suddenly said, "So you used your ability to remove the limits of your body?"


    I was surprised when I heard this, but I turned back to give a nod.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan broke out in laughter as she said, "That really is a creative way to use your power, it definitely isn''t something that has been done before." Then after a pause, she stopped laughing as she looked at him with a serious look and said, "But that wasn''t your full power, was it?"


    When they heard this, all of the others around her couldn''t help looking at her in shock.


    This F Ranker was displaying power equal to a C Ranker and she was saying that wasn''t his full power?


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a wry smile before nodding again. Then before she could ask why I didn''t use my full power, I raised my hands and let the sword drop before saying, "I''m limited by the condition of my body."


    After letting go of the sword, my hands started to tremble.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan gave an understanding nod.


    Since his power was releasing his limits, that meant that he was hurting himself to use this power. After all, there was a reason why his body would put these limits on in the first place.


    He was using power that his body couldn''t control, so it would hurt his body whenever he used it.


    To the side, the Ice Princess suddenly revealed an understanding look.


    That was what he had meant by he couldn''t use this power for long.


    But when she thought about it, she couldn''t help feeling that he had been faster when he had rescued her from the C Rank leader.


    No, she answered her own question.


    It was because he had been injured saving her that he wasn''t as fast as he had been in the break zone.


    At this, she couldn''t help feeling a warm feeling fill her heart.


    After a bit of silence, Bing Lan said, "You have this kind of power and you''re willing to take this risk to show it, that shows that you have ambition. Someone with this kind of ambition wouldn''t work with those two bit chumps on a plot like this, so you can''t be with them."


    When I heard this, I let out a sigh of relief¡­but that was a bit too hasty. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bing Lan suddenly gave a clap and said with a smile, "Very good! I want you!"

 Chapter 64 - 64: Joining the guild

    "Eh?" That was all I could say in response to this.


    But then after a moment of silence, the others with Bing Lan suddenly exploded.


    "Guild master, what are you saying?"


    "Guild master, do you understand what kind of things you are implying right now?"


    "Guild master, please restrain yourself!"


    "Big sister, what do you mean you want him?"


    The last one was the Ice Princess.


    She surprised herself when she said this, but there was something that forced her to say it. It was as if she didn''t say it, she felt like she would regret it.


    So she worked up the courage to say this in the end.


    Bing Lan ignored her subordinates who were all trying to convince her otherwise to look at the Ice Princess with a surprised look.


    This was different from her calm and cool little sister who was also a bit shy. The little sister that she knew wouldn''t be this agitated or speak like this unless it was something that she really cared about.


    She couldn''t even help revealing a bit of a knowing smile when she thought this, but that smile quickly disappeared before the Ice Princess could see it.


    Bing Lan just flicked the Ice Princess'' forehead and calmly said, "Xin''er, what are you thinking? I''m just saying that I want him to join our guild. With his powers, he will definitely go far. I''m sure that you can even see that."


    "Huh?" The Ice Princess revealed a stunned look when she heard this before a blush suddenly came over her face.


    She quickly gave a cough and adjusted her emotions before saying, "Oh, right, that''s what you meant. I knew that. I wasn''t thinking about anything else."


    Bing Lan saw her cute little sister like this and she couldn''t help teasing her a bit, "But now that you mention it, he''s quite the handsome man. You should know that your big sister still hasn''t¡­"


    Before she could finish, the Ice Princess quickly said, "Who says that big sister is old? I''ll fight them right now!"


    If there was anyone else that called her old, Bing Lan would never forgive them. But when she called herself old, she was happy to see her little sister stand up for her like this, even if she had ulterior motives. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Still, she knew that this wasn''t the time to tease her, so Bing Lan said, "Alright, let''s stop playing around."


    After that, she turned her eyes back to look at Lin Fan standing there.


    When I saw her gaze fall onto me, it almost felt like I was a piece of meat and she was the predator staring down its prey.


    I gave a gulp when I felt this gaze on me and it was definitely not a pleasant look, but I endured since this technically did mean that I had succeeded in achieving my goal.


    I had already heard what they had said since everything was being broadcasted into the dome through the mic. They hadn''t turned it off while they had been talking the whole time.


    Of course, Bing Lan also knew this, so she said, "So how about it, do you want to join our guild?"


    Before I could even say anything, her subordinates had already recovered enough to start complaining.


    "Guild master, we can''t just let him join us. We still don''t know if he''s related to those people that caused the Dungeon Break or not."


    "That''s right. Even if he isn''t related, he''s still a F Ranker. If the other guilds knew that we were even recruiting F Rankers, wouldn''t that hurt our prestige?"


    "If it was known that we''re even recruiting F Rankers, we won''t be able to raise our heads in front of the other guilds. Guild master, you have to reconsider this for our guild''s prestige."


    Though they were begging, they did raise some valid points.


    A F Ranker¡­that was considered the lowest of the low and definitely not someone who was suited for their guild.


    Elementia was considered one of the top guilds since it was a guild with a S Ranker.


    So a F Ranker¡­really would seem out of place and even worth ridiculing.


    But Bing Lin didn''t care at all as she said, "Does it matter if he''s a F Ranker if he has that kind of ability? I''m willing to invest in his future."


    The subordinates all wanted to say something, but they couldn''t see anything when they saw the look on Bing Lan''s face. When they saw this look, they already knew that she had made up her mind and it didn''t matter what they said, they wouldn''t be able to convince her otherwise¡­


    At the very least, Bing Lan then said, "As long as we have him take the Irregular License Test, it''ll be fine."


    When they heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up.


    That''s right, there was still that option!


    If he was able to pass the Irregular License Test and become a D Ranker or even a C Ranker, then there wouldn''t be a problem to let him join the guild.


    But before that¡­


    So they immediately threw another fuss saying that before he passed, he shouldn''t be allowed to join the guild.


    This time, Bing Lan didn''t make it hard on them and agreed with this.


    She said, "Only when he passes the test will we allow him to officially join our guild."


    Hearing this, all of the subordinates let out sighs of relief.


    Bing Lan ignored them and turned back to the mic to say, "So how about it? Do you want to join our guild even with those conditions?"


    I didn''t hesitate to give a nod in response to this.


    This was what I had been expecting and even if there was a condition to it, it was still an offer to join this S Ranked guild.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan said with a smile, "Then welcome to the guild, or rather welcome to the guild temporarily. We''ll officially welcome you once you pass the Irregular License Test."


    Beside her, the Ice Princess revealed an excited look that had a few strange emotions in them.

 Chapter 65 - 65: Unbelievable physique

    After this was settled, Bing Lan said, "For now, let''s get you out of there and test your physique. Since your powers depend on your body''s ability to resist, I want to see how your body holds up."


    With a press of the button, the door to the glass dome opened for me.


    Seeing this, I walked out and headed back over to where Bing Lan''s group was.


    There were still looks of suspicion that came from the subordinates, but at the very least, they no longer looked at me with disdain. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn''t be able to since most of these people were only C and D Rankers.


    In terms of power, they might not even be able to compare to me.


    But of course, that was only the fake ability that I showed them.


    That F Rank Suggestion ability should have been a form of trauma for me, but I knew that I couldn''t avoid it forever. I knew that it was better to use every single card that was available to me, so I didn''t resist and deny this F Rank skill.


    Instead, I thought of a way to use this F Rank skill as a cover just in case I needed to show a bit of my power.


    Of course, the F Rank Suggestion alone wouldn''t have been enough to show this kind of power, so I had actually supplemented it with a bit of my Hypnosis skill. If it wasn''t for the Hypnosis skill, the effect wouldn''t be as great.


    But of course, in a real fight¡­it wasn''t as if this was my only ability.


    Bing Lan led us out of this building and towards another tent.


    Since she was surrounded by her subordinates that kept trying to convince her otherwise of this decision, she didn''t have any time to talk to us.


    So taking advantage of this, the Ice Princess came over to me and said, "I never thought that you would have this kind of amazing ability."


    I revealed a bitter smile and said, "It can''t be considered amazing since I''m hurting myself each time I use it. Not to mention, there are all kinds of limitations to using it."


    But to my surprise, the Ice Princess shook her head and said, "No, just the fact that you never gave up after receiving a F Rank ability is amazing enough. There are countless people who have given up in similar situations to yours, but you''re the first one that I''ve known that has worked so hard to change that. In that sense, you are amazing."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback by this sudden compliment from her.


    However, there was a warm feeling that appeared in my heart because of this compliment.


    Maybe it was because I had received too few compliments or maybe it was because I could hear the sincerity in her voice¡­


    So I awkwardly said, "Miss Bing, th¡­"


    She suddenly stopped and turned to me, causing me to stop speaking. She then looked up at me and said, "It''s Bing Xin. Call me Bing Xin."


    I was once again taken aback, but then with a cough, "Miss Bing Xin."


    She shook her head again and said, "It''s just Bing Xin, understand?"


    "Yes, miss¡­No, yes, Bing Xin."


    She suddenly revealed a bright smile and said, "Good."


    The two of us just stood there in silence for a bit, but that was suddenly stopped by Bing Lan who had turned around to see why we had stopped. She just simply said with a smile, "Hey, you two, stop flirting and let''s go."


    A blush appeared on both of our faces and we jolted before taking a step back after hearing this.


    Bing Xin turned and pouted her lips to say, "We''re not flirting!"


    Bing Lan just looked at her with a knowing smile before waving her hand and saying, "Let''s go. We''re here."


    We followed Bing Lan into this tent and when I saw what was inside, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    It was a vat, a large glass vat.


    This seemed like one of those things that was used for human experimentation that one would see in movies¡­


    As I looked at this thing, I couldn''t help pointing at it and asking, "Do¡­do I really have to get in that thing?"


    Bing Lan revealed an amused look when she saw me like this before asking, "What''s wrong? Are you scared of going in?"


    After a pause, I shook my head and said, "Not so much scared as worried¡­How will I even breathe in that thing?"


    After all, this was a vat that was completely filled with some kind of strange liquid. It wasn''t as if I had the ability to breathe underwater, so I was pretty sure I would suffocate if I went in.


    "Oh." Bing Lan casually said before pointing at the mask that one of the staff members was holding, "Just put that on and you''ll be fine."


    She walked over and slapped me on the shoulder before saying, "It''ll be quick, so there''s no need to worry."


    I looked at her with a skeptical look, but then I gave a sigh and said, "Alright."


    With that, I walked over to the glass vat and went into it from the top. Before going in, I put on the mask that they gave me and found that I was able to breathe without a problem.


    After entering the vat, I found that trying to open my eyes would just irritate them because of the liquid that was inside, so I kept them closed.


    For a few minutes, there was only silence around me as I waited for them to tell me that I could get out.


    "Al, alright, you''re, you''re done."


    A voice suddenly rang out before a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the vat. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When I came up, I opened my eyes to see a staff member helping me out, but I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because this staff member was looking at me with an amazed look.


    Earlier, his voice had also trembled when he said that I could get out of the vat.


    What happened that he acted this way?


    Could it be that I had amazing results?


    After getting out of the vat, I was going to ask for a rag to wipe myself off, but I found that it was unnecessary. The liquid that soaked my clothes started to evaporate on its own.


    It was no wonder they had said that it wasn''t a problem for me to go in without changing clothes first.


    Looking around, I found that everyone seemed to be gathered in one spot, so I walked over to see what they were gathered for.


    As I came closer, I found that they were gathered around a single computer.


    So it wasn''t hard to guess that what they were looking at was most likely the results of the test.


    I walked over and asked, "So? How is it?"


    When they heard this, the ones that had looked down on me looked at me with looks of disbelief.


    Even Bing Lan and Bing Xin looked at me with strange looks.


    After a moment of silence, I couldn''t help asking, "What''s wrong? Is there something wrong with my body?"


    Bing Lan slowly shook her head before saying, "It''s not that¡­It''s just that your physique is unbelievable."

 Chapter 66 - 66: Unlimited potential

    I looked at her with a confused look when I heard this before walking closer to take a look for myself.


    But since they were all standing there stunned, it took me a bit of time to push through to get closer to the screen.


    When I saw the report on the screen, I immediately understood why they were acting this way. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Strength: 8/???


    Agility: 10/???


    Vitality: 8/???


    These were the same values on the status screen that the Demon King System showed me, but there were these strange question marks that followed after each of these stats.


    At the same time, there wasn''t an intelligence stat that came with it, but that wasn''t strange. After all, this was a machine that measured physical capabilities and didn''t measure things like intelligence.


    If I had to guess, it was most likely the question marks that were causing everyone to react this way.


    I looked over at Bing Lan and asked, "What are these question marks?"


    She looked at me with a strange look and opened and closed her mouth a few times, almost as if she was trying to figure out exactly what to say.


    In the end, she took a deep breath and calmly explained, "As you can see, this machine can measure your physical capabilities. The number in front is your current measurement based on human standards. A normal adult would have a measurement of five, so all of your measurements show that you are above average for a person, but that''s normal since you''re an Awakener."


    Five was the average?


    Then that meant that I was already at the average when I first awakened¡­


    I had thought that the average would surely be ten, so I had always thought that I was still weaker than normal people. But it seemed that I had been wrong.


    So¡­did that mean that I had above average intelligence in the first place since my intelligence was at seven?


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit proud at this realization, but I quickly focused my mind back on the matter on hand.


    I pointed at the question marks and asked, "What do those question marks mean then?"


    At this, Bing Lan revealed a strange look again and she fell silent.


    After a moment of silence, she said, "Well, the numbers in the back represent¡­the potential that one has. Or rather, the physique potential that one has. As long as they''re willing to keep training, that is how strong their bodies can become."


    My eyes lit up when I heard this as I asked, "Then for these question marks to appear¡­"


    I didn''t finish my sentence, but the meaning left by this hanging statement was clear.


    Bing Lan looked at me with a strange look before giving a nod to confirm it. She then said, "Normally, there would be a value, but since there''s no value and only question marks, the safest thing to say is that the machine can''t measure your potential. The highest that I''ve seen from this machine is 999 and if yours is filled with question marks, that means that you can break through that limit.


    So it could even be said that your potential has no limits as long as you''re willing to keep training."


    After she said this, everyone looked at me with strange looks.


    But I didn''t care about any of this as I was lost deep in thought.


    It was the Demon King System.


    That was the reason why my body was like this.


    When it had saved me and bound to my body as I was drowning in the river, it had stated that it had changed my body to suit the system.


    Since it''s a system that had levels and such, it should mean that there was the possibility of infinite growth.


    That meant that it wasn''t strange to see these question marks being a display of my potential.


    I really had to thank my Demon King System for this, but at the same time¡­it was kind of digging a hole for me.


    If I hadn''t created this persona of a genius in the first place, then people would have definitely been suspicious of my physique''s potential.


    It seemed like I had really dodged a bullet there.


    No one said a thing as they looked at me with strange looks¡­that was until Bing Lan suddenly broke out laughing and said, "Ha, ha, ha, I''m really glad that I brought you into our guild before anyone else found this out. You definitely have the potential to become someone big, but how far you go¡­will depend on how much effort you''re willing to put in.


    But I''m definitely someone willing to invest in this kind of potential."


    Her subordinates looked at her with a strange look, but they slowly began to nod along.


    After all, this Lin Fan was just too much of a freak that they weren''t able to argue with her. If he was able to awaken this physique of his, he would definitely become a monster one day.


    Bing Lan then stopped laughing and moved closer to Lin Fan. She leaned in close and said, "You''re so excellent that I even want to have you for myself."


    Bing Xin immediately jolted out her shock when she heard this and she quickly came in between the two of them. She raised her hands to push Bing Lan away as she said, "Big sister, stop joking around. What if other people heard this joke?"


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes in a teasing manner and said, "Who said that it was a joke? I''m being serious. If I miss out on such a good man, who knows when I''ll find another one?"


    Bing Xin''s chin dropped when she heard this before she started pushing Bing Lan away from Lin Fan.


    I just couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I saw all of this.


    It seemed like these two sisters really did like playing around with me¡­


    But I couldn''t help being moved by Bing Lan''s words.


    After all, she was a top grade beauty and she had a mature air to her that made her even more beautiful.


    I was still a man, couldn''t I dream?

 Chapter 67 - 67: Dungeon Break plans

    After testing my physique, they brought me back to the first tent that we had been in before.


    Only this time I wasn''t forced to stand in front of them all and this time, I was allowed to sit with them.


    It was almost like how the cool kids would only let you sit with them after you''ve proven that you were cool too¡­ S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After sitting down, the first thing that we did was sign a contract.


    The contract was quite simple and there wasn''t much for me to read over. However, in the fine print, there was the condition that was mentioned before.


    It stated that I would only be a probationary member until I passed the Irregular License Exam. And if I failed, I would only remain as a probationary member until I passed in the future.


    It seemed that they were quite lenient in this matter, they were even giving me a second chance to try the exam even if I failed.


    I had really thought that they would take this chance to add a clause that I would be kicked out the moment that I failed this exam. Or at least that was what I thought Bing Lan''s subordinates who didn''t like me would do.


    If I had to guess what had changed¡­it was most likely because of the results of the physical exam.


    They had been moved by the results and they had to admit that Bing Lan was right.


    I was a once in a lifetime genius that they couldn''t miss out on.


    Since they were being this generous, there was no reason for me not to sign this contract.


    Especially with the compensation rate that they offered.


    Even though I would only be a probationary member, the compensation rate seemed much higher than a normal compensation rate.


    At the same time, I could see that I had privileges that were the same as a regular member¡­


    So it could be said that this probationary title was just for show.


    This was even more clear when they allowed me to sit in on the meeting regarding what they would do with the Dungeon Break.


    At this meeting, the current situation of the Dungeon Break was presented.


    There were a few monsters that had broken free of the blockade around the break zone since there were just too many monsters that swarmed out from the Dungeon Break.


    The fact that it was so few was already a testament to how prepared the blockade lines were. If they hadn''t been as strong, then they would have been broken and waves of monsters would have come out when the Dungeon Break came.


    Of course, it helped since the Ice Princess came back and reported on the matter of the Dungeon Break.


    With her influence, they immediately raised the highest level of alert and reported back to the guild.


    With that, the guild had sent reinforcements just in time to take care of these monsters that came out.


    As for the remaining few that had made their way through the blockade line, there were also Awakeners that were chasing them down. With how remote this place was, it was impossible that these monsters would be able to cause any chaos before they were tracked down by the Awakeners.


    So all in all, this problem had been contained.


    Now the only thing left that they had to deal with was to find someone to clear the dungeon.


    A Dungeon Break would continue until a group of Awakeners cleared out the dungeon, so they needed to find a raid team to take care of it.


    The dungeon that they had been guarding was a D Rank Dungeon, so it wasn''t that powerful in the first place. However, a Dungeon Break usually also meant that the concentration of magic in a dungeon would become greater, which would increase the grade of a dungeon.


    Human scientists that studied dungeons had no idea why this happened, but it was something that had been proven time and time again.


    So it would be safer to call this a C Rank Dungeon instead of a D Rank Dungeon.


    And in a dangerous situation like a Dungeon Break, it was best if they called for a B Ranker to take care of this rather than sending in a group of C Rankers.


    The real problem was that the B Rankers of the guild were too far away to get here in time before the next wave of the Dungeon Break came.


    Bing Xin said, "I''ll do it. I''ve recovered enough, I can take care of it."


    Though she said this, it was clear by the slight pale tone to her face that she wasn''t ready for this.


    They had been able to cure her of the poison that she was inflicted with, but she had been weakened because of that poison and it wasn''t that quick to recover from. She still needed a few more days of rest before she could fully recover from this.


    But she knew that the situation was bad which was why she volunteered to go.


    Of course, Bing Lan wouldn''t allow this.


    Bing Lan shook her head and said, "No, you need your rest."


    Bing Xin revealed a strong look and said, "But the people will suffer if we delay too long. If I go, I should be able to take care of it if I have a group of C Rankers with me."


    After saying this, she turned to look at the ones that were sitting at the table with us.


    All of them jolted when they heard this, but then they took a deep breath and calmed down to say, "It''s an honour to go with the vice guild master."


    Bing Lan still shook her head and said, "No, there''s no need for you to go. I''ve already called someone who will take care of this."


    All of them looked at her with surprised looks as she said, "I''ve already called an A Ranker, so there''s no need for you to worry."

 Chapter 68 - 68: S Rank Treaty

    The subordinates all let out a sigh of relief when they heard this.


    An A Ranker, that was just one step off from becoming a S Ranker, but A Rankers were all monsters still.


    As for S Rankers, they were equal to nukes.


    But after Bing Xin heard this, she couldn''t help knitting her brows as she asked, "Big sister, who did you call?"


    "It''s Tie Gang." Bing Lan said with a knowing look on her face.


    When she heard this, Bing Xin let out a sigh of relief before saying, "It''s big brother Tie. Then that should be alright."


    Bing Lan gave a nod before turning to her subordinates and saying, "Go and prepare for the dungeon raid. You''ll all be going in with Tie Gang."


    When they heard this, all of them revealed excited looks.


    One might think that they would be afraid, but that was just how reassuring the title of A Ranker was. As long as they were with an A Ranker, there was no need to fear this C Rank Dungeon.


    In fact, they would be able to pick up a few tricks from him and get closer to an A Ranker. This was actually a reward for them rather than a life threatening mission.


    So the subordinates all ran off to prepare for the raid, leaving only the three of us at the table.


    Once they were gone, Bing Lan gave a sigh and said, "If it wasn''t for the S Rank Treaty, I would go myself¡­"


    The S Rank Treaty, that was a famous treaty that everyone in the world knew about.


    Since Awakeners became a representation of power in this new world, they were equal to nukes in the world before the world changed. Back when the world still didn''t have Awakeners, there were already treaties in place to prevent the proliferation of nukes.


    Now that there were S Rankers that were equivalent to nukes, there were naturally treaties to prevent them from causing mass destruction as well.


    So in the cases of S Rankers, unless there was a treaty in place that prevented them from taking action unless it was a matter of absolute crisis.


    Unless it was a matter that threatened the very extinction of the human race, S Rankers were not able to freely take action.


    Of course, that didn''t mean that S Rankers were unable to do anything.


    For a S Ranker to move, they had to submit a formal written request to the Awakener Association that would require a council''s approval. This was a long and tedious process since S Rankers were treated as important resources, so they weren''t moved that easily.


    But for small things like clearing out S Rank Dungeons, approval was gained fairly easily since the Awakener Association also benefited from those.


    In this case where there was a Dungeon Break at this D Rank Dungeon that was in a remote place, this was not considered an emergency and Bing Lan couldn''t act. Even if she were to put in a request, it would take too long for it to be approved.


    Sometimes, the system didn''t work, but that didn''t mean that it was a bad system.


    Sometimes, these inconveniences were necessary to keep the greater population safe.


    Bing Xin gave a sigh as well before saying, "Big sister, it''s not worth receiving the punishment. Big brother Tie will be here soon, so let''s just leave it to him."


    Bing Lan gave a nod in response. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The punishments that came with breaking the S Rank Treaty weren''t light.


    S Rankers were powerful, but it wasn''t as if they had the power to go against the world itself.


    There weren''t that many S Rankers out there, but there were still quite a few.


    All of these S Rankers had signed this treaty along with the governments of the world and the Awakener Association.


    Any S Ranker that was found breaking this treaty would be punished by all of these people.


    First, the S Ranker would be sanctioned by the Awakener Association, making it hard for them to obtain resources.


    S Rankers were still human in the end, so they still relied on others for things like food, housing, and other basic necessities.


    If they broke the S Rank Treaty, all of that would disappear.


    At the same time, most S Rankers were part of guilds and these guilds relied on the Awakener Association for resources. So the guilds that the S Rankers were a part of would also be punished if they ever broke the S Rank Treaty.


    Not to mention, they would face the siege of many different S Rankers condemning them for their actions.


    For a small matter like this, it wasn''t worth it for Bing Lan to break the S Rank Treaty and personally clear this dungeon.


    So all they could do was wait for this A Ranker Tie Gang to arrive.


    After half an hour, he arrived with a group of supporters.


    To my surprise, there was even a B Ranker among these supporters.


    It seemed that these supporters and Tie Gang formed a party to raid dungeons with.


    Since he had brought his party along, it should be easy for Tie Gang to clear out this dungeon.


    With his rank as an A Ranker, Tie Gang was naturally very popular.


    He was quickly surrounded by many of the C and D Rankers from the camp who wanted to build a relationship with him. After all, for these C and D Rankers, if they could hug his leg, then they would have a firm backer.


    But Tie Gang just politely sent them on their way before looking around as if he was looking for something.


    When he saw Bing Lan and Bing Xin standing on the side, he waved at them with a smile on his face.


    When they saw this, the two of them waved back with smiles on their faces as well.


    Based on this, it was clear that there was a close relationship between the three of them.

 Chapter 69 - 69: A Ranker

    I didn''t know why, but there was a bit of an astringent feeling that filled my heart.


    Seeing the three of them like this bugged me for some reason¡­


    But I suppressed that feeling quickly as Bing Lan and Bing Xin brought Tie Gang over to greet me.


    When they came over, Tie Gang suddenly bowed his head and said, "You''re the one that saved Xin''er? Thank you for saving her."


    There were no fake emotions in his voice, there was only sincerity as he said this.


    But that just went to prove just how close they were¡­


    I suppressed that feeling again and said, "No, it''s what I should have done."


    Tie Gang looked up at me before suddenly revealing a smile. He reached his hand out to slap my back before saying, "Good man! You''re a good man!"


    Eh?


    Did I just get a good guy card from this guy that I had just met?


    Seeing that I had an awkward look on my face, Bing Lan came to my rescue by saying, "Big Brother Tie, let''s go to the conference room to discuss the raid."


    But to her surprise, Tie Gang shook his head and said, "Wait, I want to test him first."


    This time, it wasn''t just me who was surprised. Everyone looked at Tie Gang with a confused look as they didn''t understand what he was doing. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In front of everyone, Tie Gang pulled out his sword and took two steps back. He lifted the sword up and pointed it right at me before saying, "Come at me."


    I looked around as if I was looking for help, but all I got were helpless looks.


    It was as if they were just telling me to go along with him.


    I didn''t know what to do at first, but then I just gave a sigh before saying, "I need a sword as well."


    The sword that I had been using was the one from the training arena, so I had left it back there.


    Tie Gang was the one that spoke first. He turned to Bing Xin and said, "Lend him your sword."


    Bing Xin was taken aback hearing this, but then she gave a nod as a blush appeared on her face. It was as if she was starting to understand what Tie Gang was planning on doing.


    She walked over to me and drew her sword to hand to me.


    I looked at her with an unwilling look like I didn''t want to take it, but she just kept offering it to me.


    So with a sigh, I took the sword from her and faced Tie Gang.


    Seeing that I took the sword, he laughed and said, "Show me what you have!"


    At the same time, I could have sworn that I saw a glimmer coming from his body as he stood there. It was almost as if he had activated some kind of power.


    An A Rank power¡­that really would be hard to deal with.


    But with this sword in my hand, I might be able to do something against him.


    The moment that Bing Xin''s sword entered my hand, I knew that it wasn''t a simple sword. There was a cool feeling to this sword that slowly became colder and colder until it felt like it was about to freeze my hand.


    However, that feeling reached a peak before slowly becoming weaker.


    It was almost as if the sword was slowly coming around and accepting me.


    Holding it firmly in my hand, I raised it up before saying, "Faster."


    Then all of a sudden, I disappeared from the view of most people. However, those that were stronger were still able to follow me with their eyes.


    That included Tie Gang who I was charging at.


    But even though he could see me, he didn''t move at all as he waited for me to approach.


    Seeing this, I just calmly said, "Stronger."


    Then in one swift move, I slashed down at Tie Gang who simply raised his sword to meet my slash.


    At first, it didn''t seem like my slash had any effect on Tie Gang, but he was still forced to take two steps back in the end.


    That was because I had suddenly said, "Become dizzy."


    Tie Gang''s eyes had twitched a bit before he was pushed back a bit, but then his eyes focused as he suddenly swung out.


    I felt an immense force from in front of me that I couldn''t resist at all.


    This immense force carried me off the ground and sent me flying away.


    I flew through the air a bit before finally sliding to a stop on the ground.


    Tie Gang had already started moving after sending me flying, so he appeared in front of me as soon as I landed on the ground.


    His sword was raised so that it was pointing right at my throat, so I wasn''t able to move a single inch. I could tell that if I did move even the slightest, he would be able to stab me right through the throat.


    So I could only release my grip on the cold sword and raise my hand to show that I surrendered.


    I couldn''t help being worried when I saw the way that Tie Gang looked at me with those sharp eyes, but then I let out a sigh of relief when I suddenly saw the smile appear on his face.


    Tie Gang took his sword back and said while laughing, "That was quite the strong blow, I can even still feel my hands trembling. Whoever said that you were weak definitely didn''t know what they were talking about, I even had to get a bit serious there."


    He reached his hand out to help me up before slapping me on the shoulder and saying, "You''re good, you''re very good! You''ve passed my test!"


    "Test?" I couldn''t help asking.


    Tie Gang nodded before bringing me over to where Bing Xin was standing. He said with a wide smile on his face, "You''re someone I can trust to take care of Xin''er."

 Chapter 70 - 70: Death flag

    When we heard this, both of us couldn''t stop the blushes from appearing on our faces.


    Bing Xin then gathered blue energy in her hand as she started punching Tie Gang on the chest.


    Tie Gang didn''t seem to react at first, but then seeing the angry look on her face, he started to act like it hurt for him to be punched.


    During this whole time, I could still see some kind of glimmer coming from him. It was almost like the sheen of metal with the way that it shimmered.


    Finally, Bing Xin stopped punching him and she brought her hands in front of her to blow on her fists. After blowing on them for a bit, she said, "Iron punk, you really are too hard to hit."


    I looked at Tie Gang with a confused look when I heard this.


    Tie Gang saw this and explained, "My power is Metallization. I can turn all or parts of my body into metal. What I was doing just now was turning the surface of my skin to metal, that was why my defenses were so hard."


    After a pause, he added, "Though just turning into metal isn''t good enough. You have to be smart with your powers, which is why I only turned the surface of my skin into metal. That way, I can remain flexible while also gaining the toughness of metal without letting it be a drain on my mana stores." S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bing Lan commented from the side, "Is it alright for you to tell him all of this? Isn''t that part of the secret of your power?"


    Tie Gang said with a smile, "It''s fine, Little Brother Lin is a part of the family, so it doesn''t matter if I tell him this."


    Bing Xin''s face once again filled with a blush after she heard this and she shyly lowered her head, no longer angrily glaring at Tie Gang.


    Bing Lan just gave a sigh and said, "If you''re done playing around, we have a job to do."


    At this, Tie Gang revealed a serious look and gave a nod before following Bing Lan in.


    Bing Xin hesitated a bit before also heading in while waving at me to follow, so I went along with her.


    As we were walking at the back of the group, I kept the expression on my face neutral, but there was a bit of a displeased glow in my eyes.


    Bing Xin had been peeking out of the corner of her eyes and she could see this, so she asked, "What''s wrong? Are you unhappy that you lost against Big Brother Tie? You have to know that he''s an A Ranker, most people aren''t even able to last more than a few seconds against him. You were even able to push him back."


    "Un, it''s not that¡­" My voice trailed off as I didn''t know what to say next.


    Bing Xin looked at me with a confused look at first, but seeing the look of struggle on my face, she slowly started to understand what I was feeling.


    Then there was a blush that appeared on her face as she shyly lowered her head again.


    After a bit of silence, she said, "Big Brother Tie already has a fiancee, they will be getting married in a few months."


    "Huh?" I said in a surprised voice.


    I couldn''t help slowly looking at her with a surprised look as I slowly started to understand what she was saying.


    Then I couldn''t help looking down as well with an awkward look on my face.


    But there was no denying that slightly relieved feeling in my heart.


    However, after calming down, I couldn''t help thinking¡­


    "Isn''t this a death flag?"


    A Dungeon Break that had suddenly happened out of nowhere like this and an A Ranker that was about to get married being called in to clear the dungeon with the Dungeon Break¡­


    No matter how I looked at it, I couldn''t help thinking that this was some kind of death flag¡­


    So I couldn''t help turning to look at Tie Gang with a look of pity.


    After reaching the tent, we all sat down and they started discussing the dungeon raid plan.


    To put it simply, the plan was to have the C and D Rankers gathered to create a path to the dungeon and then to have Tie Gang lead his team to clear it.


    Tie Gang''s team was considered an A Rank team not just because of Tie Gang''s strength alone. They had been working together for a long time now and they supported Tie Gang as he cleared out many A Rank Dungeons.


    So the A Rank team title that they had was not something that was undeserved.


    Of course, the biggest part of this plan was that it depended on Tie Gang being able to clear the dungeon.


    When everyone looked at him for confirmation, he said with a confident smile, "It''s not a problem! Something like this is easy for me!"


    The moment that I heard this, I couldn''t stop the three black lines from appearing on my forehead¡­


    Can you please stop setting up more death flags for yourself?


    No matter how you looked at it, being confident like this when you''re about to enter an unknown dungeon was just asking for trouble!


    But everyone just applauded and praised Tie Gang when they heard this.


    Not a single one of them doubted his words.


    I really couldn''t help giving a sigh when I saw all of this.


    I even started to feel sorry for Tie Gang with the way that he was setting up all of these death flags for himself¡­


    So when the meeting was over and it was time for him to head into the dungeon, I walked over and patted him on the shoulder as I said with a sigh, "Good luck."


    Tie Gang revealed a confused look at first, but then he said with a smile, "It''ll be fine! I don''t need luck!"


    I just shook my head and gave another sigh.


    This man really liked setting up death flags for himself!

 Chapter 71 - 71: Present

    In the end, it turned out that I was thinking too much.


    Tie Gang and his group had no problem clearing the dungeon in the end.


    They easily swept through the orcs that came out, even taking care of several groups led by Orc Kings.


    When they brought back all the corpses of these Orc Kings, it shocked all of the people at camp. It was so shocking that many of them forgot about all the Orc General corpses that had been brought back.


    It made the fight that Bing Xin had gone through almost seem laughable, but that was just the difference between a B Ranker and an A Ranker.


    Tie Gang stood there in the center of the crowd with a happy smile on his face, but I couldn''t help feeling strange about this.


    After all, no matter how I looked at it, he had clearly set up his own death flags.


    No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like he should have died in this dungeon raid.


    Of course, I''m happy that he didn''t since that meant that there was another powerful person that I could rely on¡­but it didn''t seem like his death flags were over.


    It even seemed like he would be facing even more death flags in the future.


    But for now, this matter had been settled and everyone was allowed to leave.


    As the hero, there were many people that wanted to get closer to Tie Gang. So he was carried off by a group of people that were only interested in getting closer to him and I wasn''t allowed to say a thing to him.


    Bing Xin who was completely forgotten still stayed with me.


    She had stayed with me the entire time and we had waited in silence for Tie Gang to come back.


    But now that he was back and the dungeon had been cleared, she couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief.


    Even when Tie Gang was being pulled away, she still stayed by my side.


    At the same time, now that Tie Gang was back and pulled away by the others, Bing Lan also came over to see me.


    She waved at us with a hand and then walked off towards the main tent of this camp.


    She didn''t say a thing, but it was clear that she wanted us to follow her.


    This time, she wasn''t surrounded by those subordinates from before, so it was just the three of us in the room. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried seeing that it was just the three of us, but it would also be a lie to say that I wasn''t a bit excited. After all, I was a man who was in a room alone with two sisters¡­that was a dream scenario for any other person.


    But I was disappointed in the end.


    Bing Lan turned on the computer at the desk and said, "Let''s talk about your remuneration."


    She tapped a few keys before turning the screen for me to see.


    When I saw the amount that was on the screen, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    After all, this was countless times what I would have received for all my work as a part time porter.


    I didn''t remember doing anything to deserve this since I hadn''t done anything during the fight against the orcs. I shouldn''t have been entitled to anything other than a share of the Orc General as promised by Bing Xin and even then, it should have been a small portion of the total since I was just a porter.


    So it should have been nowhere near the amount on the screen.


    Bing Lan could see the look on my face, so she said with a smile, "This is the amount that comes from defeating those two C Rankers."


    I tilted my head to think for a bit before realizing that she was talking about the two C Rankers who had ''chased'' me and Bing Xin.


    It wasn''t a surprise that Bing Xin had already told her everything, but I was surprised that I would get paid for ''defeating'' them.


    Once again, Bing Lan explained after seeing the look on my face, "Those that commit crimes naturally will receive the punishment that they deserve. As soon as we found out that they were the ones behind all of this, we reached out to the Awakener Association to add them to the bounty list. Since you have defeated them, naturally you''re entitled to receive this bounty."


    When I heard that, I understood where this money was coming from, but I was surprised that it was prepared this quickly.


    Bing Lan explained once more, "We''re presenting you with the money right now and we''ll get reimbursed by the Awakeners Association in the end, so you don''t need to worry about a thing."


    Then after a pause, she added with a sly smile, "You can just consider this an incentive or even a bribe so that you''ll look at our guild even more positively. As for how it''ll affect our guild, you don''t need to worry since it''s just a small drop in the bucket for us. Elementia won''t lack this kind of money."


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this before saying, "Thank you."


    Bing Lan waved her hand before suddenly saying, "That''s not all that I have for you."


    She pressed a button on an intercom and not long after, there was someone that came in with a large wrapped package. They walked forward and placed that package on the table before leaving with a bow.


    She gestured to it with her hand and said, "Go ahead, take a look."


    I was a bit confused when I heard this, but I still opened up the package as she had suggested.


    When I opened it and saw what was inside, I couldn''t help looking at her with a stunned look.


    Bing Lan just casually said, "It''s a present to welcome you to our guild."

 Chapter 72 - 72: Finally over

    The package that was on the table was the magic sword that the Orc King had used.


    This had been brought back by me, but it had been taken away by the guards when they had arrested me.


    I had thought that I would never see it again, but here it was in front of me.


    I turned to look at Bing Xin, but she just gave a nod when she saw me look over to show that she agreed with this. However, I wasn''t surprised by this since I knew that this wouldn''t have been brought here without her approval.


    By all rights, this thing should have been her loot since she was the one that had killed the Orc King and she was free to do whatever she wanted with it.


    Whether she sold it or used it for something else, it was her right to do so.


    But giving it to me was¡­considered wasteful.


    After all, I was nothing more than a F Ranker. Giving me this kind of precious magic weapon was considered a large waste since technically I shouldn''t be able to draw out its full power.


    I looked at her for a bit before asking, "Is it really alright? Isn''t this a¡­"


    Before I could finish, Bing Xin said, "This is my loot, so I can do whatever I want with it and I want to give it to you since you saved my life."


    I opened and closed my mouth a few times before saying, "Thank you."


    Bing Xin just revealed a bright smile before she said, "But there is a catch to this."


    I was caught off guard by this sudden twist, but I wasn''t surprised by this since this seemed about right. There was no way that she would just give something as precious as this to me without expecting something in return.


    So I calmly asked, "What is it?"


    Bing Xin looked at me with a serious look and said, "Why did those C Rankers suddenly stop while they were attacking you? It seemed like there was something that had caused them to stop like that. Did you do it?"


    I revealed a faint smile when I heard this since I had already expected her to ask me this. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since I had expected her to ask me this, naturally I already had an answer prepared.


    I just calmly said, "I''ll demonstrate to you what I did if you want."


    Bing Xin was surprised before she gave a firm nod.


    I looked at her and softly said, "Be dizzy."


    The moment that I said this, Bing Xin couldn''t help shaking a bit even though she was sitting down before deeply knitting her brows.


    All of a sudden, there had been a strong wave of nausea that had run through her that had almost made her fall out of the chair. If it wasn''t for her strong will, she might have actually fallen out of the chair.


    However, she was able to keep herself in the chair in the end.


    With this, she understood what had happened to the C Rankers that had chased after them.


    Lin Fan had used this command to incapacitate them at the last second so he could catch them off guard and cut them down.


    That was why they had suddenly stopped in the middle of the fight.


    But she couldn''t help looking at him with a strange look at the same time.


    After all, this was a F Rank power that had even affected a B Ranker like her.


    This wasn''t something that should have happened¡­


    Could it be that there was something else that he was hiding or was there something special about his power?


    Bing Lan was the one that explained in the end.


    Based on the context clues, she had already been able to figure it out, so she said, "You should look carefully at the description of his ability again."''


    Bing Xin was confused when she heard this, but she still followed Bing Lan''s suggestion in the end. However, she wasn''t able to figure out a single thing even after staring at it for a bit.


    Bing Lan said with a smile, "It says that it depends on the willpower of the user and the target, doesn''t it?"


    There was a look of slow recognition that appeared on Bing Xin''s face after she heard this.


    She had already seen Lin Fan''s willpower when he had done everything he could to save her, so she didn''t doubt that.


    But it really seemed incredible that he had enough willpower to even affect a B Ranker like her.


    When I saw the way that she looked at me, I added with a bitter smile, "It''s only because it''s a small command like this. There''s less resistance to small commands like this as opposed to large commands. If it''s a large command like ''kill yourself'', you can be sure that it wouldn''t work."


    Hearing this, the two of them gave understanding nods.


    With this, Bing Xin revealed a satisfied look as if she had finally gotten the answer that she had been looking for.


    This was the one thing that had been bothering her the entire time, but now that it had been explained, it was like a weight being lifted off her shoulders.


    Bing Lan could also see this, so she revealed a happy smile, but she also quickly went back into her guild master mode as she turned to me. With a serious look, she said, "For now, you''re free to do what you want, but I would focus on getting ready for the Irregular License Exam."


    I gave a nod in response to this.


    Passing the Irregular License Exam was my key to entering the guild formally, so that was what I had been planning on focusing on in the first place.


    Bing Lan gave a nod too before adding, "I''ll be assigning someone to take care of you, so you''ll be getting your instructions through them. They should be contacting you in a week after you get some time to rest."


    I once again nodded in response to this.


    Bing Lan also gave another nod before saying, "Alright, that''s all I have for you. You should see the money being deposited into your account by the end of tomorrow."


    With that, I was dismissed from the camp and allowed to go on a week long vacation.


    It was finally over and in the end, it had ended the way that I had wanted it to end.

 Chapter 73 - 73: Strange voice again

    After getting home, the first thing that happened was that I fell onto my bed and entered a deep slumber.


    I didn''t even bother eating anything or taking a shower, I just fell asleep as soon as my face hit the bed.


    When I woke up, I found that it was already morning.


    The first thing that I did was check my bank account and I found that as promised, the money had already been transferred over.


    Seeing all that money in my account, I couldn''t help revealing a silly smile.


    A few weeks ago, I barely had enough money to sustain myself. But now¡­I was rolling in the money.


    It really was strange how all of this could change in the matter of a few weeks, but I was very grateful to the Demon King System for bringing this change into my life. Without the Demon King System¡­it would be hard to imagine where I would be¡­


    "At least you know to be grateful."


    When I heard this, I immediately snapped out of my thoughts and started looking around for the source of this voice.


    However, I wasn''t able to see a single thing in this small apartment of mine.


    This was a small apartment, so it really would have been hard to hide in here.


    After making sure that there was nothing here, I slowly asked, "Who are you?"


    "Who am I? Who do you think I am?"


    That voice rang out again, but this time I had been looking at my apartment the whole time. This time, I was certain that this voice wasn''t coming from anywhere inside of the apartment.


    Rather since I was listening to it closely, I could tell that it seemed like this voice was coming from inside of my head.


    Could it be that I was going crazy from exhaustion and the stress of this whole situation that I was now hearing voices?


    "Humph, even if you are crazy, that doesn''t mean that I''m a voice from your imagination. Think carefully and remember whose voice this is."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this, but I did follow this instruction and started to think carefully about this voice. After all, it did seem quite familiar to me¡­it was just I couldn''t put my finger on where I had heard this voice before.


    But then all of a sudden, I remembered who this voice belonged to.


    This was the voice that I had heard when the Demon King System had first awakened.


    This was the voice that had guided me when I had first awakened as a demon king.


    I had thought that this voice would keep talking to me afterwards, but it had suddenly disappeared after the incident with Wang Bing.


    "You finally remember me? Took you long enough." The voice rang out in my head.


    Slowly, I asked, "Where have you been this whole time? You''re the one that suddenly disappeared."


    The voice gave a snort before saying, "Humph, it''s all your fault! If it wasn''t for you being so slow in gathering the demon king''s power, then I wouldn''t have taken so long to awaken. What kind of virgin are you that it takes you this long to gather enough power to wake me up?"


    I couldn''t help being stunned when I heard this, but in the end, I could only counter with, "I''m not a virgin¡­anymore."


    The voice gave another snort before saying, "I know, I''ve been watching the whole time. It''s just that I wasn''t able to do anything about it. I can''t believe that you''ve been holding back your desires the whole time and haven''t done anything like the demon king of lust at all. You should have taken both of those sisters when you could."


    I was shocked when I heard this before saying, "All that would do is cause more trouble for me! You should know what would happen if the world were to find out that I was a demon king."


    "If you gather enough power, is there anything to fear?"


    I didn''t say anything in response to this. Instead, I changed the topic by asking, "Who are you?"


    "Who am I? Who do you think I am?" The voice suddenly asked in a teasing voice.


    I was taken aback by this and just sat there in bed in silence. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Alright, I''ll stop playing around then." The voice said after seeing this, "I am the Aspect of Lust, the one that gave you this Demon King System. I am the origin of the demon king of lust."


    I revealed a shocked look when I heard this as I tried to process what I had just heard.


    Slowly I said, "Are you some kind of invader from another world? Or are you something else?"


    After all, the dungeons had suddenly appeared when that voice had told everyone to slay the demon kings¡­No one knew exactly where these dungeons came from, but the general guess was that they were from another world.


    The voice didn''t respond right away, but it still said in a slow voice.


    "I¡­don''t really know. I just know that when I gained consciousness, I was to find someone that suited the Demon King System that could become the demon king of lust."


    I knitted my brows when I heard the voice say this, but I knew that there was nothing else to gain from questioning the voice.


    Before I could say anything else, the voice suddenly said, "That''s right, it really was hard trying to find someone that would fulfill the role of the demon king of lust. That is until I found you."


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit flattered when I heard this, but then the voice quickly shut me down.


    "I had thought that someone whose last thoughts before dying was that they wanted to lose their virginity would act much more like a demon king of lust instead of being hesitant like you¡­But in the end, I was disappointed."


    The voice even gave a sigh after saying this.


    All that I could do was reveal a bitter smile after hearing this.

 Chapter 74 - 74: Walking doll

    The voice didn''t hold back at all as it continued, "From the dungeon until now, everything that you''ve done is disappointing. You''ve already gotten a sex slave and you rarely use her. Also the detective, you didn''t do anything to her even when you had a chance. Then there''s the sisters, you just let them slip through your fingers. You really are a disappointment to the title of demon king of lust!"


    The bitter smile on my face became even more bitter after hearing all of this¡­but I still kept myself calm.


    Once the voice had finally finished its rant, I said, "If I did do all of that, then what would have happened next? Would I have been able to resist the police that came after me once they figured out what I was doing? Would I have been able to stop the Awakeners of the world from hunting me down once they realized that I was a demon king?"


    The voice didn''t say anything in response to this right away, but then it said, "If you acted like a demon king, you would have gained the demon king''s powers and would have nothing to fear."


    I shook my head with a bitter laugh before saying, "That''s such a foolish way to look at things. There''s nothing to gain from rushing to reveal my true identity. In fact, that''s nothing more than a one way trip to the underworld since it would just get me killed. I can''t resist the entire world by myself, so I have to slowly increase my power and my followers.


    I am not a fool like you who just rushes headfirst into everything."


    The voice didn''t say anything else in response, but since it rang out in my head, I could hear the mumbling of the voice.


    "Humph, you have all those broken skills and you''re still saying this. As long as you properly used the skills I gave you, it wouldn''t be a problem at all. Especially since they become stronger the more you act like a demon king."


    I completely ignored this even though it was true.


    After all, it was because I had leveled up as a demon king and gained a skill point to add into Hypnosis that I had been able to confidently use it on Bing Xin and even Tie Gang, the A ranker.


    But I would never admit that this was true since it was clear that I wouldn''t agree with this voice.


    So instead of arguing with the voice even more, I calmly asked, "What are you here for? I''m sure that you wouldn''t be here just for a courtesy call, right? You must want something from me."


    Once again, the voice didn''t speak right away.


    But after a moment of silence, the voice said, "I do have something that I want from you. I need you to get a body for me."


    My chin dropped when I heard this before I asked, "Are you telling me to go¡­kill someone and bring their body back for you?"


    Killing people, I had already done that, so it wasn''t as if I was against it.


    But killing people and bringing the body back was just asking for trouble. After all, it was very easy to track people in this modern society with cameras all around.


    The moment that I tried bringing a body back, I would be immediately discovered and sent to jail.


    The voice quickly said, "No, I don''t need a human body¡­though that would be for the best. But since I know you''re too scared to do something like that, I''ll just take an inanimate object as a body."


    Then the voice suddenly became haughty as it said, "Of course, it has to be something that fits my beautiful image. I need a body that''s nice and slim, as well as very enticing if you know what I mean. I won''t accept anything less than that."


    I had to take a moment to process what this voice had said before slowly asking, "So you''re saying that you can take a doll as your body?"


    The voice said, "That''s right, but only a beautiful doll, do you understand?"


    "Eh?" That was my only response to that.


    After all, as a single male who lived alone, it wasn''t as if I had things like that just lying around.


    Hearing my response, the voice said, "What''s wrong? I''m sure that you have a sex doll or two lying around right? You''re that kind of desperate person, aren''t you?" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t help doing a spit take when I heard this before saying, "Why would I have something like that? I could barely afford my basic necessities, so where would I have gotten enough money for that?"


    "Eh?" This time, it was the voice''s turn to be surprised by this.


    After a pause, the voice said, "But you''re such a horny young man who even thinks about sex as his last thoughts. I really would have thought that you would have had several sex dolls just lying around."


    There were three black lines that appeared on my forehead when I heard this.


    Seeing this silence, the voice continued, "Alright, fine, just give me whatever doll you have."


    Once again, I remained silent.


    The voice trembled a bit as it said, "You''re telling me that you don''t have anything? No figurines or anything like that?"


    I just asked with a bitter smile, "Where would I put something like that in here? You would have seen it right away if I had something like that."


    The voice just said, "Then go and buy something right now, I don''t care what you do¡­"


    There was a sudden pause from the voice before it became much louder and much more anxious, "Go and find something right now! I don''t care what it is, find something beautiful for me right now!"


    I was confused when I heard this as I had no idea what was going on. I just took a deep breath and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    "There''s no time! Get me a body right¡­"


    Before the voice could finish, there was a flash of light that came from my closet as the voice fell silent.


    When the flash of light disappeared, the closet door slowly opened to reveal¡­a bunny doll that was standing there.


    This bunny doll looked down at its hands before looking back up at me and saying, "What have you done?"

 Chapter 75 - 75: Planning the future

    I just stared at this bunny doll standing there in a daze.


    Naturally I recognized this bunny doll since it was one of the few possessions that I had remaining after my family had died. This bunny doll was the favourite toy of my little sister that I had kept for sentimental reasons.


    But seeing it standing there looking at me, I really didn''t know how to feel.


    But that bunny doll didn''t take this.


    Seeing that I was just staring at it without saying a thing, the bunny doll suddenly said, "Hey, what are you sitting there in a daze for? Hurry up and help me with this!"


    Hearing this, I snapped out of my daze and got out of bed.


    I slowly walked over to where the bunny doll was standing and just stood over it.


    Standing over this bunny doll really was a strange feeling since this bunny doll was so much smaller than me. Not to mention¡­the fact that it was a sentient bunny doll that was looking up at me.


    After looking at it for a bit, I bent down so that I was facing it and said, "What do you want me to do about this? How did you even get stuck in this bunny doll in the first place?"


    The bunny doll opened its mouth, but there were no words that came out.


    With the way that it was acting, it almost looked like even it didn''t know what had happened.


    After a long silence, the bunny doll said, "I think that it''s because I overestimated how much lust energy you had. I thought that there would be enough to sustain me for a while after waking up, which is why I chose to wake up at this time¡­However, that doesn''t seem to be the case."


    I raised a brow before asking, "What happens when you run out of lust energy?"


    The bunny''s face twisted in a way as if it was revealing an angry look before it suddenly came forward to punch me in the shin. However, since it was a bunny doll that was made of cloth and stuffing, I didn''t feel anything as it punched me.


    The bunny doll said in an angry voice, "What do you think? I was forced to find some other form to conserve energy, which was why I ended up like this. I was forced out of you and pushed into the nearest suitable form, which ended up being this children''s toy!"


    Though the voice was angry, seeing a bunny doll act this way wasn''t that terrifying at all.


    Rather, it was more cute than it was scary.


    I couldn''t stop a smile from appearing on my face as I watched the bunny doll acting this way.


    Of course, the bunny doll wouldn''t miss this smile on my face, so it became even more angry as it started punching my shin again and again. While it was punching my shin, it said in the same angry voice, "What, are, you, laughing, at?"


    It said these words in sync with the punches, so they came out one after another.


    The smile on my face grew wider seeing this, but I still forced myself to put that smile away.


    I picked up the bunny doll and stood up to walk over to the table before putting the bunny doll on it.


    Like this, I was able to have a proper talk with the bunny doll without destroying my legs by squatting the whole time.


    Sitting down, I asked, "What can I do to get you into the body that you want?"


    In the end, this thing was the one who had given me the Demon King System.


    So it could be said that I owed this thing my life.


    As such, I should try to repay it for everything that it gave me.


    Seeing this sudden change in attitude, the bunny doll revealed a look like it was raising an eyebrow in doubt. But seeing the serious look on my face, the bunny doll said, "The only way that I can change my body now is if you develop as the king of lust. As long as you increase your power, I will be able to free myself from this form and take over another body."


    I gave a nod before asking, "How much are we talking about?"


    The bunny doll looked up at me and said, "At least level ten. Once you have that much power, it should be easy for me to change bodies."


    I could even hear a bit of hope in the bunny doll''s voice as it said this.


    Level ten¡­Everything that I had done had only leveled me up once and this bunny doll wanted me to level up to level ten.


    That didn''t seem like it would happen anytime soon.


    As if it could read my mind, the bunny doll suddenly said, "That''s because you take too long and you''re too timid! As long as you use your power to act like the demon king of lust, you''ll be able to level up in no time!"


    I shook my head when I heard this and said in a firm voice, "No, I refuse to do that. I will not do anything that will put my life in danger."


    The bunny doll opened and closed its mouth a few times before looking at me like it was exasperated.


    Finally, it raised its hands into the air and said, "Fine! Fine! Do whatever you want! I''ll just be stuck in this body forever!" S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t help revealing a smile seeing this before slowly reaching out to pat the bunny doll on the head.


    If it was acting like normal, it definitely would have tried to swat my hand away, but it was sitting down and holding its knees in depression right now. It didn''t even notice when I started patting its head.


    After a bit of silence, I asked, "What should I call you? Do you have a name? Or should I give you one?"


    The bunny doll snapped out of its depression and said, "Of course I have a name! Even if I didn''t, I wouldn''t want an idiot like you naming me!"


    I just smiled and said, "What''s your name then?"


    "Lilith." The bunny doll said in a serious voice.


    Lilith, the original demon of lust¡­that really was a name that suited something that was known as the Aspect of Lust.


    But I couldn''t help realizing another issue after hearing this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at the bunny doll and slowly asked, "Then does that mean that you''re female?"


    The bunny doll looked up at me and said, "Of course I am! What did you think I was?"


    I looked at the bunny doll and couldn''t help revealing a smile since I couldn''t find anything that could connect this bunny doll to the sexy demon that was Lilith.


    As if she could guess what I''m thinking, the bunny doll said, "You! You! You! Let me tell you, if I had my actual body, a virgin like you would be completely knocked out by me! If it wasn''t for¡­"


    Hearing her rant like this, I just revealed a faint smile and silently listened.

 Chapter 76 - 76: Store

    After a few days of laying low and resting up, I finally headed out.


    Today I was going to a special place.


    I was going to the business that I had a share in.


    After traveling for a bit, I arrived at that business.


    When I walked in, there were beautiful girls that turned to greet me. However, most of them just turned away after looking at me since they could tell that I didn''t have much money.


    I was dressed in the same clothes as before since I hadn''t gone out to shop other than for groceries during this time.


    These were the same clothes from when I had been dirt poor, so it wasn''t strange that they looked down on me.


    But I didn''t care since I was here for a different reason.


    Without caring for anyone, I just walked towards the back.


    When I reached the bar and was about to head into the back, some of the girls tried to stop me.


    However, the bartender behind the bar said, "Stop bothering him and get back to work. Don''t you even recognize your own boss?"


    The girls couldn''t help revealing a confused and surprised look when they heard this.


    Then slowly, they turned to look at me with looks of amazement and doubt.


    But I just ignored it all.


    I simply gave the bartender a nod before heading to the back.


    I had to admit that this bartender really was professional. With his sleek looks and his professional manners, I would happily call him ''master''.


    When I reached the back and closed the door, Sasha came right up and wrapped her arms around me. She looked up at me with a teasing look and said, "What took you so long? Or have you been avoiding little old me?" Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I kept a stone cold face when met with this.


    Seeing this look on my face, she just pouted her lips and said, "You''re no fun at all."


    I didn''t say anything as I just walked over to the desk with her before sitting down across from her. Once we were seated, I asked, "How''s business going?"


    Sasha revealed a smile as she asked, "How do you think it''s going?"


    I shook my head with a smile before saying, "Guess it''s going well."


    When I had walked through the store, my eyes hadn''t been idle. I had been looking around the store, noticing everything that was happening.


    It was clear that she was very good at running this store with all the customers that were here. But then again, with all of these beauties, it would have been hard for her to fail.


    The store that Sasha had opened was a hostess bar since that was what she did best.


    She knew all of the tricks about tricking men and she had taught them to all of the girls that worked here. With these tricks, they were able to easily draw in the men and take all of their money.


    Hearing what I said, Sasha revealed a seductive look and said, "It''s your store master, naturally I have to do all I can to make it succeed."


    ''My'' store¡­that really was a funny thing.


    That was because the money for this store actually came from¡­the life insurance of those men that died in the dungeon.


    The leader had taken a large life insurance policy and had named Sasha as his beneficiary, so after some time of dealing with the insurance people, she had used all that money to start this store.


    Of course, since I was a shareholder, I had invested a bit of money into this place.


    However, the amount that I had invested was almost negligible compared to the overall cost. At the same time, most of that money had already been sent back to me as cash so that it couldn''t be tracked down by the tax agency.


    So it was funny hearing that this was my store when it was bought with the lives of those men who died in the dungeon.


    But still, they were the ones that had targeted me in the first place.


    Since they had decided to become my enemies, there was no reason for me to show any mercy.


    I would gladly take whatever their life was worth and use it for my own purpose, along with their woman.


    After taking a moment to adjust my mind, I gave a nod and said, "Keep up the good work then."


    Sasha''s eyes lit up when she heard this. Then she leaned forward on the table and said, "Then is it time for my reward?"


    While saying this, her eyes had already started moving downwards. She didn''t even try to hide it as she looked at my crotch with a meaningful look.


    But of course, I wasn''t in the mood for that right now.


    There were still many things that were on my mind with what was about to come up, so I just couldn''t get into the mood.


    I distracted her by saying, "The bartender out there was quite the good find, wasn''t he?"


    Sasha revealed a disappointed look, but she still said, "Un, it was hard to find someone as professional as him, but I have my connections. That''s how I found all of those beautiful girls as well."


    I gave a nod in agreement to this.


    The girls that were in this hostess bar were much more beautiful than normal girls at a hostess bar. It seemed like Sasha really had quite a few seedy connections to arrange something like this.


    I was about to say something else, but before I could¡­


    "What kind of trash establishment is this? The girls are this clumsy! Do you know what you''ve done? Can you even begin to repay this!"


    "Call the manager out right now! I want to talk to the manager!"


    Their voices were so loud that we were even able to hear it in the back.


    Sasha knitted her brows before standing up and saying, "I''ll go and take care of this. I''ll be back soon."


    But I also stood up and shook my head to say, "I''ll come with you. You might not be able to deal with this alone."


    Sasha was surprised, but then a blush came over her face as she softly said, "Alright."

 Chapter 77 - 77: Rowdy ‘customers’

    When we came out, we found that there were a bunch of men who were currently standing up while a bunch of our worker girls were lying on the couches.


    Some of these girls even had red cheeks to show that they had been hit by these men.


    At the same time, there were shattered bits of bottles on the ground.


    It was clear that these were the men who had caused a commotion.


    But I didn''t go forward to deal with it. Instead, I looked at Sasha and gave her a look.


    Sasha couldn''t help being surprised and a bit disappointed when she saw this, but she still went forward to deal with this.


    After she walked over, she said, "I''m the manager here. Is there a problem?"


    When those men heard her, they turned to look in her direction. The one that seemed to be the leader was about to say something, but then they saw what she looked like and their mouth stopped opening.


    They just looked at her with surprised looks for a bit before the leader said, "So you''re the manager here? Not bad, not bad."


    Sasha slightly knitted her brows, but she didn''t say anything in response to this.


    Seeing that she didn''t react at all, the leader wasn''t offended. Instead, he revealed a smile as he said, "I like girls who are feisty."


    Sasha once again ignored this as she waited to hear what he had to say.


    When the leader saw that she wouldn''t react to his taunting, he stopped playing around and said, "I want to complain about your business. What kind of business are you running here where your girls can''t even service the customers properly?"


    Sasha just said with a calm look on her face, "Sir, this isn''t that kind of establishment. This is a place where people come to drink and unwind, it isn''t a house of lust. If that is what you''re looking for, there are plenty of other places for you to go."


    The leader''s face twisted when he heard this, but he didn''t back down as he said, "Is that so? But this is such a dirty place that I thought that it was that kind of place."


    The leader turned around to point at the table before saying, "Look at that! There''s even bugs in the food that you serve us! And you''re saying that this isn''t a dirty place?"


    Sasha looked in the direction that the leader was pointing in and she found that there was indeed a cockroach that was in the fruit platter that had been brought out.


    This was a real cockroach, but it was a dead cockroach.


    The strange thing was that this cockroach didn''t have a single sign of being injured, so it was clear that it had been dead for a while now. It shouldn''t have been squashed by anyone here.


    Sasha turned back to the leader and calmly said, "I''m sorry, I didn''t know your brother had come as well. If I knew, I would have offered a family package."


    The leader was confused when he heard this, but then there was a look of slow understanding that appeared on his face.


    He realized¡­that the family package was her indirect way of calling him a cockroach!


    With this, the leader''s face twisted in rage and he raised his fist as if he was about to punch Sasha.


    The bartender saw this and was about to come out, but before he could, I had already grabbed his wrist to stop him before coming out myself.


    I walked right up in front of Sasha and caught that fist before saying, "Sir, please don''t cause a ruckus in the store."


    The leader looked at me with his face twisted in rage, but then he couldn''t help revealing a strange look as he said, "Oi, you bunny b*stard, what do you think you''re doing?"


    As for why he was calling me a bunny b*stard, that was because of the bunny mask that was on my face.


    This was a mask that I had randomly grabbed from the back, but with the nature of this store, there weren''t that many masks to choose from in the first place.


    This mask was a bunny mask that was used for the cosplay events held at the store.


    I just calmly said, "If you wish to make a ruckus, please take it elsewhere."


    The leader slowly overcame the surprise that he felt from seeing the bunny mask before saying in a low voice, "And if I don''t?"


    "Then I have no choice but to escort you out of our store." I said in a calm voice.


    The leader gave a low laugh before saying, "You and what army?"


    As soon as his voice fell, he twisted his foot and started pushing forward with his fist. However, he found that he wasn''t able to push me back at all.


    It was almost like he was pushing against an iron wall.


    "You¡­" The leader started to say, but he didn''t have a chance to finish this.


    That was because I had already punched him in his stomach and he had already crumpled down.


    I let go of his fist and he fell to the ground. Then I turned to the other men and looked at them as if asking if they wanted to go as well.


    All of them couldn''t help taking a step back when they saw this.


    With this, the situation entered a stalemate where neither side dared to do anything¡­


    That was until Sasha pointed at the leader on the ground and said, "Take him and get out of my store."


    The men hesitantly looked at me after hearing this, but seeing that I didn''t do anything, they came forward to help the leader off the ground.


    After lifting him up, they quickly backed away from us. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Only when there was some distance between us did they turn around to say, "You just wait and see! You''ll definitely regret this!"


    The way that they said this was just like what a two bit villain would say when they were defeated.


    But they didn''t stick around to back this up as they quickly ran out of the store.

 Chapter 78 - 78: Red Gang

    Once those men were gone, there was an awkward silence that hung in the air.


    Even if they were gone, the happy atmosphere that they had destroyed wasn''t going to fix itself.


    So Sasha suddenly revealed a smile and said to everyone, "I''m sorry about that disturbance just now. To make it up to everyone, we will be offering a 50% discount for the rest of the night."


    There was silence that followed at first, but then there were cheers that came before the sounds of orders being made rang out.


    With that, the happy tone of the store was restored.


    I looked at Sasha and was about to ask something, but she shook her head and mouthed, "Not here. There''s too many people here. Let''s talk in the back."


    I gave a nod in response to this before following her to the back.


    As we passed by the counter, Sasha gave a nod to the bartender before saying, "Please take care of the rest."


    The bartender just gave a simple nod before going back to polishing the cups.


    At the same time, he gave a look of admiration in my direction before turning back.


    While we were walking to the office, I looked down at my own hand before revealing a faint smile.


    Earlier when I had caught the leader''s attack, that had been done with just my body alone. I hadn''t used any of my demon king powers at all, I just relied on my physique to catch that blow.


    If it was the me from before, I definitely wouldn''t have been able to receive that blow.


    This leader was strong enough to lead this group, so he definitely wasn''t weak compared to a normal person.


    But my physique had improved during this time off.


    After recovering from ripping my muscles in that demonstration, I was surprised to find that my physique had improved.


    It seemed that this was a form of extreme muscle training¡­though I wouldn''t want to do it often since it did hurt and it wasn''t a good idea to injure myself like that on a regular basis.


    Once we entered the office and sat down, the first thing that Sasha did was let out a sigh.


    It was clear by the look on her face and the way that she was giving a sigh that there was a story here. So I just calmly waited for her to calm down before asking, "Was it alright to use such a rough method to get rid of them?"


    What I was talking about was how she had directly provoked the leader of the group.


    If she hadn''t done that, perhaps there would have been a different way to settle things. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Sasha just shook her head and said, "They would have caused trouble regardless of how I handled them. They were paid to come and cause trouble for my store in the first place."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It seemed that the circumstances were much deeper than I had thought.


    Sasha gave another sigh before continuing, "They came from the Red Gang, the gang that recently took over the area from the Wild Gang."


    After that, she started explaining the entire situation to me.


    It turned out that this Red Gang had destroyed and absorbed the Wild Gang that had once ruled this area. Now, they were looking to get protection money from the businesses that were in this area.


    Sasha didn''t have to pay before because she had known people in the Wild Gang, but even then, she didn''t want to pay since she knew that the Red Gang wouldn''t follow through. She had already learned through her contacts that the Red Gang was a greedy and vicious gang that didn''t hesitate to do bad things for money.


    She knew that as soon as she gave in, they would make demands that were worse and worse until they forced her to submit completely to them. Once that happened, there would be no escape for both her and the girls in the store.


    If it was before, she would have closed this store and run away¡­but she couldn''t do that since she was running this store for Lin Fan.


    After she finished her story, she said, "I''m looking into a way to deal with them, so there''s no point showing any fear right now. If they come, I have to show a fierce side or else they''ll just get even more excessive with their demands."


    Then she let out a sigh after saying this.


    I gave a nod to show that I understood where she was coming from, but I didn''t give any response beyond that.


    However, Sasha didn''t mind in the first place since she wasn''t expecting anything in the first place.


    She had just told me all of this to report this matter to me, but she already had her own plans of handling it. Or rather, it should be said that she was trying in her own way to prove that she was useful.


    I had other things to worry about too, so I wouldn''t interfere too much in this matter.


    Though I would keep this in the back of my mind to see if I could find some kind of solution.


    No matter what, this store was mine and I couldn''t let other people take my things.


    After a long silence, I stood up and said, "Good work managing the store."


    Then without any hesitation, I turned around and walked out of the office.


    Sasha just sat there without following me out since she knew that there was no point in following behind me.


    She was just worried about what he was thinking, so she was trying to figure out how to handle this matter with the Red Gang.


    But what she didn''t know was that I was also thinking about a way to handle this.


    In the end, it turned out that I was quite the greedy person.


    If something was mine, no one should think about taking it away.

 Chapter 79 - 79: Surprising comrade

    A few more days passed after this and I just waited to be contacted like they said.


    Then one day, I suddenly received a call asking me to come down to Elementia headquarters. They said that they would even be sending someone to pick me up.


    When the time came, there was a limo that was waiting outside of my apartment.


    Since I lived in a crappy apartment, this kind of limo really stuck out like a sore thumb.


    While it was parked outside my apartment, everyone came to take a look at it.


    With how many people had gathered, it was almost like a festival. There were even some street vendors that had come over to take advantage of this crowd, so it could almost be considered a festival.


    When I came down, the person driving the car came out and walked over to me. That person suddenly gave a bow and said, "Master Lin, I have come to pick you up."


    As soon as he did this, everyone''s eyes suddenly looked at me.


    There were many different gazes that were directed at me. Some of them were filled with envy, some of them were filled with confusion, and there were even some that seemed like they were targeting me.


    After all, I was someone that could get this kind of luxurious limo to pick them up, so they misunderstood that I was someone very important.


    Before I could say anything, Mrs Li, who was one of my neighbours came over and asked, "Xiao Lin, what kind of trouble did you get yourself in?"


    Mrs Li was one of the friendlier neighbours in our apartment complex, though she did have a habit of gossiping. So her coming over to ask this was half out of care for me and half because she wanted to get gossip right from the source.


    But before I could answer, the driver suddenly said, "This missus, I think there''s been some kind of misconception. Master Lin isn''t in any kind of danger, but rather I''m here to pick up the newest recruit to our guild, Elementia."


    The moment that the word ''Elementia'' was said, everyone couldn''t help revealing shocked looks.


    After all, this was one of the top guilds in the world that even had a S Ranker personally watching over it. There wasn''t a single person in this crowd that didn''t recognize this name.


    As soon as ''Elementia'' was said, the looks that were directed my way completely changed. Now these looks were filled with admiration and curiosity¡­but there were still those looks of passion.


    In fact, the eyes of the girls that wanted to hook someone rich became even more passionate and I almost felt like I was prey targeted by them¡­


    When Mrs Li heard this, she couldn''t help revealing a blush.


    After all, this driver was a handsome and clean middle aged man, the kind that was hard for a housewife like her to resist.


    After taking a moment to calm herself, Mrs Li turned to me and said, "Xiao Lin, you really are something. You can even join a big guild like Elementia. I''ll bring some dumplings over to celebrate."


    Then without giving me a chance to say anything, Mrs Li quickly headed off. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But from time to time, she kept peeking back at the handsome middle aged driver.


    Once she was gone, the handsome middle aged driver opened the door and said, "Master Lin, shall we?"


    With a sigh, I entered the limo.


    In this situation, the sooner I got out of this place, the better.


    After all, it would just become worse and worse if more people gathered and people would definitely gather with the crowd that had already been drawn in.


    With a bow to the crowd, the handsome middle aged driver got in and drove off.


    Once we were alone in the car, I said, "That was a sly move."


    The driver looked at me in the mirror and just revealed a smile without saying a thing before turning his eyes back on the road.


    I just gave a sigh and enjoyed the feeling of riding in a limo.


    I had to admit that there really was a special allure to this limo that normal people like me couldn''t resist.


    It was the feeling of having made something of myself that made this ride so enjoyable.


    After a short ride, we were able to reach Elementia headquarters.


    As for why it was such a short ride, we were able to use the special Awakener roads to get there sooner. These were roads that had been specially laid aside for Awakeners so that they could get to where they needed to go quickly.


    This was a measure that had been taken at first for emergencies only so that Awakeners could quickly reach the disaster zone to handle these emergencies, but afterwards, they had been turned into a privilege for high ranking Awakeners.


    The powerful guilds all had special passes that allowed them to take these roads and this limo was one of the high grade vehicles of the high ranking Elementia guild, so naturally it had a pass to take this road.


    After arriving, the handsome middle aged man bowed to me and said, "I hope that I will be able to be your chauffeur again one day."


    Him saying this was naturally his high expectation for me.


    I just simply gave a nod and walked in without saying anything.


    When I arrived in the lobby, I found that Bing Lan and Bing Xin were there waiting for me.


    There was a crowd gathered around them, but it seemed that no one dared to move closer to talk to them.


    But what I was more surprised by was the person that was with them.


    It was Su Chen, the leader of Bing Xin''s personal porter team.


    It seemed that he had been able to survive that ordeal as well.


    Bing Lan waved at me as soon as she saw me and I walked over with a bitter smile on my face as I became the center of attention once again.


    Seeing that Bing Lan was waving to get my attention, the crowd around us naturally switched their attention to me. They looked at me with looks of doubt and disdain, but I just ignored them as I walked over.


    After coming over, Bing Lan said, "You''re finally here, I didn''t think that it would take that long for you to get here."


    I just revealed a bitter smile before saying. "Well, your driver decided to play a trick on me which was why it took so long."


    Bing Lan just revealed a smile without saying anything, but that alone was enough to know that she was the one who had instructed the handsome middle aged man to do that.


    While I didn''t know what her motives were, I had some guesses.


    It was most likely related to keeping me safe by making sure that everyone knew that I was part of Elementia.


    After this exchange, Bing Lan looked at Su Chen and said, "I''m sure that you two are acquainted."


    I nodded before saying, "Team Leader Su, I''m really glad that you survived."


    Su Chen said with a smile, "I''m glad I survived too¡­but I never expected a performance like that out of you."


    The two of us just caught up for a bit before Bing Lan interrupted by saying, "From now on, Su Chen will be working with you as your handler and porter."


    "Huh?" I said with a surprised look on my face.

 Chapter 80 - 80: Getting experience

    After processing this, I slowly turned to look at Bing Xin.


    When she saw me look over, she tilted her head slowly to slant it up before saying, "You know how much I depend on Su Chen and I''m willing to let him go just because it''s you. You better be grateful."


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help revealing a smile before saying, "Un, thank you."


    I turned back to Bing Lan and asked, "Then what should I do now?"


    Bing Lan calmly said, "Now? You get experience before you take the Irregular License Exam."


    "Experience? How?" I asked in a confused voice.


    Bing Lan shook her head and gave a sigh, "How else would you get experience? You have to go into the dungeons and break zones for experience."


    I was fine with this since I wanted to go into them in the first place to get money and increase my abilities in the first place.


    However, then Bing Lan said something that caught me off guard.


    "Su Chen will bring you to your new team and you can work with them to see where you go."


    "Team?" I couldn''t help asking.


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying with a smile, "I know that you might prefer to go at it alone, but you should know that there are benefits to going with a team as well."


    I knitted my brows when I heard this, but I couldn''t deny that she was right.


    The only problem was that¡­I didn''t want to get caught up in having to manage relationships between groups.


    In most groups that were assigned to work together like this, there would be some kind of power dynamic or some kind of special relationship that would ruin it. So if I was going to make a group, I really wanted to make a group with people that I already knew.


    Bing Lan could naturally see what I was thinking, so she said, "I''ve personally handpicked this group for you. It''s a group of our best talents from this year, so I''m sure that you won''t be disappointed. Unless that is you don''t trust me."


    As expected of a guild master of one of the largest guilds¡­she really was shrewd.


    As soon as she added the line at the end, I had no choice but to accept.


    After all, if I still rejected at this point, it would be like insulting her to her face since she had put her name on it.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Alright, since you''ve strong armed me into this¡­I guess I have no choice."


    Bing Lan came forward and actually grabbed my arm before twisting.


    I found that I wasn''t able to resist at all as she twisted my arm, so I could only bend forward as she pushed me down.


    Then she said with a smile, "Now it can really be considered strong arming."


    I just revealed a bitter smile when I heard this.


    It seemed that this guild master of ours really liked to play around and didn''t hold back even against new members¡­


    But the fact that she could act this way around even new members showed that she was a friendly guild master and that this guild must run the same way.


    This was the kind of guild that I wanted to join since it would be easier for me to take advantage of them in the future.


    After teasing me a bit longer, the two sisters finally let me go with Su Chen.


    Su Chen just waved at me to follow him and we headed to the elevator.


    Instead of going up, he pressed a button to bring us to one of the basement levels.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help thinking¡­was I about to get initiated into something?


    But that worry wasn''t necessary as when we arrived, I found that he had brought us to a gym.


    I couldn''t help asking, "Aren''t we going to meet the other members of the group and then heading to a dungeon or a break zone?"


    Su Chen shook his head before saying, "It''s not that easy to arrange a dungeon raid as a guild. We need to prepare everything and set up the appointment, so it''ll take at least a day or two before we can go."


    I was surprised by this, but when I thought about it, it seemed right.


    A guild sending people into the dungeon was very different from an unaffiliated Awakener entering a dungeon.


    Guilds had much more resources and cared about their members, so they would prepare all the things that they needed. This would be much better and thorough than anything that unaffiliated Awakeners could prepare for themselves.


    After all, there was a large support team with each guild.


    But this did take time since there was a lot to gather, so waiting was inevitable.


    At the same time, sending notice that a guild team was going to raid a dungeon would mean being treated more preferentially than going alone.


    So it was all worth the wait.


    But that still didn''t answer why they were here in the gym.


    So I asked, "Why are we here then?" S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Su Chen looked at him with a smile and said, "You know what my specialty is, right?"


    As he said this, he also made sure to flex his muscles.


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    With how buff he was, it was hard to not understand what his specialty was. The only problem was why was he flexing this now?


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Su Chen continued by saying, "I already said that you had a beautiful physique. Now, all we need to do is help it blossom."


    When I heard this, I realized what Su Chen was planning on doing here.


    Plain and simple, he was planning on having me work out.


    The cover that I used was that my Suggestion skill allowed me to remove my limits and make myself stronger. The limit to this was my body.


    If my body couldn''t withstand my limits being removed, then I wouldn''t be able to use my ability.


    I finally understood why Bing Lan had set Su Chen as my personal porter.


    He was here to be my personal body trainer.


    After all, I had a physique that didn''t have any limits. As long as I kept working out, my physique would become better and better.


    Since they had gone this far for me, I had no reason to object.


    This would help me grow stronger and what I needed now was strength.


    So I looked at Su Chen with a determined look and said, "I''ll be counting on you."


    Su Chen revealed a wide smile when he saw I understood what he was implying. He then relaxed his muscles and came over with that same smile on his face as he said, "Don''t worry, I''ll be sure to work¡­you¡­hard."


    I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine when I heard this, but I still said with a nod, "Please take care of me."


    Who knew that this would be the worst mistake in my life.

 Chapter 81 - 81: First meeting

    When I woke up the next morning, I couldn''t help rubbing my body that was sore all over.


    Su Chen¡­really was a demon when it came to being an instructor.


    The exercise that we did yesterday definitely wasn''t something that a normal person would do.


    However, what he had told me at the end was the most shocking thing¡­


    "This is just a warm up today. I wanted to test you and see what you are capable of, so I made sure that you were still able to walk tomorrow. Be sure to expect worse in the future."


    He had said all of this with a wide smile on his face¡­


    It made him look like a demon instructor from hell¡­


    But the worst part of it all was that I wasn''t even able to rest today.


    He had said that the only reason why he had held back so that I could walk today was because we were heading into the dungeon.


    The group had been contacted and everything had been arranged, so we would be heading to a D Rank Dungeon today.


    It was a D Rank Dungeon since the rest of the group were all D Rankers.


    I would be the only one at F Rank, but the others hadn''t been informed of this yet.


    Since he had been assigned as my handler, Su Chen was the one that picked me up.


    When he saw the way that I limped out of the building, he gave a satisfied nod with a smile that made me want to slap his face. But I held back the urge in the end and just got in his car.


    It was different from yesterday when they sent a limo to pick me up.


    Today, we were taking Su Chen''s personal car.


    Yesterday was a special circumstance where they were putting on a show, but today, it was the normal thing from now on.


    As we were driving away, I could see the disappointed look on Mrs Li''s face as she stood outside the apartment complex.


    It seemed that she had been quite taken by the handsome middle aged driver.


    Since Su Chen was a handler, he had the same special passes as the limo and was able to take the Awakener roads.


    It took us no time to arrive at the dungeon which was just outside the city.


    There were quite a few people gathered outside the dungeon, way more than normal. Or at least that was what I thought based on the number of people that had been gathered outside the dungeon that I visited alone last time.


    However, I could also see that many of them weren''t actually going in and just standing around.


    I could guess what was happening, so I made Su Chen park far away from the dungeon before walking over with him.


    Like this, I was able to sneak into the area without much attention.


    As I walked among the crowd, I could hear a few things that they were saying amongst themselves.


    "Did you hear? I heard that there was a group from a big guild coming today."


    "Really? If it''s from a big guild, they must be insane monsters¡­but if we can talk to them while they are here and get closer to them¡­"


    "You think that you''re the only one that thought of that? Don''t you see everyone else here? Do you think that anyone will give you this chance?"


    As I had expected, the news of us coming to this dungeon had been leaked.


    I didn''t know who leaked it, I didn''t even know if it was done intentionally, but the information was out there.


    However, drawing attention was the last thing that I wanted.


    So I wanted to see if I could get into the dungeon before anything else could happen.


    It was just too bad that before I could do anything, there were people that started drawing attention.


    It was clear that these people were my teammates with the way that they came up in their fancy cars and their personal handlers/porters. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that Elementia treated all of their important hires the same way.


    They would give them a handler and personal porter to ensure that they were taken care of.


    Based on the way that they arrived, it was clear that these other members of his group enjoyed this kind of treatment. They were most likely kids who were new on the scene and enjoyed showing off their powers.


    They were completely different from me who knew that gaining attention wasn''t a good thing.


    It was only one of them at first, but then there were four separate groups of people that were formed.


    At the center of each of these groups was an Awakener with a handler following them.


    Together, they came over to the entrance of the dungeon and gathered together.


    Once they came together, people found it hard to go over since they knew that they would be bothering them.


    As the four of them met for the first time, they started gauging out each other.


    In the end, there was a bit of a balance that formed between the four of them as they all started doing their own thing.


    When I saw this, I knew that it would be troublesome going with these kids.


    Bing Lan had said that she had found some good people for him, but now he knew that it wasn''t a good idea to trust her words¡­


    It seemed that she had found some troublemakers for him and she was hoping that he would be able to mellow them out.


    I really didn''t want to do this, but it was already too late to back down.


    So I had no choice but to walk over to where they were standing.


    When people saw me walking over, they thought that I was being crazy at first.


    Then when they suddenly turned to look at me, they thought that I was done for.


    But one of them said, "You''re finally here."

 Chapter 82 - 82: Troublesome kids

    When the crowd heard this, they realized that I was with them and they started to look carefully at me too.


    However, there was a clear tone of disappointment that came over this crowd.


    It was clear that compared to the other four, my appearance was disappointing.


    After all, I only had a normal appearance and I was much older than the rest. I really didn''t seem like I fit in with this group.


    While the crowd was taking their time to look me over, I also took my time to look over these kids.


    There were two boys and two girls in this group.


    Out of the two girls, one was a blonde girl and the other was a black haired girl.


    As for the two boys, one had red hair and the other had an unnatural green colour to his hair.


    The one that had spoken was the green haired boy.


    After I had walked over, the blonde haired girl said, "Uncle, why did it take you so long to arrive? Can''t you see that we''ve been waiting for a long time?"


    The black haired girl put her hand over her mouth and said, "Don''t be mean to this uncle. I''m sure that it takes him a while to get up in the morning at his age."


    These two were the very definition of mean girls with their snide comments, but I''ve heard much worse before. After all, I had endured years of bullying under Wang Bing''s group, so there was little that I hadn''t experienced before.


    Seeing that I didn''t react at all, the two girls couldn''t help revealing disappointed and antagonistic looks on their faces.


    It was as if I didn''t react, I would become an enemy of theirs.


    But I just ignored them and turned to look at the two boys.


    Both of them were looking at me with arrogant looks on their faces.


    Once again, it became clear that they were troublesome kids.


    With a sigh, I said, "How about we introduce ourselves first?"


    The four of them all looked at me with disdain after hearing this, but the handlers behind them whispered a few things to them. After that, they became a bit more well behaved and introduced themselves to each other.


    It seemed that they understood that they would be working together, so the basic amount of communication was required.


    The blonde haired girl was named Claire Starling.


    With her twintails and her figure, she was without a doubt a foreign beauty.


    For some reason, I couldn''t help thinking that she would look good with a cheerleader uniform and a chainsaw¡­but then I couldn''t help thinking to myself, "Why a chainsaw?"


    The black haired girl was named Qin Yue Ru.


    She was a beautiful girl in her own right with jet black hair, fair white skin, and a pair of eyes as clear as a pool of water. The only flaw that she had¡­was her figure, but with her age, it would develop over time.


    For now, it was a bit small.


    The red haired boy was named simply Blaze.


    When asked about his last name, he just simply said that he didn''t have one.


    This young man was a handsome young man with fiery red hair, but the most eye-catching part of him had to be those fiery red eyes. They burned with passion and they seemed like they could see right through people.


    Finally, the green haired boy was named Hayato Hanzo.


    He was another handsome bishonen and he also had a pair of shocking green eyes.


    All four of them had very unique appearances that made me, who had a very normal appearance, seem dull in their presence.


    That was most likely why the crowd were just completely disappointed with the dynamic of our group.


    After they introduced themselves, they went back to the same arrogant appearances that they had before and there was no chance to discuss strategies at all.


    In no time, we were shown to the entrance of the dungeon.


    However, before we were allowed in, we still had to show them our Awakener Licenses.


    The Awakener Association was a global organization that was in charge of managing all of the Awakeners out there. That included managing who was able to enter the dungeons.


    There were dungeons that were controlled by guilds, but even then, they would cooperate with the Awakener Association to manage them to ensure that everything was safe.


    As we showed our licenses, everything seemed normal at first until it was my turn.


    When they asked for my license, I hesitantly handed it over.


    As soon as they saw this license, they couldn''t help revealing shocked looks before looking at me with confused looks. The one who took the license slowly asked, "Are you really¡­F Ranked?"


    The moment that he said this, everyone also looked at me with shocked looks. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was still a crowd that was gathered around us since they wanted to see us going into the dungeon.


    At the same time, the four kids of my group looked at me in shock.


    It seemed that they weren''t aware of the fact that I was a F Ranker.


    It was the same with the handlers that had come with them, they didn''t seem to know about this either.


    But what followed was what I had expected.


    They looked at me with even more disdain after they found out that I was only a F Ranker.


    It was like they were blaming me for forcing my way into their group and that they would have to carry me in this dungeon.


    I didn''t let myself be affected by any of this as I calmly said, "Yes, can I enter now?"


    The person who was holding my license gave a slow nod before handing it back.


    With that, we were approved to enter the dungeon.


    But it was clear that the mood of our group was not good.


    It was clear that they were already looking down on me.


    It seemed like babysitting these kids wouldn''t be that easy.

 Chapter 83 - 83: Rocky start (1)

    After entering the dungeon, they didn''t act up right away since there were still people watching.


    However, as soon as we went a bit deeper, these kids immediately started to act up just like spoiled brats.


    They didn''t work together at all and just fought monsters whenever they wanted.


    There wasn''t a single trace of coordination between them as they just did whatever they wanted.


    I didn''t say a thing as I just observed all of this.


    I had to admit that these kids were worthy of being considered the special geniuses that Elementia had picked up. They all had powerful abilities and when brought together, they really did make for a perfect team.


    Claire used both a bow and moved between the monsters with daggers in hand.


    From time to time, she would suddenly start moving faster, making it clear that she had some kind of agility power.


    Blaze as his name suggested used a fire based power, but he wasn''t a mage as one would think. Instead of shooting out fire magic at his enemies, he wrapped the flames around himself and created an armour made of flames.


    It seemed that his powers made him some kind of tank.


    The flame armour blocked every monster that came at him, while also allowing him to damage them with the flames.


    Hayato''s power was more predictable since he used wind magic as one would expect from his appearance.


    He created blades of wind that he used to cut down the monsters that came at him, not even breaking a sweat as he released all of this magic.


    Finally, Qin Yue Ru took the position of a healer with her light magic.


    It was just too bad that she didn''t use her light magic to buff or heal anyone, she just used it to create arrows that she shot at the monsters.


    These kids vented all of their frustration at being put in a team like this, especially with a F Ranker on the monsters.


    With how fast they killed them, there weren''t enough monsters to keep up with their killing spree.


    So in the end, they were able to clear out the entire area of all monsters.


    There wasn''t a single one left.


    The handlers that came with them just calmly put the loot that dropped on the ground into their bags.


    I had to note how professional these handlers were, only picking up the loot from the monster that the Awakener that they were in charge of killed. They didn''t fight each other and just calmly did their jobs.


    Only Su Chen and I stood there watching over them.


    I could see that Su Chen had the same look as me on his face.


    It was clear that he was as disappointed as me with these kids. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since they had finished clearing out the monsters, the kids came back and said to me, "We''re heading deeper into the dungeon, what will you do now?"


    I just calmly said, "Then let''s go."


    When they heard this, the kids couldn''t help revealing an annoyed look.


    After all, they had seen that he had stood on the side the entire time. He hadn''t done a single thing when they had done all of the work and now he was saying this like he was the leader?


    Blaze was the one that lost his temper first as he said, "Hey, F Ranker, don''t you think that you''re being a bit too cocky? While we fought, you just stood on the side and watched. Do you really think that you''re a part of our party?"


    The way that he said it, it was clear that he thought that I was only here because of nepotism.


    I had been put on their team even though I was a F Ranker so that I could say that I had cleared a D Rank Dungeon before.


    But I just calmly said, "I was assigned to this party for a reason, so you should just accept it and move on."


    Blaze looked like he wanted to explode, but Qin Yue Ru stopped him by saying, "This mister, are you sure that you want to keep going with us? There are powerful monsters ahead that we might even struggle with. Are you sure you don''t want to go back?"


    Though her words were a bit arrogant, there was still a trace of concern in them.


    After all, one wouldn''t think that a F Ranker would be able to keep up with them. She was trying to get me to go back so that I would be able to keep myself safe.


    But I just said with a confident smile, "I''ll be fine."


    "Tch." She clicked her tongue and turned around without another word.


    Blaze also gave a snort before turning around and saying, "Do whatever you want."


    With that, the other two followed them deeper into the dungeon along with their porters.


    Su Chen and I followed behind them, but while we were walking, Su Chen whispered, "They''re hopeless, aren''t they?"


    I just revealed a faint smile and said, "Well, they''re young and they gained a lot of power all at once. It isn''t strange that they would act this way, right?"


    Su Chen shook his head and said, "That''s not what I meant."


    I just gave a sigh and said, "This is their first time in a dungeon, isn''t it?"


    Su Chen slowly gave a nod in response to this.


    Seeing this, I gave another sigh before saying, "I knew it, you did know about this and you chose not to tell me."


    Su Chen revealed an awkward smile before saying, "The guild master told me not to tell you. She said that it would be more fun for you to find out this way."


    I said with a bitter smile, "More like she was just teasing me. Or rather she knew that I would reject it if I did know this."


    Su Chen didn''t say anything in response.


    That woman¡­it really was hard to understand what she was thinking.


    But at least, this showed the trust that she had in me since she assigned me this task.


    If I could do this task properly, would that raise my position in her mind?


    If I could get closer to her and have a chance to be alone with her, then it would be worth it.


    So I just sucked it up and kept going.

 Chapter 84 - 84: Rocky start (2)

    As we went deeper into the dungeon, there were fewer weaker monsters that appeared.


    The goblins that they had been killing before were only F Rank mobs that lived at the entrance of the dungeon.


    But now that we had gotten deeper in the dungeon, there were less of these weak goblins around. That was because in the dungeon, the monsters followed the law of the jungle. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The weaker monsters were nothing more than prey for the stronger monsters.


    If any of the goblins tried to come in deeper, they would be killed and eaten by the stronger monsters here.


    Monsters didn''t care about other monsters, they only cared about themselves.


    That was why there were traces of blood that could be seen around us.


    After heading in for a bit, we finally came up to a monster that we could fight.


    This was a wolf that was standing out in the middle of the dungeon passage, almost as if it was standing in a daze.


    The moment that the four kids saw this wolf, they all moved forward as if they wanted to fight it.


    When they saw that the others had moved as well, all of them glared at each other.


    Then without a word, all four of them attacked at the same time.


    It seemed like the wolf wouldn''t stand a chance under their powerful attacks, but before they could make contact, the wolf dodged out of the way. Even Claire, who had an agility based ability, couldn''t make contact with the wolf.


    It wasn''t that she was slow, but rather the wolf had read her pattern and had dodged before she could reach it.


    The wolf easily dodged out of the way of their attacks and then started nipping back at them.


    It charged at Qin Yue Ru first since it recognized that she was the weakest in terms of physical strength.


    When facing this many enemies at once, it was best to take down the weakest member first.


    Qin Yue Ru saw this and she raised her staff to gather her light magic in the form of a shield in front of her to block the wolf. However, right before the wolf made contact with the shield, it twisted to the side.


    With a burst of speed, the wolf went around the shield completely to arrive behind Qin Yue Ru and it opened its mouth to bite at her.


    Qin Yue Ru tried to turn, but she knew that it was already too late. She wouldn''t be able to make it in time to stop the wolf from biting her. The only thing that she could do was brace for it.


    But before the wolf could reach her, there was a burning figure that appeared behind her. This burning figure was covered in flames as he stood there in between her and the wolf.


    When the wolf saw this, it recognized that it could no longer hurt her, so it jumped back.


    However, as it jumped back, it suddenly flicked its lower legs and kicked some sand at the flaming figure.


    Blaze suddenly raised his hand up to block his eyes as he said, "You little¡­"


    But the wolf didn''t even care about him as it suddenly turned to look at Hayato.


    Hayato gathered two wind blades that he threw at the wolf while shouting, "Die!"


    The wolf wasn''t bothered by this at all as it easily dodged these two wind blades.


    However, that was what Hayato wanted since he had secretly prepared a third wind blade that he threw out at the wolf. The first two wind blades were now right beside the wolf and were trapping it.


    The wolf didn''t panic seeing this third wind blade coming at it.


    Instead, it just jumped backwards and landed on an arrow.


    As for where this arrow came from¡­it was an arrow that Claire, who was hiding in the shadows, had shot at the wolf when she found her opportunity.


    The wolf kicked off the arrow and sent it right into the wind blade coming at it.


    The arrow and the wind blade hit each other before being deviated by each other.


    The wind blade was deviated so that it flew towards Claire in hiding. The arrow was deviated so that it was flying at Hayato.


    Both of them shouted, "You!"


    Both of them had no choice but to dodge out of the way, causing them both to fall to the ground.


    After it landed, the wolf wasn''t finished.


    The wolf suddenly kicked out with its back legs and sent two large rocks flying out.


    These two large rocks flew at Blaze and Qin Yue Ru who had been preparing to attack the wolf when it landed.


    Both of them had to dodge out of the way and they both fell to the ground.


    By the end of this engagement, all four of these kids had fallen to the ground and only the wolf was still standing up.


    As they laid there, they all glared at each other as if they were blaming each other for their own mistakes.


    Of course, the wolf wouldn''t remain idle while they were like this.


    It turned to look at Qin Yue Ru again who it had deemed as the weakest member.


    Then it suddenly jumped out again, opening its mouth as it prepared to bite down on Qin Yue Ru.


    When she saw this, she found that she wasn''t able to react in time.


    None of the kids were able to react in time to this and they could only watch as the wolf got closer and closer to Qin Yue Ru.


    But before the wolf could snap its jaws down on her, there was a sword that suddenly slashed out at it. The wolf tried to dodge, but with a twist of his wrist, the sword suddenly followed the wolf as it moved backwards.


    The wolf wasn''t able to move out of the way in time as the sword suddenly stabbed into its neck and then it fell down to the ground.


    Standing there above it was Lin Fan.

 Chapter 85 - 85: Reluctant compromise

    The four of them all stared at Lin Fan in shock at first before Hayato said, "If you were here all along, why didn''t you help earlier?"


    Then as if he was realizing something, he added, "Not that we needed your help in the first place!"


    But the others didn''t act as rashly as him.


    While Hayato wasn''t able to see it clearly, they had seen it.


    When he had appeared, he had appeared all of a sudden. They hadn''t been able to follow him with their eyes at all.


    Even Claire, who was used to stuff like this, couldn''t keep up with him.


    So it was clear that this F Ranker wasn''t as simple as he seemed.


    When I heard what Hayato said, I just calmly said, "Alright, it seems that you don''t need any help at all. Then you''re free to deal with the rest yourself."


    When they heard this, all of the kids couldn''t help jolting as they looked up at me in shock.


    Hayato slowly said, "The rest?"


    I gave a nod before pointing in front of us.


    There were three more wolves that were coming over right now.


    As soon as they saw this, all of these kids couldn''t help revealing terrified looks.


    After all, they hadn''t been able to take down a single one of these wolves by themselves and now there were three of them, they didn''t have any confidence in taking them.


    So they all turned to look at Lin Fan.


    However, I had already started moving away so that they would face the wolves alone.


    Hayato quickly said, "Where are you going? Why are you running away?"


    I calmly said, "Didn''t you say that you didn''t need any help? I''m just moving out of the way."


    The moment that he heard this, he couldn''t help trembling.


    It was a mix of fear and anger that he was currently feeling and he didn''t know which one he felt more strongly. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But these were the two emotions that were in his heart and he didn''t know how to process them.


    In the end, fear won out when he saw that Lin Fan was really planning on leaving.


    He quickly said, "Wait, help us deal with them."


    Though he was asking for help¡­the tone of his voice was¡­


    I turned back to look at him and shook my head before saying, "Why should I?"


    "Huh?"


    The moment that they heard this, all four of them revealed shocked looks.


    After all, they were technically from the same guild and they were here as a group. Wasn''t it normal that he helped them now that they were in danger?


    I saw the looks on their faces and knew what they were thinking, but it was easy for me to deal with this.


    I only had to say a single thing and they weren''t able to say anything in response.


    "I''m just a F Ranker, shouldn''t I stay in the back where it''s safe?"


    They could only look at him with a shocked look as they opened and closed their mouths, trying to think of something to say.


    But in the end, they couldn''t say a single thing.


    Watching them fumbling around like this, I would have taken more time to let them humble themselves, but time wasn''t on my side.


    I couldn''t just keep acting like this for long because those wolves were slowly coming over.


    So I had to do something about them.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "I can help you, but¡­"


    When they heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up, but they still waited for him to finish.


    I calmly said, "You''ll have to listen to what I saw, that is the condition for me helping you."


    As they were about to nod, I said, "I will be the leader for the rest of this expedition, understand? It''s not just until we take care of the wolves."


    There was a hesitant look that appeared on their faces when they heard this.


    But in the end, they still gave nods and said, "We''ll listen to you."


    I said with a nod, "Very good. Now turn and face the enemy."


    "Eh?"


    I just calmly said, "I never said anything about fighting."


    When they heard this, they couldn''t help saying, "You tricked us!"


    I ignored this and said, "By all rights, you shouldn''t be losing to them in the first place. After all, don''t you have a higher rank than them?"


    When they heard this, all of them couldn''t help revealing awkward looks.


    That was because they knew that he was right.


    The wolf that they had faced before was an E Rank Monster called a Gale Wolf.


    By all right, they should have been able to easily take down this Gale Wolf as D Rankers.


    But what had happened was still fresh on their minds.


    I could see the looks on their faces, so it wasn''t hard to guess what they were thinking.


    So I just calmly said, "As long as you follow my instructions, it won''t be a problem for you to win against them."


    "Huh?" All of them said with shocked looks that also had traces of doubt.


    I just calmly leaned in and started to give them instructions.


    As they listened to me, they couldn''t help looking at me with strange looks like they thought that I was crazy.


    However, I just kept looking back at them with the same calm expression on my face.


    In the end, they all gave a sigh and chose to follow my instructions.


    Blaze took the lead by facing the wolves head on.


    Both Hayato and Claire moved to different sides so that they were flanking the wolves.


    And finally, Qin Yue Ru was standing right beside me with her staff raised.


    The wolves stopped when they saw the humans suddenly spread out like this and they revealed cautious looks.


    They had thought that this would be easy since these humans seemed like easy prey, but now¡­


    It didn''t seem as simple.

 Chapter 86 - 86: Guidance

    However, it wasn''t as if the wolves could just remain idle.


    Both Claire and Hayato were moving to their flanks, so it was only a matter of time before they were pinched in.


    At the same time, they couldn''t just turn to the sides and finish either Claire or Hayato off since Blaze was close enough to intercept them at any time.


    They didn''t fear him, but it would be troublesome for them if they were pinched in between them.


    So they didn''t want to put themselves in that situation.


    After looking at each other, the wolves made their moves.


    They didn''t turn to the sides, but rather they rushed straight forward at Blaze.


    They didn''t fear the flame armour that was around him and charged right at him¡­or rather that was what it seemed like.


    Right before they made contact with Blaze, they suddenly split up and jumped in different directions.


    Their real plan was to avoid him by jumping around him and targeting Qin Yue Ru and Lin Fan behind him.


    Blaze had already expected this since this was in the instructions that Lin Fan had given him. So when it happened, he immediately turned to two of the wolves.


    These two had jumped in the same direction, so he was planning on taking these two down while leaving the last wolf alone.


    But these two had also expected this.


    They had jumped in the same direction for a reason.


    Once Blaze came closer to them, they suddenly split off in different directions.


    They had been planning on baiting him to chase them and then using their speed to dodge out of the way.


    Blaze had also been instructed of this by Lin Fan, which was why he pushed his speed to the limit when he saw them split up.


    They had thought that they were safe, so they had let their guards down. It was when one thought that they were victorious that they would be the most vulnerable.


    It was just too bad that Blaze wasn''t fast enough to catch these two wolves.


    The wolves stopped panicking when they realized that they could still escape before Blaze would reach them, so they quickly gathered their thoughts and increased their speed.


    Without caring about Blaze, they jumped out in different directions.


    Blaze also recognized that he was too slow, so he could only lament his own abilities not measuring up.


    But before the two wolves could escape, there were two voices that suddenly rang out. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Haste!"


    "Faster."


    As soon as these two voices rang out, there was a light feeling that came over his body.


    At that same time, he could see a faint white light appear around his body.


    He found that he was moving much faster than before, so fast that the wolves almost seemed like they were moving in slow motion.


    So Blaze didn''t waste any time in rushing the two wolves, grabbing them by the waist and holding them in his arms.


    There wasn''t anything else he needed to do once he grabbed hold of these wolves.


    Once these wolves were in his grasps, it was time for his flame armour to do its job.


    The wolves tried struggling by biting at him, but they found that they couldn''t hurt him at all.


    Rather, by trying to bite him, all they were doing was burning their own mouths.


    So the wolves in Blaze''s arms couldn''t do a thing as they burned away into ashes.


    As he held these wolves in his hand, Blaze had a wide smile on his face as he said, "That''s right! Burn! Burn! Burn!"


    If anyone else were to see him, they really would be scared by the scene that they saw.


    But when I saw him acting this way, I shook my head and gave a sigh.


    These kids really were kids in the end.


    On the other side, Claire and Hayato were working together to suppress the wolf that had escaped Blaze.


    This time, instead of targeting the wolf together, they attacked in turns.


    Once the wolf dodged one attack, there was another attack that flew out at it that kept pushing it back.


    The wolf couldn''t do the same thing as the other wolf where it redirected their attacks since it was continuously being attacked from a blind spot. It wasn''t able to get a single moment to catch its breath and plan its next move.


    Finally, the wolf was trapped up against the wall.


    At this point, Hayato gave a roar and summoned a wall of wind that trapped the wolf up against the wall.


    This wall of wind was made with powerful blades of wind, so that even touching it would mean being ripped to shreds.


    So the wolf wasn''t able to do a single thing against this wall of wind.


    The problem was that Hayato wasn''t able to move it.


    It took all of his concentration just to pull this wall up, so he wasn''t able to close it in on the wolf.


    The wolf could see this and just waited to see what would happen next.


    After all, the wall of wind blocked it from seeing outside, so it wouldn''t move without knowing what was happening.


    Hayato looked at Claire beside him who already had an arrow nocked in her bow.


    With a nod, there was a small hole just big enough for an arrow to pass that appeared in the wall of wind.


    Without any deviation, Claire easily shot her arrow right through that hole.


    There was a wolf''s yelp that came before the wall of wind was let down to reveal that there was a wolf with an arrow in between its eyes lying there on the ground.


    Together, they had trapped the wolf and forced it into a single spot for them to finish it off.


    If it wasn''t for Lin Fan''s guidance, they wouldn''t have been able to do this.


    But these two also looked at the wolf just like Blaze did.


    They walked over to it and started kicking the corpse of the wolf before it disappeared.


    Only when it disappeared and the loot dropped did they stop.


    When I saw all of this, I just shook my head with a sigh and thought, "They really are still just kids."

 Chapter 87 - 87: Teamwork (1)

    After they finished off these wolves, they started celebrating.


    Claire and Hayato danced around the drops of the wolf they killed while Blaze held the burning wolves in his hands while dancing.


    Even Qin Yue Ru joined in the celebration with a little dance that went along with Blaze''s dance.


    With the way that they were celebrating, one might think that they had killed one of the demon kings¡­though there was one that was quite close to them.


    I calmly waited for them to settle down a bit before saying, "What are you getting so worked up for? You''d think that you cleared the entire dungeon with the way you''re all acting."


    All of them couldn''t help revealing an awkward look before settling down again.


    That was right, they weren''t anywhere near finished yet.


    These wolves that they had killed were only E Rank Monsters and this was a D Rank Dungeon.


    The monsters that would be further in were without a doubt much stronger than these wolves and they had already struggled this much with these wolves.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that Lin Fan had been guiding them¡­they might have already been taken out by the wolves.


    Once they realized this, they all turned to look at him.


    When I saw them looking at me like this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a sigh. Then I said, "Do you remember what I said? Will you still follow it to the end?"


    All of them tilted their head for a moment before suddenly realizing what I meant.


    They looked at each other hesitantly before slowly giving nods. Even Hayato who had acted the most aggressively towards me agreed to this.


    That was because they had to admit that what he had done had helped them. It was only because of his advice that they had been able to take care of the wolves.


    Of course, the advice that I had given them was only the most basics on cooperating.


    It would have been even easier to take down the wolves if I had all four of them working together, but I knew that wasn''t possible yet. These kids still didn''t understand the concept of teamwork, so they wouldn''t have been able to do it.


    I had to let them get a taste of it before they would be willing to work on it.


    After getting their approval, I turned to look at the handlers on the side.


    They all nodded to show their agreement without any hesitation.


    But I wasn''t surprised by this at all.


    After all, these handlers had been watching from the side the entire time.


    It was clear that they weren''t surprised by how this situation had developed and had even expected this.


    These handlers were staff members that had been with Elementia for a long time, so they had actual experience unlike these kids. Most likely, they also had the records of what I''ve been through before, so they knew what role I played here¡­


    Still, since they were going along, it made things easier.


    With that, I called them all over and started asking each of them what their abilities were.


    While I had a general idea of what abilities they had, I didn''t know the specifics since they never told me.


    I could have just looked at their cards, but I knew that wouldn''t give me all the information that I wanted. Human ingenuity was powerful and people would find new ways to use their power.


    So I wanted to hear from them how they could use their powers.


    After explaining all of their powers, they all turned to look at me as if they were expecting something.


    I revealed a smile since I could guess what they were thinking, so I gave them a simple explanation of my power.


    "Suggestion?" They all said at the same time with confused looks.


    But then Blaze suddenly said, "Wait, was it you that helped me earlier?"


    I just gave a simple nod.


    Blaze muttered to himself, "Haste is a powerful spell that increases one''s movement speed by 20%, but the suggestion that you gave me¡­increased my speed even more than that. Just how is that possible?"


    All of them looked at me with shocked looks after hearing this.


    I shook my head with a smile before saying, "Don''t be too quick to come to a conclusion, there''s still one more thing to consider."


    They all revealed confused looks before Blaze suddenly bent over in pain. While he bent over, he said, "What is this?"


    I just calmly said, "My power allows you to break through the limits of your body, but those are the limits for a reason. If I use my powers on you for a long time, your body definitely won''t be able to hold out under my suggestion."


    Blaze revealed a bitter smile when he heard this.


    He could feel the pain that filled his body, so he knew that Lin Fan was telling the truth. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing him like this, I gave a satisfied nod before turning to Qin Yue Ru to say, "Heal him. We still need him."


    She gave a simple nod before coming forward. She raised her staff towards him and softly said, "Heal."


    There was a faint light that appeared around Blaze and when it was done, he stood up without a problem. He moved his body around a bit before turning to Qin Yue Ru with a smile, "Thanks, it feels just like new."


    Qin Yue Ru gave a nod with a smile on her face, but if one looked closely¡­they could see a bit of a different emotion in her eyes.


    After seeing that he was healed up, I said, "Alright, gather around and let''s talk about our new formation."


    The kids followed my orders and came over, but as they listened to what I had to say, their expressions became more and more strange.


    In the end, we set off once more, heading into the depths of the dungeon.

 Chapter 88 - 88: Teamwork (2)

    After heading in a bit deeper, I suddenly raised my hand for them to stop after receiving a nod from Su Chen.


    He pointed in a direction and I turned to focus in that direction.


    I whispered to myself, "Clearer."


    I listened carefully with my enhanced hearing and I suddenly winced when I picked up the sound. After that tinge of pain, I said, "Release."


    When my hearing returned to normal, I let out a sigh of relief but I also reached my hands up to rub my ears.


    Heightening my senses really was different from heightening my abilities. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, heightening my abilities would only affect me physically, but heightening my senses affected me mentally.


    So it was harder to recover from it than from heightening my physical capabilities.


    After recovering, I could see that the kids were looking at me with confused looks, so I said, "The enemy is coming."


    They all had surprised and doubtful looks, but then they heard the sound coming from in front of them and they immediately went into formation.


    Seeing this, I gave a satisfied nod since they were moving much better than before.


    It seemed like they really had taken the advice that I had given them to heart.


    As the sounds came closer, we were able to see that it was a pack of ten wolves that appeared.


    When the kids saw this, they couldn''t help trembling.


    After all, there were many times more wolves than before here.


    At most, they had only faced three of them at once.


    Even if they had gained some confidence, they weren''t that confident to take this pack on.


    So they all looked at me with looks asking if we should escape.


    But I knew that there was no need.


    As long as they all played their roles, it would be fine.


    So I said, "Just stay in position and follow my orders, you''ll be fine."


    They all had doubtful looks on their faces, but they still gave nods in the end.


    After all, they had their own pride and they didn''t want to back down that easily. They still remembered the humiliation that they had suffered at the hands of the first wolf.


    As the wolves came closer, they also spread out and took a formation.


    With the way that they were spread, it was clear what the power division of this group was.


    The one in the center was clearly the alpha of this pack and the ones on the side were the betas.


    As for the one at the tail of the pack, that was the omega of the pack. This was the weakest, the scavenger who ate whatever they could to survive.


    This was the one that I was most wary of.


    I knew that while they were weaker than the rest of the wolves, they were the ones that were the most tenacious. It was unknown what they would do if they were pushed into a corner.


    So I wanted to deal with this omega last or not even deal with it at all.


    I was hoping that the omega would run away when it saw the difference in power between us.


    After a moment of silence, the wolves suddenly started charging at us.


    There were two of them that charged much faster than the rest of the pack.


    It was clear that these two were the vanguard that had been chosen to test our group.


    So that meant that these two were most likely the strongest after the alpha.


    They had to be trusted to be put in this position.


    Seeing this, I said, "Wall."


    As soon as he heard this order, Blaze who was standing at the front of our formation suddenly raised his hands.


    When he raised his hands, the flames spread out from him and they formed a wall to his sides.


    This wall completely cut the pack of wolves off from the rest of us.


    The moment that the wall came up, the wolves immediately stopped moving and warily looked at Blaze.


    They had no idea what this human was doing raising this wall of flames, but they didn''t dare let their guards down. So they stopped to see what was going to happen before charging at this human.


    Of course, Blaze couldn''t do a thing while he was creating this wall.


    This wall used up more flames than he normally used, so it was hard for him to control it.


    He was only able to raise this wall and stand there without being able to move.


    But there was no need for him to move since he wasn''t the main attacker.


    This wall was nothing more than a distraction for the wolves.


    There were blades of wind that suddenly broke through the wall.


    The moment that they went through the wall of flames, they suddenly caught on fire, creating large blades of flames.


    The wolves quickly backed off from this wall of flames, but the two who had been the vanguard weren''t as lucky. They were too close to the wall of flames and they couldn''t dodge in time, so they were cut up by the blades of flames.


    Both of them fell to the ground after being hit by the blades of flames and couldn''t move anymore.


    Claire, who was on Su Chen''s back, said, "Confirmed hits on targets."


    Hayato gave a proud nod when he heard this.


    This was the combination move that Lin Fan had thought out for them.


    Blaze would provide cover with the wall of flames, Claire would get on Su Chen so she could see the targets over the wall, and then Hayato would shoot his blades of wind through the wall.


    As soon as the blades of wind went through the wall of flames, they would gain a new level of power that they didn''t have before.


    Since the wall of wind covered these attacks, with the speed of the blades of flames, the wolves wouldn''t be able to react in time.


    This used all of their advantages in a single attack.

 Chapter 89 - 89: Teamwork (3)

    After taking out these first two wolves, Blaze released the flame wall that he had gathered.


    Using the wall was only effective in the beginning to keep the wolves from charging them. That would stop the wolves from gathering momentum, making it easier for them to take down the wolves.


    But once the wolves had been stopped, keeping the flame wall up would hurt them instead of helping them.


    After he released his flame wall, he gathered all of those flames into a set of armour around himself.


    This time, he even formed a sword and shield of flames as he prepared to face the wolves.


    The wolves recognized that they were in a bad situation and even looked to escape, but they knew that trying to escape would just result in some of them being picked off. With how the humans were keeping track of them, it was certain that they wouldn''t allow them to escape without any harm.


    So if they tried to escape, it was certain that they would lose a few members.


    At the same time, they couldn''t guarantee which members would die.


    So the alpha wouldn''t give an order that would put his own life at risk.


    With a howl from the alpha, the wolves suddenly spread out.


    They made full use of this corridor and spread out so that they couldn''t be hit with a large-scale attack.


    But when I saw them spreading out like this, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.


    This was what I had wanted to see in the first place.


    So I said, "Formation A."


    When they heard this, the kids couldn''t help revealing bitter smiles, but they still started moving.


    It was just that they were moving in the opposite direction of the enemies.


    Instead of facing the wolves head on, we turned and ran away from them.


    The wolves couldn''t understand what was happening at first, but then they reacted to us running away. But even if they did react, it wasn''t as if they knew what they were supposed to do.


    Do they chase after the enemies or just run away now that the enemies are leaving?


    This was their first time facing someone like this, so the alpha really didn''t know what to do.


    But in the end, the alpha gave the order to chase them down.


    The alpha didn''t know what these people were doing, but he couldn''t risk falling into a trap like before.


    If they let them go now, it''s very possible that there would be a trap waiting for them in the future.


    In that case, it was better to cut off that possibility now by taking out these humans.


    These humans were running away, they were leaving their backs open to them.


    The alpha wouldn''t let this chance go.


    As soon as the order was given, these wolves suddenly had a layer of green light appear around them before they started moving faster than before.


    As their name suggested, they used wind magic to buff themselves and increase their speed, which was what they were doing right now.


    With this buff on them, they were naturally faster than us who didn''t have the buff.


    It took no time at all for these wolves to catch up to them.


    But before the wolves could do anything, I suddenly said, "Now!"


    Then all of us suddenly turned around.


    This time, it was a combination move between just Hayato and Blaze.


    As we had been running, Hayato had been gathering his wind magic inside of his hand. As soon as I gave the order, he immediately turned around and released a large ball of wind. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This large ball of wind on its own wouldn''t do much since Hayato had focused on increasing the size and speed of this ball of wind. On its own, it wouldn''t be able to do much damage to the wolves.


    That is¡­on its own.


    Blaze released a flame from his palm that he threw out into the ball of wind as it passed by him.


    Once this flame entered the ball of wind, the entire ball of wind suddenly became a large ball of fire.


    This large ball of fire was so big that it blocked the entire corridor.


    The wolves had still been in the middle of chasing them when the giant ball of flames suddenly appeared. They weren''t able to stop themselves in time to be able to dodge it, so the only choice that they had was to face it head on.


    But how were they supposed to face this head on?


    This was a giant ball of flames that completely cut off all of their paths to escape.


    The only thing that they could do was¡­


    The alpha gave a howl and all of them gathered together.


    Since they were known as Gale Wolves, their specialty was naturally wind magic.


    Once they gathered together, they combined all of their wind magic to create a shield in front of them.


    A normal wind shield would just be swallowed by the ball of flames, so this wind shield was one that was made of wind blades.


    They would cut anything that came in contact with it, including a giant ball of flame.


    Unfortunately for them, there was a difference in power between the two sides.


    Blaze and Hayato were both D Rankers while these Gale Wolves were just E Rank Monsters.


    In terms of power, Blaze and Hayato had the advantage.


    So when the ball of flames made contact with the wind shield, there was only a second where the wind shield was able to cut the ball of flames for a bit before being swallowed by it.


    With the wind shield being swallowed, the wolves had no choice but to face the ball of flames head on.


    They were completely engulfed in this ball of flames.


    The flames continued to burn for a while before finally dying down.


    When the flames disappeared, only the charred corpses of the wolves were left.

 Chapter 90 - 90: Sudden danger

    When they saw this, the kids couldn''t help revealing wide smiles.


    These wolves that had given them so much trouble before were now easily being taken out by them.


    This really was the confident boost that they needed.


    However, while these kids were celebrating, I had been staring at the charred corpses of the wolves.


    Since they were dead, these corpses disappeared not long after and loot dropped on the floor.


    When the charred corpses disappeared, there was a figure that was revealed that made me instantly knit my brows.


    That was because this was the one wolf that I had been cautious of the entire time.


    Seeing that it survived, I immediately shouted, "It''s not over yet! Don''t celebrate too early!"


    The kids snapped back from their festive mood and turned to look at me. Seeing the expression on my face, they quickly followed my gaze to look at the omega wolf as well.


    The moment that they saw this lone wolf that was left, all of them immediately became focused.


    But the omega didn''t give them a chance at all.


    Seeing that its entire pack was dead, the omega didn''t waste any time.


    It wasn''t strong, but it had an ability that the rest of the pack didn''t.


    There was a green light that appeared around this wolf before it suddenly¡­disappeared out of sight. Or rather, it became a speck in the distance in an instant.


    This speed was even enough to catch me off guard, but I knew that it would be dangerous to let this wolf escape.


    So I quickly said, "Shoot it down."


    The others had been caught off guard by this and weren''t able to react in time.


    By the time that they reacted, it was already too late. The wolf had already escaped into the distance and was out of range.


    Even if we wanted to chase it down, we wouldn''t catch it since it was much faster than us.


    So with a sigh, I had no choice but to give up.


    However, I couldn''t help feeling a bad premonition about this.


    Seeing the wolf run off, the kids weren''t as worried. They even went back to celebrating without a care.


    But this time, I didn''t say anything about it since they deserved it.


    Balancing carrot and stick, that was my job as the leader.


    If they deserve it, then I would let them have it.


    After celebrating for a bit, they finally remembered where they were and calmed down. They cautiously turned back to look at Lin Fan, as if they were afraid of something.


    Seeing them look at me like this, I revealed a faint smile and said, "You did well."


    When they heard this, it was almost as if they didn''t know how to react.


    In truth, this was their first time hearing praise from me, so they really didn''t know how to react.


    They opened their mouths as if they wanted to say something, they acted like they were proud and arrogant, but really couldn''t, and they awkwardly stepped side to side.


    It was like a child that had been praised the first time with the way that they were acting.


    I just shook my head with a smile before saying, "Let''s go, we still need to clear this dungeon."


    They gave nods in response as their eyes lit up and their faces filled with determination.


    I could also see Su Chen and the other handlers looking at them with looks of approval.


    Like this, we headed off deeper into the dungeon.


    But my bad premonition was right.


    We encountered a few more wolves, but there were strangely less wolves than there should have been.


    It was almost as if they had disappeared somewhere¡­


    We quickly learned where that was.


    I had called a stop since I wanted to investigate the area when we suddenly heard a howl.


    The kids all prepared to fight, but I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    That was because I could tell that this howling was different from before.


    It was different from the howling of all the wolves that we had met before this¡­


    This was the howling of a wolf that was far beyond any other wolf.


    I wanted to tell them to run, but it was already too late as we were suddenly surrounded by these wolves. I didn''t know how they had gotten around us like this, but they completely blocked us off from leaving.


    Then there was a wolf that was much larger than the rest that appeared in front of us.


    It was clear that this wolf was the one that was leading the rest.


    It wasn''t just bigger, it also had a more powerful aura than the other wolves.


    But the thing that I had been paying attention to was the smaller wolf beside it.


    That was because I recognized this smaller wolf.


    It was the omega that had escaped. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As soon as I saw this omega, I knew that it was the one that had brought this larger wolf over.


    I only felt regret that I didn''t act sooner to take it down even though I had already been wary of this omega.


    Once they saw that they were completely surrounded, the kids all turned to look at me with worried looks as they asked, "What do we do?"


    I took a deep breath and calmly looked at the large wolf.


    As I was looking at it, one of the handlers suddenly said, "That''s a Howling Gale Wolf, it''s a special D Rank monster that is considered one of the hidden bosses of this dungeon. We should¡­probably run."


    A special boss?


    It was just like the one that I had met before in that first dungeon that I had gone to¡­but I was a different person from then.


    If I were to take the Irregular License Exam, it was certain that I would face something as bad as this.


    So if I backed down now¡­


    I clutched the sword in my hand and said, "Leave the big one to me, you just keep the small ones back."

 Chapter 91 - 91: Display of power (1)

    They all looked at me with shocked looks after I said this.


    After a moment of silence, there were voices that were filled with concern that rang out.


    "Wait, what are you doing?"


    "Don''t go out there by yourself, you''ll be surrounded by them!"


    "Come back here and let''s run together."


    But I just ignored all of them as I continued stepping forward towards the large wolf.


    The wolves that surrounded us just carefully watched over me as I walked away from this formation. They looked at me with wary looks, as if they weren''t certain what to do in this situation.


    From time to time, I could see that some of them were looking at the large wolf, as if they were asking for advice.


    But the large wolf just ignored them as its attention was completely on me.


    The look in the eyes of the large wolf¡­showed that it was also wary of me.


    I didn''t understand why it would be since in terms of mana, I should have less than any of the members of our group.


    There shouldn''t be a single thing about me that would make this large wolf cautious and yet, the large wolf didn''t say a thing as it just glared at me.


    I was able to get close to the large wolf before it suddenly gave a howl.


    I prepared myself when the large wolf gave this howl, but I found that the wolves around me completely ignored me. In fact, they went right past me and formed a line behind me, separating me from the rest of my group.


    At the same time, the large wolf seemed like it was getting ready to fight me.


    It seemed that since it wasn''t able to figure me out, it was planning to use its own power to force me to reveal my powers.


    That meant that it should be very confident in its abilities¡­


    So before it could even do anything, I muttered under my breath, "A bit faster."


    The two of us suddenly stopped moving before¡­the large wolf suddenly jumped out at me.


    There was no hesitation at all in the movements of the large wolf as it jumped at me.


    This large wolf opened its jaws and snapped at me with them, but I was able to dodge out of the way in time.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had buffed myself ahead of time and the fact that I had been watching the large wolf the entire time, there might have been a problem.


    But that didn''t mean that I was out of the woods just yet¡­


    After all, that was an attack with just its physical capabilities.


    The large wolf hadn''t started using its magic powers just yet.


    There was a reason why it was known as the Howling Gale Wolf.


    Seeing that I was barely able to dodge out of the way, the large wolf revealed what seemed to be a smile. Then with a howl, there was a layer of green light that appeared around it.


    "Cheeky b*stard." I muttered under my breath.


    Since it saw that I was barely able to dodge its attack when it used its physical capabilities alone, it was planning on attacking me with everything so that I wouldn''t have a chance to dodge.


    But that didn''t mean that I didn''t have a trump card either¡­


    Well, I had multiple trump cards, but the one that I''m currently referring to was the sword in my hand.


    Taking a deep breath, I channeled my mana into the sword. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I had been playing around with this sword yesterday while training with Su Chen and I had found¡­that I was able to incite it. It seemed that I was able to connect with the sword and make it acknowledge me as its master.


    What that meant was that I was able to use this sword''s ability.


    After the sword was incited, there was a green light that appeared around it.


    This green light didn''t stop at just the sword, but went from the handle to my body to cover it completely.


    I was soon covered in a full layer of green light.


    When this green light surrounded my body, I could feel power filling me.


    This was the thing that the Orc King had done before.


    This was a buff using the powers of this magic sword.


    After that buff came over me, I didn''t hesitate to make the first move.


    After all, there was a time limit to how long I could stay in this state and I didn''t want to waste any of that time.


    So I dashed at the large wolf head on.


    When the large wolf saw this, it gave a howl before dashing forward as well.


    This time, we moved so fast that the people around weren''t able to follow us anymore.


    They could only see our afterimages clashing with each other and hear the sounds of my sword clashing with the teeth of the large wolf.


    After a few rounds of clashing like this, both of us suddenly appeared again.


    The large wolf went back to where it had been before, standing beside the omega.


    While I was also pushed back to my starting position.


    But at the very least, there wasn''t a single injury on either of us.


    It seemed that we were even in both speed and strength.


    So unless something changed¡­it didn''t seem like this fight would be decided soon.


    I couldn''t help muttering under my breath, "Do I really have to use that?"


    After all, I knew that it was very likely that my power would run out first¡­


    I could feel the power coming from the sword weakening.


    However, I didn''t want to use that unless it was absolutely necessary¡­


    But before I could do anything, the large wolf gave another howl before a whirlwind appeared around it. This whirlwind lasted a few seconds before disappearing without a trace¡­


    Well, not without a trace since there were still traces of this whirlwind around the large wolf in the form of scattered wind that blew across its fur.

 Chapter 92 - 92: Display of power (2)

    I could feel a bit of pressure coming from the large wolf now.


    I didn''t know exactly what it did, but if I had to guess¡­it was most likely that it had applied another layer of buff on itself.


    As for exactly what this buff did, I couldn''t tell.


    So all I could do was focus on this large wolf and see what happened.


    After a pause, the large wolf suddenly dashed forward.


    It seemed that it was still moving at the same speed, so the buff didn''t seem to be for speed.


    But I didn''t let my guard down for a single second since I knew that it wouldn''t be simple.


    The two of us clashed once more, but this time the results were different.


    I blocked the bite of this large wolf, but then¡­there was a cut that appeared on my shoulder.


    I immediately pulled back when I felt the pain from the cut and looked at it carefully. However, no matter how I looked at it, I couldn''t understand how I had been hurt.


    I had clearly blocked this attack¡­


    Of course, I didn''t have much time to think about it since the large wolf was still coming.


    Once again, we clashed and this time, there was a slash wound that appeared on my other shoulder.


    It was as if there was something invisible that was slashing me.


    Invisible?


    The wind that had gathered around the large wolf!


    That was it!


    This time when we clashed, I kept swinging my sword after blocking the attack. As I had expected, there was a second impact sound that rang out.


    "So that was it¡­" I muttered to myself as I looked at the wind that surrounded the large wolf.


    The wind that had been gathered around the wolf did have an effect.


    It created a second attack along with the wolf''s physical attacks. It was an invisible wind attack!


    But even if I knew what it was, it wasn''t as if I had a way of dealing with it.


    After all this was an invisible attack and I had no idea what were the limitations of this attack.


    Just how much was the large wolf able to control this and how powerful could it become?


    There were just too many things that were unknown that it was too much of a risk to fight it any longer¡­ Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that I really would need to use that if I wanted to end this quickly.


    So with a sigh, I stepped forward.


    The large wolf was surprised when it saw this. It was even a bit afraid since it could see the look in my eyes.


    However, it couldn''t back down at this junction, so it had to go forward.


    This time, when the two of us were about to clash, I suddenly said, "Be dizzy."


    The large wolf''s eyes suddenly narrowed and it swayed a bit, but it was able to stand firm.


    However, its eyes couldn''t help widening as it stared forward. That was because the human that it had been fighting had disappeared.


    It was only an instant where it was hit with a wave of nausea. It was only an instant where its focus had been broken.


    But that one instant was all that it took.


    Then all of a sudden, the large wolf felt a sharp pain coming from its neck.


    When it turned its head, it saw that the human it lost sight of was beside it and¡­


    The human''s sword had stabbed into its neck.


    The large wolf wanted to summon its wind magic to fight back, but then it felt the sword stabbing deeper into its neck.


    It lost all of its abilities to gather its mana and the wind around it scattered.


    In its final moments, it stared up at the human with a look of not fear or anger, but rather a look of confusion.


    It couldn''t understand how the human had suddenly disappeared and reappeared beside it.


    That was what it thought about as the light in its eyes faded and it collapsed onto the ground.


    The other wolves that had been attacking the kids suddenly stopped when they saw this.


    They all stared at the large wolf on the ground in a daze before slowly looking up at Lin Fan who stood over it.


    I could feel their gazes on me, but I stood firm against all of this.


    During this time, the green light around me was slowly dimming since the power of the sword was reaching a limit.


    There was a long silence that hung in the air before one wolf took a step back.


    As soon as this one wolf took a step back, the others also took a step back¡­


    It was like a chain reaction where they slowly crept back.


    Soon it was like a stampede as all of these wolves scattered.


    But the one wolf that couldn''t get away was the omega from before.


    It had been standing where the large wolf had been standing before, so it was close to Lin Fan.


    After catching my breath, I immediately walked over to the omega while it was still in a daze and cut down.


    That sword cut right through the neck of the omega and cut its head off.


    This omega was only good at running and not good at fighting, so it wasn''t able to resist this slash at all.


    In less than a minute, all of the wolves who had been gathered around had scattered.


    There was only our group left standing there in a daze.


    Only then did my string of tension cut and my legs went soft. I couldn''t stop myself as I fell to the ground, falling on my butt.


    As I sat there, I let out a long sigh of relief.


    That Howling Gale Wolf was much stronger than I had expected, but it all turned out well in the end.


    I could see the way that the kids looked at me.


    At the very least, I had established myself in their eyes.

 Chapter 93 - 93: One of them

    Once the Gale Wolves had disappeared, Su Chen came over to help me up before walking back to the group.


    As I stood there in front of them, I could see the looks of admiration that were aimed my way.


    I just revealed a bitter smile as I turned to Qin Yue Ru and asked, "Can you heal me?"


    She was surprised to hear this, so she didn''t do anything.


    Seeing the looks that they gave me, I said, "You should already know about my ability already and the downsides that come with it. I can barely move after using my ability, so I need you to heal me."


    When they heard that, all of them couldn''t help looking at me with shocked looks.


    They never thought that I would face this kind of problem after showing that kind of power.


    However, there was no denying that this was the problem that I currently faced.


    I had to create an excuse to cover up the real power that I had used, so I had used my Hypnosis skill to fake this pain¡­Well, it wasn''t fake since the pain was real, but this wasn''t because of using that skill to defeat the Howling Gale Wolf.


    After a moment of being dazed, Qin Yue Ru came forward and raised her staff.


    When she did, there was a layer of light that appeared around me.


    As this layer of light appeared around me, I could feel a warm feeling filling me that went from head to toe. As this warm feeling filled me, I could feel the pain that filled my body receding.


    Slowly but surely, the pain disappeared without a trace and I could feel my body being filled with strength again.


    This healing power really was something else.


    If I could have this healing power to revive me every time after Su Chen''s workouts¡­


    But for now, what mattered more was establishing my reputation among these kids.


    So I said, "Is everyone alright?"


    All of them gave a slow nod before revealing excited looks.


    Now that they had calmed down and thought about it, they realized that they had just fought against those wolves that had given them all that trouble before.


    They had even fought against so many of them that they had been completely surrounded.


    The only reason that they had been able to fight back against so many of these wolves was because of the advice that Lin Fan gave them before.


    If it wasn''t for this, it was certain that they would have been overrun by these wolves.


    But that showed that they had become much stronger than when they first entered this dungeon.


    Seeing that they were all alright, I gave a sigh and said, "Good, it''s good that you''re all safe."


    When the kids heard this, they couldn''t help feeling a warm feeling fill their hearts.


    Up to this point, their impression of Lin Fan had been of a strict and uncaring person who didn''t seem to worry about them at all. He was just here because he was forced to come along with them and had taken over their group because he found it bothersome.


    But now they realized that it wasn''t that case.


    He had acted that way because a leader needed to be tough, but that didn''t mean that this was his personality.


    Now that they had gone through danger together, they couldn''t help feeling closer to him.


    In the end, they just gave another slow nod.


    Seeing this slow nod, I said with a sigh, "It''s good that you''re fine. That really was tough just now, I didn''t think that we would make it through that."


    After hearing this, the kids couldn''t help revealing strange looks as they realized¡­that Lin Fan was just like them.


    He was just someone who was trying to do his best.


    They had acted tough because they thought that if they didn''t, they would be looked down on. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But in truth, they didn''t want to act that way either¡­


    With this, the final barrier in their hearts finally collapsed and they opened themselves up.


    At first, they felt awkward since they didn''t know what to say, but Hayato took the first step by saying, "Uh, are you alright¡­Lin Fan?"


    That was his first time addressing Lin Fan by name instead of just calling him F Ranker.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a smile and saying, "I''m fine, but I could do with a shower and a change of clothes right now."


    Hearing this, all of them couldn''t help revealing a smile as well.


    After all, fighting was a very dirty matter and with how much of a mess they had caused, they were all covered in dirt. So it wasn''t just Lin Fan who wanted to take a shower and change their clothes, it was all of them that wanted this.


    Slowly, I was able to break the barrier between our two sides and soon they were talking to me without any worries at all.


    Instead of treating me as an outsider, they started to treat me as one of their own.


    This was the atmosphere that I wanted for this party.


    After all, this was the atmosphere that I was able to easily take advantage of.


    Behind each word that I said¡­was my Hypnosis.


    I was able to slowly get closer and closer to them with each word said.


    Finally, when they seemed like they were having difficulty deciding on what to call me, I said, "If you want, you can just call me big brother. After all, I am older than you."


    They hesitated a bit before nodding in agreement.


    With this, I had talked my way into becoming the big brother of these talents of Elementia.


    I had seen their abilities, so I knew that in the future, they would become powerful Awakeners.


    In that case, I should take advantage of this.


    While they were still young and weak, I should get them to follow me while I could.

 Chapter 94 - 94: Loot

    Once the wall between them had been broken, it was much easier for them to talk.


    Since they were able to talk to him, they were naturally curious about this person that was leading them.


    It took no time at all for me to be bombarded by their questions.


    Most of it was about my life, so I gave them a general summary since there wasn''t much to say. Albeit, I did leave out a few things that I didn''t want people to know about.


    "You just awakened?"


    All of them couldn''t help saying at the same time when they heard this.


    I just gave a casual nod in response to this since this was public knowledge.


    There was no need for me to hide something like this.


    All of the kids couldn''t help revealing strange looks when they heard this.


    He had just awakened recently and he was able to have this much power¡­not to mention that he was only a F Rank Awakener.


    It was different from them who had high ranking abilities that were just dormant right now.


    One thing that the awakener test tested for wasn''t just current rank, but also potential rank. So while they might be D Rankers right now, they had potential to become A Rankers because of their A Ranked skills.


    It was just that their abilities hadn''t developed yet, which kept them in D Rank.


    But Lin Fan''s skill and potential were both F Rank, so he would never grow out of it.


    It could be said that he didn''t have any talent at all.


    Yet he was able to reach this level of power with that F Rank skill that anyone would disregard¡­


    It could be said that he was a genius.


    A genius of hard work.


    Blaze couldn''t help asking, "How did you manage to control your powers so well?"


    I looked at him with a confused look and said, "All you have to do is keep working hard and you''ll be able to accomplish anything you want."


    Blaze couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when he heard this.


    His powers were different from the other three.


    The other three found it very easy to control their powers since they weren''t as intense, but his flames had been hard to control. He had to work very hard to bring them down to the point where he would be able to use them like he did now.


    That was all the efforts of his hard work and he had been proud of it.


    But he realized today that there was always someone better than him.


    This leader of theirs that he had just met today, he had used hard work to show this kind of power with a F Ranked skill. There was no need to doubt just how much hard work he had put into this.


    At the same time, there was no need to doubt the amount of intelligence that it took.


    So while he didn''t have natural talent in terms of skills, he had talent in terms of intelligence.


    If he could work with someone like this¡­


    After a moment of hesitation, Blaze suddenly said, "Can I train with you sometimes?"


    I was surprised to hear this, but I just gave a simple nod since this was good as well. This would allow me to get closer to him and give me more chances to bring him under my control. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time though, I could see that the eyes of Su Chen on the side lit up when he heard this.


    He had been staring at Blaze and it seemed that he had been quite interested.


    It seemed that Blaze¡­had already become one of the students in the demon instructors course.


    When I realized this, I could only say a few words to pray for his soul.


    When we had finished chatting, we went to see what loot the Howling Gale Wolf had dropped.


    This was a special area boss monster, so the loot from it definitely wouldn''t be poor.


    At first it was disappointing since the loot that we found was just loot that we could get from the ordinary Gale Wolves. It was a bit better quality compared to what they had received from the Gale Wolves, but that didn''t mean that it was that valuable.


    Finally, there were a few things that were worth something that came out.


    Two things to be exact.


    One was a large magic stone that was clearly much bigger than all the other magic stones that they had found so far.


    There was no doubt that this thing would be worth quite a bit.


    The other one¡­was a pair of gloves.


    Normally without an appraiser, they wouldn''t be able to see what it was.


    They would be able to use it and feel its effects, but they exact stat increases wouldn''t be known until they were appraised.


    However, I had the Demon King System, so I was able to see the stats of this thing right away.


    Howling Gale Gloves


    A special pair of gloves made from the skin of a Howling Gale Wolf. Contains traces of the Howling Gale Wolf''s wind magic.


    Stats: Agility +20


    Special Active: The user can channel the wind magic of the Howling Gale Wolf to increase their speed by 50% and deal an extra attack with wind magic.


    My eyes lit up the moment that I saw this.


    Magic item!


    It was just like the sword that I used.


    But I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried after seeing the stats of this magic item since¡­things like this were usually the reason why parties broke up.


    There would be infighting because of the loot that they obtained.


    Magic items were rare and valuable items that anyone would want, so it wasn''t strange if they broke up because of this.


    But to my surprise¡­


    "You should have it."


    Hayato was the first one to say this.


    The others then nodded in agreement before Claire said, "You were the one that killed it, so naturally it''s yours."


    I was completely caught off guard by this and couldn''t help being a bit moved.


    It seemed that the seeds that I had planted in their hearts had already started blooming.


    If only I knew the truth¡­


    They weren''t moved since they already had magic items!


    It was what the guild had offered them when they joined, so they didn''t think that much about magic items¡­


    That was the difference between one who was still on probation like me and one who had been fully accepted into the guild like them.

 Chapter 95 - 95: Dungeon’s end

    Once we settled the matter of the loot, we started heading even deeper into the dungeon.


    Our goal today had been to clear the dungeon completely, so we were still far from being done with this dungeon yet.


    As we went deeper and deeper, there were less monsters that we encountered.


    Though with the teamwork that we now had, it wasn''t as if we were afraid of any monsters that we encountered.


    As long as we worked together, it would be easy for us to take down any monster that we met.


    Though the reason that there were less monsters was because this place was filled with powerful monsters.


    The more powerful a monster was, the bigger their territory would be.


    So there wasn''t as much room here for monsters since there were powerful monsters settling here.


    After traveling for a bit, we finally reached the last area on the map.


    This was where the boss of the dungeon was supposed to be.


    As long as we defeated this boss, it could be considered a successful dungeon raid.


    Of course, even if we defeated the boss of the dungeon, that didn''t mean that we should destroy the dungeon core.


    If the dungeon core was destroyed, then this entire dungeon would collapse.


    If that were to happen, then it would mean having to deal with the Awakener Association that oversaw this dungeon.


    They had left this dungeon up because it was a good place for them to farm materials, which was why they had never destroyed the dungeon core before. As long as they killed the dungeon boss periodically, they would be able to keep the dungeon from breaking.


    So that was why there were these D Rank Dungeons in the first place.


    As we stood there on the edge of the dungeon boss'' territory, we looked at the map to make sure that we were in the right place.


    However, it didn''t take us long to find that dungeon boss.


    It was standing there in the middle of this cave area that was considered the dungeon boss'' territory.


    When I saw it, I couldn''t help revealing a smile.


    As expected, it was another wolf.


    This dungeon was filled with wolf type creatures and even the special boss was a Howling Gale Wolf, so it wasn''t strange that the boss would be a wolf as well.


    I turned to Su Chen and he said, "This is a Great Wolf, it''s a large variant of a normal wolf with powerful physical capabilities."


    "Just physical capabilities?" I asked.


    Su Chen gave a nod.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    After all, if the Great Wolf could rely on just its physical capabilities alone to become the dungeon boss in a dungeon that was filled with monsters that could use magic, it was clear that this Great Wolf''s abilities weren''t weak.


    This¡­might be harder to deal with than I had thought.


    So I wasn''t in a rush to deal with the Great Wolf, especially since I could see that it was asleep.


    Instead of rushing into this fight, it was better to scout out the area and see if there was anything that we could use against it.


    I had Claire go and scout out the area since she was the best at this.


    When she came back, she said, "There''s a few spots that we can hide and ambush the Great Wolf from. At the same time, there are a few spots where we will be able to use as a vantage point if we need to."


    I gave a nod in response to this before looking at the map that Su Chen had.


    I had to admit that it really was good being a part of a large guild.


    If I had come to this dungeon on my own, there was no way that I would have had this useful map with me.


    This map wasn''t provided by the Awakener Association, but rather it was something that came from the guild.


    Each guild raided each of the dungeons controlled by the Awakener Association and they had their own maps for these dungeons.


    The one that we were using was made by past Awakeners of Elementia who had come to this dungeon before.


    We were using the knowledge of those that came before us to pave the way to the future.


    After thinking for a bit, I pointed at the map a few times as I said, "Alright, here''s the plan¡­"


    ¡­


    A few minutes later, we were all in place.


    Beside me was Qin Yue Ru and everyone else was somewhere else in this area.


    We had communicators that had been provided to us by the guild, which was once again a benefit of being from a large guild.


    Normal communicators didn''t work in dungeons since there was something that seemed to stop radio waves.


    However, these communicators had been made specifically to work in the dungeons.


    To make something like this definitely wasn''t cheap and it was only a powerful guild like Elementia that could do that. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So the other Awakeners who came in alone would never have something like this.


    Once we were all in place, I asked one last time, "Is everyone ready?"


    "Ready."


    There were three of these that came from the communicator and one that came from beside me.


    Unlike before, there wasn''t a single trace of arrogance in their voice anymore and they were fully committed to working together.


    With this, I felt much more confident that we would be able to take down this Great Wolf.


    After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I said, "Alright, on my mark."


    With that, I started the countdown.


    When I reached one, Blaze suddenly came out of his hiding spot and ran right at the Great Wolf who was sleeping there. As he ran at the Great Wolf, he started shouting at it to get its attention.


    The Great Wolf suddenly woke up and stared at Blaze who was running at him.

 Chapter 96 - 96: Dungeon boss (1)

    As soon as the Great Wolf woke up, it immediately looked around to confirm that there were no other enemies before using its speed to outrun Blaze.


    When it stopped, it had already created a good amount of distance between the two of them.


    This Great Wolf wasn''t just strong based on that speed, but also intelligent since it knew to create space right away.


    It didn''t let itself fall into the trap of thinking that there was only a single enemy and attacking only to be ambushed. It knew that by acting rashly, it would give the enemy an opportunity against it.


    So it calmly retreated, creating enough distance so that it could scope out the situation.


    After it looked around the area for a bit, the Great Wolf turned its attention back to Blaze who was still charging at it.


    Seeing this, the Great Wolf couldn''t stop its wolf lips from curling into a faint smile.


    "This human wants to fight me head on without any help? What a fool."


    That was what the Great Wolf thought before suddenly dashing forward with its great speed.


    Blaze was barely able to keep up with the Great Wolf as it charged over at him.


    At the very last second, he suddenly activated his flame armour.


    The Great Wolf that had been about to bite down on Blaze''s shoulder suddenly stopped itself. Then all of a sudden, it jumped back to create space between the two of them once more.


    Blaze let out a sigh of relief since he knew that he wouldn''t have gotten out of it unhurt if the Great Wolf had decided to go through with biting him.


    He was glad that the Great Wolf wasn''t willing to hurt itself to also hurt him.


    But that was only a second of pause before Blaze charged at the Great Wolf once again while shouting, "Come and get it!"


    As he charged, he even summoned out a flame sword and flame shield.


    The Great Wolf no longer attacked Blaze after seeing this and instead ran around the room, almost as if it was kiting Blaze.


    "This human, it won''t be able to use this ability forever. The moment that it''s gone is the moment that this human dies."


    The Great Wolf was planning on using its speed to outrun Blaze and wear him down.


    It knew that as long as Blaze didn''t have this flame armour, it would be able to take him down easily with the difference in speed and power.


    So the Great Wolf''s plan was to tire Blaze out before making its move.


    Blaze just went along with it and the two of them ran all over the room.


    With how it was going, it didn''t seem like this was going to end any time soon.


    That was until the Great Wolf suddenly realized something¡­


    It was surrounded by flames.


    It had been so focused on Blaze and how it would be able to easily take him down after he ran out of energy that it hadn''t been paying attention to the other thing that Blaze had been doing.


    As Blaze had been running around, flames were left behind by him that now filled the room.


    Since they had been running all over, the room was now completely covered in flames except for the one area that the two of them were in.


    The Great Wolf realized that it had been completely fooled and was now trapped by Blaze''s flames.


    If it wanted to run, it would have to dash through those flames and it could tell that it wouldn''t get out of this place unscathed if that happened¡­


    But these flames kept burning like this, they had to be feeding on something.


    As soon as it realized this, the Great Wolf turned to Blaze.


    "This human, if I take him out¡­then would the flames go out?"


    While it wasn''t a proper idea, it was still better than nothing. At this point, the Great Wolf was desperate to find any solution to this problem.


    At the same time, it would be able to take care of this human that had intruded on its home.


    So the Great Wolf charged at Blaze.


    As the Great Wolf charged¡­Blaze actually ran out of power and the flame armour around him collapsed. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Great Wolf''s guesses were right, the flames that were burning around them were fueled by Blaze''s magic power. As long as he supplied them with mana, they would keep burning.


    He was focused on maintaining these flames that he ran out of mana for his own armour, which was why it collapsed.


    Seeing this, the Great Wolf saw a chance and dashed even faster at Blaze.


    Blaze knew that he was in a pinch, but he was completely out of energy.


    Even if he wanted to dodge, it was impossible for him to dodge at this point.


    So all he could do was sit there and watch as the Great Wolf approached.


    The distance between him and the Great Wolf wasn''t that great since there was only so much space that he could leave with the flames. In a matter of seconds, the Great Wolf would be on him and would be biting into him.


    But Blaze didn''t seem worried at all as he sat there looking up at the Great Wolf.


    Seeing him acting this way, the Great Wolf couldn''t help feeling a bad premonition.


    Like there was something wrong¡­


    But the Great Wolf didn''t have any other choice since it wouldn''t be able to escape this place unless it took down Blaze.


    So it could only commit to the choices that it had made.


    The Great Wolf appeared right in front of Blaze and was about to clench down with its outstretched jaws¡­


    But then before it could, there was a wind barrier that appeared in front of it.


    This was a wind barrier made of many different wind blades that prevented the Great Wolf from passing through.


    The wind blades cut against the Great Wolf''s pelt, but there wasn''t a single wind blade that was able to draw blood.


    Still, this wind barrier did its job and kept the Great Wolf from reaching Blaze.

 Chapter 97 - 97: Dungeon boss (2)

    The Great Wolf didn''t keep trying to smash itself against that barrier and quickly drew back.


    Though after drawing back a bit, it was planning on rushing forward again.


    It wanted to use its speed to go around this barrier of wind, but it soon found that there was nowhere for it to go.


    That was because this barrier of wind¡­wasn''t just in front of it. This barrier of wind was actually a dome of wind that had completely surrounded the Gale Wolf.


    No matter where it wanted to go, it wouldn''t be able to go anywhere.


    It was completely trapped by this dome of wind.


    The Great Wolf jumped back into the center of this dome of wind and started carefully analyzing this dome of wind. It wanted to see if there was a way to break out of it or if there was a way to wait this out.


    After all, the dome of wind seemed to be keeping the flames from reaching it.


    As long as it could wait long enough, it didn''t believe that this human would be able to maintain these flames for long.


    But there was another question that passed through its mind.


    "Where did this dome of wind come from? Does this human have two powers or was it someone else?"


    Blaze on the other hand was completely beat as he sat there on the ground.


    But there was a golden light that suddenly appeared around him that started filling him with energy. There was even a hint of holiness that came with this golden light that appeared around him.


    When this golden light appeared, Blaze let out a sigh of relief as he knew that his job was done.


    When he had dashed at the Great Wolf, it wasn''t because he was being rash.


    Rather, it was because it was all a part of the plan that they had come up with.


    They had noted that this room had a large space, so it wasn''t a problem to use flames.


    They sent Blaze in on his own to distract the Great Wolf and trap it with the flames.


    Blaze had no problem just setting up these flames since he didn''t really need to control them and they didn''t have any form. Flames like this were easy for him to leave behind and then just supply with mana to keep burning.


    Then once he had brought the Great Wolf into the area that they wanted it in, his job was finished.


    During this whole time, Claire''s voice had been in his ears, telling him all about the small adjustments he had to make.


    She was afar watching over the entire thing, guiding him to trap the Great Wolf in the area that they needed it in.


    Then when it was over, he was assured since he knew that Hayato would be there with the dome of wind to trap the Great Wolf.


    As he sat there relaxing, there was a voice that rang out in his communicator, "So you managed to survive in the end."


    Blaze couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when he heard the teasing voice of this team leader of his.


    Then he said with a bitter tone, "With your grace, I was able to survive."


    During the time that he had been chased by the Great Wolf, he had heard this leader''s voice in his communicator from time to time.


    Whenever he had heard this voice, he would suddenly start to move faster for a bit.


    This had allowed him to move faster at times to make sure that the Great Wolf didn''t escape too far. Otherwise, the Great Wolf would have realized that it was being surrounded by flames instead of focusing on him.


    But he really was surprised that just the voice from the communicator was enough to do this. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He really was surprised by how flexible this ability of their team leader was, even though he was only F Rank.


    However, he had also put this prejudice towards the fact that he was a F Ranker away a long time ago when he had seen him fight against the Howling Gale Wolf. He firmly believed that Lin Fan was a genius of both effort and intelligence, being able to figure out such a creative way to use his power, even with his limitations.


    There was still a lot that he could learn from him.


    After a pause, Lin Fan''s voice rang out again, "Try to recover your energy as quickly as possible just in case something happens. Hayato will do his best, but we still need you to end it."


    Blaze gave a nod before closing his eyes to gather more mana.


    On the other side, Hayato was laughing as he said, "Now you get to see my true powers!"


    As he said this, wind blew his hair and made him look truly wild.


    If anyone else saw him, they would have thought that he looked scary, but¡­those that were on the same team as him already knew that he was nothing more than a kid with Chuunibyou.


    He was a kid who enjoyed acting like he was the most powerful.


    In fact, his name for this dome of wind was¡­Dark Prison of Eternal Wind!


    But while the name was cringe, that didn''t mean that this attack was weak.


    It was only a single layer of wind that had appeared at first, but with him adding more and more mana in this attack, there were more and more blades of wind that formed. They formed on the inside of this dome of wind, making the layer of wind thicker and thicker.


    The Great Wolf could see that it was running out of space to move in as the blades of wind closed in on it.


    While these blades of wind weren''t able to do anything to it, that was only if it only touched those blades of wind for a second.


    If the blades of wind continued to cut it, they would eventually make it through its pelt and hurt it.


    So it couldn''t just stay still anymore when it saw the blades of wind that were approaching.


    It had to figure out a way out of this¡­


    It seemed like the Great Wolf had no choice but to use its final trump card.


    But the Great Wolf had to admit something.


    "These humans, they really did push me to the edge. It''s been a long time since I''ve had a fight like this."


    The Great Wolf didn''t hesitate to raise its head and give a howl.


    Along with this howl, the Great Wolf started to grow in size.


    It was only a small increase at first, but then its body almost doubled in size and its fur grew longer.


    The Great Wolf was already a large wolf, but now that it had doubled in size and its fur danced in the wind, it almost looked like a legendary monster. Like the Fenrirs of legend.


    When it finished transforming, it prepared to fight against the dome of wind with all of its might.


    It was just too bad that the humans that it had respect for didn''t plan on fighting fairly.


    Blaze had stood up and had condensed a flame sword in his hand.


    With a smile, he looked at the Great Wolf through the small gaps of the dome of wind and then tossed the flame sword at the dome of wind.

 Chapter 98 - 98: Dungeon boss (3)

    The Great Wolf had finally stopped howling when it reached double its size and it was about to start charging at the wall of wind in front of it.


    However, before it could¡­


    There was a sudden bright light that came from in front of it that almost seemed too dazzling.


    However, the Great Wolf forced itself to look straight to figure out just what this light was.


    It was able to see that there was a wave of flames coming at it. This wave of flames rode on the wind wall and spread in an instant, reaching the Great Wolf right away.


    The Great Wolf didn''t even have time to put up defenses before being engulfed in the flames that came right at it.


    Seeing the dome of wind being engulfed in flames, Blaze who had thrown the sword of fire laughed as he said, "Take that you wolf b*stard! That is for all the kindness that you showed me earlier!"


    The combination move between them was their plan all along. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was why he had needed to lure the Great Wolf into this one area.


    If the area was too big, then Hayato''s mana wouldn''t have been enough to fill it with wind blades. If the area was too small, the Great Wolf might have noticed and tried to escape.


    So they had to work together to ensure that the area was just right.


    This large bonfire in front of Blaze was the result of their hard work.


    After laughing for a bit, Blaze fell back on his back and looked up while just trying to recover.


    He had really used up quite a bit of energy fighting this Great Wolf.


    It was a good thing that it was all over or else he really didn''t know what he would do.


    After the bonfire burned for a while, the flames finally died out.


    These flames had been powered by Hayato''s mana the whole time instead of Blaze''s mana, which was why he was finally able to relax and release all the flames around him.


    Hayato had kept this dome of wind going for as long as possible, but there was a limit to his mana.


    So eventually, the dome of flames fell.


    When the flames disappeared, they revealed a completely charred Great Wolf standing there.


    When the Great Wolf was revealed, Blaze immediately raised his guard just in case anything happened.


    But when he looked at it closely, he found that this Great Wolf wasn''t moving at all.


    This should just be the Great Wolf''s corpse after it had been burnt by the flames.


    However, when the Great Wolf''s body didn''t disappear like the other monsters, he knew that this wasn''t the case.


    All of a sudden, the Great Wolf dashed forward at Blaze.


    It was already too late for him to raise his flame armour and protect himself, so all he could do was brace himself for the impact.


    However, he had to praise the Great Wolf.


    Even when burnt like this¡­it was still able to survive.


    This was just simply too amazing.


    The Great Wolf in truth only had a bit of consciousness left.


    It was filled with pain and it only had one thought in mind, to take down the human who had caused it this pain. Which was why as soon as it could move, it charged at Blaze.


    Before the Great Wolf could reach him though, there was a figure that suddenly appeared in front of Blaze that swung out at the Great Wolf.


    The Great Wolf''s claws clashed against the sword of that figure and pushed that figure back a bit, but in the end, that figure was able to endure.


    When Blaze could see that figure clearly, he saw that it was¡­Lin Fan.


    I turned around and said, "Just go rest, I''ll take care of it."


    Blaze gave a nod before falling back and losing consciousness.


    After seeing him fall unconscious like this, I said in my communicator, "Yue Ru, heal him."


    Then without waiting for a response, I said, "Stronger."


    With this, I was able to push back the Great Wolf.


    The Great Wolf''s eyes opened wide in surprise after being pushed back like this, but it didn''t give up.


    It resisted the pain and twisted its body to snap at me with its fangs.


    But I had also been prepared for this.


    I had already turned off my communicator, so they wouldn''t hear what I would have to say next. Not to mention, the only person that might have was already unconscious on the ground.


    With nothing holding me back, naturally I wouldn''t hold back.


    So I calmly said, "Freeze."


    The moment that I said this, the Great Wolf''s head that was stretching out suddenly stopped.


    The Great Wolf''s body was still moving since it was in the air, but the rest of it completely stopped since it couldn''t move a single muscle.


    With this, it was easy for me to just slash out in front of me.


    This magic sword of mine wasn''t weak, it was very sharp, so it was able to cut right through the pelt of the Great Wolf.


    Before the Great Wolf could react, it had been cut in half.


    As the top part of the Great Wolf flew past me, I could see its eyes that were filled with shock and confusion.


    It didn''t understand what had happened just now.


    One second it had been about to bite this human, but the next, it found that it wasn''t able to move at all.


    Just what had happened?


    After cutting the Great Wolf in half, I just simply looked back at it, looking right into its eyes before walking back to where Blaze was.


    And then¡­I fell right down beside Blaze.


    As I laid there, pretending not to be able to move, I said, "Yue Ru, I need a heal as well."


    It didn''t take long before a golden glow appeared on me as well and Su Chen led everyone else over.

 Chapter 99 - 99: Dungeon cleared

    After taking some time to rest up and waiting for Blaze to wake up, we finally got up and headed over to where the Great Wolf''s corpse had disappeared.


    This Great Wolf''s corpse had lasted for quite a while before disappearing, which was quite strange.


    However, we just chalked that up to it being the dungeon boss which made it disappear so slowly.


    In truth, it was because of the immense vitality of the Great Wolf.


    As a physically attributed beast, it had a powerful vitality that had allowed it to remain alive even though it had been cut in half.


    During that time, it had been staring at the group of humans, trying to figure out just what they were.


    After all, it had never met such terrifying beings in its life before¡­


    But in the end, it was impossible for the Great Wolf to hold on after being cut in half like this.


    No matter how great their vitality was, they still died in the end.


    Once they died, the corpse of the Great Wolf disappeared and the loot from it dropped.


    The loot from the boss of a dungeon was naturally different from the loot dropped by the monsters that roamed the dungeon.


    The magic stone alone was more than worth it since it was over five times bigger than the magic stone that they had received from the Howling Gale Wolf.


    The Howling Gale Wolf was a special area boss, so its magic stone was also bigger than the normal magic stones.


    This would certainly be worth a fortune and there was no need to discuss how to divide it since this was a magic stone.


    They would just sell it and divide the money that came from it.


    The other drops were fangs and pelts, but they could feel the mana that came from these items.


    When they tried to stab it with a knife, the knife actually snapped in half.


    That was just how strong these things were.


    So there was no doubt that these things would sell for quite a bit.


    Finally, there was a pair of shoes.


    Once again, it was another magic item and the only thing that might possibly break the harmony of this party.


    But I was surprised to find that they all didn''t want it.


    Once again, they gave this thing to me.


    If only he knew that they had rejected it since they already had magic items and it would clash with the ones that they already owned¡­


    Since the loot had been split, there was no need for them to stay here any longer.


    With the guidance of the handlers, they were able to easily find their way back.


    As for the dungeon core that was near the boss'' territory, they didn''t even look at it once.


    They knew that if they destroyed this thing, they would have the Awakener Association on them.


    Even if they were powerful future Awakeners, that didn''t mean that they could go against the Awakener Association. Going against the Awakener Association was like cutting off the path to the future since they controlled everything.


    So they just left this dungeon core alone.


    When they came out of the dungeon, they found that there were still plenty of people around.


    With the way that these people stood around, it was as if they had been waiting for them to come out this entire time.


    When they saw their party come out, there were many people that looked at them with expectant gazes.


    So exchanging nods, Blaze and Hayato came forward.


    Blaze lifted up the magic stone from the Great Wolf while Hayato lifted the Great Wolf''s fangs and pelt.


    As soon as these items were brought out, everyone started to gush over them.


    The people that were allowed to crowd the entrance were all Awakeners or reporters that knew their stuff. So they would be able to recognize how great these things were with just a single glance.


    "It''s the Great Wolf''s pelt and fangs!"


    "Also that magic stone!" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "As expected of the up and coming team from Elementia! I have to write my report on them!"


    Hearing this, everyone except for Lin Fan revealed satisfied smiles.


    This was the reaction that they were hoping to get.


    Normally, they wouldn''t care about things like this, but they had been asked to do this by their handlers this time.


    This was their first time in a dungeon, so they would need to establish their fame.


    Naturally the best way to do that was to show off their achievements with their loot.


    After showing these off, they all turned to Lin Fan with expectant looks.


    Lin Fan gave a sigh before coming forward with the pair of gloves and the pair of boots that they had obtained.


    Everyone revealed even further shocked looks after seeing these items.


    There was a silence that came over the crowd before someone said, "Magic item!"


    The moment that this was said, the crowd exploded with different gossip.


    But the one that reached Lin Fan''s ears the clearest was¡­


    "Look at him holding the magic items like that¡­he must be the porter for them. Otherwise it just doesn''t make sense that they would bring a F Ranker along with them."


    "That''s right, it seems like the people from Elementia really are different. They can even use F Rankers as porters without care."


    Lin Fan slightly knitted his brows when he heard this, but he didn''t say anything.


    After all, the facts were there.


    It was a fact that he was a F Ranker and he couldn''t change that.


    But to his surprise, Blaze suddenly went up to the ones that said this and said, "Say another word about our leader and I''ll personally beat you up. Who cares if he''s a F Ranker?"


    Hayato quickly followed behind and said, "That''s right, I''ll go all out with you if you insult our leader like this."


    "Leader?" The ones who had been gossiping couldn''t help revealing shocked looks.


    But with Blaze and Hayato pressing down on them, they didn''t have time to think that much.


    Since they were facing this pressure, the only way to relieve it was to¡­slander them more and use the crowd to force them back.


    "A F Ranker is your leader? It seems that Elementia really has fallen."


    Both Blaze and Hayato raised their fists, but before they could do a thing, their handlers had already moved forward.


    As expected, they stood in front of both of them with raised hands to prevent them from doing anything.


    When the gossipers saw this, they couldn''t help letting out secret sighs of relief.


    That was right, Elementia was one of the big guilds, they had their image to worry about.


    So no matter what they said, they wouldn''t attack them in public like this.


    They couldn''t help feeling emboldened by this, but they were quickly shut down by the handlers.


    The handlers both came forward and said, "If you keep slandering our guild like this, I can promise you that our legal department will come for you. When that time comes, I hope that you will have a good lawyer to defend you."


    The gossipers couldn''t help being shocked at this.


    They had thought that they would have the upper hand, but now¡­


    Lawyers, that was a terrifying word.


    They really wouldn''t be able to defeat the legal team of a large and powerful guild¡­


    So they couldn''t help breaking down.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit touched.


    It seemed that I had really made a good impression on them.

 Chapter 100 - 100: Boys night out

    After that first dungeon, we had been set as a team to raid several more dungeons together.


    Over the next two weeks, it was just going into the dungeon and resting in between dungeon dives.


    Though it was tiring, there was no doubt that this business was very lucrative.


    Especially since the monsters that we took down were all the strongest monsters.


    These monsters were all bosses and area bosses of the dungeons that they lived in, so the loot that they dropped was naturally very powerful.


    It really was satisfying seeing my bank account fill up like this.


    But seeing it fill up like this really made me aware of another benefit of being in a large guild like this.


    It was very simple, it was the logistics network of the guild.


    If one was a solo Awakener, it was sometimes hard to find buyers for the loot that they got from the dungeons.


    They wouldn''t have a guild that had connections to sell these items for them.


    Solo Awakeners could hold onto the loot that they got from the dungeon for a long time since it would take a very long time for them to sell it.


    Simply because they didn''t have the same negotiation power as large guilds.


    Large guilds could use their pressure to force buyers to offer proper prices, but solo Awakeners didn''t have this same pressure. So when solo Awakeners tried to sell, it would be hard for them since they would often get ripped off.


    It was only through trial and error that they would be able to find a buyer in the end.


    Or sometimes it was just luck.


    It was better to be a part of a large guild so one wouldn''t need to worry about that.


    At the end of these two weeks, it was my final dungeon raid with this team.


    It wasn''t that we were breaking up, but rather because I had something else to take care of over the next period of time that I would be stepping down.


    They would be heading off to different teams to fill in during the time that I was gone, so we would all be splitting up for a bit.


    Though going to different teams was definitely a good thing since they would be able to learn how to work with others. Once they came back from that, they would be able to work much better together with their new styles.


    But before breaking up, we naturally had to have a party to celebrate.


    That was why after the last dungeon raid, all of us and our handlers went to a bar and grill to celebrate.


    Of course, there were two that didn''t join us.


    Hayato and Claire''s handlers went back to the guild to take care of the matter of reporting. Though by the looks on their faces, it didn''t seem like they wanted to come in the first place, so we didn''t force them.


    Once we arrived at the bar, it didn''t take long before the party was in full swing.


    As people who lived dangerous lives, we naturally knew how to cut loose and have fun when we could.


    The table that we were at was covered in many different dishes and all kinds of drinks, though there were also non-alcoholic drinks here for the minors.


    The four of them were all minors, so we wouldn''t let them drink.


    However, for me and the handlers, we cut loose and had our fun since we were all above the legal drinking age.


    The kids could only look on with envy since they wanted to see what alcohol tastes like, but they didn''t keep sulking for long as the dishes came in.


    This place was a top class Japanese restaurant, so the dishes were all very delicious.


    There was even a fight that happened between Hayato and Blaze over some of the Karaage, but of course it was all good natured fighting.


    During this time, I received a text from someone.


    I moved to the side and opened my phone to see who it was from.


    When I saw this text, I couldn''t help narrowing my eyes, but then I released that expression and returned to the party.


    The party kept going for a while, but all good things had to come to an end eventually and we started to disperse.


    But before we did¡­I called Blaze, Hayato, Su Chen, and the other male handler over to have a private talk.


    Once we were together, I said, "How about we continue this with a boys night out?"


    The four of them were surprised to hear this at first, but then they revealed excited looks.


    To my surprise, Su Chen was the most excited about this.


    In training, Su Chen was a demon instructor¡­but it seemed that outside of training, he was quite the fun person to be with.


    Since they all agreed, the only obstacle left was¡­to tell the girls. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Claire and Qin Yue Ru had been watching us gathered like this with narrowed eyes filled with judgement.


    When I came over, they glared at me which made it harder for me to say what I wanted to say¡­but I still said it in the end, "We''re going out for a boys night out, so you guys shouldn''t wait for us. We''ll be heading to another place now."


    As soon as my voice fell, I could feel the judgement that was coming from their gaze.


    Qin Yue Ru turned to look at Blaze while Claire kept looking at me and said, "Where are you going?"


    I couldn''t help looking away when I felt this gaze on me before saying, "Just to another bar for some fun¡­"


    As my voice trailed off, I could feel the judgement that was coming from that glare.


    In the end, Claire took Qin Yue Ru''s arm and said, "Then we''ll just have our own girl''s night." She turned to Qin Yue Ru''s handler who was also a woman and asked, "Are you coming with us?"


    The handler looked at us with the same glare of judgement before giving a nod.


    With that, the three of them left in a cab.


    All of us couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief seeing them go, but when we looked at each other, we could see the excitement in each other''s eyes.


    With that, we took a cab to our destination.


    As for that destination, it was naturally Sasha''s club.

 Chapter 101 - 101: Secrets at the club

    When we walked in, they couldn''t help revealing shocked looks.


    That was because they were completely taken aback by the girls walking around.


    Seeing them like this, I shook my head with a smile on my lips.


    The first time that I came in here, I was also surprised by how beautiful the girls who worked here were.


    Though I also couldn''t help being a bit surprised by the girls this second time. It almost seemed like they had become more beautiful in the few weeks that I had been gone.


    Seeing us, a few of the girls came over and led us to our table.


    Though this was that kind of club, it didn''t offer that kind of service. So even if Hayato and Blaze were a bit young, it didn''t matter that they were here since there weren''t any laws about this.


    But based on the looks on their faces, it seemed like the two of them were quite bashful around these beautiful girls.


    Even if they had acted tough during our dungeon raids, it seemed that they were weak against beauties.


    So why didn''t they react with Claire and Qin Yue Ru?


    Both of them could be considered beauties as well, so why didn''t the two of them react?


    Could it be that they just viewed them as colleagues instead of beautiful girls, that was why they didn''t feel anything?


    As for Su Chen and Blaze''s handler, the two of them seemed like they fit in perfectly in this place. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Both of them were single, so it wasn''t strange that they would act this way.


    But they almost seemed too familiar¡­like they had been in a place like this before¡­


    It seemed that I really couldn''t underestimate these two adults.


    After being shown to our table, menus were brought over to us.


    The other four all looked at me and I graciously said, "It''s on me tonight."


    But then I added, "Of course, spare my wallet a bit. Don''t make it too hard on me."


    They all gave OK signs and started ordering what they wanted.


    Though it wasn''t cheap, it wasn''t considered too expensive either, so they were showing respect.


    But what they didn''t know was¡­I wouldn''t be charged in the first place.


    After all, this place was partly mine in the first place. Sasha would take care of this matter for me.


    At the same time, I had brought them here for a specific purpose, so they would be paying that way¡­


    After the things that we ordered were brought over, we started to cut loose and have fun.


    Even Hayato and Blaze who had been silent when surrounded by these beauties slowly started to come out of their shells.


    Though judging by the faint blush on their faces, it seemed like they were getting contact drunk which was giving them this courage.


    It seemed that their tolerance was quite low that they were even getting contact drunk just from the alcohol fumes that were in the air. Though it was impossible that there wouldn''t be any fumes at all since this was what kind of a place it was.


    At the same time, Su Chen and the other handler had ordered quite a bit of alcohol in the first place.


    Even if this wasn''t that kind of place, with how much they ordered, it was impossible for there not to be the scent of alcohol in the air.


    I shook my head with a smile and took a sip of my drink.


    I really couldn''t help wondering what these two would be like once they were old enough to drink.


    Would they be able to endure and act in a drunken fashion, or would they be down in one drink?


    Both options seemed like they were viable¡­


    But there was no way of knowing right now.


    One thing that I had to admit was that¡­these girls in this hostess club really were good at getting people to talk.


    As I sat on the side and watched, I could hear quite a few secrets coming from Su Chen and the other handler.


    Su Chen¡­turned out to be a cat person.


    One might not think it with his muscular appearance, but he actually had three cats of his own. He couldn''t even help taking out his phone and showing their pictures to everyone around him.


    I also caught a glimpse of his cats and I had to admit that they were quite cute, different from the kind of cats that I thought he would have.


    It was two tabbies and a cute little white furball that he owned.


    As for the other handler, it turned out that he was a closet otaku.


    Even though he seemed very professional while working, once he started talking¡­he didn''t stop.


    He kept talking about magical girl this and ninja that, it really was a bit too much for the girls that were with him.


    It was just a good thing that they were professionals, so they were able to keep a smile on their faces the whole time while listening to him.


    However, the one thing that caught my interest the most was what Hayato said.


    At first, he just responded to the things that the girls asked him about, but¡­once he started getting contact drunk and more bold, he started talking more and more.


    When the topic came to work, he couldn''t help start ranting.


    It turned out that while his handler seemed professional when they were with us, he didn''t take care of Hayato that well when they were alone.


    Hayato''s handler often went off by himself, leaving Hayato on his own.


    There were times where Hayato had to take care of certain things himself because his handler had disappeared.


    He had suppressed it in his heart, but when he was allowed to vent, he didn''t hesitate to vent.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    "He''s going off on his own a lot¡­could it be¡­?"


    But before I could draw a conclusion, there was a loud sound that came from the entrance of the club.

 Chapter 102 - 102: You are…(1)

    Naturally the loud sound drew everyone''s attention.


    When they looked over, they found that there were several large men that had suddenly burst into the club. The large sound that was made was from the door being kicked in and a table being flipped over.


    Since this was a place that saw rambunctious customers from time to time, there were naturally bodyguards hired.


    There were two bouncers that went over, but there was a single muscular man that came forward to face them.


    This muscular man stood in front of both of these bouncers, not taking a single step back.


    The two bouncers couldn''t help looking a bit worried. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, this muscular man was even bigger than them and they were quite bigger than normal people in the first place.


    After a moment of silence, one of the bouncers came forward. He reached his hand out towards the muscular man''s shoulder and said, "Look, buddy, this isn''t a place that you can play around¡­"


    Before he could say anything else, the muscular man suddenly raised his hands.


    These hands came right up to the necks of the two bouncers and grabbed them.


    The two bouncers tried to resist, but they found that they weren''t able to do a single thing. They grabbed at the hand that was at their necks, but they found that they were powerless against it.


    It was as if there was an iron vice that was currently gripping at their necks that they couldn''t break free of at all.


    The muscular man didn''t stop there as he suddenly lifted both of these bouncers up off the ground.


    Holding them in the air, the muscular man brought them forward to face them before saying, "Weak ones as weak as you are trying to tell me what to do?"


    He gave a snort before turning to one of his lackeys and saying, "Tell them who I am."


    The lackey revealed a wide smile before coming forward to say, "Trying to stand in the way of our Brother Tiger, that''s just seeking death. Don''t blame yourself for not knowing, but our Brother Tiger here is the assault team captain of our Red Gang. If you stand in his way, all that''ll happen is that¡­you''ll get hurt if you''re lucky and if you''re unlucky¡­you''ll lose your lives."


    The lackey''s smile became wider as he said this.


    The two bouncers looked back at the muscular man named Brother Tiger with eyes wide with shock and fear.


    But Brother Tiger looked like he was bored with them, so he just threw them both in different directions.


    Both of them flew through the air before crashing into the walls around them.


    When they slammed into the walls, there was a spider web of cracks that formed in the wall that showed just how much force they had been thrown with.


    After that, the two of them fell to the ground and they no longer moved.


    There was a silence that filled the air as everyone looked on in shock, but a few of the girls still went over to help the bouncers that had been hurt.


    Brother Tiger gave a snort when he saw this before saying, "Bring out that bunny b*stard that hurt my men and your boss. I''ll take care of some business with them and then you''ll be able to have your fun."


    After he said this, all of his men gave cheers before revealing excited looks.


    Those looks had a lewd tone to them as they looked at the girls that were all around them.


    It was clear what they were planning to do¡­


    At this, the girls couldn''t help giving a tremble and looking afraid.


    But after Brother Tiger said this, no one came out.


    He waited for a few seconds before suddenly knitting his brows and shouting, "Get out here now or else I''ll start destroying this place!"


    His voice was powerful, making it clear that he wasn''t playing around.


    But even then, not a single person came out.


    Even the bartender just waited there even though he had already secretly pulled out a knife.


    If it wasn''t for the order to wait and see where this went, he would have already stepped in to take care of this Brother Tiger.


    But he had been ordered not to do anything until the situation got out of hand.


    Seeing that no one still came forward, a vein popped out on Brother Tiger''s forehead.


    He narrowed his eyes to look around the club before shouting, "So, are you looking down on me? Or are you just afraid?"


    Once again, there was no answer that angered Brother Tiger even more.


    So he slammed his fist down on a table nearby, smashing it to pieces before shouting, "That''s it! I''m not playing nice anymore!"


    He walked over to one of the tables and reached out to grab one of the girls.


    They tried to move out of the way, but he grabbed one by the neck and lifted her up.


    In his hands, it looked like he could squeeze that girl to death at any moment.


    And it was clear by how much she was trembling just how scared she was at that moment.


    Brother Tiger held her up and said, "I will kill this girl and every other girl here as long as you don''t come out! I''ll give you three seconds before I kill her!"


    He gave a pause to see if anyone would react and seeing that no one did, he started counting, "Three! Two! On¡­"


    Before he could finish saying one, there was a hand that suddenly grabbed his arm.


    Brother Tiger couldn''t help knitting his brows when he felt this hand grab his arm.


    It wasn''t because he was surprised that someone came out, but because he could feel pain coming from his arm.


    This was a kind of pain that he hadn''t felt in a long time¡­


    Brother Tiger narrowed his eyes to look at the one who had grabbed his arm and said, "Who do you think you are?"

 Chapter 103 - 103: You are…(2)

    The one who had come forward to grab his arm was¡­Blaze.


    He had held himself back earlier when these men came in, but when he saw that this Brother Tiger was about to harm one of the girls, he couldn''t hold himself back anymore.


    Blaze just calmly looked at Brother Tiger, not being scared by the tone of his voice at all. He calmly said, "Let her go."


    Brother Tiger narrowed his eyes when he heard this and he just calmly stared right back into Blaze''s eyes.


    Then he opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but no words came out in the end.


    Instead of words coming out, all he could do was clench his teeth and take a cold breath.


    The veins popped out on his arm as if he was resisting something, but his hand slowly opened and the girl being held by him fell to the ground.


    After falling, she started to cough since she had been choking while being held by Brother Tiger.


    But after she caught her breath, she didn''t even thank Blaze as she ran off to where the other girls were.


    Blaze didn''t mind this at all and just turned to Brother Tiger to say, "Get out now and I won''t do anything."


    After saying this, he let go of Brother Tiger''s arm and turned around.


    Brother Tiger''s face twisted when he heard this.


    As one would expect, he lost his temper after being treated by an unknown kid like this.


    Brother Tiger took a deep breath before saying, "Kill them all."


    He didn''t roar this out like he did before and instead spoke in a calm voice that had an intense chill to it.


    He kept staring at Blaze as he said, "Leave this one to me. I want to rip him apart myself."


    His lackeys all couldn''t help shivering when they heard this.


    While others might not understand what this meant, they as his lackeys naturally knew how terrifying their Brother Tiger could be when he lost his temper.


    So they naturally didn''t dare get in his way.


    They all went around him to take care of the others in this club.


    Since this was a new club, most of the customers were normal people or weak Awakeners that didn''t have any strong powers. Most of them would have crafting abilities or other abilities.


    So there wasn''t anyone that could really fight these thugs.


    With a sigh, Blaze said, "Do we really have to do this? As long as you leave, we can settle this matter."


    Brother Tiger didn''t answer this with words, but rather with action.


    With a roar, his body started to swell before his muscles exploded.


    They didn''t explode explode, but rather increased greatly in size, almost doubling how big they were before.


    At the same time, Blaze could feel the pressure that was coming from him.


    It was clear that this Brother Tiger was also an Awakener.


    It seemed like his power was some kind of physical enhancement power, which was what had buffed his muscles like this.


    But Blaze didn''t panic when he saw this.


    He just calmly said to Hayato, "I''ll leave them to you, I''ll take care of this big one."


    Hayato gave a sigh before standing up and waving his hand. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he did, there was a visible gust of wind that appeared around his hand, making it clear what kind of powers he had.


    But before he could do anything, Su Chen came forward to grab his arm.


    Hayato was surprised by Su Chen''s sudden actions, but then he realized why Su Chen was doing this.


    No matter what, they were still considered members of Elementia.


    If they were to get in a fight with these people, there was no doubt that this would affect Elementia''s prestige.


    So as a handler from the guild, he naturally couldn''t allow them to do something like this.


    But he also couldn''t stop now¡­


    Just like Blaze, he couldn''t stand to watch these people acting like this, hurting the beautiful girls of the club.


    He was a hot blooded young man, so of course he cared about things like standing up for justice.


    After a bit of hesitation, Hayato was about to give a reason for his actions.


    However, what he didn''t expect was Su Chen to say, "Don''t just hog all the enemies for yourself. Leave some for me."


    Hayato''s chin dropped when he heard this as he looked at Su Chen like he was trying to figure out if he had heard that correctly.


    But Su Chen had already ignored him and was heading towards those lackeys walking over.


    The lackeys had been incited by their fear of Brother Tiger that they still came forward, but when Su Chen was in front of them, they couldn''t help hesitating¡­after all, he was just too muscular.


    He was almost as muscular as their Brother Tiger.


    As they were about to say something to scare Su Chen, Su Chen suddenly punched out.


    This punch landed in the stomach of the lackey closest to him.


    The punch knocked the wind out of that lackey and he was picked off the ground. Su Chen''s fist carried him off the ground and sent him flying in the group of lackeys behind him, carrying them all into the wall.


    Just a single punch had created a large gap in the line of lackeys.


    Then when these lackeys came back to their senses and were prepared to attack Su Chen, there were two bottles that had flown out to hit the two foremost lackeys in the head.


    This accurate shot to the head smashed these bottles on their heads and knocked the two of them out.


    As for who had thrown them¡­it was Blaze''s handler.


    Even though he wasn''t an Awakener, he was someone that went into dungeons and had plenty of fighting experience.


    So these lackeys who only relied on their muscles to bully people couldn''t match this handler.


    Seeing them like this, Hayato couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile before he waved his hand to send out his wind blades.


    Seeing that they had that side covered, Blaze turned his attention back to Brother Tiger.


    But when he turned back, he found a fist already coming towards his face.

 Chapter 104 - 104: You are…(3)

    Though this fist had come at him at a surprise angle, Blaze wasn''t taken aback by it.


    He could clearly see the path of the fist, so it wasn''t hard for him to dodge out of the way.


    He could feel the wind that came from this punch which showed that it had power, but the speed of it¡­was just too slow.


    It seemed that it was focused on power rather than speed, so he was able to easily dodge out of the way even though it had come as a surprise.


    Blaze had been trained to fight by Elementia, so this kind of brawl was simple for him.


    With a turn, he used his palm to deflect this punch before using the force from the spin to punch Brother Tiger in the stomach. Brother Tiger immediately crumpled under this punch and fell to his knees.


    It felt like his insides were about to come out after he was punched in the stomach like this, but he forced himself to keep it in in the end.


    As he kneeled there, he looked up at Blaze who was standing over him with a calm look on his face. With a scowl, he said, "Just who are you? Do you think that you''ll get away with this?"


    Blaze just gave a sigh when he heard this stereotypical line from a two bit villain before saying, "We don''t want any trouble. If you just back down, there won''t be a problem here."


    Brother Tiger laughed at this before saying, "Trouble? You''ve already gotten yourself in plenty of trouble."


    Then without warning, he pulled out a knife that he stabbed at Blaze.


    Blaze narrowed his eyes seeing this and simply moved his hand forward.


    As he did, there were flames that gathered around his hand. The flames quickly gathered until they took the form of a sword.


    This sword of flame cut right through the knife that was stabbing at him. The heat from it and the molten metal formed from the knife melting burned Brother Tiger''s hand, making him cry out in pain.


    But then he realized that there was another problem.


    Blaze already had the sword of flames right up against his neck.


    If he even moved in the slightest, it would burn him. So he didn''t even dare breathe too much out of fear of being burnt.


    But the look on his face made it clear that he wasn''t planning on giving up.


    Gritting his teeth, Brother Tiger suddenly roared, "What are you all doing?! Attack him from behind while I''m distracting him."


    Blaze didn''t move at all when he heard this, as if he wasn''t afraid of being surrounded like this.


    Of course, he wasn''t surrounded in the end.


    The lackeys had all been knocked down already by Hayato, Su Chen, and Blaze''s handler.


    Brother Tiger looked over Blaze''s shoulder to see what was happening. When he saw that all of his lackeys had been knocked out and were on the ground, his chin dropped and the will to fight finally disappeared. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When Blaze saw this, he pulled his sword away from Brother Tiger''s neck and said, "Take your people and get out of here. There won''t be a second warning."


    There was an exasperated tone in Blaze''s voice as he said this.


    Brother Tiger looked at him with a complicated look, but he still stood up and brought his people away.


    When the lackeys saw Brother Tiger stand up, they also immediately stood up. Most of them hadn''t been hit that hard since Hayato and the others had their discretion, but they thought that it was better to lay down instead of being hit more.


    So they had been lying there waiting for the situation to change.


    Now that they had been given the signal to retreat, they naturally didn''t hesitate at all to get up and run.


    The ones that could move helped those that found it hard to move and it took them no time to gather at the entrance of the club.


    Brother Tiger''s face was very ugly when he saw this since he naturally knew what they were thinking, but he couldn''t do anything right now.


    So instead, he turned to vent his anger on Blaze.


    He pointed his finger at him and said, "Don''t think that this is over yet, just you¡­"


    Before he could finish, his words suddenly got caught in his mouth as he looked at Blaze''s collar.


    On that collar, there was something that he recognized.


    He didn''t see it before since the collar was down, but it had flipped up during the fight, revealing what was underneath.


    That symbol¡­


    It couldn''t be¡­


    After a long silence, Brother Tiger gave a gulp and said, "You¡­that symbol¡­you are¡­from Elementia?"


    Blaze was surprised that Brother Tiger knew this, but then he saw his upturned collar and he realized what it was.


    He had forgotten to change after the dungeon, so the shirt he was wearing was one that had Elementia symbol on it.


    Any clothing that had the guild''s symbol was something that the guild considered theirs and as such, no one dared to wear such clothes if they weren''t from Elementia. So the fact that Blaze was wearing this shirt with Elementia''s mark hidden under the collar meant that¡­


    When Brother Tiger said this, all of the people in the club couldn''t help giving gasps.


    Elementia¡­one of the top guilds in the world with a S Ranker in charge.


    This was far from something that their Red Gang could compare to¡­


    Blaze just gave a sigh before giving a nod.


    Since it had gone this far, he might as well make sure that he took care of this matter completely.


    Otherwise, if he caused trouble for the guild because of Brother Tiger''s revenge, then he wouldn''t be able to avoid the trouble that came from it.


    Brother Tiger trembled when he heard this before slowly backing away.


    Then all of sudden, he turned around and ran off without saying another word.


    His lackeys also followed behind him as he ran off.


    There was only silence that filled the club after this.

 Chapter 105 - 105: All planned

    Once the people from the Red Gang had been sent packing, everyone stared at Blaze in shock.


    After all, they had heard what Brother Tiger had said¡­


    This young man who had saved them all actually belonged to Elementia!


    That was one of the biggest guilds out there.


    If they could somehow grab his leg, then¡­


    But before anyone could do a thing, I was already walking forward.


    I grabbed Su Chen, Hayato, and Blaze''s handler as I walked past them and pulled them over to where Blaze was standing.


    When Blaze saw me walking over with them, he couldn''t help revealing an awkward look.


    He looked like he wanted to say something, but I shook my head and waved for him to follow me.


    Like this, before anyone in the club could even react, we had walked out.


    When they came to their senses, they couldn''t help being filled with regret over the fact that they couldn''t react in time.


    That was their chance to get closer to someone from Elementia and they had blown it by not being able to react in time¡­


    It really was a shame since any connection with Elementia was surely something that would have great benefits, but they had blown it like this.


    At the very least, they could brag about the fact that they had met someone from Elementia. That was not something that others could brag so easily about because members of Elementia were hard to meet in the first place.


    There were many that thought, "So Elementia members also come to a place like this?"


    That made many of them decide that they would come back again to see if they could bump into them once more.


    If they could and build a relationship with them¡­then there wouldn''t be a lack of benefits for them.


    In short, many things had changed all because Blaze had accidentally been revealed as a member of Elementia.


    ¡­


    After they had left the club, they went to find a safe place first.


    In an alley somewhere, after I had made sure that no one was following us, I turned to look at Blaze.


    Not just Blaze, but all of the others also had awkward looks on their faces.


    They realized the mistake that they had made under the influence of alcohol and were ashamed because of it.


    After a moment of silence, Blaze said, "I''m sorry, I let my emotions get the better of me."


    The others were about to say something to defend him, but I just raised my hand and said, "It''s fine, I know what you were feeling. I know why you did it and I''m not blaming you for it."


    Blaze''s eyes lit up when he heard this, but they dimmed once again when he heard what I said next.


    "Of course, that doesn''t mean that we won''t be in trouble because of this."


    I looked at the rest of them and said, "Do you really think that we''ll be able to hide this from the guild? With how many people saw us, there is no doubt that we''ll be called in tomorrow."


    All of them couldn''t help trembling when they heard this.


    That was because they knew that I was right.


    We had caused a large commotion with all of these witnesses, it would be impossible that the guild wouldn''t find out about this.


    Blaze bit his lip for a bit before saying, "I''ll go. I was the one that caused this mess, so I''ll be the one that will fix it."


    I just gave a sigh before shaking my head and saying, "It''s fine. I''m the leader of the team, so I will take care of this. You don''t need to worry about anything."


    All of them looked at me with guilty and grateful words when they heard this.


    Blaze was still biting his lip before he said, "Big brother, I¡­"


    I raised a hand to cut him off before saying, "This is the least I can do as your leader." S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once again, they revealed touched looks when they heard this.


    Though they didn''t really know what my real intentions were¡­


    ¡­


    Later that night, I went back to the club.


    There were still people that had been there earlier during the commotion, but they didn''t recognize me since I didn''t step out during the fight.


    I also didn''t waste time out in the hall and went into the back with the bartender.


    Waiting there for me was Sasha.


    She had been there the entire time Brother Tiger had led his men into the club, but she had stayed in the back without making a sound.


    That was because this had all been a part of our plan.


    Seeing me come in, she said with a smile, "Elementia? That was the card that you were hiding?"


    I just revealed a smile without saying a thing.


    The bartender couldn''t help looking at me with a look of surprise and admiration.


    He had already guessed that Blaze and the others were related to me since he had seen me pulling them out, but he never thought that it would be such a big card that I would be playing.


    With this, it would be easy for others to misunderstand that our club had received the support of Elementia, one of the biggest guilds out there.


    As long as there was this misunderstanding, then there would be a layer of protection for their club.


    After all, no one would dare mess with a club that had a connection with Elementia.


    But¡­there was still a problem.


    Sasha looked at me with a worried look as she said, "Aren''t you worried that someone will find out that you planned all of this?"


    That was right, this had all been intentional.


    The text that I had received earlier was Sasha telling me that the people from the Red Gang were coming.


    She could have handled it on her own, but I quickly sent a text back asking her to wait for me and to let me handle it.


    As for the rest¡­


    But she was right, it was impossible that Elementia wouldn''t be able to find my connection to this club.


    So all I could do was wait until tomorrow to see what would happen..


    I said with a sigh, "We have no choice but to wait and see."

 Chapter 106 - 106: Called in (1)

    As expected, I was called into headquarters the next morning.


    This was in the form of the same limo from before waiting for me in front of my apartment with the same handsome middle aged driver as before.


    He even came up to my apartment and almost knocked the door down getting me out of bed.


    When we came down, I could see Mrs Li standing over there with dazzling eyes and something in her hands. It was almost like looking at a young girl in love, though she was actually already in her late forties and had children that were almost as old as me¡­


    It really was something else to see¡­


    But we quickly got into the limo and headed off to the headquarters.


    It was clear by the look on the face of the handsome middle aged driver that this wasn''t just a courtesy call.


    With the look on his face, it was almost as if I was being escorted to an execution.


    I couldn''t help leaning in and asking, "How bad is it?"


    The handsome middle aged driver didn''t say anything about this and just shook his head with a sigh before saying, "The guild master is waiting for you." S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was surprised to hear this.


    I never thought that even Bing Lan would be involved in this matter¡­


    It could be seen how serious Elementia was taking this¡­and that was a bad sign.


    Would I be kicked out in just a few days of joining?


    There was more that I wanted to ask, but it didn''t seem like he would say anything, so we just spent the rest of the ride in silence.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at headquarters.


    As I came out of the limo, I heard him saying behind me, "Good luck."


    I was about to turn with a bitter smile on my face, but there was no time as he suddenly started driving off. I was only able to see the fumes that came out of the car as he drove off.


    With the same bitter smile, I started heading into the building.


    When I walked into the lobby, I found that there was someone that was waiting for me.


    As for how I knew that they were waiting for me¡­it was because they came right up to me as soon as I entered the building.


    This person was a sharp dressed woman who was clearly a very capable secretary of some kind.


    When she came over, her eyes swept over me as if she was judging me before she said, "Please follow me, the guild master is waiting for you."


    She didn''t even wait for a response from me as she had already turned to head to the elevator.


    With a bitter smile on my face, I followed her to that elevator.


    When the other people that were heading to the elevator saw this sharp dressed woman heading over, they all stopped and went in a different direction.


    Those that knew naturally went away without hesitation. Those that didn''t were stopped by those that knew and pulled in a different direction.


    Seeing that I was following her, I could feel the looks of pity that came in my direction.


    Feeling all of these gazes on me, I could only reveal a bitter smile.


    It seemed that this sharp dressed woman had quite the reputation in our guild¡­though it most likely wouldn''t be ''our'' guild for long.


    She didn''t press any buttons when she entered the elevator, but rather she took out a keycard. She tapped that keycard on the scanner by the elevator buttons and the elevator started moving on its own.


    It seemed that they were pulling out all the stops today¡­that just made me feel more anxious as I was worried about what would be coming.


    When the elevator stopped, it opened up in what seemed to be an office.


    This office was luxuriously decorated, clearly being an office for someone important.


    Sitting at the desk in the office was Bing Lan, but there were also two others with her. These two were people that I didn''t recognize at all, but I could feel the pressure that came from them.


    It was clear that they were powerful Awakeners and high ranking members of the guild.


    After seeing me come in with the sharp looking woman, Bing Lan waved her hand at us.


    The sharp looking woman went over to Bing Lan''s side while I just stood there in a daze at first. In the end, I walked over and sat down in front of the desk that she was pointing at.


    The sharp looking woman put down a packet of papers that she had been holding the entire time on the table before moving to stand on the side of the room.


    After she arrived in her spot, there was a silence that settled in the room as no one said a thing.


    But I could feel that the three in front of me were just staring at me, as if they were checking me out. So all I could do was keep my head down and try to stay out of trouble.


    Though in the first place¡­I was called here because I was in trouble.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan finally said, "You understand what you''ve been called in for, right?"


    I looked up at them and observed their expressions before giving a slow nod.


    Seeing this, the one on the right, the man with the fiery red hair said, "He knows and he still didn''t stop them. This is clearly an unwillingness to do his duties and a lack of responsibility. There''s nothing to discuss at all, we should just sack him."


    I trembled when I heard this, but there was someone else that spoke first.


    It was the purple haired woman on the left that said, "Wait, don''t be hasty. Let''s hear his side of the story first."


    Bing Lan gave a nod in response before looking at me to say, "Well, let''s hear it."

 Chapter 107 - 107: Called in (2)

    Since they were all looking at me with expectant looks, I started telling them the story of what had happened.


    When I was done, they were looking at me with knitted brows.


    But at the same time, I could see that Bing Lan, the purple haired woman, and the sharp dressed woman were looking at me with looks of disdain¡­


    It was only the red haired man who looked at me with sympathy.


    I didn''t want your sympathy, I just wanted to get out of this situation!


    Of course, I would never say that out loud and just waited to see how they would react.


    After a long silence, the purple haired woman said, "Well, it seems like it was just a matter of circumstance. They were caught up in something that they didn''t intend to be caught up in."


    There was a trace of disdain in her voice.


    The red haired man then said, "Yes, it seems like he was just caught up in this matter¡­"


    There was sympathy in his voice.


    But through all of this, Bing Lan never said a word as she just narrowed her eyes to look at me.


    After a long silence, she finally said, "Can you go out for a second, I want to talk to him alone for a bit."


    They were all surprised to hear this, but the purple haired woman and the red haired man started to leave with a nod.


    It was only the sharp dressed woman who hesitated a bit before leaving.


    It looked like there was something that she wanted to say before leaving, but she still left after opening and closing her mouth a few times.


    Once it was just the two of us in the office, Bing Lan looked at me and asked, "Is there anything else that you have to say?"


    I was surprised by her suddenly asking this question before revealing a confused look.


    As far as I could remember, there wasn''t anything that I had deliberately hidden from her during my story. I should have described everything properly, so there shouldn''t have been a single discrepancy. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying a single thing, Bing Lan picked up the pieces of papers that the sharp dressed woman had given to her earlier and placed them in front of me.


    She didn''t say anything as if she was waiting for me to read them first.


    I slowly picked these up and looked them over, revealing a shocked look when I read what was written.


    It was about the finances of the club, as well as who the owner was¡­including a certain investor who had some shares in the club.


    An investor named Lin Fan.


    I couldn''t help breaking out in a cold sweat when I read this.


    It turned out that she had already known everything and she was just waiting for me to confess¡­


    It was no wonder the sharp dressed woman had looked at me so coldly the entire time.


    I opened my mouth to explain, but all I could say was, "I¡­this¡­"


    Bing Lan shook her head before raising her hand and saying, "Stop."


    I closed my mouth and just waited for her to speak.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Did you really think that a powerful guild like Elementia wouldn''t be able to get such basic information?"


    I secretly gave a bitter laugh.


    I didn''t think that, it was just I never thought that they would check it this thoroughly.


    This should have been considered a small matter for them, so they should have just checked the basic facts instead of checking everything. But I had underestimated how professional Elementia''s investigation department was.


    But I had no choice in this matter.


    I had to leave a paper trail just to make sure that it wasn''t strange that I had part ownership of this club.


    If I didn''t¡­people might even suspect me of doing something to Sasha and that was the last thing that I wanted since I had actually done something to her¡­


    Now I had been caught by the tail by the very tail that I had left, I really couldn''t say anything.


    Seeing that I wasn''t saying a thing, Bing Lan said, "Since you''re a part owner of this club, can you really tell me that you had no ulterior motives for going there?"


    I opened my mouth for a few seconds before suddenly giving a sigh and saying, "I admit that I had ulterior motives. Do what you want with me. Fire me if you wish."


    I knew that it was over, so I could only wait and see how she would punish me.


    Bing Lan raised a brow before saying, "Fire you? Why would I do that?"


    I also raised a brow as I looked back at her.


    She had a genuinely surprised look, so it didn''t seem like she was kidding.


    But I had gone against the interests of the guild like this?


    Wasn''t it normal to fire me after something like this?


    After a moment of silence, I slowly asked, "Are you not firing me? I hurt the interest of the guild with this plan, so isn''t it normal to cut me off?"


    Bing Lan shook her head before saying, "This is nothing more than a small matter. If you really think that something as small as this could hurt Elementia, then you''re looking down on Elementia too much. It''s just a simple PR issue that we can easily handle."


    After a pause, she added, "Though¡­there is the problem of how to handle that club of yours."


    I gave an awkward chuckle hearing this.


    Bing Lan tapped her fingers on the table a bit before narrowing her eyes to look at me.


    When she did so, I could feel a strong chill running down my spine.


    Looking at me with this glare, she asked with a smile, "So tell me, when did you open up a place like this? I want to hear the entire story."


    Though her lips was smiling, her eyes¡­weren''t.

 Chapter 108 - 108: Called in (3)

    Seeing that I had no choice, I told her about what happened with Sasha in the first dungeon I went to.


    And by that¡­I meant that I told her the fake story that we had already come up with.


    By the end of it, she looked at me with narrowed eyes even though I had finished my story, making me feel awkward. But I didn''t say anything else and just waited for her to say something.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan said with a soft snort, "So it''s a hero saving the beauty kind of situation. You really are something else."


    Though that should have seemed like a compliment, the tone of her voice made it clear that it wasn''t.


    I just revealed an awkward smile without saying anything else.


    Bing Lan then said with a sigh, "So you''re saying that there isn''t that kind of relationship between the two of you?"


    I was a bit surprised and confused to hear this question, but I shook my head in response.


    Bing Lan gave another sigh before saying with a serious look, "Don''t tell any of this to Xin''er."


    When this gaze of hers was on me, it felt like there was another chill running down my spine. It was almost as if she was threatening me here, but it wasn''t as if I would do that in the first place, so it was unnecessary.


    I just gave a slow nod in response to this strong reaction from her.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan gave a sigh before muttering something to herself.


    I didn''t hear it clearly, but I did hear a few fragments¡­


    "I''m still single¡­Why do I have to care about my little sister''s love life¡­This is unfair¡­"


    I just turned away and pretended that I didn''t hear anything.


    After taking some time to adjust, Bing Lan turned back to me and said, "For now, I''ll let this incident slide since it''s just a small matter." But then after a pause, she said, "Of course, you should know what you need to do, right?"


    As she said this, her eyes once again narrowed as she looked at me.


    This time, she was looking at me as the guild master of Elementia.


    The pressure that she put on me wasn''t small¡­


    But the gist of what she was implying was¡­if I wanted Elementia''s protection, naturally I would need to offer them something that would make it worth it for them.


    So I had already discussed this last night with Sasha.


    She and I had come up with a number that we could accept to give up to Elementia, but that was of course the worst case scenario. If we could get away with giving less, then we would try to give less.


    I just calmly looked back at her as she looked at me.


    This was not the time to show any fear since this was a proper negotiation.


    If I were to show any cracks, it would mean losing the upper hand.


    After taking a moment to calm myself, I said, "How much do you want?"


    Bing Lan''s eyes revealed a trace of surprise hearing this, making it clear that she didn''t expect me to respond with this.


    In the end, she said, "20%."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I heard this.


    Seeing this look on my face, Bing Lan revealed a faint smile.


    It took me a minute to come back to my senses before slowly asking, "20%, are you sure?"


    Bing Lan said with a teasing smile, "Are you offering more?"


    I didn''t say anything, but the look in my eyes made it clear that I thought that this was very little.


    After all, the number that Sasha and I had come up with in the end was at 50%.


    This was one of the top guilds in the world, so we were certain that their protection wasn''t cheap. 50% might seem like a lot, but with the support that came from being under Elementia, it would definitely be worth it.


    But 20%...this seemed like it was a trap. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Like there was another catch to it.


    After a long silence, I asked again, "Are you sure that it''s only 20%?"


    This time, I even made sure to stress that 20% part.


    The teasing smile on Bing Lan''s face disappeared as she said with a faint smile, "Don''t think too much about it. It''s because you''re a member of our guild that we''re offering that price, or else it would be much higher. The standard rate for outsiders is usually at least 50% and it''s gone up as high as 80%. That is just how much value and prestige we have as one of the top guilds."


    Hearing this, I couldn''t help slowly giving a nod.


    That was right, this seemed more like it¡­


    If Elementia were to actually support a business, they would deserve far more than just 50% because of all the things that they could offer.


    So 50% was only a best case scenario amount that would only be given to the best businesses that earned them the most money. It was a form of reward for their good business sense and their hard work.


    For other businesses¡­they would most likely have to give up 80% of their business for Elementia''s help.


    20% really was a good¡­no, great friends and family discount.


    Since that was the case, there was no need to hesitate any further on this.


    I said with a simple nod, "Alright, let''s do 20%."


    Bing Lan gave a nod with a faint smile before saying, "I''ll go and call the rest of them in, then we''ll sign the contract for this."


    She was about to stand up when I suddenly remembered something, so I said, "Wait, I have something to discuss with you first."


    Bing Lan had been halfway up from her seat when she heard this, so she sat back down and looked at me, waiting to hear what I had to say.


    I calmly said, "How much do you know about Hayato''s handler?"

 Chapter 109 - 109: Called in (4)

    When Bing Lan heard this, she knitted her brows. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After staying silent for a bit, she suddenly asked, "Why are you asking about this?"


    I didn''t answer this question and instead asked, "Just how much do you know about him?"


    Bing Lan knitted her brows even more, but she opened up her computer in the end and opened up a few files to look at before turning the monitor around to show me.


    I was surprised that she would show me this file that easily, but that didn''t mean that I was against looking at it.


    As I read it, I couldn''t help being surprised by just how thorough the records were.


    There was plenty of personal information about Hayato''s handler, as well as small details about him that most people wouldn''t know.


    Though it didn''t seem like they were watching him 24/7, that was normal since that would violate some human rights.


    After I finished reading this, I shook my head and said, "No, this isn''t what I mean."


    Bing Lan still had knitted brows for a bit, but then she relaxed them as she said, "Stop beating around the bush and just tell me what you''re thinking."


    I revealed a bitter smile, but I did do what she said.


    "You''re saying that he''s been sneaking around?" Bing Lan knitted her brows again after hearing this. But then she relaxed her brows as she said, "Aren''t you just thinking too much?"


    I shook my head before saying, "I heard it from Hayato when he was drunk."


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes to look at me as she said in a sharp voice, "You got a kid drunk?"


    I jolted when I heard this before quickly correcting myself, "Drunk on the atmosphere in the bar, he didn''t drink a single drop. I promise."


    Bing Lan just kept glaring at me for a bit, but her eyes slowly relaxed once more before she gave a nod to show that she believed me.


    She turned back to look at the monitor before tapping a few keys and pulling something else up. But this time, she didn''t turn the monitor around to show me as she looked at it with a frown on her face.


    Finally, she said, "Alright, I''ll look into it."


    I was surprised that she would suddenly agree like this, but I didn''t think too much about it.


    After all, it wasn''t as if I wanted to get involved in this matter in the first place.


    This was something for the guild to deal with, not me.


    I just wanted to use this to distract their attention from me, but I never thought that it would work so well.


    Once we had finished this, Bing Lan called the others back in.


    "So we were just used as a negotiation tool?" The red haired man asked.


    Bing Lan looked at him with a smile without saying anything.


    The red haired man gave a sigh before saying while shaking his head, "Oh well, at least it ended well."


    The purple haired woman didn''t say anything, but the bitter smile on her face told more than enough.


    The only one who seemed like she wasn''t convinced was the sharp dressed woman.


    She looked like she clearly opposed this, but she didn''t say anything out loud.


    After everyone was caught up, Bing Lan introduced me to everyone.


    The red haired man was the guild''s dungeon raid team one leader, Rupert Campbell, an A Ranker.


    The purple haired woman was the guild''s dungeon raid team three leader, Misty Wells, an A Ranker.


    And the sharp dressed woman was Bing Lan''s personal secretary Hua Rong, who surprisingly was also an A Ranker.


    Though they were only the leaders of the dungeon raid teams, this was a position that was just under the vice guild master, so they were considered high ranking members of the guild.


    And of course, there was no need to doubt the authority that these three had in the guild.


    Especially the secretary Hua Rong since she was Bing Lan''s personal secretary.


    Since the matter had been settled, both Rupert and Misty quickly warmed up to me.


    It seemed that they had already heard about me, so they asked me to demonstrate my abilities to them. After experiencing it themselves, they both acted even more friendly, as if they could see my potential.


    Rupert even tried to snipe me for dungeon raid team one, but Bing Lan quickly shut it down.


    But during all of this, the only one that didn''t get along with me was naturally Hua Rong.


    Rupert secretly told me, "The reason why everyone in the guild is scared of her is because of the duties that she takes care of. She''s the guild master''s right hand, so¡­she takes care of some of the dirty business if you know what I mean."


    I trembled when I heard this and both of us trembled even more when we felt Hua Rong''s gaze fall onto us.


    Luckily, Bing Lan came to our rescue by saying, "Hua Rong, bring the contract for business cooperation over. We''ll get him to sign it and then we''ll go from there."


    Hua Rong deeply knitted her brows when she heard this and she hesitated on going.


    Bing Lan saw this and gave a sigh before saying, "Just go and get it."


    Since Bing Lan had even said this, Hua Rong had no choice but to go.


    A few minutes later, she came back with a contract for me to sign.


    I just gave it a quick scan before signing it. The only thing that I had to make sure was that the percentage was correct and that there weren''t any hidden lines.


    Of course, I trusted Bing Lan, but with the way that Hua Rong looked at me¡­it was hard to tell if she would play some tricks.


    After making sure that she didn''t, I signed it without any hesitation.


    Once the contract was signed, there was nothing else left¡­well other than my punishment.


    It was simple, I would have to undergo Su Chen''s ''special'' training.


    It seemed that Su Chen''s ''special'' training was famous in the guild since even Rupert and Misty trembled when they heard this.


    It made me even more scared that Hua Rong looked like she approved of this.


    If someone like her even approved of it, then just how terrifying would this ''special'' training be?


    I could only lament having to go through it, but I thought about dragging Blaze and Hayato in as well since they were also responsible for this mess. Even though in reality it was all something that I had planned.


    They didn''t have to go and make things much worse by acting in such an eye-catching manner.


    But that was just a bit of silent bitterness and not any real complaining.


    Since that matter was settled, I walked out of the office while being held by the shoulder by Rupert.


    With the way that he kept talking to me, it seemed like he hadn''t given up the idea of sniping me for his dungeon team. But when we were alone¡­he said to me, "So you own a club like that? How about we go and have a drink sometimes."


    The smile on his face made it very clear what he was thinking, but I was more concerned about the chill coming from behind us.


    He didn''t seem to feel it, but I could feel it very strongly.


    It was coming from Misty''s cold gaze¡­


    It seemed that there was a story between the two of them¡­

 Chapter 110 - 110: Called in (5)

    Once they left, it was only Bing Lan and Hua Rong who were remaining in the room.


    By all rights, Hua Rong should have shown Lin Fan off since that was her duty, but she abandoned that duty to stay in the room.


    So it was clear that there was something that was on her mind.


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything when everyone else was here, but once they were alone, she asked, "Is something wrong?"


    Though she asked this, Hua Rong still hesitated to speak.


    After a short silence, she took a deep breath and said, "Why did you protect him? There''s no reason to give someone like him special treatment."


    Bing Lan''s expression didn''t change at all when she heard this, she didn''t even bat an eyelash in the face of this question.


    Seeing this, Hua Rong couldn''t help asking, "Are you¡­"


    She didn''t finish her sentence, but the tone of her voice was more than enough to fill in the gaps.


    Bing Lan finally reacted when she heard this. She revealed a faint smile as she looked at Hua Rong before saying, "It''s not like that, not one bit."


    Hua Rong didn''t look relieved hearing that, but rather she slightly knitted her brows again.


    Bing Lan saw this, so she said in a slow voice, "He''s useful, that''s all."


    A trace of confusion appeared in Hua Rong''s eyes after she heard this before she turned to look in the direction that they had left in.


    Bing Lan then followed up by saying, "There''s something about him that tells me that he''ll be useful to our guild in the future. I know that you might think otherwise, but you''ll just have to trust my judgement on that."


    When Bing Lan said all of this, it really was hard for Hua Rong to say anything.


    But the look in her eyes made it clear that she still thought otherwise.


    Bing Lan gave a sigh and didn''t continue with this topic.


    Instead, she pulled up the documents that she was looking at earlier on her computer and turned it for Hua Rong.


    Hua Rong didn''t notice at first since she was focused on the Lin Fan matter, but then she came over to see what Bing Lan was showing her. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When she saw what was on the screen, she couldn''t help being surprised.


    However, she didn''t act rashly.


    She took her time to read through the information on the screen before looking up and asking, "This is?"


    Bing Lan gave a sigh before saying, "There''s something suspicious about this person that I want you to check."


    Hua Rong knitted her brows when she heard this.


    If it was any other time, she might not have hesitated and questioned Bing Lan''s orders, but the timing was just too coincidental that she couldn''t help questioning it.


    After all, Bing Lan suddenly brought this up after she had met Lin Fan alone¡­


    After a pause, Hua Rong asked, "Why are you suddenly bringing this up? Is it because of¡­him?"


    Bing Lan was surprised since Hua Rong normally would have just followed her orders without a word, but this time she had actually said something.


    It was clear just how much Hua Rong distrusted Lin Fan, but that wasn''t strange after all. There were many things that were against him and with this newest incident, naturally she would distrust him.


    Still, that was not a problem that could be solved that easily.


    Bing Lan just calmly said, "He did bring this matter to my attention."


    "Guild master, this is¡­"


    Before Hua Rong could finish though, Bing Lan''s eyes turned cold and she said, "But even if he brought it up, do you think that I would act on that alone? Do you take me for a fool?"


    The moment that Hua Rong heard this, she couldn''t help giving a shiver.


    But at the same time, there was a strange glow that appeared in her eyes.


    It almost seemed like she was¡­excited¡­


    After a moment of silence, Hua Rong slowly shook her head.


    Bing Lan had been waiting for this, so she continued by saying, "Can you tell me that you don''t see anything strange about this? You''re telling me that it all seems normal?"


    Once again, Hua Rong slowly shook her head.


    Since that was the case, Bing Lan just said, "Then just do what I tell you to do. There''s no need for you to question me."


    After receiving this order, there was a faint blush that appeared on Hua Rong''s face and she couldn''t help letting out a soft breath.


    She took a moment to calm herself down before saying, "Guild master, I will handle this. Please don''t worry about anything."


    Bing Lan just gave a nod before waving her hand to dismiss Hua Rong.


    She leaned back in her chair and gave a sigh once Hua Rong was gone.


    It really was hard being the guild master, having to worry about all of these things. Even though she was still single, she had to worry about her little sister''s love, the relationship between her subordinates, and all these things.


    She really didn''t have any time to think about her love life¡­and she was slowly getting older and older.


    If she waited too long, she might run out of time¡­


    That was something that she was truly afraid of.


    But the problem was that she hadn''t found a good man yet.


    The only one that could be considered good and exciting was this Lin Fan, but he was already claimed by her little sister¡­


    So where would she find one for herself?


    Bing Lan gave one more sigh before turning her attention back to her work.


    Since she didn''t have a love life to worry about, she would just sink herself into her work.


    This might be called escapism, but there was nothing that she could do.


    After Hua Rong left the office, she made sure that she was alone.


    Then her legs suddenly gave out under her and she fell on her butt, but there was an ecstatic look on her face as she said, "I didn''t deserve that reward. That pressure just now, it was something else¡­it really made my legs go soft and my stomach churn¡­Ah, I didn''t deserve that reward."


    After she was like this for a bit, Hua Rong''s ecstatic look slowly disappeared as it was replaced by an aggrieved look.


    "That Lin Fan, he thinks that he can move into my territory after all these years? After all my years with Lan Lan, he wants to steal her from me? I will never let that happen." There was a trace of hatred that appeared in Hua Rong''s eyes when she said this.


    After that, she slowly took out a pendant from inside of her blouse.


    This was a pendant that she had kept by her heart and was in the shape of a heart.


    When she opened it, it revealed a picture of¡­Bing Lan.


    Looking at this, Hua Rong said with a happy smile, "Ah, Lan Lan, I can''t wait until you''re mine¡­"


    Bing Lan really was unlucky when it came to love¡­


    Not only was she not able to attract a good man, the one that she did attract was this helpless woman with a dangerous side to her¡­


    She really was unlucky in love¡­

 Chapter 111 - 111: Heading to the exam

    Over the next week, I really received some ''special'' training.


    At first, I had thought that it would just be normal training, but it turned out that it was anything but that.


    The training that I received as punishment was¡­having to run through a dungeon while pulling Su Chen on a tire. If I ever stopped, I would be punished with a hundred pushups while having to fight monsters at the same time.


    This was training that had put my very life on the line and pushed me to the brink, but¡­I had to admit that it was very effective training.


    After a day of rest, I could feel that my muscles were much stronger.


    Though I could also just look at my status to see that I was at least five times stronger than before.


    This was a very ''special'' method of training, but there was no doubting its effectiveness.


    I even felt grateful that I received this training before the Irregular License Exam which I was currently heading to with Su Chen.


    Though seeing Su Chen now¡­was a bit of a trauma, but he was still my handler, so he was driving me there.


    I had been registered for the exam since last month, but because of how few people pass this exam in the first place, there weren''t that many exams being held each year.


    I was lucky that the next exam had been around a month away, which was why I was able to apply for it so soon. If not, I might have had to wait an entire year before I was able to take this exam.


    As we were heading there, Su Chen asked, "How are you feeling?"


    It was a bit hard for me to look at him because of what had happened over the past week, so it was a good thing that he was driving and didn''t notice that I was looking away.


    I took a deep breath and said, "I should be ready."


    Su Chen gave a chuckle before saying, "I would say that you''re ready after all that training."


    After hearing this, I revealed a bitter smile, but Su Chen then said something that made the bitter smile on my face turn even more bitter.


    "If you weren''t and you failed, I might have to start training you from the beginning." There was a hint of coldness that was in his voice as he said this.


    I couldn''t help shuddering after hearing this.


    Su Chen''s training from the beginning¡­would I survive?


    It would be a lie to say that this didn''t motivate me¡­


    After a moment of silence, Su Chen suddenly spoke like he had just remembered something, "Right, I almost forgot to give you this."


    He took out a ring that he handed over to me.


    I looked at this ring and couldn''t help being surprised because I could feel an energy that was familiar coming from it.


    After looking at it for a bit, I asked, "Is this¡­?"


    Su Chen gave a nod as he said, "It''s a present from the guild master. It has plenty of things that you''ll need in the exam later."


    I couldn''t help revealing a grateful look when I heard this.


    Su Chen revealed a smile as he said, "We can''t let someone from our Elementia guild look too poor, can we? It wouldn''t look good for Elementia if that was the case."


    I gave a nod before saying, "Thank you."


    Su Chen shook his head as he said, "You should go thank young miss Bing, she''s the one that prepared most of this for you."


    Bing Xin?


    She had done that?


    It had been a while since he had seen Bing Xin, not since he had joined Elementia.


    They had both been busy with their own work even though they were in the same guild, so they had little time, or rather no time at all to see each other.


    Knowing that she was the one that had helped put this together, I really couldn''t help being touched.


    I was currently in a very strange position with Bing Xin¡­


    I didn''t know exactly what I wanted with her¡­


    I had thought that I would be able to follow through with my plan of using my Hypnosis skill to get her under my control, but¡­it would be a lie to say that she hadn''t slowly made her way into my heart.


    So I was starting to hesitate on whether I would be able to do it or not.


    There hadn''t been a chance yet, but I wouldn''t be able to say if I could do it or not in the end.


    I was slowly coming to an answer in my heart, but before that¡­I wasn''t willing to face it.


    After all, I had been let down in the past¡­


    Seeing that I felt a bit down, Su Chen asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I quickly snapped out of it and focused on the task at hand. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Right now, I needed to focus on the Irregular License Exam, so there wasn''t time to think about this now.


    I shook my head and said, "Nothing."


    Su Chen raised a brow, but he didn''t say anything in the end.


    He was an adult and had been through his own matters, so he understood that sometimes people couldn''t talk about certain things.


    So he didn''t ask what was on my mind and just drove in silence.


    After half an hour, we arrived at the location of the exam.


    This was the Awakener Association headquarters for our city and the most important place for awakeners.


    This was where the Irregular License Exam would be held since it was something that was done by the Awakener Association in the first place.


    When we arrived, we found that there were plenty of other people that were also arriving at the same time.


    It was clear that these people were also here to take the exam.


    It seemed that the competition really wasn''t small¡­

 Chapter 112 - 112: Irregular License Exam (1)

    When we came into the hall, we found that there were even more people here.


    I had honestly never seen that many people gathered in one place, but here they were all gathered for this Irregular License Exam.


    I could see that quite a few of them¡­were low ranked just like me.


    This was their only chance to raise their rank, so of course they would try all that they could to do so. Even if there wasn''t much hope that they would be able to pass these exams. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In fact, the Awakener Association also thought the same, so there was a preliminary that was being held on the spot.


    There were already quite a few people that had failed because of this preliminary test.


    I was just waiting my turn after registering, but that gave me time to scope out the test and the competition.


    There weren''t many that passed, but those that did showed quite amazing uses of their powers. It was clear that there wasn''t a single person here that was simple.


    The test itself was also very simple, but also quite hard.


    It was a training dummy that everyone was supposed to hit.


    As long as there was enough damage to the dummy, one would pass the exam. It didn''t matter how one accomplished it as long as it was registered to have done enough damage.


    I just watched as the others did it.


    There were many that tried with simple attacks and they weren''t able to do anything.


    The ones that were able to pass in the end were those that used special abilities, or rather they put a twist on a normal ability that gave it special powers.


    The creativity of humans¡­really was something else.


    But there was one that I couldn''t see through at all.


    It was a person wearing a large cloak who carried a large scythe.


    They didn''t even seem to do anything before the damage was registered.


    Even the staff had to double check, but they passed that person in the end.


    As they passed by everyone to head into the hall for those that passed, it felt like a chill ran through the crowd.


    Even I felt like a wave of death had washed over me as this person walked past.


    It was like staring face to face with the grim reaper.


    Though with the scythe that they wielded, that wasn''t that far off.


    While I was looking around, I also noticed that there were other F Rankers that were here.


    The first sign of this was the person I checked in with.


    She was surprised to see my F Rank Awakener License, but it didn''t seem like she was too surprised. Like she had already seen F Rankers signing up for this test.


    The second sign was when one of the F Rankers other than me actually took the test.


    This person''s ability¡­was unimpressive.


    All he could do was create a small ball of stone that he threw at the dummy.


    It didn''t register as he hit it with his small ball of stone, showing that he didn''t do any damage at all.


    It was almost embarrassing how weak he was¡­


    But this was just what the norm was with F Rankers.


    There was a reason why they were considered F Rankers.


    Su Chen could see the look on my face when I watched this F Ranker fail, so he patted my shoulder and said, "You''re different. Don''t worry about the others and just do what you need to do."


    I took a deep breath after hearing this before turning to give him a nod. After that, I said, "I''m fine, you don''t need to worry about me."


    Su Chen had a trace of doubt in his eyes when he heard this, but he gave a nod and patted me on the shoulder again.


    The two of us just waited there for my turn while watching the others.


    There were quite a few people that showed powers that were considered creative.


    I made sure to take note of these people since they would most likely be my greatest competition in this exam.


    The two that caught my attention the most after that cloaked person with the scythe were one girl dressed like a magical girl and one person who had a regent.


    The one who was dressed like a magical girl actually used powers like a magical girl.


    She shot out a beam of light through the wand that she pointed out and when it hit the dummy¡­the dummy was blown away.


    The dummy flew through the air after that beam of light shaped like a heart hit it.


    Everyone had looks of shock on their faces since not a single person thought that she would have such immense power, but the facts were in front of them.


    If someone like this couldn''t pass, then none of them could pass.


    The one with a regent fought like a delinquent like one would think.


    He moved up to the dummy and he just simply punched it.


    The dummy didn''t get blown away like with the magical girl, but it did dip back quite a bit.


    Most of the others that had passed hadn''t even managed to move it which showed that there was quite a bit of resistance to this dummy.


    A dummy like this was blown back with a single punch¡­


    It could be seen how much force was in this punch.


    Other than these two, the rest all showed normal results.


    After a while passed, it was finally my turn.


    "Next up is Lin Fan, F Ranker."


    The moment that they heard that I was a F Ranker, most of the people watching looked at me with disappointed looks.


    The other F Rankers that had come had all put on disappointing displays and not a single one of them passed.


    There were even some people that thought that this was a waste of time.


    However, I just ignored them all and walked up to the dummy with my sword in hand.

 Chapter 113 - 113: Irregular License Exam (2)

    After walking up in front of the dummy, I slowly raised my sword until it was pointing right at the dummy.


    Seeing this, everyone started chatting around me.


    It was clear by what they said that they were clearly disappointed and didn''t expect anything out of me.


    "A sword? Isn''t he just trying to act tough?"


    "What kind of power could a F Ranker have?"


    "This is just a waste of time¡­they should just let me go instead of wasting time with this trash."


    A normal person might have been affected if they heard all of this, but I just tuned everything out as I focused on the dummy in front of me.


    This was my chance to prove them all wrong, so why would I let them affect me?


    Taking a deep breath, I gathered all my power before saying, "Much stronger."


    There was an immense power that filled my arms after I said this.


    Then in one swing, I slashed out at the dummy in front of me.


    The moment that I slashed out, there was a strong gust of wind that was released with me at the center. This gust of wind was so strong that the ones in front found it hard to keep their eyes open and had to take a few steps back.


    Then when my sword made contact with the dummy¡­I found that there was no resistance at all as it went right into the dummy.


    The dummy couldn''t push back my sword at all as it entered its body, cutting it in half.


    When my slash was finished, there was a silence that hung in the air as everyone stared at the dummy.


    When they all saw that the dummy didn''t change at all, they all started to laugh and point at me.


    "Did you see that? He''s acting all cool, but he couldn''t do a single thing to the dummy in the end."


    "Can''t you see? He doesn''t even have a score."


    "As expected of a F¡­"


    Before that last person could finish, there was the sound of something being cut that rang out.


    They didn''t need to turn in the direction of that sound because they had all been staring at it the whole time. It was the dummy that suddenly had a cut line appear on it before the top half fell down.


    Everyone''s chin dropped in shock as they couldn''t believe what had happened.


    There were some that had already failed that were still sticking around to watch the fun, so they knew just how strong these dummies were.


    Just moving it was hard enough, but actually cutting it in half like this?


    This was not something that anyone could do¡­


    There was only silence that filled this area after the dummy was cut in half.


    I slowly stood up and waited to see my score, but it turned out that the score didn''t appear at all.


    Unlike before where there would be a screen that popped up with the score, there was nothing that appeared at all.


    No matter how long I waited, nothing appeared.


    I couldn''t help feeling worried when I saw this.


    The crowd slowly came back to their senses and seeing that the screen didn''t pop, there were a few people that grasped at straws.


    "He must have cheated! Disqualify him!"


    "Look, there isn''t a score at all! He must have done something that even the system isn''t acknowledging him!" sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I was scared for nothing¡­It turned out that he was nothing more than a dirty cheater."


    As these shouts came out, there was no movement from the staff members.


    That was because they were running around trying to figure out what was happening.


    Even they weren''t able to understand why there wasn''t a score.


    Though they were also shocked to see that the dummy had been cut in half like this.


    This dummy was a special dummy that had been created for this exam and it could even take the full strength attack of a D Ranker¡­


    Unless one had the power of a C Rank power, it shouldn''t have been possible to cut through the dummy like this.


    Then did that mean that this F Ranker actually had the power of a C Ranker?


    They refused to believe that.


    Even if this was a place where irregulars gathered, this would no longer be considered an irregular if it was the case. If he was really able to do something like this, then he would be considered a monster!


    So they were scrambling to see what the situation was.


    Since there was no one stopping them, the crowd became more and more rowdy.


    It was one part inferiority and one part fear that drove them at this point.


    If there was someone that really was able to cut the dummy like this, then what were they?


    They couldn''t accept this truth since it hurt their pride too much.


    But before anyone could physically make a move against Lin Fan, there was someone that suddenly gave a clap.


    As this clap rang out, everyone suddenly fell silent and looked in that direction.


    They saw this sharp dressed middle aged man standing there with his hands up.


    There were some that had wanted to say something, but then they noticed the badge that he was wearing.


    He was¡­an examiner.


    This was different from the staff members who were running around like headless chickens.


    This was someone who was in charge of the exam, in charge of the staff. If he wanted, he could pass or fail anyone that he wanted to.


    Not to mention, examiners were powerful Awakeners that were affiliated with the Awakener Association. So even if he didn''t look like much, he was actually quite the powerful person.


    There was nothing to gain from provoking someone like this.


    That examiner ignored everyone and just walked forward towards me.


    When he was in front of me, he suddenly revealed a smile and said, "I never thought that I would see someone strong enough to destroy the dummy. You really are something else."

 Chapter 114 - 114: Irregular License Exam (3)

    Everyone was taken aback by what the examiner said since not a single person had expected him to say this.


    The staff members even had awkward looks on their faces since they hadn''t discovered the real cause of what happened yet, but the examiner was already saying that this F Ranker had destroyed the dummy.


    If that was the case, wasn''t that a slap to their Awakener Association''s face?


    I couldn''t help being surprised since I had expected something much more accusatory, but since he was acting friendly¡­there was no reason not to go along with it.


    I just simply said in a calm voice, "Does that mean I pass?"


    The examiner seemed surprised to hear this, but then he said with a wide smile, "If you don''t pass, then can anyone else here pass? Of course you pass."


    When they heard this, all of the other people here to take the exam couldn''t help revealing ugly expressions.


    The examiner could have worded it much better, but the way he said it basically made it seem like they couldn''t compare to this F Ranker.


    Many of the people here were E Rankers or even D Rankers, but now that the examiner had said that they couldn''t compare to this F Ranker, it really hurt their pride.


    In their minds, F Rankers were the very bottom of the ladder, the weakest of the weakest. To say that a F Ranker was better than them was a clear insult which they couldn''t tolerate.


    So after a moment of silence, someone said, "Isn''t it just luck that he encountered this broken dummy?"


    That single sentence was like a stone dropped into a calm lake.


    As soon as the others heard this, their minds started to be corrupted by it like ripples on the water.


    "That''s right! It should be nothing more than a simple malfunction that caused the dummy to break. There''s no way that this F Ranker would be able to destroy a dummy like this."


    "Che, if I was up a bit sooner, I would have been able to be this lucky as well."


    "Shh, don''t say that. Didn''t you hear him earlier trying to act cool? He''s clearly just taking advantage of this situation."


    "I say that we kick him out right now! There''s no place for someone like him!"


    The voices were getting louder and louder, as well as having stronger and stronger opinions.


    It was clear that the crowd had been incited because of what the examiner had said and was getting more and more worked up.


    Finally, the examiner gave a snort and said, "You really think that this is it? Do you really look down on our Awakener Association this much that we wouldn''t be able to recognize a simple malfunction? Not to mention, in the first place, do you really think that our specially made dummies would malfunction?"


    The examiner turned to the crowd with cold eyes and said, "Are you done slandering our Awakener Association."


    The moment that the examiner released his pressure on the crowd, everyone fell silent.


    I also couldn''t help giving a gulp when I felt this pressure.


    I had faced the pressure from many high ranking Awakeners before, so I could tell that this examiner was at least a B Ranker¡­or maybe even an A Ranker.


    This was definitely not someone that a bunch of D and E Rankers could offend.


    So there was an awkward silence that fell over this crowd as no one could say anything.


    That is until one D Ranker bit the bullet and came forward to speak.


    This D Ranker pointed at the sword in Lin Fan''s hand and said, "That sword is clearly a magic weapon. Even if he was able to destroy the dummy, it isn''t his own power and the power of his equipment. How can you say that this is a fair judgement?"


    When he said this, everyone turned to look at the sword in Lin Fan''s hand.


    This D Ranker was right, they could feel the faint magic energy fluctuations coming from the sword in his hand showing that this was indeed a magic weapon.


    When they sensed this, they all let out a secret sigh of relief.


    That''s right, how could a F Ranker possibly show that kind of power?


    It was only possible if there was something external helping him, like this magic sword.


    So they immediately started to latch onto this idea.


    "A magic sword? Isn''t this some rich kid who came out to have fun?"


    "This rich kid can do whatever he wants as long as he has his family''s money buying good equipment for him while we''re all out here trying all we can to rise up. This really isn''t fair."


    "Che, if I could get my hands on a magic weapon or two, I wouldn''t be stuck where I am now¡­"


    Once again, the murmurs of the crowd rang out as they all started criticizing Lin Fan.


    The examiner just watched them go on while listening to them until he finally gave a sigh and said, "What a bunch of fools. You can''t even see something as simple as this and you come to take this exam. This is a waste of time."


    The moment that he said this, everyone once again fell silent with ugly expressions on their faces.


    This time, the examiner didn''t hold back his disdain for them and openly mocked them like this.


    How could they not be angry hearing this?


    There were some that wanted to complain since they had proper justification, but they didn''t get a chance as the examiner quickly spoke again.


    "If you even had eyes, you would have been able to see that there were no extra energy fluctuations that came from the sword when he swung it. So how could he have activated that magic weapon during that swing? This is something even an idiot would be able to see." The examiner said in a voice that was just oozing disdain at this point.


    Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 115 - 115: Examiner chit chat (1)

    There were still some that had looks on their faces like they wanted to argue, but the examiner shut them all down by saying, "It seems like this batch is all filled with idiots¡­Maybe it''s better if I just fail all of you here and now."


    The moment that his voice fell, everyone couldn''t help feeling a chill run down their spine.


    They could hear the seriousness in his voice.


    It was as if he didn''t care at all about them and he would actually fail them all here and now.


    But if he did, who knows when they would have a chance to take this exam again.


    The Irregular License Exam wasn''t held regularly and only held when the Awakener Association wanted to hold one. So unless they were lucky, this might be the last chance that they had to change their fate.


    So not a single person dared to say anything further, other than glaring at the person who pointed out it was a magic weapon.


    That D Ranker¡­since he had already taken that step forward, he couldn''t step back now.


    "You can''t do this, this is an abuse of power." That D Ranker said in a shaky voice.


    The examiner just stared at him and said, "I can do whatever I want, that is my right as an examiner."


    Without caring for a response from that D Ranker, he looked at the staff member nearby and said, "Kick him out."


    Just this one line sealed the fate of this D Ranker, but the examiner still didn''t care.


    He just turned to look at Lin Fan and said, "Since you''ve passed, there''s no need for you to stay here any longer. You can just go through the door that everyone that passed went through."


    I was surprised by how frank he was, but I just simply gave a nod before turning to leave.


    However, before I could take more than two steps, the examiner looked as if he had suddenly thought of something. He reached into his pocket and took something out before saying, "Wait, take this too."


    As soon as his voice fell, he threw the thing in his hand at me.


    I was caught off guard, but I was able to catch it instinctively.


    When I opened my hand to see what it was, I saw that it was a token with the number one written on it.


    I couldn''t help turning back to look at the examiner with a confused look as I asked, "This is?"


    The examiner just said with a smile, "I doubt that anyone will be able to surpass your display here, so this is the prize for the top ranker. It''ll be helpful to you in the future, you''ll know when you can use it."


    I had more questions that I wanted to ask after hearing this, but I held myself back in the end since I knew that it would be pointless. This examiner was someone on the side of the organizers and the answers to these questions would be related to the contents of the exam.


    It was very unlikely that he would answer me, so there was no point in asking.


    I just gave a nod and said, "Thank you." After that, I turned to head towards the door he pointed out.


    As he watched me walk away, the examiner said, "My name is Elliot, if there''s a chance, let''s work together in the future."


    I was once again caught off guard by this before turning back to say, "If there is a chance."


    Then I walked off with a wave back to him.


    The examiner didn''t mind this and turned to leave as well, but there was no hiding the smile on his face.


    Before heading through the door, I turned back to look at Su Chen.


    I saw that he was giving me a thumbs up to encourage me, so I gave him a thumbs up back before stepping through.


    He couldn''t come with me since this was an individual exam, so porters/handlers wouldn''t be allowed to come along.


    From now on, it would all be up to me to pass this exam.


    ¡­


    "Did you really personally go to the exam hall? Was there really something that interesting that caught your attention?" A red haired young man asked Elliot as soon as he walked into the room.


    Elliot wasn''t annoyed by this and just looked at the red haired young man with a smile before giving a nod.


    The red haired young man couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when he saw this.


    At the same time, the rest of the people in the room all focused on him when they saw this out of the corner of their eyes.


    They had already found it strange that Elliot would go down alone, but now he even said that he had found something that caught his attention, so of course they would be curious.


    Catching the eyes of this man¡­it definitely wouldn''t be anything simple.


    But Elliot didn''t say a word when he felt these gazes fall onto him.


    All he did was give a simple smile.


    Seeing him act this way, the red haired young man couldn''t take it anymore and said, "Stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us already you old fogey. You don''t have that long left, so stop wasting time."


    Elliot glared at the red haired young man when he said this, but the red haired young man just stuck out his tongue like he didn''t care.


    Elliot gave a sigh when he saw this, but then he pushed the red haired young man away before saying, "Didn''t you all get a report just now?"


    The other people in the room revealed confused looks before turning to look at the panels in front of them, pulling up the same report as each other.


    When they read this report, all of them couldn''t help being surprised by this before turning back to look at Elliot.


    One thing that was quite interesting about all of these people was¡­they were wearing the same badge as Elliot. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That meant that all of the people sitting in this room were examiners just like him.

 Chapter 116 - 116: Examiner chit chat (2)

    After reading through the report, the red haired young man couldn''t help asking, "Is it true? Did he really destroy one of those dummies? I even find it hard to destroy those things."


    Elliot gave a nod before saying, "Not only that, he did it without using that magic weapon of his. His power is the real deal."


    But the red haired young man just gave a shrug before saying, "Those kinds of people are normal. It''s not worth going down personally to see someone like that, is it?"


    Elliot shook his head as he said, "Then how normal is it a buff type power?"


    As soon as he said this, everyone in the room looked at him with gazes filled with shock and disbelief.


    After a long moment of silence, the red haired young man asked, "What did you just say? Can you repeat that again?"


    This time, Elliot revealed a smile before saying, "You heard me, a buff type power."


    A buff type Awakener, this was different from the normal support type Awakener. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A support type Awakener would naturally have abilities to support people.


    However, their powers would have limits and be varied.


    Support type Awakeners were common and the most common type would be a healer.


    They would be able to heal people and increase their stats with their buffs, but those buffs were different from the buffs of a buff type Awakener.


    The buffs of a support type Awakener would only increase one''s attributes by a certain amount. This would normally be limited by the power of the support type Awakener and it wouldn''t go past a 50% increase.


    But it was different for a buff type Awakener.


    A buff type Awakener¡­would be able to increase one''s power by at least two to three times.


    A 50% increase versus a 200-300% increase, this was a large difference.


    Especially when it came to higher rank Awakeners who were already very powerful to begin with.


    The red haired young man and the other examiners turned away from Elliot and pulled out a file.


    This file had Lin Fan''s name on it.


    This was the file that he had submitted when he enrolled in this Irregular License Exam.


    Along with this file, there was also a copy of his Awakener License, so they were able to see what power he possessed.


    "Suggestion¡­" The red haired young man muttered to himself with a thoughtful look on his face.


    After a pause, he suddenly said, "Could it be that he has the ability to remove one''s limits with his Suggestion power? This is a double edged blade, but if it is used properly¡­"


    His voice trailed off as he had the same thoughtful look on his face.


    The other examiners were also nodding along as if they thought the same thing as the red haired young man.


    After another silence, the red haired young man turned to Eliott to ask, "How much of an increase was it? Was it double or triple?"


    This time, Elliot didn''t answer right away and almost seemed like he was hesitating over something.


    But then he said with a sigh, "With the way that he destroyed the dummy, it''s clear that he used quite a bit of power. However, I could already tell that his body was already strong, probably because he had someone helping him train. But to destroy the dummy even then, it would take¡­at least an increase of four to five times."


    There was only silence that followed after he said this as everyone looked at him with looks of disbelief.


    After a long silence, the red haired young man asked, "Are you serious? Four to five times?"


    Elliot just gave a slow nod in response.


    A normal buff type Awakener would only be able to buff someone by around 200-300% their power. So someone that was able to buff someone by 400-500% would naturally be considered an above average buff type Awakener.


    No, he would be considered an amazing buff type Awakener.


    After letting this set in, Elliot suddenly added as if he was remembering something, "But from what I could see, it didn''t seem like he had been using his full power yet. He most likely could still use even more power than that."


    As he said this, everyone once again looked at him with looks of shock.


    Then the red haired young man said in a voice that almost seemed like he thought Elliot was a fool, "Why didn''t you just recruit him to our Awakener Association? If we had someone like that, our jobs would be much easier."


    Elliot shook his head with a sigh before saying, "Why don''t you have a closer look at his information?"


    The other examiners were all confused when they heard this, but they still did what he said.


    They didn''t understand what they should be looking for at first, but then they saw it.


    "Elementia¡­"


    They said in unison.


    Elliot just gave a sigh when he heard this.


    It seemed that there was another guild that had already latched their claws into this amazing buff type Awakener, so it wasn''t as if they could do anything.


    Perhaps they might have been able to do something if it was another smaller guild, but Elementia was one of the biggest guilds out there. It definitely was not a guild that anyone wanted to mess with and that included the Awakener Association.


    The Awakener Association was the governing body of Awakeners, but that didn''t mean that they were all powerful.


    At most, they could only match one of the big guilds.


    So Elementia alone would be enough to take on the Awakener Association.


    The red haired young man gave a sigh before saying, "It had to be that flame witch¡­"


    All of the examiners revealed complicated looks when they heard this.


    They all had a different impression of Elementia''s guild master, Bing Lan. However, it was clear by the looks on their faces that they didn''t have a good impression of her.


    After giving another sigh, Elliot said, "I''ve already created a relationship with him through this. Besides, it''s not as if we can''t work with him just because he''s from Elementia."


    The red haired young man''s eyes lit up when he heard this.


    It was normal for Awakeners from different guilds to work together from time to time, so there was always the opportunity to work with him in the future.


    After thinking for a bit, the red haired young man said, "Should we interfere with his exam then? The lower his rank, the lower his price will be in the future."


    Elliot rolled his eyes before saying, "If he finds out, what do you think will happen? Will you really kill this gold egg laying goose?"


    The red haired young man shuddered when he heard this before shaking his head and saying, "You''re right. We shouldn''t do anything that might make him hate us in the future."


    But then after a pause, he still said, "But if his rank is too high, then the price will also be high."


    Elliot gave a shrug before saying, "Does that matter to us? We''re just contracted to the Awakener Association. We''ll just leave money issues to them."


    The red haired young man looked like he realized something before he gave a nod with a wide smile to show his agreement.

 Chapter 117 - 117: Irregular License Exam (4)

    After going through those doors, I continued down a long hallway before reaching another room.


    This room¡­was a lounge.


    It was like one of those lounges that was found in airports, but it wasn''t just any lounge.


    This lounge was a very fancy lounge with private chefs and an open bar.


    This was like one of those fancy lounges that only first class passengers could enjoy before their flight took off.


    It seemed that they really did take care of those who passed the exam.


    As soon as I came in, there was a waiter that came up to take care of me.


    He led me to my seat and then brought over a menu for me to show all the things that I could order. When I asked him about the price, he told me that everything was free for those that passed the exam.


    Since that was the case, I wouldn''t pass up that opportunity.


    Without hesitation, I picked out a few things that I thought were good and then gave my order to the waiter.


    The waiter didn''t hesitate at all as he went off to put in my order.


    Since I had some free time now, I looked around the room.


    I found that there were some people here that I recognized and some people here that I didn''t recognize.


    But at the same time, I could also see that there were many doors that led to this room.


    It seemed that there were many different testing areas and they all led to this single place.


    It seemed that I had completely underestimated the scale of this Irregular License Exam.


    During this time, I took the chance to scope out the competition.


    The ones that had passed in my area were also sitting here.


    Some of them were also relaxing and ordering things from their waiters, but some of them were just sitting there in silence.


    The one that caught my attention the most was the cloaked figure with the giant scythe.


    This person was sitting in a corner with one of the waiters standing beside them.


    That cloaked figure just sat there in silence without saying a thing, as if they were completely cut off from the world.


    That just made it more awkward for the waiter assigned to them. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All the waiter could do was stand there awkwardly while waiting for anything to happen.


    As I looked around the room, I could feel the tension rising in this room.


    It was clear that they had put us all together so we could scope each other out, while at the same time, it would create tension between us. After all, this was an exam that everyone was taking alone, so everyone else here was an enemy.


    The tension was so thick that one could almost cut through the air with a knife.


    Finally, that tension exploded in the form of a confrontation.


    There was someone that I didn''t know that stood up and walked to the bathroom. But as they walked to the bathroom, they suddenly tripped and bumped into someone that I did know.


    It was that young man with the regent.


    The person who bumped into the young man with the regent didn''t even apologize as he kept walking, but the young man with the regent couldn''t endure this. He suddenly slapped the table and said, "Where do you think you''re going."


    The other person turned back to look at the young man with the regent before saying with an aggressive voice, "Huh? Who do you think you''re talking to?"


    Both of them glared at each other and it almost seemed like they were about to fight then and there.


    But before they could do anything, there was a fork that suddenly flew through the air.


    This fork flew right in between the two of them and pinned itself in the wall behind the two of them.


    Both of them were surprised since they didn''t see this fork until it was too late.


    At the same time, they could tell by the way that the fork inserted itself into the wall that the force that the fork had been thrown with was not small. If it had been aimed at them, it would have been hard for them to survive.


    Both of them couldn''t even help letting out a secret sigh of relief.


    Then they both turned in the direction the fork came from and found that it was the bartender who had thrown it.


    That bartender was looking right at them with narrowed eyes.


    For some reason, they could feel some kind of pressure coming from this bartender.


    They were about to say something, but then they noticed the badge that was on this bartender''s chest.


    As soon as they noticed this badge, they immediately swallowed what they had been about to say.


    That was because this badge was the badge of the examiner.


    This ordinary looking bartender was actually one of their examiners.


    If they weren''t careful, they might just get kicked out of this place.


    But when they thought about it, they realized that this made sense.


    They were still in the middle of the Irregular License Exam, so it wasn''t as if they would be left alone all of a sudden. It made sense that there would be an examiner watching over them.


    So after glaring at each other once more, the other person gave a snort and walked off again while the young man with the regent sat down.


    Seeing this, the examiner turned away from them and went back to polishing his cup.


    However, since I had a seat that was close to the bar, I seemed to have heard something with my enhanced hearing.


    "What a waste. They are using this time to fight with each other instead of finding people to cooperate with. It seems like they won''t pass the next round."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    Finding people to cooperate with?


    Could it be that we would be working together even though this was an individual exam?

 Chapter 118 - 118: Irregular License Exam (5)

    The answers to my doubts came sooner than I thought.


    It didn''t take long before the next part of the exam began.


    There was a clock on the wall that most people ignored, but there was something special about this clock.


    Instead of telling time, it was actually counting down to something.


    When the clock finished counting down, the bartender suddenly came out from behind the bar and said, "Alright, it''s time."


    As soon as he did, everyone turned to look at him with rapt attention.


    They had already seen his examiner badge, so they knew that he would eventually do something.


    It was just a good thing that he decided to move before they burst from how tense they were.


    The bartender walked up to the center of the room and stood there as several others came out to meet him. All of these people had the same examiner badge on their chests as this bartender.


    It was clear that they were the ones that were in charge of this second part of the exam.


    Once they had all gathered, the bartender said, "Your next trial will be entering a dungeon and showing how powerful you are."


    Many of the examinees couldn''t help revealing looks like they had already expected this.


    After all, clearing dungeons was the crux of what being a high ranking Awakener was.


    They were all aiming to be high ranking Awakeners even if the power that they awakened was of a lower rank. So it was normal that they would need to prove their abilities to clear a dungeon to gain this qualification.


    The bartender just went at his own pace as he said, "The dungeon that you will be entering is a D Ranked one that is managed by the Awakener Association known as the Temple of Water¡­"


    After that, he began explaining the rules of the exam which were quite simple.


    They would be tracked based on how many monsters they defeated.


    Normal monsters would only give them one point, elite monsters would be worth two points, area bosses would be worth ten points, and the final boss of the dungeon would be worth one hundred points.


    This was also a clear indication of just how strong the boss of the dungeon was if it was worth this much more than the area bosses. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was worth ten times more, so it should be ten times more powerful.


    But the twist came when the bartender said...


    "You will be allowed to form teams to enter the dungeon with. But if you do form teams, know that the points that you receive will be divided evenly among your team members."


    This was a very important twist since it meant that there was a variable to this exam.


    Teaming up with each other would make it easier to fight the bosses and earn the big points, but there were only so many bosses that could be fought. So if they didn''t find any bosses and only fought normal monsters, they would quickly fall behind the others since they would have to split the points from these normal and elite monsters.


    At the same time, there was the matter of whether they would be able to cooperate properly or not.


    Everyone in this room had come on their own and didn''t know much about each other, so it wasn''t as if they would be able to function as a party right away.


    So it would be a risk forming a haphazard party like this.


    There were pros and cons to both options, but it seemed like being alone was the best one.


    At least it was for me since I had trump cards that I didn''t want to show people in the first place.


    The last thing that the bartender told us about were the bracelets.


    The waiters brought over bracelets while the bartender explained the rules of this exam.


    These bracelets would be used to track how many monsters we had killed.


    They had this special ability to sense when a monster died, though they wouldn''t be able to monitor us.


    The bartender added, "Since you will be going into the dungeon, we will not be able to monitor you while you are in there and can only keep track of how many points you''ve earned." Then his voice turned cold as he said, "But of course, if you do anything that you shouldn''t do¡­know that it won''t be hard for us to find out.


    At that time, you will not only be punished by the law, you will also be dealt with in the manner fitting of one who dares to cross our Awakener Association."


    The pressure that he released wasn''t a small one and the coldness in his voice was enough to send a chill down one''s spine.


    This was also normal since there was something in the dungeons that stopped all surveillance equipment.


    Humans hadn''t been able to figure out exactly what it was that prevented them from filming in the dungeons, so they had no choice but to accept it as a fact of nature.


    But because of this, there were many crimes that were committed in dungeons where there was no surveillance. Even I had been a victim of this when I entered the dungeon the first time.


    Though I had been able to easily dispatch those people in the end.


    Everyone who heard this already expected this threat to come.


    They weren''t fools, they knew that the Awakener Association had plenty of resources and were the ones that had organized this Irregular License Exam.


    They would certainly have a way of finding out if they committed any crimes.


    So they wouldn''t be fools in doing these things.


    But the looks in the eyes of certain people made it clear that they were planning on playing certain tricks¡­


    After he finished explaining everything, the bartender went to one of the doors.


    This was a door that had never opened and no one had come out of it.


    When the door opened, it revealed a dungeon entrance.


    We all couldn''t help being surprised when we saw this.


    The Awakener Association had so many resources that they were even able to keep dungeon entrances hidden like this¡­


    They really couldn''t be underestimated.

 Chapter 119 - 119: Irregular License Exam (6)

    Drip, drip, drip.


    That was the only sound that I heard as I walked through this dungeon.


    This dungeon was the Temple of Water that was the location of the next part of the Irregular License Exam.


    As the name suggested, it was a dungeon that was filled with water and water based monsters.


    It was just a good thing that this place was well lit and I was able to see where I was going.


    But that was also very strange since there was nothing here that should have produced light and yet there was more than enough light for me to see everything clearly. It really was a strange phenomenon¡­but I didn''t let myself be caught up by this.


    That was because there were monsters around me right now.


    I had chosen to enter the dungeon alone since my powers were useful only when I was alone.


    If there were others with me, I would have to hold back since there were certain things that I wouldn''t be able to do.


    The monsters that were around me were sahuagins.


    These were fish like monster creatures that stood on two feet and used tridents as weapons.


    These were powerful monsters that could even rival orcs in terms of power, but that was only when they were fighting in the water.


    Fortunately for them, this was a dungeon that was filled with water, so the sahuagins were at full power in this dungeon.


    However, it wasn''t worth it for me to fight these sahuagins since these were just normal monsters of this dungeon.


    These things weren''t worth much, they were only worth a single point each and it would take too much time for me to take them down. I didn''t want to waste my time with these sahuagins and wanted to focus on bigger targets.


    So I was sneaking around and trying to find better targets.


    After entering the dungeon, everyone had spread out in different directions.


    There were over a hundred people that had come into the dungeon with me, so it had taken quite a bit of time before I was able to leave them all behind and find a place just for myself.


    It was just that I had no idea where I was going.


    This was a dungeon that all of us were entering for the first time and it was a dungeon that the Awakener Association controlled, so most people didn''t have any information about this dungeon.


    Naturally, that meant that we had no idea what the layout of the dungeon was like.


    For now, it was just wandering around and trying to find the boss and area bosses.


    But when I moved away from the entrance, I found that there were a few things that changed.


    There was plenty of water that could be found all around, but the further I went into the dungeon, the more clear it was.


    The water that had been at the entrance was almost murky, as if it was corrupted by something. The water that was currently around me was very clear, so clear that I would almost miss it if I didn''t look at it carefully.


    So it was clear that the more I went in this direction, the closer I would get to the source of the water.


    The source of the water naturally would give off clean and clear water.


    As for what the source of water was¡­it was most likely an area boss, if not the dungeon boss.


    The dungeon boss and the area bosses gave the most points, so they were what I was aiming for in the first place.


    Even elite monsters I could spend time on since they were at least worth two points each.


    Though if they took too long to kill, I wouldn''t bother with them.


    After following the clear water for a bit, I finally arrived in a place that was different from the rest of this dungeon.


    This dungeon was a structure type dungeon, so the halls that I had been walking in were halls that were made of bricks.


    As I reached the end of this hall, I arrived in an open area with a large temple at the other end of this room.


    Standing at the base of this temple¡­were a bunch of sahuagins, but these sahuagins were much more buff compared to the ones that I had met before.


    As I looked at these sahuagins, I muttered to myself, "These should be the elite monsters¡­"


    After all, these sahuagins were much more muscular and gave off a stronger pressure.


    But the one that gave off the strongest pressure wasn''t these elite sahuagins.


    Instead, there was something standing in the center, at the base of the altar that gave off an even stronger aura.


    When I looked at it closely, I said, "Is that¡­a lizardman?"


    The sahuagins were fish based monsters, so their faces looked like monster fishes.


    The one that was giving off the stronger aura had a completely different appearance.


    Though it wielded the same trident, the face was that of a lizard instead.


    If I had to guess, this lizardman was most likely the area boss.


    I couldn''t help revealing a smile after seeing all of this since I didn''t expect to find an area boss this quickly.


    But since I did, there was no reason for me not to take it down. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were five elite sahuagins and there was the lizardman area boss.


    If I took down all of them, that would be a total of twenty points.


    According to the rankings that were displayed on the bracelets that we were given, the top scorer only had seven points right now. If I got these twenty points, I would immediately become the scoreboard leader.


    So I pulled out my sword and prepared to fight this group.


    That was until I heard some voices coming from behind me.


    I knitted my brows after hearing those voices, but I hid myself in the end.

 Chapter 120 - 120: Irregular License Exam (7)

    "Are you sure about this? You''re certain that there''s an area boss in this direction?"


    "I already told you many times that there''s one here, why don''t you trust me already?"


    "All we have to go on is your word, so how do you want me to feel assured? If you really want to prove it, then tell me how you found this area boss."


    "It''s what my power tells me, what else do you want?"


    There were three sets of footsteps in total and it was clear by the way that they were shouting at each other that there was no cooperation between them.


    In fact, they were shouting so loud that it was amazing that they were able to come this far in the first place.


    After all, with how much noise that they were making, they should have attracted plenty of monsters to their location. And yet they were able to make it this far into the dungeon even though they were making this much noise.


    This was a testament to their strength, or what kind of power they had.


    They definitely were not people that I wanted to fight directly.


    So I just hid myself even further and watched what they were planning to do.


    The three that came out were three people that I was unfamiliar with. They were not people that had taken the first test in the same place as me, so they were not people that I memorized.


    There were too many people in that room just now, so it was impossible for me to remember everyone.


    There were two males and one female in this group.


    The female was holding a staff while the other two were holding swords.


    One of them had a large sword and the other one had a small sword, making it clear what their roles were.


    The one with the large sword was most likely the tank while the one with the small sword was a DPS. The female was either a mage or a healer.


    This was a rather well balanced party, which made it reasonable that they would team up like this.


    But the way that they argued really destroyed all logic in this.


    If they argued like this, it was clear that they wouldn''t be able to work together. If they couldn''t work together, then all benefits of forming a party like this would be negated.


    Now that they had come to the same area as me, they were implicating me.


    If it wasn''t for them, I would have been able to take care of this area boss.


    Since they were like this, I decided that I would use them as cannon fodder.


    At the very least, they would be able to weaken the boss and make it easier for me to take care of the area boss.


    If it seemed like they were about to kill it¡­then I would have to take action.


    Once they arrived in the area of the temple, they finally stopped arguing.


    The one that had said that his power was telling him that there was an area boss here was the young man with the small sword. Seeing the lizardman who was standing at the altar, he turned to the others with a smug look.


    The other two had a slightly displeased look seeing him act this way, but they forced themselves to stay calm so as to not give him the satisfaction.


    Once they were done with this, the young man with the small sword said to the young man with the large sword, "Go and grab their attention. I''ll come in from behind and take care of them all."


    The young man with the large sword had already been planning on doing this, but hearing what the young man with the small sword said, he stopped himself. If he went now, it would almost seem like he was doing it because the young man with the small sword had told him to do it.


    This was the one thing that his pride wouldn''t allow.


    So he just loitered around, as if he wasn''t planning on doing a thing which served to enrage the young man with the small sword.


    The face of the young man with the small sword twisted when he saw him acting this way, so he said, "Do you have a problem? You''re the one that suggested that we work together in the first place."


    The young man with the large sword didn''t back down at all as he said, "Don''t order me around."


    The young man with the small sword became even angrier as he raised his voice, "You''re the one who begged me to come with you and now you''re acting like you''re in charge? If you''re going to act like this, I wouldn''t have even bothered coming along."


    "Huh?" The man with the large sword also raised his voice when he heard this before saying, "Who did you say begged for your help? You were the one that begged me to take you along and I was gracious enough to bring you with me. If it wasn''t for me, your sorry a** would still be all the way back at the entrance by yourself."


    The two of them seemed like they were about to fight when the girl with the staff said, "Can you just do something already? I don''t want to waste my time with the two of you fools. You''re both not my type and I would prefer to find someone more handsome."


    The faces of the two young men immediately twisted when they heard this.


    It would be a lie to say that the words of this girl didn''t hurt their feelings since they were quite confident in their appearances.


    But for her to say it this bluntly was like stabbing their hearts and their pride.


    They both were about to say something, but there was movement that came from in front of them.


    Because of their arguing, the elite sahuagins and lizardman had noticed them, so they started coming over. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 121 - 121: Irregular License Exam (8)

    The moment that they saw these elite sahuagins and lizardman coming over, they stopped arguing.


    Even if they were confident in their abilities, they could feel the pressure that was coming from the lizardman.


    They knew that if they kept arguing like this, it would be impossible for them to fight against these monsters.


    So they immediately stopped talking and pulled out their weapons again.


    The young man with the large sword stepped forward to face them while the other two took his flanks.


    They clearly knew what positions to take even though it seemed like they didn''t get along.


    The lizardman surprisingly had a cautious character, so it didn''t come forward right away. Instead, with a screech, it sent the elite sahuagins forward to test these three first.


    The elite sahuagins outnumbered these humans, but they also didn''t rush them and warily approached them.


    It seemed that these monsters had the same personality as the boss.


    They spread out a bit and slowly surrounded the humans, but they didn''t move forward any further after they came within ten meters. They just maintained this distance as if they were wary that the humans would do something.


    The three humans also didn''t do anything as they waited to see what these sahuagins would do.


    A stalemate suddenly appeared.


    But that stalemate didn''t last long as the sahuagins suddenly dipped the head of their tridents into the water at their feet.


    The three humans could feel magic gathering around the sahuagins. Even if they didn''t know exactly what the sahuagins were doing, they raised their guard so that they could react at any second.


    After a few seconds of gathering their magic, the sahuagins suddenly flicked their tridents up at the humans.


    As they did, the water that had been at their feet suddenly came up with the flick of the trident. This water didn''t just go forward a bit and splash back down, instead this water took the form of many needles as they shot out at the humans.


    When the humans saw this, all three of them knitted their brows.


    The young man with the large sword raised that sword in front of him so that the flat of the blade was facing these needles.


    Then with a roar, energy spilled out from that sword to create a barrier in front of him.


    That barrier blocked all of the water needles that had been shot out at them.


    When the last one was blocked by the barrier, that young man shouted, "Now!"


    The two at his flank immediately reacted when he shouted out and they both raised their weapons to attack.


    The young man with the small sword stabbed out and there was a gust of wind that appeared around him before disappearing.


    The girl raised her staff and gathered pure mana around herself before shooting them out as magic missiles.


    One of the sahuagins was suddenly hit by something sharp in the shoulder and purple blood splashed out.


    The rest of them immediately raised their tridents and there was a barrier of water that appeared in front of them, blocking the magic missiles¡­or at least that was what should have happened.


    Instead, the magic missiles suddenly started to spin and with the penetrative force this spin brought, they pierced through the water wall and stabbed into the sahuagins.


    The wall did block the magic missiles to a certain extent, so these sahuagins weren''t as injured as the one who had been stabbed first. They were hit in different places by the magic missiles, but only a bit of blood came out.


    The first sahuagin hit had been pierced deep, but the rest had only suffered surface injuries.


    As I watched all of this, I couldn''t help being a bit impressed by these three.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help analyzing what their power was.


    For the young man with the large sword.


    "He has some kind of barrier ability¡­But does it need that sword to activate or is it freely controlled?"


    For the young man with the small sword.


    "He controls wind, but it''s weaker than Hayato¡­When he attacked, he used a stab to concentrate his wind powers so that it would have greater power."


    And for the girl with the staff.


    "It seems like she''s some kind of magician, but she lacks mana. The magic missiles that she gathered made up for it by being concentrated and using spin to penetrate."


    They had creative ways of making up for their flaws, but¡­


    It was just too bad that they ran into me.


    They had stolen my prey, so of course I would make them suffer.


    But for now, I would keep watching and waiting for my chance to strike.


    These three were without a doubt powerful, but there was still a major flaw with their group.


    They had no cooperation at all.


    They were able to push back the sahuagins at first with their surprise attack, but once the sahuagins knew what they were capable of, they didn''t fall for their tricks anymore.


    Not to mention, after that first clash, the young man with the large sword charged forward, leaving the two behind him open.


    He had wanted to charge forward to draw in the sahuagins to make it easier for the other two to attack, but the sahuagins didn''t fall for this and moved out of his range.


    Then as he followed them, he was lured away from the other two.


    Three sahuagins were all that it took to pin him down with water needles while the other two targeted the two humans. One each for each human, shooting out water needles to pin them down.


    The two attackers had no choice but to use their abilities to protect themselves instead of helping the young man with the large sword who was also pinned down.


    Just like this, the advantage had gone back to the monsters.


    It seemed that even without my interference, these three would be taken out soon.


    The young man with the large sword also recognized this, so he lost his temper. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s it! I''m going all out!"


    With that, he threw away his large sword and a burst of energy came from him.

 Chapter 122 - 122: Irregular License Exam (9)

    This energy that burst forth from this young man suddenly formed a barrier around him.


    This wasn''t a barrier in the traditional sense of a barrier, but rather a barrier that was wrapped around him like a layer of skin. This barrier was created to completely cover him from head to toe, just like a suit of armour.


    With this barrier, he was able to resist all of the water needles that came at him, allowing him to push the sahuagins.


    When the sahuagins noticed this, they immediately started to draw back while firing more water needles.


    However, the young man with the barrier ignored all of this.


    The sahuagins were retreating while shooting these water needles, so they were moving slower than normal.


    The young man had abandoned all caution and was charging them with reckless abandon, so he was able to catch up to them easily and slam his fists up against their tridents.


    One would think that the human fist would be weaker than a trident, but there was a clanging sound like metal hitting metal when the young man''s fist hit the trident.


    The sahuagins were all pushed back by this rush by the young man.


    The two that had been focusing on the other two humans had no choice but to come and help the other sahuagins take down this human.


    It was at this time that the young man with the small sword and the girl with the staff took advantage of this opening.


    Both of them quickly shot out attacks at the two sahuagins that had turned their backs to them.


    These might be attacks that had been released in haste, but there was no doubting the power behind them.


    With this, it would be enough to take down the sahuagins.


    I was debating whether to jump in at this moment, but it turned out that it was unnecessary.


    There were two walls of water that suddenly came up from the ground that blocked the attacks for these two sahuagins.


    Unlike before where these attacks had been able to pierce through the walls of water, these walls of water stood firm against these attacks.


    When the two of them looked closely, they found that it was the lizardman who had created these two walls of water.


    The lizardman had dipped its trident in the water and that was what created these two walls.


    But because of this, there was what seemed to be an opening that appeared.


    There was a moment where they would be able to attack the lizardman.


    "I won''t let this chance escape!" The young man with the barrier shouted before pushing back the sahuagins and charging at the lizardman.


    He didn''t even bother picking up a weapon, he was just using the barrier around him to attack.


    With his fists raised, the young man wanted to punch a hole through the lizardman.


    But before he could make contact, the lizardman suddenly swung his trident up so that the back part of it was coming at the young man.


    The young man immediately raised his arms to block it, concentrating his barrier there.


    But he was knocked back in the end and there was blood that dripped down his arms.


    Even though he had used his barrier to protect himself, the trident of the lizardman had cut right through his barrier.


    The three of them were back in their original position, but this time¡­the lizardman had moved.


    Seeing this, the young man with the barrier said, "If you two don''t fight for real, we won''t be able to win."


    The other two revealed grim looks, but they realized that he was right.


    If they kept holding back, they might all die here.


    So there was a burst of energy that suddenly came from the two of them.


    The young man with the barrier gave a nod before turning back to the lizardman, but he found that the lizardman was gone.


    When he looked around, he found that the lizardman was already to his side, aiming his trident at him.


    This speed¡­was something else.


    He knew that he wouldn''t be able to fully block the attack of the lizardman, so instead of facing it head on, he moved a bit to the side. He was planning on parrying this attack so that he could attack the lizardman back.


    After moving to the side, he punched at the lizardman''s trident while spinning his arm.


    He was planning on using the barrier and the spin to deflect this trident.


    But before he could¡­the lizardman suddenly started moving faster.


    It was as if the lizardman had been hiding its power and was just using it at the last second.


    The trident was just too fast for him to keep up with to parry, so he had no choice but to release his full barrier to protect himself.


    The trident suddenly went right past his arm and stabbed him right in the chest, sending him flying.


    If it wasn''t for the barrier that he had gathered, there might be a hole in him right now.


    But the impact had been more than enough to hurt him, causing him to spit out a large mouthful of blood.


    At the same time, the impact had caught the other two who had been behind him, sending them all flying.


    They were sent flying to the entrance of this room behind them, falling to the ground together.


    Seeing the condition that the young man with the barrier was in, the other two looked at each other before grabbing him and turning to run. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They knew that they wouldn''t be able to block the attacks of the lizardman without him, so if they kept trying to fight this lizardman, there was only death waiting for them.


    In that case, there was no reason for them to keep fighting this lizardman.


    Even if it meant giving up these points, it was more important to keep their lives.


    As he was being dragged away, the young man with the barrier was looking at the lizardman.


    The lizardman was looking at his own trident with a confused look, almost as if he couldn''t understand how he had suddenly used that much power.


    But why would this lizardman be confused?


    That was his last thought as he was dragged out of the room.

 Chapter 123 - 123: Irregular License Exam (10)

    After they had disappeared, the lizardman and the elite sahuagins went back to the altar. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They were completely unaware of the extra person that was still hiding inside of this room.


    When I saw the dust settle and everyone was gone, I revealed a sly smile.


    My plan had gone off without a hitch and I had been able to chase off these competitors while injuring them. At the same time, they had hurt the monsters to a certain extent which would make this easier for me.


    I would have almost thanked them if it wasn''t for the fact that they had interrupted me when I was about to fight the lizardman.


    So I waited a minute for everything to return to normal before making my way to the entrance to this room.


    I looked down the hallway to make sure that there was no one else coming before turning to the lizardman.


    Since there was no one else here now, it was my turn.


    With a smile on my face, I softly said, "Time Stop."


    The moment that I said this, time all around me froze.


    The sahuagins and the lizardman who had been dressing their wounds suddenly stopped moving.


    They just stood there as if they were frozen in time¡­though technically that was what had happened.


    I slowly walked over to them with my sword pulled out and in one quick swing, I cut the throats of the elite sahuagins.


    I might have struggled before cutting through the throats of these monsters, but it was different now.


    Not only did I have a powerful and sharp sword, I was also much stronger than before.


    I hadn''t gone through Su Chen''s training for nothing.


    The past me couldn''t compare to the current me.


    It was like cutting through butter, slitting the throat of these sahuagins.


    But I didn''t kill the lizardman just like this.


    It wasn''t that I wasn''t able to kill the lizardman like this, it would have been easy for me to slit its throat while it couldn''t move.


    It was because there was something else that I needed from this lizardman.


    I stopped a few steps away from the lizardman and released the Time Stop.


    The moment that I did, there were spurts of purple blood that came from the throats of the sahuagin before they all fell to the ground. When they landed on the ground, the light in their eyes had already gone out.


    In their last moments, they didn''t even know how they had died¡­


    But the lizardman was different.


    The lizardman was shocked to see its subordinates suddenly dying like this, but it didn''t have time to mourn them. After all, whatever had done this to its subordinates was still around and it needed to find it before it did anything.


    The lizardman was about to look around for whatever did this, but then its eyes suddenly fell onto me.


    Its eyes opened even wider in shock when it saw me just casually standing there in front of it.


    There was a look of confusion as if it couldn''t understand what had just happened.


    After all, in the eyes of this lizardman, it had seemed like I had appeared out of nowhere and killed all of its subordinates.


    But even when facing the unknown like this, the lizardman didn''t back down.


    It gripped its trident with both hands and aimed the tip at me, as if it was prepared to attack at any moment.


    I didn''t show any signs of fear seeing this and just raised my hand to taunt it, "Come and get me."


    The lizardman once again revealed a shocked look when it saw this, but it didn''t back down when challenged like this.


    It did have a bad feeling about all of this and knew that it should just run, but it couldn''t because of its pride.


    So in the end, the lizardman suddenly took a step forward and stabbed that trident at me.


    But the lizardman never took more than that single step.


    All of a sudden, the lizardman stumbled and fell to the ground as a pained look appeared on its face.


    It began writing as if its body was filled with pain.


    Seeing this, I revealed a smile as I muttered, "It seems like the test is a success."


    As for what that meant¡­


    Earlier, when the lizardman suddenly gained that burst of speed and power was because of me.


    I had used Time Stop and went over to the lizardman to use my ability on it.


    I had increased the lizardman''s speed and power before releasing the Time Stop.


    This was a two part experiment.


    One was to see if I could buff someone while I had them trapped in a Time Stop.


    And two was to see if monsters would suffer the same side effect from my abilities as humans would.


    As long as I could confirm these two things, there would be many things that I could do in the future.


    Such as powering up a monster to take care of my enemies and then taking care of it once it was weakened.


    Or even powering someone up to fool them into thinking that they had awakened their power. Then once they lost that power and they were hit with the side effects, I could easily kill them.


    There were many ways to use what I had learned, so I was very satisfied with the results of this test.


    Looking at the lizardman lying on the ground, I said with a smile, "Thank you for helping me with my tests today. It was a real enlightening experience, everything that you''ve taught me. I won''t forget your sacrifice."


    As I said this, there was fear that appeared in the lizardman''s eyes.


    I didn''t know if it could understand what I was saying, but it was clear that it understood the gist because of the fear that appeared in its eyes.


    So in the end, I didn''t say anything else as I put the lizardman out of its misery with one single stab of the sword between its eyes.

 Chapter 124 - 124: Irregular License Exam (11)

    After finishing off the lizardman, I found that there was another passage hidden behind the altar.


    I didn''t waste any time in picking up the loot dropped by the lizardman and heading down that hidden passage.


    As I did, I also snuck a peek at the rankings on my bracelet.


    Even though I had to wait a bit, giving the others a chance, I had still jumped up to the top after killing these five elite sahuagins and the lizardman.


    The area boss was ten points while the elite monsters were two points each.


    So that was a total of twenty points.


    The second highest scorer only had eleven points.


    This really was the difference between targeting large amounts of points versus grinding out on small monsters for points.


    Just one success was enough to propel one to the top.


    Of course, I knew that this was far from over yet.


    There was still plenty of time left in this dungeon.


    We were allowed to stay in the dungeon for up to three days, hunting as much as we could.


    The moment that we stepped out of the dungeon entrance, that would be it and our points would be counted. We wouldn''t have a chance to come back in again after we left the dungeon. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was just glad that a supply pack had been prepared for me.


    It included a full set of camping gear, so I wouldn''t have a problem staying in the dungeon.


    The one problem might be having to watch out for monsters while sleeping, but there were safe zones in the dungeon for that.


    For now, I should see if I could find another area boss to take down or even try to find the dungeon boss.


    The dungeon boss was powerful, but it was also worth the most points.


    With my current powers, there was no reason why I wouldn''t be able to take down that dungeon boss. And even if I couldn''t, I would still be able to escape as long as I had my Time Stop skill.


    So the dungeon boss was my target.


    I quickly traveled through the passage, but there really was no luck for me.


    Other than a few sahuagins that I quickly took out with a single Time Stop and a slash of my sword, I wasn''t able to find any area bosses or even elite monsters.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by how quickly the others were climbing.


    I had barely been able to keep my lead over the second place with the few sahuagins that I killed.


    I was currently at twenty eight points while second place was at twenty five points.


    As I watched the points of others increase, I realized a big problem¡­


    I didn''t have a search ability to find monsters with.


    That was how the other side kept increasing their point value while I was struggling to find even a few monsters to kill.


    I had to admit that my luck was really good the first time, being able to find that lizardman area boss. If it wasn''t for that, I might even be ranked at the very bottom right now.


    Taking a deep breath, I just decided to keep going.


    There was no reason to be depressed, I could only keep going in hopes of finding something.


    But before I could take a single step, there was a noise that came from behind me.


    Or rather, it was just then that I noticed this noise from behind.


    The noise had been there the whole time, but I had been lost in thought, so I hadn''t noticed it.


    When I turned around, I found that there was a cloaked figure being chased by several elite sahuagins running towards me.


    When this cloaked figure saw me, a voice said, "Please help me!"


    Though this cloaked figure looked like a man, the voice was that of a girl.


    It was already too late for me to run away, so I just gave a sigh and thought, "Time Stop."


    As soon as I thought this, the time around me froze and everything stopped moving.


    I walked past the cloaked figure, making sure to trip them before walking over to the elite sahuagins.


    With one quick slash of my sword I slit all of their throats and then moved past them to make a quick pose before releasing my Time Stop.


    That way, it would seem like I had used some kind of amazing sword skill to cut the elite sahuagins instead of seeming like I had suddenly appeared in front of the elite sahuagins and cut them down.


    As soon as the Time Stop was released, the elite sahuagins started bleeding by the neck before falling to the ground.


    At the same time, the cloaked figure seemingly tripped on thin air and fell face first to the ground.


    Seeing them fall like this really gave me a satisfied feeling since they were the one that dragged me into this.


    But what really felt good was the points I earned from the elite sahuagins.


    There were six of them in total, so that meant a total of twelve points for me.


    That would create a large gap between me and second place, so I could rest easy for a bit.


    After falling face first to the ground, that cloaked figure was in a daze for a bit before suddenly looking up.


    When they saw the dead sahuagins on the ground, they couldn''t help trembling before turning to look at me.


    Seeing me stand there over the sahuagins, they once again looked on in a daze before suddenly charging over to me and saying in the same feminine voice, "Thank you for saving me!"


    As they tried to hug me, I pushed them away to stop them from doing so.


    That cloaked figure stopped after seeing that I wouldn''t let them hug me before looking down at themselves.


    Then with an ''oh'' sound, their appearance started to change.


    That cloaked figure disappeared like an illusion before revealing a little girl.

 Chapter 125 - 125: Irregular License Exam (12)

    I couldn''t help being surprised by this sudden change, especially when I saw the little girl.


    This little girl seemed like she was too young to be in a place like this.


    This was a little girl with black hair in twin tails with fair skin and a pretty face who looked no more than thirteen years old.


    A little girl like this really had no place in a dangerous dungeon like this, but here she was.


    After being taken aback, I immediately raised my guard since no matter how I looked at this, it seemed like a trap. For that cloaked figure to suddenly become a little girl like this it seemed like they were just trying to get me to let my guard down.


    But that little girl took advantage of my surprise to run forward and to hug me by the waist.


    With how short she was, I had misjudged and tried to push her back only for my hand to go over her.


    She hugged onto my waist as she said in the voice that suited her, "Thank you, thank you for saving me."


    I knitted my brows slightly as she did this, waiting for something to happen.


    But in the end, nothing happened.


    She just hugged my waist and put her head up against me while she was crying and thanking me.


    It really made me feel awkward seeing her like this with my guard still up, so I gave a sigh and said, "Alright, alright, that''s enough. There''s no need to keep crying like this."


    But all that did was make her cry even louder.


    She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, "But it was scary!"


    I gave a sigh before patting her on the head just like I had done for my little sister when she was younger.


    After patting her a bit, this little girl slowly started to calm down.


    Of course, it helped when I said, "If you keep making this much noise, you''ll just attract more monsters."


    As soon as I said that, she stopped making as much noise even if she was still crying.


    Finally after taking some time to calm down, I took a deep breath and looked at her before saying, "Can you tell me why they were chasing you?"


    The little girl just slowly shook her head and said, "I have no idea. I was going through the dungeon looking for monsters when all of a sudden, they all started chasing me like this."


    I knitted my brows slightly after hearing this.


    After all, being chased like this was a good thing since it meant more monsters to kill.


    So why did this little girl suddenly run away from them like this?


    As if she was guessing what I was thinking, the little girl said, "I can''t use my powers when I''m being chased like this. I need time to use my abilities."


    I looked at her for a bit before slowly giving a nod since it was the only thing that could make sense.


    After all, I had seen how much power she had used back in the first trial.


    This cloaked figure was the one that had been able to knock back that dummy, the second highest scorer after me. With that kind of power, she should have been able to easily defeat these elite sahuagins.


    Since all of my doubts had been answered, there was no reason for me to stick around anymore.


    If I learned her name, I would just get caught up further with her and that was the last thing that I wanted.


    So there was no reason for me to hang around any longer.


    But as I was about to walk away, the little girl suddenly grabbed my sleeve and wouldn''t let me go. I tried to pull my arm away, but the little girl wouldn''t let go as she firmly held onto my arm which made me feel even more awkward.


    After a moment of silence, she looked up at me and said, "Can we work together?"


    I revealed an ugly expression when I heard this, but that quickly disappeared as I said with a calm look, "I prefer working alone."


    The little girl opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying, "I can be helpful, my power is very useful!"


    I just said in the same calm voice, "I work better alone. It would be worse for me if I went along with someone."


    The little girl didn''t know what to say after hearing this, so she gave up trying to use logic.


    Instead, she just said in a sad voice, "Please don''t leave me alone, big brother."


    Normally I would have ignored this, but I couldn''t help being moved a bit when I saw her like this because¡­she reminded me of my little sister.


    Still, I steeled my heart in the end and was determined to reject her request.


    Before I could though, there was another sound that came from nearby.


    When I turned to look in the direction of that sound, I found that it was another group of elite sahuagins running at us.


    I didn''t know why they were suddenly coming at us like this, but it seemed like¡­they were targeting this little girl.


    The moment that this little girl saw these sahuagins running at her, she immediately went to hide behind me.


    I gave a sigh seeing this, but I didn''t turn away from those sahuagins.


    After all, there were another six of them and that was another twelve points for me.


    So with a thought, time froze around us again.


    Then in one swift move, I went over to the sahuagin and cut their throats just like before. After cutting them, I took the same pose before releasing the Time Stop.


    When the Time Stop was gone, the sahuagins fell to the ground bleeding from their throats.


    I couldn''t help looking at the little girl with a strange look.


    After all, it almost seemed like the sahuagins had been specifically chasing her¡­ Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 126 - 126: Irregular License Exam (13)

    I looked at the little girl and asked, "Do you have something special on you that''s drawing the monsters in?"


    The little girl couldn''t help revealing a confused look when she heard this.


    She looked all over her body, but she wasn''t able to find a thing. So she just shook her head and said, "No, I don''t think so."


    I looked at her too, but I also couldn''t find a single thing wrong with her.


    So why were all of those sahuagins attracted to her?


    Just why did it seem like they wanted to hunt her down?


    Could it be that monsters were just drawn to her naturally?


    If that was the case, then that really was dangerous in a place like this¡­or it would be if it was anyone else.


    But right now, wasn''t this what I needed the most?


    I couldn''t find the monsters on my own and if she could draw monsters to her, then I would be able to use her to bring monsters in for me to kill. I needed to kill a constant stream of monsters to remain on top while exploring, so going with her seemed like the best option.


    It was just that if I went with her¡­it would make things less convenient for me.


    I had to slowly debate whether to go with her or leave her alone.


    During this, as if she could read my thoughts based on the expression on my face, the little girl said, "I''m very powerful as long as I have the time to use my ability."


    As she said this, she made sure to puff out her chest as if she was showing off how strong she was.


    But it looked like nothing more than a little animal puffing out their fur to make themselves look more threatening.


    The problem was that it did have an effect on me¡­


    Seeing her like this reminded me of my little sister and I couldn''t help wavering.


    So in the end, I said with a sigh, "Alright, you can come with me. But you have to follow my orders, understood?"


    The little girl''s eyes lit up before she gave a serious nod.


    I reached my hand with the bracelet out towards her and she did the same.


    The examiners had explained this before we entered the dungeon.


    When we tapped our bracelets together like this, there was a message that popped up that said, "You have successfully formed a party."


    With this, we had officially formed a party, or at least in the eyes of the exam system.


    We would share all the points that we obtained from now on which was a disadvantage to me, but now it didn''t matter who killed the monsters since we would both get points.


    As I was about to say something else, there was another set of footsteps that came up behind us.


    When I turned around, I saw that there was another group of elite sahuagins running at us. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I just gave a sigh and stood up to take care of them, but then I realized something.


    I turned back to the little girl and asked, "If I stop them, will you be able to use your ability?"


    The little girl was surprised to hear this, but she gave a firm and determined nod before saying, "As long as you can stop them from charging at me, I can use my ability to kill them all."


    I gave a nod as I said, "Alright."


    Then turning to the elite sahuagins, I took one step forward before saying, "Become dizzy."


    The moment that I said this, all of the elite sahuagins suddenly stopped moving as they faltered.


    The little girl was once again surprised to see this, but I said, "What are you waiting for? I''ve stopped them."


    The little girl jolted at hearing this, but then she revealed a firm look as she nodded.


    She had gotten used to seeing me take care of the sahuagins that she thought that I would do it again. But seeing this, she understood what I was doing.


    I had stopped them to give her a chance to show off her abilities.


    She knew that this was her chance to prove her worth, so she didn''t hold back at all.


    Once again, it was as if an illusion appeared as the little girl turned into the cloaked figure once again.


    This time though, he had a large scythe in his hands.


    This cloaked figure swung that large scythe out, which I thought would hit the wall of the dungeon, but it went right through the wall as if it didn''t even exist. Then it swung out to cut right through the sahuagins, but it didn''t go through them like the wall.


    Well¡­it did go through them, but it didn''t phase through them like with the wall.


    It cut cleanly through the sahuagins, cutting them in half by the waist before coming out the other side.


    The sahuagins didn''t react at first to being cut like this, but then there was a spurt of purple blood before the top half of the sahuagins started slipping off the bottom half.


    Once they slipped off, the bottom halves of the sahuagins also started to fall backwards before creating a large mess.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that monster corpses disappeared in dungeons, it was certain that a bunch more monsters would have been drawn in by this.


    I couldn''t help looking at the cloaked figure in shock as I never expected this much power to come from this little girl.


    Especially when she cut the sahuagins in half.


    I might be able to accomplish something similar by boosting myself with my strongest buff, but I definitely wouldn''t be able to do it normally.


    That just went to show how much power was in a single swing.


    At the same time, there was a trace of doubt that appeared in my eyes.


    Could it be that she was lying about herself?


    No, she wouldn''t have shown me that if she was lying.


    So was it that she was really just that strong?


    I couldn''t help feeling a strange feeling as I looked at the cloaked figure disappear and the little girl reappear.

 Chapter 127 - 127: Irregular License Exam (14)

    When she felt me looking at her like this, the little girl couldn''t help revealing a blush as she said, "If you keep looking at me like this, I''ll feel embarrassed."


    Being called out like this made me feel awkward, so I slowly turned away.


    Though there was still that strange look in my eyes.


    After giving a cough to calm myself down, I asked, "Is your ability a summoning ability? Was that what that cloaked figure was?"


    The little girl shook her head before saying, "Illusion. My ability is creating illusions."


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help saying with a confused look.


    I looked at the sahuagin corpses on the ground that had started disappearing before looking back at her with an even more confused look.


    "Illusions? You''re telling me that you did all of that with just illusions?" I said in an astonished voice.


    The little girl couldn''t help feeling a bit embarrassed with the way that I saw staring at her, so she lowered her head with a blush before giving a slight nod.


    "How?" That was the only thing that I could say when I saw this.


    She didn''t say anything at first, but then she slowly said, "My ability is called Illusion World. It gives me the ability to create illusions around me with magic, which was what that cloaked appearance was. I wanted to create an appearance that was scary like a death god so that people wouldn''t do anything to me¡­"


    She kept going on to explain why she had taken the form that she had taken.


    I let her go on at first since I thought that it would eventually stop, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    This little girl seemed like the shy type at first, but when something got her started¡­she really didn''t stop.


    In the end, I could only give a cough to stop her before she kept going forever.


    The little girl realized that she had been rambling, so she stopped with a blush on her face.


    I just got us back on topic by asking, "So how does your illusion ability allow you to do something like this?" At that, I pointed at the sahuagin corpses¡­or rather the drops that had been left on the ground since the sahuagin corpses had disappeared.


    It was a good thing that they did since the smell was also starting to get to me.


    The little girl just calmly said, "If you believe it''s true, it will happen to you. That''s how I use my illusion to affect people."


    My chin dropped when I heard this.


    If you believe it''s true, it will happen¡­


    This wasn''t a light statement.


    It seemed like she didn''t recognize just how powerful her ability could be¡­


    If one believed in something, then it would be real.


    If she created an illusion that broke the fundamental laws of the world, then would it also come true if one believed in it?


    Did that mean that if she created gold with her illusion and people believed in it, it would also become real?


    Or if she decided that gravity no longer existed, would it disappear?


    I''m sure that there would be limitations to this power, but this was clearly a power that could be used to destroy the world if it was used inappropriately. If it was used properly, then one could easily take over the world¡­


    I really couldn''t help looking at this little girl with a strange look after hearing this and all she could do was look away with an embarrassed look.


    After thinking for a bit, I reached out my hand and said, "Can you give me your hand for a bit?"


    The blush on the little girl''s face became a bit brighter when she heard this.


    She looked down at my hand and said, "Isn''t this a bit too forward? We''ve just met and¡­"


    She started muttering all kinds of different things after this.


    It seemed that she had misunderstood something, but she still put her hand in my hand in the end.


    I didn''t explain anything and just pretended that I didn''t hear anything as I focused on her hand.


    During my training, I learned many different things.


    I didn''t just work my body with Su Chen, but also learned other things that were taught to me by Elementia.


    That included the ability to sense mana.


    I was currently using that ability to sense the mana inside of this little girl''s body.


    The moment that I did, I couldn''t help knitting my brows. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was because I could feel the raging mana inside of this little girl.


    She had stores of mana that were even comparable to what Bing Lan, a S Ranker would have. She just wasn''t able to control this large amount of mana well enough that she was able to do anything with it.


    But in the future¡­


    I looked at the little girl with an astonished expression, but she just said, "It''s embarrassing if you look at me like this while holding my hand."


    I realized my mistake and let go of her hand, though it did seem like she was a bit disappointed when I did.


    But with this, I had figured out the mystery of why the monsters kept chasing her.


    It was because they were all attracted to the large amount of mana that she had.


    Monsters would evolve and grow stronger if they obtained more mana and her mana was the perfect food for them, so of course they would be attracted to her.


    They wanted that mana that was inside of her for their own benefit.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "We should move away from here before more monsters show up."


    The little girl gave a nod, but she hesitated in moving.


    I looked at her with one brow raised and asked, "Is something wrong?"


    She slowly shook her head, but she still didn''t move. That was until she said, "I don''t even know your name yet."


    I was surprised by this, but I realized that she was right.


    Neither of us had introduced ourselves yet.


    So I calmly said, "My name is Lin Fan and you are?"


    The little girl looked at me with a shy smile and said, "Long Shui Ling."

 Chapter 128 - 128: Irregular License Exam (15)

    The two of us continued further into the dungeon, but we didn''t have much luck finding anything.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that monsters kept chasing after Long Shui Ling, we might not have been able to earn any points at all.


    It seemed that it really was hard to find those area bosses¡­


    But it wasn''t as hard for others.


    While we had been moving through the dungeon, I had been paying attention to the rankings.


    From time to time, there were people that jumped up five or ten points, which meant that they most likely killed an area boss.


    It seemed that the area bosses were slowly being hunted in this dungeon and there wouldn''t be many of them left.


    If I wanted to ensure that I could stay in the lead, I would have to target the dungeon boss.


    Of course, finding the dungeon boss was a completely different story¡­


    As we explored the dungeon, time passed.


    Without a watch, one might really lose track of time in this place and forget to pace themselves.


    But with a watch, I knew that it was already evening outside.


    We had stopped earlier for lunch, but now it was time for dinner and to find a place to settle down for the night.


    However, before we could even do that, I realized a problem.


    Long Shui Ling kept drawing in monsters with her large amounts of mana.


    I hadn''t tested it in a safe zone yet, but I wasn''t willing to gamble that it would be enough to keep the monsters away. So did that mean that we would have to stay up all night just to avoid the monsters?


    But if we did, there was no doubt that we would be drained the next morning¡­


    This was a dungeon run that would last three days and if we didn''t pace ourselves, we would surely die because of exhaustion.


    As I was worrying about this, Long Shui Ling could see that something was wrong, so she asked, "What happened?"


    I looked at her with a strange look that almost seemed like I was debating on whether to abandon her or not. But I decided against it since I recognized her potential and knew that I should find a chance to bring her under me while she was still weak and unknown.


    So I took a deep breath and told her the truth.


    She was surprised to hear this, but then she said with a smile, "It''s not a problem at all."


    I raised a brow when she said this, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to explain.


    Long Shui Ling raised her hand where there was a ring on her index finger. With a wave of that hand, there was an orb that suddenly appeared in her hand.


    But even though this orb appeared, it was as if I couldn''t feel anything from it.


    It was like even though my eyes could feel this orb, my senses told me that this orb didn''t exist¡­


    It was a very strange feeling that was hard to describe, but that was what it was like.


    I knew for sure that this wasn''t a normal item.


    Seeing the strange way that I was looking at this orb, Long Shui Ling explained, "This is a special item that my dad gave me that will hide me for some time. He said that I would need it for when I was in the dungeon. I didn''t understand why he said it at the time, but¡­"


    Once again, she started rambling as soon as she began talking.


    I had to stop her again by saying, "Why didn''t you use it sooner then?"


    If she had this thing, she could have been using it the entire time to hide from the monsters instead of being chased around like that.


    Though if the monsters hadn''t been chasing her¡­I would have never met her.


    So was it a blessing in disguise or was it a curse?


    Long Shui Ling revealed an awkward look before saying, "There''s a limit to it. It only works three times and it only lasts eight hours each time. So I was told to only use this for when I was sleeping."


    I gave a slow nod in response to this.


    As expected, there would be limitations to this powerful item.


    But still, the fact that Long Shui Ling was able to get an item like this showed that her backing wasn''t simple¡­


    After she explained this, I just said, "At least it''ll allow us to get a good night''s rest."


    Long Shui Ling gave a happy nod when she heard this.


    Dinner was simple since we were in the middle of a dungeon. It wasn''t as if we could cook a proper meal with a simple fire like this.


    But I was surprised to find that she had also brought a bunch of spices with her.


    Long Shui Ling was able to add a bit of a kick to the bland curry that I had brought which I was grateful for.


    I couldn''t help complimenting, "You really would make a great wife with your cooking skills."


    Long Shui Ling''s face immediately turned red when she heard this, but she also lowered her head with a happy smile on her face.


    Other than the few monsters that appeared during dinner, there really wasn''t much else that happened.


    Since we were in a safe zone, there were less monsters that appeared even though some still chased after her.


    When it was time to sleep, I said, "You take the first shift, that way you can sleep in if you want in the morning."


    "Shifts?" Long Shui Ling said in a confused voice.


    I gave a nod before saying, "That''s right, the first guard shift."


    She was a young miss as he had expected, so she had never done something like this before. But she also understood that it was necessary for them to take guard shifts.


    After all, they were in a dungeon and they could be attacked at any time.


    There was no guarantee that the orb would be able to keep away all of the monsters, so they shouldn''t both go to sleep. One of them should keep guard just in case anything happens.


    So in the end, she just gave a slight nod to show that she understood.


    In her heart, she also knew that this was the bit of kindness that he was showing her.


    After all, the one that took the first shift would have it easier.


    It was always easier to stay up than to wake up early to stand watch.


    The one on the second watch would have less sleep and would have to be on guard, so they would be worse for wear tomorrow morning. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing that she agreed, I just said, "Wake me up in five hours."


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a surprised look, but I said, "Don''t worry, you can sleep in late. I''ll take care of the monsters that come."


    Long Shui Ling''s heart couldn''t help skipping a beat when she heard this and she gave a nod in the end.


    With that, she activated the bead and I went to sleep.

 Chapter 129 - 129: Irregular License Exam (16)

    I was woken up after around five hours by Long Shui Ling.


    Looking at the clock, it seemed like she had let me sleep an extra half an hour, so I couldn''t help looking at her with a grateful look.


    This just caused her to look down with a shy look again when she saw me looking at her like this.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t stay like this for long.


    She pulled out her blanket and wrapped herself up to go to sleep¡­though it did take a while for her to go to sleep.


    It wasn''t because she was in the dungeon, but because of something else.


    During the time that he had been sleeping, while she had been keeping watch, she had been quite bored.


    So to pass the time, she had been secretly staring at him.


    It was secretly staring at him at first, but¡­it eventually became actively staring at him.


    For the past few hours, she had been staring at him without a care in the world.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t know why she did this, but she did know that it was calming to stare at him like this for some reason. It was as if staring at him made everything seem alright¡­


    But now that she had a moment to calm down and think about it, she couldn''t help feeling that it was embarrassing.


    "Why did I do that just now? What''s wrong with me?"


    Long Shui Ling said to herself again and again as she couldn''t tell what this feeling in her heart was.


    But it had been a long day, especially when she had been running from the monsters in the beginning.


    So it didn''t take her long to fall asleep.


    During this time, I had pulled out a book and had started reading.


    I didn''t see any new drops and I wasn''t woken up by any noise while I was sleeping, so it seemed that the bead worked.


    Since I had time while she was sleeping, I decided to read a bit.


    I wasn''t as strong as those others who had natural talent, so the only thing that I could do was make up for it with my intelligence. I wanted to improve my intelligence as much as possible and the best way was to gain more knowledge.


    Since there was nothing to do, I would make the best use of this time to read and gain more knowledge.


    But of course, that only lasted for the first few hours.


    The bead would only last eight hours, so after around three hours¡­the monsters started showing up again.


    To not disturb her rest, I made sure to use my Time Stop to take care of them.


    Though this might seem dangerous, I actually looked forward to it since there were now others that had taken my top spot.


    There were those that hunted monsters into the night and had pushed their scores up while I was asleep.


    I knew that this would mean that they would crash and burn eventually and they were just hurting themselves like this, but I still couldn''t help being bothered by it.


    Since the monsters were coming, why wouldn''t I take these free points?


    I needed them to pull myself back up onto the leaderboards.


    After cutting down these monsters, I gave a satisfied nod as I slowly climbed back up.


    There was no one that could keep up with my speed of point growth and it didn''t take long before I was back on top.


    There was only a single group that was above me and it was clear that they were in a group since they had the same amount of points.


    It was a group of three and they all had names that I didn''t recognize.


    Still, I was certain that it was only a matter of time before I surpassed them because I had my eyes set on the dungeon boss.


    After a few more hours, I finally went to wake Long Shui Ling up.


    But to my surprise, when I touched her to wake her up, she suddenly reached out and grabbed me by the chest.


    She hugged me as she pressed her head up against me. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was like¡­being grabbed by a koala with the way that she hung onto me.


    I couldn''t help feeling that it was very awkward, but at the same time¡­I couldn''t help feeling that she was a bit cute with how she hung onto me.


    But before I could even do anything, Long Shui Ling suddenly woke up.


    She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me.


    In her sleepy daze, she rubbed her eyes and said, "Good morning."


    Even though her legs were still wrapped around me and she was hanging off with me with one arm.


    All I could do was awkwardly say, "Good¡­morning."


    Long Shui Ling slowly recognized the strange tone of my voice and she slowly looked down.


    She blinked twice as she looked at her arm and legs holding onto me, as if she was still trying to process what had happened.


    After blinking a few more times, she suddenly realized what she did and she immediately jumped off me.


    Long Shui Ling moved away from me like I had done something wrong to her, covering herself with her arms and closing her legs.


    If someone walked in now¡­they would have thought that I had assaulted her.


    But luckily, no one came in the end.


    Finally, she said, "I''m sorry, I¡­I didn''t mean to do that."


    I just gave an awkward cough before saying, "It''s fine, you did it in your sleep. I won''t take it to heart."


    Long Shui Ling lowered her head as a strong blush covered her face, but she said in a soft voice, "Thank you."


    The two of us just ate breakfast in silence after that, though it was a relief when a group of monsters showed up.


    They were able to break the awkwardness that hung in the air after that interaction.


    And in the end, we were able to leave without bringing it up.


    Though¡­it was still there in our hearts.

 Chapter 130 - 130: Irregular License Exam (17)

    The second day really didn''t have much action either.


    I was able to reclaim the top spot with all of the monsters that came chasing at Long Shui Ling, but I could see that those three behind weren''t giving up.


    They were doing all they could to keep up, but they didn''t have a monster attractor like me.


    With Long Shui Ling, I didn''t need to worry about searching for monsters, I could just let them come to me.


    At the same time, we also got lucky and found two more area bosses for large boosts.


    When the night of the second day came, even though I slept for a bit, I found that I was still on top of the rankings when I woke up.


    The rate of increase for that group of three had dropped.


    It seemed that they had reached their limit.


    I revealed a satisfied smile seeing this, but I also knew¡­that I shouldn''t let my guard down.


    After all, there was still the dungeon boss left.


    One hundred points, that was a large amount no matter how one looked at it.


    I was currently at around eighty points while the group behind me were around sixty points each.


    Even if they were grouped up, a single dungeon boss would be more than enough to turn the tides.


    Not to mention, there would certainly be many smaller monsters and elite monsters gathered around the dungeon boss. That was the case for most dungeons, though it wasn''t the case for the Great Wolf since that Great Wolf was a loner.


    But the rest of the dungeons that I went to had all been like this.


    So I knew that it was imperative that I find the dungeon boss before this exam ended.


    The problem was¡­I didn''t have a tracking skill so I wouldn''t be able to find the dungeon boss like this.


    We had found some others in the dungeon during the second day, but none of them had any ideas as to where the dungeon boss was. I had snuck up on them and had listened in to their conversations to confirm this.


    It seemed that most people were stumped by the position of the dungeon boss.


    At the same time, I learned that many people had actually taken to working together, creating a small network to share information with each other in this dungeon.


    Through that network, they had already searched most of the dungeon and couldn''t find the dungeon boss.


    "It''s as if there''s a part of this dungeon that''s hidden¡­"


    That was what they had said.


    "A part of the dungeon that''s hidden¡­" I muttered to myself as I killed some new sahuagins that had appeared.


    Long Shui Ling seemed to notice something was wrong, so she said, "Should we take a break?"


    I looked at her before slowly giving a nod.


    I knew that she was being considerate, but she was also right.


    There was nothing to gain from forcing myself to search, it was better to calm down and analyze the situation based on the information that I had gained.


    I knew that there was nothing to gain from rashly running around searching for the dungeon boss.


    So we found a place to sit down on the side before taking some time to think about it.


    I pulled out a piece of paper which had some markings on it.


    This was the map that I had been drawing the entire time.


    This was to make sure that I knew where I had explored and where I hadn''t explored.


    At the same time, there were some other parts of the map filled in which was the dungeon situation based on what I had heard from the other participants.


    I had almost a complete map of the dungeon, it was just that there wasn''t anything that I could find wrong about it.


    Even if I wanted to, I wasn''t able to figure out where the dungeon boss was.


    The map just didn''t make sense.


    They were right, it was almost as if there was some kind of hidden chamber in this dungeon that no one was able to find.


    I was about to give up when I suddenly heard, "Did you hear? That group has found the secret entrance to the dungeon boss'' lair."


    Since this was a dangerous dungeon where monsters kept being attracted by Long Shui Ling, I had my ears buffed slightly with my ability so I could hear all the noises around us.


    But this had coincidentally allowed me to catch this conversation between these people.


    I immediately looked up and turned in the direction that these voices were coming from, focusing on their conversation.


    "What do you mean?"


    "That group has found a place that seems like it opens up to reveal a secret chamber. It''s said that is where the dungeon boss is hiding."


    "Really? But why would they let us know about this if they found it. There''s nothing to gain from telling us, is there?"


    "Shh, keep your voice down. I heard that it''s because they need people to open it up. Without enough people, the dungeon boss door won''t open, so they''re spreading it to everyone."


    "So they just want to use us, is that it?"


    "Sigh, but it''s better than nothing right? At this rate, we won''t pass with how few points we have. At the very least, we''ll be able to pick up a few scraps if we go with them."


    "...I guess you''re right¡­but what about the top guy? Is he not going to make a move?"


    "I don''t know¡­there''s been no word from that top guy. It''s like he''s completely disappeared which is really worrying¡­but there''s no time to think about it now. We should go and join the fun before everything''s taken."


    With that, there were two sets of footsteps that rang out.


    Long Shui Ling was looking at me with a confused look when I suddenly stood up, so I turned and said, "I''ve found a trace of the dungeon boss, will you come with me?"


    She was surprised to hear this, but she gave a firm nod without hesitation in the end.


    After all, she was here to take the exam too, so she wanted to get as many points as possible as well.


    So with this, we followed the two to the gathering.


    S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 131 - 131: Irregular License Exam (18)

    When we came closer, I could hear quite a few voices from in front of us.


    There were still the voices of the two that we followed, but there were many other voices as well.


    It seemed that there were quite a few people gathered¡­


    If this ended up in a fight, this might actually be bad for me with how many people were here.


    There were just too many people for me to properly use my powers¡­ sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For now, I decided to stay hidden and watch from afar.


    That was made even easier with Long Shui Ling''s illusion ability that made us seem like part of the wall.


    I couldn''t help feeling more and more happy about the decision to team up with her.


    Not only did she help draw in monsters to make up for the fact that I couldn''t find them, she also had that very useful illusion ability. Even if it took her a while to attack with it, there were still plenty of other uses for it like what she was using it for now.


    After reaching the gathering area, we found that there were at least twenty people that were here.


    With the two that arrived, it was exactly twenty three.


    They all seemed to be gathered in front of a wall that had a mural on it.


    Standing in front of the mural was a group of three.


    I didn''t think I would recognize any of them, but it turned out that two of them happened to be the ones that I had met in my first trial.


    It was the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl.


    The other person was a young man with a shield in hand, though this shield seemed a bit too big for him.


    Since they were standing in front of the mural, standing in front of everyone like this, are they the ones that had been chasing after my score the entire time?


    Yes, they should be the ones since I could see the exhaustion that was on the faces of the young man with the shield and the young man with the pompadour. It was only the magical girl who didn''t seem that tired.


    I couldn''t help wondering why she didn''t look exhausted, but I didn''t get that much time to think.


    When the three of them saw the last two enter, the young man with the shield suddenly said, "I''m sure that you have all heard that we have discovered the way to the dungeon boss."


    As soon as he spoke, everyone suddenly stopped talking and turned to look at this young man.


    The young man with the shield didn''t mind this and continued by saying, "The mural depicts how we will be able to open the door to the final boss."


    Once again, as soon as he said this, everyone turned to look at the mural.


    However, they all revealed confused looks as they stared at this mural.


    After all, this mural was in a language that they couldn''t understand at all.


    There were a few drawings that were also on the mural, but it was hard to understand what it was trying to convey with just these drawings.


    Unless one was able to understand the writing, they wouldn''t be able to understand what this mural said.


    The young man with the shield allowed them to look at it for a bit before turning to the magical girl and giving her a nod. When she received this nod, she moved over to the mural.


    The magical girl pointed to a part of the mural and said, "It says here that to open up the path to the dungeon boss, we have to defeat four different area bosses in four different locations. The mural also gives the way to these area bosses."


    All of them looked closely at the mural, but they couldn''t make out a single thing in the end since they just couldn''t read it.


    So one of them couldn''t help asking, "How do we know that this is what it actually says and you''re not lying to us?"


    The magical girl just gave a shrug before saying, "I don''t care whether you believe me or not. If you don''t want to believe me, then find your own people to read the mural and wait for the exam to end."


    As soon as they heard this, they all revealed ugly expressions.


    They knew that it was already too late for that, so the only thing that they could do was trust the words of these three¡­but it wasn''t as if they would just blindly follow them.


    They had a reason why they would share this information.


    Seeing that everyone had thoughtful looks on their faces, the young man with the shield stepped up again to say, "I''m sure that all of you are wondering why we''ve gathered you all here."


    As he said this, they all stopped their random thoughts and paid attention to him.


    The young man just said with a smile, "Since we''ve gathered you here, naturally we have our reasons¡­" After stalling for a bit, he finally said, "We want your help in opening the path to the dungeon boss."


    At this, they all narrowed their eyes to look at the young man as if they were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    They were all competitors and now that they knew this, it would only make sense that they would try to take the dungeon boss.


    The young man didn''t seem bothered at all by the seemingly hostile looks that appeared in the eyes of these people and he continued by saying, "We want your help in taking down the four area bosses. As long as you help us, we''ll concede those area bosses to you."


    Area bosses, each one was worth ten points, so there was definitely some value in working with them.


    But compared to the dungeon boss that was worth one hundred points¡­it was chump change.


    So there was no reason for them to give up that easily.


    The young man could guess what they were thinking, so with a sigh, he took the shield off his back.


    Holding it in one hand, he said with a frown, "Do you really think that you can take us on?"

 Chapter 132 - 132: Irregular License Exam (19)

    As he said this, the young man with the pompadour raised his fists and the magical girl raised her wand.


    The two of them just stared at all of the rest in this area.


    As they did, they could feel the pressure coming from the three of them.


    There had to be a reason why these three were second ranked¡­they shouldn''t be weak.


    Not to mention¡­the magical girl hadn''t told them how to get to the area bosses yet.


    There were only a few hours left of this exam and if they were to search for it on their own, it was certain that they wouldn''t be able to find it in time.


    So after thinking about it, it seemed like the only way forward was indeed to cooperate with them.


    Only by working with them would they be able to open the dungeon boss door.


    So they all took a deep sigh and the one that spoke before said, "Where are the area bosses?"


    When the young man with the shield heard this, he put the shield onto his back again and just turned to the magical girl.


    With her staff in hand, she pointed in one direction and said, "If you take this path and go down the second left, you''ll reach one of them."


    After that first direction, she pointed in three other directions and gave instructions for all of them.


    Looking around, the ones that had been gathered revealed firm looks as they headed off in different directions.


    But then, one of them couldn''t help saying, "What are you going to do?"


    The group of three just stood in front of the mural the entire time, as if they weren''t prepared to make a move.


    The young man with the shield calmly said, "We''re waiting for you to take down the area bosses so we can take down the dungeon boss. Isn''t that what we agreed on?"


    That was indeed what they had agreed on, but seeing them stand like this really made them feel awkward.


    It made them not want to keep their commitment and just leave these people alone.


    But in the end, they still went off in different groups to take care of the area bosses.


    The points from the area bosses would definitely be a welcome boon for them.


    Plus¡­many of them had sinister looks in their eyes.


    It was clear that they were planning to do something, but no one said anything about it.


    The three in front of the mural also noticed these looks, but they ignored them.


    This was just how it was in the first place, they weren''t ignorant of that. They were just confident in taking care of the dungeon boss before any of them came back.


    Or rather¡­it was because they had another plan.


    I was watching them from the shadows and once everyone left, the young man with the shield suddenly said, "Now we just wait for those fools to take care of themselves."


    I deeply knitted my brows when I heard this, but they didn''t say anything else, so there wasn''t anything that I could do.


    It didn''t seem like they were planning on moving an inch from this spot in front of the mural, so there wasn''t anything for me to see even if I stayed here.


    I looked around and finally faced one of the directions that the magical girl pointed out.


    Looking at Long Shui Ling, the two of us went in that direction after she gave a nod of affirmation.


    We followed behind the team that had come in this direction.


    This was a group of five, all of whom had been alone when we came into the area in front of the mural.


    It was clear that they were all alone and they wouldn''t work together, so I was curious as to how they would take down the area boss.


    After following the guidance of the magical girl, we arrived at the location of the area boss.


    This was similar to the area boss that I had faced on the first day.


    This was an area with an altar at the center, but this altar was much more luxurious than the one that I had seen before.


    This was an altar with a large statue in the middle of it.


    It was a lizardman, but this lizardman seemed much stronger than the lizardman that I had seen before. At the same time, there was a jeweled trident that was in the lizardman''s hands.


    It almost seemed like this lizardman statue was one of some kind of hero.


    But the most shocking thing was that¡­there were four different lizardmen around the statue.


    These lizardmen were very much like the ones that I had seen before, so that meant that all of these lizardmen were area bosses.


    However, they weren''t the ones in charge of the ceremony here.


    They just seemed like they were here to guide the sahuagins that they had brought.


    The one that was in charge was a lizardman who was wearing some kind of priest robes.


    This lizardman priest was standing right in front of the altar with his hands lifted up, almost as if he was praying to the lizardman statue on the altar.


    It was clear that there was some kind of ceremony going on right now.


    But four lizardmen, a sea of sahuagins, and a lizardman priest, this didn''t seem like an easy fight no matter how one looked at it.


    Still, none of the five of them backed down seeing this.


    Based on the look in their eyes, it seemed like all they saw was a sea of points for them to harvest and they were excited about that.


    The five of them separated from each other, as if they were all going to fight alone.


    None of them looked worried even though they were facing all these monsters, though that should be expected of those that had been able to reach this second exam. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With that, the battle began.


    But I couldn''t help looking at the altar in the middle.


    I kept getting a bad feeling from it.

 Chapter 133 - 133: Irregular License Exam (20)

    The fight went as one would expect.


    These people had made it into the second exam for a reason.


    They¡­were not weak. They were able to take care of the sahuagins without much effort and were able to push them all back when they charged at them.


    Under the wide array of abilities that they demonstrated, the sahuagins were all defeated as they came forward.


    The followers of the lizardmen didn''t stand a chance when they attacked these Awakeners.


    In the end, the lizardmen had no choice but to act.


    If they didn''t act, then it would only be a matter of time before all of them were pushed back by these humans.


    So the lizardmen had to do something to prevent that.


    When the lizardmen came out, the humans were much more cautious.


    These lizardmen were different from the sahuagins, these lizardmen actually put pressure on them. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The lizardman priest in the center suddenly raised its hand and there was a green glow that appeared around its hand.


    This green glow quickly appeared around the lizardmen and they all started moving faster.


    At the same time, the humans could feel the pressure that came from the lizardmen.


    This wasn''t just a simple increase in power¡­


    But in the end, they couldn''t back down.


    So the humans looked at each other and did something that they didn''t do until now.


    With a shared nod, they started working together.


    They moved together and created a line that stopped the lizardmen in their path.


    With this line, the lizardmen weren''t able to do anything to the humans.


    They were grouped together because of the line, having no way of breaking through to spread out.


    When this happened, they had no choice but to gather around the altar.


    Since they were working together, the humans were much stronger than before.


    With the pressure that they put on the lizardmen, it didn''t matter if they had the support of the lizardman priest.


    The lizardmen did what they could, but eventually one of them fell to the humans.


    This one lizardman that fell was cut off from the rest of the group, so it wasn''t able to receive the support of the lizardman priest. Being attacked from all sides by the humans, this lizardman eventually received a fatal wound and died.


    As soon as that first lizardman fell, the situation became worse and worse for the monsters.


    They weren''t able to do a single thing as the humans overwhelmed them.


    It didn''t take long before another lizardman fell and they were completely outpowered by the humans.


    There was nothing that the remaining two lizardmen and the lizardman priest could do as they were overwhelmed by the humans.


    The sahuagins¡­didn''t matter at all.


    But what no one noticed was that a few of the sahuagins had gone missing during the fight.


    At the same time¡­the number of points that the top ranker had also changed during this time.


    It seemed that this top ranker was killing something to gain points¡­


    After another while, the humans had finally taken care of the remaining lizardmen and lizardman priest.


    The two lizardmen had disappeared first and the lizardman priest was just lying on the ground with a gashing wound on its chest.


    But the humans didn''t care about that at all as they turned to look at the altar.


    "We''ve killed the area boss, so should that be enough? Or do we need to destroy the altar as well?"


    After hearing this, the others gave shrugs and shook their heads to show that they didn''t know what to do either.


    After all, this was the first time that they were encountering this situation as well.


    The magical girl had just said that killing the area bosses would be enough to open up the path to the dungeon boss, but it didn''t seem like anything had changed after they had taken down the lizardmen.


    Could it be that there was still something left for them to do here?


    So they all turned their attention to the altar.


    But the situation suddenly changed when the lizardman priest breathed his last.


    The lizardman priest had still been alive even with that gashing wound on its chest.


    It had been glaring at them with eyes filled with hatred, as if it was trying to remember their faces for when they were all in the after life just so that it could take revenge on them.


    But eventually, it still died since it couldn''t take the giant gash that was on its chest.


    When it died, there was a change that appeared with the altar.


    The altar was suddenly covered in a piercing red glow that immediately put them all on guard.


    They knew that the altar was about to do something, but they didn''t dare go near it out of fear that it would do something to them.


    So without a word between them, the humans suddenly turned to run.


    It was just too bad that they didn''t get a chance as a red beam of light suddenly shot out at them.


    They raised their weapons to deflect this red beam of light since it was too fast for them to dodge, but they couldn''t do a single thing to this red beam of light.


    It scattered the moment that it touched their weapons and then surrounded them in a red bubble of light.


    This red bubble trapped them and lifted them up in the air.


    The humans tried attacking the bubble to break free, but they weren''t able to do a single thing to this red bubble of light.


    "What is this?"


    "What is going on here?"


    They shouted this out, but there was no answer for them.


    All they could do was float there in the air, in the middle of the red bubble of light.


    When I saw this, I immediately knitted my brows.


    I knew that it wasn''t as simple as the three in front of the mural had put it¡­


    So without hesitation, I turned and headed back to the mural.

 Chapter 134 - 134: Irregular License Exam (21)

    When we arrived back at the mural, we found that there were still those three there.


    However, the mural had changed compared to before.


    There were now two red lights that had been lit up on the mural in different parts of it.


    If I had to guess what these were¡­I would say that these corresponded to the area bosses that they had talked about earlier.


    As the three of them stood in front of the mural, they revealed calm and indifferent expressions.


    That was until the magical girl suddenly revealed a slightly worried look.


    She took a deep breath and asked, "Is it really alright doing this? What if they find out that we did this?"


    The young man with the pompadour also slightly knitted his brows hearing this, but the young man with the shield said with a faint smile, "It''s fine. All that is happening is that they will be trapped for a bit. It won''t affect them at all, other than maybe a little discomfort."


    The magical girl knitted her brows more before saying, "How do you know that? What if there''s something about these traps that we don''t know about?"


    The young man with the shield gave a shrug before saying, "The Awakener Association was the one that prepared this dungeon for the exam, they wouldn''t do anything too harmful since there are important people taking this exam. In a worst case scenario, we can just leave it to them to save them."


    The magical girl still deeply knitted her brows, but she didn''t say anything in response to this.


    It was clear by the look on her face that she was disturbed by all of this.


    The young man with the shield revealed a sharp look before saying, "You know that as long as we defeat the dungeon boss, everyone will be freed. Are you getting cold feet now?"


    The magical girl didn''t say anything at first, but then she said in a soft voice, "And if we can''t?"


    The young man with the shield slammed that shield on the ground before saying, "You''re the ones that wanted to work with me and now you''re doubting yourselves? What was the point of working together if you''re going to get cold feet now?"


    The magical girl didn''t say anything.


    Instead, it was the young man with the pompadour that came forward to say, "Enough, there''s nothing to gain from arguing. We''ll defeat the dungeon boss and that''s that."


    The young man with the shield just gave a snort as he said, "Remember your place. As long as you do what you need to do, that is all that matters."


    Both of them revealed ugly expressions after hearing this, but neither of them said a thing in response to this.


    The young man with the shield gave another snort before moving away from the two of them.


    The young man with the pompadour looked at the magical girl for a bit before coming over to support her. He helped her stand as he asked, "Are you alright?"


    The magical girl didn''t seem to hear him at first, but then she said, "I''m fine. Thank you."


    The way that the two of them were standing made it very clear that there was something between the two of them. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was very different from before where they had acted as if they didn''t know each other.


    The young man with the pompadour looked at her with a complicated look which made it clear that he had other feelings for her, but he took a deep breath and said, "You shouldn''t have acted that way earlier. You know that it would just make him angry and we can''t afford to do that."


    The magical girl lowered her head without saying anything, but there was no expression on her face.


    It was almost as if whatever he had said didn''t register with her.


    But in the end, she still said with a sigh, "I know, but I had to try."


    The young man with the pompadour shook his head and said, "You made it too obvious that it wasn''t you that was saying it, so of course he would figure it out."


    These words did sound a bit too harsh, so he added, "But that doesn''t matter now. The only thing that you need to worry about now is how to handle the dungeon boss. You don''t need to worry about anything else.


    This young man with the pompadour revealed a hurt look.


    He knew that she had been forcing herself when she had spoken with those harsh words earlier.


    She had wanted to dissuade them with those harsh words, but it had failed in the end.


    The young man with the pompadour knew that it hurt her more to act that way and say those words¡­


    The magical girl gave a nod in the end and moved to the side.


    He wanted to follow her, but he knew that she wanted to be left alone right now.


    So in the end, all he could do was reach a hand up before bringing it down and standing there with a lost look on his face.


    That lasted for a few seconds before the young man with the pompadour took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "I will protect you."


    After saying this, he went off to a corner by himself to prepare as well.


    But unbeknownst to them, there were two people who had watched everything happen.


    After seeing them all settle down, I couldn''t help revealing a strange look.


    I was aware that everyone had their own circumstances, but this¡­seemed a bit too heavy for me.


    I didn''t know what the circumstances between them were, but it was clear that the young man with the shield¡­was threatening them in some way.


    Long Shui Ling turned to me and asked, "Should we help them?"


    I looked at her for a bit before saying with a shake of my head, "No, it''s too dangerous."


    She revealed a slightly unwilling look on her face, but she gave a nod with a sigh to show that she understood.


    I also gave a sigh after seeing this, but I still said, "Let''s get ready for when the door unlocks."

 Chapter 135 - 135: Irregular License Exam (22)

    We waited and waited and after a few minutes, another red light appeared on the mural.


    When the young man with the shield saw this, he revealed an excited look.


    But that excited look disappeared when he turned to look at the other two in the room with him and he said, "Get ready, it''s about to happen. Don''t hold me back, or else."


    Neither of them responded to this, they just gave a simple nod as they let him push them around however he wanted.


    After a few more minutes, the final red light lit up on the mural.


    However, there was nothing that changed¡­


    After waiting for a minute, the young man with the shield''s face twisted and he said, "What''s going on? We already did what it said and it''s still not opening?"


    As he said this, the expressions of the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl changed.


    The magical girl''s face filled with guilt while the young man with the pompadour turned to look at the magical girl with a worried look.


    It was clear that he was more worried about how this would affect her than himself.


    But then¡­


    There was the sound of stone grinding.


    There was a red light that appeared in the center of the mural.


    Then the mural started to move to one side.


    Seeing this, the young man with the shield revealed a wide smile before saying, "I knew it wouldn''t be wrong! I knew that this was the only way!"


    The expressions of the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl became a bit ugly, but they didn''t say anything as they followed the young man with the shield forward. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I was different.


    The moment that the door opened, I could feel the powerful mana that was coming from inside.


    Whatever was behind this mural definitely wasn''t weak, but it didn''t seem like the three of them noticed this¡­


    Long Shui Ling beside me also seemed to sense something as she revealed a trace of fear on her face. But then after turning to look at me, she revealed a determined look and faced forward again.


    After waiting for a bit for them to go in, we followed behind them.


    There wasn''t a long corridor behind this mural and it didn''t take long for us to reach our destination.


    The room here was surprisingly bigger than we thought.


    It was a large space that was almost as big as the space that I had fought the Great Wolf in.


    But unlike that space, this one was filled with many different things.


    This room¡­seemed like the throne room of a king and at the very other side of this room was a throne where a lizardman was sitting.


    This lizardman had a crown on his head and was much bigger than all of the other lizardmen that we had met.


    It was clear that this was the king of the lizardmen.


    But it wasn''t just the king alone who was here.


    There were a bunch of other lizardmen who were also gathered around the king, each one wearing a heavy set of armour while also holding a shield and some kind of other weapon.


    These were the elite guards that protected the king.


    When I saw this, I deeply knitted my brows.


    That was because even without the Lizardman King, I could tell that not a single one of these guards were easy to take down. Just their armour alone would be hard to cut through.


    The young man with the shield also stopped a bit when he walked into this room, but then he took that shield off his back and said with a smile, "We''re going in."


    The other two of his group had worried looks on their faces, but they still followed him in.


    The shield of the young man suddenly expanded as he charged forward.


    It became a giant shield that was like a bulldozer as he charged at the lizardmen.


    The lizardmen were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of this young man with the shield, but they quickly took formation in front of the Lizardman King.


    These lizardmen guards quickly raised their shields to block the young man.


    When the two sides clashed, the young man couldn''t help revealing a surprised look.


    That was because they had actually stopped his charge.


    Whenever he had used this ability before in this dungeon, he had never been stopped before. So now that he had been stopped, he couldn''t help being taken off guard.


    That only lasted a moment before he suddenly turned and shouted, "What are you idiots waiting for? Can''t you see that I''m distracting them! Attack already!"


    The two others looked at each other before following the young man''s order.


    The young man with the pompadour charged forward with the young man with the shield while the magical girl raised her staff.


    She was gathering her power, but she didn''t release it yet as if she was waiting for something.


    When the young man with the pompadour finally reached the young man with the shield, that was when she fired off her attack.


    The young man with the shield shrank his shield when the young man with the pompadour reached him, revealing the lizardmen in front of him.


    This opened him to attacks, but he wasn''t worried at all.


    The lizardmen were surprised to find that the shield had disappeared and raised their own weapons to attack, but then they sensed that something was coming from in front of them. So they stopped lowering their shields and formed that wall once more.


    However, the magical girl''s attack was already on its wall.


    This was an attack that suddenly turned into liquid while flying in the air and splashed onto the shields of the lizardmen.


    When it splashed on the shields¡­there was smoke that came from the shields.


    This was an acid attack that was melting those shields.


    The two lizardmen that got splashed by the acid had no choice but to drop their shields and that created a gap for the young man with the pompadour.


    But even though they had dropped their shields, they were still wearing thick armour, so it wasn''t as if they were completely unguarded.


    In the end, that didn''t matter for the young man with the pompadour.


    With a single punch, he blew a hole in the armoured lizardman, armour and all.


    Then he gave another punch to take down the other lizardman.


    These two lizardmen were easily taken down with just two punches¡­it was clear how powerful those punches were.


    After taking down these two lizardmen, they immediately jumped back to create distance between them and the lizardmen.


    Then when they stabilized themselves, the young man with the shield revealed an arrogant smile as he said, "Hah, just one punch is enough? This is going to be easy."


    But the looks on the faces of the magical girl and the young man with the pompadour made it clear that they thought otherwise.


    They were looking in the direction of the Lizardman King.


    As soon as his voice fell, the Lizardman King suddenly stood up from his throne.

 Chapter 136 - 136: Irregular License Exam (23)

    As soon as the Lizardman King stood up from the throne, the atmosphere in this throne room changed.


    Even the most arrogant young man with the shield could feel the change in the air.


    He knew that¡­even he would be in danger.


    But that didn''t mean that he hesitated since he still had confidence in his power.


    He picked up one of the stones on the ground before suddenly throwing it out at the Lizardman King.


    As the stone flew through the air, it suddenly began growing in size.


    It eventually reached the size of a boulder as it maintained the same momentum while flying through the air.


    With the way that it was flying, it almost seemed like it would crush the Lizardman King.


    But before it could hit the Lizardman King, there was a flick of a trident.


    The Lizardman King easily smashed the boulder that was flying at him, shattering it to pieces that rained down on the ground.


    The young man with the shield didn''t keep throwing these rocks at the Lizardman King. He wasn''t a fool, he had seen how easy it had been for the Lizardman King to smack down that boulder just now.


    If he kept throwing these rocks, it would be him that would run out of stamina.


    The ability of the young man with the shield was Size Manipulation.


    This was a skill that should have been considered useless because of how much mana it took to use it.


    However, this young man came from a rich family.


    A rich family that was able to provide as many mana increasing elixirs as he needed so that he could use this ability properly.


    So he had no problem throwing more stones at the Lizardman King, but he didn''t want to waste the mana.


    Instead, the young man turned to the other two and said, "What are you doing? Are you expecting me to do all the work? Get in there already!"


    Neither of them moved when they heard this since they knew that it would be dangerous.


    But seeing them not doing anything, the young man said, "Do you think that I won''t do anything when we get back? If you don''t move now, you should think about your families."


    Both of them revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.


    The reason why they listened and followed this young man in the first place was because¡­their parents worked for the company that this young man''s family owned.


    They were both commoners who had come from working class families and there was nothing special for them to rely on.


    Even if they had made it into the Irregular License Exam, that didn''t mean that they were powerful Irregulars yet.


    This young man threatened to get their parents fired and ruin their entire families if they didn''t go along with him after learning that their parents worked for his family''s company.


    Their families would be ruined if that happened since they hadn''t become powerful Irregulars yet that could protect them¡­


    So they had no choice but to go.


    But the young man with the pompadour still hesitated in moving forward since his powers weren''t suited for this.


    The power of the young man with the pompadour was called Charge Up.


    This was an ability that allowed him to store up energy in his body that he could release in one go at any time. The rate of charging depended on how focused he was on gathering the energy.


    Just now, he had used the two shots charged in his fists to take down the lizardman guards.


    That meant that he only had the charges in his legs and his head left to use.


    He wasn''t certain that he would be able to take down the Lizardman King with just these and the moment that he ran out of shots, he would be useless.


    He wanted to charge up the shots in his fists before doing anything, but it wasn''t as if the Lizardman King would give them that chance.


    The magical girl knew what he was concerned about, so she said, "I''ll do it." Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She stepped forward and raised her staff, pointing it at the Lizardman King.


    As she did, there was this rotten smell that filled the air.


    It smelled just like rotten eggs.


    Then with a spark, there was a large explosion that suddenly happened.


    This explosion completely engulfed all of the lizardmen and they were engulfed in the flames that came from the explosion, disappearing out of sight.


    But even though they were engulfed in flames, the magical girl didn''t let her guard down.


    She knew that this simple explosion wouldn''t be enough to take them all down.


    So she gathered balls of strange coloured liquid around her.


    The magical girl''s ability wasn''t actually magic at all. Her ability was Chemistry.


    She had the ability to create all kinds of different chemicals with her mana.


    This kind of ability would normally be used for production, but she had figured out a way to use it for combat.


    That explosion just now was her creating a pocket of sulfur gas in the air around the lizardmen and then igniting it with a spark. Then to prevent the flames of the explosion from spreading, she created a layer of inflammable gas around the area that she wanted the explosion to be in so that it couldn''t spread.


    This was very precise and it was only because of her determination that she was able to do something like this.


    As the magical girl waited for a reaction from the lizardmen, the flames suddenly parted and the Lizardman King came out of the flames.


    She wanted to throw these balls of different kinds of acid at the Lizardman King, but she found that she was just¡­too slow.


    The Lizardman King was in front of her in an instant and had its trident raised to stab at her.


    "Ah!!!" There was a roar that came from behind her as she suddenly felt something push her out of the way.


    Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the young man with the pompadour charging past her.


    The young man with the pompadour had charged forward without hesitation when he saw that she was in danger. As he charged at the Lizardman King, he started bringing the head that he had leaned back in preparation at the Lizardman King.


    He was going in for a headbutt.


    This was his ultimate move and he was using it without hesitation to save the magical girl.


    This headbutt was an attack that he had never used.


    This headbutt was the culmination of several months of gathering energy, so even he didn''t know how strong this attack would be. But to save her, he didn''t hesitate to release it.


    He wasn''t even sure if he would be able to endure it, but he didn''t care when he saw that she was in danger.


    The Lizardman King seemed to have sensed something, so it quickly turned the trident in its hands so that the shaft was facing the young man with the pompadour.


    As soon as it did this, there was a barrier of water that appeared in front of the Lizardman King.


    The young man with the pompadour was surprised, but he didn''t stop himself.


    He just hoped that it would be strong enough to take down the Lizardman King or else¡­they would be done for.


    So his head clashed with the barrier of water.

 Chapter 137 - 137: Irregular License Exam (24)

    As the forehead of the young man with the pompadour smashed into the water barrier, there was a bright flash of light that came from it.


    This was the release of all the energy that had been gathered in his head.


    But¡­the young man with the pompadour found that he wasn''t able to move forward at all.


    The water barrier in front of him¡­even though it was made of water, it was like he was slamming his head into a wall of steel. He couldn''t push through no matter how hard he tried.


    The Lizardman King just calmly stood there, looking right into the eyes of the young man with the pompadour.


    As they met gazes, the young man with the pompadour couldn''t help being taken aback.


    That was because¡­it seemed like the Lizardman King was looking at him with disdain. It was as if the Lizardman King was wondering if that was all the power that he had, as if the Lizardman King was disappointed with his powers.


    The young man with the pompadour wanted to feel angry, but he couldn''t.


    That was because it was true that he was weak compared to the Lizardman King.


    He couldn''t even break through the barrier of this Lizardman King after all.


    After a moment of equilibrium, the Lizardman King looked like it had had enough of this.


    With a single push of its trident, the water barrier suddenly pushed forward as well.


    The momentum of the young man with the pompadour was broken and he was sent flying back.


    As he flew backwards, he slammed into the magical girl who had just stood up to see him flying at her. The two of them flew through the air, but the young man with the pompadour used the last bit of strength that he had to hold her.


    Then he twisted his body so that he would take the impact instead of her.


    The two of them kept flying through the air until they were slammed into the wall of the throne room.


    As they did, they couldn''t help spitting out a mouthful of blood.


    The cracks that formed on the wall showed just how much force they had been thrown at the wall with.


    The young man with the shield deeply knitted his brows when he saw this and¡­he turned to run without any hesitation.


    He was going to abandon these people he had been working with and he didn''t feel any regret about it.


    That was just the kind of person he was.


    But the Lizardman King didn''t bother with the two that it threw at the wall.


    Instead, the Lizardman King turned to look at the young man with the shield.


    The young man with the shield felt this gaze fall onto him and he revealed an ugly expression.


    He didn''t hesitate to run, but while he was running, he shouted out, "You freak lizard, why are you coming after me? Go and eat those two, they''re a free meal!"


    But the Lizardman King didn''t react at all to these words from the young man with the shield.


    Instead, the Lizardman King just calmly raised its trident before spinning it in its hands.


    As this trident spun in the air, there was water that gathered at the feet of the Lizardman King.


    The water increased more and more until there was a large pool that was gathered there around the Lizardman King.


    However, it didn''t stop at just a pool.


    There was more and more water that gathered until tentacles of water formed around the Lizardman King.


    These were swirling tentacles of water that looked like they could pierce through anything.


    This¡­was very dangerous. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The young man with the shield knew that he wouldn''t be able to take a single hit from the water tentacles, but at the same time, he knew that running away now would just be futile.


    Unless he was able to distract the Lizardman King, he wouldn''t be able to run away.


    So he threw the rocks that he had been holding in his hand behind him.


    As he did, these rocks suddenly became bigger and bigger until they were boulders just like before.


    However, these rocks hadn''t been thrown at the Lizardman King.


    Instead, it had been aimed at the lizardmen guards around the Lizardman King.


    The Lizardman King knitted his brows when he saw this before flicking the trident in his hand.


    When he did, the water tentacles around him suddenly stabbed out.


    They were aimed at the rocks flying at the lizardmen guards, stabbing them in the center and shattering them to pieces.


    When these rocks shattered to pieces, the shattered pieces suddenly started to grow.


    These shattered pieces grew to the same size as the boulders that they had come from and rained down on the lizardmen.


    Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, the young man with the shield gave a smirk as he said, "Take this you stupid lizards!"


    He could have done this earlier, but he had saved it as a trump card.


    The Lizardman King knitted his brows again, but the tentacles of water stabbed out again at these rocks and shattered them to pieces once more. But this time, the spin of the tentacles sent the scattered pieces in different directions so they weren''t falling towards them.


    Even if the young man with the shield enlarged them again, they wouldn''t bother them.


    But the young man with the shield revealed a smug smile again.


    This stupid lizard is doing exactly what I want it to do!


    Some of the shattered rocks suddenly enlarged to normal sized rocks and smashed into each other.


    After smashing into each other, they shattered apart and created rock dust that filled the air.


    This rock dust filled the throne room, creating a smokescreen that blocked off the young man with the shield.


    With a smile, he started running for the entrance of this throne room.


    This was his real plan all along!


    He would use those two as bait and use this smokescreen to escape!


    As long as he escaped, nothing else mattered!


    And it didn''t take long for the young man with the shield to reach the door under this smokescreen.


    But it was just too bad that a water tentacle suddenly appeared and stabbed him through the chest.

 Chapter 138 - 138: Irregular License Exam (25)

    The water tentacle pierced right through the young man''s chest and lifted him up into the air.


    However, when one looked closely¡­there was no blood that came out of the young man''s body.


    It was almost as if the young man didn''t even react to being stabbed by the water tentacle like this.


    When the Lizardman King saw this, it immediately recognized that something was off and flicked its trident. With that flick of its trident, a few of the water tentacles suddenly moved forward as if they were protecting it.


    The water tentacle lifted that young man''s ''corpse'' up for a bit before that ''corpse''...suddenly disappeared.


    It just disappeared as if it was never there.


    With a sigh, a voice said, "You shouldn''t have done that."


    Another voice said, "I''m sorry¡­I just couldn''t keep watching."


    "It''s too late now, we''ll have to act whether we want to or not."


    As if they appeared out of thin air, Lin Fan and Long Shui Ling suddenly appeared with the young man with the shield who was on the ground with a bleeding leg.


    He stared at the two of them in shock and confusion as if he couldn''t understand where they had appeared from.


    Even for him, it had seemed as if they had appeared out of thin air.


    But then, he recovered from his shock and said, "You two, save me! I''ll give you as much money as you want if you save me!"


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help shaking my head and giving a sigh.


    I had planned on using this young man with the shield as a distraction for the Lizardman King.


    Once the Lizardman King had used all of its abilities on this young man, that was when I had been planning on striking.


    But before that could happen, Long Shui Ling had stepped out.


    She had used her illusion to create a fake copy of the young man that the Lizardman King had been tricked into attacking, saving the real young man from being stabbed in the chest like this.


    I just said with a sigh, "You can see what kind of person he is, do you really think that it was worth saving him?"


    Long Shui Ling bit her lip when she heard this, but she still said, "Every human life has value." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I slightly knitted my brows when I heard this.


    It was clear that we didn''t have the same values¡­but that wasn''t the time for it now.


    Seeing that they were discussing whether to abandon him, the young man said, "If you dare abandon me, my family won''t let you off. You should know the Zhao Group, right? That''s my family''s company!"


    I slightly knitted my brows when I heard this.


    The Zhao Group, it was one of the top five hundred companies in the world.


    While the top five hundred seemed like a lot, this was the top five hundred out of millions upon millions of companies.


    The power that one of these companies had was equal to some of the smaller nations.


    So the Zhao Group definitely couldn''t be looked down on.


    It seemed that if I didn''t take care of him now, it would bring trouble to my own head¡­


    But to my surprise, Long Shui Ling suddenly said, "It''s fine, the Zhao Group is nothing."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by what Long Shui Ling suddenly said.


    The most surprising thing was¡­how firmly she had said this.


    It was as if she firmly believed that the Zhao Group wouldn''t be able to do anything to her.


    I looked at Long Shui Ling with narrowed eyes, as if I was trying to figure out what her identity was.


    But Long Shui Ling turned her head and suddenly said, "We don''t have time for this."


    I looked at her for a few more seconds before slowly giving a nod and turning back to look at the Lizardman King.


    It had been standing still since it had been gauging this situation, but I could see that it was getting impatient.


    However, there was still the problem of this young man to deal with.


    So I said, "I can''t fight with him getting in the way. Unless you have a way of making sure that he stays silent and still, I don''t think I can do this."


    Long Shui Ling slightly knitted her brows, but then she said, "I can trap him in an illusion so that he doesn''t do anything, but¡­" After a pause, she said in a hesitant voice, "I won''t be able to do anything else if I''m maintaining the illusion on him. I won''t be able to help you fight."


    I revealed a faint smile as I said, "Is that all?"


    Long Shui Ling''s eyes opened wide in shock, but she said with a slow nod, "I''ll be focused on keeping the illusion on him, so I won''t be able to cast any other¡­"


    Before she could finish, I just said, "Alright, focus on keeping him still. Also dress up his wounds if you''re going to save him or else he''ll bleed to death."


    Then before Long Shui Ling could say anything else, I was already walking towards the Lizardman King.


    She looked at me with a very surprised and complicated look, but she still said in a soft voice, "Thank you."


    Long Shui Ling was a timid girl, but that didn''t mean that she was a fool.


    She had seen the look in his eyes¡­he had wanted to kill this young man to make sure that there would be no trouble in the future.


    That was why she had stepped in now.


    She didn''t want to see him do anything like this since she could tell that he was a kind person by nature¡­


    She didn''t know why she felt this way either, but it was a feeling that came from the bottom of her heart.


    After saying this, she turned around to treat the young man who was still shouting out threats.


    Raising her hand, the young man''s eyes suddenly dimmed and turned cloudy.


    When she was done, she looked back at Lin Fan heading towards the Lizardman King and said in a soft voice, "Good luck."

 Chapter 139 - 139: Irregular License Exam (26)

    As I walked towards the Lizardman King, I had a cautious look on my face.


    However, there was also confidence in my eyes as I faced this Lizardman King.


    After all, from the very beginning, I had been planning on facing the dungeon boss alone.


    It was only after accidentally meeting Long Shui Ling that these plans had changed.


    However, I can''t say that every part of meeting her was considered bad since she had an amazing ability.


    I really hoped that I would be able to take her under my wings after this, but that depended on the future.


    Instead, I had to focus on the now.


    I had been planning on facing this dungeon boss alone.


    Since that was the case, that meant that I had been confident enough to take out this dungeon boss on my own.


    If I wasn''t, I never would have come here.


    The Lizardman King was also wary when it saw me approaching.


    It could have swung its trident at any time to attack me, but it didn''t do that.


    It didn''t know why, but it felt like if it tried to use the water tentacles to attack, something bad would have happened. The Lizardman King didn''t know exactly what that bad thing would be, but this was what its instincts were telling it.


    So it just waited for me to act.


    But it still eventually couldn''t take it anymore.


    The Lizardman King suddenly gave a screech and the armoured lizardmen started moving.


    They had been idle the entire time since the Lizardman King had taken the stage, but now that the Lizardman King was screeching out orders, they had no choice but to move.


    So they all came forward as if they were about to surround me.


    It seemed like this Lizardman King was finally acting like a king.


    Instead of attacking me itself, it was sending out its subordinates to attack.


    This was how a king should fight.


    But I could tell from the look on its face that this wasn''t it.


    It was using these lizardmen guards to see what I was capable of.


    The moment that I showed my cards, I would find a bunch of water tentacles falling down on me.


    This Lizardman King was prepared to act at any moment.


    It was just too bad that I didn''t plan on giving it that chance.


    I knew that I should end this as quickly as possible or else this would be bad for me.


    So with a thought¡­time stopped.


    I made my way forward to the armoured lizardmen and didn''t hesitate to stab through the cracks in their armour with my sword. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I had been watching when the other three had been fighting these armoured lizardmen, so I had already figured out their weaknesses. They had powerful armour, but there were still cracks in these armours that could be taken advantage of.


    I made sure that all of the armoured lizardmen were dead before turning to the Lizardman King.


    Standing in front of the Lizardman King, I really could appreciate just how powerful this dungeon boss was.


    But that didn''t matter since I was planning on killing it in the first place.


    I tried to cut the Lizardman King, but¡­I found that I wasn''t able to pierce my sword in.


    The Lizardman King''s hide was just too thick for me even with my increased strength.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to use my sword''s special ability to boost my power.


    It was only then that I was able to cut through the Lizardman King''s thick hide.


    I made a few quick slashes in vital positions before moving past him and taking the stance.


    As I moved past the Lizardman King, I said, "I wish I could have fought you properly. I hope that you don''t mind that I had to use a bit of a cheat."


    Then time started flowing again.


    The lizardmen all revealed shocked looks on their faces as they found that I had disappeared from in front of their faces. I had suddenly disappeared without a trace, so they quickly started looking for me.


    It was the same with the Lizardman King until it found that I was behind it.


    The Lizardman King was caught off guard by the fact that I had suddenly appeared behind it, but it didn''t hesitate as it controlled the water tentacles to attack.


    "Watch out!" Long Shui Ling shouted out when she saw this.


    But even when it moved its trident, it found that the water tentacles just didn''t move.


    The Lizardman King was confused by this until¡­


    There was a sudden spurt of blood that came from the lizardmen guards.


    None of them knew what happened, but blood spurted from their throats and they found it hard to breathe.


    They didn''t know what had happened, but they weren''t able to remain standing anymore as they all fell forward while their visions faded.


    For their last view, they all looked at me with shocked and confused looks.


    The Lizardman King had been looking at its trident when this happened, but then it immediately focused on its subordinates.


    It wanted to do something for these subordinates, but then¡­


    There was a spurt of blood that came from the Lizardman King too.


    It was just one spurt of blood at first, but then there were several spurts of blood that came from the Lizardman King.


    Even if it was powerful, it couldn''t remain standing anymore as it suddenly fell to its knees.


    It tried to lift itself up with the trident, but the Lizardman King found that it didn''t have the strength anymore.


    It could only allow its body to fall forward off the trident.


    As it fell, it too looked at me with a gaze filled with shock and confusion as it didn''t understand what had happened.


    Once all of the lizardmen had fallen, Long Shui Ling asked with a shocked look on her face, "What happened just now?"

 Chapter 140 - 140: Irregular License Exam (27)

    I just brought a finger up to my lips when I looked back at her.


    Long Shui Ling looked a bit displeased that I wasn''t willing to tell her, but she also understood that this was just a normal thing for Awakeners.


    There were some things that everyone had to hide about their own power.


    She understood, but she couldn''t help feeling a bit displeased.


    After all, she felt that with everything that they had gone through¡­he should trust her a bit more.


    Once the Lizardman King was taken care of, there was a cracking sound that came from behind them.


    This was the throne that the Lizardman King had sat on previously that was cracking apart. It shattered to pieces and broke down, creating many fragments of stone on the ground.


    But what it revealed was what they really cared about.


    This was a small lizardman statue, but it had a red glow to it.


    This was similar to the red bubble that had appeared around the other contestants and the red glow that had appeared on the mural before.


    After a period of silence, Long Shui Ling suddenly asked, "Is that¡­?"


    She didn''t finish her question, but I understood what she was asking.


    I shook my head to show that I didn''t know at first, but then I said in an uncertain voice, "It should be¡­"


    Both of us just looked at it a bit longer before she asked, "Then should we¡­?"


    I slowly shook my head at first, but then I took out a watch to see the time.


    There was only around an hour left before this exam would end, so¡­it didn''t seem like we had the time to wait.


    If we wanted to do this, we should destroy it while we could.


    After all, who knew what kind of defenses this thing had.


    It could take us quite a while to destroy it in the first place.


    So in the end, I just gave a slow nod before moving forward. As I moved towards the red glowing statue, I lifted up my sword. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As I stood in front of it, I brought my sword down on it with half of my strength. After all, I was expecting some kind of barrier to appear around this statue and bounce my sword away.


    However, there was nothing like that at all.


    My sword cut right through the statue without any resistance, splitting it in half right down the middle.


    I couldn''t help being surprised as I watched the two halves of the lizardman statue lying there on the ground still glowing red. But after they laid there for a bit, the red glow slowly started to dissipate away.


    It didn''t take long before the red glow had completely disappeared from the statue.


    I turned to look around to see if anything changed, but there were no changes to this room at all.


    It seemed that to check if it worked or not, we would have to go to each of the altars.


    But that was only for a normal person.


    I had a different way and it was all because of the bracelet that they gave us.


    I opened up the rankings and watched over a few names.


    These were the names of the five that we had followed earlier.


    I had made sure to check their names when they had been killing the sahuagins and lizardmen earlier.


    I was waiting to see if their point values would go up.


    As expected, they started going up, showing that they had been freed from the red bubble.


    Anyone that could reach this second exam was not a fool.


    They would be keeping track of the time and they knew that they wouldn''t have much time left. Instead of wasting time getting revenge on the young man with the shield for tricking them, they would try to earn as many points as they could while they still could.


    After all, if they wasted their time taking revenge and that caused them to fail this exam, they could only blame themselves.


    After making sure that they were freed, I said to Long Shui Ling, "It worked."


    When she heard this, she let out a sigh of relief.


    She had been worried the entire time about those people, so she immediately felt relaxed when she heard him say this.


    But this also showed just how much trust Long Shui Ling had in Lin Fan.


    After all, she didn''t even doubt his words for a second when he said this, even though she didn''t actually know how he was certain that they had been freed.


    She just trusted him regardless.


    Once that matter was confirmed, she turned to look at the young man with the shield who was still in a daze and asked, "What do we do about them?"


    I looked at the young man with the shield before looking at the other two who were up against the wall. With a sigh, I said, "Go and help them wrap up their injuries and then we''re leaving."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a happy smile and gave a nod as she simply said, "Un."


    Then she ran off towards the two against the wall while pulling out some medicine.


    As she ran over, I couldn''t help thinking to myself, "She has too much compassion to be an Awakener¡­"


    There were many things that couldn''t be predicted in the dungeon and sometimes one needed to be cold hearted with these matters.


    Having compassion was good as a human, but as an Awakener¡­it was dangerous.


    If it wasn''t for the circumstances, I definitely wouldn''t have chosen to team up with her.


    I just hoped that I wouldn''t have to work with her in the future.


    "Wait, isn''t that a flag? Am I cursing myself like this?" I couldn''t help thinking to myself¡­


    I just gave a sigh before walking over to where the Lizardman King''s corpse had disappeared.


    The loot from a dungeon boss definitely wouldn''t be cheap.


    I wouldn''t let such a thing go that easily.


    After she finished treating them, she wrapped us up in her illusion before releasing the one she had cast on the young man with the shield.


    When he came back to his senses, we were already gone.

 Chapter 141 - 141: Irregular License Exam (28)

    When he came back to his senses, the young man with the shield immediately looked around himself.


    But he found that other than the two who were up against the wall, there was no one else here.


    The Lizardman King was gone and the other two who had appeared out of thin air were also gone.


    "What is going on here?! Where are they!? How dare they steal my boss!" The young man with the shield roared out.


    He had called it his boss even though he had been running for his life not that long ago¡­


    His shouting woke up the other two who slowly opened their eyes.


    When both of them woke up, the first thing that they did was¡­check on each other.


    They didn''t even worry about their own injuries and immediately checked on each other.


    It was as if they cared more about each other than themselves.


    When they made sure that they were alright, they both let out a sigh of relief.


    The young man with the pompadour said, "We survived, didn''t we?"


    The magical girl just gave a nod without saying anything.


    Then they fell to silence once again.


    It was as if both of them had something to say, but neither of them were willing to take that first step¡­


    But that was all ruined by the young man with the shield.


    He held his leg which had been bandaged up by Long Shui Ling as he walked over, but he came over and shouted, "Where are they? You useless pieces of sh*t, tell me where they are!" S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Both the young man with the pompadour and the magical girl were surprised to hear what the young man with the shield asked, but both of them revealed confused looks in response to this.


    They had been unconscious this entire time, so it wasn''t as if they knew what he was asking them.


    Seeing these looks on their faces, the young man with the shield became even angrier.


    However, he was able to hold himself back in the end since he knew that there was no point in getting angry now.


    Time was running out and since they had lost the dungeon boss, the only thing that they could do was kill other monsters to make up for that. If they let their grasp of the reins slip, it would only be a matter of time before other people caught up to them.


    With a snort, the young man with the shield turned around and said, "Let''s go, we''re wasting time."


    The other two looked at each other with dark looks, but they still followed him in the end.


    However, the look in their eyes was much more hostile than before.


    After being knocked into the wall, they had still maintained a bit of consciousness before fainting.


    They had heard what the young man with the shield had shouted at the Lizardman King.


    They knew¡­that he had tried to sacrifice them.


    They didn''t say anything about it, but that didn''t mean that they didn''t take it to heart.


    This team¡­was doomed.


    ¡­


    After getting away, I took a moment to rest while waiting for more monsters to be attracted by Long Shui Ling.


    I wanted to take a look at the loot that I had received from Lizardman King and the guard lizardmen.


    At the same time, I wanted to judge something with Long Shui Ling.


    I pulled out a trident that I held up in front of my face, making sure that Long Shui Ling could also see it.


    When I did, she turned to look at it with sparkling eyes as I had expected. However, what came next was not what I expected.


    She just looked at it for a bit before saying, "That''s a cool trident."


    Then after that, she just went back to her own matters. It was as if she didn''t care about these drops at all.


    When I thought about it, it didn''t actually seem strange.


    This entire time, Long Shui Ling had never once cared about the drops. Even the monsters that she killed, she just left the drops for me.


    Seeing that I looked at her like this, she looked at me and asked, "Is something wrong?"


    I slowly asked, "About the drops¡­"


    Long Shui Ling tilted her head as if she had to think about this, but then she said, "Oh, you can have everything. I just came to take the exam, not clear the dungeon, so you can just keep everything."


    I couldn''t help being surprised even though I had already expected this a bit.


    Everything that Long Shui Ling had done so far had made her seem¡­like a young miss of a powerful family.


    I had guessed that she wouldn''t care about these few drops, but hearing it from her really was something else.


    It seemed that she really did have the personality of a young miss.


    There were quite a few good things from the dungeon that I hadn''t checked yet, but she wasn''t interested in them at all.


    She either didn''t have a proper judgement of money or¡­she had seen things that were much better than this.


    In the end, this was only a D Rank Dungeon.


    The biggest winner though was without a doubt the trident.


    This trident was dropped by the dungeon boss and was a powerful magic weapon.


    Though I couldn''t just use it without registering it since people would be suspicious.


    So I had to wait before taking this trident out.


    As if on cue, there were footsteps that rang out in the distance.


    I didn''t need to turn to know what the source of that sound was.


    Pulling out my sword, I prepared to face the visitors.


    It was another group of elite sahuagins, so it was an easy bunch of points for me.


    Once I had taken care of them, I looked at the rankings and revealed a satisfied look.


    With the dungeon boss kill, I was now firmly in first place.


    Second place was Long Shui Ling who had jumped up over the previous second place, but was still behind me because of the monsters I killed alone before teaming up with her.


    With this gap, it was impossible for second place to even catch up to Long Shui Ling, let alone me.


    So all that was left was waiting for the exam to end in less than an hour and exit the dungeon.

 Chapter 142 - 142: Irregular License Exam (29)

    As time passed, there were surprisingly more sahuagins that came at us than before.


    We didn''t move at all since we were currently in a safe place, but the number of sahuagins that charged after Long Shui Ling was much more than usual.


    When I took a look at the rankings, I understood why that was the case.


    The scores were climbing faster than before as everyone was desperate to raise their points as much as possible in the time that they had left.


    That was causing a large commotion in this dungeon which caused the monsters to be more active than normal.


    These monsters that moved more than usual would naturally come upon traces of Long Shui Ling''s monstrous mana aura eventually which was why they were attracted to us.


    Still, I didn''t mind since that was more points and more drops for me.


    As time ticked down, there were no major changes in the rankings that happened.


    We remained in first place and second place while the group under us was barely able to keep up. They were almost taken over by the group that was under them who had been saving their strength for the final spurt.


    In the end, they were able to keep third, fourth, and fifth place, but I could imagine how tired they were after getting beaten by the dungeon boss like that.


    When time was up, there was an alarm that came from the bracelet.


    At the same time, there was some kind of force that suddenly erupted from the bracelet once time was up.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this until Long Shui Ling said, "Don''t resist, it''s a Dungeon Return Stone. They must have put Dungeon Return Stones in all of these bracelets that would activate when time is up to bring us out of the dungeons."


    A Dungeon Return Stone, I had heard about this from Su Chen before.


    This was a special item that would allow one to escape a dungeon when it was used.


    For those that raided dungeons, this was an item that was equal to a second life.


    That was why these things were considered very rare.


    Those that obtained them didn''t let them go that easily and they weren''t easy to obtain in the first place.


    So saying that it cost an arm and a leg was an under exaggeration.


    Elementia naturally had these things too, but they were saved for the highest ranking dungeon raids. They would only be used for B Rank or higher dungeons.


    Su Chen only knew about them because he used to be Bing Xin''s handler/porter.


    But I couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling with a surprised look.


    As expected of a young miss, she was able to recognize this rare item with just a single glance.


    There was also a similar swirling of energy around her which showed that she was also being pulled out of the dungeon by a similar item.


    So I stopped resisting and waited for it to pull me out.


    But as it was happening, I couldn''t help looking down at the token that was in my hand.


    This was the token that Elliot had handed me in the first exam.


    This was my prize for being the top scorer of the first exam.


    When I had been waiting in the lounge, I had taken this thing out to have a look at it, but I hadn''t been able to find a single piece of information about it. Even the appraisal of the Demon King system didn''t work¡­


    I had been wondering what this thing was until I finally entered the dungeon.


    Only when I entered the dungeon did this token reveal its true identity.


    It was a Dungeon Reset Token.


    Dungeon Reset Token


    Has the ability to reset the state of the dungeon, resetting all of the monsters, treasures, and bosses of the dungeon to its original state.


    That was what my appraisal told me when I looked at this thing.


    That meant that this was a token that had the ability to reset the dungeon completely.


    I had never heard of such a thing before, but it was definitely worth being the prize for the top scorer.


    With this, I would have been able to reset this dungeon when I had killed the dungeon boss. That would mean that I would have been able to clear the dungeon twice and gained twice as many points.


    It was just too bad that I never had a chance to use this thing.


    It was too late when I found the dungeon boss and worrying about all the others who had been trapped took even more of my time.


    I didn''t have time to use it since I didn''t know how it would have affected the dungeon.


    There would have been too little time to find the Lizardman King again if the dungeon''s layout changed because of the reset.


    So I had no choice but to hold it to the end.


    Seeing it now, I couldn''t help feeling regretful that I never got the chance to use it.


    But when I thought about it¡­it could be considered a good thing that I didn''t use it.


    This never said that it had to be used in this dungeon, so saving it could also be a good thing if it could be used in other dungeons.


    Instead of using it in this D Rank dungeon, wouldn''t it be better to use this reset token on a higher ranking dungeon?


    "Un, I''ll save this thing for the future." I said to myself before also adding, "Thank you, Elliot for this wonderful gift." sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After putting the token away, the Dungeon Return Stone finally activated and the scene in front of me blurred.


    It was as if there was something blocking my view and soon I wasn''t able to see a single thing.


    When the energy blocking my vision started to clear, I found that I was in the same lounge as before.

 Chapter 143 - 143: Irregular License Exam (30)

    After I saw that I was in the lounge, I looked around and saw some familiar faces.


    There was one in particular that was glaring in my direction after seeing me.


    It was of course the young man with the shield.


    But there was another one that ran over after stabilizing herself.


    Long Shui Ling came over to my side and then stood behind me, almost as if she was hiding herself from everyone else.


    The way that she did it, it seemed that I had gained quite a bit of trust from her.


    But I ignored all of this as I looked at the bartender in the center who was currently looking over us.


    There was a moment of silence before that bartender suddenly spoke, "Welcome back everyone. I hope that you enjoyed yourself and did your best so that you didn''t leave any regrets in the dungeon."


    Then with a sigh, he said, "Unfortunately, a few of our friends weren''t able to make it out alive. So all we can do is pray for their souls."


    I couldn''t help looking around.


    It was subtle, but there were a few people that were missing from this place¡­


    I was taken aback when I noticed this, but I wasn''t the only one.


    We had thought that since this was an exam being held by the Awakener Association, they would make sure to protect us.


    However, that didn''t seem to be the case¡­


    It seemed that the death waivers that we had signed at the beginning weren''t just for a worst case scenario. It seemed that there really was a chance of death in this exam¡­


    I might need to be careful in the future¡­


    After giving us a moment to let this sink in, the bartender said, "But let''s not think about this depressing matter right now. Instead, let''s take a look at the rankings."


    With a wave of his hand, there was a large board that was projected into the center of the room.


    This was a large virtual leaderboard that went from roof to floor, allowing everyone in the room to see it clearly.


    At the top of the leaderboard was Lin Fan''s name as expected.


    Under that was Long Shui Ling and then the others.


    The name of the young man with the shield was Zhao Kui and he was in third place.


    Then under him were the young man with the pompadour whose name was Andrew and the magical girl whose name was Chelsea.


    Below them were just a bunch of random people that I didn''t recognize at all.


    After giving everyone some time to see this leaderboard, the bartender said, "It seems like some people have done very well and some people have done not so well. But now for the moment of truth."


    The bartender turned to point at the leaderboard as his voice fell.


    When he pointed at it, there was a line that suddenly appeared on the leaderboard.


    It appeared around the midpoint of the leaderboard, cutting off the hundred and hundred and first name on the board.


    Everyone was confused when they saw this, but they waited for him to explain.


    The bartender then said, "This is the cutoff point for the second exam. All those that are above the line have passed the second exam and those that are below¡­"


    He didn''t finish his words, but the meaning of his words were clear.


    Those that were below had all failed.


    There was a moment of silence as this sunk in for these people.


    Then there were looks of happiness and sadness that appeared on their faces.


    The ones that were happy were naturally those that were above the line.


    The ones that were sad¡­were those that were below the cutoff line.


    Among the ones that were sad were some of those that had been trapped by Zhao Kui.


    Because they had been trapped in those red bubbles for that period, they had fallen below the cutoff line and hadn''t been able to make it to the next round.


    Along with the devastated look that they had, they also looked at Zhao Kui with eyes filled with anger.


    It was all his fault that they had been trapped after all.


    However, Zhao Kui didn''t care about this at all.


    Zhao Kui had been glaring at me the entire time since he recognized me from the dungeon boss fight.


    After giving them some time to process this, the bartender continued by saying, "Those that are above the line, do know that you will have an advantage in the next exam based on your position. The worse that you do, the worse you will have it."


    When they heard this, those who were at the bottom couldn''t help revealing ugly expressions.


    After all, this was directly concerning them¡­


    The bartender didn''t care about this as he then said, "For all those that have passed, please follow me. I''m sure that you are all tired from your trip in the dungeon. So to help you recover, we have prepared accommodations for all of you before the third exam. Please take this chance to rest up before you take the third exam."


    When he said this, all of them couldn''t help revealing relieved looks.


    They had been worried that they would be forced into the third exam right away, but many of them were tired since they had been fighting non-stop in the dungeon.


    It had already been three days, so there were some of them that were close to collapsing.


    If they didn''t get some rest, they might not even make it to the third exam.


    There was a door that opened and the bartender led us through that door.


    The others that were left in the room were those that hadn''t passed.


    There were some that wanted to follow, but the other examiners stopped them.


    As we were following the bartender, Zhao Kui came over and said, "This isn''t over yet."


    I didn''t even bother answering him and walked right past him. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Zhao Kui''s face twisted when he saw this, but he didn''t do anything since they were still in front of the examiner.


    But the look in his eyes made it clear that this wasn''t over yet.

 Chapter 144 - 144: Night of ‘rest’ (1)

    The bartender led us down a large hallway until we came out the back of this large building.


    This was the arena that I had entered in, so it wasn''t that surprising for me.


    But for some people, it was very surprising.


    Listening to what they said, I understood why they were surprised.


    "Where is this?"


    "Which city are we in?"


    "Isn''t this xxx?"


    It seemed that they weren''t from this city at all.


    It was no wonder they all came from the different corridors.


    The bartender quickly calmed everyone down by saying, "We have brought you to this city with Transport Gates. Your people have already been informed of this and you will be able to contact them once you reach the hotel that we''ve prepared."


    Transport Gates.


    As expected of the Awakener Association.


    This was something that normal people wouldn''t even have a chance to see and the Awakener Association was just using them to transport them between cities.


    Transport Gates as their name suggested had the function to transport things between them.


    It had only been five years since they had been discovered.


    These were gates that had the ability to move things from one gate to the other gate linked to this first gate. It didn''t matter how heavy these things were, as long as they could fit through the gate, they would be transported.


    But these convenient tools weren''t widely used because of how rare they were.


    A single set of gates cost even more than a Dungeon Return Stone.


    And it wasn''t just by a small amount, it was by an astronomical amount.


    Just the maintenance cost alone of these Transport Gates would already be more than what the Dungeon Return Stones cost.


    So the Awakener Association really went all out with this exam.


    After hearing this explanation, they all calmed down.


    But at the same time, many of them had looks of awe on their faces when they heard what the Awakener Association had done.


    It was clear that they were in awe of the power of the Awakener Association.


    Seeing the faint smile that the bartender revealed as he led us, I understood what their goal was.


    They wanted to give an impression of the power of the Awakener Association.


    If they could leave a good impression on those that took the exam, they might be able to recruit them into the Awakener Association later.


    These were those that had powers that allowed them to get this far, they definitely wouldn''t be weak.


    So that was their goal all along.


    I just revealed a faint smile as I realized this.


    Even I would have been tempted to join if it wasn''t for the fact that I had already signed a contract with Elementia.


    Since I was already spoken for, I couldn''t just switch sides now.


    But there was no doubting how much power the Awakener Association had.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at limos that took us to hotels.


    When we arrived, it was already evening and getting dark.


    So the first thing that happened was that we were brought to a large banquet.


    This was a buffet style banquet, so we were all free to eat as we wished, but there was this tension that was in the air. After all, everyone here was still competitors and no one wanted to get close to a competitor.


    Well, other than those who wanted to gather information on the others and went to different groups to chat with them.


    Long Shui Ling was the other exception where she kept following me.


    She came over with a plate of dishes that she had picked out for me with a smile on her face as she said, "Look at everything that I got."


    However, this plate wasn''t for me¡­


    It was for herself.


    It really was amazing how much food she was able to fit into that small body.


    She ate three times what I ate and it looked like she still wanted more, but she felt awkward when she saw me staring at her.


    Though her second stomach for dessert definitely wasn''t filled. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Another thing to note was that the young man with the shield, Zhao Kui, had split up from the other two.


    Whether it was because those two had seen him for what he really was or if he just sent them away, he was currently eating all by himself.


    Even though he was eating, he kept staring at me the entire time with eyes filled with hostility.


    Long Shui Ling revealed an unhappy look from time to time when she saw him staring this way, but she didn''t do anything in the end since I didn''t do anything.


    When everyone had their fill, it was time to go to bed.


    The room assignments were also dependent on rank.


    The ones that ranked below 50th received double rooms where they had to bunk with someone else.


    The ones that rank from 50th to 10th received normal private rooms.


    Those that ranked from 4th to 10th received luxury rooms.


    The third ranked person, Zhao Kui received a VIP suite for himself.


    The second ranked person, Long Shui Ling received a penthouse that took up an entire floor.


    And as for me, the top ranked person¡­


    I received the entire top floor.


    This hotel was a five star hotel in the center of the city, it was a hotel that was only used by the rich and powerful.


    So even the normal rooms were very luxurious to begin with.


    There was no need to talk about the top floor suite.


    This was luxury beyond luxury.


    When we headed to our rooms, the top ten all grouped in a single elevator since this was the VIP elevator that would take us there.


    For me, I had to take this elevator to get to my suite.


    In the end, it was only Long Shui Ling and I left in the elevator.


    However, that elevator skipped her floor and directly went to my floor.

 Chapter 145 - 145: Night of ‘rest’ (2)

    When the elevator stopped on my floor, before I could say anything, Long Shui Ling already ran into my suite.


    I could only follow after her with a sigh.


    The moment that I stepped out of the elevator, a look of shock appeared on my face.


    After all, I had lived as a commoner my entire life, so I had never seen anything as luxurious as this before. This place looked like I had just stepped into a fantasy land.


    Everything was finely decorated, using either gold or expensive jewels.


    There didn''t seem to be a single thing that wasn''t worth more than everything that I owned in this place.


    Being in a place like this really was terrifying for me since I didn''t know if I would even be able to repay it if I broke anything here¡­


    But Long Shui Ling acted like she was at home as she walked into the suite without a problem and started touching all kinds of different things.


    After looking around a bit, she gave a satisfied nod and said, "Not bad."


    Hearing her, I came back to my senses and asked, "What are you doing here? You should go back to your own room and rest for the night. We still have the exam tomorrow."


    Long Shui Ling just said with a smile, "I''m staying here tonight. You got plenty of space, don''t you?"


    "Eh?" I couldn''t help saying.


    She didn''t even give me a chance to say anything else as she ran in and started looking around the rest of the suite.


    I just stared at her in a daze for a bit, but then I quickly followed her.


    It would be inconvenient for me if she stayed, so I wanted to get her to leave.


    "Wait, wait, it''s not right. I''m a man and you''re a woman, we shouldn''t live in the same place like this." I tried to use logic to convince her.


    But all Long Shui Ling did was turn around with a sly smile as she said, "I never thought that you would be such an innocent boy. It really is cute."


    "Huh?" My chin dropped before I gritted my teeth and said, "You think that you''re older than me?"


    Long Shui Ling puffed out her non-existent chest and said, "Of course I am."


    "Then how old are you?" I couldn''t help blurting out.


    She just said with a smile, "You know you shouldn''t ask a lady her age without giving your own first."


    I gritted my teeth again since it was annoying seeing her act like this, but I still said, "I''m twenty."


    She said with the same smile, "Then I''m older since I''m twenty three."


    "There''s no way that you''re twenty three!" I blurted out the moment that I heard this.


    Long Shui Ling gave a nod before taking out her identity.


    I looked at it closely and found that she was indeed twenty three.


    She looked like a child and she was actually twenty three years old, how was this possible?


    Seeing the look on my face, Long Shui Ling said with a smug smile, "Call me big sister."


    "Never!" I said with a firm look.


    After that, she kept teasing me, but I just ignored her with an exhausted look on my face.


    Though I had an exhausted look, there was a part of my heart that felt warm because¡­it reminded me of a simpler time.


    A time when my family was still alive.


    When I used to argue like this with my little sister¡­


    As these thoughts filled my mind, I couldn''t help revealing a sad look.


    Long Shui Ling revealed a concerned look when she saw this look on my face as she asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I jolted when I heard this before shaking my head to say, "Nothing. We should get ready for bed."


    I stood up and went into one of the rooms to see if there were any spare clothes to change into.


    But as I walked away, Long Shui Ling looked at me with a worried look.


    Since she was similar to my little sister, I knew that it was impossible to convince her to leave.


    So I might as well just suck it up for a single night and just live with it¡­


    Otherwise, it would be much more annoying.


    Of course¡­there was still a part of me that wasn''t against this.


    It was just because it meant that she was feeling closer to me which is better for my future plans.


    That was what I told myself.


    It wasn''t for any other reasons¡­


    After finding some clothes that had been prepared, both of us took our showers before heading to our rooms to sleep.


    We didn''t know what would be coming tomorrow, so it would be good to go to bed as soon as possible.


    But five minutes after entering our rooms, I heard a knock on my door.


    I was surprised by this, but I still went over to open the door a crack to see who it was.


    When I opened it a bit, a slender figure suddenly came in through the crack and entered the room.


    It was Long Shui Ling in her pajamas with a pillow in her hands.


    As she held it, she looked up at me with wide sparkling eyes and asked, "Can I sleep here tonight?"


    If this was any other situation, I would have thought that this was an invitation for ''that''...but I knew that this wasn''t the case.


    I took a deep breath to calm myself before asking, "What''s wrong? We have a big day tomorrow, so we should sleep as soon as possible."


    Long Shui Ling revealed an awkward look as she turned her foot in an embarrassed manner.


    After a while, she finally said, "I''ve gotten used to sleeping with you nearby, so it''s hard for me to¡­" S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before she could finish, she suddenly covered her face with the pillow and said, "What are you making me say?"


    She didn''t even wait for an answer as she ran to the door, but then¡­


    "It''s locked."

 Chapter 146 - 146: Night of ‘rest’ (3)

    "Huh?" I said in a confused voice before saying, "Then unlock it."


    This was a door that locked from the inside and since we were inside the room, she should have been able to unlock it easily.


    I just thought that she was playing around at this point.


    However, Long Shui Ling then said, "I can''t."


    I knitted my brows slightly when I heard this, but then I said in a dismissive voice, "Stop playing around. We need to sleep early, we have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow."


    Long Shui Ling immediately replied, "I''m not playing around, I really can''t open it."


    I gave a sigh before walking over to the door.


    The look on my face made it seem like I was done playing around which made Long Shui Ling pout her lips a bit when she saw it. But she still moved out of the way to let me reach the door.


    When I reached the door, I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but I found¡­


    It was locked.


    Well, I had already expected it to be locked since Long Shui Ling had already said that it was locked.


    But when I looked at the lock, I found¡­


    It wasn''t locked at all.


    The lock on the door wasn''t turned, so it should have been unlocked. However, when I tried to open the door, this door was clearly locked.


    What was happening here?


    Seeing the way that I acted, Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a look of schadenfreude.


    It really was good seeing his face like this, but then she came back to her senses.


    I turned back to look at her and said, "It''s locked."


    Long Shui Ling gave a nod as she said, "I told you that it was locked."


    I revealed a bitter smile as I said, "What should we do then?"


    Long Shui Ling shook her head to show that she didn''t know.


    After all, this was a situation that she had never encountered before either.


    Neither of them knew what to do here since this was a situation that they had never encountered before.


    The door was clearly unlocked, but it wouldn''t open no matter how they tried to open it. Even the handle wouldn''t budge, just like it was locked by something.


    Could it be a ghost?


    Or was it something else?


    After a long moment of silence, I finally couldn''t help saying, "Should I break the door then?"


    Long Shui Ling looked at the door for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    She didn''t know what was happening, but it was better than being trapped in here¡­


    So I pulled out my sword from my ring and prepared to attack the door.


    But before I could, I couldn''t help knitting my brows slightly.


    Long Shui Ling was the same as she suddenly knitted her brows as well after feeling something inside of her.


    It was a warm feeling.


    It wasn''t a pleasant warm feeling, but rather a warm feeling that seemed to be eating them up from the inside.


    Neither of them knew where this feeling was coming from, but they could feel it getting stronger and stronger.


    And for some reason, they couldn''t help feeling more and more sensitive. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was as if just by moving the slightest bit, they could feel the wind affecting them.


    What was this feeling?


    Well, Lin Fan had a bit more experience than Long Shui Ling when it came to this feeling.


    When it became a bit stronger, he could tell that he was¡­turned on.


    But why would he be turned on in this situation?


    Sure it was a man and a woman in a room together, but he shouldn''t be feeling that kind of feeling. Especially with how tired he was.


    But try as they may, they couldn''t stop it as their faces and skin started turning red, their breathing became faster, and they even found it hard to remain standing.


    Both of them could see that something was wrong with each other, so Long Shui Ling asked, "What is this feeling?"


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward look when I heard this.


    After all, it was hard to explain that this feeling was being turned on¡­


    Though she was older than me, it was hard for me to explain this to someone who looked like a child.


    Still, that didn''t stop the feeling from becoming stronger and stronger.


    Finally, Long Shui Ling couldn''t take it anymore.


    For some reason, she suddenly came forward and reached her arms out around him. Then she pulled her arms in and tightly hugged him around the waist.


    She could have hugged him higher if she was taller, but she could only reach his waist like this, so she could only hug his waist.


    After grabbing hold of him, Long Shui Ling said, "Ah, I knew it, it would feel better."


    There was a bit of slight relief that was on her face, but that was quickly replaced with a frown.


    "No, it''s getting stronger. This feeling keeps getting stronger." Long Shui Ling said to herself with a trace of anguish in her voice. It was almost as if there was something eating her up from the inside.


    It was the same for me.


    I might have been able to resist if she hadn''t touched me, but now that she was holding me like this, the burning sensation inside of me was also getting stronger.


    Long Shui Ling looked up at me and said, "Make it stop, help me make it stop."


    The way that she looked at me just turned me on even more.


    After all, her clothes had gotten quite messed up after everything that she did.


    A few buttons had come undone and the fair white skin underneath revealed itself.


    Long Shui Ling by all rights was considered a beauty with her perfect white skin, her jet black hair, and those large watery eyes.


    This was not something that I could resist in this state.


    I did my best, but I couldn''t help saying, "I can help, but can you accept what I do?"


    Long Shui Ling hesitated for a second before giving a nod.


    At this, I no longer held myself back.

 Chapter 147 - 147: Night of ‘rest’ (4)

    Since I was no longer holding myself back, I picked Long Shui Ling up in my arms.


    She was caught off guard at being suddenly picked up like this, but¡­she also didn''t dislike this feeling.


    The feeling of being carried in his arms like this, it made her heart beat faster and her face turn red. But it also gave her a safe feeling that she just couldn''t get enough off.


    After lifting her up, I carried her over to the bed and slowly set her down.


    Then I started taking off my clothes.


    The moment that I did this, Long Shui Ling''s face turned completely red.


    It was so red that it almost seemed like smoke would come out of her ears at any moment.


    She opened and closed her mouth several times before she was able to stammer out, "You, you, you, what are you doing? Why, why, why are you taking off your clothes?"


    I didn''t say anything as I just looked at her with a straight look on my face.


    She looked at me with a bit of confusion in her eyes at first, but that look of confusion in her eyes slowly changed into a look of understanding.


    Slowly¡­she realized what was happening.


    And when she did, her face turned even more red and she looked like she was about to be boiled.


    Under her breath, she muttered, "So that''s what this feeling is¡­"


    I could feel the feeling inside getting stronger, but I waited for her to make a decision.


    At first, she tried to keep herself calm by saying. "We can''t do this, we barely know each other."


    But the more that she tried to convince herself, the more that the burning sensation inside of her burned. The more that it burned, the more that it ate away at her logic until she couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Maybe it''s fine if it''s him." That was the thought that kicked it all off.


    Long Shui Ling slowly began to accept what was about to happen until finally she said, "Please be gentle."


    I gave a slow nod when I heard this and then got on the bed with her.


    I wasn''t a virgin, but this was my first time doing something like this.


    The only time that I had done this was when I had forced myself onto Sasha and it wasn''t as if I could do that with Long Shui Ling.


    This was different from that time with Sasha.


    This time, it was consensual.


    Or at least it was while we were both under the influence of whatever was turning us on.


    So I didn''t want to hurt her like I did with Sasha.


    After sitting down on the bed, I leaned in towards her, bringing my face closer to hers.


    Long Shui Ling seemed like she knew what was about to happen, so she didn''t pull her face back. She just closed her eyes and pursed her lips a bit, almost as if she was waiting for something.


    Seeing her looking like this, I couldn''t help thinking to myself, "How cute."


    That just made the burning even worse.


    Without hesitation, I brought my lips forward and sealed her lips with mine.


    The moment that our lips touched, it was like a spark of electricity filled me.


    Long Shui Ling had been passive at first, but then she suddenly started pressing me back. She even poked her tongue through my lips and wrapped it around my tongue, almost as if she wanted to drag my tongue back into her mouth.


    Once she got into it, she really got into it.


    We held that kiss for a while before we had no choice but to let go since we were running out of breath.


    After separating, both of us started panting to catch our breath after that kiss.


    Every breath that I took seemed to have a sweetness to it.


    Was it because of her saliva or was it because of her breath?


    After we caught our breath, Long Shui Ling took the initiative again as she started to unbutton the buttons of her pajama top.


    One by one, she opened up her top, showing more of her fair skin.


    That skin that seemed like it was carved out of pure mutton fat, it was so mesmerizing seeing more and more of it.


    It didn''t take her long to finish unbuttoning all of these buttons and the front of her top opened up to reveal the center of her chest and her navel. The same fair skin revealed itself again, but it was even more fair since this was the part of her that had been hidden from the sun.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Shui Ling opened up her top and revealed everything to me.


    I was immediately dazzled by the beautiful sight that was revealed.


    The slightly bulging peaks that were topped with pink tips, these slightly developed breasts really were a feast for the eyes.


    When she saw that I was staring at her chest like this, Long Shui Ling''s face turned so red that she almost looked like a tomato.


    She turned her head slightly as she said, "It''s embarrassing if you stare this much."


    I also realized that I had been staring too intently and I couldn''t help revealing an awkward look.


    But then I slowly reached one of my hands up towards her chest and said, "Can I touch you?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a gulp when she saw this, but then she gave a strong nod.


    She had already firmed her heart and made up her mind, there was no backing down now.


    Seeing this, I used that hand to firmly cover her breast.


    The feeling was completely different from Sasha''s.


    These were smaller than hers, so my hand was able to completely cover it up.


    It almost seemed like my hand was too big for it, but I was still able to cup it in my hand.


    The moment that I made contact with Long Shui Ling, she immediately let out a moan, "Ah."


    Hearing this moan was the cherry on top that sent me over the edge. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Without hesitation, I closed my hands around her breast and started squeezing it.


    At the same time, my other hand came up over her other breast, but I didn''t grab it this time.


    Instead, I poked out a single finger and tapped her nipple with it.


    I could feel that her nipple was rock hard when I tapped it.


    At the same time, when I tapped it, Long Shui Ling couldn''t help letting out another sensual moan.


    I continued to play with her breasts like this, sometimes groping it with my hand, sometimes playing with the nipple..


    Whatever I did would also result in a sensual moan from her, showing that she enjoyed it very much.


    The more that she moaned, the more turned on I was.


    There was a tent that started being pitched in my pants that was only growing bigger and bigger.


    Finally, Long Shui Ling couldn''t take it anymore.


    She grabbed one of my hands and put it into her pants, between her legs before saying, "Please stop teasing me already."


    When I felt how wet she was, I knew that she was ready.


    So I pushed her down.

 Chapter 148 - 148: Night of ‘rest’ (5)

    Long Shui Ling''s heart almost jumped out of her chest when she was suddenly pushed down like this.


    As she looked up at him, she could feel her heart beating like a little deer running through the woods in her chest. Her face turned completely red, just like a stop sign.


    When I saw her like this, I couldn''t help feeling that she was cute.


    It was like a cute little creature was under me and I felt the urge to¡­defile her.


    I didn''t know where this urge came from, but it filled me quickly and I leaned down to bring my face over her face before saying, "I''m going to do it now."


    It was a statement, it wasn''t even a question.


    Long Shui Ling''s heart once again felt like it would jump out of her chest when she heard this, but she gave a slow nod.


    But I didn''t even see that as I had started pulling her pants down.


    Those slender and fair legs, they really did stir one''s soul.


    At the same time, I could see the liquid that was dripping down her legs.


    Since she was already this wet, there was no need for me to do anything else.


    I quickly pulled off my pants and my raging dick flew out.


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help being shocked when she saw this since it was her first time seeing it.


    Wasn''t this¡­a bit too big?


    That was what Long Shui Ling thought to herself.


    She slowly asked, "Are you really going to put that inside of me?"


    I ignored her as I brought myself forward to line up with her and then I grabbed her waist.


    Long Shui Ling could feel the heat coming from my dick as I put it in place in front of her crotch.


    The more heat that she felt from it, the more heat that she felt building up inside of her.


    Eventually, she wasn''t able to take it anymore and said, "Just do it already. Give it to me."


    I couldn''t help revealing an evil smile when I heard this.


    It would be a lie to say that I hadn''t waited on purpose.


    I had been waiting for her to break, I had been waiting to defile her, I had been waiting for her to beg for it.


    It made me feel good seeing her act this way even though I didn''t know why I felt this way.


    Since she was begging for it, I didn''t hold back anymore.


    In one swift move, I pushed it inside of her¡­or at least I pushed it as far as it would go.


    Even though she was already dripping wet, it was still very tight when I tried to push it into her. It wouldn''t go in all the way even if I tried pushing up against her.


    But the feeling of her insides wrapping around me was divine.


    At the same time, I could tell that it was good for her as well since she let out this moan of pleasure that turned me on as well.


    Her tongue couldn''t help sticking out of her mouth and her head tilted back as I plunged my dick into her.


    Since pushing didn''t work, it was time to pull.


    I gripped her waist with my hands and then pulled my waist back.


    When she felt this, she said, "Wait, no, let me¡­"


    Before she could finish, I was already pulling my waist back.


    "Ah~" She let out a cry of pleasure before there was a sudden burst of liquid that came from her crotch.


    She had already climaxed even though I had only inserted it once.


    This was a spray of clear liquid and a bit of blood since that had also come out the moment that I had penetrated her.


    But that was the last of my thoughts as I finished pulling my dick out and then¡­


    "Wait, not yet! I''m still¡­"


    Once again, she wasn''t able to finish her words as I suddenly thrust into her.


    This time, it went deeper than before, but it still wasn''t able to go the entire way.


    She kept panting and moaning as I thrust into her and I couldn''t help finding it cute.


    So I went over to her and sealed her lips.


    Long Shui Ling''s eyes opened wide when she felt my lips sealing her lips, but her eyes opened wider as she realized that¡­she couldn''t breathe.


    She had been panting hard for a reason and now that I sealed her lips like this, she found that she wasn''t able to breathe.


    Her eyes opened wide in both pleasure and panic.


    This feeling of not being able to breathe was scary, but when it was combined with the feeling of pleasure that came from him inserting his dick into her, this was a feeling that she both wanted to stop and wanted more of.


    But eventually, she had no choice but to tap him in a desperate attempt to get him to stop since she was running out of breath.


    It was at that moment that I moved away and let her start breathing again.


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile because in her panic, she had forgotten that she could breathe through her nose. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It really was cute how she overreacted to everything.


    But that didn''t mean that I stopped thrusting back and forth into her.


    That feeling of pushing in and out of her was something else, it was all because of how tight she was that the walls of her pussy wrapped right around my dick.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore.


    In my state of being turned on like this, I couldn''t stop myself from grabbing her waist and bringing her in before letting it all out inside of her.


    When I pulled my dick out, I could see my cum dripping down out of her pussy.


    It turned me on again right away and I couldn''t help grabbing her waist.


    What we didn''t notice were the pair of eyes watching in the dark¡­


    Just like this, we continued all the way until we were both satisfied and fell asleep together.

 Chapter 149 - 149: The culprit

    When we woke up, both of us had awkward looks on our faces as we remembered what happened last night.


    I left Long Shui Ling in bed as I got up to get ready, but before I could get up¡­


    She suddenly grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled me back.


    I slowly looked over at her and she hid her face in the blanket as she asked, "Do you remember what happened last night?"


    I couldn''t help giving a gulp when I heard this, but in the end¡­I slowly gave a nod.


    Long Shui Ling slowly let go of the hem of my shirt and buried her face into the blanket again.


    It was at that moment that I seized this chance to escape the room and head into the bathroom.


    Luckily for me, since this was a suite that covered an entire floor, there was a lot of space for me to get away from Long Shui Ling.


    I went to a bathroom on the entire opposite side of the floor and locked myself in.


    As I stood there in the bathroom, I couldn''t help looking at my face in the mirror.


    As I looked closely¡­I found that there were a few marks that were on my chest.


    When I looked even closer, I found that they were hickeys¡­


    It seemed that Long Shui Ling had gotten quite frisky last night.


    After staring at myself in the mirror for a bit, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh.


    This might seem like a good development, but it was anything but that.


    Sure I wanted to get closer to Long Shui Ling and use my powers to subdue her, but there was a proper sequence to this.


    Suddenly having sex like this completely broke that sequence.


    After all, we had just met a few days ago and we hadn''t gotten close enough for me to use my Hypnosis to put suggestions in her. We hadn''t gotten close enough that I was able to slowly change her mind with my Hypnosis.


    So suddenly jumping into bed like this actually hurt my plan instead of helping it.


    It was like putting the carriage in front of the horse.


    After looking at the mirror in silence for a long time, there was only one thing that passed in my mind.


    I took out my Storage Ring and with a wave of my hand, there was a little bunny doll that appeared in my hand. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This bunny doll didn''t move as I held it, but I still said, "Are you still going to keep acting dead?"


    After a pause, the bunny doll suddenly jumped up by itself in my hand and stood in my palm, looking up at me with a smile on its face. Then it suddenly said, "So how was it? Did you enjoy it?"


    I knitted my brows when I heard this before asking, "So you were the one that did that, Lilith?"


    The bunny doll just gave a casual nod before saying, "You don''t need to thank me for that, I was more than happy to do that."


    I suddenly threw her up against the wall and she bounced off it before landing in the tub.


    When she climbed out of the tub, she suddenly shouted, "What did you do that for?!"


    I immediately replied, "Why would I thank you for ruining my plan like that? Besides, how did you even do that?"


    "Ruining your plan?" The bunny doll said in a confused voice before turning to the second question, "It''s very simple. I am the Aspect of Lust, so it was simple for me to do something like that. I just used a bit of my power to lock the door and then I filled the air with an aphrodisiac."


    My face turned dark when I heard this.


    As expected, we had been drugged which was why we had suddenly become turned on like that.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at Lilith before saying, "How did you even do that? Didn''t you say that you needed me to do things as the demon king of lust to restore your power?"


    Lilith turned her head slightly and her lips seemed to purse a bit as a whistling sound came out, but it really looked weird since she was a bunny doll.


    She just whistled innocently for a bit, hoping that she could fool me.


    But seeing that I didn''t fall for it, she said with a sigh, "My powers will recover naturally, but it''ll take way too long for it to recover passively. That was why I helped you a little by giving you that nudge. You were in the perfect situation for it anyway."


    My face turned dark again before I said, "All you''ve done is ruined my chance. I could have taken it slowly and placed my suggestions in her. Then I would have been able to slowly control her just like I did with Sasha. But you''ve ruined all of this because of your trick."


    Lilith didn''t back down as she said, "A demon king of lust shouldn''t act so hesitantly. You should take any opportunities that you''re given."


    I just gave a snort as I said, "So a demon king of lust should expose himself and be caught right away? Do you even know how dangerous what you''ve done was? What if someone found you because of this?"


    Lilith didn''t talk back this time since she knew what she did this time was considered very risky.


    There was a very high chance that we would have been caught because of what she did¡­


    But she couldn''t wait any longer since she was anxious after seeing him bumble around like this.


    After a long silence, she said, "You seemed lost, so I wanted to give you a direction. You should now know what it means to act like a demon king of lust, right?"


    I was a bit confused at first, but then I opened up my status.


    When I saw this status, I couldn''t help giving a sigh as I understood what she meant.

 Chapter 150 - 150: Acting like the demon king of lust

    My level went up.


    It had been a long time since this had happened.


    I had no idea what the reason was, but it seemed that I had stopped gaining experience points after a while.


    I had gained experience points when I killed monsters at first, but then it stopped after I had reached level 10. It was as if this was the limit of experience that I could gain from killing monsters and I had to act like a demon king like Lilith had suggested to gain more experience.


    But no matter what I did, it didn''t seem to work.


    After all, I had acted evil, tricking Bing Xin and Bing Lan for my own gains.


    I had acted evil, tricking those kids that I went into the dungeons with to follow my orders.


    I had done things that should have counted as acting like a demon king like Lilith had said.


    But I had missed one important part.


    I was the demon king of lust¡­


    So the evil things that I had to do should be related to lust. That was the key thing that I had missed.


    When I thought about it, it all made sense.


    The largest gains that I had gotten were from the first day I became the demon king of lust and from the day I went into the dungeon.


    The day I went into the dungeon was when I had violated Sasha and turned her into my slave.


    The first day was when I had made my bullies violate Mei Tang Tang.


    Those were the acts of the demon king of lust that I had committed.


    As for today, I had violated Long Shui Ling after she had been trapped and drugged.


    Even if that wasn''t directly done by me, it was caused by Lilith who was the Aspect of Lust. So in the end, it was still indirectly related to me, which would still give me experience points.


    After this revelation, I didn''t know how to feel.


    I had already made up my mind to be a demon king after receiving this system, but now¡­


    I just didn''t know how to feel.


    A demon king of lust, that was definitely much harder to be than a normal demon king.


    Even if I had a little bit of experience now, it wasn''t as if I had a lot of experience that I would be comfortable with this kind of stuff.


    Let alone having to do it to grow stronger.


    After a long silence, I took a deep breath and said, "If this is what needs to be done."


    It was already too late to turn back.


    I had already started walking down this path and the only other path for me was death¡­


    So I had no choice but to embrace my powers as the demon king of lust.


    Seeing the changes in expression on my face, Lilith revealed a satisfied look.


    She could guess what he was thinking, so she was very satisfied since that would mean that she would be able to recover her own powers sooner.


    When the time came, she would be able to help him even more.


    Since Lilith had already given him the demon king system, she had already taken him as her master.


    She would do all that she could for him, which was why she had done this in the first place.


    She had sensed that he had been thinking some thoughts that weren''t good for him, so she went out of her way to correct his thinking.


    After making up my mind, I knew that I couldn''t delay anymore.


    So I grabbed Lilith and threw her back into the Storage Ring.


    As she was grabbed by me, she said in a seductive voice, "Ah, don''t be so rough."


    But I completely ignored it as I came out of the bathroom.


    When I came back to the room, I found that Long Shui Ling was slowly making her way out.


    When she saw me, she couldn''t help jumping up in fright before revealing an awkward look.


    I also couldn''t help revealing an awkward look and turning away for a second.


    Even though I had made up my mind, that didn''t mean that this wasn''t still awkward.


    But then I turned back and said with a firm look, "I''ll take responsibility."


    Long Shui Ling once again jolted when she heard this before looking at me with a very strange look. She opened and closed her mouth a few times as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, all she did was say with a nod, "Un."


    As she did so, there was a blush that came over her face and a smile that appeared on her lips.


    She didn''t know why, but there was a warm and happy feeling that filled her heart.


    While she was like this, I also revealed a smile¡­but in my heart, I was cold and calculative.


    The reason why I said that I would take responsibility was all because of Long Shui Ling''s backing.


    She clearly came from a powerful family with all of the things that she took out.


    This was a family that I would want to take control of.


    The best way to do that was to become the son in law of that family.


    So I would take responsibility for what I did.


    While she was happily thinking about the future, all I was thinking about was what I had to do now.


    Elementia, it seemed that I couldn''t hold back there anymore.


    I had been holding back when it came to Bing Xin because I had wanted to sort out my feelings, but no longer.


    All I could think about now was how to take control of her and then use her to control Bing Lan.


    Once I had the two of them, it was only a matter of time before I also controlled Elementia. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I had once worried about love, but now I knew that I didn''t have time for that.


    I could only walk forward as the demon king of lust.

 Chapter 151 - 151: Irregular License Exam (31)

    When we came down to the lobby, we found that there were many people waiting there.


    This was the gathering spot that they had told us about so it wasn''t strange seeing everyone gathered there.


    But it was clear that they were far more rested than us¡­


    As soon as we came down, there were many gazes that were cast on us.


    There was the usual glare from Zhao Kui, but there were many others who turned their gazes to us.


    There were gazes that had ill intentions and good intentions mixed in them.


    After all, no one knew what the third exam would be like and it would be in their best interests to learn more about this person who placed first in the second exam.


    Whether he was an enemy or not, it was never a bad thing to know one''s competitors.


    There was also the chance that this third exam would also be an exam where the examinees could work together.


    If they could group up with this first place person, perhaps he could carry them.


    So there were many people that turned their attention to me.


    But I just ignored them all.


    For me, the more people in my group, the worse it was for me.


    My powers¡­were better used without any witnesses.


    It was already one thing to bring Long Shui Ling along, but if there were even more people that came with me, it would be a problem.


    So we just silently waited for the examiners to come.


    Luckily, there was also a restaurant in this lobby that we could get some breakfast in.


    We didn''t know how long it would be before the examiners came, so it was best to fill our stomachs while we could.


    We didn''t sit down to eat and just ordered a few things to take with us.


    "Here you go." Long Shui Ling handed me an English muffin that she had removed the wrapper from.


    Since what had happened this morning, she had started to act like a little wife.


    There were people that looked at me with strange looks because of how she looked, but I just ignored them all and took the English muffin from her.


    Different from before, I also started speaking more to her.


    It wasn''t because I was moved by her actions, but because¡­I was using my Hypnosis skill on her.


    I was putting subliminal messages into her now for when I needed it later. These suggestions that I was putting in her now would without a doubt be helpful in the future.


    We didn''t have to wait long in the end as the examiners showed up, but it wasn''t just a single examiner that appeared.


    It was a group of examiners who had all appeared at once, coming in through the entrance of the hotel.


    Among them was Elliot who I had met before.


    When they came in, they immediately became the center of attention.


    At the same time, everyone moved back slightly to give them space.


    The examiners walked right to the center of the lobby and one of them stepped forward.


    This was a serious looking man that clearly seemed like he was above the others.


    Even the aura that he released was clearly much greater than the other examiners.


    After stepping out, he looked around himself before saying, "So you''re the ones?"


    No one said a word, but they could tell that it almost seemed like he was provoking them. At the same time, it was almost as if he was testing them.


    So none of them backed down and looked right back at this examiner.


    There was a moment of silence that happened before the stern serious looking man suddenly revealed a smile and said, "As expected of those that passed the second exam. Alright, you can all follow me to the third exam now. I''ll explain what it is along the way."


    There were secret sighs of relief that were let out since many of them had thought that something bad would happen, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    As we walked, we found that there wasn''t a single person outside.


    Now that I thought about it, it also was strange.


    There were still other people in this hotel last night, but now they were all gone.


    Other than the staff of the restaurant, there hadn''t been a single other person all morning.


    It seemed that there was still something happening.


    There weren''t any cars that were waiting outside for us, so it seemed that we would be walking.


    The serious looking man just walked forward with the other examiners following him, walking at a brisk pace.


    However, his brisk pace was more of a jog for us.


    Unless we ran after him, it didn''t seem like we would be able to keep up with him.


    However, that serious looking man wasn''t even out of breath as he explained the third exam to us.


    "The third exam is very simple, you will be fighting each other."


    We would have been surprised, but we didn''t really have the time to be surprised with trying to keep up with these examiners.


    He also didn''t look back as he continued, "After passing the second exam, you have all been registered as Irregulars."


    This time, we couldn''t hold back our shock and there were a few that couldn''t help stopping in a daze. However, all that did was cause them to fall behind the pack and they had to dash to catch up.


    "What will happen now is that you will head to the same stadium as yesterday and you will now fight one on one battles so that we can rank you properly. The better that you do, the higher rank you will receive."


    After hearing this, there were many people that looked around themselves at the ones they would have to compete with.


    There were many that looked at me with hostile looks, as if they regarded me as the biggest threat.


    But once again, there wasn''t time for them to think about this. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Before that, let''s get some exercise in. That''s enough of that slow pace." The serious looking examiner said with a smile on his face.


    With that, he started moving faster.

 Chapter 152 - 152: Irregular License Exam (32)

    This wasn''t just a small increase in speed, but rather one that was enough to make many of us start to run.


    But for the examiners, it just looked like they were walking at a brisk pace instead of having any troubles.


    This was the difference between us and these powerful people.


    Eventually, there were people that couldn''t keep up anymore and started to drop out.


    If this was before, I definitely would have been one of those people.


    But after being trained by Su Chen, my body was much stronger than before.


    It could even be considered top class among all the people that came to take the Irregular Exam.


    One of the dropouts though was Long Shui Ling.


    She did her best, but her stature was there.


    Even if she did her best, her body just couldn''t keep up and it didn''t take long for her to run out of breath.


    It was at that point that I picked her up and started carrying her on my back.


    Once again, if it wasn''t for Su Chen''s training, this wouldn''t have been possible.


    Of course, I also needed a bit of help from my powers.


    "A bit faster." I whispered to myself before suddenly starting to move faster without feeling as drained.


    When this happened, I couldn''t help feeling that there were some gazes that fell onto me.


    I didn''t know where these gazes came from, but I could tell that there was no hostility behind them. Rather it seemed like there was interest and excitement behind these gazes.


    At the same time, it almost felt like someone wanted to hunt me.


    What I didn''t notice was that the eyes of the examiners lit up after they saw me using my ability.


    "It really is a buff skill¡­"


    "It seems like he can control it to give minor and major buffs. The minor ones won''t have too strong side effects, but they aren''t as strong as well."


    "Then the stronger ones can be considered a trump card, right?"


    There were many different whispers that discussed the details of what they saw, but of course there wasn''t a single negative thing about this.


    All of them were excited about seeing such an ability.


    Elliot was the one that had the brightest eyes since he was the one that had made the first move.


    There were others that were envious of him for building that relationship early, but there was nothing that they could do now. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So they just turned their attention to Lin Fan to see how they could recruit him.


    This jog took us all the way back to the stadium that we had been in yesterday.


    The ones that fell off were able to catch up in the end since they were able to figure out where the examiners were going based on the direction that they were heading in.


    But when they arrived, they had ugly expressions on their faces.


    They were the ones that had dropped off, it was normal for them to have these ugly expressions.


    Still, they didn''t look too worried since they didn''t think that this would matter.


    That was until the serious looking man said, "Well, that''s everyone." With a clap, he continued by saying, "So for those that couldn''t keep up, you have all failed the third exam and will be listed as E Rank Irregulars for now."


    The moment that they heard this, all of the ones that had dropped out revealed shocked looks.


    They couldn''t believe what this examiner was saying, especially with the casual tone that he said it in.


    Was their fates going to be decided that easily?


    No!


    They would never accept something like that!


    So one of the ones that had failed came up to the examiner and said, "How can we just trust what you say? Do you really think that we''ll accept this that easily? How can you just decide our fates that easily? We demand to talk to a supervisor about this!"


    The serious looking man looked at this examinee with a smile on his face as he said, "You want to talk to a supervisor?"


    The young man was about to give a nod when he suddenly felt a mountain like pressure fall onto him.


    He wasn''t able to resist as it crushed him into the ground.


    All he could do was look up and he knew that this was because he was allowed to look up.


    It wasn''t his own power that allowed him to look up, it was the mercy of the other side that allowed this.


    He tried to say something, but he found that it was even hard to move his lips.


    The serious looking man looked down at him and said, "Well I am the supervisor and what I say goes. You''re here to take our exam, so if you don''t like our rules, then maybe you don''t need our license."


    When the young man heard this, his face immediately filled with regret.


    He had wanted to do the best that he could to get a higher rank since that would mean more opportunities for him, but if he were to lose his Irregular License because of this, that wouldn''t be worth it.


    The Irregular License had a very important meaning since it was a license that was highly regarded by many places.


    As long as one had this license, they would be able to obtain many opportunities that they never would have dreamed of before.


    At the same time, the higher the rank, the greater the opportunities.


    But losing this was much greater of a loss.


    So the young man could only look up for a bit before fainting out of fear of losing his Irregular License.


    Seeing him faint like this, the serious looking man gave a snort and said, "All bark and no bite."


    With another snort, he added, "Maybe I really should just fail him."


    This made everyone tremble out of fear that they might suffer the same fate if they angered this examiner.


    But in the end, he said with a sigh, "He passed the second exam, so he at least deserves that license, I won''t take that from him."


    It seemed that there was a bottom line that he didn''t dare touch¡­

 Chapter 153 - 153: Irregular License Exam (33)

    Once that matter was settled, the serious looking examiner came over to us and said, "Now, let''s get all of you ready."


    He turned around and waved his hand for us to follow.


    After hesitating a bit, we still decided to follow him.


    He led us into the stadium, but it was completely different from before.


    Everything that had been there for the preliminary tests a few days ago had been removed and there was just a single stage in the center of this stadium.


    It was a stage that wasn''t considered that big, just big enough for two people to fight in.


    When we arrived at this stage, the serious looking examiner suddenly stopped and turned around to face us.


    His eyes swept over us before he gave a nod and said, "Now, we''ll tell you who you''ll be fighting first."


    All of us were taken aback when we heard this. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We had known that we would be fighting each other, but no one had told us how this would work and who we would be fighting.


    So now that it was actually happening, all of us couldn''t help looking at each other with wary looks.


    The serious looking examiner didn''t care about this as he said, "Now, you''ve all been told that your ranking in the second exam would help you in the third exam. It wasn''t just how your rooms would be divided that would help you, but it would also decide who you will be facing."


    The serious looking man gave a snap and there was a screen that suddenly appeared in the air.


    This screen showed them the tournament bracket and who they would be facing.


    The matches were set so that the top and bottom of the rankings would be facing each other.


    That meant that I would be facing the person who finished in 100th place.


    Long Shui Ling was second, so she would face the 99th place person.


    And so on and so on.


    That was how it had been arranged.


    Luckily for us, we had been placed on opposite sides of the bracket, so we wouldn''t meet until the final match.


    I wasn''t worried about facing Long Shui Ling, it was just that I knew that she would forfeit if she was matched with me.


    Since I had deemed Long Shui Ling as my property, I naturally needed her to do as best as she could. My property needed to have the best identity so they could do more for me.


    So to encourage her, I said, "Let''s meet in the finals."


    When she heard this, Long Shui Ling revealed a bright look of determination in her eyes.


    Since I had said this, she would make it happen.


    The only other person that I cared about a bit was Zhao Kui.


    I knew that he would try to find a chance to fight me and there was no better chance than in this tournament.


    Of course, I wasn''t afraid of him since I had seen what he was capable of.


    I just didn''t want to fight him unless it was absolutely necessary.


    It was that I found him annoying and didn''t want to deal with him.


    Since I was the top ranked, my match was first.


    But I found that my opponent was that person who had been suppressed by the serious looking examiner and taken away.


    Since my opponent had already been incapacitated, I received a bye to the next round without having to do a single thing.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    I had already been prepared to fight, but now it turned out that it was all for nothing.


    So I had nothing to do but to watch the others fight.


    It was the same situation for Long Shui Ling since her opponent had also dropped out.


    They were among the ones that had failed the preliminary of the third exam.


    They hadn''t been able to keep up, so they had been directly failed by the serious looking examiner.


    Zhao Kui wasn''t as lucky.


    The 98th placed person was a person with a physical attributed power, so he had been able to keep up with the pace of the run.


    When the two of them faced off, Zhao Kui found that his abilities were more troublesome than they seemed¡­but he was able to catch his opponent off guard in the end by using a few rocks that he had picked up on the side of the road.


    With his size increasing ability, he trapped his opponent before knocking him off the stage.


    But the way that he was panting made it clear that he had used up quite a bit of energy to take care of his opponent.


    As he left the stage, he didn''t forget to glare in my direction as if he was challenging me.


    All I did was ignore him with a smile on my face.


    That served to enrage Zhao Kui even more.


    After that, there were many others who fought, but I didn''t really have much interest in these fights.


    From what I could see, they all had powers that could be considered normal.


    Or at least they were considered normal here among all of these Irregulars.


    They weren''t that creative with how they used their powers, so they weren''t able to demonstrate that much power in the end.


    It was clear by the disappointed looks on the faces of the examiners that they weren''t impressed.


    The serious looking examiner had also explained, "We will be grading you based on your performances. Depending on the demonstration that you give, we will give you a rank accordingly. So do the best that you can to show yourselves off."


    The first round only had around 80 examinees since around 20 of them dropped out from the run.


    So there were quite a few people that actually received byes.


    But for the second round, there were no more byes.


    That meant that I would be facing my first opponent.

 Chapter 154 - 154: Irregular License Exam (34)

    My first opponent was a frail looking young man with glasses.


    It didn''t seem like he would be much of an opponent. It even seemed like he could be blown over with a single strong breeze.


    But I knew better than to underestimate my opponents.


    I knew that everyone who was able to make it here wouldn''t be simple, even if the display that they had shown earlier was a bit lackluster.


    This frail young man with glasses was one of the ones that had received a bye, so I didn''t know what kind of powers he had in the first place.


    When we stood in front of each other on stage, he looked at me with eyes wide open and a strange look in those eyes.


    It seemed like it was¡­worship or awe?


    But why would he look at me like this?


    That was answered when he suddenly walked up and reached his hand out while saying, "It''s an honour to fight you. I''m a big fan."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him as if trying to figure out if he was playing some kind of trick, but I wasn''t able to see anything in the end.


    It seemed like he wasn''t playing any tricks, but that just confused me even more.


    After all, I had never met this person before and hadn''t even seen him in the dungeon. There was no reason why this person should be a fan of mine.


    Seeing the confused look on my face, this frail young man with the glasses said, "I was watching your rise on the leaderboards and it was amazing how you were able to rise up to the top and keep your position there the entire time. I really can''t admire you more than I already do."


    I was even more caught off guard when he praised me like this.


    I never expected this kind of praise from my opponent which made me feel even more awkward.


    But I still couldn''t help feeling that something was off about this.


    I didn''t know exactly what he was planning, but there was nothing else that I could do at this moment.


    After all, he was just standing there with his hand outstretched like this.


    If I didn''t take that hand, it would hurt my reputation.


    So in the end, I reached out and shook his hand.


    As he shook it, the frail young man with glasses revealed an excited look like he was truly happy about being able to shake the hand of his idol. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I didn''t feel that I was worth all of this.


    With a smile on his face, he said, "It really is an honour for me to shake your hand like this. I might never wash it from now on."


    My lips twitched when I heard this and I couldn''t help saying, "Please keep washing your hands."


    The smile on his face became a bit awkward when he heard this, but he gave a nod and said with the same smile, "Of course I will."


    Then he revealed a serious look and said, "But of course, I won''t be holding back in this fight. I hope that you won''t be offended."


    I gave a calm nod as I said, "Of course, we''re all here to do our best. I would be offended if you held back because you are a fan."


    A wide smile appeared on the face of the frail young man with glasses when he heard this. With that wide smile on his face, he said, "As expected of my idol, you really are something else!"


    The judge had been waiting for us to finish our talk, but once it was done, he said, "Alright, get ready. Fight!"


    As soon as he said this, both of us moved away from each other and watched for movement from the other side.


    It seemed that both of us had the same kind of approach to fighting.


    We were both cautious fighters who waited to see what the other side did before reacting.


    But since neither of us did a thing, there was a standoff that happened where neither side made a move.


    There was just a silence that hung in the air as both of us stared at each other.


    In the end, it was the frail looking young man with the glasses that made the first move.


    His power was very strange as he suddenly called out several black things that floated there in the air around him.


    When I looked at it closely, I found that these things seemed to be a bunch of knives that were just floating there in space.


    "Is he controlling them with his mind or is it something else?" I couldn''t help muttering to myself under my breath.


    I didn''t have too much time to think this through as the knives were already coming at me.


    The way that they cut through the air, it was clear that there was quite a bit of power behind these knives.


    I raised my sword and swept out at these knives, knocking them out of the air with a single slash.


    Then using the momentum of this slash, I charged right at the frail looking young man with glasses.


    While dashing forward, I muttered, "A bit faster."


    With those words, I started moving faster than before as I charged at the frail looking young man with glasses.


    Though he saw me charging at him, it didn''t seem like he was panicking at all.


    It even seemed like he was revealing a faint smile when he saw me charging at him.


    It almost seemed like he was looking at something that was behind me.


    I was about to reach him when I suddenly heard something.


    It sounded like something cutting through the air and it was coming from behind me.


    When I turned around, I saw that the knives that I had knocked down earlier were flying right at my back.

 Chapter 155 - 155: Irregular License Exam (35)

    These knives were coming right at me at a speed that was faster than I was moving at.


    If I ignored them, they would reach me before I could reach the frail looking young man with glasses.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to stop and turn around.


    With a flick of my sword, I knocked all of these knives out of the air and they all fell to the ground.


    I waited for a second to see if they would move again, but nothing happened.


    Only when I was sure that they didn''t do anything did I turn around to face the frail looking young man with glasses.


    But I turned around to find that he had already run off.


    He didn''t wait for me to approach and had run away to create more distance between us.


    I knitted my brows when I saw this, but I could appreciate this.


    This was a smart move since it was clear that I was someone who fought close up.


    When he had long range attacks like this and I was someone who fought close range, it was good to keep distance and slowly wear me down.


    But his one problem was that he ran too slow to get away.


    So I said, "Faster."


    This time, I wasn''t holding back at all.


    This time, I dashed at him much faster than last time and it seemed like I would catch up to him once again.


    But when I was about to reach him, the frail looking young man with glasses suddenly turned around and threw more knives at me. These knives came right at my face and they were thrown at close range, so they reached me in an instant.


    It was just too bad that my buff wasn''t just for my running speed, but my overall speed.


    That included my reaction speed.


    I was able to react in time and slash out to knock these knives to the ground.


    After that slash though, I didn''t stop my sword.


    I let myself continue into this slash and used the momentum to turn around.


    Using this slash, I also cut down the knives that were coming at my back. These were the knives that I had knocked down and had been on the ground.


    He had somehow managed to control them to come at my back again¡­


    It seemed that even if I knocked these knives to the ground, they wouldn''t remain there.


    Since he had already been exposed, the frail looking young man raised his hand and the knives that had been knocked away suddenly floated up into the air again.


    But this time, I was completely surrounded.


    He had thrown enough knives that I had been completely surrounded by them.


    They were just floating there in the air around me, as if they were trapping me.


    It was only then that the frail looking young man said, "Please give up. Don''t force me to take this further."


    But I just said with a smile, "Give up? We''re not even close to finishing yet." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The frail looking young man knitted his brows, but then he pulled out even more knives that he threw into the air.


    After being thrown into the air, these knives floated just like the rest and formed an even tighter circle around me. It was as if there wasn''t a single spot for me to escape from with how the knives surrounded me.


    But still, I didn''t panic.


    I just faced those knives head on and waited for them to come.


    Seeing that I wasn''t planning on giving up, the frail young man waved his hand and the knives started coming at me.


    I just swept my sword out and cut down the knives that were coming at me.


    They all dropped to the ground, but they didn''t stay there.


    Even after cutting them down, they still floated back up into the air after falling to the ground.


    I had been able to cut out a path for me to move, but the knives were just chasing after me.


    It seemed that no matter which way I went, they still followed me.


    It was as if they were determined to chase me to the ends of the Earth.


    But how were these knives doing this?


    How were they flying and chasing after me?


    Just what was this frail young man''s power?


    As I was running and dodging the knives, I realized that I was in too much of a panic.


    I was letting myself get swept up in the situation and that was not helping me.


    I needed to calm down and think about this rationally.


    So I took a deep breath while running before turning to observe the knives.


    I didn''t cut them down and just watched as they followed me.


    Seeing that I had stopped swinging my sword, the frail young man said, "Are you giving up? If you give up, I''ll make them stop right away."


    But I just ignored him as I observed the knives.


    I couldn''t see anything strange about the knives, but I was certain that they were being attracted by something.


    In that case, there had to be some kind of setup for his trick that I was missing.


    Was there something off about what he had done?


    I kept thinking about it until I suddenly remembered something.


    That handshake, I couldn''t help feeling that something was off about that handshake in the beginning.


    Could it be that it was that?


    So I looked down at my hand while also making sure that I was still able to dodge the knives coming at me.


    After looking for a bit, I finally found what I was looking for.


    "So this was it¡­" I couldn''t help saying to myself with a faint smile on my face.


    Then I suddenly stopped moving and stood there, facing the knives coming at me.


    It was as if I had given up fighting back.


    Everyone was shocked as they watched the knives flying at me, coming closer and closer to stabbing me.


    Even the frail looking young man couldn''t help being caught off guard by how I had suddenly stopped.


    He didn''t know if he should stop the knives or not until it was too late.


    Even if he wanted to stop them, he couldn''t stop them in time.


    So all he could do was shout, "Move out of the way!"


    But I just firmly stood there watching the knives approaching until they were right in front of me.


    Then I suddenly flicked my hand out as if I was throwing something.


    The knives suddenly turned in a different direction after that.

 Chapter 156 - 156: Irregular License Exam (36)

    After turning in that direction, the knives suddenly gathered on a single point in the air.


    They all seemed to stab a certain point in the air and just floated there for a second before falling downwards. The mass of knives fell down together and clattered onto the ground.


    Even when they fell to the ground, they didn''t split up and just were gathered on the same point.


    It was almost as if there was something that was in the center that was drawing them all together like this.


    I just looked at the frail looking young man and said with a smile, "I never thought that you would have this kind of power. It seems like even that handshake in the beginning was a setup."


    The frail looking young man also revealed a faint smile.


    Since he had been exposed, there was nothing that he could do about it.


    He suddenly gave a roar and then there was a shaking that came from all around us before many different things were ripped out of the ground and the wall. All of these things were things that were made from metal.


    This frail looking young man''s power was magnetism.


    Or specifically, it was the ability to control magnetism.


    The thing that he had put in the hem of my sleeve during our handshake was a small piece of metal. He had been using this to pull the knives into following me.


    It gave off the illusion that he was controlling the knives, but he was actually just using magnetic attraction to pull the knives at me.


    That was how they had been following me the entire time.


    And now that he had been exposed, he had no reason to keep acting.


    He was using all his powers to pull in everything made of metal around us.


    With me at the center, he was most likely trying to use all of these metal things to crush me.


    This was a good plan, but¡­it was too bad that it was used on the wrong person.


    I revealed a smile and said, "This is going to end in an instant, so open your eyes wide and watch closely."


    The frail looking young man was surprised to hear this, but then he said, "Come!"


    As he said this, the pieces of metal that were floating in the air suddenly started to fly towards us.


    It seemed that he really was planning to go all out, so I responded in turn.


    "Much faster and stronger." I said to myself. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then with one step, I appeared in front of the frail looking young man.


    His eyes opened wide in shock, but he wasn''t able to do a thing as my sword suddenly came forward to slash him.


    Of course, since this was only a duel and not a death match, I didn''t use the blade of the sword.


    The frail looking young man was knocked to the ground and his eyes rolled back in his head showing that he had been knocked out.


    I let out a sigh of relief, but I quickly found that there was another problem.


    The pieces of metal flying through the air were still flying at us with extreme speed.


    Well, it wasn''t flying at us, but rather flying at the frail looking young man who had fainted.


    He had most likely set himself as the point of attraction, but he would have been able to stop anything that came at him before it hit him with his powers. Or at least that would have happened if he didn''t faint.


    Now they were just coming at him with incredible speed and he would be crushed if I didn''t do anything.


    Weighing the pros and cons, I decided that it was better to save him.


    I could have just left him, but saving him would increase my own evaluation in the eyes of the judges.


    At the same time, it was as easy as a wave of my hand to save him.


    So there was no reason not to save him.


    But before I could make a move, there was a snap that rang out.


    Then all of a sudden, there were these invisible barriers that appeared around us that blocked off the pieces of metal.


    I was caught off guard at first, but then I looked around to see where this barrier came from.


    It was one of the examiners who had raised his hand to create this barrier.


    As expected of those chosen to be examiners, not a single one of them was simple.


    When that examiner saw me looking at him, he looked at me with a smile on his face.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by the fact that he was looking at me with a smile, so all I could do was look back with an awkward smile.


    I didn''t know just how much of a mess this caused amongst the examiners.


    There were many of them that glared at the one who had acted.


    If they had been the one that saved him, then they would have left a good impression on him. That would have given them a better chance of working with this person with the buff attributed power.


    All of them had seen how strong his buffs could be, so they were all very excited about this.


    After the metal pieces had been stopped, the serious looking man announced, "This fight is over. The winner is Lin Fan."


    There wasn''t any applause that rang out after the fight since the ones that were watching were those still in the tournament.


    Not a single one of them would applaud a strong opponent moving on.


    After all, not a single one of them had been able to see through his abilities just now. Not a single one of them knew how he had suddenly disappeared like that.


    So all they could do was look at Lin Fan cautiously.


    On the stage, the frail looking young man slowly woke up.


    He was an Awakener, so even if he looked frail, his body wasn''t actually that weak.


    It didn''t take him long to wake up even though I had knocked him out.


    Seeing the metal pieces surrounding us, the frail looking young man revealed a faint smile and said, "It seems that I''ve lost."


    I gave a nod before saying, "But that was a good fight. Especially your setup, that was a very smart idea."


    Since I had won, there was no reason not to praise him.


    After all, it wasn''t a bad idea to build up a relationship with powerful people in the future.


    But to my surprise, the frail young man shook his head and said, "It wasn''t just a setup, I really meant what I said."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this.


    I slowly watched as that frail young man''s eyes filled with a strange look that almost bordered fanaticism¡­


    He said, "It is an honour for me to meet my idol. Plus I even got to shake his hand. I''ll never wash this hand as long as I live."


    My chin dropped when I heard this and I just shook my head.


    "Please wash your hand¡­"

 Chapter 157 - 157: Irregular License Exam (37)

    I returned back to my seat after my fight and Long Shui Ling was waiting for me.


    She had somehow found a snack and a bottle of water for me, along with a wet towel for me to wipe my sweat with.


    This really seemed like everything that a wife should do.


    I just silently accepted it all since I had already made up my mind.


    But as I was taking that bottle of water from her, my arm trembled and the bottle of water fell to the ground.


    She immediately revealed a shocked look before asking in a worried voice, "What''s wrong?"


    I grabbed my arm and stabilized it before saying, "It''s nothing, it''s just a side effect of my power."


    "A side effect?" She said in a confused voice.


    I gave a nod before explaining what my power was to her and the side effects that came with it.


    When I was done, I said, "It''s just the muscle in my arm being torn, it''ll heal in time." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though I said this¡­it was still quite painful since it was a muscle being torn.


    Long Shui Ling immediately said, "So that means you''re hurt? Then I have just the thing."


    She waved her hand and there was a bottle that appeared in it.


    When it appeared, I couldn''t help narrowing my eyes since I could feel the mana coming from it.


    Even the people around us couldn''t help turning in our direction when they sensed the magic fluctuations that were coming from this bottle.


    Anyone with a bit of skill was able to tell that this wasn''t a normal item.


    But Long Shui Ling acted like it was nothing special as she opened the cap of the bottle and presented it to me with a smile on her face. She said with that smile, "Drink this and it''ll heal you."


    I didn''t take it right away and narrowed my eyes to look at the bottle.


    As expected, there was a description that popped up for this bottle.


    High Healing Potion


    A potion with a high concentration of magic that can heal most injuries.


    The moment that I saw the name of this bottle, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    That was because I knew what a High Healing Potion was.


    When we had been dungeon diving, Su Chen had brought along a few Intermediate Healing Potions and he had been bragging about them already. But he had also told me about the higher grade healing potions.


    The High Healing Potion was above the Intermediate Healing Potion and it was potent enough to heal most serious wounds.


    Then above that was the Superior Healing Potion that was said to even regrow limbs that had been cut off.


    And even above that were Elixirs, but those were considered myths.


    After all, an Elixir was able to bring a person back to life as long as they had a single breath left in them.


    But for this High Healing Potion, it already cost a fortune.


    The Intermediate Healing Potions that the guild had given us already cost tens of thousands of dollars.


    So the High Healing Potion that was above that would naturally cost even more.


    According to Su Chen, just a single High Healing Potion would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just a single High Healing Potion would already be enough for a normal person to buy a condo with.


    Yet she was handing something like this to me so easily.


    When Long Shui Ling saw my shocked look, she couldn''t help revealing a worried look as she said, "What''s wrong? Is this not good enough?"


    She looked at the bottle that she was holding before saying, "Maybe I should have taken the good potions before leaving home¡­If I knew better than this wouldn''t have happened."


    I couldn''t help being even more shocked when I heard this before quickly stopping her from going on any further.


    I quickly said, "No, no, it''s not a problem of it being good enough. This is too good for an injury of this level, it''s just a waste if you use it on me."


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a surprised and confused look when she heard this.


    She tilted her head and said, "This is just a normal potion, isn''t it supposed to be used like this?"


    When she said this, my chin couldn''t help dropping.


    She was calling a High Healing Potion just a normal potion¡­just how rich was she?


    I had thought that she was just some young miss from a rich family, but it seemed that I had been too conservative with my guess.


    Anyone that can pull out a High Healing Potion and call it a normal potion was anything but ordinary.


    But it seemed like she would keep going if I didn''t take this potion¡­so I reached out and took it.


    In one gulp, I drank the entire High Healing Potion.


    The moment that this potion went into my body, I could feel the warm feeling coming from it. This warm feeling filled my body in an instant and quickly got rid of any pain that I was feeling.


    In no time at all, my arm was completely healed along with the rest of the muscle rips in my body.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit regretful at wasting such an expensive potion, but I also felt a bit good about this since Long Shui Ling was now mine. Her things would be my things in the future, so if this was the standard that she set¡­then there was plenty to look forward to.


    After I finished drinking this potion, Long Shui Ling came forward to hold my arm and check it. Only after making sure that it was fine did she give a nod and say, "It worked quite well. I really thought that I would need to get the special potion."


    I just revealed a bitter smile when I heard this.


    I could only imagine what the special potion was¡­


    Was it a Superior Healing Potion or something beyond that?


    But there was nothing else for me to say since the examiner suddenly called for Long Shui Ling.


    It was her turn to fight.

 Chapter 158 - 158: Irregular License Exam (38)

    Long Shui Ling didn''t go down right away even though it was announced that it was her turn to fight.


    Instead, she took her time to make sure that I was alright before making her way down.


    Her opponent had gone down right away, but she didn''t care at all.


    When he saw her finally come down, he couldn''t help revealing a dark look.


    The way that she acted, it was as if she was looking down on him.


    Even though she was second place, her opponent didn''t think that she had achieved this on her own.


    After all, no matter how he looked at it, this was a frail little girl.


    He believed that if he intimated her a bit, he would be able to get her to back down.


    So he said in an aggressive voice, "Little girl, if you surrender now, it''ll be much easier for you. If you fight, I won''t hold back."


    But to his surprise, he found that Long Shui Ling didn''t react at all to his threat.


    In fact, she didn''t even look at him once during this entire time.


    She had been looking at the stands, looking at the top ranker that she had been with before.


    This hurt his pride¡­


    So he said, "Fine, since you won''t take the cup offered, then don''t expect any mercy."


    With that, he pulled out his sword and revealed a fierce look.


    It seemed like he really was planning on going all out against Long Shui Ling.


    Seeing that they were done talking, the examiner simply said, "Begin."


    The moment that the examiner said this, the opponent started charging at Long Shui Ling with his sword. As he ran at her, there were beads of water that formed on the edge of his sword.


    These beads of water gathered together until they formed a single blade that flew out when he slashed his sword at Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t move out of the way at all when that blade of water flew at her.


    Then to everyone''s shock, she was cut down by that blade of water.


    It even cut right through her, splitting her in half.


    The opponent didn''t know what to say when he saw this.


    He had figured that she was weak, but he never thought that she was so weak that she wouldn''t even be able to dodge this simple blow. This was the weakest attack that he had, but she still was cut down that easily¡­


    Would he be charged for murder like this?


    No, they had signed the death waiver, so he wouldn''t be punished for this. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he was just standing there wondering what had happened, he didn''t notice many things.


    He didn''t notice that the examiners didn''t stop the fight and declare him the winner, he didn''t notice that there was no blood coming from Long Shui Ling''s ''corpse'', he didn''t notice that no one in the crowd was shocked to see that he had cut Long Shui Ling down.


    There were just too many clues that he didn''t notice.


    "What is he doing? Why is just standing there staring into space?"


    "Doesn''t he know that she''s already moving towards him?"


    "How is this a fight? He just did one thing and then froze."


    As he stood there in a daze, Long Shui Ling had already made her way up in front of him.


    Then in front of everyone, she started to transform.


    She took the form of the grim reaper that she had taken when she took the first exam.


    At the same time, her opponent suddenly started to scream.


    "Ah! Don''t come over here! I didn''t mean it!"


    Everyone was confused when they saw this, but no one was able to stop him from suddenly slashing out around him.


    He was slashing out in every direction, sending out blades of water.


    Everyone immediately knitted their brows and were about to stop it, but before they could, there was a barrier that appeared that stopped all of these blades of water before they could reach anyone.


    The examiner who had acted shook his head in disappointment when he saw this as he said, "Can''t even see through a simple illusion. What an idiot."


    At this, everyone realized what was happening.


    Long Shui Ling had trapped her opponent in an illusion.


    So that was her power.


    What her opponent was seeing now was her corpse standing up again and multiplying before surrounding him, just like a vengeful ghost.


    No matter how he slashed at this vengeful ghost, he wasn''t able to get rid of her at all.


    These vengeful ghosts surrounded him and he was so scared that he was on the brink of collapse.


    This was what Long Shui Ling had learned after talking about her powers with Lin Fan.


    She had learned to use smaller illusions to trap the enemy while preparing her final attack.


    This might seem like a very simple thing, but in truth, that was just how much fighting experience she lacked. She was someone who didn''t have any fighting experience at all which was evident by how panicked she had been in the dungeon.


    But after discussing it with Lin Fan, Long Shui Ling''s abilities had gone up a level.


    After letting her opponent waste his energy for a bit, she finally took a step forward.


    When she did, that opponent finally saw her and revealed an even more terrified look.


    That was because he was seeing the same thing as everyone else, he saw her as a terrifying grim reaper with a large scythe.


    "No! No! Don''t come over here!" That young man shouted as he raised his sword and gathered a bunch of water around it.


    It was clear that he was preparing for a final attack.


    But Long Shui Ling wouldn''t give him that chance since she had already also prepared her final attack.


    With one swing of the scythe, the young man fell forward like a kite with its strings cut.

 Chapter 159 - 159: Irregular License Exam (39)

    After the young man fell to the ground, everyone couldn''t help taking a cold breath.


    They never thought that Long Shui Ling would be this powerful.


    It seemed that it wasn''t for no reason that she had reached second place¡­


    But Long Shui Ling didn''t care about any of this.


    She just looked at the judge and waited for him to give a verdict.


    But that serious looking examiner didn''t say anything as he jumped into the arena. He landed right by the young man and kneeled down beside him to take his pulse and check his breath.


    After a minute, he finally said, "He''s not dead, he''s just knocked out."


    He turned to Long Shui Ling and said, "The winner is Long Shui Ling."


    Long Shui Ling just gave a nod before turning and running off.


    It took her no time at all to return to the stands and to return to my side to grab my arm like she was my wife.


    The serious looking examiner just shook his head when he saw this and announced the next fight.


    But among the examiners, there was quite the commotion that had been raised.


    "Did you see how skillfully she used her illusions to trap her opponent?"


    "That''s right, she combines both defense and offense when using her illusions like this."


    "No, no, no, that''s not the important thing. The most important thing was the way that she used her illusion in the end to attack. The power that was behind that last attack would have been enough for her to cut her opponent in half if she didn''t hold back."


    There was a lot of discussion about Long Shui Ling among these examiners.


    However, what most of them did was stare at Elliot.


    He had been in charge of the place where Long Shui Ling took the first test, so they were of course wondering why he hadn''t noticed her.


    Ellioti didn''t know what to say since she hadn''t shown this kind of power back then.


    The amount of power that she had shown before wasn''t even a tenth of this, so he hadn''t paid any attention to her.


    "So you set your eyes on the buffer that you lost sight of the other diamond in the rough?"


    "It seems like your eyes aren''t what they used to be."


    They all teased him, but there was nothing that he could say since it was true.


    He had completely ignored Long Shui Ling in favour of Lin Fan and he couldn''t help regretting it now.


    After all, this combo was much greater than Lin Fan alone.


    Adding Long Shui Ling''s illusion in, they were the perfect support combo.


    After teasing him a bit, there was someone that asked, "Should we try to get her into the Awakener Association?"


    When this was said, everyone''s eyes couldn''t help lighting up as they revealed excited looks.


    That was right, even if Lin Fan was unavailable because he already belonged to Elementia, that didn''t mean that it was the same with Long Shui Ling. They were certain that these two had only met in the second round, so they didn''t both belong to the same organization.


    That meant that Long Shui Ling was a free agent.


    If they could bring her into their fold¡­then her illusion power would be theirs.


    But before any of them could take it any further, the serious looking examiner suddenly said, "Don''t even think about it. We can''t touch that one."


    All of them couldn''t help revealing surprised looks since they never expected this serious looking man to chime in.


    Even though he walked along with them, he was actually the head examiner and he had the power to back it up.


    He was someone that was much higher ranked than them.


    And if he said this, they had no choice but to believe it.


    But they still couldn''t help being curious why he would say something like this.


    The serious looking examiner didn''t even need to look at them to guess what they were thinking, so he just calmly said, "Look at her file and you''ll know. She''s from a place that we can''t touch even more than Elementia."


    Even more than Elementia?


    Elementia was one of the top guilds and one of the strongest organizations in this world, how could there be a place that was even above that?


    But the moment that they saw Long Shui Ling''s file, they immediately understood what he was talking about.


    That place¡­that really was untouchable¡­


    If they tried, it would be hard to predict the consequences.


    But if she was from that place, then wouldn''t it be a problem for Lin Fan that she was so close to him?


    When they looked back at the two of them, they couldn''t help revealing looks of pity for Lin Fan.


    They knew that he was certain to suffer at the hands of his in laws in the future,


    It was just a good thing that Lin Fan didn''t see this since these examiners were good at hiding their expressions. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The serious looking man just said with a sigh, "Just focus on your jobs and stop gossiping so much."


    The other examiners gave perfunctory nods, but it was clear by the looks in their eyes that they were still planning on having fun.


    But the serious looking man didn''t care about any of that.


    The matches continued and the number of people left dropped.


    We were slowly weeded out by the tournament format and there were only four people left.


    Surprisingly and not surprisingly at the same time, both Long Shui Ling and I both remained.


    We had been able to take care of our opponents and advanced slowly to the top four.


    Now that we were here, it was very likely that we would meet.


    But before meeting, there was someone else that I would be facing first.


    "Lin Fan and Zhao Kui, come to the stage."


    It was Zhao Kui, the one that held a grudge against me this entire time.

 Chapter 160 - 160: Irregular License Exam (40)

    When the two of us were called, he glared at me from the other side of this stadium before heading down to the stage.


    As I prepared to head down, Long Shui Ling said in a voice filled with confidence, "Don''t play around with him too much."


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I heard this.


    It seemed that she had quite a bit of trust in me.


    Then I shouldn''t let that trust down.


    I said with a faint smile, "I''ll be back soon."


    When the two of us were standing on the stage, Zhao Kui glared at me and said, "Now you''re going to pay for what you did in the second exam. You think that you can just steal my boss and get away with it? In your dreams!"


    I gave a shrug and said, "Let''s just get this over with."


    Zhao Kui''s face twisted in rage when he heard this.


    He pointed his finger at me and roared, "You really think that you''re so great? You think that you can do whatever you want? I''ll show you what real power is right now!"


    I once again gave a shrug and this time, I didn''t even bother to answer him.


    I just waited for the judge to start the fight.


    Zhao Kui also turned to the judge when I saw him ignore him like this. He also wanted to start the fight so he could ''teach me a lesson''.


    Seeing this, the serious looking man gave a nod and raised one hand before saying, "Begin."


    As soon as his voice fell, Zhao Kui immediately threw out several rocks at me.


    These were tiny pebbles at first, but as they flew through the air, they became bigger and bigger. They grew in size until they were like giant boulders flying at me.


    I didn''t panic when I saw this since I had already seen this before.


    With a sweep of my sword, I easily cut through the boulders.


    These boulders might be big, but they weren''t strong.


    That was what I had noticed when I watched Zhao Kui fight the Lizardman King.


    He might be able to make things bigger, but that didn''t increase the hardness of the material that he used. All it did was make whatever he wanted bigger, but it was still the same as before.


    So a boulder like this was easy for me to cut in half.


    He also couldn''t do the same thing as before where if I had shattered it, he would have made the fragments bigger to smash against each other or to rain down on me.


    Seeing this, Zhao Kui slightly knitted his brows before saying, "If you really think that this is all that I can do, then you''re mistaken."


    He pulled out the shield on his back and it suddenly became bigger as he slammed it into the ground.


    Even after he slammed it into the ground, the shield continued to grow bigger and bigger until it completely blocked my view of him. Even then, it continued to grow until¡­it separated the arena in half.


    This completely blocked me from reaching Zhao Kui.


    I could hear his voice coming from the other side.


    "Now you won''t be able to do anything." Zhao Kui said in an arrogant voice.


    Then as soon as his voice fell, there were shadows that appeared on the ground.


    These were shadows that came from above.


    When I looked up, I found that there were boulders that were coming down at me.


    It was the same as before where he threw rocks up into the air and then made them bigger to form these boulders.


    Then those boulders fell down at me like this.


    Since I was trapped by the shield, there was only limited space for me to go.


    But I didn''t panic at all.


    If it was anyone else, they might not know how to deal with this.


    However, I knew that I would be able to deal with it.


    For this first wave of boulders, I just simply cut them apart with my sword and dodged out of the way.


    The remaining bits of the boulder landed there on the ground around me.


    "Ha, ha, you think that this will be enough?" Zhao Kui''s voice rang out.


    I was a bit confused how he was able to see this until I saw the camera that was attached to the shield.


    This thing was right on top of the shield wall, allowing Zhao Kui to see over it and to see me behind the shield wall.


    Money really was a convenient thing, it allowed one to get all of these useful items.


    But there was nothing better than one''s own strength in situations like this.


    I looked at the shield wall with a smile before saying, "Become dizzy."


    Zhao Kui had been lifting up more rocks to throw over the wall when he was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea.


    He didn''t know where this wave of nausea came from, but he found it hard even standing up when he was filled with dizziness like this.


    There was no way that he would be able to throw the rocks over the shield like this.


    That was when I took advantage of this and said, "Faster and stronger."


    Then with a single leap, I jumped over the shield.


    Zhao Kui looked up at me and wanted to fight back, but he found that he was barely able to move because of the strong nausea that he felt.


    He wasn''t able to do a single thing as I quickly fell down in front of him.


    He reached his hand up as if he wanted to stop me, but I just simply swung my sword and slapped him across the face with it. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was the flat of the blade that I used to slap him, so he wasn''t that injured.


    But with the wave of nausea he felt and the slap to the head, he wasn''t able to keep himself upright.


    When he fell to the ground, his eyes rolled back in their sockets and he was knocked out.


    In one simple move, I had taken down Zhao Kui.


    There was only silence that followed.

 Chapter 161 - 161: Irregular License Exam (41)

    There was no one that said a word, there were even people that were holding their breath as if they couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    It had happened so fast that it almost seemed like a dream, but this scene in front of them didn''t change when they pinched themselves.


    It was true, I had defeated Zhao Kui in just a single move.


    After another bit of silence, the serious looking examiner finally said, "Lin Fan is the victor."


    The only one that clapped after this was Long Shui Ling.


    But I didn''t mind that I didn''t receive any applause from this crowd.


    I just simply gave a nod and then left the stage to return to my seat.


    What I didn''t know was just how much of a stir I had caused among the examiners.


    "Not only can he buff, he can even debuff?"


    "You all saw it, he can even cause nausea like that with a single command!"


    "Why didn''t you tell us about this earlier!"


    The last comment was aimed at Elliot who just had a bitter smile on his face when he heard this.


    The simple reason¡­he didn''t know either.


    "The puppet only provided a simple test for basic abilities, it didn''t do any further tests for other abilities. It isn''t as if he would be able to use this kind of debuff on a puppet, would he?"


    After some thought, they had to admit that he was right.


    And they weren''t able to see what he had done in the dungeon, so they wouldn''t have learned about it even if he had used it in the dungeon.


    So they couldn''t really blame Elliot for not knowing¡­


    Still, they chose to tease him still.


    Part of it was to play with him and part of it was because they had nothing else that they could do.


    This was the only way that they could vent their shock and frustration.


    If only he wasn''t already in Elementia¡­


    Still, they couldn''t change that fact so they could only vent.


    After returning to my seat, Long Shui Ling once again took her spot by my side and she held my arm with a happy smile on her face.


    But that didn''t last long since it was her turn to fight next.


    The one that she was fighting was the magical girl, Chelsea. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She had met the young man with the pompadour, Andrew, in the quarterfinals and he had given up without a fight which she was clearly upset with, but that didn''t stop him from doing it.


    So now she was the one that was facing Long Shui Ling.


    When the two of them stood there on the stage, they both looked at each other with respect.


    Long Shui Ling respected her since she knew that she was different from Zhao Kui. She knew that she had been forced to follow him, but she actually had skills to back up her position.


    Chelsea respected Long Shui Ling since not only was she in second place, she had seen the power that she had used against the others.


    Since both of them respected each other, this wouldn''t be a fight where there was any dirt to it.


    This would be a clean fight.


    After a long silence, both of them saluted each other before the serious looking examiner said, "Begin."


    The moment that the serious looking man''s voice fell, Chelsea suddenly raised her wand and pointed it at Long Shui Ling.


    As she did, she muttered under her breath, "Sulfur."


    Then there was the smell of rotten eggs that appeared in the air around Long Shui Ling.


    She had already seen this before, so she knew exactly what was happening, but she didn''t move at all.


    Chelsea hesitated for a second when she saw this, but then she said, "You''re already surrounded, I can blow you up at any moment. As long as you surrender, I''ll release it right now."


    The crowd was surprised to hear this since they couldn''t see or smell the sulfur gas, but they knew that something was off with how Long Shui Ling didn''t move at all.


    But Long Shui Ling just revealed a smile before disappearing.


    Chelsea was shocked to see this, but she could already guess what was happening.


    It was an illusion.


    She had already seen Long Shui Ling use this enough that she was able to tell exactly when the illusion started.


    So she pointed her wand forward and was about to ignite the sulfur.


    She didn''t believe that Long Shui Ling would be able to escape the range of the sulfur gas in time, so she knew that it would work even if she couldn''t see her.


    But before she could ignite it, there were several figures that appeared in front of her.


    "This¡­" Chelsea said before slowly lowering her wand.


    As the crowd watched Chelsea stand there in place, they couldn''t understand what was happening.


    But from time to time, she would say some things.


    "No, it''s not true!"


    "It''s just that¡­"


    "I swear, it''s the truth."


    Finally, she broke down and started crying as she fell to her knees.


    It seemed that her will to fight had been completely broken.


    It was also at that time that Long Shui Ling suddenly appeared out of thin air.


    She walked over to Chelsea and slowly helped her up, while also comforting her by telling her that everything she saw wasn''t real.


    Long Shui Ling then leaned in and whispered something that seemed to make a blush appear on Chelsea''s face.


    The two of them talked about something in low voices for a bit before Long Shui Ling took out a piece of paper that she handed over to Chelsea.


    Chelsea had a look of confusion, but she still took the piece of paper in the end.


    After that, they separated and left the stage in different directions.


    The serious looking examiner gave a sigh and said, "The winner is Long Shui Ling."

 Chapter 162 - 162: Irregular License Exam (42)

    With this, the finals were set.


    As expected, it was me against Long Shui Ling.


    If it came down to a fight, it definitely would have been a hard fight for me¡­


    But there was no fight in the first place.


    There was an intermission that was given for each battle so that people could recover after a fight. So there was a ten minute intermission that was given after Long Shui Ling''s fight with Chelsea.


    During this time, everyone looked at the two of us with strange looks.


    It would be the two of us in the final fight, but¡­we didn''t seem like we cared about that at all.


    Long Shui Ling was still happily holding my arm and offering desserts that she had prepared at the hotel to me.


    I just received it all with a faint smile on my face.


    It seemed like we were here on a date rather than here to take an exam.


    After the ten minutes were over, the serious looking man said, "Lin Fan versus Long Shui Ling. Competitors, please come to the stage."


    But even after he said this, neither of us moved.


    Everyone just stared at us in silence, as if they were waiting for us to react.


    Even the examiners were staring at us as if they were almost pressuring us to do something.


    But the two of us didn''t do a thing as we were just in our own world.


    In the end, the serious looking man had no choice but to say with a cough, "If the two of you would come to the stage, we''ll¡­"


    Before he could finish, Long Shui Ling raised her hand and spoke with a bit of irritation in her eyes, "I forfeit. Is that enough?"


    "Huh?!"


    That was all everyone could say, even the examiners were not an exception as they did not expect this.


    The only one that still had a calm look on their face was the serious looking examiner.


    He narrowed his eyes to look at the two of us as if he was trying to figure out if we were being serious or not. But after staring at us for a bit, he suddenly relaxed his brows and gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, do whatever you want."


    When he said this, everyone looked at him in shock.


    The examiners were more shocked than the competitors since they knew who this serious looking man really was.


    For him to make an exception like this¡­it really was a big deal!


    But what they didn''t know was that the serious looking man was helpless in this matter.


    Even if he wanted to do something, he didn''t dare actually make a move.


    That was because¡­the other side was Long Shui Ling¡­


    As long as it was what she wanted, there was nothing that he could do.


    After all¡­he couldn''t go against the people behind her¡­


    Plus, there really was no reason for them to hold this final match.


    It was clear what kind of power the two of them had, so there was no need for them to show off their power. It would have been nothing more than a show if they actually fought each other, so it was better to save this time.


    The serious looking examiner gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, let''s move on to the presentation."


    All of the examiners looked at him with strange looks like they were trying to figure out just who he was.


    After all, they didn''t think that he was the person they knew with the way that he was acting!


    The presentation that he was talking about was the final part of this exam, it would be where they handed out the Irregular Licenses to these people that had passed.


    But at the same time, it would be a kind of ceremony where they would light a fire under those that had placed lower by showing them what one could gain if one had the ability.


    The ones that placed lower received their licenses one by one and they didn''t have any problems with them.


    Of course, there were some that were unhappy because of their rank, but they couldn''t do a thing.


    There were those that received E Ranks and those that received D Ranks, but there wasn''t a single person that went beyond that and received a C Rank. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even Zhao Kui, Chelsea, and Andrew only received D Rank even with the skills that they had displayed.


    When he received it, the look on Zhao Kui''s face was like he wanted to tear someone apart, but he didn''t have anyone that he could vent this anger on.


    After all, the examiners here were all stronger than him and if he really went on a rampage¡­it wouldn''t end well for him.


    So the only thing he could do was let that anger fester in his heart.


    He would vent it on the person that he thought was responsible for all of this, the one that had defeated him.


    Lin Fan.


    When he went back, he believed that he would be able to crush him with the power of his family.


    For now, he just took comfort in the fact that Lin Fan would be receiving the same rank as him.


    Or at least that was what he thought¡­


    The serious looking examiner called Lin Fan and Long Shui Ling over at the same time.


    He looked at the two of them before giving a satisfied nod and saying, "Since you two have demonstrated exceptional skill, you will be receiving a C Rank Irregular License."


    When he said this, everyone looked at the two of them in silence and shock.


    They couldn''t believe what he had just said.


    I was even surprised to hear this.


    After all, from what I had heard from Su Chen, it was already the best for someone to receive a D Rank Irregular License. It had been years since someone had directly reached C Rank from the exam.


    That was also why the requirement was only set for D Rank instead of higher.


    So naturally I was caught off guard when they made this exception.

 Chapter 163 - 163: Irregular License Exam (43)

    Even when they brought the licenses over, it didn''t seem real.


    The Irregular License was a card that could double as ID, so it was something that was made very carefully.


    But different from everyone else, our cards were made of silver while theirs were made of bronze.


    It seemed that once you reached a certain rank, your card would be made of different materials.


    I couldn''t help wondering what B Rank or A Rank cards would be made of.


    But I quickly shook that thought out of my mind as I looked at the serious looking examiner who presented this card to me.


    Moving only my mouth, I whispered, "Is this really alright?"


    He just looked at me with a smile without saying anything, but¡­he did take a look at Long Shui Ling on the side who was just playing with her card. She was playing with it like she would with a toy, like she didn''t care about it at all.


    The way that he looked at her was very strange.


    It wasn''t a look of lust, but rather¡­there seemed to be a trace of fear in his eyes.


    It was almost as if he was trying to tell me something with this look.


    I had an idea of what he was trying to say and I already had my own ideas.


    I knew that Long Shui Ling wasn''t simple, but it seemed that I had even underestimated that. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She might be more than just not simple.


    She might be a terrifying person.


    But that was also a good thing.


    Since my suggestions were in place, it wouldn''t take long for me to harvest the seeds that I had planted.


    When that time came, I would enjoy the fruits of my labour.


    After the cards had been presented, we were all led to a banquet that was to celebrate our passing of the exam.


    This was apparently a tradition since there were plenty of people from the different guilds and alumni of the exam that were here.


    In a way, this was to help the ones that had graduated find a place for the future.


    Naturally, Elementia had also sent a group to this event.


    When they saw me, they just gave me a nod of acknowledgement before looking at the others who had passed.


    They knew that I was already in the guild, so there wasn''t a need for them to talk to me.


    They had a job here to do and that took precedent.


    I didn''t mind at all since I understood that.


    But it was a good thing that I had gotten Long Shui Ling to stop clinging to me here.


    If they saw this and reported it to Bing Lan¡­


    Long Shui Ling was unhappy about this, but she still understood what I was thinking and behaved.


    However, she still stuck to me during the party, following close behind.


    And at this party, we were considered the guests of honour.


    Everyone had been informed of the results and they knew that we were the two top rankers of the exam.


    As such, they all wanted to pull us to their organizations¡­or at least that was the case with me.


    Even when I told them that I was a part of Elementia, that didn''t stop them.


    The strange thing was that¡­no one dared to talk to Long Shui Ling.


    It was almost as if they were terrified of her.


    If she didn''t talk to them, it didn''t seem like they would talk to her.


    Just what was her identity that she would even scare these representatives from the top guilds?


    "Mr Lin, if you join us, we will offer five times what Elementia has offered you."


    "Screw that, we''ll give you the same treatment as an A Ranker and will give you a dedicated team."


    "We''ll make you one of our vice guild leaders."


    There were a bunch of different offers that came from the various representatives of the different guilds.


    If I wasn''t already committed to Elementia, I might have actually been moved by these offers.


    After all, the things that they offered definitely weren''t small.


    These were things that most people would have gone crazy over.


    But all of the seeds that I had sown were in Elementia and if I were to move to a new guild, it would all go to waste. Not to mention, I would have to start from nothing if I were to leave Elementia now and go to a new guild.


    So it just wasn''t worth it for me.


    I turned down all of the offers that I received in the end.


    They didn''t want to seem to give up even though I rejected them, but they gave up in the end when Long Shui Ling pulled me away.


    When it came to her, they didn''t dare do a single thing.


    It was almost as if they were scared of her.


    She pulled me over to the buffet and started getting some food for me.


    Once she got a plate for me, she started getting her own food.


    While she was picking out her food, she said to me, "It''s annoying how they just won''t leave you alone. I don''t get any private time with you."


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard this.


    If any of them had heard her say this, they would have been terrified.


    After all, there was how they had acted around her previously.


    It was clear that she had a very special identity.


    But before I even answered, she suddenly changed her tone and said, "The most annoying thing is a certain someone who just won''t leave you alone."


    When she said this, I narrowed my eyes to look in the direction that she was referring to with her eyes.


    There was a young man there who was glaring at me even though he was surrounded by other people. The look in his eyes was anything but kind.


    It was Zhao Kui.


    It seemed that he still didn''t give up his grudge.

 Chapter 164 - 164: Irregular License Exam (44)

    "I''ll take care of him."


    Long Shui Ling suddenly said in a confident voice that caught me off guard.


    I looked at her with a surprised and confused look when she said this, but she just looked back at me with that confident smile on her face.


    It was like she was a completely different person from before.


    This was the personality that the young miss of a powerful family should have.


    But the her from before was also her.


    It seemed that she was quite the sheltered young miss that she wasn''t able to talk to strangers properly, but underneath was still the powerful young miss of a very powerful family.


    So this was her personality when she wasn''t holding herself back.


    The tone that she had said this in wasn''t a question, but rather a statement.


    It was as if she was already saying that she would take care of this.


    But this was a good thing for me.


    If she took care of Zhao Kui and saved me problems in the future, then that would be good for me.


    So after thinking about it, I gave a nod and said, "Alright, but don''t take it too far. Make sure that he doesn''t hurt you."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a blush when she heard this before saying with a confident smile, "There''s no problem. I''ll take care of him easily."


    This confidence that she spoke with, it wasn''t light.


    It was as if to her, she really could take care of him with a single wave of her hand.


    After this party was over, we were picked up by our people who were waiting there for us. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were some that just headed off on their own, there were some that took the Awakener Association''s Transport Gates back to their own cities, and there were some that lived in this city that had people waiting for them.


    For me, it was Su Chen who was waiting there for me.


    When I came out, he immediately waved his hand to get my attention.


    I couldn''t help revealing a smile when I saw him waiting there for me and I walked over to him.


    While walking over, Long Shui Ling also followed me.


    When Su Chen saw Long Shui Ling walking over, the smile on his face turned stiff as if he recognized her.


    But before we could go over to him, there was someone dressed as a butler that came up to us¡­or rather, he came over to pick up Long Shui Ling.


    "Young miss, there you are! I''ve been looking all over for you!"


    Long Shui Ling recognized this person as she said, "Sebastian, why are you here so early? Didn''t I tell you to wait for me by the car?"


    The butler called Sebastian quickly came forward and said, "How could I do that? Do you know how worried I was about you? I''ve heard all kinds of rumours¡­"


    As his voice trailed off, I could have sworn that he looked at me.


    But why did he do that?


    What kind of rumours did he hear?


    Were these rumours about me and Long Shui Ling?


    If that was the case, then didn''t that mean that Bing Lan and Bing Xue would also hear these rumours?


    This might be bad for me¡­


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips and said, "What rumours? Why haven''t I heard anything?"


    Sebastian didn''t answer this question as he said, "Your father wants to talk to you, so he''s already waiting at home for you."


    When her father was mentioned, Long Shui Ling''s expression couldn''t help changing. She said in a surprised voice, "Ah, daddy''s waiting at home?"


    Sebastian said with a nod, "Along with the madame. They are waiting for you with a celebration party."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a happy smile when she heard this, but then she hesitated a bit as she turned back to look at me.


    I said with a smile, "Go home and celebrate with your family. You have my contact information, right?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a happy nod when she heard this before she said, "I''ll be waiting." Then under her breath, she added in a voice that I could hear, "Though I might see you first."


    Before I could even ask anything, Long Shui Ling had walked away with Sebastian.


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face before walking over to Su Chen who had been patiently waiting the entire time.


    But when I walked over, Su Chen didn''t react at all as he kept looking in the direction that Long Shui Ling and Sebastian walked off in.


    It was only when they disappeared that Su Chen asked, "How do you know that person?"


    I was surprised to hear Su Chen ask this, but I still calmly said, "I met her during the exam and we worked together for one of the stages. What''s wrong? Do you know her?"


    Su Chen looked at me with a strange look and asked, "You don''t know who she is?"


    I was even more surprised and knitted my brows a bit when I heard this.


    It seemed that Su Chen had an idea of what Long Shui Ling''s identity was.


    So I shook my head and asked, "Do you know who she is?"


    Su Chen didn''t answer right away as the strange look on his face became heavier. After a long silence, he said, "That''s the young miss of the Long Group."


    "Long Group?" I repeated before suddenly revealing a look of recognition, "You mean that Long Group?"


    Su Chen gave a slow nod before saying, "Yes, that Long Group."


    This time, it was my turn to be shocked.


    After all, the ''Long Group'' that Su Chen was referring to was¡­the top company in the world.


    This was a company that dipped its fingers in every single industry and was rumoured to even control different countries behind the scenes.


    This was a company that was at the very top of the business world and even had ties to the political world.


    And Su Chen was saying that Long Shui Ling was the young miss of that Long Group?


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before asking, "Are you sure of this?"


    Su Chen once again gave a slow nod before saying, "The young miss of the Long Group is known for being elusive, but I''ve met her before. I had gone to the Long Group with the guild master and the vice guild master once and I met her there, so I''m certain that it''s her."


    I couldn''t help being even more shocked when I heard this.


    But secretly, I was laughing.


    Wasn''t this a jackpot?


    I already knew that Long Shui Ling''s identity wasn''t simple, but this was beyond that.


    Since I had already laid down my suggestions, it would only be a matter of time before she was under my control.


    And when that time came¡­wouldn''t I be able to control even the Long Group through her?


    This was the top company in the world, it wasn''t something to look down on.


    Seeing that I didn''t react at all, Su Chen slowly said, "You should be careful with her. She definitely isn''t a simple person."


    I just said with a smile, "We''re just acquaintances that met during the exam, you don''t need to worry about that."


    Su Chen still looked at me with a strange look, but he gave a nod in the end.

 Chapter 165 - 165: Skill points

    The ride back was silent.


    Su Chen didn''t say anything since he seemed to be thinking about something, but I also was lost in thought, so I didn''t say anything.


    When he dropped me off, Su Chen said, "I''ll come pick you up in three days. The guild master said that you can have a few days off to rest up after the exam."


    I gave a nod and waved my hand to thank him before heading up.


    As he walked away, Su Chen looked at him with a complicated look.


    It was only when he had gone up that Su Chen drove off in his car.


    It was already late at night, so there weren''t many people that were walking around.


    I didn''t waste any time heading into my apartment either since there was something else that I wanted to do.


    After sitting down, the first thing that I did was¡­let out a long sigh of relief.


    This really had been a long few days.


    Even last night, I didn''t really get much sleep¡­


    So I really wanted to lay in bed and hibernate right now, but there was something else for me to do first.


    After that long sigh, I sat up again and opened up the system interface.


    I took a look at my new stats.


    Name: Lin Fan


    Age: 19


    Gender: Male


    Level: 14


    Experience: 323/14000


    Job: Demon King of Lust


    Skills: Hypnosis (Level 4), Time Stop (Level 1), Eyes of Lust (Level 1)


    Skill points: 6


    Strength: 43


    Agility: 45


    Intelligence: 21


    Vitality: 51


    These stats, they really were different from before.


    Other than my intelligence, everything had exploded compared to before.


    That was all a result of Su Chen''s training.


    It was because of that training that I now had abilities that were far beyond the normal person.


    But there was also a part of it that was from leveling up.


    Each level up had given me one stat point for each of my stats, so that had also helped me grow.


    However, what I cared about today were these skill points.


    I gained one of these points for each level up and I had been using them to level up the Hypnosis skill previously.


    The first level up had been one point, the second had been two points, and the third had been four points.


    It seemed that the points required to level up a skill increased with each level the skill increased by.


    So level five costs eight skill points to level up.


    I had been saving up my points the entire time for that level up since I thought that the Hypnosis skill would be the most useful one.


    But now¡­I had different thoughts.


    Instead of saving up my points, it would be better for me to level up another skill before focusing on Hypnosis. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was planning on putting some points into the Time Stop skill.


    I had always thought that Hypnosis would be my most important skill, but now I realized how important the Time Stop skill was.


    It was my only life preservation skill, so ten minutes was far from enough.


    If I ever encountered a strong person and I needed to run away, I would need more than ten minutes.


    Plus, I knew how to get more points now, so it didn''t matter if I put points into this skill.


    Taking a deep breath, I pressed the plus button on the screen in front of me and leveled up the Time Stop skill.


    But I only pressed it once to level it up to level two.


    Once I had done that, I immediately checked the description of the new level two Time Stop skill.


    "It''s gone up to an entire hour!" I couldn''t help saying in a surprised voice.


    I had thought that it would double in time to twenty minutes, but it turned out that it went up to an entire hour.


    This wasn''t a small increase in time limit since an hour was definitely more than enough to deal with most situations.


    But I still had skill points left.


    So I pressed the plus button again and leveled up the Time Stop skill to level three.


    "Six hours! It actually went up to six hours!"


    I was filled with pleasant surprise when I saw this.


    If I kept increasing this Time Stop skill, would I be able to freeze time indefinitely?


    If that was the case, would anyone be able to do anything to me?


    No, I can''t say that.


    I quickly forced myself to calm down as I faced the truth.


    There were many different Awakeners out there with different powers, so there should be one that has the power to go against my Time Stop skill. I shouldn''t let myself be too filled with confidence over this small matter.


    I should still focus on becoming as strong as possible.


    There weren''t enough skill points left to increase the Time Stop skill by another level.


    Level four required four skill points, but I only had three left.


    But that meant that I had enough points to upgrade another skill.


    The third skill that the demon king system had given me, the Eyes of Lust.


    This was the skill that I had avoided using since it was the most despicable one out of the three, but now that I''ve made up my mind¡­


    This skill would without a doubt be helpful to me in achieving what I wanted to achieve in the future.


    Not to mention, it did have a very powerful ability that I had just avoided using up to now because of how I had felt.


    But now that I''ve made up my mind, I should use anything and everything at my disposal.


    So without any further hesitation, I pressed the plus button that was beside the Eyes of Lust skill twice. I just directly upgraded this skill to level three and used the rest of my skill points.


    Skill points could be earned, but a life was something that each person only had a single one of.


    If I lost my life while still having skill points left, I would surely regret it.


    So it was better to upgrade my skills while I could.

 Chapter 166 - 166: After the exam (1)

    "Ling Ling, you''re finally home!"


    A sharp dressed man ran forward with his arms spread while having a loving look on his face.


    But in the end, he was dodged by the girl that he was running towards.


    When he turned around, he said with a sad look, "Ling Ling, why did you dodge out of the way of daddy''s love hug?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a sigh before saying, "Daddy, I''m already this old and you''re still trying to hug me like this. I''m not a little girl anymore."


    The sharp dressed man revealed a serious look and said, "No matter how old you are, you are always daddy''s little girl." He turned to the beautiful woman watching all of this and said with that same serious look, "Isn''t that right, honey?"


    The beautiful woman gave a nod and said with a serious look as well, "Our little girl will always be our little girl."


    Seeing her parents like this, Long Shui Ling could only give a sigh and shake her head.


    But there was no denying the faint smile that was creeping onto her lips.


    Rich families might scheme against each other, but that was only normal rich families.


    When they were the richest family in the world, there was no need for such a thing since there was plenty for everyone.


    Not to mention that Long Shui Ling was the only successor.


    The Long Family was special where they took their marriages very seriously.


    They would only have a single partner and unless they wanted to, no one forced them to have multiple children.


    So currently, there was only Long Shui Ling who was the successor of the Long Group.


    She was the one and only young miss of the Long Family. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was a status that couldn''t be taken lightly.


    After they teased each other a bit longer, the three of them happily went over to the dining table where there was an old couple waiting for them.


    Even though there were signs of old age with these two, they were still very handsome and beautiful.


    Not to mention, they were full of majesty as the elders of the prestigious Long Family.


    But the moment that Long Shui Ling came in, that majesty disappeared.


    "Ling Ling, you''re finally back!" The old woman said with a happy smile on her face.


    "Come here and let grandpa take a look at you! Are you hurt anywhere?" The old man said with a worried look.


    Long Shui Ling happily ran over to this old couple and then turned around for the old man before saying, "Grandpa, I''m fine. You don''t need to worry about anything, I didn''t get hurt at all."


    The old man wouldn''t accept this and carefully looked over her, making sure that she was absolutely fine.


    The old woman shook her head and said, "You worry too much about Ling Ling, she might hate you for it one day."


    The old man revealed a look of shock before turning back to Long Shui Ling and saying, "Ling Ling, you wouldn''t hate me, would you?"


    Long Shui Ling saw the wink from her grandmother and tilted her head as if she was thinking while saying, "I don''t know¡­it does get annoying sometimes."


    The old man looked like it was the end of the world when he heard this.


    Long Shui Ling''s father revealed a faint smile before coming forward to save him, "Father, since we''re all here, let''s eat. The dishes have all been prepared, so they''ll get cold if we wait too long."


    Seeing his way out, the old man gave a nod and said, "Un, let''s eat."


    He turned back to Long Shui Ling with a smile and said, "Ling Ling, your grandmother and mother worked all afternoon to prepare this for you. They made sure to make all your favourites."


    The two women nodded with smiles on their faces after he said this.


    Long Shui Ling just sat down with a happy smile and started eating without a care.


    During dinner, they asked her about what had happened during the Irregular License Exam.


    Long Shui Ling just gave a simple recount of what had happened during the exam.


    She made sure to leave out a few things that she didn''t want her family finding out about.


    But since they were her family and she was their precious daughter/granddaughter, they were able to pick up certain things from the way that she spoke. They were able to see the emotions that were on her face and hear the tone of her voice as she spoke.


    The women revealed smiles while the men narrowed their eyes.


    When she was finished, she suddenly said in a voice that seemed like she had remembered something, "Oh, right, there was something else I needed to tell you about."


    When the adults heard this, they all turned to look at her with inquisitive looks.


    This was something special that she wanted to specifically tell them about, it shouldn''t be simple.


    The men had worried looks since they thought that it was what they feared the most.


    But it turned out it wasn''t that.


    "There was someone who tried to hurt me during the exam."


    The moment that she said this, there was only silence that followed.


    It was so quiet that one could even hear the sound of a pin dropping.


    "Huh?!" All of a sudden, the two men said this before exploding.


    "Who dares to try and harm my precious little girl! Daddy will take care of them and wipe them off the face of the Earth!" Long Shui Ling''s father stood up as he said this.


    "Stay out of the way! This old man will take care of my granddaughter''s problems!" Long Shui Ling''s grandfather also stood up.


    The two women shook their heads and gave sighs, but then they also revealed sharp looks.


    Long Shui Ling waited for them to finish before telling them about what happened with Zhao Kui¡­though her account made it seem more serious than it actually was.


    "Good Zhao Family! See how father takes care of you!"


    "You sit down! I''ll take care of them! It seems like they''ve forgotten about this old man after I disappeared for a few months!"


    Long Shui Ling revealed a happy smile when she saw this.


    She told Lin Fan that she would take care of this and this was her way of taking care of it.


    It seemed that there was only misfortune in the future for the Zhao Family.

 Chapter 167 - 167: After the exam (2)

    In a different manor that was less luxurious than the Long Family''s manor.


    "Father, I''m back."


    Zhao Kui announced as soon as he came in the door.


    But all that he was met with were grim faces.


    He was confused when he saw this and asked, "What''s wrong? Did something happen?"


    No one answered him as they all looked at the screens in front of them with grim looks on their faces.


    Zhao Kui didn''t know what was happening, but he could tell that something was seriously wrong for everyone to be acting this way.


    He had expected a triumphant return after he passed the Irregular License Exam, so this was completely different from what he was expecting.


    Finally, after a long silence, his father said, "It''s the Zhao Group, we''re facing a crisis."


    Zhao Kui''s face immediately filled with shock when he heard this before he said, "How could the Zhao Group be in crisis in just the few days that I''ve been gone?"


    Zhao Kui''s father shook his head and said, "It''s not in a few days, it''s been in the past few hours."


    Zhao Kui was even more shocked when he heard this before quickly asking, "What do you mean in the past few hours? Just what has happened?"


    Zhao Kui''s father didn''t even bother explaining as he just handed over one of the tablets he had been using.


    Zhao Kui had a confused look when he took this tablet, but he still took it and looked at what his father wanted him to read. As he read the articles that were on the tablet, his expression couldn''t help becoming uglier and uglier.


    "Slander! This is all slander!" Zhao Kui slammed his fist down after he finished reading this.


    "It''s not." A voice came from the side.


    Zhao Kui turned to look at his older brother who had been sitting there in silence.


    He couldn''t help being surprised that his older brother had suddenly spoken up at this time, but he knitted his brows and asked, "What do you mean?"


    Zhao Kui''s older brother took a deep breath before saying, "It''s all true."


    Zhao Kui''s face filled with shock when he heard this.


    If it was anyone else who said this, he might not have believed them.


    But since it was his older brother who said these words, he had no choice but to believe.


    That was because his older brother was the vice president of internal affairs for the Zhao Group.


    He was the one that handled all the inner matters for the Zhao Group, for their father.


    It could even be said that he was the cleaner for the Zhao Group.


    If there were any dirty secrets that the Zhao Group had, he was the one that knew them all.


    So he was the greatest authority on this matter.


    If he was saying that all of these articles were true, then there was no denying them.


    The articles that Zhao Kui had just read were about the Zhao Group''s misdeeds.


    These were articles that talked about the bribes the Zhao Group had made, the coverups that the Zhao Group had done, and all different kinds of evil things that the Zhao Group had done to further their business.


    Of course, there was black and white in the business world, so these things were necessary to get ahead.


    But they should have all been hidden without leaving a single trace.


    So how had they found this out?


    Zhao Kui looked at his older brother and asked, "How did they find all this out? Shouldn''t all traces of this have been erased?"


    Zhao Kui''s older brother had a frown on his face as he shook his head and said, "I have no idea. I remember not leaving a trace, but somehow they were able to dig all of this up¡­"


    As his voice trailed off, he revealed a look of deep thought as if he was trying to figure something out.


    Zhao Kui couldn''t help peeking at the other tablet that was on the table.


    The good thing was that the market''s were closed, so they had some time to fix this¡­but he could see that the projections for the Zhao Group''s stock prices were getting worse and worse.


    Zhao Kui''s father then said with a sigh, "The worst part is that they keep releasing new articles on the hour, every hour! It''s almost as if they are doing this on purpose just to mess with us!"


    As if on cue, there was another article that suddenly appeared on the tablet that Zhao Kui was holding.


    This was another article about another one of the Zhao Group''s misdeeds.


    As soon as this article appeared, the stock price projections once again dropped¡­


    All of them had grim looks on their faces as they just sat or stood there in silence.


    But after a long silence, Zhao Kui''s father suddenly said, "But it''s a good thing that you''re back."


    Zhao Kui was surprised and a bit confused to hear this.


    Good that he was back?


    What could he do to help?


    He wasn''t someone that was skilled in business or had that much influence that he could stop the media from reporting these things.


    So how could he help?


    Zhao Kui''s father''s expression relaxed a bit as he said, "I''ve gotten word that an important person also took part in the exam today. Since you''re my son, I''m sure that you were able to build a relationship with that person through your outstanding performance. As long as we can get that person to help us, it won''t be a problem for our Zhao Group to weather this storm."


    Zhao Kui revealed an even more surprised look when he heard this before asking, "Who is it?"


    While he had only placed third, that was third out of everyone.


    He was sure that he had made an impression on everyone, so he would still be able to get them to work with him if he wanted to.


    That was the confidence that he had.


    It was just too bad that this confidence was about to be smashed when he heard his father''s next words. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing the confident look that Zhao Kui had when he asked this, his father gave a satisfied look before saying, "I''ve heard that the daughter of the Long Group also took part in the exam today."


    "Long Group?" Zhao Kui couldn''t help repeating after his father before slightly knitting his brows.


    For some reason, this seemed familiar.


    Of course he knew what the Long Group was, but he felt like he had met someone with the surname Long today¡­


    He had been too focused on Lin Fan the entire time that he had forgotten about most of the others. But for some reason, the surname Long seemed very familiar¡­


    Zhao Kui''s father gave a nod before saying, "That''s right, the young miss of the Long Group, Long Shui Ling." Then with a laugh, he said, "I''m sure that with your outstanding performance, you should have been able to charm her completely. When the time comes, we can even become in laws with the Long Group."


    However, Zhao Kui wasn''t as positive as his father.


    He finally recognized this name¡­


    Wasn''t that the name of the girl who had stuck with Lin Fan the entire time?

 Chapter 168 - 168: After the exam (3)

    Zhao Kui''s father slowly stopped talking when he saw the look on Zhao Kui''s face.


    The moment that he saw this look, he knew that this wasn''t a good look.


    His face also turned dark as he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Zhao Kui hesitated to speak at first, but in the end he still said, "Are you certain that her name is Long Shui Ling?"


    His father''s expression turned even darker when he heard this. His father wasn''t a fool, so he was able to tell that there was something wrong the moment that he heard this.


    "What did you do?" Zhao Kui''s father said in a deep voice.


    Zhao Kui had the same ugly look on his face as he took a deep breath and said, "I might have figured out who it is that''s attacking our Zhao Group¡­"


    As his voice trailed off, Zhao Kui''s father suddenly slammed his fist down on the table as he roared, "This brat! You actually¡­!"


    He didn''t get to finish what he wanted to say as he suddenly clutched his chest.


    When Zhao Kui and his older brother saw this, both of them quickly came forward to support him. However, when his father saw him coming over, he suddenly punched Zhao Kui in the face.


    After punching him, his father roared out, "This little b*stard! Do you even have eyes! This wastrel is doing everything that he can to destroy our family!"


    Zhao Kui fell to the ground and held his face with an aggrieved look, but he didn''t dare say anything.


    He knew that this was his fault, so there wasn''t anything that he could say even if he wanted to say something.


    It was his older brother who broke the silence that followed by saying, "Father, please calm down. You know that with your blood pressure, you can''t get agitated like this."


    Zhao Kui''s father was still clutching his chest and panting, but with the urges of his older brother, his father sat down in the end.


    His older brother went to get some medicine and some water for his father before saying, "For now, we should think of a way to solve this problem."


    After taking the medicine and taking a deep breath to calm down, Zhao Kui''s father gave a nod of agreement and said, "What do you propose?"


    This was where Zhao Kui''s older brother fell silent.


    Even if he wanted to say something, there was nothing for him to say since he didn''t have any ideas.


    If he did, he would have already given them earlier.


    So the room fell into an awkward silence.


    That was until Zhao Kui said, "I have an idea."


    When Zhao Kui''s father heard this, he immediately slapped the table again and shouted, "Haven''t you already caused enough trouble?! You want to play around even more!"


    One moment he had been praising him and the next, he was scolding him like this.


    It was like he had turned into a completely different person.


    But that just went to show how serious this situation was.


    His older brother once again came forward to hold his father back as he said, "Father, let''s not be hasty. Let''s hear what Xiao Kui has to say first before we make a decision."


    Zhao Kui''s father gave a snort and turned his head, but he still sat down as if he was waiting for Zhao Kui to give his idea.


    Zhao Kui gave his older brother a grateful look before saying, "There was someone who was with Long Shui Ling during the exam, it seemed like they were quite close."


    Both of them immediately knitted their brows when they heard this as they fell into thought.


    This¡­was a double edged sword.


    If they really went down this path, then there would definitely be no way of reconciling with the Long Family after this.


    But if they didn''t take this path, their Zhao Group would be destroyed.


    In the end, Zhao Kui''s father said, "Who is it?"


    With this, he had made his decision.


    It would all be over if the Zhao Group was destroyed, so for now¡­it was better to take the path that had less consequences.


    Zhao Kui''s eyes lit up when he heard this before he told them about Lin Fan.


    After hearing this, Zhao Kui''s father turned to his older brother and said, "How long will it take to get this information?"


    His older brother hesitated for a minute before looking at the clock and saying, "I''ll try for under an hour, but it''ll be hard."


    Zhao Kui''s father just gave a sigh and said, "Do what you can."


    His older brother gave a nod before leaving the room.


    Seeing him leave, Zhao Kui had an excited look.


    He had planned on taking revenge on Lin Fan in the first place, so now that it had coincided with this, it really was the best case scenario for him.


    He couldn''t wait to see Lin Fan again.


    ¡­


    Fifty minutes later, his older brother came back with an ugly look on his face.


    When Zhao Kui''s father saw this expression on his face, he also revealed an ugly look before saying, "What''s the damage?"


    His older brother shook his head and said, "It''s not good, not good at all."


    Then he placed the folder that he had been holding in his hand in front of his father.


    Zhao Kui''s father picked it up right away and as he read it, his expression became more and more ugly.


    Zhao Kui had been indulging in his fantasies of taking revenge on Lin Fan, but he was also pulled back to reality when he saw this.


    He could tell that something was wrong.


    Before he could say anything, Zhao Kui''s father suddenly threw this folder in Zhao Kui''s face and roared, "You useless thing! You really are something, aren''t you?"


    Zhao Kui was bewildered seeing this reaction from his father, but he looked down at the folder that had been thrown at him.


    He knew that whatever had caused his father to act this way was written on this folder. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he read what was written, he couldn''t help being shocked. He couldn''t help muttering, "Impossible."


    "Impossible?" Zhao Kui''s father asked, "There''s nothing impossible in this world!"


    He slammed his fist down and roared, "Not only did you offend the Long Family, you even dragged Elementia into this!"


    "I, I, I¡­" Zhao Kui stammered as he didn''t know how to respond.


    He never thought that poor looking man named Lin Fan would actually be someone from Elementia, one of the biggest guilds in the world!


    How could that be possible?


    But then again, if he wasn''t¡­that wouldn''t have explained his performance during the exam¡­


    His older brother raised his hand and said, "Father, please calm down or you''ll hurt yourself again."


    Zhao Kui''s father took a deep breath before pointing at the door, "Leave, I don''t want to see you right now."


    Zhao Kui opened and closed his mouth a few times before lowering his head and walking out.


    After he closed the door behind him, there was only silence that lingered in the air in the room.


    But after a while his older brother said, "Father, should we consider cutting Zhao Kui off?"

 Chapter 169 - 169: After the exam (4)

    "Mom, dad, uncle, auntie, we have to move."


    When Chelsea said this, her parents and Andrew''s parents were all surprised and confused.


    They didn''t know why she would suddenly say this, so they looked over at Andrew for some clarification.


    But he just gave a nod to show that he agreed with this too.


    After a moment of silence, Chelsea''s father said, "Honey, we can''t just leave like this. There''s nowhere else for us to go. We''re not rich enough to move and even if you''ve passed the exam and have become an Irregular License holder, we can''t just leave that easily."


    The other three parents nodded in agreement.


    They were of course happy that Chelsea and Andrew had passed the Irregular License Exam, but her suggestion to move was just too sudden.


    Even if they had passed and become owners of the Irregular License, it wasn''t as if their lives would change right away.


    They wanted these two to slowly get used to their new lives before making any changes.


    Even if they were Irregular License holders now, they still haven''t joined any powerful organizations that would allow them to soar up to become phoenixes yet.


    Plus¡­they were hoping that these two would settle down soon.


    As parents, they could naturally see the way that the two of them felt about each other, which was why they were acting like in laws already. That was why their two families were celebrating together instead of alone in the first place.


    Chelsea shook her head and said, "No, we can''t stay here for much longer¡­"


    After a pause, she said with a heavy voice, "The Zhao Family won''t leave us alone anymore."


    The moment that she said this, all four of the adults couldn''t help being shocked.


    They looked at Andrew for confirmation and once again he gave a nod.


    After a long silence, Chelsea''s father asked, "What happened?"


    Chelsea gave a sigh before telling them about what had happened in the exam with Zhao Kui.


    When she had finished her story, all four of the parents had heavy looks on their faces.


    They knew what it meant to offend the Zhao Family since all four of them worked for the Zhao Group.


    "Is there no way of reconciling? What if you went to apologize?" That was Chelsea''s father''s first response after hearing this.


    Chelsea couldn''t help knitting her brows when she heard this.


    She couldn''t help feeling a bit frustrated when she saw her parents like this¡­


    But she held it back and said, "It''s already too late for this."


    When they heard this, the parents once again knitted their brows.


    Taking a deep breath, Chelsea said, "That''s why we need to pack up and leave."


    They just looked at her with a lost look and asked, "Where would we even go? Where would we be able to go so that we can escape the influence of the Zhao Group?"


    Chelsea fell silent when she heard this.


    Chelsea''s father gave a sigh before saying, "I know what kind of personality the young master of the Zhao Group has, but you were too hasty. I know you are talented, but you offended him too rashly. The Zhao Group just has too much power."


    The other parents nodded in agreement to this. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    None of them said a thing as they fell into deep thought.


    It was already too late to regret this. All they could do was think of a way to help their children out of this predicament.


    Chelsea and Andrew were both saddened to see their parents like this.


    After years of being oppressed, they had already become submissive and it really hurt them to see them like this¡­


    With a sigh, Chelsea said, "Actually, there is a place for us to go."


    "Huh?" All four parents suddenly looked up with surprised looks.


    Chelsea''s father then asked, "What do you mean by that? You should know that there isn''t a place where we could hide from the Zhao Group."


    Chelsea gave a sigh before saying, "There''s someone that wants to hire me and Andrew. As long as we work for them, they should be able to give all of us jobs and provide us with shelter."


    The four parents knitted their brows once more after hearing this.


    Chelsea''s father slowly said, "Honey, you should know how powerful the Zhao Group is¡­it''s not something that normal people can compare to. Even if they are willing to hire you, once they find out that it''s the Zhao Group that you''ve offended¡­"


    His voice trailed off, but the meaning behind his words were clear.


    Once they found out that it was the Zhao Group, then they would abandon them.


    Chelsea shook her head and said, "No, they aren''t afraid of the Zhao Group."


    All four of the parents knitted their brows when they heard this.


    Chelsea''s father then said, "Honey, you shouldn''t believe people''s words that easily. People can easily say one thing and mean another¡­that is just the world that we live in."


    Chelsea shook her head again before saying, "No, I know for sure that she''s not scared of the Zhao Group."


    They once again looked at Andrew and he gave another nod.


    It was only then that they said, "Alright, then let''s try to trust this person¡­"


    Chelsea couldn''t help pouting her lips and turning to look at Andrew after they said this.


    Why didn''t they trust her and only accepted this after seeing that Andrew agreed?


    Andrew just revealed a bitter smile and a shrug when he saw this.


    He could have explained, but it would have only made things worse if he did.


    So he knew better than to actually say anything.


    After they had agreed to this, Chelsea pulled out a small piece of paper that had a note on it.


    This was what Long Shui Ling had passed her after their fight.


    Opening it, she said, "With this note, we''ll be able to find new jobs and a new place to live."

 Chapter 170 - 170: Experimenting with experience points (1)

    Two days after coming back from the exam, I headed to Sasha''s bar again.


    When I arrived, I found that business was even better than before.


    But then again, now that her bar was supported by Elementia, it was only natural that it would become better.


    They had paid a percentage of the bar, so Elementia had a stake in the earnings.


    As such, they would do what they could to help the bar grow.


    Even the staff that had been hired were different. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The girls had become more beautiful and the bouncers were clearly much stronger than before.


    I could even feel the mana coming from them, showing that they were strong Awakeners.


    When I arrived, I just went right up to the bar and the same bartender as before let me into the back without a fuss.


    Even if the staff had changed, this bartender would still be the same.


    He was the final line of defense for this bar in the first place and Sasha''s trusted aide, so she wouldn''t replace him even if she had received Elementia''s support.


    When I went into her office, I found that Sasha was completely buried under paperwork.


    Now that Elementia had come in and made the bar bigger, it was only natural that she would have much more paperwork to do.


    Before this, Sasha had never done anything like this, so she was struggling.


    It was clear that she needed help.


    But that wasn''t what I was here for.


    When I came in, she looked up from the pile of paperwork and revealed a surprised look before asking with a smile, "What are you doing here?"


    I just walked into the room without saying a thing and then locked the door behind me.


    When Sasha saw this, she couldn''t help being surprised before slightly knitting her brows to ask, "Is there something wrong?"


    I shook my head and said, "No, I just don''t want others to bother us."


    "Huh?" She was even more confused when she heard this.


    I just calmly sat down in front of her before saying, "Well, it would be awkward if they were to see what we were about to do."


    "What are we going to do?" Sasha tilted her head in a confused manner.


    I said with an evil smile, "Didn''t you ask for it last time? Did you already forget?"


    It took her a minute to realize what I was talking about, but when she did, her mouth opened wide in shock. It took her another minute to come back to her senses as she slowly said, "Do you mean¡­?"


    Her voice trailed off, but the meaning behind them was clear.


    I just asked, "Are you saying that you don''t want to?"


    Sasha quickly shook her head before saying, "Of course not. I live to serve you, master."


    I gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Then what are you waiting for? Is this any way to present yourself to your master?"


    Sasha couldn''t help feeling a bit strange seeing me acting this way, but she still stood up and walked up in front of me. Then without any hesitation, she took off her clothes.


    She didn''t leave a single piece on as she stood there in front of me with her body exposed.


    At the same time, she didn''t even try to hide her body as she let me see everything.


    I couldn''t help taking a deep breath when I saw this.


    The last time that we did it, it was in the dungeon where we were surrounded by danger and I was using her to break those people.


    But now that we were out of danger, I could properly admire her body.


    Her figure¡­really was something else.


    Her chest, they were at least D cups and that hourglass figure really could turn the imagination.


    As she felt my gaze on her, she couldn''t help trembling as a bit of liquid dripped down her leg. At the same time, her nipples seemed to grow harder and harder until they stood firm in the air.


    But even then, I didn''t make a move.


    Finally, Sasha couldn''t take it anymore as she said, "Master, please stop teasing me. Please give it to me."


    Still, I didn''t move.


    I just looked at her and said, "I want to try something different today."


    "Huh?" Sasha was caught off guard when she heard this.


    She looked at me with a confused look at first, but that look quickly disappeared as she said, "Master, I am yours. You can do whatever you want with me."


    I gave a satisfied nod when I heard this before saying, "Freeze."


    As soon as I said it, Sasha found that she wasn''t able to move at all.


    She couldn''t help thinking back to what had happened in the dungeon and a chill ran down her spine.


    Slowly, she said, "Mas, master, this, this is?"


    I then looked into her eyes and said, "Silence."


    Her eyes opened wide as she found that she wasn''t able to say a single thing.


    She could only stare at me with a trace of fear in her eyes, but I completely ignored this.


    Only when she was frozen like this did I finally stand up and start moving towards her.


    But while I was moving towards her, I opened up a panel in front of me.


    It was the status screen.


    Out of this status screen, there was one thing that I was interested in, one thing that I was paying attention to.


    It was the experience bar.


    There was a reason for my coming here today.


    I wanted to run an experiment with her to see what would qualify as acting as the demon king of lust. I wanted to see what would give me experience.


    So I needed a way to measure that by keeping the status screen up while I did this.


    Once I was in front of her, I said with an evil smile, "You said that I can do whatever, so I will be doing whatever I want. Get ready."


    The trace of fear grew in Sasha''s eyes.

 Chapter 171 - 171: Experimenting with experience points (2)

    The first thing that I did was reach out and grab her chest.


    It was a single hand that came out to grab her breast.


    There was no reaction at all when I grabbed it, or rather she couldn''t react at all since I was controlling her body.


    But the look in her eyes made it clear.


    I didn''t care about that as I kept my eyes on the experience bar.


    Seeing that it didn''t go up, I started experimenting with her chest.


    I started pinching the nipple, groping her breast, and doing all kinds of things to her while she wasn''t able to move.


    But no matter what I did, the experience bar just wouldn''t increase¡­


    It seemed that it wasn''t just doing sexual acts that would be enough to give me experience. I had to do things like the demon king of lust would¡­


    Only, how would the demon king of lust do this?


    It really was hard without knowing exactly what was considered acting as the demon king of lust¡­


    Then¡­should I try something else?


    As I thought this, I looked into Sasha''s eyes.


    The fear that had been in those eyes had completely disappeared and it was replaced with a turned on look.


    Since that was the case, then it might be better if I¡­


    With this thought, I suddenly said, "Speak."


    As soon as I said this, Sasha found that she was able to speak again.


    The moment that she regained the power to speak, she suddenly said, "Master, please stop just teasing me. Please give me your big hard cock, I really need it."


    I couldn''t help revealing a satisfied smile as I watched her beg for it.


    But I wouldn''t give it to her that easily.


    While she was unable to move, I came forward and reached a hand down between her legs. I put my hand into her crotch and put it right over her clit before I started playing with it.


    "Ah, not there¡­I''m still sensitive¡­" She moaned while I played with her like this.


    "Ah, I''m almost there, I''m almost¡­"


    Before she could climax though, I suddenly stopped and pulled my hand away.


    Sasha had been so close to climaxing, but that had been suddenly pulled away from her, so she naturally lost it.


    "Master, please don''t stop. Please let me cum." She kept pleading with me, but I didn''t pay any attention to her at all.


    That was because¡­the experience bar finally moved.


    When I had stopped playing with her clit and denied her that climax, I had suddenly received a bit of experience.


    It wasn''t much, just twenty experience points, but it was still something at the very least.


    It seemed that I would be able to get experience points from playing around with Sasha like this.


    As for how much I would be able to get¡­that would depend on whether the system stopped giving experience points first or if her body wouldn''t be able to last.


    As long as I could keep using her body, I would keep using it to earn experience points.


    As for what it was that was considered acting like the demon king of lust¡­it was putting her in embarrassing situations and then taking control of her.


    As long as I asserted my dominance on her in some kind of sexual manner, it seemed that it would be considered acting like the demon king of lust.


    So once I figured out what I needed to do, I didn''t waste any time grinding out experience points.


    I just ignored her begging and turned around to walk towards the door.


    When Sasha saw this, she couldn''t help feeling a bit of fear as she said, "Master, where are you going? Are you going to leave me like this?"


    But I just ignored her as I went right up to the door and reached slowly for the handle.


    While she was panicking like this, I could see that I was receiving experience points.


    It was only one at a time, but it was still something.


    After my hand came up to the door, I didn''t turn the handle as Sasha feared, but just unlocked the door. Then I turned around to look at her with a smile before walking back towards her.


    Sasha had also fallen silent as she didn''t understand why I just did what I did.


    When I stood there in front of her, I suddenly grabbed her chest again with both hands and pulled down on them.


    "Ah, not so hard. Master, not so hard¡­" She said in a loud voice.


    I didn''t stop pulling on them, but I said, "Are you sure that you want to be this loud? What if someone hears and comes to check on you? The door''s not locked, do you want them to see you like this?"


    Sasha suddenly stopped crying out in pleasure when she heard this as her eyes trembled.


    She looked at me with a fearful look before saying, "Master, please¡­"


    Before she could finish saying this, her eyes trembled again as she suddenly stuck out her tongue and said, "Ah, not there, not there!"


    I was still playing with her breasts with one hand. I had grabbed both of her breasts just with her nipples and were pulling down on them.


    My other hand went down in between her legs and I started playing with her clit.


    I rubbed her clit back and forth, going faster and faster as I played with her.


    "Ah, ah, ah!" She kept saying as her voice also grew louder and louder as she came closer to climaxing.


    When she reached a certain point, I suddenly said, "Are you sure that you should be this loud? What if someone outside hears you?"


    Sasha suddenly bit her lip when she heard this, but even then she still let out moans of pleasure.


    I didn''t care at all about the way that she looked at me as I continued playing with her, bringing her closer and closer to climaxing.


    In the end, she wasn''t able to hold her voice back at all as she said in a seductive voice, "Ah! I''m cumming!"


    There was a loud spray that suddenly shot out from between her legs onto the floor and even though her body was restrained, it couldn''t help unconsciously trembling from her climax.


    If it wasn''t for my order keeping her standing, she might have collapsed by now.


    Her eyes had completely rolled back in her head and her tongue was sticking out, letting drool fall down onto her breasts.


    When I saw her like this, I just couldn''t help myself¡­ S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was already turned on before, but seeing her lose herself like this made the tent in my pants even bigger.


    I really was starting to feel the pressure coming from it.


    It wasn''t a pleasant feeling.


    But before either of us could do anything else¡­there was a sudden knock on the door.


    Both of us froze and turned to look at the door right away, as we waited to see what would happen.


    The door didn''t open, but there was a female voice that rang out.


    "Boss, are you alright? I heard some noise coming from your office."

 Chapter 172 - 172: Experimenting with experience points (3)

    Both of us let out a secret sigh of relief when we heard this.


    We both thought that we had been caught, but this was a very easy situation to deal with.


    But I was also determined to make it a bit harder for Sasha.


    I looked at her with a gaze indicating something and she understood what I was implying right away.


    "I''m fine, you don''t need to¡­ah¡­"


    When she started speaking, my hands started moving forward again.


    One hand went to her chest while the other hand went between her legs.


    The hand that went to her chest grabbed one of her breasts and started kneading.


    The hand that went between her legs started playing with her clit again.


    "Boss, are you alright? Do you need help?"


    When the person outside heard her moan like this, they couldn''t help asking this in a worried voice.


    Sasha looked at me with an aggrieved and begging look, but I just looked back at her with a smile as I said, "You better keep your voice calm, or else¡­"


    Sasha bit her lip after hearing this, but she still followed my orders.


    "I¡­ah¡­I''m just doing a bit of¡­umm¡­of exercise, so I''m feeling a bit weak. You¡­oh¡­don''t need to worry. I''ll¡­no¡­I''ll be out in a bit." She said in a shaky voice.


    There was a silence that came from outside the door before the voice once again said, "Alright, boss¡­If you need anything, just call."


    The sound of footsteps of something walking away was heard before they disappeared.


    When they were gone, Sasha let out a sigh of relief before¡­


    "Ah, not so rough. Master, please be gentle."


    Of course, I completely ignored this as I did whatever I wanted with her body.


    The more that I played with her, the louder her voice became again.


    Sasha did her best to control her voice, but it kept leaking out even though she was biting her lips.


    I just watched the status screen, watching the amount of experience points increase as I kept playing with her like this.


    Finally, she couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Ah, I''m cumming again¡­"


    Her body couldn''t help shaking uncontrollably as she released a spray that covered the floor.


    The amount of liquid that was dripping down her leg was like a flood already.


    At the same time, it was clear that she was running out of power.


    If it wasn''t for my power forcing her to remain this way, she might have already collapsed to the ground.


    All during this, she was panting like she had just run a marathon, letting the drool drip down from the corners of her mouth and onto her breasts.


    The more that I saw her like this, the bigger the tent in my pants became.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore.


    Even if I still wanted to tease her for more points, my lower half just wasn''t having any of it.


    I could always get more experience points later, for now, it was time to enjoy myself.


    So I took off my clothes as well before picking Sasha up and holding her over my shoulder.


    "Master, what are you¡­"


    Before she could react, I had swept off all the papers from the table and dropped her onto it, letting her lie straight on her back.


    I then took her legs and brought them up over her so that they were right up beside her legs before saying, "Hold these."


    Her hands moved without her controlling them and they grabbed her feet, holding her legs up like this.


    I got onto the table myself after this and then in one thrust, I pushed my dick deep into her.


    "Mas¡­ah! It''s so deep!"


    There was no resistance at all as I thrust into her.


    She was already wet from all the teasing that I had done, but at the same time¡­it was as if her pussy was perfectly shaped to match my dick. After what happened last time, it was as if she had molded herself to match me.


    I was able to thrust my dick all the way in with a single thrust. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Sasha''s head trembled and it looked like she wanted to reel back, but my powers held it in place. So all she could do was let her eyes roll back in her head as her tongue poked out.


    "Ah, ah, ah, more, more, more¡­"


    She didn''t even bother holding her voice back anymore as I thrusted in and out of her.


    With each thrust, there was a spray of liquid that came from between her legs.


    It seemed that she was getting pleasure with each thrust even though she wasn''t able to move at all.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore.


    The feeling of being inside her was just too much for me.


    This warm and tight feeling of her insides wrapping around my dick, it was too much for me.


    When I was about to pull out, Sasha suddenly said, "Inside, please do it inside of me master!"


    I was surprised by how enthusiastic she was being, but since she was offering¡­I had no reason not to go along with it.


    "Humph, well take it all. Get pregnant and raise the baby on your own." I said in an evil voice.


    Sasha didn''t care at all as she said, "Anything for you master! I''ll do anything for you!"


    If she could move, she would have certainly started thrusting her hips even though I was the one in charge.


    Seeing her like this, that smile on my face couldn''t help becoming wider.


    So I grabbed her hips and thrusted deep into her before blowing my load deep inside.


    After making sure that every bit was shot into her, I pulled my dick out and the cum slowly dripped out of her. At the same time, I said, "You can move now."


    After being in a daze for a bit, Sasha suddenly reached her hands up and moved them in between her legs.


    She covered up her pussy and stopped the cum from dripping out.


    I was surprised when I saw this, but then I revealed an evil smile again as I said, "If you want it that badly, I can still give you more."


    Sasha just looked at me with a seductive smile when she heard this.

 Chapter 173 - 173: Back to work

    A few more days after my experimentation with Sasha, I was called back to the guild.


    They had let me rest for over a week before calling me back.


    The first thing that happened was that I was called to the guild headquarters instead of being called to lead my usual dungeon delving group.


    It seemed that Bing Lan wanted to talk to me.


    Su Chen was the one that picked me up and we headed to the guild early in the morning.


    When we arrived, it was completely different from before.


    This time, people actually recognized me and pointed when they saw me.


    When I looked at Su Chen, he revealed a smile before taking out his phone to show me something.


    It was Elementia''s internal message boards.


    On the trending page was a picture of me and the title read, "New C Rank Irregular".


    They didn''t beat around the bush at all and just wrote the main story in the title.


    But that made it even more eye-catching.


    Su Chen then said, "So how does it feel to be famous like this?"


    I just revealed a bitter smile before saying, "It''s a bit like being an animal at the zoo."


    Su Chen chuckled when he heard this before saying, "Well, you''ll get used to it."


    I shook my head, but I didn''t say anything.


    As we walked through the main hall to the elevator, there were plenty of people that pointed at us while whispering to each other.


    But that wasn''t strange since this was Elementia''s headquarters.


    The people here were members of Elementia and they had access to these internal message boards. This was a topic that was trending on the main page, so of course they would have all read it.


    At least it got much more quiet when we reached the elevator.


    But as we stood there in the elevator, I remembered that we needed a special key card to reach Bing Lan''s office in the first place.


    So for now, we were just awkwardly standing there.


    I was about to say something when Su Chen suddenly pulled out something. He walked over to the buttons of the elevator and tapped something on the panel there.


    When I looked closely, I saw that it was a key card.


    It turned out that he had been silent not because it was awkward, but because he had been looking for this thing all along.


    As soon as the key card was tapped on the panel, the elevator suddenly started to move.


    It didn''t take long for us to reach the office and we saw Bing Lan sitting there waiting for us at the desk.


    To the side was Hua Rong who looked at me with a complicated look when she saw me.


    It seemed that she still didn''t like me¡­


    That was going to be a problem in the future if this continued because of what I was planning on doing.


    If Hua Rong were to get in the way of that¡­I might need to think of a way to deal with her.


    But before that happened, I wouldn''t do anything to her right now.


    After she saw us come in, Bing Lan looked at me with a smile and said, "There''s the man of the hour."


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward smile when I heard this before saying, "It''s not that big of a deal."


    Bing Lan looked at me for a bit before giving a nod and saying, "Alright, I won''t tease you today since you''ve accomplished something big."


    I gave an appreciative nod before walking up in front of her desk.


    She gestured to the seat in front of her and I sat down.


    After sitting down, she said, "Now that you''ve passed the Irregular License Exam, you can officially become a member of our guild."


    I gave a nod in response to this.


    Bing Lan waved her hand at Hua Rong who came over with some documents for me.


    After Hua Rong put these documents in front of me, Bing Lan said, "These are the contracts that you''ll need to sign to make everything official. Take your time to read it if you want." Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then she just fell silent, as if she was waiting for me to read them.


    I just simply picked them up and cruised over them a bit without caring too much about these documents.


    I could see that these documents were just formalities and I trusted Bing Lan enough to know that she wouldn''t do anything that would burn the bridge after crossing it.


    So after simply looking it over, I put my signature on it.


    When she saw me sign these contracts, Bing Lan gave a satisfied nod before turning to give a nod to Hua Rong.


    Hua Rong took those contracts from me and left the room, most likely heading off to process these contracts.


    Once Hua Rong was gone, Bing Lan said, "Now that everything''s been settled, you can go back to work."


    I was about to stand up after hearing this, but then Bing Lan said, "Or rather that is what I would like to say, but there''s something else that I have to discuss with you first."


    I couldn''t help freezing while standing up.


    I slowly turned to look back at Bing Lan, but it didn''t seem like she was joking with the expression that she had on her face.


    So I slowly sat back down.


    Su Chen was about to sit back down as well, but Bing Lan shook her head at him.


    Su Chen was visibly surprised by this, but after a moment of hesitation, he still stood up and headed out.


    As he walked off, he said, "I''ll wait for you outside."


    I gave a nod of acknowledgement to this before turning back to look at Bing Lan.


    She didn''t say anything until Su Chen was out of the room and had closed the door behind him.


    She looked right at me and said, "You have a new addition to your team and it''s someone that you already know."

 Chapter 174 - 174: A familiar name

    Huh?


    I wasn''t surprised that we would be receiving a new addition to the team since this kind of thing was common.


    But I couldn''t help being confused when I heard Bing Lan say that it was someone that I knew.


    There weren''t many people that I knew in Elementia, so it really helped me narrow it down.


    And to join our group, it should be someone that was quite skilled.


    It wasn''t hard for me to guess who it was with these facts¡­


    In fact, I already had an idea as to who it was. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Would it be Bing Xue?


    If it was her, then it would be a great addition to our team since she would help round it out.


    As this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help revealing a bit of an expectant look in my eyes.


    But when Bing Lan saw this look, she couldn''t help frowning.


    She looked at me with that frown on her face, not telling me who it was that was joining our group.


    When I saw her like this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit confused.


    After all, the look on her face almost seemed like she was¡­a bit disappointed with me and even a bit angry with me.


    Why would she be like that?


    There was another long pause before she said, "Are you really that excited about having this person on your team." As she said this, she even narrowed her eyes to look at me as if she was gauging my reaction.


    I didn''t know why she was doing this, but I could feel a bad feeling.


    It was as if there was something that wasn''t supposed to happen that was about to happen.


    So I forced myself to calm down and say in a calm voice, "I have no idea what you''re talking about. I don''t even know who it is yet."


    Bing Lan just looked at me with the same narrowed eyes without saying anything.


    I just looked right back at her without a single reaction on my face.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan said, "Humph, say what you want then."


    She took out a folder from the side and handed it to me before saying, "Take a look at your new teammate."


    I was surprised to see her handing me a folder, but I still took it and opened it up to see what was inside.


    When I saw the name that was in this file, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    It was definitely a name that I recognized, but I never expected to see this name here.


    Long Shui Ling.


    It turned out that the new teammate that Bing Lan had mentioned was Long Shui Ling.


    When Bing Lan saw the shocked look on his face, she couldn''t help feeling a bit better.


    It seemed that he didn''t know about this.


    Then the rumours that she had heard¡­


    She had been worrying for her little sister the entire time, but now it seemed that she had been worrying about nothing¡­


    "No, I can''t let my guard down." Bing Lan said to herself, "He could just be pretending or it could be something else."


    After telling herself this, Bing Lan''s eyes turned sharp once more as she looked at him.


    I looked at the file a few times, making sure that it was the Long Shui Ling that I knew.


    After reading it, I knew that it was indeed her.


    After all, there was no mistaking her power and her Irregular License that was attached to the file.


    I looked at it a bit longer before looking up at Bing Lan and asking, "When did she join our guild?"


    Bing Lan gave a snort before saying, "Is that all you have to say?"


    I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine when I heard this.


    As I had feared¡­she had already heard the rumours¡­


    But I forced myself to stay calm as I asked, "Isn''t she from the Long Family. Why would she need to join our guild?"


    Bing Lan looked at me with narrowed eyes once more, but after a bit of silence, she said, "She''s the one that asked to join us. Plus, the Long Family was endorsing her, so we had no choice but to accept her. You don''t know this, but we have received quite a bit of financial aid from the Long Group."


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile as I said, "So you were bribed?"


    Bing Lan''s lips twitched when she heard this before she said, "I''m still the guild master, you know? I should still be respected, don''t you know that?"


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward smile when I heard this, but I didn''t say anything.


    In the end, Bing Lan gave a snort and said, "Go and meet with your team. She heard that you were coming today, so she''s already waiting in the building. I''ve also had someone call the rest of your group so you can all meet."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by how quickly Bing Lan took action.


    But at the same time, I wasn''t looking forward to meeting Long Shui Ling.


    I had planned on keeping her separate from Elementia so that I could slowly work on corrupting both sides¡­


    But things didn''t go as you wanted in life¡­


    So I had no choice but to handle this matter as it was.


    I stood up and was about to leave, but before I could, I heard Bing Lan''s voice coming from behind me.


    "If you do anything to let Xin''er down, I''ll cut that part of you off."


    This was a cold voice that rang out from behind me.


    I turned around with a shocked look and I saw that she wasn''t even looking at me anymore.


    She had turned her chair around and was looking out the window behind her.


    But there was no mistaking what I had heard¡­so I just simply said¡­


    "I won''t ever do anything to hurt her."


    With that, I turned to leave her office.


    "You better not." Bing Lan said to herself as I left.

 Chapter 175 - 175: First encounter

    When I came out of the office, I found that Su Chen was there with Hua Rong.


    Once they saw me come out, they reacted in different ways.


    Su Chen revealed a smile and came over to my side when he saw me.


    Hua Rong¡­knitted her brows as she looked at me.


    It was clear that she still didn''t like me, but at least she wasn''t planning on doing anything.


    It was also a good thing that I didn''t have to stay here for long.


    Su Chen had already been informed about the Long Shui Ling matter, as well as being told where she was waiting for us. So he would be the one that would lead me there since he was my handler.


    As we were leaving, Hua Rong still looked at me with that same look, but I chose to ignore it.


    While walking through the halls of Elementia''s headquarters, I couldn''t help being surprised by what I saw.


    This place was much more advanced than I had thought.


    The halls themselves were already much more advanced than any other place that I''ve seen before.


    The lights, the walls, the floors, they were all made from special materials that came from the dungeon. As for how I knew that¡­it was because of the descriptions that popped up when I looked around, telling me all about these things around me.


    These were all materials that came from dungeons and they were not weak.


    These ores that were used were all ores that could be considered legendary, showing just how amazing Elementia was.


    Su Chen was surprised seeing me looking around as we walked through these halls.


    He would understand if there was something to be impressed by, but these were just simple halls that didn''t have anything special about them.


    But still, he just left me be.


    This place was also very big since it took us around ten minutes to even reach our destination. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It felt like we had been walking for a kilometer already with how far we had come.


    If I was a normal person, I definitely wouldn''t have been able to keep up without having to catch my breath.


    When we arrived, I could hear two voices coming from inside the room.


    And both of them were voices that I recognized.


    The moment that I heard them, a dark look appeared on my face.


    That was because the owner of these two voices were the last ones that I wanted to meet.


    As I walked in, I confirmed that it was indeed who I thought these voices belonged to.


    Inside of the room, Bing Xue and Long Shui Ling were currently talking to each other.


    It didn''t seem like they were talking about anything important based on what they were saying, but just the fact that they were talking to each other made me uneasy. After all, it only took a single slip of the tongue for this to turn ugly¡­


    So I walked over and cut in between their conversation.


    When they saw me, both of their eyes lit up and they revealed smiles.


    So far, it didn''t seem like the situation had degraded just yet¡­


    After I arrived, the first thing that I did was ask Bing Xue, "What are you doing here?"


    Bing Xue said with a smile, "I heard big sister mention that we had a special recruit coming today, so I came over to see her."


    She turned to Long Shui Ling and then came in close to take her in her arms before saying, "I never thought that it would be such a cute little sister."


    The expression on my face became uglier when I saw this.


    Long Shui Ling poked her head out from Bing Xue''s embrace and said with a smile, "I also never expected to find a friendly big sister as well."


    As far as I could tell, it seemed like they were getting along¡­


    But since Bing Lan had heard the rumours, Bing Xue should have also heard these rumours.


    Otherwise, why would she have come here to find Long Shui Ling?


    So I didn''t dare let my guard down.


    After they talked about a few more things that didn''t seem to have any importance, Bing Xue suddenly raised her hand and looked at her watch. When she saw what time it was, she suddenly said, "I still have something else to do, so I''ll be heading off first."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this, but I still said, "Alright, let''s talk later."


    Bing Xue gave a happy nod since she knew that this was now possible since he had passed the Irregular License Exam.


    In fact, the reason why she had come in the first place was all because she had heard that he had passed the exam.


    Seeing Long Shui Ling was nothing more than an excuse.


    Only when Bing Xue left did I let out a secret sigh of relief.


    I had thought that things would be much worse, but it didn''t seem like Bing Xue knew¡­


    The clock was ticking down now that Long Shui Ling was here¡­I needed to take care of things before it was too late and everything was exposed.


    But thinking of this, I couldn''t help turning back to Long Shui Ling and asking, "What are you doing here?"


    Long Shui Ling just said with a smile, "I''m the new member, I just joined today."


    I put my hand on my face before saying, "I know that. I mean why did you choose to join Elementia all of a sudden."


    Long Shui Ling just said with the same smile, "It''s one of the biggest guilds, so why wouldn''t I join?"


    I just looked at her with a wry smile as I knew what she was doing¡­


    I knew that it was impossible to get anything out of her, so I didn''t bother asking any more questions.


    I just had no idea what was going on in that little head of hers.


    At the very least, it seemed like she was keeping the relationship between us a secret.


    That was the one relief here.

 Chapter 176 - 176: Conflict (1)

    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, Long Shui Ling looked at me and asked, "Are you not happy to see me here?"


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help feeling a bad feeling, so I quickly said, "I''m happy to see you, but this was just too much of a surprise. I never expected to see you this soon."


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips a bit and said, "That''s because you never called."


    Then in a softer voice, she said, "I was waiting for you to call all this time, but you never called me once. You never even sent me a message¡­How was I supposed to know what kind of things you were up to when you never contacted me?"


    The way that she said all of this was like that of a wife complaining about her husband¡­


    It was just a good thing that Su Chen gave us some space since he knew that we had met before.


    He was sure that we would have things that we would want to catch up on, so he gave us this space.


    But if he heard what she had said¡­


    I took a deep breath before calming her down by saying, "I''ve been busy during this time. You should know how it is since I''m sure that you''ve had many things to do after returning from the license exam."


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a confused look and tilting her head when she saw this.


    It was clear that she had no idea what I was talking about¡­


    That was just the privilege that she enjoyed as a rich young miss¡­but not just any rich young miss. She was the richest young miss in the world.


    So there wasn''t anything that she would need to care about.


    But after a while, she revealed a look of understanding and slowly gave a nod.


    I could see that she didn''t fully understand by the look in her eyes, but at least she could sympathize with me¡­


    For now, that was enough since it got me out of this predicament.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t stay angry for long as she said, "From now on, we''ll be able to work together as a couple. I can''t wait."


    She held her hands on her cheeks as she said this, as if she was already imagining what would happen.


    But all I could feel was dread over this¡­


    Then as if to add on to this dread, Long Shui Ling said something that scared me.


    "Oh, that''s right. My father and grandfather asked me to bring you to our home sometime. They said that they were very keen on meeting you." As she said this, there was a blush that appeared on her cheeks.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more despair when I heard this.


    It seemed that things really didn''t go the way that I wanted them to¡­


    After a moment to calm myself, I asked, "Did you tell them about¡­''that''?"


    Long Shui Ling revealed a bit of a confused look when she heard this, but then there was a strong blush that came over her face when she realized what I was implying when I said ''that''.


    That blush went to the tip of her ears and she couldn''t help lowering her face. Her fist came up and she grinded it against my arm out of embarrassment for a while before she said in a very low voice, "How could I possibly tell them that?"


    I let out a secret sigh of relief when I heard this, but I still asked, "Then why did they want to meet me?" S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Long Shui Ling shook her head before saying, "I don''t know either. I didn''t tell them anything about what happened between us, I just gave them a simple summary of what happened during the test and how we worked together."


    After saying this, Long Shui Ling revealed a confused look.


    She indeed had been trying to figure out why her father and grandfather wanted to meet Lin Fan.


    But for me, I couldn''t help feeling more despair when I heard this.


    Since they were the powerful Long Family, there was no doubt that they would have heard the rumours already¡­


    If that was the case, this might be my final meal¡­


    But to not go¡­was also impossible.


    There was more that I wanted to say, but before I could say anything, there were some people that walked into this room.


    Two of them ran over with excited looks on their faces.


    Blaze said in an excited voice, "Boss, you really are something else! I never thought that you would become a C Rank Irregular!"


    Hayato came over much slower as he said with a proud smile, "As expected of someone that I admire. I wouldn''t have expected any less from you!"


    The other two walked over much more slowly.


    Qin Yue Ru also had a smile on her face as she walked over, but Claire was different.


    When she walked over, her eyes were narrowed as she looked at Long Shui Ling and me.


    Once she came over, she said, "Who is this?"


    When she said this, the others finally noticed Long Shui Ling and they were all surprised to see her.


    Long Shui Ling also couldn''t help taking a step back and hiding behind me when she heard this.


    She was fine when it was just the two of us and Su Chen left us alone, but now that other people were here¡­she went back to the shy personality that she had.


    Before she could trust a person, she was very shy with them.


    I gave a cough and introduced her, "I''m sure that you should have all heard, but this is Long Shui Ling. She will be the new member of our team starting today."


    After I said this, all of them focused on Long Shui Ling.


    They did already know this since they had been informed about this as soon as they were called in.


    But while the other three looked at her with kind gazes, Claire looked at her with the same narrowed eyes and said, "Why is she so close to you?"

 Chapter 177 - 177: Conflict (2)

    There was a silence that hung in the air after Claire asked this.


    All of us looked at her with different expressions.


    The other three looked at her with strange looks as they didn''t understand why she was acting this way.


    I couldn''t help feeling that there was almost a confrontational tone to her voice as she said this.


    But why would she do that?


    There should be no reason for her to act this way¡­


    Long Shui Ling also seemed like she could hear this, so she hid behind me and peeked out at Claire who just kept glaring at her as she did this.


    The silence lasted a long time before I broke it by saying, "Well, we met during the Irregular License Exam and we worked together. I wouldn''t say that we''re very close, but I can say that we know each other."


    I could feel a hand pinching my back when I said this, but I didn''t react to it at all.


    Right now, it was more important for me to hide my relationship with Long Shui Ling.


    It was fine for her to be a bit angry with me.


    Claire narrowed her eyes to look at me this time as if she didn''t trust me.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this and raised a brow to look back at her, as if I was trying to figure her out.


    She kept looking at me for a bit before suddenly turning to the side.


    She turned around and said with a snort, "A person that we have never met before and wants to join our team, are you sure that they''ll even be able to work with us? I don''t need anyone holding us back."


    The others couldn''t help slowly giving nods when they heard this.


    They had also been surprised when they heard that someone would be suddenly added to their group, but they definitely weren''t as against it as Claire seemingly was.


    It was almost as if she completely rejected Long Shui Ling as a person with how against it she was.


    Still, this would give them an answer to their question, so they just silently waited to see what would happen.


    I was about to say something, but before I could, Long Shui Ling popped out from behind me.


    Though she didn''t come out in front of me, at least she came up to my side and looked at Claire. At the same time, her hand also came out to the side and she grabbed my sleeve as if she was looking for support.


    Taking a deep breath, Long Shui Ling said, "While I may be new, you can''t just say that I will cause trouble without working with me first. I can''t guarantee that I won''t cause trouble, but I''ll say that I''ll do my best."


    After that, her face turned a bit red and she lowered her head.


    The other four all looked at her with surprised looks when they heard this.


    Then Claire gave a snort and turned around again without saying a thing. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other three all revealed smiles seeing this without saying anything.


    Qin Yue Ru was the one that came forward towards Long Shui Ling and reached her hand out towards her.


    Long Shui Ling hesitated for a second, but she still reached out her hand to take Qin Yue Ru''s hand.


    The two of them just held hands like this for a bit before Qin Yue Ru came right up to Long Shui Ling and said with a gushing look on her face, "You''re just so cute, I can''t help myself!"


    Long Shui Ling was taken aback when she saw this, but she remained there and let Qin Yue Ru take her in her arms.


    As she held her, Qin Yue Ru said, "I''ve always wanted a little sister, but I was an only child in the end."


    Long Shui Ling slowly reached a hand out and patted Qin Yue Ru''s hand.


    But I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard this.


    After a cough, I said, "She can''t be your little sister."


    "Huh?" Qin Yue Ru said with a confused voice.


    I said with the same bitter smile, "She''s older than me, so she can only be your big sister."


    "Huh?" This time, it wasn''t just Qin Yue Ru who said this.


    It was all four of them that suddenly said this before turning to look at Long Shui Ling with shocked looks.


    Long Shui Ling just revealed a smile and slowly gave a nod to confirm this.


    All four of them looked at her with even more shocked looks.


    This girl who looked like she was no more than ten years old was actually older than Lin Fan who was older than them?


    How was this possible?


    I just shook my head and gave a sigh before saying, "The sooner you accept this fact, the easier it''ll be."


    Then I just ignored them as they slowly broke the ice with Long Shui Ling.


    Because of Qin Yue Ru, the other two slowly also approached her.


    The only one that was still holding back was Claire who was strangely hostile towards Long Shui Ling, but that was something that couldn''t be changed in a single day.


    Seeing that things had gone well, Su Chen came over to me and said, "You have an appointment with a dungeon in the afternoon."


    I was surprised to hear this, but Su Chen added, "The upper management thought that it would be easier for you to bond if you work together to clear a dungeon."


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I heard this, but I just gave a nod to acknowledge this without saying anything else.


    Since they had prepared a dungeon for us, I had no reason to reject this.


    After all, they were right.


    It would help our team to work together to clear a dungeon, that would let them bond faster as they saw Long Shui Ling''s power.


    "You know that she likes you, right?"

 Chapter 178 - 178: New team (1)

    I narrowed my eyes when I heard this voice that I recognized.


    It was Lilith.


    Ever since I had used Sasha to level up and regain power as the demon king of lust, Lilith''s powers had also been slowly recovering.


    She had regained the ability to talk to me through my mind.


    "You mean?..." I thought in my mind.


    There was a chuckle that rang out before she said, "The blonde one of course."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this since I never expected her to say this.


    "Really?" I couldn''t help asking back.


    There was another chuckle as she said, "You''re quite dense aren''t you?"


    I revealed a bitter look when I heard this before slowly turning back to look at Claire.


    It was also at this moment that Claire turned to look at me.


    The two of us met gazes and after an awkward moment, she turned her gaze away. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As she did, there was a faint blush that appeared on her face.


    "Could it really be true? But why would she suddenly feel this way?" I couldn''t help thinking to myself.


    "You really are dense." That was all Lilith had to say and she wouldn''t say anymore when I questioned her on it.


    ¡­


    An hour later, we arrived at the dungeon for today.


    This dungeon was a D Rank dungeon called the Deep Hole.


    Since Long Shui Ling and I were considered C Rank Irregulars, we could have gone to a C Rank dungeon if we wanted.


    However, since this was Long Shui Ling''s first time working with our group, it was better that we entered a weaker dungeon. That would allow us to learn about each other and work on the dynamic of our party without any danger.


    As soon as we entered the dungeon, the mood of the party completely changed.


    The others had been chatting up to the moment that they came into the dungeon, but the moment that they came in, they immediately became serious.


    This was another dark type dungeon, so we had our lights prepared.


    These lights were magic lights that were far beyond what I had used before.


    These were floating orbs of light that would follow us around and give us light when we needed it.


    But at the same time, we could turn them off with a single thought.


    If I had had this light in the past¡­things would have been much easier.


    Still, it definitely made things much easier for this dungeon.


    After leaving the safe zone, it didn''t take us long to find a monster.


    The monsters that were in this dungeon were bat monsters that could release sonic screeches.


    So they needed to be taken care of before they released these powerful sound based attacks that were hard to guard against.


    As if she was trying to take initiative and show off, Claire moved forward as if she was about to take care of these bats.


    But before she could, I raised my hand to stop her before saying, "Let Shui Ling take care of it."


    When she heard this, she narrowed her eyes to look at me.


    At the same time, Long Shui Ling revealed a nervous look.


    But I looked at her and she understood what I meant by this gaze.


    This was a chance that I was giving her to show off what she could do to the party.


    After a pause, Long Shui Ling gave a nod and said, "Let me take care of this."


    The other three just stood aside and made way for her, but Claire looked like she clearly doubted Long Shui Ling''s ability as she stood there without moving.


    In the end, she still moved aside for Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling took a deep breath and moved forward so that she was only a few meters away from the bats hanging from the ceiling.


    She raised her hand and there was a mist that suddenly appeared around her that started to hide her.


    Then she disappeared from sight as the mist covered up everything.


    When she reappeared, the three bats that had been hanging on the ceiling were already on the ground and they had been cut in half. It didn''t take long for these bats to suddenly disappear and drop their loot.


    From the time that the mist appeared to the bats suddenly dying, only a few seconds had passed.


    Even if the others had taken care of these bats, it would have taken them at least a minute to be able to take them down.


    So of course they couldn''t help being shocked by how fast Long Shui Ling killed these bats.


    After a moment of silence, three of them came forward to praise her while one of them just stood there with a grumpy look on her face.


    The one that was grumpy was naturally Claire.


    But at the very least, she no longer acted like she was looking down on Long Shui Ling.


    Even if she was a fool, she had to acknowledge the power that Long Shui Ling had demonstrated.


    Even if it was her, she might not be able to resist this kind of attack¡­


    With just this one move, Long Shui Ling was able to win the respect of these kids.


    I gave a nod when I saw how they looked at her, knowing that it would be easier for us from now on.


    The only thing that was left was to work on our coordination and the only way to do that was to fight more monsters.


    After Long Shui Ling''s porter picked up the drops, I cut them off by saying, "Alright, let''s keep going."


    The moment that I said this, all of them immediately calmed down and returned to their position.


    That was just how well trained they had become.


    That was the fruit of my hard work with these kids.


    Long Shui Ling also came back, but she didn''t give up her position which was right beside me.


    Like this, we headed deeper into the dungeon.

 Chapter 179 - 179: New team (2)

    With Long Shui Ling''s illusion power, we were even stronger than before.


    Long Shui Ling''s ability was the one thing that our party lacked.


    We had a tank, plenty of damage, and support in the form of me and Qin Yue Ru, but we lacked a form of debuff that would confuse the enemy, making it harder for them to attack us and easier for us to attack them.


    With Long Shui Ling''s illusions helping us, it was easy for us to catch the enemies off guard.


    In just an hour, we were already halfway through the dungeon according to the map that we had been provided.


    The next location that we were heading was the area boss room.


    So far, we had been sweeping through the monsters in the dungeon, but now it was really time to test ourselves with the area boss.


    The area boss room wasn''t that far off and it didn''t take long for us to arrive.


    When we did, we found that the area boss was¡­a large bat.


    This bat was several times larger than the other bat monsters that we had faced before.


    At the same time, there were some strange features about this bat that made it seem much more dangerous.


    The main thing that concerned me were the fangs of its mouth.


    It made it look like a vampire bat¡­


    If we were bitten by it, would it suck our blood?


    I shook that thought out of my head as I focused on the giant bat in front of me.


    Instead of thinking these strange thoughts, I should be figuring out a way to take down this giant bat instead.


    So I turned my attention to the room that we were in. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To call it a room was actually an exaggeration, it was better to call this place a cave instead.


    It was a dead end where the giant bat had made its home which was a good thing for us.


    After all, dead ends like this usually meant that fire was good to use and we had a very good source of fire.


    The only thing that might have been a problem was if the fire went out of hand, but that wouldn''t be the case with Blaze''s control of his flames.


    So I figured that would be our plan¡­but before I could say it, Long Shui Ling spoke first.


    "I have something that I want to try."


    All of us were surprised by this sudden comment from Long Shui Ling.


    I looked at her and asked, "What do you want to do?"


    But before she could respond, Claire suddenly said, "What is there to discuss? It''s clear what we need to do." She turned and pointed at the cave before saying, "This is an enclosed space, we just have to trap them with fire and it''ll all be over."


    This was the same plan that I had thought of, so I couldn''t disagree with it.


    At the same time, the other three also nodded in agreement, showing that they had thought of the same thing.


    These four really had improved quite a bit during this time that they were able to think of the same thing as me this quickly.


    But Long Shui Ling shook her head when she heard this before saying, "That''s a bad plan."


    Claire immediately knitted her brows when she heard this before saying, "While I acknowledge your power, that doesn''t mean that I''ll acknowledge everything about you. You should know that we''re speaking from experience and you''re calling it a bad plan. So tell me, what do you think is a good plan then?"


    Long Shui Ling hesitated for a second before saying, "If you use fire, all you''ll do is create a trap for yourself. If the area boss can break free, then you''ll be trapped by the flames you''ve created."


    That was indeed one of the risks that using flames posed.


    But that was only a risk that came with not being able to control the flames properly.


    With Blaze''s ability, he would be able to create the flame wall that would completely trap the area boss without giving it any room to escape.


    So for Long Shui Ling to question this now meant that she didn''t trust him.


    That was why Blae felt a bit annoyed and he couldn''t help knitting his brows slightly.


    But in the end, he figured that it was because Long Shui Ling hadn''t seen his powers yet and didn''t know what he was capable of that she was saying this.


    It wasn''t because she was looking down on him.


    Long Shui Ling then said, "If you give me one minute, I guarantee that I''ll be able to create an opening for you to take down the boss in one move."


    All of us couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling with looks of disbelief.


    After all, this claim¡­was just too wild.


    She would be able to create an opening that would allow us to take down the boss in just one minute?


    That didn''t seem like it was impossible.


    After all, we could tell how strong the boss was from the magic energy fluctuations coming from it.


    But even with the looks of doubt that we had on our faces, Long Shui Ling looked at us with that confident look without backing down.


    After a moment of silence, I slowly said, "How about we give her that chance? It''s not as if we lose anything from letting her try, right?"


    Three of the others nodded in agreement to this, but there was still one that had a sharp look on her face.


    That person was naturally Claire who seemed like she was still against this.


    So I calmly said, "As long as Blaze gets ready to cast his flames, we should be able to trap them even if she fails."


    Claire gave a snort and said, "We shouldn''t be wasting our time on this in the first place."


    I gave a sigh and said, "Let''s just try to trust her, alright?"


    In the end, Claire said with another snort, "One minute, that''s all."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a smile when she heard this and she said, "You won''t regret this."


    With that, she started moving closer to the area boss.

 Chapter 180 - 180: New team (3)

    As Long Shui Ling approached, she raised her hand and there was the same mist as before that appeared.


    However, this time, she didn''t disappear into the mist.


    This time, the mist seemed to separate from her and floated forward towards the large bat and the bats around it.


    This mist was completely unnoticed by these bats as it surrounded them.


    However, it wasn''t calm for long.


    All of a sudden, the large bat suddenly twisted and bit one of the smaller bats nearby.


    As it sunk its fangs into this smaller bat, there was a large spurt of blood that came out.


    But that was only in the beginning as the blood stopped dripping out.


    It was almost as if there was something that was sucking the blood away instead.


    As expected, this large bat really was a vampire bat that sucked blood.


    After the large bat suddenly attacked one of the smaller bats, the other smaller bats turned in the direction of the large bat. Then they all opened their mouths at the same time and gave a screech.


    Or at least that was what it seemed.


    This was at a frequency that was too high for humans to hear, so it was impossible for our group to hear anything.


    But judging by the trembling of the large bat''s body, it was clear that there was some kind of effect.


    It was most likely some kind of soundwave attack that was hitting the large bat.


    The large bat let go of the smaller bat in its jaws and then turned to face the other smaller bats before opening its mouth as well, like it was giving off a screech.


    There was blood that suddenly came from the sides of the heads of the smaller bats before they dropped to the ground.


    It seemed that the larger bat had also used a sonic wave attack on the smaller bats, but it was much stronger than the attacks of the smaller bats.


    As expected of the area boss as one should say.


    The smaller bat that it had bit into first was already turning into drops, so the large bat turned to the other smaller bats on the ground. It seemed like it still hadn''t had enough blood yet, so it was going to suck them dry as well.


    When the large bat was about to bite into the smaller bats, Long Shui Ling suddenly said, "Now!"


    We hesitated for a second since we were shocked by how things developed, but then I shot out as fast as a rocket without waiting for anyone else.


    "Boss?!" The others couldn''t help saying in a shocked voice, but I just completely ignored them.


    Since Long Shui Ling had gone all out to trap this area boss, I should do what I could to take it down before anything else could happen.


    "Faster and stronger." I muttered under my breath before suddenly moving much faster.


    At the same time, I thought to myself, "Time Stop."


    After time stopped, I released the buff that I used, but I could still feel the torn muscles.


    That was just a ruse for the Time Stop, but it still hurt quite a bit.


    I came right up to the large bat and in one swift move, I cut the large bat''s head off.


    Once it was cut off, I took a few more steps forward before getting into a pose like I had just finished a slash before releasing the Time Stop.


    When the Time Stop was released, the large bat''s head fell off and there was only silence that followed afterwards.


    During this, I stood up and turned around, but I had moved too quickly and couldn''t help stumbling from the pain in my limbs.


    It really did hurt after all¡­


    The others had been silent at first, but when they saw me stumble, both Claire and Long Shui Ling came forward to support me.


    They came to both of my sides and helped me up before looking at one another with strange looks.


    The others all slowly came over with strange looks as well on their faces.


    However, I ignored all of that as I said to Qin Yue Ru, "Can you heal me?" Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She quickly gave a nod before raising her staff. There was a holy white light that appeared around this staff before it also appeared around me.


    I could feel the warm feeling that came from this magic that she cast and in no time at all, my muscles had recovered.


    I took my arms back from both of the girls and simply said, "Thanks."


    Both of them looked at me with concerned looks before turning back to look at each other with strange looks.


    I didn''t know why, but it felt tense for some reason¡­


    After picking up the loot that the boss dropped, Hayato and Blaze couldn''t help turning to Long Shui Ling to ask, "What did you do to them? Why did they suddenly start attacking each other like this?"


    That was the one thing that they had been confused about the entire time.


    The large bat had suddenly attacked the smaller bat which didn''t make any sense at all.


    They knew what it definitely had something to do with Long Shui Ling, they just didn''t know what she had done.


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help feeling shy again when she saw them acting this enthusiastically, but at least she didn''t hide behind me again.


    She lowered her head and said in a soft voice, "I just used an illusion to make them see each other as enemies. That way they would attack each other."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this.


    After all, I had once suggested this to Long Shui Ling during the test, but she had told me that she couldn''t control the illusions well enough to do this.


    But now¡­


    Looking at her, I couldn''t help revealing a smile and patting her on the head before saying, "It seems like you''ve been working hard."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a wide smile when she heard this.


    Claire narrowed her eyes, but that wasn''t all.


    She narrowed them even more when Long Shui Ling looked at her with a proud look.


    She wouldn''t have done this before, but it seemed like something had changed¡­


    This something that changed just made it more tense¡­

 Chapter 181 - 181: New team (4)

    We continued on further into the dungeon after taking down the area boss.


    But this time, it almost seemed like a competition between Long Shui Ling and Claire as they competed on how many monsters they could kill.


    Both of them were strong, so they didn''t need our help at all to kill these bat monsters.


    I might have been worried about Claire, but it seemed that she had also grown stronger during our break.


    She had been working hard while I was away, working hard to make herself stronger.


    But it wasn''t just her alone that was getting stronger, the rest of them had also gotten stronger.


    Even though we were in the dungeon, they all looked relaxed.


    They were no longer tense like when we had dived into dungeons together. They were no longer affected by the trauma of their first time in the dungeon, so they were much stronger for it.


    The only thing that could cure that was experience, so it was clear that they had gotten plenty of experience while I was gone.


    Seeing them like this, I couldn''t help feeling proud.


    After all, they were like kids that I had raised.


    I did the same thing for Long Shui Ling and patted the four of them on the head as well before saying, "Good job getting stronger while I was away." S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The one that received the head pat last was Claire and she couldn''t help revealing a smile as I patted her on the head.


    There was also a faint blush that was on her face as I did this.


    But the worst and confusing part of it all was the way that Long Shui Ling looked at me with an angry look on her face.


    With the map, it didn''t take us long to reach the dungeon boss.


    This was the last fight, so everyone was eager to show off what they had learned during this time.


    After all, Claire and Long Shui Ling had hogged the monsters on the way here.


    But I wouldn''t let them go.


    Even if we had all become stronger during this time, I didn''t let them let their guard down now that it was the final boss. This boss would still be powerful since it was able to rule over a dungeon like this.


    When we arrived in the final boss room, I peeked in to take a look at it.


    Strangely, this room was brightly lit unlike the rest of the dungeon.


    I was able to clearly see what was in the center of this ''room''.


    Though it was the boss room, it was actually a cave just like the area boss room.


    But that just made it more weird that it was brightly lit.


    In the center of this room, there was a black mass that was curled up.


    Unlike the bats that had been hanging off the ceiling before, this thing was just crouched there on the ground in the center of this room.


    It was as if it was huddling in the shape of a ball which seemed very strange.


    There weren''t any other things that were in this room other than that black mass that was in the center.


    It was clear that this black mass was the boss, but just what was it?


    Everyone narrowed their eyes to look at it, as if they were trying to figure out what it was.


    But I narrowed my eyes for a different reason.


    I had the demon lord system, so I was able to analyze it with that.


    Golbat


    Once it strikes, it will not stop draining energy from the victim even if it gets too heavy to fly.


    Golbat?


    What was a golbat?


    And wasn''t this description a bit too vague?


    At the very least, I was able to see its stats and the abilities that it had.


    But there was also a strange thing that was in the description along with all of this.


    What did it mean by poison/flying type?


    Still regardless, at least I was able to learn a bit about this boss in the center of this room.


    Such as what kind of attacks it would have.


    This was more than valuable enough.


    The only problem was how to tell everyone else about this.


    If I were to suddenly tell them, they would without a doubt be suspicious since I would have seemingly gotten this knowledge out of thin air.


    I had to think of an excuse before I did anything.


    Luckily for me, there was the young miss Long Shui Ling.


    She pulled out a thing that seemed like a tablet that she pointed at the black mass in the center.


    After she pointed this tablet at the black mass in the center, there was text that suddenly appeared on this tablet.


    Golbat


    It attacks in a stealthy manner, without warning. Its sharp fangs are used to bite and suck blood.


    It had the same name, but there was a different description under that name¡­


    At the same time, there weren''t the stats and abilities that my appraisal had found.


    But still, it was amazing that it got the name right.


    I pointed at this thing that Long Shui Ling was holding and asked, "What is this thing?"


    Long Shui Ling raised it up with a proud look on her face before saying, "It''s a tablet that has Appraisal magic inscribed on it. It''s one of the new products that our company created not that long ago, but it''s still not stable."


    After a pause, she still added, "It''s not able to reproduce the effects of a high grade Appraisal ability, but it is able to give some information at least."


    Claire said under her breath with a snort, "Humph, it''s something that your family gave you, what are you so proud of?"


    Long Shui Ling narrowed her eyes to look at Claire since she heard this, but she didn''t say anything in response.


    The rest of us couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling with amazed looks.


    We never thought that such a product would be possible.


    After all, Appraisal was a skill that was very rare in the first place, so there was no need to mention doing something like recreating it with machinery.


    This was without a doubt a revolutionary item and Long Shui Ling was taking it out so easily¡­

 Chapter 182 - 182: New team (5)

    After appraising the dungeon boss, it was time for us to figure out a way to defeat it.


    We wouldn''t engage it without a plan and there was no need for us to rush when the dungeon boss was idle.


    So we moved out of the room and found a place to hold a meeting.


    "Just let me take care of it." Claire suddenly said.


    All of us turned to look at her when she said this with confused looks.


    She then said, "It''s simple, just let me trap it and I''ll be able to take it down with my special shot."


    The special shot she was talking about was her trump card.


    It was a special charge shot that would use up all of her mana in a single attack, but that meant that it had insane power.


    It was just that it took too much time to charge and that it could only be used once. As soon as she used it, she would be out of energy.


    It was so bad that she needed to be carried around like luggage after it was used.


    It definitely wasn''t something that could be used that easily.


    However, Claire was insisting on using it.


    It was definitely an option, but it wasn''t the best idea that we had since it was a pretty desperate one.


    If we used this option and Claire dropped out of the fight, then what would happen if something else showed up after we took care of the dungeon boss. Or what would happen if there was a sudden change in the situation of this dungeon. Or even, what would happen if she couldn''t take it down in one shot?


    This was really a desperation move that should be saved as a last resort, but Claire was suggesting that we open with this.


    I really didn''t understand what she was thinking.


    When I asked her about this, all she did was give a snort and turn away.


    Then after a few seconds, she turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    I just had a confused look on my face the entire time.


    That was until Blaze and Hayato came over to pat me on the shoulder before saying, "Boss, you really are dense sometimes."


    I just revealed an even more confused look when I heard this.


    Qin Yue Ru¡­looked at me with a look like she thought less of me because of this.


    All of this would have gotten to me if I didn''t know what was actually going on.


    Lilith had already given me the clue, so it was impossible for me to ignore.


    It turned out that her clue was true¡­


    I didn''t even know how it happened since I never should have done anything that should have made Claire feel this way.


    So what had it been?


    Regardless, this was the best way to act right now.


    As long as I acted unaware of this, I would be able to get through this.


    This was a situation that wasn''t easily dealt with and I needed time to put suggestions into both of them before anything could happen.


    For that, I needed to separate them and work on them one at a time before I could do anything.


    Since Claire was also in love with me, then there was no reason for me not to take advantage of this.


    As if to go against what Claire had said, Long Shui Ling cut in with, "No, I should be the one that does it. You know what my powers can do, so it''ll be easier for me to take care of this boss."


    As she said this, she looked at Claire with antagonistic eyes.


    Claire didn''t back down as she also looked at Long Shui Ling with narrowed eyes.


    The other three just gave sighs and shook their heads.


    But Qin Yue Ru moved closer to Blaze during this, almost as if she was claiming her territory.


    I looked at her and said, "No, no one is acting alone."


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips when I said this and she turned her head too as if she was ignoring me.


    All I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    It seemed that it was up to me to calm these two down or else we would never get anywhere.


    So I gave a cough and said, "What is wrong with the two of you? We''re supposed to be working together, not going at each other''s throats? Is there something wrong that you two aren''t happy about?"


    Both of them were surprised to hear this before looking at each other and turning their heads away with snorts.


    To the side, the other three put their heads in their hands as they shook their heads.


    Even the porters who had been silent the entire time couldn''t help shaking their heads.


    It was already this clear at this point, how could he still not see it?


    If there was an award for the most dense person, he would definitely win this.


    But I of course knew what they were thinking.


    This was the only way for me to calm them down.


    Confronting them would make them back down since it wasn''t an easy thing for them to admit.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t want to acknowledge it because this would make it worse for her.


    It would be like forcing Claire to confess and she could see how beautiful Claire was compared to her¡­especially that figure¡­


    She didn''t want her to say a thing. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for Claire¡­it was hard for her to confess her feelings.


    If she responded, that would be no different from clearly stating that she was in love with him and that was the last thing that she would do.


    Minor jealousy was one thing, but saying out loud that she was in love with him¡­


    She would rather jump into a hole.


    And that was what I was counting on.


    So I changed the topic by saying, "Alright, this is what we''re doing¡­"

 Chapter 183 - 183: New team (6)

    It turned out to be a complete mess¡­


    Even though we had a plan, there were two people that didn''t follow that plan.


    So in the end, it turned out very poorly.


    At first, it was Blaze who went forward to attract the attention of the Golbat.


    But both of them didn''t follow the plan in the end and tried acting on their own.


    Long Shui Ling tried using her illusions to trap the Golbat while Claire fired her arrows at it.


    This caused the Golbat to suddenly fly up into the air out of our range and it used all kinds of wind attacks at us. If it wasn''t for Blaze reacting quickly and running back to shield us with his flames, then we really might have been in danger.


    Though it was terrifying seeing his flames surge after absorbing the wind blades that fell down at us.


    Neither Long Shui Ling and Claire received this cover since they had both run off on their own, so they were put in a pinch.


    If it wasn''t for us reacting quickly and going to save them, they might not have made it.


    But that was what they deserved for putting us in this danger in the first place.


    They were the ones that had ruined each other''s attacks and caused the Golbat to go on a rampage.


    In the end, we were able to trap the Golbat in the air with Hayato''s wind and Blaze''s flames, forcing it down onto the ground.


    Then I was able to cut it down with the Time Stop ability after they created a gap in the flame tornado for me.


    If it wasn''t for us acting fast enough, we might have had two members dead today.


    When it was all over, I forced the two of them to sit on their knees in apology in front of us.


    The other three had supported these two before, but after what they had done this time, they didn''t support them anymore.


    They were standing over the two of them with me, looking at them with disapproving looks on their faces.


    I looked down at the two of them for a bit before suddenly saying in a disappointed voice, "What was that? Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Both of them looked up at me as if they wanted to explain, but when they saw the way that I was looking at them, they couldn''t help lowering their gaze again.


    It was as if they were struggling to say what they wanted to say.


    In the end, they just remained silent without saying anything.


    I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the two of them.


    This could be considered partly my fault since I had ignored the fundamental problem here.


    I had wanted to avoid this since it would be more convenient for me to avoid it, but all it did was cause trouble for our party.


    Now that it had bitten us in the butt, I couldn''t ignore it even if I wanted to.


    So I took a deep breath and said, "From now on, there will be no more of this. If you can''t work together, then we can''t have the two of you on the same team. When the time comes, one of you will have to go."


    Both of them trembled when they heard this and they looked up at me with a lost look.


    Then they looked at the other three, but they also had firm looks on their faces as if they supported my decision.


    Of course they would support my decision since it wasn''t one that was made arbitrarily.


    This was something that would even determine if they died or not in the future, so they wouldn''t dare risk their lives like this.


    They would not play around with their lives, so naturally they would support me who was thinking about keeping us safe.


    In the end, both of them said in a soft voice, "We''re sorry."


    I took a deep breath and said, "If you can''t learn to work together, you not only threaten our lives, but all of our lives. I don''t know what conflict you two have, but I need you to work together and listen when we''re in the dungeon at least. Do you understand?"


    After a moment of hesitation, both of them nodded in agreement.


    Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief before saying, "I can''t trust you both to keep your word yet, so you''ll both be on probation for now. Until we can be sure that you two won''t act up again, you won''t be given any important roles in dungeon dives. Is that clear?"


    Both of them slowly nodded again.


    After seeing this, the other three let out sighs of relief as well.


    After all, this was their lives that were at stake if they couldn''t solve this matter.


    But when it was over, they couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look that I ignored.


    After all, I knew what they were trying to say with this look.


    "Just how dense are you?"


    I was very dense, or at least I was in this situation since I needed to make sure that nothing went against my plan.


    So no matter what signs there were, I would ignore them all.


    Since the boss had been killed, there was nothing left for us in this dungeon.


    The porters had already picked up the loot, so it was time for us to make our way back to the entrance.


    As we walked back, I couldn''t help giving another sigh.


    This trip into the dungeon was supposed to be a chance for our new team to build up a good relationship and a good working dynamic, as well as see how we could work with each other.


    But all it did was achieve the opposite.


    Was it my fault?


    Was it their fault?


    It was all of our faults to a certain extent.


    After all, I never expected Claire to feel that way about me¡­


    But since she did, I would take her as well.


    That was my greed as the demon king of lust.

 Chapter 184 - 184: Dealing with the traitor

    After leaving the dungeon, no one was in the mood to gather after what had happened in the dungeon.


    So we all split off to do our own thing.


    As for me, I was called into the guild.


    When Su Chen drove me back, he suddenly turned and headed in the direction of the guild headquarters.


    I looked at him with a confused look and asked, "What happened?"


    He just simply said, "I received an order to bring you in for a meeting. It seems like it''s quite important."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows after hearing this before asking, "Do you know what it''s about?"


    Su Chen didn''t say anything and just shook his head.


    I fell into a deep silence of thought as I tried to figure out what I could have been called in for.


    Was it because of Long Shui Ling?


    That seemed like it would be the most probable thing.


    After all, Long Shui Ling''s Long Family had made a large ''donation'' to the guild to let her in, so they were obligated to take care of her. They most likely wanted a report on her first day.


    But if that was the case, what should I say?


    I couldn''t just say that her selfishness and her impulsiveness caused a bunch of trouble, right?


    If I did, would they get angry at me?


    Would the Long Family be angry with me?


    This most likely choice seemed like the worst possible situation for me¡­


    But it turned out that this wasn''t the case.


    When we entered the headquarters, we found that Hua Rong was in the lobby waiting for us. The moment that she saw us, she immediately waved her hand for us to follow her before turning around to head to the elevator.


    I looked at Su Chen and he looked at me before shaking his head.


    Since he didn''t know what was happening either, we had no choice but to follow her over to the elevator.


    But before going in, she raised her hand and stopped Su Chen from following.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I saw this, but Hua Rong didn''t seem like she could be convinced.


    Su Chen just revealed a faint smile and said, "Don''t worry about me."


    I couldn''t help glaring at him.


    After all, I knew what he was really thinking¡­


    He was relieved that he wouldn''t be forced to go into this meeting!


    He was relieved that he had been pardoned from this!


    So it was just Hua Rong and I alone in the elevator and we just stood there in silence.


    I was the one that broke the silence in the end by asking, "Do you know what this meeting is about?"


    Hua Rong didn''t seem to react at first, but then she looked at me with a faint smile before turning back to look at the floor indicator.


    Huh?


    What was with this expression on her face?


    It was clear that she was enjoying this situation¡­but for someone like her who hated me to enjoy this situation¡­


    Did that really mean that I was in trouble?


    I couldn''t help feeling a very bad feeling as the elevator continued moving up.


    When we arrived at the floor of Bing Lan''s office, the door opened and Hua Rong led me to a conference room. This was the conference room that was on the same floor, but on the completely opposite side as Bing Lan''s office.


    This was a room that I had never been in before.


    When I came in, there were also people that I had never met before that were sitting at the conference table.


    The moment that they heard the door open, they all looked in my direction and knitted their brows.


    It was clear that they hadn''t been expecting me and were even annoyed by my appearance.


    The cloaked figure that was sitting to the right of the head of the table where Bing Lan was turned back to her and said, "Guild master, wasn''t this a private meeting? Why are you bringing other people in here?"


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything as she waited for Hua Rong to bring me over.


    Hua Rong saw this, so she waved her hand at me and then started moving over to Bing Lan.


    I could still feel the gazes on me as I walked over to where Bing Lan was sitting.


    Hua Rong stopped beside Bing Lan and I stopped a bit behind her, but Bing Lan waved her hand at me, so I had no choice but to move over to where Hua Rong was. At the same time, Hua Rong moved to where I had been standing with a confused look on her face.


    Bing Lan gestured at me with her hand and said, "He''s the one that found the spy, so isn''t he entitled to come to this meeting?"


    The moment that she said this, all of them looked at me again.


    Only this time, they looked at me with a completely different expression.


    Spy?


    What was she talking about?


    When did I discover a spy?


    The cloaked figure who had been sitting there slowly gave a nod before saying, "Alright, let''s hear what he has to say."


    Bing Lan gave a nod too before turning to me to say, "Tell us everything that you told me before." S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I just had a confused look on my face as I looked at Bing Lan and asked, "What are we talking about? I wasn''t told anything before being called in."


    Bing Lan raised a brow when she heard this, but then she said with a calm look, "Hayato''s handler Motoyasu. Tell all of them what you told me back then."


    Huh?


    The handler?


    Was this what this was about?


    I had already thought of some things when they talked about a spy, but it turned out that it was related to this.


    I had thought that she would take care of it on her own, but now I was called in to testify.


    Still, this didn''t seem like it would be bad for me, so I just started telling them everything that I had told Bing Lan before.

 Chapter 185 - 185: Amaterasu

    When I had finished, everyone was silently looking at me with strange looks.


    After another period of silence, the cloaked figure to the right suddenly said, "Why did you feel that he was suspicious enough to report him? This could have just been normal behaviour."


    I calmly said, "It seemed like he was sneaking around, so I reported him. Plus, I wouldn''t be a good leader if I didn''t take care of my subordinates."


    The cloaked figure continued to look at me without saying anything.


    But in the end, they gave a nod and turned back to Bing Lan. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bing Lan saw this and said, "I trust that everyone is satisfied with this?"


    After another silence, the people around the table gave nods in response.


    Bing Lan looked at me and said, "You can sit down now and listen. If there''s anything else, we will call on you."


    I just gave a nod before finding an empty seat at the end of the table.


    Or at least that was what I had been planning on doing, but Bing Lan stopped me before I could do that.


    She nodded at the person sitting to the left of the head seat.


    That person was surprised to see this, but they still relinquished the seat in the end and moved down to the end.


    I had thought that they would hold a grudge against me for this, but they didn''t even look in my direction. They just simply sat down without a word and focused on what Bing Lan had to say.


    Bing Lan just looked at me as if she was waiting for me to sit down.


    I knew that I had to sit or else I would just be holding up the meeting, so I went to the seat that had been emptied for me and sat down.


    Only after I sat down did Bing Lan continue.


    She picked up a remote and pressed a button, causing a screen to come down from the ceiling.


    Once this screen was down, the projector turned on and there was a slideshow that began.


    These were all pictures of Hayato''s handler Motoyasu in different places.


    I was confused what these pictures were, but the others clearly knew what was happening as they immediately reacted when they saw these pictures.


    There were a few where he was meeting someone in secret, but I had no idea what this was or who that person was.


    So I just silently sat there and waited for someone to speak.


    But no one said a word as they silently watched the slideshow.


    Finally, when it was done, Bing Lan said, "It''s Amaterasu."


    All of the people in the room revealed serious looks when they heard this.


    Amaterasu, it was another one of the big guilds in this world.


    As the name suggested, it was a guild that was based in Japan and had heavy ties with the Japanese government.


    But why would they suddenly send a spy to Elementia like this?


    It didn''t make sense at all.


    The cloaked person who was sitting on the right gave a sigh before saying, "So it is related to the new dungeon after all."


    Bing Lan gave a slow nod in response to this.


    I could only just sit there with a confused look on my face as I didn''t understand a single thing that was happening.


    Bing Lan''s hand moved on the table and she slid the folder that was on it over to me.


    I looked down at this and slowly picked it up before opening it up to see what it was.


    This folder had been on the table in the first place, it had been there before I had even arrived.


    It was most likely for the person that had been sitting in this seat previously.


    But since Bing Lan wanted me to read it, I would read it.


    When I opened it up and saw what was written inside, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because there was a detailed report on the events of this matter.


    As well as a clear explanation on why this was happening.


    It turned out that there was a dispute between Amaterasu and Elementia over a dungeon.


    Both of them wanted to claim it, but neither of them would back down on this dungeon.


    So in the end, it had ended in a deadlock where neither side was able to claim it for now.


    It had gotten so bad that even the Awakener Association had to get involved and make sure that there wasn''t an all out war.


    Right now, they were still deciding which side to give this dungeon to, but they still hadn''t made a decision.


    As for why this dungeon was so important¡­


    It was one of the only five SS Rank Dungeons that had been discovered.


    SS Rank, that was the rank that was even above S Rank that no one had been able to reach.


    So far, they had only been able to scout these SS Ranked Dungeons and no one had been able to clear them yet.


    So for Elementia or Amaterasu to get that chance¡­


    If they were able to clear it, there was no doubt that they would receive instant fame and wealth.


    At the same time, they would receive the coveted title of first SS Rank Awakener.


    So neither side would back down on this matter.


    After they discussed this matter a bit, Bing Lan suddenly turned to me and said, "We''ll need you to act as bait."


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard since I had been focused on the report the whole time, so I didn''t know what had happened.


    But since they were all looking at me, I had no choice but to go along with it and give a nod.


    Seeing this, they went back to their own discussion.


    I tried paying attention, but it was already too late for me to understand anything.


    So all I could do was sit there and wait for the meeting to end.

 Chapter 186 - 186: Internal affairs department

    The meeting didn''t last that long in the end.


    It was just a simple discussion on what they would do about this traitor.


    I didn''t really understand the plan that they had come up with, but it seemed like they were planning an ambush for him.


    Like they had said before, I would be the bait to make this ambush happen.


    Once they had finished discussing this, Bing Lan said, "Alright, let''s end things here for now. We''ll discuss the exact details when the time draws closer and we can make a better plan."


    All of the people sitting at the table nodded in agreement to this before picking up their stuff and standing up.


    It seemed that they were all heading off to do their own thing and that the meeting was over.


    Since the meeting was over, then there was no reason for me to stay here any longer.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    That was until Bing Lan suddenly called out to me.


    "Wait, don''t leave yet. Let me introduce you to someone."


    I slowly turned around when I heard her call out. I wasn''t sure if she was talking to me at first, but then seeing her look expectantly at me as if she was waiting for me to come over, I knew that she was talking to me. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since that was the case, I had no choice but to go over.


    When I walked over to where Bing Lan was, I found that the cloaked figure from before was there with her.


    When I came over, I could feel the gaze of this cloaked figure falling onto me.


    Even though I wasn''t able to see their eyes, I could still feel that gaze.


    Bing Lan waited until I was in front of her before saying, "This is the one that I wanted to introduce you to." She gestured at the cloaked figure beside her and said, "This is the head of our internal affairs department, Nadia."


    I couldn''t help slightly narrowing my eyes when I heard this.


    Internal affairs department¡­that basically meant that they were the internal enforcers.


    If there were any spies or anyone that wanted to harm the organization, they would be the ones that would deal with them.


    And for someone like me who had plans for Elementia¡­they were my natural enemy.


    In short, this was a person that I would surely have to face in the future if I wanted to use my skill to control Bing Lan, Bing Xue, and the rest.


    So I couldn''t help feeling a bit hostile when I heard this, but I made sure to hide it.


    To my surprise, Nadia suddenly reached her hand out towards me and said, "It''s a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you in the future."


    I looked at her hand for a bit and I couldn''t help being surprised by how slender it was.


    Still, I reached out my hand slowly and shook her hand before saying, "It''s a pleasure to meet you too." But then after a pause, I added, "Working together? Are we going to be working together?"


    Nadia gave a nod and said, "Aren''t you helping us with the investigation? So we''ll be working together in the future."


    Bing Lan gave a nod before saying, "You already agreed to it, remember?"


    I was a bit confused at first, but then I realized that they meant the fact that I had agreed to be bait.


    I then said, "I''m just being bait, there isn''t much that I''ll be doing, so it can''t really be considered working together, right?"


    Nadia shook her head when she heard this before saying, "No, you''ll be doing much more than you think. You''ll need to work with us to lure our target in, so we''ll need you to cooperate with us."


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this before saying, "Alright, that''s not a problem."


    Working with the internal affairs department like this wasn''t considered a bad thing.


    After all, this would give me a chance to learn more about them and their structure.


    The more information that I had about them, the better it would be for me in the future.


    Nadia shared a few more things with me that weren''t considered that important.


    But before we separated, I couldn''t help asking, "Is there a reason why you''re wearing this cloak?"


    When Bing Lan heard this, she couldn''t help reveal a faint smile even though she didn''t say anything.


    Nadia looked down at the cloak she was wearing before saying, "It''s mysterious isn''t it?"


    I gave a slow nod, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to explain.


    She saw that I wasn''t saying anything, so she said, "Well, I''m supposed to be the one that watches over everyone in the guild, so isn''t being mysterious good enough? It''s cool and scary at the same time, right?"


    I didn''t know how to respond to this.


    Seeing that I still didn''t say anything, she said, "Isn''t it enough that it''s cool?"


    I opened and closed my mouth a few times as I didn''t know what to say in response to this.


    To the side, Bing Lan looked like she was holding back her laughter as if she already knew this and was having fun at my expense.


    After a long silence, I said with another slow nod, "Un, it is cool."


    Nadia didn''t stop this time as she started telling me all about how cool and mysterious cloaks were. While she was on this topic, she also started talking about how important it was to act cool at all times.


    It reminded me of a certain phase that I had gone through when I was in middle school¡­


    The more that I heard from her, the more cringe that I felt deep down inside of me.


    It seemed that the leader of this internal affairs department was quite the ''interesting'' person¡­


    But that didn''t mean that I would underestimate her or the department in the future.

 Chapter 187 - 187: Trapping the spy (1)

    After another week and a half, it was finally time to put that plan into action.


    During this week and a half, our team had been dungeon diving the whole time as per our normal schedule.


    The dynamic of our team¡­did improve, but it still wasn''t as good as it could be.


    There was some form of cooperation between Claire and Long Shui Ling, but it was still far from full cooperation where they fully trusted each other.


    It still seemed like there was some kind of competition between the two of them.


    Long Shui Ling even found me secretly to say, "You really are popular, aren''t you?"


    But of course, I acted completely oblivious to this.


    For now, this was the best that we would get, so I would just accept it.


    After all, there was something more important to do right now.


    I would have to handle the case of Hayato''s handler, Motoyasu first.


    After another normal day in the dungeon, we were about to separate before I called out to Hayato.


    "Let''s go and have a talk. There''s something that I need to discuss with you."


    When he heard this, he couldn''t help looking at me with a shocked and confused look.


    It was the same for everyone else that was still here, they all looked at me with the same shocked and confused look before looking at Hayato with concerned looks. It was almost as if they were kids who were looking at another kid who had just gotten in trouble.


    After a moment of silence, Hayato asked, "Is something wrong? Is there a problem that you need to call me out to talk alone?"


    He was very confused as he said this.


    After all, he couldn''t think of a single reason why he would be called out like this.


    He hadn''t caused any trouble with their party, so it shouldn''t be him who was getting called out. If anyone should be called out, it would either be Claire or Long Shui Ling.


    Or if he wanted to talk about something between men, it should be both him and Blaze, right?


    So it didn''t make sense to call him out alone.


    I could see the doubt in his eyes, but to avoid creating suspicion with a certain someone, I just said, "I have something that I need to talk to you in private about."


    Everyone couldn''t help knitting their brows when they heard this.


    Long Shui Ling suddenly came forward and said, "If there''s something private that you need to talk about, you can come talk to me."


    Claire narrowed her eyes when she heard this.


    Then as if not to be outdone, she also came forward and said, "I can talk to you too if you need something."


    Both of them turned to glare at each other after she said this.


    At the same time, Blaze and Qin Yue Ru also walked over with concerned looks before saying that they both could talk if I needed to.


    But I just shook my head and said, "There''s something that I need to talk about with Hayato. I hope that you will respect that."


    When I said it this seriously, they all couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    In the end, it was Hayato that said, "Alright boss, that''s not a problem. If you have something private you need to talk about, then we can talk."


    The others all nodded as if they were respecting my decision.


    This was their first time hearing me talk in this serious tone since our first time in the dungeon, so they couldn''t help feeling a bit afraid. It was still a trauma that was on their minds the entire time.


    Hayato''s handler Motoyasu was about to leave, but I quickly came forward to take him by the shoulder as I said, "I also need to have a talk with you."


    Motoyasu couldn''t help knitting his brows when he heard this, but since I had trapped him, he had no choice but to follow us in the end.


    I also had Su Chen follow us just in case anything happened, but it didn''t seem like it was necessary.


    I was able to bring the two of them to an isolated place before letting go of Motoyasu. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When Hayato saw the place that we had come to, he couldn''t help feeling a bit worried.


    Though he had faith in me that I wouldn''t do anything, this seemed a bit too suspicious. After all, this was the typical place where one would be brought to be murdered¡­


    So Hayato couldn''t help asking, "Boss, what do you need to talk to me about?"


    Motoyasu also moved away from me and created some distance with me, as if he didn''t trust me.


    But then again, how could he have trusted me with the way that I had treated him?


    Su Chen came up behind Motoyasu to prevent him from moving back any further.


    I looked at Hayato and said, "Well, it''s not so much as having a talk with you as having a talk with him?" I pointed at Motoyasu as I said this.


    Hayato revealed a confused look when he heard this before turning to look at Motoyasu.


    Motoyasu was already trembling when he heard this, but he still managed to say, "Mister Lin, what do you mean by this? I don''t remember having done anything to offend you?"


    I raised a brow and said, "Is that so?"


    Motoyasu knitted his brows even more when he heard this, but he said, "Mister Lin, what do you mean by that?"


    I suddenly revealed a smile and said, "What if I said something very interesting."


    Motoyasu had the same confused look when he heard this.


    "Amaterasu."


    The moment that I said this, that confused look disappeared and there was a hostile look that appeared on his face.


    After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, "It seems that you''ve dug too deep haven''t you? You''ll regret that now."


    With a snap of his finger, there was a group of dark clothed figures that appeared around us.

 Chapter 188 - 188: Trapping the spy (2)

    When these dark clothed figures appeared, Motoyasu''s appearance completely changed.


    He no longer had the same worried look as before.


    Instead, there was a confident and dark look on his face as he looked at me.


    After a pause, he asked, "How did you find this out?"


    I didn''t panic when I saw that we were surrounded even though Hayato looked like he was about to pee his pants.


    I just gave a shrug before saying, "How do I know about this?"


    Motoyasu narrowed his eyes to look at me when I teased him like this, but then he shook his head and said, "It doesn''t matter how you know since you''ll be buried here. If you told me, I might have given you a painless death. But since you won''t cooperate, I''ll make sure that you suffer a bit."


    Hayato jolted when he heard this before coming forward to say, "Motoyasu, there''s no need to do this. You should know that this is a law abiding society, you can''t just do things like this without consequence."


    Then after a pause, he said, "Let us leave and we won''t say a thing. How about that?"


    Motoyasu gave a snort before saying, "The moment that he said that name, it was impossible for you to leave."


    But his expression did soften a bit as he said, "But I do feel sorry for you. If it wasn''t for him, you wouldn''t have gotten caught up in this."


    With a cold smile, he turned to look at me as he said, "Do you regret associating with him now?"


    Hayato''s eyes narrowed a bit before saying, "You can say what you want about me, but you can''t say that about the boss. He has his reason for doing this and it''s clear which one of you is the villain."


    After he said this, I couldn''t help feeling surprised.


    I never thought that Hayato would be this loyal¡­was it because of my own deeds or was it because of the suggestions that I had left in him with my Hypnosis skill?


    Motoyasu gave a sigh when he heard this before saying, "A fool to the end. Since you want to die, then I''ll help you."


    He raised his hand as if he was about to give a signal, but before he could¡­


    Hayato suddenly asked, "Why are you even doing this?"


    Motoyasu''s hand stopped halfway up and then he slowly brought it down before saying, "Didn''t you hear what he just said?"


    Hayato looked at me with a confused look before turning back to say, "What did he say?"


    Motoyasu shook his head before saying, "Amaterasu, I''m sure that you''ve heard of that name before."


    Hayato just revealed another confused look when he heard this, but then there was a look of recognition that slowly appeared on his face. After a pause, he said, "You mean¡­that big guild?"


    Motoyasu said with a nod, "That''s right."


    He didn''t have any hesitation as he suddenly said, "I''m a spy for that big guild and he discovered me. If he had reported me without saying anything, then perhaps you might have lived today. You can only blame your boss here for wanting more fame by taking down the spy himself, that is why you''ll die today."


    Hayato looked at me with a bit of a strange look when he heard this.


    However, I wasn''t worried at all.


    Instead, I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I heard what Motoyasu had said.


    I had been thinking about how to bait him into revealing that he was a spy, but now¡­


    It seemed that bringing Hayato along really was a good choice.


    Motoyasu gave another cold laugh before turning to me to say, "Have you made your peace? Are you ready to die now?"


    I just looked at him with a calm look and said, "Why would I do that? Why do you think that I''ll be dying today?"


    Motoyasu couldn''t help being taken aback when he heard this, but then he revealed a cold smile as he said, "Are you crazy? Do you really think that you''ll be able to escape when you''re surrounded like this?"


    I just shrugged as I said, "Why don''t you try it and find out."


    "You¡­" Motoyasu said in a dark voice before raising his hand and saying, "Since you want to die a painful death, then I''ll help you." Right as soon as his voice fell, he let his hand fall down.


    But to his surprise, the black clothed figures didn''t move at all. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They just stood there in place, as if they didn''t see his signal at all.


    Motoyasu knitted his brows when he saw this before saying, "What are you all doing? Kill him!"


    But even when he shouted at them like this, none of them made a move.


    All of them just stood there in place, as if there was something holding them there.


    Motoyasu could tell that something was wrong, so he turned around and went over to the closest black clothed figure. He went right up to them and grabbed them by the shoulder, but he found that he wasn''t able to move them at all.


    It was as if there was something that was holding them in place there, making it impossible for him to move them.


    Now he knew that something was off, so he quickly reached out for that person''s face.


    He found that their eyes were closed through the mask and it didn''t even seem like they were breathing¡­


    Motoyasu slowly turned around to look at me as he said in a trembling voice, "What, what did, did you do?"


    I gave another shrug as I said, "What did I do?"


    Motoyasu was about to run, but before he could he found that there was something that bound him in place.


    He wasn''t able to move at all.


    When I saw this, I asked, "Did you get enough evidence?"


    Though I already knew the answer to this question since they had made a move.

 Chapter 189 - 189: Trapping the spy (3)

    There was a cloaked figure that appeared beside me after I asked this.


    Hayato immediately moved back when he saw this, but I just calmly looked at this figure since I recognized them.


    It was Nadia who had appeared.


    She looked at Motoyasu for a few seconds before turning to me to say, "Thank you for doing your part. We''ve gotten all of the evidence that we needed."


    I just revealed a smile and gave a nod before saying, "I''m happy to help."


    Nadia gave a nod before raising her hand and giving a wave.


    When she did, there were several more cloaked figures that suddenly appeared all around us.


    They went to the dark clothed figures that were just standing there and then as if they were pulling them from something, these dark clothed figures fell down limp.


    When one looked closer, they could see that these dark clothed figures had all been held up by something.


    That was why they had been able to stand even though it didn''t seem like they were conscious.


    There were these string like threads that had been holding them up the entire time.


    At the same time, judging by the thin red marks that were at their necks, it should have also been these threads that had knocked them out in the first place.


    Or at least I thought that they were knocked out¡­


    Seeing that we were about to leave, Motoyasu started to panic and he said, "Wait, don''t leave me here! I''ll tell you whatever you want if you take me with you!"


    But I just shook my head when I heard this.


    From the very beginning, all of this had been a trap for Motoyasu.


    I had let him think that he had the advantage so that he would confess without needing much prompting, but I never thought that it would work so well that he would confess everything.


    One really did let down their guard when they thought that victory was already in hand.


    He was the perfect example of this.


    Hayato looked like he was hesitating when he heard this, but I took him by the shoulder and led him away.


    Once we were gone, Nadia and the others took Motoyasu and the dark clothed figures away.


    As for what they would do with them, one really wouldn''t want to find out. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One could only be sure that it wasn''t a good thing.


    When Hayato and I got far enough away, I stopped and looked at him to say, "Sorry I had to get you caught up in that. I had no choice but to involve you or else he wouldn''t have let his guard down like that."


    Hayato didn''t say anything at first as he just looked at me in silence for a bit before suddenly giving a sigh and saying, "I understand why you did it and I can see that it even involved the guild¡­"


    His voice trailed off for a bit before he said, "But I just can''t understand why he would do something like this. There''s nothing to gain from doing something like this¡­"


    I didn''t answer his doubts when he said this.


    I could have answered them and put his mind at ease, but there were some things that were better for him not to know until the time was right.


    So instead, I said, "You''ll find out why when you read the paper tomorrow."


    Hayato looked at me with a confused look, but he didn''t ask anything else.


    Instead, he asked, "When did you find out that he was a spy?"


    I calmly said, "When we went drinking that one time and you told me all about how he kept disappearing. I reported that to the guild and it turned out that there was a lot of evidence that pointed him out as a spy."


    Hayato took a deep breath and gave a sigh again, but he didn''t say anything this time.


    There was nothing for him to say this time since everything had already been made very clear.


    If he was old enough, I would have treated him to a drink at a time like this.


    It was just too bad that Hayato was still too young for that.


    So instead, I said, "How about we get some food? My treat."


    Hayato looked at me for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    The two of us¡­no, the three of us since Su Chen was also here headed off to a restaurant where we just numbed ourselves with food.


    But for the guild, the work was far from over.


    They not only had to take care of the people that they had gathered, they also had to come up with a news article.


    This was the crux of our plan, the part that came after capturing these spies.


    The next morning, there was a shocking article that appeared on the front pages of many newspapers.


    "Amaterasu sends spies into fellow guild, Elementia."


    When this news spread across the world, the entire world exploded.


    There were all kinds of different discussions that appeared on the internet and there were many people that tried to create even more trouble from this.


    Amaterasu came forward with their own press conference to deny this matter. However, soon after that press conference, there was a video that was leaked to the internet.


    It was a video of Motoyasu admitting that he was from Amaterasu and had been sent to spy on Elementia.


    When this stone was cast, the ripples were just too big for Amaterasu to quell.


    The Awakener Association had no choice but to send an investigative team to handle this matter.


    This was all what Elementia had wanted to see.


    This was what we had planned for Amaterasu.


    With this blow to their reputation, it would be hard for them to lay their stake on the SS Rank Dungeon now.


    It was almost guaranteed that Elementia would receive the rights to explore the SS Rank Dungeon.

 Chapter 190 - 190: Meeting the parents (1)

    "How could you do something that dangerous?"


    That was the first thing that I was asked when our dungeon party met again.


    All four of the others had angry looks on their faces when we met and it was clear by the guilty look on Hayato''s face what they meant.


    He most likely told them about everything that had happened.


    I hadn''t expected much from him in the first place, so I had already expected this reaction.


    But I was surprised by how worried they were.


    We were just a dungeon diving party that had gone into the dungeon a few times together, so we shouldn''t be that close that they would be this worried about me.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    So I was surprised to see just how worried they looked.


    The one that was the most worried was of course Long Shui Ling, but she had a reason to be worried.


    Then the other three were equally worried, though it was clear that Claire was holding back¡­


    I just raised my hands to calm them down before saying, "It wasn''t as dangerous as you think. I was working with the guild the entire time, so there were plenty of people helping me. It wasn''t as if I was in any real danger this entire time."


    But even then, that didn''t stop Long Shui Ling from circling me as if she was looking to see if there was any part of me that was hurt.


    It was the same for the others who saw her doing this.


    When they saw her doing this, they all did the same thing and followed along.


    When they were finally done, I said, "Alright, let''s stop playing around and get to work."


    But to my surprise, they just stood there looking at me with strange looks.


    It was Blaze who said, "Boss, we''re not playing around. We really were worried about you, but it doesn''t seem like you care at all."


    I was caught off guard when I heard this, but then I said, "I wasn''t able to tell you even if I wanted to. You should know how important this matter was, so the guild made sure that I kept everything secret. Hayato only knew because he was involved in this matter." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Hayato gave a guilty nod as if he was trying to make it up to me.


    However, the others all revealed bitter looks on their faces.


    It was Blaze who spoke again, "Boss, it seems like you still don''t understand."


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help saying in a confused voice.


    Blaze looked right at me and said, "It''s alright to accept other people''s worry for you. You don''t have to make all these excuses."


    I was taken aback when I heard this.


    There was nothing that I could refute what he had just said because he was right.


    It had been a long time since I had someone care about me, so I really didn''t know how to accept it.


    After all, I had gotten used to being alone and caring for myself¡­


    After a long silence, I finally said, "You''re right. It''s my fault."


    I looked at them with a deep gaze as I said, "I''m sorry for worrying you."


    They all slowly gave nods, but it still felt like something was off.


    It felt like there was something that still wasn''t settled yet and they didn''t know how to address it.


    Like there was a wall between them that couldn''t be broken down.


    For now, they just left things like this and went into the dungeon.


    There wasn''t a problem with clearing the dungeon since it was only a D Rank Dungeon, but there was no doubt that there was some kind of delay in their coordination.


    It was almost as if there was some kind of awkwardness with their party.


    I didn''t know what to do here since this was my first time dealing with this¡­


    In the end, we just left things as they were as we finished the dungeon.


    But before we all went home, Long Shui Ling came to find me for a private talk.


    She had a serious look on her face as she asked me to talk privately, a look that I had never seen from her before.


    Claire had wanted to interrupt, but I stopped her and agreed to talk to Long Shui Ling alone.


    This was the first time that I had seen her this serious, so there was no doubt that there was something serious to discuss with me.


    When we went to the side, the first thing that she said shocked me.


    "I want you to meet my parents."


    After saying this, she looked at my face as if she was waiting for my reaction.


    But the only reaction that I had was shock.


    After all, I never expected Long Shui Ling to suddenly say this.


    I looked at her with a strange look for a bit before slowly asking, "Isn''t this a bit too sudden?"


    She shook her head before saying, "No, they''ve been asking me to bring you to see them for a while now."


    As she said this, there was a trace of confusion that appeared in Long Shui Ling''s eyes.


    After all, she couldn''t think of the reason why her parents would insist on this¡­


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    As expected¡­they had heard the rumours.


    When such rumours were spreading about their daughter, it was only natural that they would want to meet the person who was the other party in these rumours¡­


    But the only thing that I could expect from this meeting was¡­an execution.


    I couldn''t think of anything else that this would be, especially if they had heard the rumours¡­


    However, it wasn''t as if I had a choice in this matter.


    If I didn''t go, it would leave a worse impression on her parents and would make things worse in the future.


    I had no choice but to agree to go meet her parents.

 Chapter 191 - 191: Meeting the parents (2)

    Of course, to meet the ones that were in charge of the biggest company on the planet wasn''t that easy.


    It wasn''t as if they had that much free time to meet me whenever.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    Long Shui Ling told me that they were already expecting me for dinner tonight.


    I really didn''t like how they had decided everything on their own, but there was no time to think about that right now.


    What I should focus on was this meeting with Long Shui Ling''s parents.


    So the first thing that I did was head home and dress up as well as I could.


    It was just that I didn''t have that kind of fancy clothes in the first place. The only suit that I had was the one that I had prepared for finding a job if I didn''t manage to awaken myself and it was a very cheap suit.


    This kind of suit in front of the richest people in the world was considered nothing.


    As I was preparing myself, a voice suddenly said, "Are you nervous?"


    This voice wasn''t a voice that was speaking out loud, but rather a voice that was speaking right into my head.


    It was Lilith that had suddenly spoken.


    By now, I was already used to this, so I wasn''t that caught off guard.


    But of course, it was impossible for me to remain calm when there was a voice that suddenly spoke in my head while I was focusing.


    I couldn''t help messing up the tie that I had been working on.


    I took a deep breath to calm down before saying, "How could I be anything but nervous? This is a very dangerous meeting that I''m about to head into."


    Lilith gave a chuckle before saying, "Why are you so worried when you are the demon king of lust? It''s very simple, just use your powers and they will fall under your control. Wouldn''t that make things much easier for you in the future?"


    I knitted my brows when I heard this before shaking my head and saying, "We''ve already been over this. If I do that, that will immediately expose me as the demon king of lust. When the time comes, that will cause more trouble than it saves."


    Lilith gave a scoff before saying, "As the demon king of lust, is there anything that you can''t handle."


    I gave a sigh before saying, "There''s plenty of things that I can''t handle. Just being the demon king of lust is far from enough."


    Lilith gave another scoff, but she didn''t say anything else.


    When she fell silent, I said, "When the time comes, I will need your help. I might need your new powers today."


    She said with a seductive smile, "I''ve chosen you as my champion, so all of my powers are yours. You don''t need to ask me, all you have to do is give me a command, my king."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this, but I just said with a simple nod, "I''ll be counting on you."


    I never knew just how much I had underestimated this¡­


    ¡­


    When I had finished preparing, it was time to go.


    Long Shui Ling said that she would send someone to pick me up, but I couldn''t help being surprised by who had been sent.


    It was the butler who had picked her up last time, the one that she had called Sebastien.


    When I came out, I could see the disappointed look on his face.


    It was clear that he wasn''t happy to see me, but he was here because it was his job.


    He didn''t say anything to me as he opened the door for me. But while he was opening the door, he didn''t even look in my direction.


    At this point, he couldn''t do more to express his disdain for me.


    I could guess why he felt this disdain, but it was still uncomfortable being treated like this.


    So I just quickly sat down in the limo while avoiding the gazes from around me.


    The neighbours had once again gathered because of the fancy limo that appeared.


    Mrs Li had even come out with makeup on since she had thought that it was someone else.


    But she was disappointed to find that it wasn''t the handsome driver from before.


    We quickly headed off after I got into the limo and the window separating me from the driver was up.


    I wasn''t the one that had put up this window, it was Sebastien who had done this.


    It seemed that he didn''t even want to give me a chance to talk to him¡­


    So we drove in silence for a bit until we reached a Transport Gate


    I was surprised that we had arrived at a Transport Gate and a secret one nonetheless.


    This was one that wasn''t marked and was hidden in the basement of a large business building.


    If I had to guess, this was most likely one of the branch offices of the Long Group.


    For even a branch office to have a Transport Gate in the basement, one could tell just how powerful the Long Group was.


    This just made me even more anxious.


    As we headed into the Transport Gate, I couldn''t help feeling worried as well.


    After all, there was the chance that I was being brought somewhere remote to be killed.


    But when we came out, I saw the luxurious manor in front of the car.


    However, this wasn''t what I was surprised by. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What I was surprised by was beyond that manor.


    What I was surprised by was the endless sea that was all around us.


    This manor¡­it was on an island and it seemed to be an undiscovered island in the middle of the ocean.


    To use this place as a private residence, as expected of the Long Group.


    They really had more money than they knew what to do with.

 Chapter 192 - 192: Meeting the parents (3)

    The limo drove up to the manor gates where there were guards standing there.


    When these guards came over to the limo to check who was inside, I could sense the magic energy coming from them.


    These guards¡­were not weak.


    These guards were giving off magic energy fluctuations that were similar to the C Rankers that I had met before.


    So that meant that these guards were at least C Rank Awakeners.


    Yet they were posted here to guard the gates.


    If they were anywhere else, they would be people that would be respected by all, but here they were nothing more than guards.


    That really put into perspective the power of the Long Group.


    After the guards finished checking us, they let us through the gates.


    But strangely, I almost felt as if the guards were giving me a strange look.


    I couldn''t be certain since they had deadpan looks on their faces, but I could have sworn that they were looking at me in a strange manner.


    The limo took at least ten minutes to drive from the gate to the manor itself, showing just how big this estate was.


    As we drove past the gardens, I couldn''t help being shocked by all the things that I saw.


    If it wasn''t for the demon king system, I might not have known what these things were.


    But since I had the appraisal of the demon king system, I was able to see the descriptions of all of these plants that were in the garden.


    Not a single one of them was simple.


    Dragon Tongue Herb


    A fire attributed herb that has grown in the flames of true blooded dragons.


    Raises fire resistance by 10 when eaten.


    Thousand Year Old Ice Herb


    An ice attributed herb that has grown in the frozen tundra for over a thousand years.


    Raises ice resistance by 10 when eaten.


    Any one of these herbs would cause quite a stir if it was brought outside the manor, but here they were grown like ordinary plants in the garden.


    That was how rich this family was.


    After parking in front of the manor, Sebastien came out of the driver seat to open the door for me. However, he still refused to look at me when he opened the door for me, putting me in an awkward situation.


    I just got out of the car and then stood there awkwardly since I didn''t know what to do.


    But before anything else could happen, the doors of the manor suddenly opened and there was a small figure that ran out towards me.


    This small figure didn''t hesitate to run over to me, but before it could reach me, Sebastien had already moved forward to stand between me and this small figure.


    When this small figure saw Sebastien standing there, they revealed a displeased look as they said, "What are you doing?"


    Sebastien gave a bow to this small figure before saying, "Young miss, you shouldn''t be acting this way. A proper young miss wouldn''t act this way."


    The one that he was talking to was naturally Long Shui Ling.


    She had been waiting at the door and had come out the moment that she saw the limo parked outside.


    After all, she was very excited about having Lin Fan meet her parents.


    But now that Sebastien was standing in her way, she wouldn''t let him stop her.


    Long Shui Ling pouted her lips and said, "Sebastien, aren''t you being too exaggerated?"


    Sebastien once again gave a bow before saying, "Young miss, even if this Sebastien has to overstep, he will not let the young miss stray down the wrong path."


    Long Shui Ling still had her lips pouted as she looked at him, but in the end, she gave a sigh and said, "Alright, alright, I get it."


    She didn''t look like she would approach again and turned around to head back into the manor.


    But she also waved at me to follow her as she said, "Let''s go in. My parents and grandparents are already waiting for you."


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help giving a gulp before slowly following behind her.


    Her parents and her grandparents were waiting for me, this was clearly not just a normal meeting of the parents¡­


    If they were all gathered here, did that mean that they were here to execute me or was it something else?


    I couldn''t help feeling more and more anxious as we entered the manor.


    Of course, Sebastien came with us, so I didn''t get a single moment to talk to Long Shui Ling along to get any information.


    He made sure that he was placed right in between us, so that I couldn''t even approach her.


    At the same time, he made sure to glare at me so that I would feel pressure and back away.


    So we just walked in silence through this manor.


    I could see the main reception room from the lobby of the manor, but Long Shui Ling didn''t head that way. She headed deeper into the manor, into the private parts where they lived.


    Was it because they wanted to hide what they were going to do, or was it because they were treating me as one of their own?


    If I had to guess, it was more likely the former than the latter.


    After walking for a bit, we arrived at our destination.


    When I walked in, I could tell that this room was most likely a living room where the members of the Long Family gathered.


    This was their private sanctuary for their own private time and I had just been invited in.


    Would I be able to leave?


    Sitting in the center of the room were two couples, one young and one old.


    These were clearly Long Shui Ling''s parents and grandparents.


    When I walked in, all four pairs of eyes fell onto me immediately.


    There were two pairs of eyes that were glaring while the other two had intrigued looks in them. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that this wouldn''t be simple.

 Chapter 193 - 193: Meeting the parents (4)

    After we came in, Long Shui Ling ran over to the two couples with a wide smile on her face.


    It was only when they saw her that their expressions melted and they all revealed smiles.


    They talked for a bit about nothing in particular.


    But judging by the way that they spoke, it was clear that they were very close.


    That just made things worse for me.


    They were this close¡­if they heard the rumours, there was no doubt that they wouldn''t forgive me¡­


    After a while, they finished talking and they turned their attention back to me.


    The moment that they turned back to me, they looked at me with the same looks as before.


    No, it was a bit worse than before.


    They were glaring at me with clear hostility now since they could hear the happiness that had been in Long Shui Ling''s voice. It was clear that her father and grandfather were clearly jealous.


    But to my surprise, the two women had approving looks on their faces.


    What did that mean?


    Long Shui Ling came over to take my hand which made me tremble since the moment that she took my hand, I felt the pressure coming from those two pairs of eyes.


    She didn''t mind it as she led me in front of them and said, "This is Lin Fan, he''s the one I told you about."


    There was a silence that followed after she said this.


    Both Long Shui Ling and I were just waiting for their response now.


    By all rights, I should have said something, but I had no idea what to say. After all, I had no idea what Long Shui Ling had told them about me, so I needed to gauge their reaction first before saying anything.


    After a moment of silence, Long Shui Ling''s father said, "So, this is the boy that we''ve heard so much about."


    When he said this, it was clear that he was stressing the word ''boy''.


    Long Shui Ling''s grandfather gave a nod before saying, "So this is the famous boy that saved you during the exam."


    The two of them made sure to stress that I was just a ''boy'', as well as trying to make it sound like the relationship between us was as distant as possible.


    Long Shui Ling couldn''t help revealing a displeased look when she heard this.


    But it was her mother who said, "Now, now, you two, stop antagonizing him. If you keep acting this way, you can only blame yourselves if Ling Ling hates you."


    Both of them revealed distraught looks when they heard this, as if this thought terrified them. Then they revealed proper looks and pulled back the hostility in their eyes, but I could still feel the hostility pointed at me.


    Since Long Shui Ling''s mother had mediated, that gave me the perfect chance to introduce myself.


    I took a step forward and gave a slight bow before saying, "Hello, my name is Lin Fan. It is an honour to meet you."


    I couldn''t help peeking up slightly while I greeted them.


    I could see that her mother and grandmother were pleased seeing me act this way, but her father and grandfather had visible ugly looks on their faces.


    It was clear that they didn''t approve of me.


    But then again, with how they had acted, it didn''t seem like they would approve of me no matter how I acted. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for Long Shui Ling, she was looking at me with what seemed to be heart eyes.


    She had been completely slain by the appearance that I had when I introduced myself.


    It seemed that my suggestion might have been a bit too effective¡­


    She wouldn''t be any help to me like this.


    While the father and grandfather looked like they wanted to cut me down on the spot, the mother and grandmother slapped the two of them on the back of the head.


    Both of them turned around with confused looks, but then they had looks of despair as the two of them whispered something to them.


    They peeked at Long Shui Ling who was completely ignoring them.


    It almost seemed like a tear was coming out of the corner of their eyes when they saw her ignore them like this.


    They wanted to get angry with me, but they held back in the end as they seemed to remember something.


    When the two of them settled down, Long Shui Ling''s mother asked, "Then Lin Fan, how about you tell us what happened between you and my daughter. I''ve heard plenty from her, but I want to hear it from your perspective."


    When Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather heard this, they once again started glaring at me.


    I just revealed an awkward smile, but I still obliged.


    Before I started, Long Shui Ling''s mother called me over to sit down in front of them.


    Long Shui Ling took advantage of this to sit down beside me.


    If it was normal, she might have gone to hold my arm, but she held herself back since we were in front of her parents and grandparents.


    But she did move closer to me in the end.


    I just calmly told them the story that I had already prepared.


    They silently listened as I told them the story without changing their expressions once.


    It was as if they didn''t have any reactions to hearing this story at all.


    When I reached the part of the hotel though¡­


    "Hmm, that doesn''t seem right. That''s not what Ling Ling told us." Long Shui Ling''s mother suddenly said.


    I couldn''t help jolting when I heard this.


    After all, the part that she was calling out was me saying that we had gone to our separate floors.


    Long Shui Ling''s father seized this chance to jump in by saying, "That''s right, that''s right. I''ve also heard from others that you two went to the same floor."


    Long Shui Ling''s grandfather then added, "That''s right! What are you hiding from us?"

 Chapter 194 - 194: Meeting the parents (5)

    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I was questioned by them like this.


    But in the end, it was Long Shui Ling''s mother and grandmother who helped me restrain the two of them.


    Though they still glared at me.


    I slowly turned to look at Long Shui Ling and she turned her head a bit as if she was guilty.


    But before I could say anything, her father and grandfather came at me again.


    "Stop avoiding the question!"


    "That''s right! Answer the question already!"


    The two of them seemed like they wanted to jump out of their seats and rush at me, but they were held back by Long Shui Ling''s mother and grandmother in the end.


    After a moment of hesitation, I gave a cough and said, "It might be true that Shui Ling and I shared a floor that night, but we slept in separate rooms."


    "I knew it!"


    "You''re dead! I''ll chop it off now!"


    Both her father and grandfather couldn''t hold themselves back anymore and jumped out of their seats. They seemed to pull swords out of thin air, but it should have been from the Storage Rings that they wore.


    They were about to charge me, but they were both slapped on the back of their heads by their respective spouses.


    When they turned around to look at them with eyes asking them what they were doing, they received another slap to the side of the head.


    Only when they put away the swords and sat back down did they finally stop getting slapped.


    But that didn''t stop them from glaring at me still.


    If looks could kill¡­


    Long Shui Ling''s mother turned away from me and looked at Long Shui Ling to ask, "Ling Ling, is this true?"


    Long Shui Ling''s face turned red when she heard her mother questioning her like this and she lowered her head. But in the end, she still said, "Mother, what are you saying? Do you really think of me as that kind of woman?"


    There were looks of despair that appeared on the faces of her father and grandfather when they heard this.


    The looks on their faces almost made it seem like there was a small part of them that died when they heard this.


    They really wanted to bang their heads into the wall and kill themselves to deny this.


    They didn''t want to accept this no matter what they had to do.


    But there was Long Shui Ling''s face covered in a blush in front of them.


    So they could only vent their rage on the only person that they could vent on.


    Once again, they looked at me with glares like they wanted to eat me alive.


    If looks could kill¡­


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just revealed a faint smile as she said, "Is that so?"


    Long Shui Ling lowered her head even more and the blush became stronger on her face.


    I also felt a bit of second hand embarrassment as my face turned a bit red.


    After a long awkward silence, Long Shui Ling''s mother said, "Alright, you can continue with your story."


    I gave a cough to help lessen my embarrassment before I continued telling the rest of the story.


    They just listened to the rest of the story in silence without showing any reaction at all.


    When I finished my story, another silence fell over the room.


    The looks on their faces seemed like they were thinking about something.


    Finally, it was her father and grandfather that broke the silence again.


    "You''ve heard about all the things that he''s done! We can''t let this scoundrel anywhere near our Ling Ling!"


    "That''s right! Hold him down for me, I''ll personally chop it off!"


    But they were once again restrained.


    This time, it wasn''t her mother and grandmother that restrained them, but rather Long Shui Ling who did it.


    She stood up and walked in front of me, standing between me and her father and grandfather.


    When the two of them saw her standing there, they looked like they wanted to die again.


    Their faces were completely filled with despair when they saw this.


    "Ling Ling, move out of the way."


    "Ling Ling, we''ll take care of this trash for you, just get out of the way."


    But Long Shui Ling wouldn''t move at all.


    The two of them didn''t dare move forward as long as Long Shui Ling was there.


    The two of them couldn''t bear to accidentally hurt their precious daughter/granddaughter.


    So there was a strange impasse that appeared.


    The one that broke this was Long Shui Ling''s mother.


    "Alright, you two. You''re this old and you''re still acting like children. Sit down and let''s discuss this properly as adults." She said in a voice that brokered no argument.


    But the two of them weren''t willing.


    They just couldn''t accept this man who came out of nowhere and took Long Shui Ling away from them. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the end, they still sat down when Long Shui Ling''s mother glared at them.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother turned to look at Long Shui Ling before saying, "Ling Ling, we understand your feelings, but you should think about your father and grandfather a bit. You should know that they are just worried about you."


    Long Shui Ling lowered her head before slowly giving a nod.


    However, before her father and grandfather could reveal happy looks, she said in a soft voice, "But they were the ones that bullied Lin Fan."


    Both of them felt like their hearts had been stabbed when she said this.


    They wanted to glare at me, but with Long Shui Ling looking at them like this, they really couldn''t.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, let''s forget about that for now. Let''s talk about Lin Fan for a bit."


    Everyone else in the room couldn''t help looking at her with a confused look, but she didn''t mind it at all.


    She just raised her hand and a folder appeared in it out of thin air.

 Chapter 195 - 195: Meeting the parents (6)

    When she pulled out this folder, everyone turned their attention to it, but she didn''t show them what it was.


    Instead, she opened it up in front of her and took out a piece of paper from inside before saying, "Born in XXXX in XXX City, he weighed XX pounds and¡­"


    Long Shui Ling''s mother started describing the events of my life as she read the piece of paper in front of her.


    She went from my birth all the way to my current situation.


    "Lost his parents and little sister during the dungeon breaks ten years ago."


    I couldn''t help feeling a sharp pain in my heart when I heard this.


    Time heals all wounds, but that didn''t mean that scars weren''t left behind. They didn''t hurt if they weren''t poked at, but when they were brought up like this¡­


    "He worked to put himself through school, but had no choice but to drop out to save money for his awakening ceremony. However, he failed that awakening ceremony not once, but four times. He was finally able to awaken on his final chance, but the power that he received was the F Rank Suggestion."


    All I could do was reveal a wry smile when I heard all of this.


    However, the way that the others looked at me had changed when they heard all of this.


    Long Shui Ling looked at me with a sad look as she didn''t know any of this.


    Even her father and grandfather couldn''t help looking at me with looks of pity when they heard all of this.


    They didn''t know any of this since they had been too consumed in their rage to actually check.


    They had just wanted to take care of him without actually finding out what kind of person he was because for them, no one was good enough for their daughter/granddaughter.


    "Later on, he went to take the Irregular License Exam and received a C Ranking, something that hadn''t been done in a long time. For that, he was allowed to join Elementia and is now one of their members being specially trained."


    When she finished reading this, Long Shui Ling''s mother put the piece of paper back into the folder and looked at me to say, "It seems like you''ve done quite a bit, haven''t you?"


    I didn''t know what to say, so I just simply gave a nod.


    She didn''t mind this as she turned to look at Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather to say, "Doesn''t he seem like quite the young man? He''s both hard working and determined, traits that the two of you can admire."


    Both of them revealed bitter looks on their faces when they heard this, but they had no choice but to nod in agreement after a moment of hesitation.


    From this, it sounded like he was a young man who was down on his luck who had worked hard to gain everything that he had now.


    This was the kind of man that they could admire.


    If only he wasn''t here to take their Ling Ling away from them¡­


    On the other hand, Long Shui Ling''s eyes lit up when she heard this.


    From the tone of her mother''s voice, it seemed like her mother was willing to accept Lin Fan as a son in law.


    If that was the case, didn''t that mean that her mother was on her side?


    All that was left was convincing her father and grandfather.


    As for her grandmother, she could see that she was silently agreeing with her mother, which meant that she was also on the same side as her mother.


    The one that was the most surprised though was me.


    I had never thought that she would have checked my background so thoroughly.


    The things that she read, there were things that others didn''t know about me.


    Since I had been busy, there weren''t that many people that I was close to, so there weren''t people that knew about these things.


    She had gone this far just to check my background, it seemed that quite a bit of effort was put in¡­No, for the richest family, this should be something that was very easily done.


    If they wanted to do something, it was nothing more than a snap of the finger and countless people would do it for them.


    So it shouldn''t have been hard for her to find this information.


    But I could see that there were still more pieces of paper in the folder¡­


    It should mean that there were other things that she was still holding onto that she hadn''t brought out yet.


    Just what else had she found about me?


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just gave a nod at Long Shui Ling and said, "It seems that you''ve found quite the good man for yourself."


    Both her father and grandfather looked like they wanted to die when they heard this and they seemed like they were about to explode with their denial of this, but Long Shui Ling didn''t let them.


    She just gave a soft nod and said, "Un."


    Then after that, there was another blush that appeared on her face as she looked down.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother revealed a faint smile before turning to look at me and asking, "What about you? How do you feel about our Ling Ling?"


    I was surprised to hear this from her mother in such a direct manner.


    I never thought that anyone would ask me this right to my face.


    After she asked this, all of their eyes fell onto me, as if they were waiting for my answer.


    But I couldn''t help hesitating as I tried to figure out what was the best course of action.


    In the end, it was the expectant way that Long Shui Ling looked at me that decided it.


    If I didn''t say anything now, it would just make things worse.


    So taking a deep breath, I said, "While I haven''t known her for long, I can say that I am fascinated by your daughter. Whether that can be called infatuation or not, I don''t know, but I just don''t want to be apart from her."


    Long Shui Ling''s eyes sparkled and there was a strong blush that appeared on her cheek when she heard this. There was a wide smile that appeared as she put her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment.


    If one looked closely, they might even think that hearts would start flying out from behind her. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But on the opposite side, both her father and grandfather had ugly looks on their faces.


    They looked like they wanted to do something, but their hands were completely tied when they saw how Long Shui Ling acted.


    Her mother just looked at the two of us and gave a nod before saying with a faint smile, "It''s good that you feel this way about each other. As long as you keep these feelings, I''m sure that there won''t be a problem."


    It almost seemed like she was giving her approval until¡­


    "But there is still a problem to address."


    After she said this, she pulled out another piece of paper from the folder that she put on the table in front of her before saying, "There''s the matter of this police report."

 Chapter 196 - 196: Meeting the parents (7)

    As soon as she put this paper down and her voice fell, everyone except for me immediately went over to look at this piece of paper.


    Even Long Shui Ling couldn''t help being shocked and going along with them.


    After all, she had never heard about this before.


    As they read the police report, there were different expressions that were revealed.


    Long Shui Ling revealed a look of relief when she saw that I was only listed as a witness instead of being listed as an offender or a victim.


    Her father and grandfather both revealed disappointed looks.


    If this police report had been more serious, they could have used it as some kind of excuse to oppose Long Shui Ling being with me.


    But it didn''t seem like they could.


    I wasn''t surprised at all to see her pull this out.


    In that report on me earlier, there were many things that no one should have known about me that had been found.


    For a police report like this, it should be easy for them to get.


    I just calmly looked at her and said, "This was a matter that I was involved in, but I just gave a statement as a witness and nothing else. I don''t think that it should have any effect on my reputation."


    But Long Shui Ling''s mother shook her head before saying, "Even if it is a small matter, it can be used to smear you. People don''t always play fair and like to disrupt the truth, so even this can be used against you."


    I slightly knitted my brows, but I couldn''t refute this.


    Long Shui Ling revealed a worried look when she heard this, but the expressions on the faces of the father and grandfather were still the same.


    They already knew what Long Shui Ling''s mother would say next.


    "But to cover up a small matter like this is just a simple wave of a hand for our Long Group. So it isn''t as if this matter is a big deal in the first place." Long Shui Ling''s mother said in a casual voice.


    Both Long Shui Ling and I looked at her in shock when she said this.


    I slowly asked, "But¡­why would you do this?"


    She looked back at me with a smile as she said, "You''re the one that Ling Ling likes. Why would I not do this for my daughter''s happiness?"


    Long Shui Ling''s face turned red again when her mother expressed her feelings this clearly, but she still looked back up and said, "Thank you."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just looked at her with a smile.


    I couldn''t help revealing a strange look since I never thought that things would go this way.


    I really didn''t know what to say in this situation since this was my first time facing this kind of absolute power.


    It was the kind of power where even the police or the government wasn''t considered anything. This was the true power of the world''s richest family.


    For a poor man like me, it really was too much of a shell shock for me to accept that easily.


    After a long time, I just said in a stunned voice, "Thank you."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother gave a nod before saying, "Un."


    Though the smile wasn''t as wide as it was when Long Shui Ling had thanked her and there seemed to be a sharp gaze in her eyes.


    It was almost as if she was judging me still.


    After a moment of silence, Long Shui Ling''s mother took out another piece of paper from the folder that she had been holding and she placed it on the table as well before asking, "Also, I''ll need you to tell me about this."


    Once again, everyone immediately came forward to look at the piece of paper.


    They found that it was a report from the Awakener Association.


    It was a report from a guard at one of the dungeons.


    To be specific, it was a report from the guard captain of the first dungeon that Lin Fan had gone to.


    This was the report that had been submitted after the incident with Sasha.


    As they read this report, they couldn''t help narrowing their eyes before turning to look at me.


    It was one thing for one incident to happen, but for two incidents to happen back to back like this¡­it was suspicious.


    This time, Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather didn''t look at me with eyes of hatred over taking Long Shui Ling away from them. This time, they looked at me like I was an actual threat.


    Long Shui Ling also couldn''t help revealing a concerned look.


    It wasn''t that she was suspicious, but she was concerned about him since she didn''t know that he had suffered this much.


    I knew that whatever the reason she took these reports out, the last thing that I could do was react.


    So I stayed calm as I asked, "What can I tell you about it?"


    Long Shui Ling''s mother narrowed her eyes even more as she said, "For you to be involved in two big incidents right after another like this, doesn''t this seem suspicious? How can you explain this?" S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Long Shui Ling knitted her brows a bit when she heard this and she turned to say, "Moth¡­."


    Before she could finish, her mother raised a hand and said, "Ling Ling, this is important. Let him answer the question."


    Long Shui Ling looked unhappy to be interrupted like this, but I stopped her by taking her hand and calming her down.


    Then I looked back at her mother and said, "There''s nothing suspicious about this. It was my first time in the dungeon and I never expected anything like that either. All I can say is that it was an unfortunate accident."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother narrowed her eyes even more after hearing this before saying, "You''re someone that could obtain a C Rank Irregular License, you shouldn''t be weak enough to be defeated by an area boss in a weak dungeon, right? Don''t you find this strange?"


    When she said this, all of them looked at me with narrowed eyes that were filled with doubt again.


    But I didn''t panic as I had already thought of an excuse.


    So I calmly said, "This was when I had first awakened as an Awakener, so I still didn''t have full control over my powers yet. The powers that I gained were powers that I had slowly built up, so I didn''t have these powers back then."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just looked at me for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    She also knew this as well since she had read the reports already.


    She knew that this incident had happened right after he had become an Awakener, so it made sense that he wasn''t that powerful yet.


    But she had found this suspicious which was why she had brought these two reports out for him.


    She had wanted to see if she could frazzle him with them and make him reveal something.


    But she hadn''t been able to find a single trace of guilt in his eyes.


    It seemed that he really was clean.


    However, there was still one more thing that she had to address.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother reached into the folder one more time and pulled out a photo that she placed on the table.

 Chapter 197 - 197: Meeting the parents (8)

    Once again, when she put it down on the table, everyone moved forward to look at it.


    But this time, they couldn''t help revealing confused looks.


    That was because this was just a picture from a surveillance camera of me entering a bar.


    This didn''t seem like it was anything that bad.


    But the moment that I saw this photo, I couldn''t help knitting my brows slightly.


    That was because I recognized this bar that I was entering.


    It was Sasha''s bar.


    And based on the clothes that I was wearing, this should have been when I visited her bar a few days after the Irregular License Exam. The day that I had gone in to do all of those experiments with her¡­


    I never thought that she would suddenly bring out a photo of me entering the bar at this time.


    When she saw that I had slightly knitted my brows, Long Shui Ling''s mother revealed a faint smile.


    She finally saw a reaction that she could follow up on, so she said, "It seems that little friend Lin recognizes this photo. Can you tell me what this photo is?"


    I forced my expression to relax as I said, "This is just a photo of me going to a bar. I went to one to relax a few days after the Irregular License Exam."


    Long Shui Ling''s mother narrowed her eyes when she heard this before pulling out another piece of paper. She held it in front of her and seemingly read it as she said, "According to this report, this bar seems to belong to a girl named Sasha Cowen."


    Then she turned to look at me as she said, "This is the same Sasha Cowen that you saved from the dungeon a while back. Can you really tell me that this is nothing more than a coincidence?"


    When Long Shui Ling heard this, she moved over to her mother''s side and looked at the report that her mother was holding.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just turned the piece of paper a bit so that Long Shui Ling could see everything that was written.


    As she read everything that was written, she couldn''t help looking more and more unhappy.


    Once she finished reading it, she had a frown on her face as she looked at me.


    She came forward and slapped her hand on the table over the picture before saying, "Well? Why aren''t you answering?"


    Seeing that Long Shui Ling had gotten angry, her father and grandfather saw that it was their chance.


    But before either of them could do a thing, Long Shui Ling turned to them and said, "This doesn''t involve you."


    When they heard this, the two of them looked like they were about to cry.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t care about them at all as she focused on me, waiting for me to answer.


    I had been silent during this time since I was thinking of an answer.


    "You know that I was the one that saved her from the dungeon back then, so she wanted to be friends with me after that and repay me for saving her. To do that, she gave me a share in her store, which is why I go there from time to time to help her." I said in a calm voice without any trembles.


    There was a silence that followed after I said this as they all stared at me.


    After a pause, I continued by saying, "I''m sure that it''s included in the report that you have, but Elementia has also invested in this store because of me. So I''ve been going to the store more because she needs more help with all the business that Elementia has brought."


    After this, I didn''t say another word.


    The silence that followed was a bit tense, but then Long Shui Ling''s mother gave a slow nod in response.


    This was indeed what had been written in the report and there wasn''t a single thing that was off.


    But that was a different matter.


    She looked right at me and said, "Since you saved her, I''m sure that you must have left quite the impression on her. A hero saving a beauty, I''m sure that''s quite effective, isn''t it?"


    When she heard this, Long Shui Ling couldn''t help being indirectly hit by this.


    After all, that was also how she had met Lin Fan.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother then narrowed her eyes to look at me as she said, "Can you say that you really don''t have that kind of relationship with her?"


    I just calmly looked back at her and said, "I promise, I do not have that kind of relationship with her. Other than with your daughter, I don''t have any other relationships."


    Her father and grandfather looked like they wanted to kill me again, but I just ignored them as I looked right at Long Shui Ling''s mother.


    After everything that she had done, I realized that she was the most terrifying member of this family.


    Instead of wearing her emotions like a sleeve, she kept her thoughts hidden and attacked from unexpected places. She was someone who had researched everything and then used all of it to attack me.


    In the future, it would be unknown what she would do when I tried to put my plan in action.


    So she was the one that I had to watch out for.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just looked at me for a bit with a sharp gaze, but her expression relaxed when Long Shui Ling came forward to hold her hand.


    Long Shui Ling''s expression was no longer as sharp as before.


    It seemed that she had forgiven me for whatever she had blamed me for.


    Long Shui Ling''s mother just gave a sigh before saying, "Alright, since it seems like you haven''t done anything to wrong Ling Ling, I don''t have anything to complain about."


    I was about to let out an internal sigh of relief, but that was immediately stopped by her cold gaze falling onto me.


    With that cold gaze on me, she said, "But if you ever let down Ling Ling¡­" Her eyes moved down to my lower half before she said, "I''ll be sure to cut it off."


    In the end, she threatened me just like the men did¡­ sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that they really were a good fit for each other.


    But I just gave a nod before saying, "I promise I won''t."


    She just gave another nod before saying, "Un, alright, I''ll believe you for now."

 Chapter 198 - 198: Meeting the parents (9)

    Both Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather looked like they still wanted to say something else, but since her mother had already spoken, there was nothing that they could say.


    Long Shui Ling looked at her mother with an excited look before saying, "Do you really mean it, mom?"


    Her mother said with a nod, "As long as you''re happy, we''re happy." Then after a pause, she said, "But let''s keep this a secret for now. You know what will happen if we announce that you''re dating someone."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a displeased look before giving a nod.


    It seemed that rich people also had their own troubles.


    After talking for a bit about their troubles, Long Shui Ling''s mother suddenly stood up and started walking away. As she walked off, she said, "Come, let''s have a meal together. It''s all been prepared and it''s probably getting cold with how long we''ve been talking."


    Long Shui Ling took my hand and happily followed behind her mother as she asked, "Did you make my favourites?"


    Her mother nodded and patted her head as she said, "Of course. It''s Ling Ling''s big day, so I made all of your favourites."


    Naturally, she couldn''t say that she had prepared all of these just in case she had to cheer Long Shui Ling up after chasing away Lin Fan. If she said this, it was certain that Long Shui Ling would ignore her for a long time.


    As they walked together, Long Shui Ling''s grandmother also came over to talk to her.


    She had been silent the whole time, so I was surprised when I saw her talking to Long Shui Ling.


    Just a few words were enough for me to realize something.


    She was just as sharp as Long Shui Ling''s mother and had stayed silent the whole time to leave this matter to her since she trusted her. But that didn''t mean that she didn''t know what was happening.


    It wouldn''t be strange if it turned out that most of the plan had been come up by her.


    It seemed that the women of the Long Family were the ones to be feared¡­


    The men seemed like they were just decorations.


    No, I can''t say that since I could feel the aura coming from these two and they were anything but normal.


    They most likely wouldn''t act like this normally, but they were too emotional because it involved Long Shui Ling, their precious daughter/granddaughter. If they were thinking rationally, they would be able to do things on the same level as Long Shui Ling''s mother and grandmother.


    There shouldn''t be a single simple person in the Long Family.


    There couldn''t be since they were the richest family in the world.


    If they were that simple, they would have been taken down long ago.


    Would Long Shui Ling also become like this in the future?


    It would be a lie to say that I didn''t prefer the current Long Shui Ling.


    She had been protected by her family, so she could be considered a bit naive. But with that protection came an innocence that others didn''t have which I couldn''t help finding endearing.


    Would she lose that innocence in the future?


    Well¡­she would have lost it anyway if my plan succeeded¡­so I really couldn''t say anything.


    When this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh.


    Long Shui Ling noticed this and turned around to ask, "What''s wrong? You''ll lose all your happiness if you sigh like this."


    A faint smile slipped onto my lips as I said, "I''m just relieved it''s over."


    She was surprised at first, but then she said with a smile, "I knew that you could do it. I believed in you."


    Seeing the two of us like this, her father and grandfather really wanted to come forward to rip me apart, but her mother and grandmother held them back.


    When we arrived at the dining table, I was surprised to find that there wasn''t anything there. Not only was there no food, there were no servants at all. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It didn''t seem like the dining room of a rich family, well ignoring all the fine decorations that were around us.


    As I didn''t know what to do, Long Shui Ling pulled me over to the table and we sat down together.


    Her father and grandfather took their places at the ends of the table.


    It was only her mother and her grandmother who didn''t sit down as they headed out another door.


    A minute later, they came back with plates of food and cutlery in their hands.


    They were setting the table themselves, completely going against what I thought rich people would do.


    But then again, with how close they were¡­it didn''t seem like they would use servants for these kinds of things in the first place.


    It didn''t take long before the table was set and covered with dishes.


    The two of them moved quite quickly¡­much quicker than normal people.


    They should also be Awakeners.


    But they most likely held back in front of Long Shui Ling so they wouldn''t scare her.


    How could the heads of the world''s richest family be normal people?


    Of course they would be Awakeners as well.


    I couldn''t help wondering what their powers were, but there was a voice that cut through my thoughts.


    "Alright, let''s eat then." Long Shui Ling''s mother said.


    Long Shui Ling''s father and grandfather immediately turned to Long Shui Ling and started offering her food.


    "Ling Ling, this is your favourite Dong Po Pork. Your grandmother spent all afternoon on this."


    "Ling Ling, your mother made your favourite chicken rice with mushrooms. Let daddy get you a bowl."


    But both of them were ignored by Long Shui Ling.


    Instead, she had gotten a bowl and had started picking out a few things from the table.


    Once she was done filling her dish, she turned to me and said, "Here, let me feed you."


    Once again, the looks of jealousy and hatred came in my direction.

 Chapter 199 - 199: Meeting the parents (10)

    I gave a soft bitter laugh when I felt these gazes on me.


    Long Shui Ling would never know just how effective her innocent words were at drawing aggro to me. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They were more effective than the most powerful taunt skills.


    It drew aggro from her father and grandfather like it was nothing.


    At the same time, it puts me in a bit of a dilemma.


    If I let her do this, it was certain that these two would never forgive me.


    But if I didn''t let her do this and she became sad, it was hard to predict what her mother and grandmother would do.


    It was a choice of which side I feared more.


    In the end, I chose to let her feed me since I knew that it was the women who were more terrifying.


    I could feel the hatred and jealousy growing in the two glares pointed at me, but I could also see the happy smiles on the faces of her mother and grandmother as they looked at us.


    It seemed that I had made the right choice.


    The two of us just ate in silence while the parents and grandparents watched.


    Though it felt awkward for me, Long Shui Ling didn''t feel any awkwardness as she kept feeding me.


    The silence continued for a bit before Long Shui Ling''s mother finally asked, "Ling Ling, what do you like about him."


    I couldn''t help giving a spit take as the chopsticks fell out of Long Shui Ling''s hands.


    Her little mouth opened wide as she looked at her mother, opening and closing a few times before she finally said, "Mother, you''re embarrassing me."


    Her face turned red and she lowered her head after that.


    But Long Shui Ling''s mother didn''t stop her questioning as she said, "Ling Ling, there''s no need to be shy. We''re all family here, so you can tell us what you like about him."


    Long Shui Ling''s face turned even more red and she pouted her lips, but she still said, "He''s kind."


    It was just two simple words, but the aggro effect of these two words were stronger than her actions from before. Just these two words were enough to almost set off the flames of hatred around her father and grandfather.


    "Just kind?" Long Shui Ling''s mother asked before saying after a pause, "Is that really it?"


    Long Shui Ling nodded before lowering her head again. But then as if she felt that it wasn''t enough, she added, "I feel safe with him."


    This time, the two women revealed smiles after hearing this.


    The way that the smiles hung on their faces, it was as if they were remembering their own memories of love from the past.


    For the two men, they put their chopsticks down.


    They just couldn''t work up the appetite when their precious Long Shui Ling was praising another man like this in front of them.


    After another long silence, Long Shui Ling''s mother suddenly said, "But I''ve heard that he was also kind to other girls."


    When her voice fell, Long Shui Ling''s expression changed.


    She went from shy and happy to dark and gloomy.


    As if seeing their chance, her father and grandfather were about to pounce. But they were scared back into their seat by a glare from Long Shui Ling''s mother.


    After a bit of a silence, Long Shui Ling said, "That''s right, he''s kind to other people as well¡­It really is a bit of a problem."


    She turned to me with a dissatisfied glare when she said this.


    I just looked right into her eyes with a confused look.


    Before I could say anything though, Long Shui Ling''s mother said, "If it is a problem, then we should address it."


    She narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?"


    I looked right into her eyes and said, "Isn''t it natural to be kind to others? Isn''t that what we should do as human beings?"


    Long Shui Ling''s mother gave a nod to show her agreement for this, but she still said in a sharp voice, "But there''s kindness and excessive kindness. Tell me, which kind of kindness are you showing to others? Or are you going to tell me that you are already wronging our Ling Ling?"


    I could feel the pressure that was coming from her as she looked at me.


    I took a deep breath and said, "I would never do that. Shui Ling is the only one that I have that kind of relationship with."


    She narrowed her eyes to look into my eyes again, as if she was trying to see if I was lying or not.


    But in the end, she wasn''t able to find any lies on my face.


    So she had no choice but to accept what I said.


    The rest of the meal was just spent in a somewhat harmonious manner.


    It was impossible for her father and grandfather to accept me, but they didn''t try anything for this meal.


    They just held back and tried to do what they could to make Long Shui Ling happy.


    As for me, they basically ignored me.


    But I had to admit that this was enjoyable.


    Since my parents had died, it had been a long time since I had a family meal like this.


    Even if I had been tense before, I could still relax with how welcoming her mother and grandmother was.


    Once the meal was over, Sebastien suddenly appeared out of nowhere to guide me out.


    He would send me home.


    Before leaving, Long Shui Ling looked at me with a look like she wanted to come with me, but of course her parents would never allow this to happen.


    So all that she could get in the end was a pat on the head.


    She looked like she wanted more, but she was too embarrassed to do more in front of her parents.


    Just like this, I was driven away from the Long Family manor by Sebastien.

 Chapter 200 - 200: Signs of a demon king

    When I arrived home, there was a voice that popped into my head.


    "That family¡­there''s something off about them."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this before pulling Lilith out of my Storage Ring.


    When she came out, she jumped out of my hand and walked around in the living room, pacing back and forth as if she was thinking about something.


    I waited for her to say something at first, but it didn''t seem like she was going to say anything.


    In the end, I couldn''t take it anymore and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Lilith didn''t answer me at first as she continued pacing back and forth.


    But then she suddenly stopped to look at me.


    I still couldn''t help feeling that this walking doll was strange, but she had a serious look on her face, so I tried to remain as serious as possible.


    She opened and closed her mouth a few times, almost as if she was struggling to say what she wanted to say.


    In the end, she just gave a sigh and went back to pacing back and forth.


    I knitted my brows when I saw her like this and her pacing was slowly making me dizzy, so I reached out to grab her. I lifted her off the ground and placed her in front of me before saying, "What is it? Tell me already."


    Even then, Lilith didn''t say anything as she just looked down deep in thought.


    Finally, she looked up at me and said, "You''ve really gotten bold, picking up a beautiful woman like me like this. Do you really want to do it that badly with me?"


    My lips twitched when I heard this before I slowly raised my hand.


    My hand was coming up like I was preparing to throw a baseball.


    "Wait, wait, alright, I''ll stop teasing and tell you." Lilith quickly said when she saw this. She was even waving her hand around in a panic when she saw the serious look on my face.


    After I brought her down, she looked up at me and said, "It''s not like there is a problem, but it''s also not like there''s no problem at all."


    I just revealed a confused look when I heard this, but I waited for her to explain.


    Lilith gave a sigh before saying, "In that house, I felt¡­No, I don''t know if it was right, but there was this sensation¡­"


    The way that she trailed off, it was almost as if she didn''t know what to say.


    Once again, I just waited for her to finish gathering her thoughts.


    After rambling on like this for a bit, Lilith gave a sigh and said, "I felt the sensation of another demon king."


    "Huh?" I looked at her as if I was trying to tell if she was being serious or not, but Lilith had started muttering to herself again.


    "That feeling¡­it should be greed¡­but then again¡­"


    "Greed?" I couldn''t help asking.


    Lilith gave a nod before saying, "Just like how you''re the demon king of lust, there is a demon king of greed."


    "Then is there a demon king associated with all seven deadly sins?"


    Lilith gave another nod as she said, "That''s right, there are seven demon kings."


    Seven demon kings¡­


    I had thought that I was the only one, but now it turned out that there were six others.


    But then again¡­it made sense.


    Thinking back to the first day that the dungeons had appeared, the voice that had spoken had said to slay all the demon kings and not just a single demon king.


    It made sense that there were more than one.


    After thinking for a bit, I looked down at Lilith and asked, "Why didn''t you tell me that there were other demon kings?"


    Lilith was pulled out of her muttering and she looked up at me with a confused look as she said, "I thought you already knew? Doesn''t everyone know that there are multiple demon kings?"


    I didn''t have a way to refute this¡­so all I could do was ask another question to hide my embarrassment.


    "What else are you hiding from me?"


    Lilith looked at me with a surprised look before shaking her head and saying, "I''ve never hidden anything from you."


    I narrowed my eyes as they filled with doubt, but I didn''t ask anything else.


    I was sure that there was more that she wasn''t telling me, but for now¡­it was better to get the information that was more pertinent to this situation.


    So I asked, "What is so special about this demon king of greed?"


    Lilith revealed a serious look this time as she said, "It''s not that the demon king of greed is important, it''s important that there''s another demon king."


    She looked right into my eyes before saying, "The demon kings are free to operate as they wish, so they can work together or they can work against each other. But since they are all demon kings, it means that their powers have a weaker effect on each other."


    I knitted my brows as I asked to confirm, "What do you mean?"


    She calmly said, "Your plan is to turn them into your puppets? Well, that might be hard if they are related to the demon king of greed. They will have a natural resistance to your powers as the demon king of lust, which includes the Hypnosis skill."


    It was as I had expected, but being told this straight was a different feeling.


    It seemed that I had to change my plans¡­ Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Can you find more traces of the demon king of greed?" I suddenly asked.


    Lilith gave a nod before also shaking her head and saying, "Not unless I can get closer to the source. I only felt traces of it in their house, but I had no idea where it was coming from. If you can let me explore that house, I''m certain that I''ll be able to find more traces."


    I revealed a bitter smile when I heard this.


    Exploring the house of the richest family?


    That was impossible.


    Even with powers designed to hide oneself, it would be impossible to sneak into a place that had the most high tech security.


    As for using the Time Stop skill¡­there was a potential demon king on the other side, so it was useless to use this.


    I took a deep breath before saying, "Let''s leave this be for now. It''s not as if they are planning to do anything to us, right?"


    Lilith gave a slow nod before saying, "It doesn''t seem like they have found us yet."


    I said with a nod, "Alright, then let''s slowly follow up on this. For now, I''ll work on Long Shui Ling first before working on her family."


    Lilith gave a nod of agreement.


    But after a moment of silence, she felt like she had to add something, "Be careful of the demon king of greed. They usually aren''t good at working with others¡­"


    I gave an understanding nod.


    Demon king of greed¡­greed¡­


    Greed was the desire to own everything, so it was unlikely that they would be willing to share.


    This demon king of greed definitely wasn''t someone that would play nice with others.


    But for the demon king of greed to hide for this long¡­


    It made sense that they would be with the richest family in the world, but how did they manage to hide themselves all this time?


    It really was puzzling.

 Chapter 201 - 201: Big announcement

    We were called back into work the next morning.


    We should have been given a day off since we had just finished raiding a dungeon the day before, but we had received a message that we were being called in.


    When Su Chen came to pick me up, I asked him what was happening.


    All he said was, "I have no idea."


    He explained that all he had heard was that there was a special announcement being made, which was why we had all been called in.


    When he said ''we'', he didn''t just mean our dungeon raiding group.


    When he said ''we'', he meant all of the dungeon raiding groups that were affiliated with Elementia.


    Other than the ones that were doing large scale raids that couldn''t be cancelled quickly, everyone else had been called to headquarters.


    When we arrived, I couldn''t help being surprised by just how many Awakeners there were.


    I knew that Elementia was one of the biggest guilds in the world, but for it to be this big¡­


    It really was an eye opener.


    And of course, with a gathering of this many people, it was hard for tensions not to flare.


    It was clear that there were grudges between the different dungeon raiding groups.


    Especially the main big ones.


    They clearly had some kind of rivalry with each other, but that was to be expected since they were the main dungeon raiding forces. They were expected to be better than everyone else and create results that spoke for themselves.


    But that wasn''t all that I had noticed.


    I saw that in the corners of this lobby, there were different groups that were gathered.


    I knew a few people from these groups from my daily interactions.


    These were the supporters of Elementia.


    These were the medics, the porters, the butchers, and all the different support staff that did the work behind the scenes.


    This wasn''t just a gathering of Awakeners, this was a complete gathering of all the staff of Elementia.


    So whatever the announcement was, it wouldn''t be a normal announcement¡­


    This might be an announcement that involved the fate of Elementia itself.


    As for what it could be, I had some clues¡­


    After this thought passed through my mind, I quickly met up with the others.


    In our group, there were quite a few people with large personalities. If they were to cause trouble before I could stop them, then it would be bad for us in the future.


    Most of these people could be considered our seniors, so it would be bad if we caused trouble with them.


    Luckily, they were aware of this and they had moved into a corner to keep out of the way. They even seemed like they were doing all that they could to not draw attention to themselves.


    It seemed that I had underestimated them.


    They at least had the prudence not to cause trouble.


    But when I came over, I realized why this was the case.


    They were still kids.


    I had been treating them as adults since we had been working together, but they were still kids according to their age.


    It was normal that they were shaken by things like this.


    It was only Long Shui Ling who seemed normal in all of this.


    But she was the young miss of the Long Group, so she should be used to crowds like this.


    Since they were well behaved, there was nothing for me to say.


    We just stood in our corner waiting for the announcement to begin.


    As we stood there, I saw a familiar face in the crowd.


    It was Bing Xin, she was also here.


    She was with a group of people that I didn''t recognize, but I assumed that was most likely the team that she normally raided dungeons with.


    She also saw me and waved her hand in our direction.


    Both Long Shui Ling and I waved back at her.


    As we did, I couldn''t help being surprised by Long Shui Ling''s reaction.


    Long Shui Ling was very prone to jealousy, as seen with what happened with Claire.


    However, she didn''t seem averse to Bing Xin. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They had only met once and it seemed like they were already good friends.


    Just what was the difference between Claire and Bing Xin that Long Shui Ling treated them so differently?


    I didn''t get to think about that for long as the doors to a conference room suddenly opened and the crowd started to move.


    The handlers were the ones that guided the various Awakeners and support staff to the seats.


    Our seats were way in the back, but that was normal since we were new recruits.


    Everyone else here has been here much longer than we have.


    When everyone was seated, the host said, "Thank you everyone for gathering today. We have some important news to share with everyone."


    He turned after saying this and there was a spotlight that appeared. Under that spotlight was naturally Bing Lan.


    The host said, "We''ll let the guild leader tell you everything."


    Bing Lan gave a nod to the host before walking up to the podium.


    She took the mic, but she didn''t start speaking right away.


    Instead, she pointed at the screen behind here.


    When she did, there was a picture that appeared on that screen.


    For most people, they were confused about what this picture was. But for the people that knew, they immediately knitted their brows.


    As for me, I was one of the few that knew what this picture was.


    This was a picture of the entrance to the SS Rank Dungeon, the Tower of Heaven.


    As the name implied, it was an actual tower that had appeared on Earth one day with a dungeon gate as an entrance.


    This was also the SS Rank Dungeon that we had been competing with Amaterasu for.


    After giving everyone a moment to settle down, Bing Lan said, "We have been given permission to scout out the SS Rank Dungeon, the Tower of Heaven."


    There were only the sounds of cold breaths of air that followed.

 Chapter 202 - 202: Competition (1)

    Then there was silence that lingered in the air as everyone waited to hear what Bing Lan would have to say next.


    Bing Lan wasn''t in a rush to speak as she casually turned back to get a remote from the podium. She pointed the remote at the podium and calmly pressed one of the buttons, causing the image on the screen to change.


    The image went from the entrance to the tower to a few images of what seemed to be a wasteland.


    Bing Lan didn''t say a single thing as she kept pressing the button on the remote to change the image.


    Again and again she kept changing it until she finally reached the end of the slideshow.


    During this time, the tension continued to build in the crowd as everyone wondered why she was doing this.


    Not a single person understood why she was showing this slideshow, though there were a few of them that did know what this slideshow was about.


    These were the images that had been brought back from the preliminary scouting team of the Awakener Association.


    Since normal cameras didn''t work in the dungeon, these images were brought back with a special method. The amount of work to bring back just these images was by no means small and it would have cost quite a bit.


    This was not something that could have been done if one wasn''t backed by the large Awakener Association.


    So these images were very precious and couldn''t be shown to normal people.


    Yet Bing Lan was showing it here.


    Once she had finished showing the slideshow, Bing Lan said, "These are the images that have been brought back by the preliminary scouting team sent in by the Awakener Association. As you can see¡­"


    She continued on to go into the details of what these pictures were and how they would be used.


    But when she did, everyone couldn''t help feeling confused.


    After all, there was no reason for her to go into this here with everyone gathered like this.


    Some of the smarter people of course noticed that even the support staff had been called, so they couldn''t help coming to a conclusion.


    "Was the guild master planning on bringing everyone into the SS Rank Dungeon?"


    There were naturally pros and cons to this, but when it came down to it, the cons far outweighed the pros.


    First, it would hurt collusion to bring everyone in like this.


    Too many chefs in the kitchen meant that someone was going to be burned eventually.


    It was better to have a small crack team enter instead of bringing everyone.


    Second, in the event that they failed, didn''t that mean that all of the main forces of Elementia would be destroyed?


    Putting all of one''s eggs in a single basket was a sure way of getting wiped out if something went poorly.


    And there were many other cons that far outweighed the benefits of going together.


    So there were many of them that were questioning what Bing Lan was doing.


    There were also many of them that were trying to send secret gazes at Bing Lan to advise her against this.


    But Bing Lan ignored it all and just continued with what she was saying.


    When she was done, she turned to look at the crowd and said, "Now, are there any questions?"


    Even though they all had questions, not a single person said a single thing.


    The questions that they had were not things that could be discussed in a large setting like this, so they couldn''t just ask her these questions now.


    At the very least, she didn''t seem like she was going to announce that everyone was going to go.


    So there was only silence that followed Bing Lan''s question.


    Bing Lan didn''t seem unnerved at all by the silence that she faced.


    She just stood there with a calm look on her face, as if this was all normal.


    After waiting for a bit, Bing Lan moved back in front of the podium and put the mic back down before leaning in to say, "Now, let''s discuss who will be heading into this SS Rank Dungeon."


    That moment that she said this, the crowd fell silent once more.


    There had been whispers among them while Bing Lan had been slowly moving, but they all focused on Bing Lan the moment that she said this.


    After all, this was what they had been concerned about the entire time.


    Even those that didn''t pick up on it right away were starting to feel suspicious.


    Bing Lan just looked over the crowd and said, "I''m sure that all of you would like to go, but¡­we can''t take all of you."


    As soon as she said this, there were looks of relief that appeared in the crowd that were quickly replaced with concerned looks again.


    They were relieved that Bing Lan wasn''t planning on bringing everyone, but there was still the concern of why she had gathered everyone like this.


    If she wasn''t planning on bringing everyone, there was no need to give them all the details like this.


    So they knew that she wasn''t finished with whatever she was about to say.


    Bing Lan waited for the people to realize this and settle before saying, "Now, we will be choosing those that will go, but we won''t be doing the usual method of choosing just the strongest."


    Everyone couldn''t help being shocked when they heard this.


    Bing Lan just ignored those shocked looks as she said, "Instead of just choosing the strongest, we will be looking at people who have special abilities. It doesn''t matter how strong you are, as long as you are able to use your abilities in a skilled manner." S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone was even more shocked and confused when they heard this.


    How would they measure that?


    But Bing Lan quickly gave them an answer.


    "To do that, we will be using a special method of comparing everyone''s results."


    There were looks of understanding that appeared again after she said this.


    There were people that finally understood why she had done all of this.


    It was to ignite their competitive spirit.


    It was to announce a competition on who would be going to the SS Rank Dungeon.

 Chapter 203 - 203: Competition (2)

    As soon as her voice fell, there was a strange tension that filled the room.


    It wasn''t the same tension as before, rather it was kind of like an invisible layer of excitement filling the room as everyone seemed excited about this competition. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though they would have to compete for a spot to join the SS Rank Dungeon expedition, for most people here, they wouldn''t have had a chance to join in the first place.


    There were the captains of the dungeon raid groups who were powerful Awakeners, but there were also plenty of weaker team members who wouldn''t have a chance to join this important mission.


    After all, this was a SS Rank Dungeon, this was not something that just anyone would be able to go to.


    But being able to go to this SS Rank Dungeon was without a doubt a great opportunity.


    Just being able to say that you had entered a SS Rank Dungeon would be a large boost to one''s prestige.


    That was just how much weight a SS Rank Dungeon had.


    So normally, only the captains of the various teams, the strongest members of Elementia, would even be allowed to go. There would be no opportunity for them at all.


    This was a golden opportunity for everyone here.


    The captains however knew that Bing Lan had another goal here.


    She was planning on using this SS Rank Dungeon to breathe life into their guild.


    She was planning on using this SS Rank Dungeon to light a fire under everyone and evolve their guild to the next level.


    That was why she had thought of this competition.


    After letting them seethe in this excitement for a bit, Bing Lan continued by saying, "As for how we will be choosing those that go, it will depend on contribution during this next period. We will be watching everyone''s actions during this time and grading you based on that. Those that contribute more will be in the pool for those chosen to go."


    Then after a pause, she added, "Of course, your powers will also be considered when we observe you. Those with powers that are considered more useful will be put in higher consideration over the others."


    She went on to talk about some more vague things and as she did, the people listening couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    The way that Bing Lan had described the competition had been very vague, so they didn''t really know what to do to be considered.


    But that was what she wanted in the first place.


    By giving vague instructions in the first place, they would have to make up for it on their own.


    Whether that was putting in more effort or finding a creative way to stand out, she was leaving it up to them to figure out how to stand out.


    That would easily weed out those that wouldn''t be able to make the cut.


    After going over a few more details, she called the end to the meeting and walked off with a group of people.


    Once Bing Lan was gone, everyone slowly stood up and started leaving this conference room.


    It was the same for us.


    I led our group out before asking Su Chen for a private place to discuss this.


    Su Chen quickly brought us to one of the discussion rooms that Elementia had at the headquarters. These were rooms that could be used by any dungeon raiding party to hold discussions.


    All we had to do was sign in with our guild IDs and we were allowed to use the room.


    After sitting down, I looked at everyone and said, "What do you think?"


    All of them remained silent with looks on their faces as if they were debating this.


    Or it was better to say that they looked scared.


    But it couldn''t be blamed on them since this was a large opportunity.


    SS Rank Dungeon, this was a dungeon that was at the very frontlines of humanity''s battle with the demon kings. This was the highest grade dungeon out there, so there must be powerful enemies there.


    It would even make sense for there to be demon kings.


    This was the general''s idea of these SS Rank Dungeons.


    So this was a very dangerous place.


    They were scared of going to a place like this, so they weren''t sure if they wanted to compete for this at all.


    But it was Long Shui Ling who broke the silence by saying, "What is there to be scared of? If we want to be Awakeners, we should aim for the top."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this from Long Shui Ling.


    After all, this kind of comment was strange coming from her.


    Even the conviction in her eyes seemed strange.


    And for some reason, she seemed to be looking at me¡­


    The others looked at Long Shui Ling for a bit before suddenly agreeing with her.


    They had been scared by the large implications of this SS Rank Dungeon, but they were inspired by her words.


    Even if this place was terrifying, they should have ambition as future powerful Awakeners. It was their dream to become S Rank Awakeners or even SS Rank Awakeners, so this SS Rank Dungeon was just a stepping stone for them.


    As for me, I was interested in this dungeon as well, but for a different reason.


    This dungeon was the frontline of the battle with the demon kings¡­and as a demon king, I was naturally interested in this place.


    I didn''t know what would be inside the SS Rank Dungeon, but I was certain that it would be related to me as a demon king.


    So naturally I wanted to explore this SS Rank Dungeon and see what I could find.


    Since everyone was excited about this, it seemed that our decision was made¡­


    Or at least that was what it seemed until there was someone that suddenly came into the room.


    This was a staff member who suddenly said, "The guild master wants to see you all."

 Chapter 204 - 204: Back door

    All of us looked at this staff member in shock as we couldn''t believe what we were hearing.


    Seeing this, the staff member just simply said again, "The guild master wants to see you all."


    I was the first one to react and I came forward to ask, "May we ask what this is about?"


    The staff member just simply shook his head and said, "I have no idea. I was just told to come and bring you to the guild master."


    I deeply knitted my brows when I heard this.


    I didn''t know what was happening, but it wasn''t as if we couldn''t just not go.


    This was the guild master who was calling for us¡­


    So we had no choice but to follow the staff member out.


    As we walked through the headquarters, we could see that people were excited. There were many people who seemed like they were making plans on what to do about this competition that was coming.


    But we couldn''t feel the same.


    I could see that all of us had anxious looks on our faces.


    As for why¡­it was naturally because we had been suddenly summoned by the guild master.


    We had no idea what Bing Lan wanted, but it shouldn''t be good¡­


    We took the same elevator as before and we were brought up to the floor of her office.


    But instead of being brought to her office, we were led to the conference room on the other side of the floor. This was the same conference room that I had been brought to before when we were discussing what to do with Motoyasu.


    The staff member just stood outside the door and said, "They''re waiting for you."


    I knitted my brows once more.


    It was because he had said ''they'', instead of ''she''.


    It didn''t seem like just a meeting with Bing Lan, but other people as well¡­


    I asked the staff member, "Can you tell us who''s inside?"


    The staff member just seemed to ignore me when I asked this question and stood there as if he was waiting for us to go in.


    I knitted my brows even more when I saw this.


    There was a part of me that really wanted to leave since I could sense the danger that came from this unknown, but I had no choice but to enter the room in the end.


    It wasn''t as if I could run from the entirety of Elementia.


    When I walked into the room, I wasn''t surprised to see all the people gathered around the table.


    Seeing all of them here, I revealed a look like I already expected this.


    After all, there had to be a reason why we had been called here in the first place instead of meeting in the office. There had to be a reason why she had called us to this conference room instead.


    So I was waiting to see what was going to happen.


    The one thing that was confusing to me was that¡­the people who had been gathered in this room had confused looks on their faces. It was as if they didn''t even know what they had been brought to this room for.


    I recognized a few of the people in the room since I had seen them before.


    There were the leaders of the dungeon raid teams and the various department heads that were here.


    I had met them when we had worked together to take down Motoyasu.


    For all of them to be gathered here, it should mean that something important was about to happen¡­


    But why would it involve us?


    I couldn''t help feeling more and more worried about this¡­


    After we came in, Bing Lan waved her hand at us as if she was telling us to come over.


    After we slowly came over, she had us stand at the front of the room in front of everyone instead of sitting down.


    The way that we were standing here, it was almost as if we were some kind of exhibit.


    As we stood there, Bing Lan turned to the rest of the room and said, "I''m sure that you''re all wondering why I''ve gathered you all here."


    The ones sitting at the table couldn''t help giving slow nods in response to this.


    Bing Lan gave a nod as well before saying, "I''m sure that you know that we''ve won the bid for the SS Rank Dungeon over Amaterasu."


    Once again, all of them gave slow nods as they waited for her to finish.


    Bing Lan continued by saying, "This was in part of our offense against them after catching their spy in our midst." She turned to me and said, "That was thanks to Lin Fan here."


    Once she said this, everyone turned to look at me.


    There were some people that didn''t know that, so they couldn''t help looking at me with surprised looks.


    The way that they looked at me was quite uncomfortable, but it wasn''t as if there was anything that I could do about it.


    Bing Lan just ignored my look asking for help as she turned back to say, "The other part of that was because¡­" After a dramatic pause, she said, "Because the Long Family suddenly gave us their support."


    When they heard this, everyone suddenly revealed much stronger reactions than before.


    It seemed that many of them didn''t even know about the Long Family.


    I also knitted my brows a bit when I heard this.


    I knew that the Long Family had supported Elementia, which was why Long Shui Ling was able to join. I just never knew that they used their influence to help Elementia win this SS Rank Dungeon bid.


    The rest of our group was also surprised to hear this since not a single person didn''t know about the Long Group.


    It was only Long Shui Ling who had a calm and embarrassed look on her face when she heard this.


    Bing Lan waited for a bit for them to calm down before turning to Long Shui Ling and saying, "I''m sure that many of you don''t know this yet, but this person here is someone from the Long Family."


    Long Shui Ling''s face became a bit ugly when she heard this.


    She had been hiding her identity, but now Bing Lan was about to reveal it.


    But before she could say anything, Bing Lan had already said it. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This young lady here is the young miss of the Long Family, Long Shui Ling."


    As soon as her voice fell, there was a cold gasp that filled the room and they all turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling immediately glared at Bing Lan after she said this.


    However, Bing Lan completely ignored this glare from Long Shui Ling as she continued by saying, "Without the support of the Long Family, we never would have received the rights to explore the SS Rank Dungeon so soon. It would have taken at least another year or two before anything happened."


    Bing Lan stood up and stood right beside as. She gestured to us with her hand before saying, "Since that''s the case, shouldn''t we make an exception and give Miss Long Shui Ling''s party a spot on the scouting team?"


    Everyone was once again shocked, including me.


    I never would have expected this¡­


    This was Bing Lan letting us go through the back door to join the SS Rank Dungeon exploration team.

 Chapter 205 - 205: Not accepting the cup offered

    After everyone had some time to let this news settle, they all revealed strange looks.


    Some of them looked down, some of them looked at Bing Lan, and some of them looked at Long Shui Ling.


    It was as if they had all kinds of different thoughts in their minds.


    Long Shui Ling also had a strange look on her face.


    Normally, she disliked this kind of treatment even though she was the young miss of the Long Family.


    She had been raised as such, so she didn''t enjoy being treated differently from everyone else because she was from the Long Family. She was taught the value of proper hard work and earning what you should have.


    But¡­this was different.


    This was a SS Rank Dungeon, so it was completely different from everything that she had faced before.


    The most important thing being¡­this was what she had wanted in the first place.


    The reason why she had been so excited and determined about this was because she had wanted Lin Fan to shine.


    She had wanted to use this opportunity to let everyone know how amazing he was.


    That was just how she was, she wanted everyone to know how amazing her man was.


    But she also knew how hard it was to get a spot in this SS Rank Dungeon scouting team in the first place.


    If they didn''t go through the back door, then it would be hard for them to even be considered for the team. They would have to go through many challenges just to be put on the short list.


    So taking the back door was much easier for them.


    As the silence hung in the room, I was the only one who seemed calm about all of this.


    That was because I had already thought of the answer to this question.


    So after a pause, I said, "Guild master, thank you for this opportunity."


    The others in the room were surprised to hear me suddenly speak.


    After all, it shouldn''t have been me to say anything in the first place. This was a question that had been asked of the Long Family''s young miss, Long Shui Ling.


    I was nothing compared to her, so how could I answer for her?


    But that was what I did.


    Bing Lan wasn''t surprised to hear this since she already knew that I was the leader of this group.


    She was about to say something, but I spoke first.


    I had deliberately paused after saying this so that I could make a point.


    I then said, "But we will not be accepting this offer."


    After I said this, everyone looked at me with shocked looks, including Bing Lan and Long Shui Ling.


    It was clear that not a single person had thought that I would give up this opportunity.


    Then once they had time to let it sink in, the others that were around the table all looked at me like I was an idiot.


    "What a fool, he doesn''t accept the cup offered to him."


    That was most likely what they were all thinking.


    After all, it wasn''t just not accepting this that was happening. In their minds, they thought that I was offending Bing Lan at the same time by not accepting this offer from her.


    Basically, I was slapping her in her face by rejecting her goodwill like this.


    When the time came to choose, she would without a doubt look at me more harshly because of this.


    Or that was what they thought because they didn''t know the real situation.


    Bing Lan wasn''t offended at all when she heard this, she just had a confused look in her eyes.


    After a moment of silence, she asked, "May I ask why you are rejecting this offer?"


    I calmly looked into her eyes and said, "Guild master, this trip into the SS Rank Dungeon is not a field trip. It is something that will endanger the lives of those that go into the dungeon. This is not something that we can play around with."


    After I said this, the others in the room all nodded in agreement to this.


    They naturally knew that this was the case since they knew how important this SS Rank Dungeon was.


    But that didn''t stop them from thinking that I was a fool for turning this down.


    I then said, "If we take the back door like this, there is no doubt that it will create backlash in the guild. At the same time, our reputations will take a large hit because of this matter. In the long run, this will hurt us more than it will help us."


    Bing Lan didn''t seem to react at all, but after a moment of consideration, she gave a slow nod of agreement.


    I saw this and continued, "As such, it is better for us to slowly work our way up and join the expedition with our own power. If we can''t cut it, then it will be meaningless for us to go in the first place since we will just be throwing our lives away."


    I could see my party members jolting when they heard this.


    They had been shocked and stunned, but also enticed by this offer. But after they heard what I said, they were slowly coming back to their senses.


    Bing Lan already knew everything that I was saying, but she had still offered this position.


    She looked at me and slowly said, "Are you sure about this?"


    When they heard this, the others in the room couldn''t help looking at Bing Lan in shock.


    They had already been surprised when the guild master had offered this back door to them, but now she was even confirming this with them.


    This was something that they had never seen before.


    I just gave a nod and said, "I''m certain about this."


    Bing Lan looked at me with narrowed eyes for a bit before suddenly saying, "Alright, I''ll respect your decision." After a pause, she added, "I just hope that you won''t regret it someday."


    As she said this, many at the table looked at me with schadenfreude.


    It was as if they were saying, "Look at you now, not accepting the guild master''s offer like this. You won''t have a future." S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I wasn''t fazed by this at all as I simply said, "I won''t."


    They were mistaken.


    Bing Lan''s final words weren''t a warning, but actual concern.


    But of course, they would never know that.

 Chapter 206 - 206: Rivals (1)

    Since we had rejected this offer, there was no longer a reason for us to stay.


    The others in the room looked like they wanted to chase us out as soon as possible, but they didn''t dare make a sound.


    It wasn''t because they were afraid of offending me, but rather they were afraid of offending Long Shui Ling.


    Now that they knew her identity, there was no way that they would treat her as just a normal member of Elementia anymore.


    They were all going to try to curry favour with her since she was the young miss of the Long Family.


    But before we left, Long Shui Ling suddenly turned around and said, "I hope that you will not treat me any differently because of this."


    The people sitting around the table couldn''t help being shocked when they heard this.


    After all, that was exactly what they had been planning on doing all this time.


    But now that she had said this, it wasn''t as if they could do it anymore.


    Bing Lan was the only one who wasn''t surprised by this. She just calmly said with a smile, "Of course not. We never had any intentions of doing so." She swept her eyes across the table before saying, "From the very beginning, we promised your family that you would be nothing more than a normal member of our guild and we intend to keep that promise."


    After she said this, all of the people sitting at the table looked down.


    Whether it was out of embarrassment or something else, they all seemed like they had been suppressed.


    But that was the point of Bing Lan saying all of this.


    If she hadn''t, she was certain that these people would have taken advantage of learning Long Shui Ling''s identity to do something.


    Long Shui Ling looked at Bing Lan, looking right into her eyes.


    After a moment of silence, she said with a smile, "Thank you."


    Then she turned around and pulled me away. She didn''t seem to care about the rest of our group who just stared at her in a daze, but they eventually followed us out.


    Once we left the room, Bing Lan suddenly said, "Alright, let''s get to the main topic now. Let''s talk about the Tower of Heaven." Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When they heard this, all of the people at the table became serious.


    This was what they had thought they had gathered here for, but they had been caught off guard by the matter of Long Shui Ling.


    Still, it seemed like the guild master was still planning on talking about this.


    So they started their conversation.


    But as they discussed this, Bing Lan couldn''t help looking at the entrance to this room once more before giving a small sigh.


    "Guild master, is something wrong?"


    Bing Lan shook her head and said, "No, let''s focus on this meeting."


    ¡­


    After we left the room, we didn''t get into the elevator right away.


    Everyone stopped and looked at Long Shui Ling with inquisitive looks, as if they wanted to ask something, but were hesitant to ask. But in this situation, there was only one thing that they could ask.


    Long Shui Ling also knew this, so she looked at them and said with a sigh, "Yes, it''s as the guild master said, I am the young miss of the Long Family."


    The moment that she said this, all of them looked like they wanted to say something.


    But before they could say anything, she raised her hand to stop them before saying, "I know that there''s a lot that you want to ask, but there''s something that I want to say before that."


    She took a deep breath before saying, "I''m not just the young miss of the Long Family, I am myself. What my family is doesn''t have anything to do with me."


    As soon as her voice fell, the four of them opened and closed their mouths a few times before revealing looks like they were constipated.


    There were many different thoughts that were racing through their minds, but it wasn''t as if they could say anything after what Long Shui Ling had said.


    So they turned to look at me for help.


    I just gave a shrug and said, "It''s her choice, so you should respect it."


    As soon as I said this, they all looked at me with gazes that were filled with blame.


    It seemed that they had realized that I knew this all along and were now blaming me for not telling them about this earlier.


    But I didn''t say a thing.


    I didn''t even feel any guilt since I had done it on purpose.


    Since both of us had said all of this, there wasn''t anything that they could do.


    In the end, they just dropped this matter and treated Long Shui Ling like they did before which made Long Shui Ling secretly let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, she secretly moved to my side and grabbed my sleeve to pinch it a bit for morale support.


    After accepting this, we moved over to the elevator to take it down to the lobby.


    There was a lot that had happened today, so we were all heading home to digest this and then gather tomorrow morning to come up with a plan for the competition.


    Or at least that was the plan.


    But when we came out of the elevator, we found that there were people waiting there for us.


    I didn''t recognize a single one of these people, but it was clear that they were waiting for us since they were surrounding the elevator exit when the doors opened.


    It was clear that they weren''t planning on letting us go anywhere.


    We still stepped out of the elevator since we didn''t want to inconvenience anyone else, even though they blocked the elevator itself.


    After coming out, I asked, "Who are you?"


    One of them, a black haired young man with jet black eyes came forward as their representative and asked back, "Who are we?"

 Chapter 207 - 207: Rivals (2)

    "Who do you think we are?" The black haired young man then asked.


    I couldn''t help looking at him with a strange look when I heard this.


    The look on his face almost seemed like he was proud of himself, like he thought that he was acting tough.


    It was the same for the others that had surrounded us.


    It was clear that they were thinking that they were acting tough even though all they did was embarrass themselves by asking this.


    The question that they asked didn''t make sense at all, it just showed how immature this young man was.


    When I looked more closely, I found that all of the people that were surrounding us were all young.


    They all seemed like they were just in their teens, like they had just awakened their powers.


    Seeing this, I shook my head before saying in a calm voice, "I don''t know who you are, but I don''t want any trouble."


    "Trouble? Oh, I''ll tell you when there''s trouble." This black haired young man suddenly said.


    Once again, all of the others surrounding us revealed smug looks like what he had said was threatening.


    But it just made me think of a kid trying to act tough when I saw him like this.


    Once again, I calmly said, "We just want to get through and you''re blocking our way. If possible, can you please move out of the way?"


    The black haired young man gave a snort before saying, "Now you''re giving us orders? Do you even put us in your eyes at all?"


    I just said with a sigh, "I didn''t give you an order, I just simply asked if you could move aside."


    The black haired young man just looked right at me and said, "And if I don''t, what will you do?"


    I shook my head once more before saying, "I won''t do anything. I''ll just wait for you to finish whatever business you have with me and then be on my way."


    It was clear that he was trying to cause trouble, so the best thing that I could do in this situation was not rise to the provocation. I would just let him do what he wanted and leave once he was satisfied.


    The black haired young man acted like he didn''t hear this as he said, "My name? You want to know my name? How could you not already know my name?"


    "That''s right, you tell him!"


    "How could he not know the famous Black Flame Dragon?"


    "He''s just pretending to be cool!"


    The others around us all cheered on this black haired young man, which made the proud look on his face even more prideful.


    After listening to them cheer him on for a bit, the black haired young man said, "I am Kaito, the Black Flame Dragon! I am the hope of Elementia for the new generation, the one that will become the next guild master!"


    He even took a pose when he said this¡­


    After his voice fell, the four kids of our group knitted their brows as they looked at him. With this look on their faces, it was as if they were taking him seriously.


    It was only Long Shui Ling and I who looked at him with strange looks.


    Long Shui Ling might have seemed younger than everyone here, but she was actually older than me. She was a proper adult, so she didn''t get sucked into his pace like the others.


    The way that she looked at him¡­almost seemed like she was pitying him.


    As for me¡­I felt very strange when I saw him acting this way.


    I didn''t feel pity for him or get angered by his words. Instead, all I felt was cringe when I saw him acting this way.


    That was because seeing him act this way stirred up a few deep memories that I had wanted to keep buried deep inside of me. When I saw him act this way, those memories that I had locked away came up¡­


    They were the memories of me when I had been in middle school, when I had acted a certain way.


    Seeing him act this way really made me want to fold myself in half and die of cringe.


    But he said it all so naturally like he wasn''t embarrassed at all.


    Even his friends all seemed like they were very enthusiastic about this, like they fully supported him even though he was doing something this embarrassing.


    When it was over, he pointed his finger at me and said, "Do you know who I am now?"


    I would have laughed, but I really couldn''t laugh when I saw him like this.


    Luckily, Su Chen was with me, so he came over with a tablet and showed me something.


    It was the profile of this young man that called himself the Black Flame Dragon¡­


    He was an Awakener that had been recruited recently into Elementia, though he did join before I did. He had been here for a few months and he actually had quite the impressive record when it came to clearing dungeons.


    Then Su Chen showed me the profiles for the rest of the people here. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These people were in the same party or in parties that worked with this young man who called himself Black Flame Dragon.


    They also had quite the impressive dungeon clearing record.


    But the only thing that I could take note of was their age.


    All of them seemed like they were quite young, having awakened naturally before their awakening ceremony or having awakened in their first awakening ceremony.


    They were completely different from me, they were true geniuses.


    But then again, they had been recruited by Elementia, so it would be strange if they weren''t geniuses.


    Seeing him look at me with that smug look on his face, I couldn''t help shaking my head and giving a sigh.


    It really hurt me seeing him like this¡­


    However, I now knew the reason why he was acting this way.


    And I knew the best way to deal with someone like him.

 Chapter 208 - 208: Rivals (3)

    "And? Is there something that you need from us?" I just said in a calm voice.


    There was a silence that followed after I said this.


    Kaito''s expression couldn''t help changing several times as if he was still deciding on how he wanted to react to this.


    After all, he never would have expected me to say this.


    But this was the best way to deal with someone like this.


    Chuunibyou, the best way to deal with someone with that was to not give them the attention that they wanted.


    After all, people who suffered from Chuunibyou usually did it for attention.


    If you didn''t give them attention, then there was nothing that they could do.


    In fact, by not giving them the attention that they wanted, it let them reflect on what they were doing. As long as it was a normal person, they would feel embarrassed about this.


    So it could be seen that Kaito was slowly breaking down.


    Finally, he couldn''t take it anymore as he started stammering, "I, you, I, you, I, you¡­"


    The way that he stammered, it was almost like listening to a broken record. It was like his brain couldn''t process what was happening, so he didn''t know what to do.


    This was the one time that I felt pity for him.


    There was a time a long time ago where I had been in the same situation as him, so I knew what he was feeling.


    After a moment of hesitation, I decided to bail him out in the end.


    I just couldn''t watch him anymore, I was slowly dying of second hand cringe.


    "Are you here to declare something? Something related to us?" I said in a slow and deliberate voice, almost as if I was guiding him.


    At this point, Kaito''s brain had stopped working and he was about to break into tears.


    When he heard what I said, his eyes immediately lit up and he said, "Yes, yes, I am here to give my declaration."


    He acted like this was all part of his plan and he knew exactly what he was doing after hearing this.


    His friends let out secret sighs of relief after hearing this before they started cheering for him again.


    "That''s right, give him your declaration!"


    "Show him why you''re called the Black Flame Dragon!"


    At the very least, it seemed that his friends did support him in what he did.


    I just revealed a bitter smile as I waited patiently for Kaito to say what he wanted to say.


    He took a step forward and pointed his finger in my face before saying, "Well done! Out of consideration for your wit, I acknowledge you as my rival!"


    This time, it was the members of my group who were shocked.


    Hayato, Blaze, Claire, and Qin Yue Ru had all been glaring at Kaito during this time with aggressive looks, as if they were unhappy with the way that he had been acting.


    But they were shocked and confused when they heard his declaration.


    On the other hand, I just had a look on my face like I was already expecting this.


    I had read the information that Su Chen had handed me earlier, so I already knew what these kids were up to.


    They couldn''t compete with others in the competition to join the SS Rank Dungeon scouting group. The only ones that they could compete with were us who had joined after them.


    So they were here to scope out the competition and declare their intent to compete with us.


    But the way that he said it¡­


    It seemed that he wasn''t able to talk properly without putting things like this.


    Of course, I could tell that there were no ill intentions behind these words.


    It was clear that he didn''t know how to communicate properly.


    Whether that was because he was shy or something else, I had no idea.


    As Kaito just pointed his finger in my face, seeing that I didn''t say anything, he once again couldn''t help wavering. He revealed an awkward look like he didn''t know what to do now that he was in this pose.


    If he were to back down, then he wouldn''t be able to live it down in front of his friends.


    I could see the look on his face and couldn''t help thinking, "This kid really is high maintenance¡­" S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the end, I took a step back and reached my hand out to take his hand.


    Kaito was completely caught off guard when I grabbed his hand and he wasn''t able to do anything in response. He just numbly stood there as I took his hand in mine.


    I gave his hand a shake and said, "Alright, I look forward to competing with you."


    There was a moment of silence as Kaito and his friends took the time to react to this.


    Then Kaito revealed a wide smile as he said, "You have a good eye! I''m glad that you can recognize greatness when you see it!"


    He took a step forward so that he was right in front of me before saying, "Just you wait and see, you won''t regret having us as your rivals! We''ll show you just what we can do as your seniors!"


    Then without waiting for a response, he and the rest of his friends suddenly ran off.


    We were just left standing there in front of the elevator alone.


    The kids of our group revealed shocked looks, but all I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    These kids¡­they really didn''t know how to communicate with others.


    Since that was that, we all headed home after that since we had received orders to go to another dungeon tomorrow.


    I just hoped that we wouldn''t run into his group again since there was only so much that I could take of him. I would need a few days to recharge before I could face these kids again.


    It was just too bad that we met again the next day.

 Chapter 209 - 209: Raid dungeon (1)

    The next morning, I found out that the dungeon we were heading to wasn''t a normal small dungeon.


    Rather, we would be heading to a large raid dungeon.


    The dungeons that we had been clearing up to now were the smaller dungeons that a single party could clear on their own.


    The raid dungeon that we were heading to was simply called The Pyramid.


    It was a large pyramid that had appeared out of nowhere and was a C Rank Raid Dungeon.


    Since it was a large pyramid, the inside was a large space that had many monsters inside of it. There were far more monsters in this raid dungeon than there were in normal dungeons.


    So a large raid group was required to take down this raid dungeon as opposed to a small dungeon group.


    Most Awakeners that went into dungeons wouldn''t experience a raid dungeon since it was hard gathering all of these Awakeners.


    But for a large guild like Elementia, it was easy for them to gather dungeon parties like this.


    As a side note, the Tower of Heaven was a raid dungeon as well.


    So it would mean that we would have to go in with a raid group instead of normal small groups.


    When I saw the list of dungeon parties that had been gathered this time, I understood why we had been suddenly called to this raid dungeon.


    On that list was Kaito and his party, as well as other newer dungeon raiding parties that had joined Elementia not that long ago before us.


    These could be considered the newer parties joining Elementia.


    For all of us to be gathered for this raid dungeon, it was clear that they were trying to give us experience with raid dungeons. Or to put it more directly, it was clear that they were marking us on our performance in raid dungeons for the future competition.


    If we didn''t show that we were capable of doing this, it was very likely that we would be excluded from the shortlist for candidates.


    So we had to do our best in this raid dungeon expedition.


    I was even more certain of this when I saw who the leader of this raid dungeon party was.


    It was the A Ranker Tie Gang who I had met before.


    For an A Ranker to lead a group into a C Rank Raid Dungeon, he was most likely here to watch over us.


    It was even possible that he would be our examiner for this expedition into the raid dungeon.


    I was silent as Su Chen drove us to the dungeon entrance.


    When we arrived, the first thing that I did was go looking for my group.


    I wanted to make sure that they were fine since this would be an important expedition into this raid dungeon.


    But before I could find anyone, Long Shui Ling found me.


    I didn''t know where she appeared from, but all of a sudden, she was behind me before I knew what was happening.


    She came right up behind me and grabbed my shirt from behind.


    I was surprised by this before asking, "Where did you come from?"


    She said with a smile, "I was around, you just didn''t notice me."


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a look of doubt.


    Recently, I couldn''t help feeling that she had been acting differently. Though she didn''t seem different when we interacted, it was almost as if there was a different look in her eyes when she looked at me.


    It was almost like a kind of look that one had when they were looking at their possession.


    I could almost guess what she was thinking, so I had checked my clothes for things like bugs and trackers, but I hadn''t been able to find anything.


    But for her to sneak up on me like this¡­could it be that I had missed something?


    I didn''t get time to think more on this as the others came over as well.


    When Claire saw her holding the back of my shirt like this, she crossed her arms, revealed a stern look, and turned away with a snort.


    When I saw her like this, I gave a cough and Long Shui Ling slowly let go, though there was an unwilling look in her eyes.


    But she knew that for now, she couldn''t expose our relationship.


    Her mother had already talked to her about this and she knew how troublesome it would be if it was suddenly announced.


    This luckily worked in my favour.


    Ignoring this, I looked at the others and asked, "How are you feeling?"


    All of them had nervous looks on their faces since it was their first time in a raid dungeon.


    But when I asked them this question, they put on a strong face and said, "I''m fine. There''s nothing to worry about."


    Though the look in their eyes showed that they were still nervous.


    I stepped up here and said, "You don''t have to worry about anything. As long as you follow orders, there won''t be a problem. There''s so many of us here and we have a skilled leader in charge, so you don''t have to worry about anything."


    They put on a strong face and nodded in agreement, but I could still see the nervousness in their eyes. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At least they didn''t seem consumed with their fear, so I didn''t say anything else.


    Trying to comfort them too much would have an adverse effect, plus being a bit nervous meant being on edge which was a good thing.


    Of course, I didn''t tell them a single thing about what I had figured out about this raid dungeon expedition.


    If they knew that this was also part of the competition, they might snap under the anxiety.


    As we were preparing to gather for the orientation, there was a voice that suddenly rang out.


    "It seems that we meet again!"


    We all recognized this voice since it had only been a day since we had last heard it.


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.

 Chapter 210 - 210: Raid dungeon (2)

    The one that came forward to meet us was Kaito and his group.


    These were the ones that had surrounded us yesterday when we came out of the elevator.


    When they appeared, Blaze and the others all revealed frowns as they looked at them.


    But Kaito didn''t care as his eyes were on me the entire time.


    The way that he was looking at me seemed very strange¡­


    He came forward and pointed his finger in my face before saying, "We meet again my rival! It seemed that we really were destined to face each other!"


    He kept saying all kinds of different cliche things and with each thing that he said, I was hit with secondhand cringe.


    After all, these were all things that I had said in the past¡­


    When he was done, I just calmly said, "Un, it seems that we''ll be working together today. I hope that we will work well together."


    When he was hit with these calm and logical words, he really didn''t know what to do.


    After scrambling with his hands for a bit, he finally lowered his head and said in a soft voice, "I''m looking forward to working with you."


    The others in his group also said in the same soft voice, "We look forward to working with you."


    After interacting with these kids twice, I finally had a read on them.


    They acted this way because¡­they were simply embarrassed.


    They acted this way because they wanted to seem tough, but in truth, they just wanted to introduce themselves and get to know us. They just didn''t know how to say this which was why they had acted this way.


    For an adult like me, it was easy to see this.


    But for kids that were only a bit older than Kaito''s group, Blaze and the others weren''t.


    They still thought that they were here to pick a fight, so they looked like they were ready to fight at any moment.


    I just raised my hands and calmed them down before turning to Kaito to say, "Shall we head to the orientation together?"


    Once again he said in a soft voice with his lowered head, "Alright."


    I just revealed a faint smile before heading towards the tent that had been prepared for a meeting place with everyone following me.


    When we arrived, I was surprised by how many people were already gathered here.


    This amount of people¡­definitely was much more than the amount of people that were in the raid dungeon group.


    But when I looked carefully, I saw that many of the people here were supporters.


    They were the ones that were in charge of the things that most people didn''t want to be in charge of. They were the ones that took care of the things that Awakeners didn''t do so that they could go into the dungeon without a care.


    I was surprised to see just how many supporters had been brought along. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Normally, I would never see this many supporters in one place.


    But it seemed that a raid dungeon really was different.


    After coming in, we just quickly found some seats and sat down.


    It seemed that the meeting hadn''t started yet, but there were many people that were talking about what to do in the raid dungeon.


    For our group that had no experience with raid dungeons, there wasn''t much for us to do.


    Kaito''s group was in the same situation.


    Even if they had joined Elementia before us, it wasn''t that long ago before us.


    We could be considered in the same generation, so naturally they hadn''t gone into raid dungeons yet either.


    This was all a first for us, so we just sat there on the side so we didn''t get in the way.


    While we were sitting there, the ice slowly broke between our group and Kaito''s group.


    At first, Blaze and the others didn''t seem like they liked Kaito''s group very much. But after they started talking, they found that they had more in common than they thought.


    It didn''t take long for the ice to break between the two groups and they started talking to each other.


    The only two that were silent were me and Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling was silent because she really didn''t have much in common with Kaito''s group. Even if she did, it would feel awkward to talk to new people like this since that was the personality that she had.


    While they were chatting, I was listening to what the others were saying.


    Since this was our first time in the raid dungeon, it was a good idea to learn as much as possible from everyone else while we still had time.


    There were terms that I didn''t understand being thrown around, but it sounded like it was quite important, so I tried to memorize everything that I could.


    But there were a few things that I did understand.


    It seemed that the enemies that we would be facing would be mummies and giant scarabs.


    That really seemed to fit the theme of a pyramid based dungeon.


    Another half hour passed before the room finally fell silent.


    That was because someone had arrived.


    This someone was the leader of this raid dungeon group.


    It was the A Ranker Tie Gang.


    When he came in, the first thing he did was wave at everyone with a wide smile on his face and say, "Thanks for coming everyone!"


    It seemed that his personality was still the same as ever.


    There were people that stood up and walked over to greet him. When they did, he talked to each and every one of them as if they were his friends.


    So in the end, it took another while before he was able to reach the podium at the front of the tent.


    I just stayed on the side since I didn''t think that he would remember someone like me.


    After he reached the podium, that smile disappeared from his face and a serious expression replaced it.


    In an instant, it was as if he had become a completely different person.

 Chapter 211 - 211: Raid dungeon (3)

    As soon as his expression changed, the atmosphere of the room also changed.


    It went from a relaxed one to one that was very tense.


    This time when he spoke, he did it in a very serious voice.


    "Thank you for gathering today. I''m sure that we all know what we''re here for, so I''ll spare you the small talk."


    Tie Gang turned to face the smartboard that had been set up behind him and clicked a button on the remote that he had picked up from the podium. As soon as he clicked that remote, there was a diagram that appeared on the board.


    This wasn''t any image of the dungeon, but rather a diagram of what seemed to be a formation.


    After this image appeared, Tie Gang said, "This will be the formation that we will be taking. I hope that everyone will pay attention and follow your orders."


    As soon as his voice fell, everyone in the room revealed a serious look.


    Tie Gang had the natural tone of a leader, so everyone felt compelled to listen when he spoke.


    He went on to discuss the finer parts of the formation that we were supposed to take, as well as telling us what roles we would have.


    From this, I learned that we would be placed in the left flank with Kaito''s group. It would be up to us to protect our back to the left along with his group.


    As for the ones that were placed in the vanguards, they were groups that had experience raiding a raid dungeon. These were parties that were led by B Rankers, so they were much stronger than our parties.


    From what it seemed like, they were most likely top candidates for this competition.


    And from what I heard about them, it was for good reason.


    They were very skilled, only being a sliver away from reaching A Rank.


    With just a bit more experience, the leaders of these parties might be able to push their powers to A Rank.


    As for us¡­we were still too green to be considered.


    Still, that didn''t mean that I would give up since I had my own reason for going into the SS Rank Dungeon.


    After he finished briefing us on the formation, Tie Gang changed the slide and there was a map that appeared on the screen.


    With this map, he started giving us an outline of the layout of this raid dungeon.


    According to this map, this raid dungeon had a total of three floors that we would have to fight through.


    The first floor was just a general floor filled with weak monsters.


    The second floor was an elite floor with elite monsters.


    The third floor was where the raid boss of this entire raid dungeon was waiting.


    The normal monsters that wandered around were the mummies and scarabs that I had heard about.


    The elite monsters that were on the second floor were mummies as well, but these were mummies that had special abilities. These were mummies that had the ability to use skills and had different classes, so they were on a completely different level from the mummies on the first floor.


    There were even mummies that could use magic spells which we had to watch out for.


    Finally, the raid boss was apparently a pharaoh mummy that controlled powerful sand spells that would be very hard to fight.


    With the variance in monsters that was found in this dungeon, I could see why it was called a raid dungeon.


    It was indeed worthy of this name.


    But I was also surprised by how much information we had on the dungeon.


    I guess this was just the power that a large guild like Elementia had.


    Since this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon, it must be something that they had raided before which was why they had all this detailed information.


    This was the benefit of being in a large organization. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The final thing that Tie Gang talked about was logistics.


    It seemed that for a large raid dungeon like this, we couldn''t just think about leaving in a day or two.


    For a large raid dungeon like this, it would take at least a week before we would be able to leave.


    That was why there were so many supporters that had been gathered here.


    They would be entering the dungeon with us and they would be helping us set up camps in the safe zones of the dungeon.


    That way, we would be able to rest in between battles and ensure that we wouldn''t exhaust ourselves.


    For that, we had to come up with a proper logistics plan to transport everything into the dungeon.


    Or rather, we just had to follow the plan that was already in place.


    In that plan, there wasn''t much of a role for us in the left flank.


    The only thing that we had to do was make sure that the monsters didn''t wrap around and surround our party.


    It was the central flank that would be in charge of protecting the supplies and the supporters, so it could be said that they were the ones that were in the main position, while we were just there to be along for the ride.


    After hearing the entire plan, it really seemed like we were just there to be brought along instead of actually doing anything useful.


    But when one thought about it, that seemed about right.


    After all, we were the newbies.


    We were the ones that had no experience with this at all, so it would be strange that we would be given an important position.


    We should actually be glad that we weren''t given a more important position since that would just put more pressure on us.


    Once he was finished explaining the plan, there was nothing else for Tie Gang to say.


    "We''ll be departing in another hour, so get ready to leave." Those were Tie Gang''s last words.


    With that, the orientation meeting was over.

 Chapter 212 - 212: Raid dungeon (4)

    Once the meeting was over, everyone headed off to do their own thing.


    Since he was the leader, Tie Gang was immediately surrounded by people who wanted to talk to him.


    Of course, they weren''t only talking to him because he was the leader of this raid dungeon group.


    They were surrounding him because he was an A Ranker.


    Building a relationship with an A Ranker was a very valuable thing. Plus, it was rare to meet A Rankers and have the chance to talk to them in the first place.


    So naturally they wouldn''t let this chance pass.


    Since the meeting was over, Tie Gang returned to his normal appearance and was friendly enough to talk to them.


    As for our group, we didn''t have anything to do here.


    It was our job to get ready for the dungeon.


    So I led our group out.


    This was the group that contained both our party and Kaito''s party.


    Since we were working together in the left flank, it made sense that we go collect the things that we needed.


    It would mostly be supplies and some gear that we could use.


    The gear that they provided were much better than the ones that we currently had, so we would take advantage of this to get some good gear. After all, the gear that they handed out this time would be ours to keep even after we cleared the dungeon.


    For such a cheap deal, why would we not take it?


    It didn''t take us long to reach the supplies tent, but it was already completely filled with people.


    Since we could think of the plan to take advantage of this situation, naturally others would be able to as well.


    So we had no choice but to wait for our turn.


    But as we were waiting, we could see that the good items were being taken by others.


    At this rate, it didn''t seem like there would be anything left for us.


    However, that was just how it was.


    We were the newbies, it wasn''t as if they would reserve the good things for us.


    Or at least that should have been the case until someone suddenly walked into the tent and walked over to us.


    People had been too busy to notice this person at first, but when he walked over towards us, there were many people that recognized him.


    "Isn''t that¡­?"


    "Why is he here?"


    "Where is he going? Can I go talk to him?"


    There was a lot of discussion when they saw this person, but I didn''t think that it had anything to do with us.


    That was until we heard the whispers around us get louder.


    I realized that whoever it was was actually coming in our direction, so I turned to see who it was.


    When I looked in that direction, I couldn''t help being surprised because there was a face that I didn''t expect to see in that direction. And that person seemed like he was looking right at me.


    It was Tie Gang.


    As he walked over, there were some people that tried to come forward to talk to him, but he just avoided them all as he came right towards us.


    The rest of my group and Kaito''s group were completely caught off guard and froze when they saw Tie Gang coming over.


    I just looked at him with a slightly confused look as he walked over.


    After all, we weren''t that close in the first place.


    So there shouldn''t have been a reason for him to come this way.


    I didn''t even think that he would remember me after that short meeting.


    After all, we had only met once and we had only exchanged blows once. It shouldn''t have been anywhere near enough for him to remember me.


    But he walked right up to me and raised his hand to wave at me as he said, "Little Brother Lin, why did you leave so soon? I wanted to have a talk with you before we entered the dungeon."


    I looked at him with a surprised look when I heard this.


    It turned out that he was indeed talking to me.


    At the same time, the others around us all looked in our direction with shocked and inquisitive looks, as if they were trying to figure out just why Tie Gang was talking to us.


    After he came over, he took me by the shoulder and said, "What are you just standing around for? Let''s go and get you some gear."


    As soon as he said this, everyone looked at me with shocked looks, including the members of my team and Kaito''s team.


    It was clear that not a single one of them thought that I would have this kind of connection.


    Tie Gang took advantage of this momentary daze to bring us over to the counter. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though there were others in the way, since it was Tie Gang, they happily served us.


    Since we had Tie Gang with us, they let us choose freely from the stock that they had.


    It didn''t matter what we wanted, they offered it all to us.


    But to just take the best stuff with everyone watching like this¡­it really was hard.


    So we just took some of the average leveled gear which was still better than the stuff that we had.


    "Little Brother Lin, you should take some of the better stuff." Tie Gang suddenly said when he saw that we were only taking the average leveled gear.


    When they heard this, the staff members went to pick out a few of the better things for us.


    But before they could give them to us, I said, "Big Brother Tie, even if we take them, we won''t be able to use them properly. It''s better to give them to the people that can use them well."


    When the others around us heard this, they let out a sigh of relief.


    After all, if we took everything, there would be nothing left for them.


    Once we had finished gathering our gear, Tie Gang gestured to the side and said, "Let''s go over there and talk."


    I just gave a nod before following him over.

 Chapter 213 - 213: Raid dungeon (5)

    When we walked over to the side, Tie Gang looked at the rest of my group and Kaito''s group who had followed us over and said, "Can we get a minute alone?"


    They had been following close since they had thought that this was their chance to talk to Tie Gang as well, so they were caught off guard when they heard his request.


    But it wasn''t as if they could deny this.


    So they just nodded in a daze and moved away to give Lin Fan and Tie Gang some space.


    At first, they didn''t move that far away, so Tie Gang just looked at them for a bit.


    Only after he looked at them for a bit did they move further away so that the two of them would have some time alone.


    There was an awkward silence that hung in the air after they left as I didn''t know what to say.


    I was more surprised that Tie Gang would even want to talk to me alone than anything else.


    It was a good thing that Tie Gang was the one that broke the silence in the end.


    "How are you fitting in the guild?"


    That was his first question and a question that caught me off guard again since I didn''t know that he would start with this question.


    I looked at him with a strange look and he just looked back at me with a smile.


    I slowly said, "I''m doing fine. It was hard in the beginning, but I think that I''m finding my footing."


    Tie Gang gave a nod after hearing this before saying, "It''s good that you''re fitting in well. I remember when I first came to Elementia, it was hard for me to fit in since I still didn''t know how to use my powers properly yet. It took me a while before I was able to find my footing¡­"


    He kept talking about his own experience with joining the guild, as if he was giving me advice.


    I couldn''t help being even more surprised when I heard this.


    Did he really just call me aside to talk about this?


    Was he really just checking in on me?


    There was a strange feeling that came from inside of me since I didn''t think that we were this close to begin with.


    Of course, I still responded when I needed to and we talked for a bit about this.


    But this conversation eventually reached an end.


    When it seemed like it was over, Tie Gang suddenly asked, "So, how have things been with Xin''er lately?"


    Once again, I was caught off guard by this sudden question of his.


    I looked at him with one brow raised, but I couldn''t see anything off about his expression.


    After a pause, I slowly said, "We''ve met a few times since I joined, but we''re both busy, so we haven''t been seeing each other as much."


    Tie Gang gave an understanding nod when he heard this, but he still said, "I know that it''s hard with all the things you have to do for the guild, but when it''s important, you just make it happen. I''m sure that she wants to see you too, but¡­"


    His voice trailed off as he said this.


    At the same time, I could hear a strange tone in his voice.


    It was as if¡­he was almost threatening me.


    I looked closely at Tie Gang''s face, but his expression didn''t change. He just still had that same smile on his face.


    I felt that there was something off with him, but I just couldn''t tell what.


    So in the end, I slowly said, "I know, but we''re both busy, so¡­"


    Tie Gang suddenly interrupted me by saying, "When it''s important, you make the time."


    Once again, I was taken aback when he suddenly said this.


    Once he made things this clear, it was impossible for me not to understand what he was saying.


    I took a moment to calm down before saying, "Un, I''ll make sure to make some time to see her." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang gave a satisfied nod when he heard this before saying, "I know that your job is important, but you have to remember the people that are important to you as well."


    His voice seemed to gain a dark tone as he said, "I''m sure that Xin''er is a bit depressed not being able to see you during this time. I''m not happy when I see Xin''er unhappy like this as her big brother, so I''m sure you know what I mean."


    If there was a threat that was more obvious, I had never heard it before.


    But I never thought that the relationship between Tie Gang and the Bing Sisters was this close that he would be doing something like this.


    I just raised my hands and said, "I would never do anything to hurt her."


    The dark look on Tie Gang''s face receded when he heard this and he revealed a wide smile again as he said, "That''s good. I hope that you''ll keep that promise."


    The mood lightened and I had a calm look on my face, but I was still feeling tense deep down.


    I knew that Tie Gang hadn''t been joking just now and he might really follow up on that threat if I hadn''t responded that way.


    Then as if it was an afterthought, he said, "Right, my wedding will be coming up in a few weeks. I''ll give you two an invitation and you can come together. I''m sure that Xin''er will be happy about that."


    It was as if he was giving us a nudge, but after that performance just now, I really couldn''t think of a way to say no.


    So the only thing that I could do was say, "Sure, I''ll be glad to go."


    Tie Gang revealed an even wider smile as he grabbed my shoulder and said, "I''m sure that Xin''er will be happy to hear that and I''ll be happy to have the two of you come."


    I just nodded along with a smile on my face.

 Chapter 214 - 214: Raid dungeon (6)

    After talking for a bit longer, mainly to brag about his fiancee, Tie Gang finally turned to leave.


    It seemed that he really cared about the Bing Sisters quite a bit, even though I had no idea what had happened between them in the past.


    But that was also an opportunity.


    If I could use Tie Gang, wouldn''t I be able to approach both Bing Xin and Bing Lan?


    I had tried leaving a few suggestions in Tie Gang, but I found that they had been resisted.


    As expected of an A Ranker¡­


    Of course, there were a few that had been left in him since they were just basic suggestions.


    The way that my power worked was that the more specific the suggestion, the harder it was for me to leave them. If the suggestion were more general and natural, then even a powerful A Ranker wouldn''t be able to resist them. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But the general suggestions just weren''t as useful as the specific suggestions.


    Still, they were better than nothing.


    As he was leaving, Tie Gang said, "When the time comes to fight the final boss, be sure to stay in the back. That final boss isn''t as easy as one would think¡­"


    I was a bit confused and caught off guard by this, but I still said with a nod, "Alright, I''ll be sure to stay behind."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before heading off.


    As he walked away, I looked at him with a look of deep thought as I tried to figure out what he meant by this.


    But I didn''t have enough information about the dungeon in the first place to actually come up with an idea.


    So when the others came over, I just threw these thoughts out.


    As they came over, they all looked at me with looks of awe without saying a single thing.


    I could guess why they were looking at me like this, but I didn''t say a thing.


    In the end, it was Kaito who broke the silence by asking, "Brother Lin, how do you know the leader?"


    I looked at him and saw him looking at me with this look of awe, I knew that he had been caught hook, line, and sinker. Since he was the one that was offering himself to me, then it would be wrong for me not to accept this.


    So I just calmly said, "We''re friends."


    The way that I said it in such a cool tone was just too much for them.


    I could see the way that their eyes lit up when I said this and they looked like they wanted to worship me.


    With this, it was almost guaranteed that I would be the leader of this group.


    Though it already seemed like I was going to be the leader with the way that they had been acting around me.


    So with this bit of help from Tie Gang, I was able to easily solve a problem that I had been worried about.


    Time passed and soon it was time to head into the raid dungeon.


    During this time, there were three black lines that were constantly on my head.


    I had to listen to these kids going on about their dark sealed powers and all their other cringe back stories. The more that I listened, the more that I felt pain.


    It seemed that Kaito''s group didn''t just have him acting this way, it was all of them that acted like this.


    As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together and that was the case with Kaito''s group.


    It seemed that all of them suffered from Chuunibyou.


    But luckily they had to fall silent once we headed into the dungeon.


    We were here on a job, so it wasn''t the time to chat anymore.


    The formation of our group was as the diagram in the meeting had described, but seeing it in real life really was different.


    There were over a hundred different Awakeners gathered here and there were even more supporters in the center of this formation.


    At the very head of this formation was Tie Gang who was leading it and at the back was us who were bringing up the rear.


    Before heading into the raid dungeon, Tie Gang turned around and said, "Everyone, prepare yourselves. When we''re in there, I want everyone to be completely focused."


    Then his voice turned a bit colder as he said, "After all, a single momentary distraction could be what decides your life and death."


    There was a somber mood that came over the raid dungeon group when they heard this.


    They all knew that Tie Gang was right, but for an A Ranker to give them this warning, it really made the picture clear. It showed them just how dangerous this raid dungeon would be.


    Tie Gang naturally knew the effect that his words had and how it was bad for their group, but there was a reason why he had said this. So after a pause, he said¡­


    "I will do all I can to ensure that each and every one of you can come back alive. I will put my life in your hands, so I hope that you will put your life in mine."


    There was a slow change that came over their group as soon as his voice fell.


    Everyone slowly looked up at Tie Gang and when they saw the serious look in his eyes, they could tell that he meant it.


    This was real trust that he would put his life in their hands, so of course they had to respond.


    It was slow at first, but soon there was a cheer that came over the group as everyone promised that they would do all that they could.


    With just a few words, Tie Gang had completely changed the mood of the group.


    It had gone from somber to full of passion.


    I pretended to go along with it even though I knew what he was doing.


    But that didn''t stop me from admiring him for his ability to raise morale.


    After seeing the group act this way, Tie Gang gave a satisfied nod before turning and saying, "Let''s go!"


    With that, we entered the raid dungeon.

 Chapter 215 - 215: Raid dungeon (7)

    When I entered the dungeon, the first thing that hit me was a wave of heat.


    It was supposed to be fall right now, but that wave of heat hit me like it was the middle of summer.


    That was just the environment in this dungeon.


    Instead of being a closed dungeon, this was a dungeon that actually had an outside world to it.


    Of course, we would never be able to interact with that outside world since there was no way to leave this pyramid, but it was out there with its own weather. That was what was causing the heat in this pyramid.


    There was a bright yellow sun hanging there in the sky outside the pyramid.


    We could see it through the glass panes of the pyramid which were strangely placed on the walls of this dungeon.


    After looking around, I focused on what was in front of us.


    The entrance of the dungeon seemed to be at the very base of the pyramid based on what I could see through the window.


    And in front of the entrance, there was a large open space with plenty of monsters gathered.


    It was just that none of them were coming in this direction.


    There seemed to be some line that they couldn''t cross in front of us that prevented them from coming over.


    This must be the safety zone of the dungeon entrance that was mentioned in the map.


    There were no words said as everyone already knew what to do.


    The ones led by Tie Gang quickly went forward to sweep the monsters that were wandering around. Our group was considered part of the guards for the supplies team, so we held back and watched over them, just in case any monsters came over. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Of course, with the power of the vanguard team that even had an A Ranker like Tie Gang leading them, that didn''t happen.


    They swept through any monsters that came close, so they didn''t get a chance to approach. In fact, they started from those that were closest, so they could push away those that were near one by one.


    While the others watched on in awe, I watched carefully.


    The monsters that were in this area were the mummies and scarabs that had been mentioned before.


    They acted just like the material had described them, even using the same attacks as written.


    So it was easy for the vanguard to take them down.


    The scarabs were just giant bugs, so they were quite easy to take care of. The only ones that struggled were those that didn''t like bugs, but they quickly adapted to them as professional Awakeners.


    The mummies were a bit harder to deal with.


    These were monsters that were considered undead, with the tenacity that came with undead monsters.


    They wouldn''t go down as easily as the scarabs.


    Even if they were cut down, as long as they weren''t completely destroyed, they wouldn''t die.


    It had something to do with the unfinished business of the spirits that were used to create these monsters. But if one thought about it, weren''t these monsters created by the dungeon?


    So where did these spirits come from?


    This was one of the unsolved mysteries of the dungeon that had undead type monsters.


    But since they were hard to kill, there were only a few ways to take them down.


    For these mummies, there were two ways to take care of them.


    One was to use enough force that their bodies were completely destroyed and there was no way for them to repair themselves. But that wasn''t a method that everyone could use since they were quite tenacious.


    It took a lot of power just to destroy these mummies completely.


    The second method was¡­fire.


    Since they were undead, they shared the same weakness as other undead which was that they were weak against fire. Just contact with fire would cause their bodies to start burning and burn away.


    Any part of them that was burnt by flames would be turned to ashes and wouldn''t regenerate over time.


    So flames were the only way to make sure that they stayed dead.


    There was also a third way, but it was too rare to use.


    It was the holy attribute.


    If one had holy attribute attacks, they would be able to exorcise the undead.


    But the holy attribute was a very rare one and few Awakeners had it.


    So it was more reliable to use the common flame attribute.


    As such, everyone that was currently fighting the mummies was using some kind of fire attack.


    As for how they were doing that, it was because we had all been distributed fire magic items before entering the dungeon.


    It was included in the supplies that we had received.


    There were fire staves, fire orbs for embedding into weapons, and all kinds of different things.


    As for me, I received a bunch of talismans that I could put on my weapon to imbue with a fire element.


    I could have used the fire orbs as well, but there was no time to create a socket on my sword. This sword of mine was a nature element sword in the first place, so it would have clashed with the fire energy of the fire orb.


    So the best choice were these talismans that only wrapped the sword up in fire energy.


    It didn''t take long for the vanguard to create a path for us.


    Once they had secured this path, Tie Gang turned around and waved his hand at the rest of us before saying, "Let''s go!"


    As soon as he said this, I waved my hand at our group and said, "We''re going in!"


    The rest of our group quickly followed behind me and we charged out down the path. We ran for a bit before stopping midway through and securing the sides while those from the vanguard that had been securing the sides suddenly charged forward.


    This was the plan, to use the left and right flanks to guard the path while the vanguard cleared out the area in front of us.


    The central flank would be guarding the supply team as they ran down this path.


    We would take this path all of the way to the first safe zone where we would set up the camp.


    As soon as we took over, it was our turn to fight these mummies and scarabs.

 Chapter 216 - 216: Raid dungeon (8)

    Since we had to protect the supply group as they made their way forward, we had to spread ourselves quite thin to cover a larger area.


    However, when facing these mummies and scarabs, that wasn''t a problem at all.


    As soon as these mummies came forward, I pasted a fire talisman on my sword and there was a faint layer of flames that appeared around it.


    With a single slash, I cut the mummies in half.


    The flame from my sword spread across the bandages of the mummy in an instant and they turned into a ball of flames.


    This ball of flames fell backwards from the force of this slash and landed on the ground as a ball of flames.


    I just ignored this and moved on to the next one.


    With my flaming sword, I didn''t even need to boost myself to take care of these mummies.


    They were just too slow to match me after I had gone through Su Chen''s muscle training.


    As for the scarabs, they were even easier than I thought to take care of. They didn''t use any strange flight patterns, so I was able to cut down the scarabs with ease.


    It was so easy that I was able to split my attention to look at the others in my group.


    I found that they too had it easy dealing with these mummies and scarabs. After all, we had fought much stronger enemies before, so there was no need to mention slow and weak enemies like these.


    But this was also just the beginning of the dungeon, so I didn''t let myself get complacent.


    These were the weakest that the dungeon had to offer, so it wasn''t as if this was all that we would face. From now on, it would only get harder for us.


    Seeing that they were fine, I turned my attention to Kaito''s group.


    We hadn''t worked together before, so I couldn''t help feeling a bit worried about them.


    But when I saw them fighting, I learned that my worry was unnecessary.


    This was a group that was as talented as our group, so they wouldn''t be weaker than us.


    As I watched them, I finally learned why Kaito called himself the Black Flame Dragon.


    It was simply because of his ability.


    He had the ability to control black flames that he used to attack his enemies.


    These black flames were deadly as they instantly burned all of his enemies to ashes.


    Whether it was the mummies or the scarabs, they were all burnt to nothingness by Kaito''s black flames.


    The flames raged on, even seeming like the breath of a dragon.


    It made sense that his moniker was Black Flame Dragon.


    As for the rest of his group, they all showed incredible power. They all had no problems dealing with these mummies and scarabs.


    It was almost too easy.


    The supply team led by the central flank easily made their way through the path that was created for them and they were able to get right behind the vanguard.


    Once they were through, there was no longer any reason for us to stay here.


    So I pushed back the monsters in front of me and shouted, "Let''s go! We''re moving to the next point!"


    Blaze and Kaito were the ones that took the lead in this.


    They went to the front and back of the group and released their flames.


    Blaze was in the front with a wall of flames pushing away the monsters that came at us and Kaito was in the back with a wall of flames pushing away the monsters that chased after us.


    With the two of them working together, we were able to catch up.


    The main group had left us behind after the supply team had gone through since we were the ones that protected the rear.


    Once we caught up, we immediately took the place of the vanguard holding the path and they continued forward to clear out another path.


    Once we secured the path, the supply team moved forward again.


    Again and again, we moved forward just like this.


    It wasn''t hard, but it was definitely tiring having to keep fighting monsters like this.


    It was just a good thing that the closer we came to the safe zone, the fewer monsters there were.


    The less monsters there were, it was easier for us to hold that path and clear them out.


    Otherwise we would have lost all of our energy eventually.


    An hour later, we finally reached the first safe zone.


    This was a rest area that was in the middle of the pyramid base. It wasn''t right at the center, but it was close to that.


    Since it only took us an hour to get here, it didn''t seem like this raid dungeon was that big.


    Once we arrived, it was time for us to rest and for the supply team to get to work.


    They would set up the camp here and then we would use this camp to clear out the surrounding area. After clearing that out, we would make our way to the second safe zone and secure that to create another camp.


    Clearing out this raid dungeon wasn''t something that could be done in a day or two, it was something that would take at least a week if not more.


    So we were here for the long haul.


    I could see that our group was tired after that continuous fighting, so we went over to the tents that had been prepared for us.


    I had to admit that the supply team really worked fast.


    Inside of the tent was some food and some beds for us, so we could eat and rest up.


    But there was a problem that we had to deal with first after arriving in the tent.


    It was the sleeping arrangement. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since this was a rough temporary tent, the beds were just laid out all over the floor and arranged in a circle.


    That meant that we would have to sleep very close to each other.


    This wouldn''t be a problem if not for Claire and Long Shui Ling¡­

 Chapter 217 - 217: Raid dungeon (9)

    I solved that problem in the end by pulling in Kaito''s group and having Kaito sleep beside me.


    He even looked honoured when he heard this and he quickly took the bed beside mine.


    But that also came with its own problems.


    I didn''t know when it happened, but it seemed like he had become a fan of mine as he asked me all kinds of questions.


    Still, it was better than causing trouble by letting Claire and Long Shui Ling talk to each other.


    In the end, the two of them went to separate ends of the tent and went to sleep.


    I just answered a few of Kaito''s questions before going to sleep myself.


    A few hours later, we woke up rested and we needed to be rested since it was our turn to clear out monsters.


    We had recovered a lot of our energy, so that wasn''t a problem at all. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    During the time that we had been asleep, there were other groups that had been going out to clear the monsters. They were coming back now and it seemed that they had quite the success with how much the porters were bringing back.


    These mummies and scarabs weren''t that strong, but their drops were quite good.


    They would sell for a lot when we got back.


    Anything that our porters brought back for us would be counted as our loot and we would receive the full amount for it.


    So it was lucrative to hunt here.


    That was the main reason why we had been allowed to rest first.


    It was so that the others could get first crack at the monsters and loot.


    What would be left for us would only be stragglers, but I was fine with that since it was less dangerous.


    When we passed the group that just came back, they looked at us with looks of disdain. It was almost as if they looked down on us for staying behind at the camp and resting.


    The members of my group were a bit riled up because of it, but I just calmly moved past them and out the camp.


    Seeing me walk past them without a word, they followed my example in the end and followed me out of the camp.


    The group that had looked at us with disdain had surprised looks, but they just ignored us in the end and headed into the camp.


    After we left the camp, they all came forward to complain to me about how we had been treated.


    I just calmly looked at them and said, "So what do you want to do about it? Do you just want to complain or prove them wrong?"


    They were surprised by my question, but they slowly came to realize what I meant.


    That was right, reacting would be just what they wanted to see since it meant that they had gotten under their skins. If they reacted, it would just make them feel good without doing anything for them.


    So it was better for them to just ignore them.


    They were kids, so it made sense that they didn''t understand this logic yet.


    In fact, Long Shui Ling had been the only one who had acted calm and followed me out when we left the camp.


    But I was surprised that there would be this kind of competitive tension between our groups.


    Still, it seemed right if I thought about it.


    We were all here to prove our abilities, we all wanted a spot in the SS Rank Dungeon group.


    So it could be said that we were rivals even though we were in the same raid dungeon group.


    Once we came out, we found just how much the other group had done.


    They had wiped out many of the monsters that had been wandering around and had almost doubled the safe zone.


    But that was a problem for us.


    This meant that we would have to move further away from the safe zone to find monsters.


    The further that we moved from the safe zone, the more monsters there were.


    It was something about how the safe zones made the monsters move away, so they gathered in spots in between safe zones.


    And that was where we had to pass by to get to the next safe zone.


    That was the place that we had to clear.


    That was why I was faced with a hard choice.


    We could just stay near the safe zone and clear out the stragglers that wandered over. That would be enough for it to be considered doing our jobs since we were still reducing the number of monsters in between us and the other safe zone.


    At the same time, it would ensure that we would be safe.


    But that would bring us shame later when we returned to the camp since it would mean being cowards.


    The other choice was to move away from the safe zone and hunt down the monsters that were wandering between the safe zones. There would be plenty for us to hunt, so we would be able to return with our heads held up high.


    The problem with that was that it was dangerous.


    There would be far more monsters than we had faced before, so we would be in a very dangerous situation.


    Plus, there was no telling what else would show up while we were fighting the monsters.


    So as the leader, I couldn''t just put us in danger like this.


    I even suspected that the other group had done this on purpose.


    They knowingly cleared out the nearby monsters just so we would be forced to go further out.


    In the end, it was the kids who made the decision for me.


    Blaze said, "Boss, we shouldn''t be afraid and just fight the monsters with all our power."


    Kaito nodded in agreement and said, "If we''re doing this, we should give it our all."


    I looked at them with knitted brows after they saId this, but I still said with a sigh, "Alright, but you have to promise me that if things look bad, we will run back to the camp even if it means losing face."


    They nodded in agreement without any hesitation.


    After all, they weren''t keen on losing their lives either.


    With another sigh, I said, "Then let''s go."

 Chapter 218 - 218: Raid dungeon (10)

    The further that we moved from the safe zone, the more enemies there were.


    But this time, we were working as a large group instead of individually.


    Instead of having to fight alone to protect the path for the supply team, we were able to fight together and demonstrate power that was far beyond what we could muster individually.


    Blaze and Kaito in particular worked very well.


    Blaze''s fire controlling abilities had a very obvious flaw which was that he couldn''t use them from afar. His range was limited to the area around him and if he tried to use his flames from a distance, it would scatter.


    The flames wouldn''t be able to gather together and would lack the force to hurt the enemies.


    But that wasn''t a problem for Kaito.


    His flames were more than powerful enough to be used from afar, but he also had a problem.


    His problem was actually the reverse of Blaze''s problem, which was that his flames were too strong. If they came too close to him or his allies, they would burn him.


    So the two of them were able to cover for each other''s shortcomings, which made them even stronger.


    Blaze used his flames to create a defensive line around them while Kaito use his flames to burn down any mummies and scarabs that came at them.


    If this was the outside world, then this might have been bad.


    After all, the flames would have burned away everything of value and it would have been pointless to fight these mummies and scarabs. But in the dungeon, the loot dropped after the monsters were killed, so they were able to get the loot in the end.


    Though¡­there were a few that were burned because the two of them lost control.


    "Yes! YES! My one true soulmate, together we shall light this whole world on fire!" Kaito shouted as he threw his black flames at the mummies and scarabs around them.


    For once, he didn''t need to think about defending himself, which freed him up to go crazy.


    Blaze didn''t say anything, but the smile on his face made it clear that he was also enjoying this.


    He didn''t say a word, but he allowed his flames to spread all around him, creating an entire area filled with flames.


    The two of them really were letting go now that they were able to use their power to their full potential.


    As I watched them, I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face.


    I also didn''t miss that Qin Yue Ru looked at Kaito with a very strange look.


    If I had to say what it was, it almost seemed like jealousy¡­


    I wanted to say something, but it didn''t feel right.


    After all, they were both men, so there was no need for her to look at Kaito like that. It wasn''t as if he was going to steal anyone away¡­


    Still, with the two of them working in tandem like this, it really was a big difference.


    They cleared out most of the mummies and scarabs that came at us and we were able to pick off the stragglers that had avoided the flames. These stragglers were mostly burnt in the first place, so we were able to take them down with relative ease.


    With the way that we were going, we easily cleared our way to the next safe zone.


    But of course, I didn''t dare let my guard down just because it was going well.


    I made sure that everyone remained close and didn''t let the Double Flame Dragon go too far.


    Or at least that was what Kaito called the two of them.


    Though judging by the smile on Blaze''s face, it didn''t seem that he was that against it.


    Once again, I almost felt the urge to say something to Qin Yue Ru, but I held myself back.


    As we moved further and further up, it really felt like we would be able to reach the next safe zone all by ourselves at this rate. But then before I could get my hopes up, there was a cry that rang out through the air.


    "YEOW!"


    It was like the cry of a cat, but it was much more primal than that.


    This was clearly the cry of a beast.


    As soon as they heard this, everyone turned to look at me and I waved my hand for them to gather in.


    Even if they had been letting loose with their powers, Kaito and Blaze immediately released their flames and came to my side before Blaze released his flames in a defensive barrier around us.


    We just stood there and waited for the owner of this cry to show itself.


    But before we could see what it was, there was a sudden slashing sound that came from behind us.


    When we looked around, we found that there was a large gash on the flame barrier.


    The flame barrier quickly repaired itself, but the fact that this gash had been created in the first place meant that the attack was quite powerful.


    Everyone immediately knitted their brows when they saw this.


    But I didn''t let myself get too caught up in this as I muttered, "Better hearing."


    After I said this, my hearing suddenly became much better.


    I could hear that there was some kind of sound coming from around us.


    It was like the sound of wind gushing, like there was something moving at high speeds around us.


    This sound seemed constant until it suddenly started getting closer and closer.


    When it started coming closer, I immediately said to Kaito, "Wall, now!"


    Kaito was caught off guard by this sudden command, but he raised his hands after only a second of hesitation.


    Black flames started gathering around us before forming a wall that he sent out with a single push of his hands. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This wall didn''t go far, but there was something that suddenly jumped back when it saw the wall coming at it.


    This thing landed in front of us and we were able to see what it was.

 Chapter 219 - 219: Raid dungeon (11)

    "That''s an Egyptian Mau, right?" I slowly said.


    Long Shui Ling beside me gave a slow nod as if she was confirming this.


    One thing that I had kept secret was my love for cats, so the moment that I saw this cat, I immediately recognized the breed.


    However, the problem was that this cat wasn''t a normal size.


    Though this cat looked like an Egyptian Mau, it was the size of a tiger.


    As well, it had very sharp teeth and claws, showing that it was very powerful as well.


    This was the thing that had attacked us and created a gash in Blaze''s flame barrier.


    But just what was this thing doing here?


    My brain quickly turned as I tried to remember the material that had been given to us during orientation. It had included a list of all the monsters that could be found in this raid dungeon, including all of the rare monsters that were hard to find.


    After thinking for a bit, I finally realized what it was.


    This was the area boss.


    This was the area boss that we were supposed to kill before going to the next safe zone.


    But we weren''t supposed to fight this thing yet since there were too many other monsters around. That was the main point of clearing out the monsters that were in between the two points.


    Of course, the other reason for that was to see if we could avoid it completely.


    By clearing out the other monsters and clearing out a path, there was the chance that we would have been able to avoid it. That would have saved us quite a bit of trouble in the long run since we wouldn''t need to deal with it.


    However, none of us would have thought that this area boss would suddenly appear in front of us.


    Both our side and the Egyptian Mau were just cautiously looking at each other, as if we were both waiting for the other side to make a move first.


    Now that it had stopped, I could take a closer look at this area boss.


    I found that there was a part of its fur that was singed, this was part of the area boss'' foot.


    It seemed that it hadn''t been able to completely avoid Kaito''s flame wall just now and it had been singed by the black flames.


    That was why it was being cautious right now.


    So did that mean that it was weak against the black flames?


    Well, these were powerful flames that anything would be weak against.


    It just meant that the black flames were strong enough to threaten it.


    That gave us a chance to escape.


    As long as we used these black flames to cover us, we should be able to run back to the safe zone. As long as we could reach the safe zone, this area boss wouldn''t follow us in.


    It was written in the package that we received. Even if the area bosses were powerful, it didn''t seem like they went to the safe zone even if provoked.


    It was as if there was something that kept them away there.


    So as long as we were able to reach the safe zone, we should be safe.


    After this thought came into mind, I turned to the others and explained the plan.


    But when I finished explaining, almost everyone had disappointed looks on their faces.


    I could naturally guess what they were thinking based on the looks on their faces, but this wasn''t the time for that. This was a dangerous area boss and my priority was naturally our safety.


    So I would pick the plan that was the safest.


    However, I underestimated how willful they were.


    "We can fight it." Blaze and Kaito said at the same time in slow voices.


    The two of them were surprised to hear each other, but then they revealed smiles and nodded at each other.


    Blaze said, "As long as the two of us work together, it won''t be able to approach and we can pressure it."


    Kaito said with a nod, "My black flames can even burn the demon kings from hell, naturally this mere cat is no match for it!"


    My lip couldn''t help twitching slightly when I heard him mention ''demon king'', but it was a good thing that they didn''t notice it.


    However, I still had something to say, "None of us were even able to keep up with it. Do you really think that you''ll be able to catch it if it doesn''t let us catch it?"


    Both of them slightly knitted their brows when they heard this, but then Kaito said, "Boss, as long as we have you, we''ll be able to catch it. Weren''t you able to keep up with it and tell me when to put up the wall?"


    I shook my head as I said, "I can''t maintain that state for long, so it''s not a good idea to depend on it."


    After a pause, I still said with a deep breath, "This is too dangerous. As the leader, I can''t accept a plan like this."


    Then to my surprise, Long Shui Ling said, "How could we go back so easily though? They clearly looked down on us, looked down on you. How can we go back and let them look at us like that?" S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The others nodded in agreement, but I just didn''t care.


    I knew that there was nothing to gain from caring about what they thought, but it was clear that they did.


    If I backed down too much¡­that would be bad for my image as a leader¡­


    So I had to start weighing the pros and cons here¡­


    If I lost my image as a leader, that would be bad for the future.


    So I had to take a step back here and consider fighting this area boss.


    After all, it wasn''t impossible for us to defeat it if we worked together.


    After another pause, I said, "Alright, but you''ll have to listen to my commands. Understand?"


    When they heard this, all of their faces lit up and they nodded in agreement.


    With a sigh, I explained my other plan.


    This was the one that I had thought of at the same time as the plan to escape, but it was supposed to be a backup plan.


    I guess we are using this backup plan now.

 Chapter 220 - 220: Raid dungeon (12)

    After I finished telling them my plan, they all moved according to it.


    There was no hesitation at all, as if they completely trusted me and my plan.


    The first thing that happened was that Long Shui Ling raised her hand to summon a fog in the area around us. Or at least that was what it seemed like for the area boss.


    For us, we were able to quite clearly still.


    This fog was an illusion that would hide us from the area boss so that we could get in position while also making it hesitant to act.


    After the area boss tensed from not being able to see us anymore, we immediately spread out in different directions.


    While it would seem like this was a bad idea since this would just make it easier for the area boss to pick us off, that wasn''t the case because of Long Shui Ling''s abilities. And the other reason for this was¡­


    The area boss didn''t move since it didn''t dare move rashly when it couldn''t see the enemies. However, the moment that it could, it immediately swiped out at the enemy that it saw.


    This enemy was ripped in half and fell right in front of the area boss.


    The area boss couldn''t help revealing a surprised and confused look when it saw this.


    After all, it had been too easy to take down these enemies.


    The enemies from before had even managed to burn it, so it didn''t feel that it should have been this easy to cut them down.


    But before it could think more about this, there were more enemies that suddenly appeared.


    The moment that the area boss saw these enemies, it couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    That was because the new enemies that appeared looked just like the one that it had just cut down. Both of them had the same appearance as the one that it cut down and both of them were just slowly moving towards it.


    The area boss couldn''t help hesitating, but it couldn''t hesitate for long since the enemies were approaching.


    So in the end, it swiped out at the two enemies that approached.


    But this time, before it could cut them down, the two of them suddenly burst into flames.


    These were the same black flames that had hurt it before, so it didn''t dare slash right at these two enemies. It pulled its attack back at the last second and jumped away from these two enemies, landing a distance away from them.


    But even then, the two of them slowly marched towards the area boss.


    The area boss was shocked to see these flaming enemies marching towards it like they didn''t even feel the flames.


    At this point, the area boss was completely confused and didn''t know what to do.


    Unfortunately, time wouldn''t wait for it.


    There were more enemies that suddenly appeared behind where it landed.


    These enemies looked exactly like the ones that it had seen before and just like those ones, these enemies burst into flames.


    The area boss knew that it was going to be surrounded at this rate, so it didn''t waste any time in jumping away from these enemies.


    It didn''t know where it was going, but it was better than being surrounded.


    But the moment that it jumped into the air, there were several balls of flames that appeared around it. These were the same black flame that had burned it before, so it knew that this was a very dangerous situation.


    These balls of black flames danced around it, as if it was waiting for it to dodge.


    The area boss had no choice but to twist in the air in an attempt to dodge these balls of black flames, but it was all in vain. The balls of black flames danced all around it and waited until it couldn''t move anymore to suddenly come out at it.


    So in the end, the area boss was hit by one of the balls of black flames.


    There was a wind wall that appeared around the area boss when this happened that scattered the ball of black flames, but there were still burns that appeared on the area boss.


    It seemed like the area boss knew that it wouldn''t be able to avoid everything, so it had used this wind wall to block this one ball of black flames that it wouldn''t be able to avoid.


    It was just too bad that it was already surrounded.


    When it landed, it found that it was surrounded by the enemies that were on fire.


    It wasn''t even able to jump out of this since there was a wall of flames that appeared above it.


    The only thing that this area boss could do was release its wind magic to attack the enemies around it, but it didn''t do anything. It was able to cut the enemies down, but the flames were still surrounding it.


    The black flames kept getting closer and closer until¡­


    The area boss was completely engulfed in the flames and stopped moving.


    It didn''t take long before the area boss had been completely burnt by the black flames.


    It seemed that the fight was already over¡­


    ¡­


    As I watched the area boss being burnt to a crisp like this, I couldn''t help being shocked.


    After all, I never expected the area boss to be this easy to take down.


    All we had done was use the mummies as walking matchsticks to burn the area boss and it somehow wasn''t able to escape.


    The speed that it demonstrated previously should have been more than enough to avoid these mummies that had been tricked by Long Shui Ling''s illusions into thinking the area boss was an enemy. Yet it didn''t use that speed once to escape the blockade¡­


    What was supposed to only be a distraction had actually taken down the area boss just like that¡­ S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Wasn''t this a bit too easy?


    It felt like there was something else that should have happened.

 Chapter 221 - 221: Raid dungeon (13)

    But in the end, nothing happened at all.


    The area boss was burnt to a crisp and there was even loot that dropped.


    I had to get Kaito to release the flames just as the corpse of the area boss disappeared or else the loot would have been burnt to a crisp just like the loot of the mummies that we used.


    After picking up the loot of the area boss, we didn''t dare stay in this area any longer.


    We had created quite the commotion with the plan to take down this area boss, so we should get out of here before being swarmed by the monsters that were still wandering around.


    It seemed like they still wanted to fight after we got away, but I immediately shot down that idea.


    After all, there was no doubt that the monsters would be in chaos once the area boss was cleared out.


    It was impossible that clearing out the area boss wouldn''t have any effect on this place.


    So it was best to report back to camp that we had defeated the area boss and see what plans they had.


    It didn''t take us long to get back to camp, but when we walked in, we bumped into the group that had just come back. After all, we hadn''t been out that long, so they had only been able to have a meal before we came back.


    When they saw us walking into the camp, the leader of this group came forward with a wide smile that was filled with disdain as he said, "Well, well, well, look who came crawling back. Did you have too hard of a time fighting the monsters and came running back to camp for help? Well, it''s too bad that you''ll have to wait since we''re all too tired from doing your jobs for you."


    The other members of my group immediately revealed angry looks when they heard this, but I just ignored them as I walked into the camp.


    When they saw that I was ignoring them, the leader revealed an annoyed look and came forward as if he was about to stop me.


    But I just calmly said, "I have something important to report to the leader, please move out of the way."


    The leader of the other group couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when he heard this.


    It looked like I really had something important to say based on the serious look I had on my face. If he were to keep me from reporting in just because he wanted to show off, then he would be in trouble when the leader found out.


    So after a moment of hesitation, he said, "Alright, I''ll come with you and see what this important news is."


    The look on his face made it clear that he was just coming along to see me fail.


    It was clear that he didn''t believe that I had anything important to report, so he was just coming so that he could make fun of me when the time came.


    Of course, I didn''t care about that as I headed towards the tent that Tie Gang was staying in.


    Since he was the leader, he received a tent all to himself.


    But at the same time, this was where central command was since he was the leader, so most meetings were held here as well.


    When we arrived, I asked the guards standing in front of the tent if Tie Gang was up and it turned out that he wasn''t.


    As the only A Ranker here, it was Tie Gang''s job to protect the camp if anything happened. So he was supposed to be resting at the same time as us, but he was busy, so he had been working before resting.


    It wasn''t strange that he was still asleep.


    The leader of the other group said, "Just leave the leader alone. It''s clear that you''re trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. You don''t have anything important to report."


    The guards looked like they agreed with this statement, but I still said, "It''s something very important that I need to report to the leader."


    The guards looked at me with hesitant looks.


    If it was anyone else, they might not have hesitated as much. But since it was Lin Fan, they had no choice but to hesitate since Tie Gang had told them about him.


    He had said that if it was Lin Fan and he said that it was important, they should report to him.


    So in the end, one of the guards said, "Alright, we''ll go talk to the leader and see what he thinks. But if he doesn''t want to talk to you, you can''t create a fuss, understand?"


    I just said with a nod, "Thank you."


    The guard gave a nod before going in.


    A minute later, Tie Gang came out with a tired look on his face.


    It was clear that he had just woken up judging by the way that he was dressed, but he quickly invigorated himself and asked me, "What''s wrong?"


    I calmly said, "I have something important to report." S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang narrowed his eyes to look at me for a few seconds before waving his hand and saying, "Alright, let''s go in and talk."


    He looked at the others who followed, but he didn''t stop them.


    When we came in, we all sat down around a table that had been placed there for us to hold meetings at.


    After sitting down, Tie Gang looked at me and asked, "What''s wrong? Did something happen?"


    I calmly looked at him and said, "We killed the area boss."


    "Huh?" That was the only response that followed when they heard this.


    Before Tie Gang could say anything, the leader of the other team suddenly said, "What nonsense is this! And here I thought that it was something important, but it turned out to be a bunch of lies from a fool!"


    Tie Gang raised his hand to stop him before looking at me with a serious look to say, "Little Brother Lin, this isn''t something that you can joke about."


    It was clear that he didn''t believe me either, but I couldn''t blame him since it did seem too unbelievable.


    Instead of saying anything, I just waved my hand across the table and a pair of fangs appeared on it.

 Chapter 222 - 222: Raid dungeon (14)

    The moment that these fangs appeared, everyone knitted their brows.


    The leader of the other group was about to say something, but Tie Gang suddenly stood up. When he saw Tie Gang walking over towards me, he closed his mouth and revealed a smile as if he was expecting a good show.


    But Tie Gang didn''t act the way that he thought he would.


    Instead, Tie Gang walked over to the fang and picked it up. He brought them up in front of his face and looked at them closely for a bit, as if he was making sure of something.


    After looking it over for a bit, he turned to one of his aides and said, "Go and call the appraiser for me."


    The aide was surprised, but they quickly gave a nod and ran off to fulfil this order.


    When they did, the leader of the other group knitted his brows as if he felt that something was off. However, he didn''t say anything since he knew that this wasn''t his place to speak.


    The only thing that they could do now was wait for the appraiser to arrive.


    It only took a minute for the appraiser to arrive, Tie Gang''s aide really was effective.


    When the appraiser arrived, he immediately came over to Tie Gang''s side and asked, "Leader, did you need me for something?"


    Tie Gang just raised the fangs in his hand and said, "Appraise this for me."


    The appraiser was surprised, but he wasn''t that surprised. He was just caught off guard at being asked to appraise this thing right away, though he already expected it since that should be the only reason that he was called over.


    The appraiser didn''t waste any time in taking the fangs and then a shocked look appeared on his face.


    He looked it over a few more times, as if he was making sure that he had made the right appraisal before turning to Tie Gang to ask, "Boss, where did you get this?"


    When the appraiser said this, everyone except me revealed different expressions.


    The leader of the other team revealed knitted brows again.


    Tie Gang revealed a look like he was already expecting this.


    And my team revealed faint smiles as if they were waiting for vindication.


    Tie Gang just calmly said, "Tell me what it is first."


    The appraiser looked down at the fang before giving a slow nod and saying, "This is the fangs of a Guardian Cat, but¡­there''s only one Guardian Cat that was supposed to be in this dungeon¡­So unless it was taken out, then¡­"


    His voice trailed off since he didn''t want to make any assumptions, but the meaning behind it was clear.


    Guardian Cat.


    That''s right, that was the name of the area boss that I had completely forgotten about. I had only thought of it as an Egyptian Mau, but it seemed like it had quite the powerful name.


    Tie Gang gave a nod before turning back to look at me to say, "Tell me what happened."


    I gave a nod before telling him about what we had encountered.


    When it was over, the room was silent as everyone once again looked at me with strange looks.


    After this silence lasted for a bit, Tie Gang was the one who broke it.


    He revealed a wide smile and gave a laugh as he said, "Good, good, very good. I had been expecting us to take at least four or five days to get to the next safe zone, but it seems like we''ll be able to get there much sooner."


    He stood up and walked over to my side to pat my shoulder as he said, "You''ve really given me a pleasant surprise."


    I just gave a nod before saying, "I''m just doing my job."


    The leader of the other team had been silent the entire time, but he couldn''t remain silent anymore.


    "We should form a patrol team as soon as possible to protect the camp. By taking down the area boss like this, all that''ll happen is that the monsters will be thrown into chaos. Once that happens, they will certainly come for our camp."


    He turned to point his finger at me before following up with, "If this fool didn''t finish off the area boss ahead of time, we wouldn''t have to deal with this mess now."


    As soon as his voice fell, I knitted my brows along with the rest of my group.


    The way that he put this, he was trying to use his words to make it sound like we were in the wrong for taking down the area boss. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To put it simply, he was gaslighting us.


    But Tie Gang didn''t fall for it as he said, "It''s strange that the area boss would even show itself in the first place. The reports clearly state that it is prone to hiding itself and it should have taken us a while to even find it¡­So for it to show itself, it must mean that there''s something off with this dungeon¡­"


    All of us couldn''t help being shocked when we heard this.


    We wouldn''t be as shocked if it was anyone else, but if it was Tie Gang who said this, then we had no choice but to believe it.


    Tie Gang was silent as he looked like he was lost in deep thought.


    But then he said, "Alright, we''ll be gathering up and moving to the next safe zone tomorrow. Now that the area boss is out of the way, we''ll push for the next safe zone."


    The leader of the other group deeply knitted his brows before saying, "Leader, shouldn''t we wait a few more days for the monsters to settle? If we head out at this time, wouldn''t we be surrounded by these monsters?"


    Tie Gang shook his head before saying, "If there really is something off about this dungeon, we should make the second camp as soon as possible. It''s better if we spread ourselves out and give ourselves more room to operate, or else we''ll be the ones trapped when the time comes."


    Then as if it was an afterthought, he added, "Not to mention, the monsters being active now will be a good chance to clear out the numbers for the future. So we''ll be carving our way to the next safe zone."


    The leader of the other group opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then he closed it again as he revealed a thoughtful look.


    Though he didn''t like it, he had to admit that he could see the benefits of doing it the way that Tie Gang wanted to.


    With two different camps, they would have much more space to work with and they would be able to support each other if something went wrong. So it was indeed better to go and create the camp as soon as possible.


    But to do that meant acknowledging the achievements of this group that he considered inferior to himself, which was something that really was hard for him to accept.


    In the end, he had no choice but to accept this since Tie Gang was the leader and he had already made his decision.


    So instead, he chose to vent his anger on me by glaring at me.


    I just ignored him as he glared at me.

 Chapter 223 - 223: Raid dungeon (15)

    Once the meeting was over, Tie Gang went to inform the support group of what was about to happen.


    After he left, the leader of the other team walked right up to me and said, "I don''t know what kind of tricks you used, but this kind of luck won''t be enough for you to show off. Just know that you won''t have beginner''s luck on your side next time."


    Without even giving me a chance to say anything, he bumped his shoulder into my shoulder and walked past me with a snort.


    When the others of my group saw this, they all revealed deeply knitted brows.


    Blaze and Kaito were even about to come forward to say something, but I raised my hand to stop them.


    Even if we were in competition with each other, we were still in the same guild and more importantly, we were in the same raid dungeon group. Even if he was putting on an aggressive look, he didn''t dare to take things too far since he knew his limits.


    So this was within the limits of what I could endure.


    After all, if we made the first move, then he could do whatever he wanted.


    So we couldn''t make the first move.


    The others didn''t understand this logic as much since they were still young.


    They looked at me with gazes like they were asking me why they couldn''t do this, but I just shook my head and said, "We''re still in the same group right now. We still need to work together with them in this raid dungeon. There''s no need to create unnecessary conflict when we can turn the other cheek."


    They looked like they found this hard to accept, but they didn''t challenge me in the end since they could see the serious look on my face.


    But it really was hard to suck it up, even for me.


    I knew that they wouldn''t stop at just this, so I had to think of a way to deal with them in the future or else they would just cause even more trouble.


    If a few of the monsters were to suddenly charge them from behind¡­no, that would be too suspicious.


    I had to think of a way to take revenge without making it too obvious.


    This would also depend on the opportunities that were available.


    So this was not something that could be forced.


    The first thing that I had to think about was what Tie Gang had said.


    It was indeed strange that the Guardian Cat had suddenly appeared in front of us and attacked us. There had to be something happening behind the scenes of this raid dungeon.


    So the first thing was to figure this out since my life was more important than anything else.


    Time passed and it was soon the next day.


    During this time, everyone had been preparing to set off for the next safe zone.


    However, it wasn''t as if everyone would be heading to the next safe zone. There would need to be a few people left behind to watch over this camp.


    That was where the group that had been in the center of the formation came in.


    Other than the supporters, there were also some weaker Awakeners that had been there that had come along as guards. They would be in charge of watching over the camp with the supporters that remained, making sure that nothing happened to it while we were gone.


    At the head of our formation was Tie Gang and he didn''t have a good look on his face.


    It wasn''t that there were a bunch of monsters blocking our way that made him look like this. Rather, it was because of a lack of monsters that he had his brows knitted like this.


    There should have been some monsters that blocked their way, but there were barely any mummies wandering around. There wasn''t even a need to mention the scarabs since there weren''t any here.


    What was happening where these monsters that were supposed to be wandering around had suddenly disappeared like this?


    First there was the sudden appearance of the Guardian Cat and now there was the sudden disappearance of the normal monsters.


    This dungeon just didn''t make any sense at all¡­


    It was almost as if there was something controlling the monsters in the dungeon, but if that was the case¡­that would be very bad for them.


    This was a very rare case that was possible, but dungeon bosses had the ability to evolve. They had the ability to become stronger through unknown means and gain intelligence beyond what dungeon bosses should have.


    When that happened, the monsters and area bosses in the dungeon would start acting weirdly, going against the normal set patterns that they had¡­


    Tie Gang really hoped that this wasn''t the case since that would be disastrous for them.


    While this Pyramid was only a C Rank Dungeon, if the dungeon boss had really mutated, then it would bring this up to an A Rank Dungeon. A Rank Dungeons were dungeons that would be hard even for him, an A Ranker since he didn''t have his normal team with him.


    He just hoped that this wasn''t the case. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a long moment of silence, Tie Gang waved his hand and said, "Let''s go!"


    The rest of them all followed Tie Gang as he set off.


    The plan was the same as yesterday where we had the vanguard create a path while us in the flank secured it.


    But with the lack of monsters, there really wasn''t anything for us to secure.


    The vanguards were able to cut down the few monsters that were here and the supply team was able to easily make their way through.


    Even when we arrived at where we had been yesterday, we found that there weren''t any monsters wandering around at all.


    Just where had all of those mummies that we had seen yesterday gone?


    It really was strange¡­but at least it was a safe and easy journey.


    It only took us an hour to reach the second safe zone.

 Chapter 224 - 224: Raid dungeon (16)

    When we arrived at the second safe zone, Tie Gang didn''t give us even a second to rest as he immediately gave the order to set up camp.


    This time, we weren''t allowed to rest and all of us were called to help the supporters set up the camp.


    Other than those that had to guard the area, everyone was else called to help.


    It seemed like he really was worried about something with how he was acting.


    But of course, it wasn''t as if anyone would disobey his orders.


    So with everyone working together, we had set up the camp in just an hour.


    When the barriers went up, Tie Gang finally relaxed and allowed everyone to rest up.


    But he made sure that there were always guards that were patrolling the area around the safe zone. This was completely different from the camp in the first safe zone which had a much more relaxed vibe to it.


    It was almost as if he was running a strict military camp now.


    However, once again, no one dared to go against him.


    Everyone knew that Tie Gang would have his reason for doing this, so they didn''t doubt him and just went along with what he was planning on doing.


    But the mood of the camp wasn''t good.


    It seemed like everyone was nervous because of the way that Tie Gang was acting. They could tell that there was something wrong with this raid dungeon that he was acting this way. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If something was wrong with this dungeon, that meant that their lives were in danger¡­


    So it was only natural they were nervous.


    But at this point, it didn''t matter what they felt.


    Since they were trapped in this dungeon, they had to clear it or they wouldn''t be able to leave.


    So they just threw themselves into their work.


    That was the same for us since we had no idea what was happening, we just did what we could to prepare for the fights that would come.


    But there was a wrench thrown into that plan.


    While we were setting up our tent, Tie Gang suddenly came in.


    We were surprised to see him, but he just put a hand up to his mouth as if he was telling us to be silent before waving his hand at me, as if he wanted to talk to me.


    I raised a brow since I was surprised by this sudden appearance, but I still followed him out of the tent.


    The two of us made our way out of the camp and the safe zone, heading to an area that had no one else around. This was a place that should have been filled with monsters, but was currently barren since the monsters had wandered off.


    After killing off the few monsters that were here, it was just the two of us left.


    Tie Gang looked at me and I looked back at him.


    In the end, I was the one that broke the silence, "Is something wrong that you needed to bring me all the way here?"


    Tie Gang gave a nod before shaking his head, almost as if he was hesitating over something. It almost seemed as if¡­he didn''t know what to say.


    That was very worrying.


    If even this A Ranker leader of our group didn''t know what to say in this situation, it seemed that the situation was much worse than I had expected.


    After another moment of silence, Tie Gang said, "I need your help, but this can''t be known by anyone. That is why we had to get away from the camp, there were too many ears that could hear our talk."


    I gave a slow nod, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for him to explain.


    Tie Gang took a deep breath and said, "We need to investigate the change with the dungeon, but we can''t let anyone know about this. To achieve this, I need your and Long Shui Ling''s help."


    I was surprised to hear this.


    It wasn''t the part about Long Shui Ling that I was surprised by since I knew what he wanted from her. It was more the part about me that I was surprised by since it didn''t feel like there was anything that I could do to help with this.


    Seeing the look on my face, Tie Gang said, "You shouldn''t underestimate yourself. I''ve seen what you can do and I know how strong your powers are. You''re someone that can ignore ranks and buff people, I need a trump card like that if something goes wrong."


    I looked at him in silence for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    I understood what he meant by this, but it must be very desperate if he was relying on this kind of power.


    After all, once he used it, he would be incapacitated until he was healed up.


    If he felt this worried, then whatever was in this dungeon must be very dangerous. Dangerous enough that he would even feel threatened by this.


    If that was the case, it was better to go along with his plan since that would give us the greatest chance to survive.


    After all, there was no one stronger than Tie Gang in our group.


    If he went down, there was no way that we would be able to face the enemy that took him down.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "Alright, then how should we do this?"


    Tie Gang revealed an appreciative smile before explaining his plan with a serious look, "When we get back to the camp, we''ll need to¡­"


    After he finished explaining, he didn''t waste any time in bringing us back to the camp.


    The longer that we were out alone, the more suspicion would be drawn.


    So we split up as soon as we entered the camp again.


    The rest of my group immediately swarmed me and asked me about what had happened, but it wasn''t as if I could tell them anything.


    Now, how should I explain this to Long Shui Ling?

 Chapter 225 - 225: Raid dungeon (17)

    To my surprise, but not that much¡­Long Shui Ling was quite easy to convince.


    I talked to her about it, but she didn''t even let me finish as she said, "If you''re going, then I''m going."


    The way that she stated this was like she was stating a fact that couldn''t be brokered with.


    She seemed like she really would chase me to the ends of the world if I ever ran away.


    Were the suggestions that I left in her that powerful?


    Or did she just have this kind of personality in the first place?


    This really made me think that I didn''t know enough about her.


    The only reason that we were together in the end was because of Lilith''s prank.


    It seemed that I should take some time to learn more about her and not just about her family.


    Otherwise, it would be bad for me in the future if she suddenly did something I couldn''t expect.


    We just spent the rest of the day helping out in the camp.


    The time to go was when the camp went into night mode, when most of the main fighters of the group would be sleeping.


    That was also why we took quick naps in between our jobs.


    When ''night'' fell, the two of us were ready.


    I had used my Hypnosis to make the rest of our group fall asleep faster, so that they were all asleep when we snuck out.


    When we arrived at the edge of the camp, I found that Tie Gang was already waiting there for us.


    He waved his hand at the two of us when he saw us and we quickly went over. When we were standing there in that hidden corner, he asked, "Are you sure that no one followed you?"


    I gave a nod before looking over at Long Shui Ling.


    She just calmly said, "The illusions are still in place and no one has found anything yet."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before turning to the makeshift barricade in front of us.


    This was part of the wall that had been built around the camp. It was supposed to protect us along with the barrier that was deployed.


    I didn''t understand why he was looking at this wall like this, but then he quickly showed me why.


    He took out a token that he pressed against the wall and there was a shift in the wall that happened. After a moment, there was a hole that appeared in the wall as the material moved out of the way.


    It was as if this wall was reacting to the token.


    The reason for that was¡­the wall was indeed reacting to the token.


    This wall was made of a special material that could be freely molded, which was how it was so easily transported and installed in this dungeon. It was a special material that changed shape based on the magic that was injected into it.


    This token was most likely some kind of special control for the wall that allowed him to create this hole.


    Once the wall had finished shifting to create this hole, Tie Gang walked through it without any hesitation before waving his hand behind him for them to follow.


    The two of them looked at each other before walking through the hole as well.


    But there was still the barrier that was outside of this wall that they had to deal with.


    Or at least that was what they thought.


    After going through the hole in the wall, Tie Gang turned around to use the token to close the hole before turning to use the token on the barrier. It took no time at all for a hole to appear in the barrier just like with the wall.


    After they went through the hole in the barrier, they were now out of the safe zone.


    Tie Gang closed the hole in the barrier with the token before waving at them to follow him again.


    The three of them quickly moved away from the camp before stopping somewhere to discuss what they would do.


    After all, Tie Gang hadn''t said a thing about what we would be doing when he talked to me in private earlier. He had just told me about the plan to leave the camp without being detected, he hadn''t told me anything about what we were doing.


    Once we were in a place to talk, Tie Gang pulled out a map that he spread out on the floor in front of us before pointing at a few spots on it, "This is where we are right now and this is where we will be going to verify my suspicions."


    The spot that he was pointing at was a spot that was past the five different safe zones on the first floor.


    This was the final room before the second floor, the room with the floor boss.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I saw this before asking, "Can we really go there alone? Are we able to do this by ourselves?"


    Tie Gang hesitated, but he still gave a nod in the end as he said, "If I have you supporting me, it should be possible." Then as if he thought of something, he added, "But in a worst case scenario, we can use this to run away."


    He pulled out a ball that he put in front of us.


    I looked at it carefully while he explained what it was.


    Emergency Escape Orb S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Allows a one time escape for all allies of the user within a ten meter range from a boss room.


    The appraisal of the item that I got with my system was the same as what he said, so I knew that he wasn''t lying. It seemed that he had prepared for everything, but if I had to guess, this was most likely supposed to be used for the final boss just in case anything happened.


    But instead, we were using it for this floor boss.


    Still, since Tie Gang trusted me with everything all the trump cards he had, I should at least trust him.


    So I asked, "How will we get there?"


    With a smile, he started laying out the route on the map.

 Chapter 226 - 226: Raid dungeon (18)

    As we headed through the dungeon, it was eerily quiet.


    That was because¡­the monsters that should have been here were all missing.


    There were very few monsters wandering about, even the area in between the safe zones had very few monsters.


    When we saw this, Tie Gang couldn''t help wanting to make a few detours.


    We headed to the location of some of the area bosses, but we found that they too were missing.


    It was as if this entire dungeon had been cleared out already.


    But that shouldn''t be the case since there was a record of who comes and goes into the dungeon. It was impossible for anyone to sneak into this raid dungeon since it was guarded by the Awakener Association with the most advanced surveillance equipment.


    So where did the monsters and area bosses go?


    All three of us knew that there was something very much wrong with this dungeon when we saw all of this.


    I felt like we should go back to the camp and bring everyone, but Tie Gang insisted on going to check the floor boss.


    So we had no choice but to go with him.


    But the results were not what we had expected.


    The floor boss was also a mummy, but it was on a completely different level.


    It was a mummy that was twice as large and more than four times as powerful, with a magic weapon. This floor boss was regarded as a C Rank Boss Monster, but that meant that it should be easy for Tie Gang to fight.


    It was just too bad that this floor boss wasn''t there.


    When we arrived at the chamber with the stairs leading up to the next floor, we found that the sarcophagus that should have contained the floor boss was empty.


    It was opened up and the boss that should have been inside was gone.


    The stairs leading to the next floor weren''t guarded at all.


    As we stood there at the entrance of this room, we couldn''t help deeply knitting our brows as we stared at this open sarcophagus.


    After standing there for a bit, we slowly made our way into the room. As we stepped in, the torches around us suddenly lit up as if it was reacting to our presence.


    However, there was nothing for them to light up since this was an empty room.


    Everything that should have been here was gone, including the treasure that should have been scattered all around the room.


    It was as if whatever had been here had been cleaned out by something.


    Tie Gang went over to the sarcophagus to take a closer look at it, as if he wanted to find some clues as to where the floor boss had gone.


    But for me, I was more interested in the lid of the sarcophagus on the ground.


    I looked closely at this lid and revealed a frown as I realized something.


    Tie Gang saw the look on my face, so he turned to ask, "Is something wrong?"


    I didn''t react at first, but then I gave a slow nod before pointing at the lid on the ground.


    Tie Gang looked at it, but then he revealed a confused look as he didn''t understand what I was implying by pointing at it.


    So I explained, "The way that this lid is facing, it''s clear that this sarcophagus was opened from the inside instead of something opening it from the outside."


    Tie Gang revealed a heavy look when he heard this as he understood what I was implying.


    For this sarcophagus to be opened from the inside, there were only two possibilities.


    One was that someone had triggered this floor boss fight and that had caused the floor boss to open the sarcophagus from the inside. The other was that the floor boss had opened it up all on its own and then left this place on its own.


    The former was clearly the better option of the two.


    If it was someone that had snuck in and killed the boss, then that would be much safer than if there was something changing about this dungeon.


    After all, if this room had been cleared out because of a change with the dungeon boss, that would greatly increase the difficulty of this dungeon.


    After a long moment of silence, Tie Gang decisively said, "We have to go back."


    Both of us nodded in agreement to this. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We had snuck out to see what we could find, but what we found was just too important to keep to ourselves.


    We had to go back and bring everyone or else who knows what would have happened.


    As we were heading back, Tie Gang couldn''t help saying, "What are the chances that someone snuck through the guards and entered this dungeon without any documentation?"


    I revealed a bitter smile and looked at him without saying anything.


    He also revealed a bitter smile and shook his head as he said, "Alright, alright, I get it."


    With a sigh, he said, "We''ll just have to do what we can to survive. If it comes down to it, I''ll even lay my life down so that everyone can get out."


    The bitter smile on my face became even more bitter when I heard this.


    This was the reason I just couldn''t get along with Tie Gang¡­


    Every time we did anything, he would always raise a death flag like this and this time, it was a death flag that included all of us!


    If he wanted to die, he should just keep it to himself instead of dragging all of us into it like this!


    Now we basically had a target on the back of our heads for fate to strike us down¡­


    But he was still needed for us to get out of here, so I patted him on the back as I said, "I hope so too."


    He looked at me with a strange look, but he didn''t say anything else.


    It would be a lie to say that I didn''t use a bit too much strength when I patted him on the back.

 Chapter 227 - 227: Raid dungeon (19)

    When we went back to the camp, Tie Gang didn''t even bother hiding himself as he walked right through the front gates of the camp.


    The guards at the gates were naturally shocked to see him since as far as they knew, he was still in the camp.


    So when he suddenly arrived at the entrance of the camp, they immediately raised their weapons to point at him out of fear that he was a fake. However, they immediately lowered their weapons once they saw him pulling out his ID to prove that he was real.


    The guards opened the gates and let us in, but there were a few of them that ran off to alert the camp of this.


    By the time that we entered the camp, there was already a crowd that gathered.


    There were some familiar faces among this crowd, such as my group and the other group that we had clashed with today. As well, there were a bunch of different supporters who had come out to see what was happening.


    Naturally there was a lot of noise with this many people gathered, but Tie Gang made them all quiet down with a single raise of his hand.


    Once they settled, Tie Gang said, "We''re holding an emergency meeting. There''s something important that I need to discuss with everyone."


    The moment that they heard this, everyone in the camp revealed serious looks.


    There was no time wasted as everyone gathered in the center of the camp where a podium had been set up. They didn''t hold this meeting in the tent since there was no tent that was big enough to hold everyone, so they were holding it in the middle of the camp.


    Long Shui Ling and I were about to go back to our group, but Tie Gang stopped us and pulled us to the front with him.


    Since we were pulled to the front, we immediately became the center of attention.


    There were many curious gazes that fell onto us since there were few people that recognized us. But the ones that did all revealed different gazes.


    Our group looked at us with confused and inquisitive looks, as if they were asking us what was happening. However, it wasn''t as if we could answer their questions in this situation.


    The other group that looked at us with different gazes was the other group of Awakeners that had clashed with us the other day.


    As for the emotion behind this gaze, it was naturally hostile.


    They didn''t understand why we were with the leader, but the way that they looked at us made it seem like they thought that it should be them in our place.


    Simply put, they were jealous that we were showing off while they were stuck in the crowd.


    After everyone had gathered, Tie Gang went right up to the podium and said, "There''s something wrong with this raid dungeon."


    As soon as his voice fell, there was a silence that followed.


    Everyone just looked at Tie Gang with a strange and confused look.


    After all, they had no idea what he was talking about.


    Though they had already heard him mention that there was something off about this dungeon, they had never heard the specifics. They only knew that he was supposed to be looking into this, so they didn''t know why he would suddenly make this announcement.


    Tie Gang paused as if he was letting this set in before saying, "I just went to check the floor boss room and it was completely empty."


    Once again, he waited for a bit as if he was letting them process this.


    This time, there was a much bigger reaction elicited from everyone.


    After all, they all knew what it meant for the floor boss room to be empty.


    In the end, one of the Awakeners slowly asked, "Does that mean¡­that there are others who are in this dungeon with us?"


    As soon as his voice fell, there were all kinds of different arguments that rang out.


    "That''s impossible! How could they slip through the surveillance of the Awakener Association!"


    "It''s not impossible, there have been cases of this in the past."


    "Wait, wait, why are you all just assuming that they entered through the main entrance? What if there was a secret entrance to this dungeon that we didn''t know about? It''s very possible that they could have taken that secret entrance."


    Though they discussed this, there wasn''t a single person who was facing the other possibility of why the floor boss wasn''t there.


    Or rather, it was as if they were trying their best to ignore it.


    But in the end, they couldn''t ignore it.


    It could even be said that Tie Gang wouldn''t let them forget about this.


    He slapped his hand down to get everyone''s attention before saying, "That is only one possibility, we can''t ignore the other possibilities."


    As soon as he said this, everyone revealed ugly expressions.


    After all, the other possibility was that there was a mutation with the dungeon boss and that was causing the strange moments of the monsters in this dungeon.


    If that was the case, this would be much more dangerous for them. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang ignored these ugly expressions and slowly said, "Right now, what''s important is making a decision. We need to decide whether we will stay in this dungeon and clear it, or let someone escape and bring a message back to the guild while the rest of us wait for a rescue."


    There were many different expressions that appeared in response to this.


    There were some that seemed to be considering the second option based on the looks on their faces, but there were many that seemed like they would rather die.


    They were here for achievements and if they backed down now, it would look bad on them.


    But the main reason why they felt confident in staying was because of one thing, Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang was a famous A Ranker and this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon.


    They believed that even if there was a mutation with the dungeon boss, an A Ranker like Tie Gang would be able to carry them. So they weren''t afraid of taking this challenge.


    They were Awakeners after all, people that had the courage to challenge dungeons for their own benefits in the first place.


    They wouldn''t be afraid of a little challenge like this since this was what kind of personality they had.


    Tie Gang knew this, so he didn''t bother giving any other information himself.


    Instead, he gestured to me and Long Shui Ling to say, "These two will now present what they found and you can decide what to do based on that."


    Long Shui Ling and I were both caught off guard when we heard this.


    We knew that Tie Gang had called us up with him for a reason, but we didn''t know what that reason was.


    Now that we had heard this reason, we were even more taken aback since¡­we didn''t know what to say. Or rather, we didn''t know what he wanted us to say.


    We didn''t find anything, so it wasn''t as if there was much for us to say.


    But before we could say anything, there was a voice that suddenly said, "I have an objection!"

 Chapter 228 - 228: Raid dungeon (20)

    After this voice rang out, everyone turned in the direction it came from to see who it was. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though I didn''t need to turn to know who this voice belonged to.


    It turned out to be the leader of the other group.


    He was pointing at me as he made this objection and only when he got everyone''s attention did he continue.


    "I don''t believe that this person should be in charge of something this important. Someone like him shouldn''t be allowed to do something this important."


    The leader of the other group turned around and said, "He''s barely joined our guild and he''s someone with a F Rank power. Someone like that can''t be trusted when things go poorly. He is not someone that we can trust to remain strong in the face of danger."


    As he said this, he turned to the others in the crowd, as if he was inciting them.


    But the way that he said this resonated with the people in the crowd as some of them nodded in agreement with this.


    To put it simply, it was because of my lack of reputation that they were acting this way.


    They didn''t know me as opposed to the leader of this group who was a well known member of the guild.


    The leader of this other group was a B Ranker named Johnny, who was known as The Constrictor because of his special binding technique. He was someone that many people looked up to, so he was someone that could move the crowd.


    Now that he was calling me out like this, naturally people would start to question me.


    Tie Gang slightly knitted his brows when he heard this before saying, "I''m the one that chose him because his skills are useful." Then he added after a pause, "Plus, I was the one that deemed his abilities to be useful, so it was my choice to make. As well, he is a C Ranked Irregular now, so I hope that you will remember that."


    Everyone looked at Tie Gang with surprised looks.


    After all, not a single person thought that he would go this far to defend Lin Fan.


    They couldn''t help wondering if there was indeed some kind of special relationship between Lin Fan and Tie Gang like they had thought.


    They had seen how Tie Gang had treated Lin Fan before they came into the raid dungeon¡­


    That was not something that could be easily misunderstood.


    After a moment of silence, Johnny still took a deep breath and said, "Regardless, this is a matter that concerns all of our lives. I do not think that this is something that should be treated so casually. We should make sure that we have the best people on this instead of people who use relations."


    Once again, he invoked the sentiment of the crowd to support him.


    He knew what kind of power the crowd had and what kind of effect his words would have on them, so he was making full use of this.


    I slightly knitted my brows when I saw him acting this way.


    It seemed that I had underestimated this man¡­


    I had thought that he was just a loud fool based on how he had acted yesterday, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    There was a reason why he was chosen to come and there was a reason why he was a B Rank Awakener associated with Elementia.


    He was not someone that was an empty lamp.


    But since he seemed to have a grudge against me¡­it might be better to take him out in the future. He wouldn''t be needed in Elementia when I took over¡­


    After a moment of silence, Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "You''re right, we should have the best people on the job."


    Everyone was surprised to hear Tie Gang agreeing with Johnny like this.


    Even Johnny couldn''t help looking at him with a surprised look at first, but then he revealed a smug smile as if he thought that he had already won.


    But then Tie Gang''s next words cut right into his pride and made his smile turn stiff.


    "That''s why I chose him. His skills were more suited to this situation than yours."


    Johnny''s lips twitched a few times before he said, "How can you say that a F Ranked power is greater than mine? Even if you are our leader, I won''t stand here and let you insult me like this."


    When I heard what he said, I finally got a good idea of what kind of person he was.


    He was someone who took great pride in his power and looked down on those that had low ranked powers. This was why he had been picking on me the entire time since he couldn''t stand that I had reached my current position in the first place.


    But for me¡­these kinds of people were annoying to deal with.


    It was clear that unless his pride was properly shattered, he wouldn''t give up¡­


    However, there was nothing for me to gain from shattering his pride.


    This would be very troublesome in the future for me to deal with.


    But Tie Gang had another idea in his mind.


    Tie Gang looked right at Johnny who was taken aback by this gaze.


    He didn''t know what Tie Gang was thinking, but it felt like it wasn''t anything good with the way that he looked at him.


    After a moment of silence, Tie Gang said, "You think that you''re stronger than him? Then prove it."


    Everyone was shocked when they heard this before turning to look at Tie Gang with confused looks.


    What did he mean by this?


    Tie Gang quickly explained by saying, "Prove that you''re stronger in a fight. If you are, then you''ll be the one I choose next time. If not, then you have to apologize and drop this matter."


    It wasn''t just Johnny that didn''t know how to respond, even I didn''t know how to respond to this.


    But there was one thing that I did have to say.


    "Why do you keep dragging me into these things!"

 Chapter 229 - 229: Raid dungeon (21)

    Johnny looked at Tie Gang as if he couldn''t tell if he was joking or not.


    When he realized that Tie Gang was being serious, he slowly asked, "Are you sure that you want to do this?"


    Tie Gang just said with a faint smile, "Weren''t you saying that you were stronger than him?"


    Johnny knitted his brows when he heard this and I couldn''t help thinking, "Why are you provoking him?"


    Finally, Johnny gave a snort before saying, "Then don''t blame me for not holding back."


    Tie Gang gave a nod, but he still said, "No killing though. This will be a friendly spar to settle your differences." His eyes turned sharp as he said, "Do you understand?"


    Johnny gave a nod to show that he did.


    He wasn''t a fool, he could guess what Tie Gang was thinking.


    But this was a chance for him since it would allow him to demonstrate his superiority over this F Ranked kid.


    He didn''t actually have any ill intentions towards Tie Gang since he respected Tie Gang as an A Ranker. He just couldn''t stand that this kid was able to get so close to him even though he was a F Ranker.


    If he could show his power and catch Tie Gang''s eye at the same time, then that would be the best situation for him. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So he would crush this kid.


    During all of this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile on my face.


    This was the worst case scenario for me.


    It seemed that whenever I associated with Tie Gang, things would always turn out poorly for me since he did all these things that I could never expect¡­


    But it wasn''t as if I could back down now.


    He had declared this in front of everyone, so I had to take this fight or else my reputation would take a large hit.


    The only thing that I could do now was make a solemn vow that I would try to avoid Tie Gang as much as possible in the future.


    Tie Gang turned back to me and asked, "Are you fine with the fight?"


    I just gave a simple nod without saying anything.


    When Johnny saw me acting calm and collected like this, he couldn''t help revealing a hostile look as he glared at me. It was as if he thought that I was disrespecting him by acting this way.


    I just shook my head again when I saw this since I knew that there was no way of reasoning with someone like this.


    After this was decided, no one wasted any time as they prepared a ring for us to fight in.


    This was a ring that was set up in the center of the camp, so that everyone could watch the fight.


    While the ring was being prepared, my group came over to talk to me.


    "You got this!" That was what Blaze and Kaito said as soon as they came over.


    They seemed like they were excited to watch me fight even though I clearly didn''t want to.


    Judging by the looks on the faces of the others, it seemed like they were all expecting me to teach Johnny a lesson.


    These kids really didn''t know how to hide their emotions at all¡­


    The only ones that had worried looks were Claire and Qin Yue Ru.


    Though one of them clearly had a more worried look than the other.


    I just raised my hand to calm them down and said, "I''ll be fine. This is just a spar, so it isn''t as if he will be out to kill. Even if he was, there will be others watching, so they will stop him if it goes too far."


    Qin Yue Ru gave a nod, but Claire didn''t react.


    She looked right at me and said, "Why did you sneak off with¡­her?"


    When she said ''her'', she turned to look at Long Shui Ling standing beside me. The look in her eyes made the hostility that she was feeling clear, but Long Shui Ling didn''t back down.


    I revealed a bitter smile before saying, "It was the leader that called us out. You were there when he called us out to talk, that was what he wanted to talk to us about. It wasn''t as if we had a choice, right?"


    There was a tense silence that hung in the air as she didn''t say a thing.


    The others were all looking at me like I was a dense idiot, but I completely ignored them.


    The minute that I addressed this, the illusion that had been created would be shattered.


    Finally, the others on the side couldn''t take it anymore and said, "That''s right, boss! You should have at least given us some kind of heads up so we weren''t completely caught off guard."


    "It''s your fault for leaving us in the dark like that."


    I was about to say something in response to this, but before I could, Claire suddenly took a step forward.


    No one was able to react to what she was doing, so no one was able to stop her.


    She suddenly came forward in front of me and then stood up on her tiptoes to reach my face before placing a kiss on my cheek.


    When she pulled away, she had a blush on her face as she said, "That was for good luck."


    Without even giving me a chance to say anything, she turned and walked off.


    There was a silence that hung in the air as no one was able to react to this.


    But then there were many sly looks that were cast in my direction.


    However, the only emotion that I could feel was bitterness at her suddenly making her move like this.


    After all, I could feel the chill and pressure coming from beside me.


    There was someone that was very upset about this and when she was upset, that meant that her family would be upset.


    Her family was not something that I could deal with right now¡­


    So I decided to ignore it all as I went to face Johnny.


    It was definitely running away, but I was running away with determination.

 Chapter 230 - 230: Raid dungeon (22)

    The arena had been quickly prepared, it didn''t even take fifteen minutes.


    When it was done, Johnny was the first one in.


    With the way that he stood there, it was clear that he was trying to show off and make himself out as the one that was in the right.


    He was making me seem like the lazy one, the untrustworthy one, the one that no one should support.


    And it seemed like it was working based on the whispers that I could hear.


    "Look at that, Johnny''s been waiting for over five minutes now and his opponent is still nowhere to be seen."


    "You don''t think he ran away, right?"


    "Psh, a F Ranker wanting to fight against a B Ranker? What a joke. It''s clear that he bought his C Rank Irregular License with money, how else could he have gotten it?"


    "Shh, don''t say that. Even if it is fake, it was something that was accepted by our guild. If you say too much, it''ll seem like you''re criticizing the guild."


    "Humph, I just hope that this will open the eyes of certain people and they''ll kick him out when the time comes."


    It was clear that the crowd didn''t favour me, but that was to be expected.


    With the difference in reputation and all the seeds that Johnny had sown, it was clear who they would support.


    But of course, I wouldn''t give up that easily. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If I did, I wouldn''t have come in the first place.


    So while everyone was badmouthing me, I walked right up into the arena and stood there in front of Johnny.


    He was surprised to see how calm I was, but he was only silent for a second before he said, "I''m surprised that you didn''t run away. But now that it''s come to this, know that I won''t show you any mercy."


    I just calmly looked at him and said, "I don''t need any."


    Johnny couldn''t help being taken aback when he heard this, but then he said with a snort, "Trying to act tough now. Don''t regret it later that you didn''t beg for mercy when you could have."


    I didn''t bother answering this and just stood there facing him head on.


    Johnny was once again taken aback when he saw me looking at him like this, but then he gave a snort as if he could see through me.


    The way that he looked at me seemed like he was thinking that I was just acting tough.


    But I didn''t care since I only had one thing that I needed to do.


    Seeing that we were both prepared, Tie Gang who was in charge of the fight said, "Now, I want a fair and clean fight from both of you. Do you understand?"


    We looked over and I gave a nod.


    Johnny only gave a nod after hesitating a bit, as if there was something that he wanted to say.


    But Tie Gang just ignored him and said, "Then begin."


    As soon as he said this, Johnny turned to look at me while raising his hand.


    When his hand raised, there was this magic fluctuation that came from him.


    He was clearly using his ability.


    Johnny''s ability was the B Rank Vine Control, so as soon as he raised his hand, there were vines that poked out of the ground.


    He must have scattered the seeds in the ground earlier when he had been waiting in the arena. Or else, it would have been impossible for vines to suddenly appear out of nowhere like this.


    When I saw this, I just simply muttered under my breath, "Stronger and faster."


    With a swing of my sword, I cut right through the vines with the burning blade in my hand.


    Before swinging, I had made sure to put one of the flame talismans that I received onto my sword.


    The vines didn''t stand a chance at all against this flaming sword.


    But the fact that I had used the talisman drew quite a bit of criticism.


    "Look at that, he can''t even use his own powers to fight. He has to use the borrowed powers of the talisman¡­"


    "Shh, don''t say it so loud or else Tie Gang will hear you. It''s clear that there''s an unspoken relationship between them."


    "Humph, all he can do is rely on money and relations unlike us who had to work hard for everything that we have."


    It was clear that they weren''t happy with me and thought that I was some kind of spoiled brat who relied on money to get what I had.


    Of course, this was all because of the seeds that Johnny had sown.


    But I ignored them and focused on Johnny.


    He had a surprised look on his face when he saw that I had cut up his vines, but he didn''t remain idle for long.


    He quickly summoned more vines and he took a different approach. Instead of sending them all at once, he was sending them forward in irregular intervals.


    He was planning on using this irregular timing to catch me off guard.


    It was just too bad that I was already prepared for this. I easily dodged the ones that I could dodge and then cut down the ones that I couldn''t.


    There seemed to be no problem at all as I avoided all the vines that came at me.


    At the same time, I could see that he was getting tired from controlling so many vines to attack me. The vines were getting slower and slower, making it easier for me to dodge.


    What was his end plan here?


    As I was wondering this, there was a vine that suddenly came from behind me that grabbed my leg.


    When I looked down, I found that it was a vine that I had cut that had suddenly regrown itself.


    That was it!


    He had been planning on creating a trap and was waiting for me to fall into it like I had just now.


    It seemed that I had given him too little credit.

 Chapter 231 - 231: Raid dungeon (23)

    The vines quickly wrapped around my body and soon I found that I wasn''t able to move.


    The vines were even so tight that it felt like my body was going a bit numb.


    As expected of someone who had the nickname Constrictor.


    But it was clear that he was going a bit further than he normally would since he didn''t like me.


    The way that I was caught in the vines, it seemed like I was finished.


    There were many people that had smiles on their faces when they saw this, as if they were just waiting to see what Johnny would do to me.


    The only reason he didn''t go any further was because Tie Gang was watching.


    He knew that once it went too far, Tie Gang would step in and stop him. So he was trying to keep it at an acceptable level so that he could torture me some more.


    He was just waiting to see how Tie Gang would react.


    Tie Gang''s brows were slightly knit as he looked at me, but I just shook my head at him to show that I wasn''t giving up yet. So in the end, Tie Gang just crossed his arms and remained silent, as if he was going to stay out of this.


    Johnny revealed a surprised look when he saw this.


    He thought that it would be over once he had caught this kid, but it seemed that Tie Gang was waiting to see how it ended.


    Did that mean that he was supporting him or did that mean that this kid had some kind of trump card?


    Johnny didn''t dare let his guard down, but he did come closer as he tightened the vines.


    He walked up so that he was right in front of me and looked at me with a smile on his face.


    As he stood there, it was clear that his guard was down since he thought that he had won.


    In a calm voice, he said, "Why don''t you give up? It''s clearly over. If you give up now, I''ll be gentle. But if you don''t¡­then you can''t blame me for what''s going to happen."


    I had my head down as if I was in pain, but then I suddenly looked up and said, "You feel dizzy."


    Johnny was caught off guard when he heard this and before he could react, there was a wave of nausea that suddenly washed over him.


    He didn''t know where this feeling came from, but he felt that it was very hard for him to concentrate like this.


    It was even hard for him to stand up straight like this, so he couldn''t help wobbling as that nausea assaulted him.


    I saw that wobble and felt the vines loosening around me, so I said under my breath, "Stronger."


    After saying that, I pushed my way out of the vines with my increased strength.


    The vines weren''t able to withstand it at all as I ripped them apart.


    In the end, I brought my sword in front of Johnny and put it up to his neck.


    During this time, he had still been affected by the nausea, so he wasn''t able to stop me.


    He wasn''t even able to see what happened since he was too affected by the nausea that hit him that made it hard for him to see anything.


    When it finally went away, all he saw was that I was in front of him and I had a sword at his throat.


    Johnny had wanted to do something, but the moment that he tried moving his hand, he found that there was a sharp pain that came from neck. It was the sword cutting into him, which made a bit of blood come down from his neck.


    It was as if he moved even the slightest, he would be cut down by this sword.


    Once things had gotten to this point, it wasn''t as if he was able to do anything else.


    Tie Gang revealed a faint smile before saying, "That''s the end of that."


    There was only shock that followed after he said this as everyone couldn''t believe what just happened.


    Not a single one of them could understand how I had just reversed that situation that seemed like it was a dead end for me. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, not a single one of them would have known that it was my plan to get caught.


    Getting caught didn''t seem like a viable strategy, but I knew that someone with pride like this was someone who let their guard down easily once they thought that they had the victory.


    I knew that once it seemed like he had won, Johnny would give me the perfect opportunity to exploit.


    So instead of stopping his vines from wrapping around me when I saw them appear under me, I just let them constrict me so he thought that he had caught me.


    As for what happened after, this was the result.


    After Tie Gang announced the result, I didn''t pull my sword away from Johnny''s neck right away.


    I just carefully watched to see what he was planning on doing, but it didn''t seem like he was planning on doing anything.


    I had been careful since in situations like this, people with high pride like Johnny would usually lose control and try to do something irrational.


    It was a good thing that he didn''t do that in the end.


    So I slowly moved my sword away from his neck and turned to walk away.


    But I was right that he wouldn''t let it end there.


    It was just that he wasn''t planning on using action to change the situation.


    He was planning on using his words.


    "I don''t accept the results of this duel!"


    As soon as he said this, everyone turned to look at Johnny with strange looks, but he ignored them all.


    He just pointed his finger at me and shouted, "He cheated! There is no other explanation!"

 Chapter 232 - 232: Raid dungeon (24)

    There was silence that followed after Johnny shouted this, but it didn''t take long before the crowd started backing him up.


    There were all kinds of cries that supported what Johnny said, though most of them sounded like nonsense.


    There were a few people that remained silent since they knew that it wasn''t as simple as this. However, the majority of the crowd went along with Johnny, so it wouldn''t be good for them if they said anything.


    A funny thing was that the ones that chose to remain silent were¡­the higher ranked Awakeners.


    It was only those lower ranked Awakeners who didn''t know what happened that supported Johnny.


    Being stirred on by the crowd, Johnny didn''t stop as he started making all kinds of accusations. He even went as far as calling me a demon who worked for the demon king that had infiltrated human society.


    At this point, he had completely lost control and was just making a fool of himself.


    If only he knew that he had actually hit the nail on the head¡­but I wasn''t just a demon, rather I was the demon king himself.


    Still, it wasn''t as if I would ever admit that since there was nothing to gain from admitting this.


    In the end, it was Tie Gang who stopped him by saying, "Silence."


    His voice wasn''t loud or soft, but it cut through all the voices that were speaking.


    As soon as he spoke, everyone immediately fell silent.


    It wasn''t because of the prestige that he had, but rather because of the pressure that he was putting out.


    This was the moment that everyone realized just what it meant to be an A Ranker.


    He hadn''t had to use this pressure before because they were supposed to be working together. Using fear to make everyone submit was not a good tactic for a leader since it made it harder for them to trust each other.


    He tried to get everyone to willingly work with each other, but now he realized that it was impossible.


    Since it was impossible for them to get along, then he had no qualms about using fear since it was the only option left to him.


    After they all fell silent with shocked looks on their faces, Tie Gang looked at Johnny and said, "Have you embarrassed yourself enough? Didn''t you say that you would willingly accept your loss?"


    Johnny had an ugly expression on his face before saying, "I did say that, but it''s clear that he must have cheated! How could someone like him with F Rank powers affect someone like me who is a B Ranker? Unless he used some kind of cheat, it is impossible for it to turn out like this."


    His tone was firm like he had absolute faith in his words.


    When he put it like this, it did make his complaints logical.


    But those that knew naturally knew the reason why his powers could affect him.


    Tie Gang just calmly said, "He didn''t use anything special, he just simply used his powers."


    Johnny''s face twisted before he said, "I don''t believe it!"


    Tie Gang gave a sigh before saying, "Do you know what his powers are?" S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Johnny was completely taken aback when he was asked this question. After looking at Tie Gang with a confused look for a bit, he slowly said, "Isn''t it the F Rank Suggestion?"


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "And why do you think that it wouldn''t affect you?"


    Johnny was even more confused, but he still stuck to his guns, "Because I''m a B Ranker! My mental defenses are far beyond what a F Ranker like him can penetrate, so I don''t believe that he would be able to use his powers on me!"


    Tie Gang shook his head when he heard this. When he looked back at Johnny, his eyes had a look in them like he was looking at a fool as he slowly said, "Who said anything about rank? If you read the package that you were given, you would have known that his power doesn''t have anything to do with rank or mental defenses, it all depends on will.


    If his will is stronger than yours, then he can use his powers on you."


    Johnny had a look of absolute disbelief as he said, "How can a F Ranker have a stronger will than me, a B Ranker? I refuse to believe that!"


    Tie Gang once again shook his head before saying, "Is that so? From what I can see, it doesn''t seem like your will is that great if you''re complaining like a little child like this. It seems like I have to report this when we get back."


    Johnny''s face once again twisted when he heard this.


    He could understand what Tie Gang meant by these words and he knew that now even his future was in danger¡­


    So he had to go all out.


    "I won''t back down even if you try to use your position and connections to suppress me! I will speak up against injustice!"


    The way that he was acting now, he was painting the picture as if Tie Gang was trying to unjustly suppress him and it worked since he had the crowd on his side.


    Though they didn''t say anything, it was clear by the looks on the faces of the crowd that they supported Johnny in this matter.


    Tie Gang knew that if he didn''t do anything, it would affect the cooperation of their team.


    So he used the most simple method to deal with this.


    "You don''t think that his ability should be able to affect you? Then there''s a very simple way to solve this."


    Everyone was surprised to hear this, but they could already guess what Tie Gang meant by this.


    Yes, there was a very simple way of proving this, but they never thought that he would actually go through with it.


    They all thought that he was using his power to suppress Johnny, so he wouldn''t actually use this method.


    But now that didn''t seem to be the case.

 Chapter 233 - 233: Raid dungeon (25)

    Johnny narrowed his eyes to look at Tie Gang before asking, "Are you sure about this?"


    It was as if he couldn''t believe what Tie Gang was saying. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang looked right back at him and said, "Isn''t this what you wanted? Why are you so hesitant now?"


    Johnny didn''t know why he was acting this way either.


    This should have been an opportunity for him, but he couldn''t help feeling a bad feeling. It was almost as if he was being baited into a trap by something and he didn''t like this feeling.


    So there was a part of him that didn''t want to agree to this.


    But in the end, he had no choice but to agree.


    It wasn''t that he was ignoring his better judgement, it was because of the pressure that came from around him.


    The gazes that the crowd gave him¡­even if he didn''t want to do this, he had no choice but to accept Tie Gang''s proposal. Otherwise, he would never be able to hold his head up high again.


    So Johnny took a deep breath and said, "Alright, since you''re willing to do this, then there''s no reason for me to not go along with this. I just hope that you will not go back on this decision when the time comes."


    Tie Gang just revealed a faint smile as he looked at Johnny and said, "I should say the same to you."


    Johnny couldn''t help knitting his brows again as the bad feeling inside of him became stronger, but he didn''t back down.


    He just turned to look at me who had been standing there silently this whole time.


    I of course knew what they were talking about, so now it was my turn.


    I took a step forward so that I was right in front of him and when I stood there, Johnny said, "I will expose you for the cheat and liar that you are. Don''t think that you''ll be able to get away with this."


    I just gave a sigh and said, "You really should try listening to others, it will be much easier for you."


    Johnny gave a snort before revealing a determined look.


    It was as if he was trying to put on a face that said he wouldn''t buckle no matter what I did.


    I just gave another sigh before saying, "You feel dizzy."


    As soon as my voice fell, Johnny''s expression immediately changed.


    That was because there was a strong wave of nausea that suddenly came over him.


    He tried his best to keep himself stable, but this wave of nausea was even stronger than the one from before. He found that it was hard for him to remain standing on his feet, so after a bit of swaying, he fell down onto his knees.


    When he fell like this, he knew what he had to do, but it was impossible for him to stand up again to show that he was fine. Every time that he tried, it just made the wave of nausea stronger and made it harder for him to do anything.


    In the end, Johnny could only lay there on the ground and wait for the wave of nausea to pass.


    As he laid there, everyone looked at him in shock and disbelief.


    But there was nothing that they could do except accept this.


    When the proof was this clear in front of them, there really wasn''t anything for them to say.


    So they had no choice but to believe what Tie Gang had said.


    When the wave of nausea was over, Johnny slowly looked up at me with a strange look.


    The look in his eyes really seemed unstable and I couldn''t help taking a step back when I saw this.


    It really seemed like he was about to do something that he couldn''t take back.


    But before he could, Tie Gang said in a loud voice, "Alright, is there anyone else who still has doubts?"


    As his voice rang out, everyone slowly came back to their senses.


    They all slowly turned their gaze away from Johnny, as if they were abandoning him.


    When there was such a clear display of power, there was nothing that they could say in response. All they could do was pretend that nothing happened before or else they would suffer the consequences just like him.


    Johnny looked around and saw everyone turning away from him.


    Deep down, there was a rage that filled his chest, but there wasn''t anything that he could do about this.


    After all, if he were to explode now¡­there would be nothing to gain from it. Instead, all he would be doing is digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself.


    So no matter what happened now, he had to endure until he could find a chance to stand up again.


    Seeing that no one said a thing, Tie Gang continued by saying, "Since this matter has been settled, then let''s discuss what will happen next." He turned to look at Johnny and said, "You will be removed from our raid group and will be placed in the camp as a guard along with your men."


    When he heard this, he couldn''t help looking up in shock even though he had wanted to keep his head low.


    Johnny gritted his teeth and said, "Even if I was wrong, that doesn''t mean that I should be punished to this extent."


    Tie Gang just calmly looked at him and said, "Are you saying that you''ll still be able to cooperate with him after all of this?"


    Johnny gritted his teeth even more when he heard this, but he didn''t answer.


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "As I thought, you wouldn''t be able to. That is why you''ll be confined to the camp for the rest of this expedition."


    After a pause, Tie Gang added, "If you can''t trust your allies to watch your back, then we will never be able to accomplish anything."


    Johnny looked like he was about to destroy his teeth with how much he was gritting them, but he didn''t look at Tie Gang.


    Instead, he was glaring at me as if he had a grudge against me.


    Though technically¡­he did.

 Chapter 234 - 234: Raid dungeon (26)

    Once that was settled, there were no more problems to deal with.


    Since Johnny and his group were removed from the team, there had to be a team that replaced them in the vanguard.


    The team that was chosen was us.


    And to take our place in the flank was a team of guards that were supposed to watch the camp.


    Their guard duty fell onto Johnny''s group instead.


    There were some people that seemed unhappy about this, but there wasn''t anything that they could say after the display that I had put on.


    The only thing left was to get a good night''s rest before we headed out.


    We were completely abandoning the plan to build more camps since we knew that there was nothing left for us on this floor. All we could do was head to the next floor and see what was in store for us, so it was better to bring everyone just in case.


    But before we went for that rest, I went to find Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang led the two of us out of the camp with the same token as before, though it really wasn''t necessary since we could have walked out of the front gate at this point. There was no need for us to sneak around like this.


    Only after he used it did I realize why he did it.


    It was to send a message to the others that we were having a private meeting and that they shouldn''t disturb us.


    So we made our way out of the camp and to a place that was secluded.


    Once we were here, Tie Gang looked at me and said, "Well, what do you have to say?"


    I was surprised by how direct he was, but since he was being direct, I said, "Wasn''t that a bit too rash? Wouldn''t doing something like that hurt the cohesion of the team?"


    Tie Gang shook his head before saying, "It didn''t matter at this point, the situation can''t be changed by something like that."


    I couldn''t help revealing a confused look when I heard this.


    Tie Gang saw this and said with a gentle smile, "I know what you are thinking, but that''s your inexperience as a leader. Sometimes, you have to recognize that there are things that you can''t change no matter what you do. You need to understand that you need to cut your losses and make these hard decisions."


    I was caught off guard by this sudden advice from Tie Gang.


    Narrowing my eyes to look at him, I could see a firm look in his face.


    It was as if he had already faced this situation many times and he was speaking from experience.


    But it made sense that this was the case.


    After all, Tie Gang was someone who had been diving into dungeons for much longer than me. He should have experience as both a member of a group and a leader of a group, so he was qualified to say this.


    It was also at this that I realized that my thinking was too shallow.


    I had been getting ahead of myself since I had become the leader of my own group. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Things had only been going smoothly since we had the resources of the guild behind us and we were walking the path paved for us by the ones that came before us.


    The mindset that Tie Gang had was the mindset of a pioneer, someone who was used to forging his own path.


    This was someone who was used to making the hard decisions when he needed to.


    So after taking a moment to adjust, I gave a nod and said, "Thank you for your advice."


    Tie Gang''s eyes filled with admiration as he looked at me.


    Tie Gang had been worried that Lin Fan wouldn''t accept the advice that he had for him.


    He had seen how Lin Fan acted and he had been worried about him being set in his own ways. But seeing that he was able to accept the advice that he gave, Tie Gang felt much better.


    It seemed that Bing Lan hadn''t been wrong about him.


    Tie Gang then reached out and patted me on the shoulder as he said, "Good, good. I was worried that you would be hard to convince, but it seems like you''ll be just fine. It seems that I was worried for nothing."


    I nodded along, but then I said, "Still, I don''t think that you should have done it in such a direct and eye catching way. There should have been other ways to solve it."


    Tie Gang raised a brow as he looked at me like he was surprised to hear this.


    After a moment of silence, he said, "Ho, I never thought that you would be such a cautious person, but that isn''t a bad thing."


    With a sigh, he said, "Alright, I''ll admit that I was a bit rash since I was worried about what would come. I wanted to settle things as quickly as possible since there''s no knowing what will happen next and I didn''t account for what you would think. I apologize for that."


    I was once again surprised to hear this, but I said with a nod, "No, you were just doing what you thought was necessary."


    The two of us fell silent for a bit.


    Then I suddenly asked, "What do you think is the real cause of this mess?"


    Tie Gang looked like he wanted to say something at first before shaking his head and saying, "I don''t want to make assumptions. We should just focus on what we can do and deal with it when it comes."


    I could see something in his eyes, but since he didn''t want to face this thought, I chose not to push it.


    The two of us didn''t talk about much else and just slowly went back to the camp as both of us were deep in thought.


    Neither of us knew what tomorrow would hold.

 Chapter 235 - 235: Raid dungeon (27)

    When the morning came, the raid group set out in full.


    That is everyone except for Johnny''s group who watched as everyone left from the camp.


    Since there were no monsters around, they made it to the floor boss'' room without any problems.


    It was almost too quiet, so everyone couldn''t help feeling tense.


    When they arrived in the room, the first ones to go in were Tie Gang and the vanguard.


    They slowly made their way into the room just in case the floor boss had respawned or come back, but they found that it was still empty. There wasn''t a single trace of a floor boss here.


    It was just like when Tie Gang had brought Lin Fan and Long Shui Ling here. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As we stood there in the room, everyone tried to see if they could find anything.


    Tie Gang just waited on the side since he knew that it was useless.


    After all, we had searched this room carefully the other night.


    After around ten minutes, there was a collective decision to give up since they weren''t able to find a single thing.


    Even with all kinds of different abilities used, it was as if this room had been wiped clean of anything that would give them some kind of clue. So they had no choice but to accept that they wouldn''t be able to find anything.


    With this, Tie Gang led the group up to the second floor.


    But of course, we didn''t go up to the second floor together.


    Instead, we were divided into three different groups that would go up.


    First was naturally the vanguard, the strongest fighters. They would be responsible for exploring what was ahead and clearing out anything that they found on the second floor.


    The second group would be the main group that had most of their people and supplies. They would come up after the vanguard had made sure that the coast was clear so they could start setting up a camp that they could search from.


    The third group would be the rearguards. They would be in charge of making sure that there was nothing that followed them from the first floor.


    At the same time, they would be setting up a camp in the floor boss room to make sure that the floor boss didn''t suddenly respawn and come up after them.


    So they were basically in charge of cleanup duty.


    Tie Gang slowly led the first group up to the second floor.


    We went up a set of stairs and appeared on the second floor.


    When we came up, we saw that there was nothing around the area.


    It was just like when we first came into the dungeon, it was as if there was some kind of safe zone around this area that kept the monsters away. However, we didn''t let our guard down since we knew that there was something strange about this place.


    It was a good thing that we didn''t let our guards down.


    There was nothing in the area around the entrance to this second floor, but when we moved a bit further away from the entrance, we saw¡­that there were these simple barricades that had been made.


    When we found these barricades, Tie Gang immediately raised his hand to stop us.


    He had all of us wait behind while he went out alone to check it. But of course, he also made sure that Long Shui Ling''s illusions were on him so that he could pass by without a trace.


    After a few minutes, he came back and said, "There are just barricades there, but it doesn''t seem like there''s anyone to guard them. It seems like they were just barricades that were set up in a haste and left behind. But how could there be barricades in a place like this?"


    Though he asked this question, there wasn''t a single person that was able to answer it.


    All of them looked at him with confused looks as they didn''t know what was happening.


    Tie Gang couldn''t help revealing a disappointed look before turning in my direction.


    I had been silently observing the barricade since I had found that there was something off about this. It wasn''t just that barricades being set up here were strange, but rather the direction that they were facing.


    The barricades were facing the other direction, pointed away from the entrance.


    It was as if they were used by whatever came up to the second floor against the monsters that were here.


    If that really was the case¡­then wasn''t that a good sign?


    But for some reason, I couldn''t help feeling that something was wrong, very wrong¡­


    After a long moment of silence, Tie Gang asked me, "What''s wrong? What did you find?"


    When he said this out loud, everyone immediately turned to look at me.


    There were a few gazes that weren''t as kind, but they knew that this place was a dangerous place and it was no time for personal feelings. So they all waited to see what I had to say.


    When I was called out like this, I had no choice but to tell him what I found.


    I pointed at the barricade in front of us and said, "Look at the direction that the barricades are pointing, doesn''t it seem strange to you?"


    Everyone revealed confused looks at first when they heard this, but then they all revealed looks of understanding when they looked at the barricades.


    These were all smart people, they wouldn''t miss something that I could see after I had pointed it out like this.


    As soon as they saw what I said, they all immediately knitted their brows and fell into deep thought.


    But as I observed them, I could see that there was hope that appeared in their eyes.


    Tie Gang slowly said, "So it seems like they were used against whatever was on the second floor¡­Then in that case, doesn''t that mean that¡­"


    His voice trailed off, but there was also a trace of hope that appeared in his voice.

 Chapter 236 - 236: Raid dungeon (28)

    The same look of hope appeared in the eyes of the others.


    But that hope was crushed as I said, "We can''t be sure. There could be another explanation for this."


    As soon as I said this, all of them focused again.


    They knew that it was dangerous to rely on hope alone. They were in a dungeon where all kinds of changes could happen.


    So it wasn''t a place for them to rely on hopes alone.


    They had to prepare for the worst case scenario, so they couldn''t just delude themselves with this idea.


    After calming down, Tie Gang asked, "Is there anything else?"


    I just shook my head since I naturally didn''t know anything other than this. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I could only see what he saw, so if there was anything that he didn''t see, I naturally wouldn''t see it as well.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang said, "Let''s keep pushing forward and see what we can find."


    The others all nodded in agreement to this.


    Right now, they just had too little information that staying here would be useless. Rather, it would even be dangerous since there was no knowing what was out there, so it was better to be proactive than to be passive.


    It was better to find the enemy first than letting the enemy find them first.


    So Tie Gang started leading them forward again, going past the barricade.


    After going forward for a bit, they found that there was nothing else special about this place other than the fact that¡­all of the monsters were gone.


    Our group had the support of Elementia, one of the biggest guilds in the world.


    So we naturally had a map of the entire raid dungeon along with information on all of the monsters inside. We knew where all of the monsters were supposed to be, but¡­there wasn''t a single one that was here.


    It was just like the first floor where everything disappeared.


    No, it was actually worse than the first floor since there had at least been a few monsters wandering around on the first floor. On this second floor, there wasn''t a single monster that was here.


    It was as if something had caused all of them to disappear.


    There was even an eerie silence that filled the air as we made our way through.


    The longer that this silence lasted, the more unnerved some people became.


    There were even some that suggested that we should head back instead of going any further, but Tie Gang just ignored them and pushed on.


    This continued for a while until we finally found the reason why the monsters had all disappeared and when we found it, we found ourselves in quite a bit of trouble.


    All of a sudden, there was a large wall that appeared in front of us.


    This was a wall that was made of thick stone that shouldn''t have been here according to the map of the dungeon that we had. Not only that, this wall seemed like it had been constructed recently because of all the rubble that was around us.


    It seemed that whoever made this wall had done so in haste and it didn''t seem that well made.


    This was definitely suspicious.


    Tie Gang hesitated for a bit before saying, "I''ll lead a group over and see if we can breach it."


    The others looked at him with hesitant looks, but they still agreed in the end.


    After all, there was nothing gained if nothing was tried.


    They had to at least make an effort to see if they could get anything from this discovery.


    The group that Tie Gang chose didn''t have us in it.


    This time, he didn''t need our powers to take care of this wall.


    Instead, he brought a bunch of people that had high defensive skills and rock related skills.


    It seemed that he was planning on poking the hornet''s nest by having these people dig through the wall and having the ones with defensive skills protect them.


    It was all about what would happen after they tried to dig into the wall.


    There was nothing that happened as they approached the wall, but the moment that they tried to dig into the wall¡­


    There were a bunch of mummy archers that suddenly appeared on the walls.


    These were the monsters that should have been wandering around the second floor, but here they were building walls and guarding them.


    Tie Gang and his group only had a second to be shocked before they quickly turned to run.


    The ones with defensive skills moved slower than the rest and held the back of the group.


    It wasn''t that they weren''t able to move fast, but they were deliberately moving to the back of the formation to protect those that didn''t have defensive skills.


    They immediately released their skills to cover the ones that were running and they weren''t a moment too late as the arrows bounced off their shields and barriers.


    Like this, Tie Gang was able to lead his group out of there without a single injury.


    However, the monsters acted very strange.


    They didn''t chase after Tie Gang''s group, they didn''t even come off the walls.


    They just kept firing arrows at them until Tie Gang''s group were out of range and then disappeared back behind the walls.


    This was the kind of intelligence that shouldn''t have appeared in these monsters. It was as if someone had suddenly taught them tactics and they were now using these tactics against them.


    After Tie Gang''s group made it back, he immediately turned to look at the wall with knitted brows.


    There was an awkward silence that fell over them as no one said a thing.


    It wasn''t that they couldn''t say anything, but rather that they didn''t want to break the silence.


    What had happened had made it very clear¡­


    There was something that had changed about the monsters of this dungeon and it was very likely the second option that they had come up with.


    There was some kind of mutation with the dungeon boss that had affected the rest of the monsters in this dungeon.

 Chapter 237 - 237: Raid dungeon (29)

    As the mood of despair hung over the group, Tie Gang suddenly said something.


    "What do we do now?"


    One could hear the frustrated and desperate tone in his voice, but they understood why he sounded this way.


    However, all of them were feeling the same way, so there weren''t really any ideas that they had to give.


    After all, not a single one of them could think of a way to deal with those monsters and the wall that they had erected. They could have taken it down, but there was no knowing what was waiting for them behind it.


    So even if they did take it down, it could be possible that they were just heading into a trap.


    No one dared to give a suggestion in a situation like this.


    Tie Gang could see the looks on everyone''s faces and knew what they were feeling, but he didn''t blame them.


    However, that didn''t mean that he could give up as well.


    He was their leader and it was his job to get them through this, so at the very least, he had to stay firm and try to lead them.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang was about to say something¡­but someone else spoke first.


    It was me.


    I spoke before him.


    "I have an idea."


    As soon as I said this, everyone turned to look at me with different expressions.


    There were looks of doubt, there were looks of curiosity, and there were a few looks of trust that were happy to see that I had an idea.


    Tie Gang was one of those that trusted me, so he said, "What''s your idea?"


    I took a deep breath and said, "We don''t have any information, that''s why we''re afraid to act, right?"


    There were some people that looked at me like I was just stating the obvious.


    Everyone was able to see that this was the current situation, so they didn''t feel like there was a need to say this out loud.


    For those that thought that I was stating the obvious, it was clear that they were hostile. It was as if they thought that I was looking down on them by saying this.


    But I just ignored them since it didn''t matter right now what they thought.


    The important thing was getting out of this situation.


    Tie Gang said with a nod, "That''s right."


    I took another deep breath and said, "Then let''s get that information."


    "Huh?" Everyone looked at me like I was dumb.


    It was obvious that we should be gathering information about this, but once again this was just stating the obvious.


    They looked at me like they were trying to figure out if I was being serious or not. Or if I was just making fun of them at this point.


    But Tie Gang didn''t take it the wrong way and asked, "What do you mean by that?"


    I once ignored all the gazes that came in my direction and said, "I want to go with my team and sneak in to get information on the enemy."


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows when he heard this.


    It was the same for the others, but there were a few that were slow in reacting. There were also a few of them that seemed to reveal happy looks when they heard this.


    All of this didn''t escape my eyes.


    After a long silence, Tie Gang said, "What you''re proposing is very dangerous."


    I gave a nod in response, but I still said, "But it has to be done or else we won''t be able to do a thing. I know for sure that my group will be able to do it."


    Tie Gang fell silent once more, but the silence was shorter this time.


    He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace that he handed me before saying, "This is a Ward of Detection. It will help keep the monsters from noticing you as you sneak in."


    The fact that he gave me this already meant that he supported my idea.


    There were a few people that seemed like they wanted to say something, but they quickly closed their mouths. After all, they knew that they would be the next ones on the chopping block if they tried to speak against this and they didn''t have anything to show for it.


    So the only thing that they could do now was let me take the heat while it gave them time to think.


    Seeing that everyone was silent, Tie Gang didn''t bother saying anything else as he patted me on the shoulder and said, "Good luck, we''re counting on you."


    I simply gave a nod before walking towards my group.


    Of course we would have a talk before leaving to decide how we would do this and the others respected this, so they left us alone.


    As I was walking off, I made sure to keep the corners of my eyes on the others.


    Of course I hadn''t done this for no reason, there was a very important reason for me throwing myself out like this. Actually, there were two important reasons for me to do this.


    One was why I had spoken in such a deliberate tone.


    I was clearly trying to make my words as dumb as possible to trigger the others.


    I wanted to see who was still hostile towards me and it had been quite easy with this. After all, there were people who just couldn''t hold themselves back and made their disdain for me quite clear.


    These were the people that I would have to look out for later.


    The second reason was more of a personal reason and the more important one.


    It was because I had felt something special when the monsters had appeared earlier.


    It wasn''t something that I was able to recognize right away, but after a while, I was able to recognize it.


    It was similar to the aura that I felt from Lilith when she appeared. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was the aura of a demon king.

 Chapter 238 - 238: Raid dungeon (30)

    I didn''t know why there was this aura here, but I knew that it wouldn''t be here for no reason.


    I just didn''t expect to find the aura of another demon king so soon¡­


    After all, there were no mentions of any demon kings until now and in just a few days, I had found traces of two of them.


    One was with the Long Family and the second one was in this dungeon.


    Just what did the demon king do here?


    Just what did whichever demon king do this for?


    Was it because they had some kind of plan or was it just because it was done on a whim.


    I had no idea, but I was going to find out.


    After all, there was a thought that was in the back of my mind.


    It was what Lilith had said before.


    There were different demon kings, but that didn''t mean that every demon king would work with each other. It was very likely that demon kings would even fight each other based on what kind of demon kings they were.


    So I wanted to find more information about this demon king before they could find information about me.


    After a short meeting, we went out towards the wall that had been set up.


    As we walked towards it, Long Shui Ling raised her hand and created an illusion around us so that we would be perceived as monsters.


    Hopefully, this would allow us to get through the walls.


    This might not have worked if the monsters were acting normal, but since they were showing signs of intelligence¡­that meant that it was possible to fool them.


    And it was only possible because of the abilities of me and Long Shui Ling.


    After we reached the wall, there was silence that followed.


    Not a single mummy came out to confront us as we stood there in front of the wall.


    That was the only thing that I hadn''t thought about when coming up with this plan.


    I didn''t think about what would happen if we were just ignored by them.


    After standing there awkwardly for a bit, I went forward and reached out towards the wall. I placed a hand on it and as soon as I did, there were a bunch of mummies that suddenly appeared with bows in hand.


    All of the bows that they had were pointed right at us.


    But after they pointed their bows at us, there was a moment of hesitation from the mummies.


    They lowered their bows a bit as if they didn''t know whether they should be aiming them or not. Then after a while, one of them suddenly said, "Rrrsgsd."


    It sounded like nonsense moaning, but the way that it said it seemed like there was a meaning behind these words.


    It just stood there waiting for us to respond after moaning like this.


    The others all looked at me with worried looks, but I wasn''t worried at all. Rather, this was what I had been waiting for the entire time.


    After all, this now showed that they had intelligence. It was basic intelligence, but it was intelligence nonetheless and that meant that there was the possibility of communicating with these mummies.


    If there was the possibility of communicating with these mummies, then there was the possibility of my plan working.


    So I raised my hand to stop the rest of them from saying anything before looking up at the mummy that had just moaned and said, "Msmamrs."


    It sounded like nonsense moaning because it was nonsense moaning.


    I naturally had no idea what the mummies were saying, but that didn''t matter since there was a different reason for me to do this.


    That reason was¡­that I was using my Suggestion ability while talking to them.


    The Suggestion ability would only work on those with intelligence, but if it did work, I could make them think that they were hearing what they wanted to hear even if I didn''t have any ideas on what they were saying.


    There was a tense silence that followed after I made this moaning sound as we all waited to see how the mummies would react.


    The mummies just didn''t do a thing as they stood there on the wall, looking down at us.


    The most important thing was that not a single one of them put their bows away.


    It was a very tense moment as we waited to see if the plan worked or not.


    But in the end, the mummy that had spoken gave another moan, "Tersgertes."


    Then the other mummies pulled their bows back up and away from us.


    When we saw this, we all let out a secret sigh of relief. However, none of us dared to let our guards down until we saw exactly what the mummies would do.


    There were a few of them that suddenly disappeared that made us feel worried, but that was quickly resolved when they brought something back.


    The mummies that had left suddenly came back with this long thing that they were carrying. They came right where we were standing and then brought this long thing down.


    The others behind me wanted to move back when they saw this, but I raised my hand to stop them from moving.


    So we just waited for the dust to settle in front of us to reveal what this thing was.


    It was a ladder.


    That was what they had brought out for us.


    But that made sense when one thought about it.


    After all, there were no gates to this makeshift wall.


    I had wondered how they had gotten onto this makeshift wall in the first place, but it seemed like they had used this ladder. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After they put the ladder down, the mummies looked at us as if they were waiting for something from us.


    It was clear what they wanted by taking out this ladder, so there was only one thing that we could do.


    I took the lead and stepped onto the ladder, climbing up the wall.


    The rest of the group looked at each other before following me up the wall.

 Chapter 239 - 239: Raid dungeon (31)

    Once we climbed over the wall, we were able to see what was behind it.


    This wall wasn''t a thick one, so it didn''t block our view of what was past it.


    And as soon as we saw it, we couldn''t help being shocked by what we saw.


    That was because there were many different mummies that were wandering around behind this wall. However, they weren''t just aimlessly wandering around.


    Instead, they all seemed like they had some kind of job.


    There were even what seemed to be makeshift houses that had been created by these mummies though there was no reason for that. After all, these mummies were undead and didn''t need to sleep like humans.


    So there was no reason for them to have homes like humans.


    When we looked more closely, we could see that the mummies seemed to be imitating all kinds of things that humans would do.


    There were some that seemed to be farming though there was no dirt or seeds for them to farm with. There were some that were sitting around fires with things on sticks that they were holding out, as if they were cooking these things, even though these things were clearly not meant to be cooked.


    There were even some that had gathered iron from an unknown place and had created something that was like a primitive forge. They weren''t able to craft anything since they had no idea how to melt that iron, but it seemed like they were learning.


    These mummies had gone from monsters that wandered the corridors of this dungeon to trying to imitate human society¡­


    Just what had happened that had given them this kind of thoughts?


    Why did these mummies suddenly start doing something like this?


    The more that we saw, the worse that I felt.


    I had a very bad feeling brewing in my stomach, like something was going horribly wrong.


    The other members of my group turned to look at me with concerned looks, but I just shook my head to show that I didn''t know anything either.


    The mummies that had brought us up onto the wall had already started moving to the other side of this wall.


    They came to another ladder that was propped there and waved their hand at us, as if they were calling us over. At the same time, they muttered, "Rsgagered."


    It seemed like they were calling us over, there was no need for words for us to understand this.


    Since we were deep in the enemy territory, it was better to follow along with what our disguises made us look like. Right now, we looked like mummies just like them, which was most likely why they were bringing us into the town.


    They most likely wanted to get us settled.


    If I had to guess, that was most likely how most of these mummies had ended up here in the first place.


    These mummies were the ones that should have been wandering the first and second floors, but instead of that, they were here building a town.


    But as for how they had all gotten here, it was very likely that they had wandered up after gaining intelligence. While it was unknown how that happened, it was clear that they had some kind of instinct to gather here after gaining it.


    That was why they had accepted us so easily when we had arrived in front of the wall.


    After all, in the eyes of these mummies, we were also mummies thanks to Long Shui Ling''s illusions.


    After we walked over, the mummy gestured for us to climb down.


    I looked at the mummy as if I was trying to see what it wanted, but it just waited for us to climb down.


    It was the same for the rest of the mummies.


    It didn''t seem like there were any ulterior motives from them in letting us climb down this ladder. It seemed like they were just doing their jobs and letting us into the town.


    So after a moment of hesitation, I led the way by climbing down.


    I knew that if we delayed for too long, it would seem suspicious, so we could only go along with these mummies.


    The others saw that I went down, so they chose to go down with me as well.


    The wall wasn''t that tall, so it took no time for us to reach the other side.


    Once we were standing on the ground, the mummies on the walls waved their hands at us and moaned at us for a bit before turning back to face the other side. It was as if their job was already done and they were going back to guard duty.


    But we couldn''t help being shocked.


    After all, we had no idea what we were supposed to do here.


    This was a very bad situation for us since we were now deep in enemy territory and completely surrounded by them. If these mummies were to see through our disguises, there was no doubt that they would all attack us.


    We might be able to fight our way out if there were a few of them, but there were just too many of them for us to do anything.


    Not to mention¡­our backs were literally against the wall right now.


    Even if we wanted to run, there was no place for us to run since there was a wall there. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So we could only stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.


    As we stood there, the mummies in front of us just passed by us without a single care. It was as if we didn''t exist as far as they were concerned.


    That was a very good thing since we definitely didn''t want to attract attention right now.


    But that didn''t last.


    One of the mummies suddenly turned in our direction and moved towards us.


    This mummy raised a hand as if they were waving at us and they even started moaning something.


    We knew that as soon as they tried to engage with us¡­our cover would be blown.

 Chapter 240 - 240: Raid dungeon (32)

    However, there really wasn''t anywhere for us to go¡­


    So we had no choice but to let that mummy approach.


    After that mummy came over, it started moaning at us. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We had no idea what this mummy was saying, but the tone of its moaning sounded¡­friendly?


    It was hard to tell since this was just the moaning of a mummy, but the overall tone seemed like it was trying to become friends with us.


    We didn''t say anything as it kept moaning to us, in hopes that this would chase it off, but the mummy didn''t care at all. It just kept waving its hand and moaning at us as if it was saying something important.


    After a while, it finally stopped moaning and turned to leave.


    We couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief when we saw this, but it turned out that it wasn''t over yet.


    It had only taken a few steps before turning back to look at us. The way that it looked at us was like it was asking us, "Why aren''t you following?"


    Though we could see this look on the face of the mummy, none of us followed it still.


    That was until the mummy finally waved its hand back at us.


    When it did, it started attracting the attention of the surrounding mummies walking by who all stopped and turned to look in our direction.


    The moment that we became the center of attention like this, we had no choice but to follow this mummy.


    We had no idea where it was taking us, but it was better than being trapped in that open space with mummies all around us. If we remained there and our covers were blown, then we would have been surrounded and torn apart in an instant.


    So the only thing that we could do was play along and see if we could find a way to escape.


    The mummy led us through the streets of this town, passing by many other different mummies.


    When they saw us, they all waved at the mummy that led us and came up to talk to them.


    It seemed that this mummy was quite the popular one among its fellow mummies.


    When they came up, they all had what seemed like smiles on their faces even though their faces were covered in bandages. At least it seemed like they were smiling based on the look in their eyes.


    Every time that a mummy came up, the one that was leading us stopped to talk to them.


    It seemed like they would just chat about some random things before the mummy leading us turned the attention back to us. We had remained quiet every time, but the mummy would always bring the other mummies to come see us.


    With the way that it was moaning and gesturing, it was almost as if they were introducing us.


    The mummies that came up all waved and seemed to greet us after being introduced.


    For the first one, I just hesitantly waved back at them.


    That mummy didn''t say anything and just gave me an understanding look before turning back to talk to the mummy leading us.


    For the next few, I slowly started moaning a bit and using my Suggestion to make them hear what they wanted to hear.


    This time, they all happily went on to moan back at us while gesturing.


    With the way that they spoke and the way that they gestured, it was almost as if they were happily telling us about their neighbourhood. They seemed very much like the neighbours that I had lived with even though they were monsters.


    The more that I interacted with these mummies, the more that I started to understand what their moaning and gestures meant. I still wasn''t able to understand their words, but I at least got the meaning through the tone.


    They were just¡­introducing themselves to the new resident, which was us.


    These mummies were acting just like humans meeting a new neighbour, but they were still monsters in the end¡­


    Just what had happened that caused these mummies to start acting this way?


    Though I didn''t let my guard down for a single second since I knew that the moment that they found out that we were humans, they would immediately attack us and rip us apart.


    So all I could do was try to go along and keep our disguises for as long as possible.


    The mummy that led us eventually brought us to this plot of land that was deeper in this town.


    Looking carefully, I could tell that this was already halfway across the second floor.


    It seemed that they had started building the wall near the entrance to this second floor and from there, they had expanded the town inwards towards the stairs that led to the third floor.


    If they kept going, they would have eventually reached the third floor.


    Once we were here, the mummy leading us stopped and gestured to the empty plot in front of us. Then it gestured to the other mummies that were around us who were all currently building houses in the plots that they were in.


    I had figured out the gestures of the mummies enough to guess what they were saying by now.


    This mummy had brought us here so we could build our own house like the rest of the mummies here.


    If I had to guess, these were most likely other new recruits that had just arrived in their town.


    As we turned to look at them, they waved at us in a cheery manner.


    It really was strange seeing the monsters acting like this, but this was just how it was¡­


    The mummy saw that we got the gist of what it was saying, so it pointed at a pile of rocks not far away and moaned something.


    Judging by how the other mummies took rocks from that pile to bring back to their own plots, it was most likely saying that we should get the materials that we needed from there.


    After explaining all of this, the mummy waved its hand, moaned something, and left.


    It seemed that it was done leading us new recruits and were leaving us to our own devices.


    As we stood there, we really didn''t know what to do now.

 Chapter 241 - 241: Raid dungeon (33)

    As we stood there, we realized that we had no choice but to go along with it. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We didn''t know what the mummies were building these houses for, but at least it would let us blend in and give us a place to operate from if we built this house.


    This would help us get more information later on.


    So after exchanging a look, we started dividing up the tasks.


    There was a limit to the range of Long Shui Ling''s illusions, so it wasn''t as if we could get too far away from each other.


    We would only be able to go so far without breaking the illusion.


    So we weren''t able to split up into teams that would be able to go off and find information.


    There were two teams that were formed.


    One was a team for building the house that we were supposed to build. That was left up to the group that was led by Blaze and Kaito.


    The two of them would lead the others in building our house since they said that they had experience with things like this before.


    Apparently, both of their parents owned construction companies, so they knew how to do things like this.


    As for the other team¡­well, it wasn''t so much of a team as just me.


    I would be going around to the other plots and ''talking'' to the other mummies to see if I could get any information from them.


    Though¡­it really wouldn''t be talking since I couldn''t understand what they were saying.


    It would be more like paying a courtesy call to neighbours after moving in.


    As for Long Shui Ling, she was sitting in the middle of the plot just doing all that she could to maintain the illusion.


    It was easier for her if we just did simple things like walking and talking, but it was much harder to match the illusions up when we did more intensive things like building the house.


    So to make it easier on her, she would just sit still and focus on the illusions instead of helping with anything.


    At the same time, it consumed quite a bit of her magic power to keep these illusions up. So sitting still like this would let her preserve as much magic power as she could.


    The only thing wrapped around me was a simple illusion, but that was fine since I had my Hypnosis.


    I had already tested it and I could make the mummies see what they wanted to see, so it wasn''t a problem at all to let them believe I was one of them even if the illusion failed.


    So while they were building our house, I went around to talk to the various mummies building their houses.


    Though to call it building really was an exaggeration.


    It was better to call it stacking rocks into what seemed like a poor shelter.


    It seemed like just a single shake would be enough to make these ''houses'' that they built crumble.


    But it made sense once one thought about it.


    Monsters like these mummies didn''t have a concept of building in the first place, so it wasn''t as if they had prior knowledge of this. The fact that they were able to build these simple rock shelters was already considered good enough.


    This was enough to prove that they had gained enough intelligence to figure things like this out.


    I wouldn''t look down on them since I knew that they were monsters with intelligence.


    It was just too bad that I wasn''t able to get anything out of them.


    It was hard to have a conversation with these monsters that could only moan and gesture. Even if I could get them to answer my questions, it was a lot of confused gestures and moans since they didn''t seem to have an answer for the questions that I was asking.


    It seemed that they didn''t know anything about why they suddenly gained intelligence.


    They all said that it just happened one day and they were here.


    So I had no choice but to head back while feeling dejected.


    When I came back, I was surprised to find that our house was completely surrounded by mummies.


    I immediately raised my guard when I saw this since I thought that my team''s disguises had been broken. I was prepared to fight my way through and get them before running away¡­but it seemed like I was worried for nothing.


    That was because these mummies hadn''t gathered because they had seen through our disguises.


    Instead, they were standing around watching my group build the house.


    As soon as I saw the house that they were building, I immediately understood why all of the mummies had gathered like this.


    The houses that the mummies built were nothing more than simple shelters that had been built by stacking rocks together.


    But the house that my group made was an actual proper house.


    They had found some weapons that had been dropped nearby and they were currently using these weapons to cut the stones into blocks. Those blocks were then stacked on top of each other with clay placed in between to seal the gaps.


    It wasn''t the best way to build a house, but it was definitely the best with what resources they had.


    Not to mention¡­it was far beyond anything that the other mummies had built.


    So naturally they attracted attention from the other mummies.


    But I had to admit, these two weren''t kidding when they said that they came from families that owned construction companies. It was clear that both Blaze and Kaito knew what they were doing with the way that they cut and stacked the stones.


    When they saw that I was back, they put down their weapons and came to greet me.


    But it was also at this time that the other mummies around us suddenly started moving forward. They came right up to us and surrounded us.


    With how they surrounded us¡­it really seemed like a horror movie.


    Were they about to attack us?

 Chapter 242 - 242: Raid dungeon (34)

    But they stopped before they reached us and stood around us like they were asking us something.


    The other members of my group were confused, but I could slowly figure out what they were saying based on their moans and gestures.


    They were referring to the house that we had made.


    It was as if they were asking us how we had made this house.


    That made sense since it was clear that there was a large difference between the house that we had made and the houses that they had made.


    The only thing was¡­I wasn''t sure if we should be teaching them about this.


    After all, giving the mummies more knowledge wasn''t a good thing since they were monsters that we needed to kill. But then again, would it really be that dangerous to give them this knowledge since it was just about building houses?


    No¡­if they used this knowledge to build a wall, it would definitely be stronger than the wall that they had already built around this town.


    So there were consequences to teaching them about this.


    To my surprise though, while I was agonizing over whether to teach them or not, Blaze and Kaito already volunteered to teach them.


    The look of passion in their eyes, it was clear that they were very excited about doing this.


    I even couldn''t help wondering if it would have been better for them to go into construction instead of becoming Awakeners. But of course, I knew that going into construction would never be able to compare to becoming an Awakener.


    Only by becoming an Awakener could one really change their life.


    Since they were so enthusiastic, I decided to let them do it in the end.


    I had them tell me what I needed to say before using Suggestion to translate it to the mummies.


    There were some problems since it didn''t translate properly, but they were able to get the gist of it.


    Though the way that the mummies looked at us like we were mummies that had trouble talking was a whole other can of worms.


    With the advice that they received from Blaze h the help of Blaze and Kaito, the mummies were slowly able to build up proper houses. In no time at all, there was a proper neighbourhood that was starting to develop.


    Since these mummies were undead, it wasn''t as if they needed to rest.


    They were able to work through the night and keep working even when humans would have run out of strength.


    They would be considered the perfect work force, but they were undead in the end, so it was hard to tell when they would attack humans. If there was only a way to tame them and get them to work for humans¡­


    But of course, that was impossible since these were monsters that came from the dungeon.


    The dungeon was a completely different world that humans didn''t understand yet, so they weren''t able to do anything to the monsters of these dungeons.


    With the commotion that they were making, there were mummies from further away that came over to see what was happening.


    When they learned about this new method of building houses, they immediately started to learn from Blaze and Kaito as well.


    As we taught the mummies about how to build houses, it was clear that they were opening up more and more to us. It seemed that working towards a common goal had brought us closer together.


    It seemed that there was another benefit that came from teaching these mummies how to build proper houses.


    So while they were teaching the mummies through demonstrations, I was talking to the mummies that were just hanging around.


    Seeing that I was one of the ''mummies'' that taught them this new technique, they immediately gave me a warm welcome and I was able to join in their conversation.


    Though I didn''t really understand what their conversation was about, I did get the gist of it.


    They were talking about things that had happened to them recently.


    Just that alone was enough to get plenty of information as long as you listened carefully.


    It seemed that not everything was alright for these mummies even though they were now building houses.


    It seemed that they still had complaints.


    As for who they complained about, it was naturally the one that led them.


    There were complaints about forcing them to go deeper and deeper into the second floor where there was a higher concentration of magic power. This higher concentration of magic power was hard for some of the weaker mummies to endure, which caused them injuries just by staying there.


    But even when they complained, not a single thing changed.


    It seemed that whoever was at the top wasn''t willing to listen to the complaints from the bottom.


    As for who was at the top¡­


    It was the one that the mummy who brought us here served.


    That mummy that brought us here was the overseer for the new arrivals and the one that was in charge of taking care of them. This was a role that had been assigned to that mummy by the one that had taken over this second floor and was assaulting the third floor. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the moans of the mummies, there was one specific moan that was repeated.


    "Szaker."


    That was what they called the one that led them.


    I didn''t know what this meant, but it seemed to represent the one that led them.


    From their moans, I was able to gather that this ''Szaker'' was a stranger that suddenly came before them one day and took over the second floor. Then after they took over the second floor, this ''Szaker'' had taken the ones that showed the most intelligence and brought them under it to control the rest of the mummies that gained intelligence.


    It was the one that ordered them to build houses and walls, as well as establishing a guard for the walls.


    Whoever this ''Szaker'' was, it seemed that they were responsible for the changes in this raid dungeon.

 Chapter 243 - 243: Raid dungeon (35)

    The night passed by quickly and we weren''t allowed to sleep since that concept didn''t exist for the mummies.


    So all we could do was keep building the houses with the other mummies.


    When morning came, the surrounding area was already looking like a proper neighbourhood.


    That was when the mummy that had led us here yesterday came back.


    It was surprised to see all of these strange new houses that had come up and when it followed the crowd, it found who was responsible for them.


    The mummy just looked at us with a surprised look as it never expected that we would bring this surprise to it.


    This was just a routine checkup after bringing in the new recruits, but now¡­it seemed like it would have to bring them to see someone.


    So after a moment of being surprised, that mummy came forward and waved at us.


    When I saw this, I immediately knitted my brows before calling for the rest of our group.


    Blaze and Kaito looked like they weren''t willing to go just yet since they were still having fun building the houses with the mummies, but they knew in their hearts that they had to go.


    The rest of them just followed after me.


    It was only Long Shui Ling who looked like she had a problem.


    She had been keeping up these illusions all night without any rest, so one couldn''t even begin to imagine just how hard this was for her. It was surprising that she didn''t run out of magic power, but we had seen her drinking some kind of potion in the middle of the night before recovering her mana.


    But even that still wasn''t enough to keep her going.


    It wouldn''t take long before she ran out of mana, so we had to find a way out of here. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was hoping that this mummy would give us that way out.


    When we came over, the mummy waved at us to follow it before turning around to walk off in a different direction.


    We didn''t know where he was leading us, but we still followed behind him.


    But as we walked off, I could see that the mummies around us had concerned looks on their faces. It was as if they were worried about us heading in this direction.


    This direction went further deeper into the second floor, where the stairs leading to the third floor was.


    Based on what I had heard from the other mummies last night¡­that should be where the one that they called ''Szaker'' was.


    If that was the case, why would they be worried?


    Unless, the ''Szaker'' had summoned other mummies before and they had disappeared?


    If that was the case, I would have heard something about this last night.


    So why did they seem worried?


    I wasn''t able to figure this out and I didn''t have time to think about it as the mummy leading us started moaning at us.


    I didn''t understand what it was saying, but I could hear the word ''Szaker'' many times.


    It seemed that my guess was correct and that we were indeed being led to see this ''Szaker''.


    But the fact that we were being brought to the leader so soon was very worrying¡­


    I tried moaning in an attempt to ask the mummy what was happening, but all he did was wave his hand to stop me from asking more questions. It was as if he was trying to avoid these questions that I asked it.


    This just made me even more worried.


    After walking for a bit, we found ourselves on an empty second floor.


    We had gone past the area that was being developed and reached the part that hadn''t been developed yet.


    But that only lasted for a bit before we found ourselves surrounded by mummy guards.


    These were powerful mummies based on the aura coming from them.


    They seemed even more powerful than the mummies that had been guarding the wall.


    These should have been the elite monsters that guarded the floor boss of the second floor¡­and here they were guarding the floor boss'' room.


    When we came towards them, they immediately raised their weapons to stop us.


    The mummy leading us moaned a few things to them and gestured to us, as if it was explaining the situation.


    The guard mummies remained silent for a bit as they stared at us.


    The longer that they stared at us, the more nervous we felt.


    If it wasn''t for the illusions, it might have really been a problem to keep calm.


    Well, if it wasn''t for the illusions, they would have attacked us right away for being humans in the first place.


    So the illusions were helping in the end.


    After a long silence, the guards finally moved out of the way and seemed to allow us to pass.


    The mummy that was leading us waved its hand at us and started moving forward again.


    As we walked past the guards, we could feel their gazes still on us.


    It was almost as if they were still observing us like they didn''t trust us.


    Only when we made it past these guards did we let out secret sighs of relief.


    But we didn''t let our guard down just yet since we knew that what was coming up was the real trial.


    Even the others that didn''t know everything that I did could tell that this was serious with how many guards there were here.


    When we reached the floor boss room, the mummy pushed open the door and revealed a luxurious chamber.


    This was completely different from the first floor''s floor boss room that was completely empty.


    This place was filled with gold and different magic items, almost like a real pharoah''s tomb.


    But that wasn''t what attracted our attention.


    Sitting in the center of this floor boss room on a throne was another mummy, but this mummy was clearly different from the rest.


    When that mummy heard the door open, it turned and said, "Who is it?"

 Chapter 244 - 244: Raid dungeon (36)

    I couldn''t help but stop moving when I heard this.


    After all, it wasn''t just the moaning that the other mummies had made, but rather actual words.


    It was speaking in the language of humans.


    This mummy was clearly different from the rest.


    After saying this, the mummy looked up from his throne and saw the mummy that was leading us. When he saw this mummy, he said, "Oh, it''s you. What is it?"


    The mummy leading us raised its hand to stop us from going forward before gesturing and moaning a few things to the mummy on the throne.


    The mummy on the throne turned to look at us after it heard what that mummy said.


    As that mummy''s gaze fell onto us, we couldn''t help feeling this strange pressure.


    The others in my group all revealed serious expressions like they were prepared to fight at any moment.


    But I had a different expression on my face.


    That was because I could sense something that was familiar from this mummy, something that I had been looking for.


    It was the same feeling that I had gotten from Lilith¡­


    This was the feeling of a demon king.


    Then was this mummy the new demon king?


    No, it didn''t seem like it since that feeling I got from the mummy was much weaker than the feeling that I got from Lilith. If I had to guess what this was, this mummy most likely was influenced by the demon king''s power, which was why it was acting this way now.


    After a long silence where we all just stared at each other, the mummy on the throne waved his hand at us and said, "Come here and let me take a closer look."


    The others all looked at me as if they were hesitating on whether to go or not.


    I just raised my hand for them to wait before going up all by myself.


    The mummy on the throne just looked at me for a bit before suddenly saying, "I heard that you''ve come up with a new way of building houses?"


    As it said this, it narrowed its eyes to look at me.


    I just looked back at it and calmly gave a nod.


    The mummy on the throne didn''t answer right away as it kept looking at me.


    But after a moment of silence, it suddenly asked, "Where did you get this inspiration from?"


    I didn''t answer right away, but after a pause, I gave a moan.


    "You just came up with it randomly?" The mummy on the throne asked.


    I didn''t know what I had moaned, but it seemed like the Suggestion skill had given this translation.


    The mummy on the throne narrowed its eyes to look at me again, as if it was sizing me up. While this was happening, there was an even stronger pressure that fell onto me, as if this mummy was trying to suppress me.


    After a long silence, the mummy on the throne said, "Come forward and let me take a closer look at you."


    I trembled when I heard this, but I held my fear back as I went forward towards the mummy on the throne.


    When I came closer, the mummy on the throne got off the throne and came forward to look at me from different angles. It walked around me and kept staring at different parts of me, which really made it awkward.


    After a long silence, the mummy suddenly broke out in laughter as it said, "I knew it, you were given a gift by the lord as well."


    All of us suddenly revealed confused looks, but the pressure that had been on us suddenly disappeared.


    The mummy came forward to take me by the shoulder which really worried me, but it didn''t seem like it realized anything was off. The mummy then brought me over to the throne and had me sit down in it as it said, "I never thought that there would be another one after me, but it seemed that the lord hasn''t abandoned us yet."


    As I sat there with a confused look on my face, I waited for a bit before moaning.


    The mummy looked at me without answering, looking right at my face as if it was seeing something. Then it said in a voice that seemed like it was talking to itself, "It seems that your vocal chords haven''t developed yet, so you still can''t speak. When you can, then it''ll be easier than using simple moans."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It seemed that this was what had already happened to the mummy before, so it was basing its own experience on what would supposedly happen to me.


    After looking at me for a bit, the mummy said, "The lord is the one that gave us our powers and our intelligence. The lord is the one that gave you that inspiration. So it is up to us to repay the lord for everything that we have been given."


    I could hear the respect and awe that this mummy felt towards this ''lord'', even if I didn''t know who this mummy''s lord was.


    But if I had to guess¡­it was most likely the demon king that changed it.


    The way that it said this, it was almost as if the mummy had met this ''lord'' before.


    But before I could ask anymore questions, the mummy suddenly looked back at me and said, "Now, I ask you, will you be my right hand mummy?"


    I was caught off guard when I heard this.


    I looked at the mummy in front of me and it was looking at me with a serious look, like it was serious about this offer. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I just didn''t know how to answer¡­


    But when the mummy saw that I wasn''t saying anything, it suddenly narrowed its eyes and said, "Then do you want to fight me for leadership? Do you want to see who''s more fit to lead?"


    I couldn''t help trembling when I heard this.

 Chapter 245 - 245: Raid dungeon (37)

    I quickly shook my head in response to this.


    The mummy just silently looked at me for a bit before that pressure on me suddenly disappeared.


    It seemed to reveal a smile, or what would be considered a smile for this mummy and said in what seemed to be a cheerful voice, "Good answer."


    The mummy turned to look at the stairs to the third floor and said, "It''s already hard enough having to deal with the final boss of this place, so I wouldn''t want to fight you at the same time."


    Then it turned back and said, "But now that you''re here, it''ll be much easier for us to take care of them."


    I could only slowly nod in agreement to this.


    I didn''t know what kind of powers this mummy had after he received the powers of the lord as he put it. So for now, it was better not to do anything that would make it angry and go along with what it wanted.


    Only when I figured out what it could do¡­


    After that, the mummy went on to complain about how this dungeon was designed, as well about the boss that was at the end. It seemed that the boss was quite powerful, that it was able to make this mummy complain about it.


    But that was strange since this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon in the first place.


    The final boss shouldn''t have been strong enough that it would be able to cause trouble for this mutated mummy¡­ S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So what was happening here?


    Was there more than meets the eye here?


    Could it be that there was something different about the dungeon boss as well that this mummy wasn''t able to do anything to it?


    If that was the case¡­what else had changed about this dungeon?


    After complaining about all of this for a bit, the mummy looked at me and said, "Now that you''re here, it''ll be much easier for us."


    The way that it said this, it seemed like it really believed this.


    It was hard to understand why this mummy believed me this much, but it seemed like there was a strong bond of trust.


    Was it his trust in the ''lord'' of his or was it something else?


    The mummy just looked at me with that look in its eyes for a bit before turning to look at the mummy that had brought us here and saying, "From now on, follow his orders like they are mine. Be sure to tell everyone about this."


    The mummy that had led us revealed a surprised look, but it slowly gave a nod in the end.


    It too recognized how special the knowledge that Lin Fan''s group had brought was, so it knew that there was nothing to lose from following these orders.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help being surprised just how easily I had been accepted and promoted among these mummies.


    But¡­this was a very good thing since being promoted meant that it was easier for us to get the information that we wanted. At the same time, I also figured out a way for us to leave this place and get back to the others.


    The mummy went back to the throne and sat down after I stood up for it.


    It just sat there as if it was lost in thought as it waved its hand to the mummy that led us.


    At the same time, it said to me, "Go and take care of what you need to do. I trust you''ll know what to do to help us defeat the enemy. It is all according to the will of the lord."


    The mummy that had led us waved its hand for us to follow.


    I took one last look at the mummy on the throne before heading out with that mummy.


    It was silent as we walked out, but as soon as we came out, that mummy immediately turned to me and moaned while gesturing.


    It was clear that it was curious what I had done to make the mummy on the throne act that way.


    But all I could respond with was a shrug.


    That was my honest answer since I had no idea what I had done either.


    I had only gone with the flow and this was how it turned out.


    The mummy looked at me with a strange look, but it shook its head in the end and patted me on the shoulder like it was saying that it understood.


    The mummy then led us back to our house and then was about to leave us be.


    But before it could leave, I suddenly called out to it and moaned something.


    The mummy looked surprised to hear this, but it then moaned and waved its hand as if it was asking how this would be done.


    What I had said, or at least tried to convey was that I wanted to leave and see if I could gather more mummies to join us. I wanted to go out the wall and go find some more mummies to join this town.


    Naturally this mummy would be suspicious of this, so I had already thought of something to respond to this with.


    My response was that I would go out with my group and find them on the first and second floor.


    The mummy looked at me with a strange look after hearing this that made me wonder if there was a mistake with the translation of the Suggestion skill.


    But then it started moaning and waving as if it was saying that it was too busy to come with us.


    I quickly said that we would be able to go out alone.


    The mummy narrowed its eyes to look at me as if it was doubting me¡­but it agreed in the end.


    If it wasn''t for the order from the mummy on the throne, it might not have agreed.


    But there was the order, so it had no choice but to agree.

 Chapter 246 - 246: Raid dungeon (38)

    So I was able to gather everyone and we were able to get back through the wall.


    The mummies on the wall watched us as we walked back towards the entrance of the second floor.


    Luckily, they didn''t do anything to us and just let us walk through without any trouble.


    When we were far enough from the wall, I had the others check if we were followed by any mummies.


    I didn''t think that this would be the case, but it never hurt to make sure.


    Only when we had made sure that there wasn''t anyone following us did we go to the meeting area that had been set previously.


    Waiting for us there was a member of the team.


    The rest of the team had gone back to the safe zone at the entrance of the second floor to settle and work from. They didn''t wait for us to come back since they knew that it would take a while for us to find anything.


    So we went back with this member of the team.


    As soon as we arrived at the camp, we were immediately pulled into the central tent where Tie Gang and the rest of the team members were waiting for us. There were also quite a few members of the support team that were also there.


    They also wanted to hear about what we had found.


    Once everyone was settled, Tie Gang looked at me and asked, "So? What did you find?"


    After taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I told them about what had happened to us and everything that we found.


    Of course, there were a few things that I had left out.


    As I left these things out, the members of my group couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look, but they didn''t say anything.


    When it was over, there was only silence that hung over the tent.


    Everyone had their brows knit as if they were deep in thought, but that couldn''t be blamed on them since this was a very thought provoking report.


    Monsters creating their own town and society?


    This had never been heard of before, so naturally they weren''t able to react to this.


    Many of the people sitting in this tent had looks on their faces like they didn''t believe this. They looked at the other members of this group to try to pressure them into disproving this.


    But no matter how many gazes fell onto them, not a single member of my team said anything against what I had reported.


    In the end, Tie Gang said in a deep and serious voice, "How many mummies were gathered? What is their distribution? What is the schedule of the guards? Also, how strong is the leader of this town that you met?"


    There were many different questions about the camp that were asked of us, or rather me since I was the one reporting.


    I didn''t know the answer to all of these since I didn''t pay attention to all of this. I had been looking for different information, which had failed in the end.


    So I just answered the questions that I could and just gave up on the ones that I didn''t know the answers to.


    When it was all over, Tie Gang fell into deep thought again as he processed all of this information.


    The ones that thought that this information wasn''t accurate couldn''t take it anymore when they saw Tie Gang taking it seriously like this. So one of them suddenly said, "Leader, you can''t trust this report! How could monsters possibly gang up like this? They''re just making it up to cover for themselves! There''s no way that any of this is true!"


    Tie Gang was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard this and he narrowed his eyes to look at the one who had spoken.


    When this person saw Tie Gang looking at him, he couldn''t help flinching. But he calmed down and faced Tie Gang''s expression, refusing to back down. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang just calmly looked at him and said, "Then can you give me any useful information? Can you give me anything that will disprove this? If you can, then there''s no need for me to listen to them, right?"


    That person was taken aback by what Tie Gang had said.


    It was clear that he was prepared for something else, so he was completely caught off guard when Tie Gang said this.


    Opening and closing his mouth, that person just didn''t know what to say.


    Tie Gang didn''t stop as he continued, "If you''re willing to risk your life to go over that wall and get this information for me, then I''ll immediately deny this report. But if all you have to say is that it''s impossible, then get me the information that I want and I''ll believe you."


    Tie Gang slammed his fist down onto the table and looked at the rest of the group as he said, "We''re in a dangerous situation right now. We cannot deny any information that we receive just because it seems impossible. We cannot distrust our allies or else we will not be able to make it out of this place. So if there''s anyone else that has something to say, speak up now!"


    Everyone looked down when they heard this.


    It was true, the majority of why they were so adamant on denying this was because they wanted it to be false.


    Because this was something that they had never encountered before and it was terrifying to them, so they wanted so much to believe that it wasn''t true.


    But that was the wrong thing to do since irrationally denying the facts in front of them was just being dumb.


    So they had to face this even if it was something that they had never encountered before.


    Tie Gang saw that all of them were silent, so he didn''t bother with them anymore.


    Instead, he turned to look at Lin Fan and calmly asked, "How did you come back? How did you get them to let you leave?"

 Chapter 247 - 247: Raid dungeon (39)

    As soon as his voice fell, everyone turned to look at me.


    That was right, it had escaped all of their minds since they had been so shocked by this report that they didn''t think about this, but¡­how did they manage to come back from the monster town?


    If they were the monster ruler, they wouldn''t have allowed them to leave that easily.


    So how did they get permission to leave that place?


    I had already expected this, but I never thought that it would come this quickly. I thought that it would take some time before they asked this since they would take their time gathering their thoughts after that shocking news.


    Still, that didn''t mean that I didn''t have an answer.


    "They let us go because of our construction ideas. Those ideas allowed us to climb the ranks and be trusted by the leader, which gave us the ability to leave in the end."


    As they heard this, the others of my group couldn''t help revealing strange looks.


    While this wasn''t a complete lie, there was still something that I wasn''t saying.


    Something that I seemed to be avoiding¡­


    They clearly were concerned about this, but it was their feelings for me that kept them from saying anything.


    Tie Gang narrowed his eyes to look at me after he heard this.


    For the longest time, he didn''t say anything as if he was trying to see if he could find anything wrong with this.


    But in the end, he gave a slow nod and said, "Alright, that makes sense."


    He turned to the rest and said, "Now, what do we do about this?"


    As soon as he said this, everyone revealed grim looks on their faces.


    Not a single one of them had an idea of what to do since they had no idea of how to deal with this strange and unknown situation. This was the first time that any of them had encountered this, so of course they didn''t know how to handle it.


    Tie Gang naturally knew this as well, but there was a reason why he asked this.


    It was to get them to start thinking.


    While they didn''t have any ideas of how to deal with this now, wallowing in the despair of the situation was not something that they could do. They couldn''t just sit there and do nothing, so they had to start finding a way to solve this.


    So Tie Gang was doing this to motivate them.


    He could see that there were some traces of thought on the faces around him, which was good enough for now.


    As long as they didn''t completely give up, he could work with this.


    Still, this was something that would take some time, so he couldn''t expect any results right now.


    After seeing that no one spoke, Tie Gang said, "Alright, let''s take some time to think about this and convene later. I hope that everyone will think hard about how we will get through this."


    There were a few sighs of relief that filled this tent when they heard this, but there were more people that were willing to think about this. It didn''t seem like they were prepared to give up yet.


    After being dismissed, I was about to leave with my group.


    But before we could, Tie Gang stopped us.


    "Come with me, you need to be checked out." He suddenly said as he walked over.


    We were surprised to hear this, but we did understand what he meant.


    And since we understood, the others in my group couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    They had been there when I had spoken to the mummy leader, so they had heard about the same dark energy that I shared with him.


    That was the part that I had left out in the report that I had made.


    Now that we were going to be checked out, they couldn''t help worrying that something would be found.


    Tie Gang saw the looks on our faces and said, "It''s for your own good. We have no idea what you''ve experienced, so it''s best if we check your bodies to make sure that you''re alright."


    There was a tone in his voice that made it seem like this wasn''t an optional check up.


    It was clear that there was another reason why he wanted us to get this check up.


    He wanted to make sure that we weren''t under any kind of control or that we didn''t accidentally bring back some kind of strange virus or anything of the sort.


    Before he made sure of that, he naturally couldn''t let us wander around the camp.


    So even if he had to use force, he would bring us to that check up.


    I gave a nod in the end before saying, "Alright, let''s go."


    Tie Gang gave a nod too before leading the way out of the tent.


    He brought us to another tent that was filled with beds and medicine, which was clearly the medical tent.


    The two in white coats who had been sitting there immediately came over when they saw us.


    These two looked at us for a bit before turning to Tie Gang to ask, "Are they the ones?"


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "Can you check them right now?"


    The two of them nodded before turning back to us with smiles.


    They waved their hands for us to follow them before assigning each of us a bed.


    Then they picked up something that seemed like a metal scanner, but it seemed different from a normal metal scanner.


    They went from our beds one by one, scanning us with this strange thing.


    After each person was scanned, there was a piece of paper that was printed out from a machine on the side.


    They went to check the piece of paper for each person and it seemed like there were no problems.


    This kept going until the very last person¡­me.


    I was the last one that they were scanning.


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 Chapter 248 - 248: Raid dungeon (40)

    When I was about to be scanned, the other members of my group couldn''t help looking at me with concerned looks again.


    It was as if they were already certain that the result would be¡­


    But I wasn''t worried as I waited for them to scan me with that device.


    They brought that device that looked like a metal scanner over and ran it across my body. They started from my feet and moved up to my head.


    As they scanned my feet, it didn''t see like anything was about to happen.


    When they reached my midriff, it all seemed normal.


    It was only when they reached my shoulder that there was a reaction from the computer nearby.


    As soon as there was a reaction, both of the doctors moved away from me and Tie Gang came forward. He didn''t pull out his weapon, but the tense look on his face made it clear that he would stop me if I made any moves.


    The two doctors quickly moved over to the computer to see what the reaction was.


    When they saw it, they couldn''t help revealing strange looks.


    Seeing that the doctors weren''t saying anything, Tie Gang knitted his brows and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    The two doctors didn''t say anything at first as they kept staring at the screen.


    Then they tapped a few keys as if they were trying something to figure out something, but it didn''t seem to give them the result that they wanted based on the look on their faces.


    Seeing this, the others who had finished their scans all revealed worried looks.


    Tie Gang had been waiting patiently, but seeing that they weren''t saying anything, he deeply knitted his brows and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    This time, the tone in his voice made it seem like he couldn''t be ignored.


    When they heard him talking to them this way, the doctors finally turned and said, "It''s not that there''s something wrong¡­it''s just that there''s something that we haven''t seen before. This is a strange reading that is unlike anything that we''ve seen, so we really don''t know how to interpret it."


    The doctors looked at me with a strange look after they said this.


    It was as if they were trying to get me to tell them what was happening, but I had no idea what they were talking about.


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows as he turned to look at me.


    He had his guard up like he was prepared to strike me down if need be, but there was an unwilling look that made it clear that he didn''t want to unless he absolutely needed to.


    As he looked at me with this expression, he said, "Where is it coming from?"


    Though he was looking at me when he said this, it was clear that these words were not for me. They were for the doctors who were still at the computer.


    They looked at each other before one of them said, "It''s coming from his shoulder."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before a metallic sheen appeared around his hand.


    As he held his hand up, he looked at me with a gaze as if he was asking me something.


    I just gave a nod in response to this.


    Seeing this, Tie Gang gave a nod back before reaching his hand out towards my shoulder. As he did, he looked at my shoulder with a serious look.


    He slowly turned me around and looked carefully at my shoulder, trying to find where this reading might be coming from.


    After a long while, he finally seemed to have found something.


    He reached out into the fold of my clothes and pulled out a small piece of bandage.


    After pulling this out, he brought it over to the doctors that were waiting by the computer.


    When he came over, the doctors immediately took out the metal detector and brought it up to the bandage. As soon as it was brought close to the bandage, there was a reaction from the computer.


    They turned to look at the screen and saw the same reading as before, so they looked to Tie Gang and confirmed this.


    Tie Gang saw this and immediately moved over to the side to pick up one of the glass containers. He opened it up and stuffed it inside before pulling out a talisman that he stuck to this container.


    Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.


    But that relief was temporary as he turned to the doctors right after sealing this bandage away.


    The two doctors had been focused on the screen, trying to figure out something. But when they felt Tie Gang''s gaze fall onto them, they realized their mistake and quickly went over to Lin Fan with that metal detector thing.


    Once again, they used that metal detector to scan my body.


    This time, there was no reading that was picked up.


    Only then did everyone let out a long sigh of relief.


    It wasn''t that there was something wrong with Lin Fan, it was just that there was something that was stuck on him.


    Tie Gang let out a relieved smile and walked over to pat me on the shoulder.


    To be honest, when that reading popped up, I really had been nervous since I thought that they had found out about the fact that I was a demon king. This hadn''t happened last time when they scanned me, so I figured that there was no problem.


    But when it happened, I couldn''t help thinking about all of the things that had changed.


    After taking a moment to calm down, everyone turned their attention to the piece of bandage that was inside of the glass container.


    This was the thing that had caused that strange reaction, so of course they were curious just what this thing was.


    But as far as they could tell, it was nothing more than a normal piece of bandage.


    It didn''t seem like anything special.


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 Chapter 249 - 249: Raid dungeon (41)

    Seeing that no one was saying a thing, Tie Gang asked, "Does anyone know what this thing is?"


    Everyone was silent as they shook their heads.


    Tie Gang knew that they wouldn''t know what it was, but it was better than staying silent and not getting anything done.


    After everyone shook their heads, he turned to look at me.


    It was as if he was expecting something out of me.


    It was as if he was saying with his eyes, "Well, it was stuck on you, so you should know what it is."


    But I really didn''t know what it was at first.


    However, when I thought about it for a bit, I finally realized just what this thing was.


    It was a bandage, but it was a bandage from a very certain mummy.


    The only one that had held my shoulder during this time was the mummy leader, so that was the only one that it could have come from. There was no other option when it came to something getting stuck like this.


    So I slowly said, "It should be from the leader of the monsters."


    When everyone heard this, they all looked at me with shocked looks before quickly turning back to look at the glass container with the bandage in it.


    They all looked at it as if they were trying to find something special about it, looking at it from many different angles. However, they weren''t able to find a single thing in the end.


    It was as if no matter how they looked at it, it seemed like a normal piece of bandage.


    But if it was that, then why did the scanner suddenly go off?


    It was clear that there was something about this that was making the scanner go off.


    So Tie Gang turned back to the doctors who were already coming over with many different items.


    As soon as they had recovered from their shock, they had immediately started pulling out things that they thought that they needed.


    It seemed like they were fully prepared to run all kinds of tests on this thing to see if they could find what they wanted to find. They didn''t even care about the others around it and pushed them out of the way as they brought their equipment over.


    But the others did move out of the way since there wasn''t anything that they could find out about this piece of bandage in the first place


    It was better to just leave it to these two since they knew what they were doing.


    After watching for a bit, it was clear that this wouldn''t end any time soon since they clearly weren''t finding anything that was useful. They kept running back and forth, trying to figure out just what they should do.


    When Tie Gang saw this, he stood up and waved his hand for everyone to follow him out.


    Since it would take them a while, it was better to leave them to it instead of getting in their way by staying here.


    Not to mention, there were other things that they needed to talk about.


    So after stepping out of this area, Tie Gang stopped them before they went out of the tent.


    He looked at us and said, "Good work on your scouting mission. I never expected you to get this much information back for us."


    All of us revealed faint smiles when we heard this.


    Being praised for a job well down was always a good feeling, even if we were in danger right now.


    But then he revealed a serious look as he said, "But we might need your abilities again later. It''s clear that this is a very serious situation, so I hope that you will continue to support us."


    I gave a nod before saying, "This is a situation that all of us are trapped in, so of course we''ll do all that we can so that we can all get out of this alive."


    Tie Gang gave another nod before turning to look at me with narrowed eyes and saying, "I hope that until we are out of this place, you will keep your personal affairs to yourself."


    I was surprised when I heard this as I didn''t expect to hear this.


    The way that Tie Gang was looking at me, it was as if he already knew that I was planning something.


    After all, the people that had hostile intentions towards me¡­weren''t just going to stop feeling hostile towards me. I had thought about taking care of them while we were in the dungeon since everything that happened in the dungeon stayed in the dungeon.


    But I never thought that Tie Gang would suddenly bring this up.


    I thought that I had hid it quite well, but it seemed that his sharp eyes had caught the way that I looked at them.


    Tie Gang saw the look on my face and said, "I know what you are thinking, but for now¡­don''t do anything. In the future, you can do what you want. But right now, we need to work together if we want to make it out of this place alive."


    In the end, I gave a nod and said, "I won''t do anything as long as they don''t do anything. I think that''s acceptable, right?"


    The others looked at me with a surprised look since they never expected me to actually admit to this.


    They had thought that I would deny this, but I made it very clear that I had indeed been planning something.


    Tie Gang gave an appreciative nod when he heard this before saying, "I''ll talk to the guild about getting you some extra rewards when we get back."


    With that, he gave me a pat on the shoulder before walking out. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The others looked at me with strange looks, but I just calmly said, "It''s about survival of the fittest, isn''t it?"


    They were even more surprised to hear this, but for some reason¡­it wasn''t off putting for them.


    After all, a leader that couldn''t get things done when they needed to be done would only harm the team.


    Knowing that there was a leader with the conviction to get things done was naturally better.

 Chapter 250 - 250: Raid dungeon (42)

    A few hours later, I went back to the medical tent and I found that Tie Gang was also there.


    When I came over, he shook his head to show that they hadn''t found anything yet.


    Looking in, I could see the doctors just sitting there looking at the glass container with despair. With how messy it was, it was as if they had tried everything that they could think of.


    Though I did have to question what they were planning to do with the banana and jelly that they had brought with them. It didn''t seem like they had a plan there and just seemed desperate.


    Still, it made it very clear that they had no idea what to do about this piece of bandage.


    Tie Gang watched them with me for a bit before saying with a sigh, "It seems like we won''t be getting anything from them."


    I slowly gave a regretful nod.


    After a moment of silence, Tie Gang moved closer and lowered his voice as he said, "Between you and me, I took a closer look at it earlier while they were distracted."


    I slowly turned to look at him as he fell silent.


    After a pause, he continued by saying, "There''s this strange energy attached to that thing. I can''t tell exactly what it is, but it definitely seems dark."


    I knitted my brows when I heard this.


    I of course knew what this energy was since I had my experience with it. However, for Tie Gang to call it dark like this¡­


    I looked at him for a bit before slowly saying, "Are you implying that¡­?"


    My voice trailed off, but the meaning behind these words were clear.


    Tie Gang looked at me with an uncertain look as he didn''t say anything.


    But in the end, he said with a sigh, "I don''t know¡­I just know that if the world were to know about this, it would definitely cause a stir. After all, this is the first sign in ten years."


    Just that was enough for me to ascertain what he was thinking.


    He did suspect that it was related to the demon king.


    As long as that was the case, it meant that I would have to be careful from now on¡­if I were to slip and he were to catch some signs from me, my life could be over.


    From this point forth, it seemed like I couldn''t make a single mistake¡­


    Seeing the grim look on my face, Tie Gang misunderstood this look. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "Don''t worry. As long as we work together, there shouldn''t be a problem."


    His words snapped me out of my thoughts and I realized my mistake.


    I quickly gave a nod and said, "Un."


    Tie Gang looked at me with a sympathetic look before waving his hand and saying, "Let''s go. It''s time for the meeting."


    I gave another nod before following behind him.


    I had snuck over before the meeting since I thought that I could take a look at the piece of bandage alone, but it didn''t seem possible. So I just went to the meeting with Tie Gang.


    When we arrived, I saw that we were the last ones here.


    It seemed that everyone had gathered here early with how they were already deep in conversation.


    As soon as we came in, the room fell silent.


    There were a few pairs of eyes that glared at me when I walked in with Tie Gang, but I just ignored them.


    Once we were in the tent, I was about to go over to where my group was, but Tie Gang grabbed me by the shoulder and stopped me.


    I looked at him with a surprised look, but he looked back at me with a firm look.


    In front of this, I had no choice but to back down and follow him onto the stage. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were more glares that came in my direction when I went onto the stage, but I once again ignored them.


    After reaching the stage, Tie Gang shocked everyone by saying, "I have some important news for all of you."


    Everyone had been prepared to share the meagre ideas that they had, not a single one of them expected Tie Gang to open with this.


    There was only a stunned silence that followed after Tie Gang said this.


    Tie Gang didn''t speak right away as his eyes swept over everyone. This just made them feel even more anxious.


    After another long pause, Tie Gang said, "Because of recent discoveries, there is a large suspicion that there is a demon king in this dungeon."


    There were many sharp breaths taken after he said this.


    I couldn''t help looking at Tie Gang with a very strange look after he said this.


    One moment he was telling me that we shouldn''t be spreading this and the next minute¡­he was telling everyone.


    He really wasn''t being consistent at all!


    Everyone looked at Tie Gang with looks as if they were trying to figure out if he was joking or not. However, he just stood there with a serious look on his face like he wasn''t joking.


    So none of them knew what to say.


    Demon King, that was a term that they had all heard before, but they never thought that this would ever be related to them.


    After all, demon kings were even things that governments hadn''t been able to handle yet since they had no idea what the demon kings were.


    Since the appearance of the dungeons, there hadn''t been a single trace of the demon kings.


    So even if they wanted to send people after the demon kings, even if the demon kings were the end goal of the dungeons, they hadn''t been able to do a single thing to them.


    For a demon king to suddenly appear here¡­it didn''t seem too likely.


    For a demon king to suddenly appear, they really found it hard to believe.

 Chapter 251 - 251: Raid dungeon (43)

    After a long period of silence, one of the people in the crowd couldn''t help asking, "Leader, are you sure about this? Could it be that there''s been a mistake?"


    After he said this, he slowly turned to look at me as if he was blaming me for this ''mistake''.


    Tie Gang just shook his head and said, "It''s not a mistake, but it isn''t as if it''s guaranteed that there''s a demon king here either. It''s just a possibility that there''s something related to the demon king in this dungeon."


    All of them looked at Tie Gang with a strange look.


    The way that he had said it before made it seem like he had found a demon king.


    But now the way that he said it just made it seem like there was something related to the demon king that was found in this dungeon.


    These were two completely different things.


    Finding a demon king was an earth shattering event because they all knew what had been said the day that the dungeons had appeared. All of them were old enough to remember hearing the voice that had rang out in their heads.


    They knew that the end of the war between humans and dungeons were the demon kings, so naturally finding the demon king would be like finding the end boss.


    Still, something that was related to the demon king was more than enough to get them excited.


    After all, something related to the demon king wasn''t as dangerous as the demon king itself.


    If it was the demon king, then they might not be able to do anything to them. But if it was just something that was related to the demon king, then they would be able to do something to it.


    If they could bring back this something that was related to the demon king¡­there was no doubt that they would become famous in an instant.


    After they went through these thoughts, they turned to Tie Gang as if they were waiting for him to tell them more.


    However, Tie Gang didn''t say anything as he turned to look at me.


    The way that he looked at me, it was as if he was expecting me to tell everyone about what happened.


    I wasn''t sure if that was the best idea, but he didn''t really give me a choice.


    Tie Gang moved out of the way for me to take the position on stage.


    I had no choice but to come forward and take that position that he had been in before.


    When they saw me come up, there were many different expressions that were looking at me. Some were filled with confusion, some were filled with disdain, and there were even some that were filled with pride.


    Those looks came from my group who were just sitting there in the corner.


    I took a deep breath and ignored all of these before saying what I had to say.


    I once again told them about the special mummy that I had met and how a part of that mummy had been caught in my clothes which I had brought back. Then I told them about how this had been found when I had my check up and they found that there was this strange energy coming from it.


    Only when I was finished did Tie Gang add, "Right now, we haven''t been able to find anything from this piece of bandage, but we are certain that it is unlike anything that we''ve seen before." After a pause, he added, "I can personally guarantee that the energy that comes from this bandage is very dark, unlike anything that I''ve felt before."


    All of the members of the dungeon team couldn''t help knitting their brows when they heard this.


    A personal guarantee from Tie Gang, their A Rank leader definitely was not something that could be given lightly.


    So it seemed that he was quite certain about what he had found¡­


    If that was the case, it was very likely that this piece of bandage was related to the demon king.


    Tie Gang had paused for a second to let this fact sink in, but then he quickly followed up by saying, "Now it is clear what we have to do."


    When they heard this, all of the members of the dungeon team revealed excited and determined looks. After all, with just this single piece of information, the entire situation had changed.


    This was something that they already had to do, but now there was this added incentive to this that was just irresistible to them.


    So they couldn''t help feeling excited about this.


    Seeing that they all looked excited, Tie Gang then said, "Alright, now let''s discuss the plan that I''ve come up with."


    The meeting went on for a while longer as Tie Gang laid out his plan for attacking the mummy settlement.


    But when it was over, it was as if there was a completely different atmosphere that filled the camp now. Everyone had excited and determined looks on their faces instead of the downcast looks of despair that they had previously.


    It seemed like they were all filled with motivation to put this plan into action.


    It seemed like morale had suddenly jumped up with Tie Gang''s speech. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t help being impressed by what Tie Gang did.


    He used the discovery of something related to the demon king to inspire the group even though it was something that should have been kept secret. He made the decision as the leader to share this with all of them since he knew that it would fill them with excitement.


    After all, this had gone from a fruitless dungeon raid filled with peril to one that was filled with incomparable treasures and glory at the end. As long as they completed this dungeon and brought back that thing related to the demon king, there was no doubt that they would instantly become famous.


    But what I couldn''t help being impressed with the most was¡­the fact that Tie Gang didn''t feel any guilt.


    There was no doubt that even with this plan, this would be a very dangerous fight.


    This was the monsters of an entire dungeon concentrated in a single area, so this was a very hard place to attack. Even with the plan, it would be fraught with danger.


    This would most likely result in many casualties, but Tie Gang didn''t feel any guilt at all about inspiring them to fight to their deaths like this. In a way, Tie Gang could even be said to be indirectly related to their deaths if they did die fighting these mummies.


    Yet there was no guilt on his face as he put this plan in action.


    It seemed that the impression that I had of Tie Gang was completely wrong.


    I had thought that he was a righteous and forward person who cared deeply for his allies, but it seemed that he was only that on the surface. He was a leader that knew what he had to do and had no qualms about doing it.


    It seemed that there wasn''t a single A Ranker that was simple in this world.

 Chapter 252 - 252: Raid dungeon (44)

    After another long night''s rest, it was time to put the plan in action.


    The reason why we had to wait this long and not head out right away was because we were letting Long Shui Ling recover her mana.


    She was the crux of the plan, so we needed her in her best condition for it to work.


    We all set out from the camp together, but we quickly split up into two separate groups.


    One group was led by Tie Gang while the other group was led by me.


    This time, there were three other groups that came with us to enter the mummy settlement. There would have been more, but this was the limit of what Long Shui Ling could hide with her illusions.


    So this was the group that would be infiltrating the camp.


    The other group was led by Tie Gang and would be waiting outside the mummy settlement.


    They would be waiting for the signal before making their assault.


    One thing that I noticed was that the ones assigned to follow me were those that didn''t have a grudge against me.


    These were the ones that hadn''t looked at me with disdain when I had reported.


    It seemed that Tie Gang had been paying attention and made sure to separate me from those that disliked me.


    After all, if we were apart from Tie Gang and those people refused to follow my orders, it would be a disaster. At least this group would have a better chance of listening to my orders than the others.


    As we approached the mummy settlement, Tie Gang stopped all of us to give one final pep talk.


    We all gathered around in a circle and waited for him to speak.


    Tie Gang didn''t say anything at first as his eyes swept over us.


    He looked at each and every one of us with these eyes as if he was trying to connect with each one of us.


    Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "I know that all of you are daunted by the large hurdle that is in front of us, but I want all of you to know that regardless of what happens, I am proud of you."


    Everyone couldn''t help being surprised since this was unlike anything that Tie Gang had said before.


    But then¡­


    "But I think that we all know what we''re here for today. We''re here for honour and prestige, so I know that we will do all that we can to make this a success. I hope that all of you will have good luck, but more importantly, I hope that all of you will do what you need to do." At the end of this, Tie Gang''s eyes turned sharp and everyone felt a bit of pressure falling on them.


    In a sense, this was his warning for them.


    In the end, Tie Gang ended it by saying, "Most importantly of all, I hope that all of you will do all that you can to stay alive. This will be a dangerous mission, but I will consider it a success as long as we can keep casualties to a minimum."


    Everyone gave a firm nod after hearing this.


    The most important thing for anyone¡­was their own life.


    So naturally they all agreed to this.


    With this, Tie Gang turned to me and said, "Good luck."


    I gave a nod as I said, "You too."


    After that, we split up into our separate groups.


    As we stood there, I looked at everyone and saw the determined looks on their faces.


    I had thought about giving a motivational speech of my own, but it seemed that it wasn''t necessary.


    So with a wave of my hand, I turned and headed in the direction of the wall.


    As we walked over, there was a sensation of magic power coming over us.


    The ones in our group weren''t worried at all since we knew what this was, but the ones from the other three groups were surprised since this was their first time experiencing this.


    It was Long Shui Ling putting up her illusion.


    As she did, I couldn''t help turning back to look at her with a worried look.


    I didn''t know how strong her powers were, but I knew that she was definitely pushing herself like this. I could see that she was struggling a bit to maintain this illusion.


    But when she saw me looking at her, she just put on a strong look as if she was saying that everything was fine.


    I hesitated for a second, but I turned back and faced forward again before moving even faster.


    I couldn''t do anything to help her, so the only thing that I could do was try to get everything set up as soon as possible.


    When we came up to the wall, we were greeted by the mummies that were on it this time before we even approached.


    It seemed like they remembered us, or rather they remembered me.


    When they popped out, the people from the other three groups couldn''t help jolting.


    It was clear that they were nervous seeing these mummies appear, they even seemed like they wanted to pull out their weapons in response to this. However, they stopped when they saw me glaring at them and gesturing with my hand for them to calm down.


    They were a bit hesitant at first, but they still calmed down and followed my orders in the end.


    After we came up to the wall, the same thing happened as before where they lowered down the ladder for us.


    Even though we had come back with more people, they weren''t suspicious at all since they had already heard that we had gone out to find more mummies. So it seemed that Long Shui Ling''s illusion ability was still working even though there were so many of us here. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After getting past the wall, the people from the other three groups couldn''t help being shocked by what they saw.


    Even though they had already heard my report, seeing it with their own eyes was a completely different sensation.


    They never would have thought that there would be a society of monsters living in harmony like this.


    I gave them a moment to come back to their senses since they would be useless to us before then. But then I said, "Get a hold of yourselves. We''re here to do a job, not to gawk in a daze."


    They slowly turned back to look at me before snapping out of their daze.


    They knew that I was right, so they quickly focused their minds and prepared to do what they needed to do.


    We would have quite a bit of ground to cover, but we should be able to do it quite quickly since we could move freely through these mummies.


    Or at least that was what I thought.


    Before we could take a single step, there was a mummy that ran over.


    This was the mummy that had guided us when we had just arrived.


    I thought that it was coming over to take over showing the new mummies around, but it turned out to be something completely different.


    As soon as it came over, it immediately waved its hand as if it was telling me to follow it.


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I saw this.

 Chapter 253 - 253: Raid dungeon (45)

    In the end, I had no choice but to follow the mummy and the rest of the group all followed me.


    The other three groups were confused about what was happening, but my group had grim looks on their faces as they recognized that this wasn''t a good thing.


    The fact that we were being called by this mummy and in such an urgent manner most likely meant that something had happened. If something happened, it was very likely that this was related to the mummy leader.


    Right now, we wanted to stay as far away from the mummy leader as possible to draw as little attention as we could.


    But now it didn''t seem like we had a choice.


    So we had no choice but to follow the mummy to the floor boss'' room.


    As we headed over, I went forward and moaned a few times, using the Suggestion skill to ask this mummy what this was about.


    However, all the mummy did was shake its head.


    The gestures that it made seemed like it was saying that it didn''t know what was happening either. It seemed like all it knew was that it had been told to bring them over as soon as they came back.


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I saw this.


    The other three groups were still confused, but they were slowly starting to understand what was happening.


    As they did, they began to feel more and more tense.


    The looks on their faces even made it seem like they were preparing to fight their way out.


    So I quickly turned around and gestured with my hands for them to calm down.


    They looked like they weren''t willing, but I was able to get them to calm down in the end.


    That was until we made it to the floor boss'' room.


    As soon as we arrived in this place and the pressure came from within, all of them tensed up again. They all reached for their weapons as if they were trapped and wanted to fight their way out.


    So I had no choice but to use my Hypnosis on them.


    I didn''t really want to since there was the risk of exposing myself, but it was better than the other option of having to fight my way out.


    So I said in a soft voice that they could hear, "Calm."


    As soon as they heard my voice, their tense expressions slowly relaxed.


    But this was also heard by the mummy who turned around to look at me with a strange look.


    It moaned and gestured, as if it was asking me if I said something.


    I quickly shook my head and moaned to deny this.


    The mummy looked at me with the same strange look for a bit, but it dropped it in the end and waved its hand for us to follow it in.


    When it pushed open the door, the pressure that came from within was even stronger.


    This was a pressure that we hadn''t felt before¡­it was as if the mummy leader was facing off against something or¡­it was preparing for something.


    When the mummy on the throne saw us come in, the pressure that it released suddenly stopped and it stood up to come over to me. It took me by the shoulder and pulled me over to the stairs to the third floor before saying, "The time has finally come. It''s time for us to invade the third floor and take down that tyrant ruling over this place."


    I couldn''t help revealing a shocked look when I heard this.


    The mummy leader felt the tremble in my body and even though it couldn''t see my ''face'' through the bandages of the illusion, it knew what I was feeling. So the mummy leader said, "I know that this surprises you, so let me tell you why I''m doing this."


    It let go of my shoulder and walked over to the stairs, staring up towards the third floor.


    I slowly came up behind him and stared up too, but I found that we weren''t able to see a single thing other than the roof. The stairs were so tall that we weren''t able to see the third floor at all.


    After a moment of silence, the mummy leader said, "I believe that the lord gave me this power to liberate us and bring us into the outside world." Then its eyes turned sharp as it said, "However, the tyrant up there believes that this power was given to us to defend our lands and to ensure that no invaders come again. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instead of using the power given to us to invade the outside world, it insists on staying in this place and ruling over this small piece of land."


    The mummy leader gave a sigh before continuing, "I have tried many times to convince that fool, but it just wouldn''t listen. So I''ve had no choice but to gather my troops and fight it out with that fool. I hope that it will come to see reason once I beat some sense into it."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows even more when I heard this.


    Just from this, I had picked up several clues.


    It seemed that the dungeon boss had also been affected by whatever it was that affected this floor boss¡­


    It seemed that the two bosses were currently at odds about the power that they had been given and what they should do with it.


    And it seemed that there was a war imminent between these two sides.


    This was all very important information that would completely change what we were planning to do.


    In fact, this made our jobs much easier as long as we used this information against them¡­


    So the first thing that popped into my mind was that we should go back.


    We had to report this to Tie Gang and come up with a new plan.


    But the question was, how were we supposed to go back?

 Chapter 254 - 254: Raid dungeon (46)

    The mummy leader recovered from its emotional state and turned back to look at me to say, "That is where you come in."


    It grabbed me by the shoulders again and we walked back over to where the others were waiting.


    After walking over, the mummy leader said, "We will gather everyone and attack tomorrow. When that comes, you will be the one leading them on my behalf while I take down that tyrant."


    As it said this, it looked at the other mummy who had led us here and that mummy gave a nod.


    It was clear that this was also an order for the mummy to pass down to everyone else.


    After seeing this nod, the mummy leader turned back to look at me, as if it was waiting for my response.


    I was silent for a bit before suddenly giving a moan.


    The mummy leader revealed a surprised look when it heard this before it said, "Yes, we need to take everyone. Only if we take everyone will we have enough forces to keep them occupied while I fight their leader."


    I shook my head before moaning again.


    The mummy leader fell silent for a bit before saying, "You''re right about that¡­but that is a risk that we have to take. If we don''t do this now, we might not have a chance to do this."


    The mummy leader gave a sigh before continuing, "Just as we are getting stronger, that tyrant is also getting stronger. As much as I hate to admit it, it is stronger than I am and it''s only getting stronger. At this rate, we might not be able to fight it anymore."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback by this.


    With the way that this mummy leader had been acting, I had thought that it was at the head of this raid dungeon. It had already taken over the rest of the monsters and was controlling everything.


    But now it was telling me that this wasn''t the case.


    It seemed that there was another boss, the dungeon boss that had also been affected by whatever had affected this mummy leader. And it seemed that it had become even stronger than this mummy leader.


    That was a very bad situation for us since it meant that there were two powerful monsters that we had to deal with¡­


    But I did have a plan.


    I had acted hesitant because I wanted to gain the mummy leader''s trust, but in truth, I wanted them to fight each other. The more monsters that were involved, the better since that meant less enemies for us to face.


    The more casualties there were, the less we would have to do when the time came.


    So after putting on a show of resistance, I went from resisting this idea to supporting it with one more moan.


    The mummy leader was surprised when he heard this moan before slowly saying, "You mean it?"


    I gave a nod in response without saying anything.


    The mummy leader looked at me in silence for a bit before suddenly letting out a sigh of relief. It patted me on the shoulder before saying, "It really is a relief having you on my side. The rest of them don''t have the same mental capacity and only have simple thoughts, so it really is hard for me to come up with all of these ideas on my own.


    But now that you''re here, I finally have someone that I can share my thoughts with."


    The mummy leader''s voice became more and more excited as it said this.


    It was clear that it was lonely and now that it had finally found someone that it could call an equal, it was giving them all the attention that it wanted to give to others.


    But it was too bad for this mummy leader that¡­I was nothing more than a spy.


    I wasn''t here to help them, but to ruin them.


    There would have been a small part of me that would have felt guilty about this, but I didn''t actually feel anything as I lied to the mummy leader''s face.


    After all, in my mind, I had already labelled this mummy leader as a monster.


    Separating it into a completely different group, I was able to completely cut myself off emotionally from this mummy leader and the rest of the mummies.


    Of course, it also helped that there was this connection to the demon king¡­


    I wanted to make sure that it wouldn''t be traced back to me since I was actually a demon king¡­ S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the mummy leader expressed its feelings to me for a while longer, it finally calmed down and explained the plan to me.


    It was planning on attacking the third floor in two days.


    During that time, it wanted me to train up the troops and prepare them for the fight.


    While it didn''t give any specific instructions on how to train the mummies, it did have high hopes for me.


    However, that was a bad idea for me since I needed to leave the camp.


    In the end, I was able to convince it to let me leave the camp again to look for some more stragglers to boost our forces. I would come back before the fight and do some quick training since it was impossible for this short term training to actually have any effect.


    It did hesitate for a while, but I was able to convince it to let me go in the end.


    But before I did leave, I made sure to leave a few instructions with the mummy that had led us.


    To make it easier to distinguish this mummy, I had come up with a nickname for it.


    Since it had some singed bandages from an unknown place, I decided to name it Singed in my mind.


    With all of that set, it was time for us to head back and tell Tie Gang what had changed, as well as telling him the new plan that I had come up with.

 Chapter 255 - 255: Raid dungeon (47)

    As we were leaving the mummy settlement, I could see the way that the others were looking at me.


    It wasn''t my group, but rather the three other groups that had come with us.


    They were looking at me with awe, shock, and a bit of suspicion.


    After all, the way that I had talked with the mummy leader¡­it was definitely very strange and unlikely.


    The way that the mummy leader accepted me so easily, it really didn''t seem likely.


    So they couldn''t help wondering if I was really on their side.


    But they couldn''t do anything to me right now since I was the only one that could talk to the mummy leader like that. They knew that this was necessary for whatever plan they were going to execute, so they had to go along with it for now.


    When we arrived back, the other group was shocked to see us.


    After all, the plan was to charge the camp after we had set off the explosives that we were supposed to install.


    There were many gazes that looked at me with suspicion, as if they were questioning why I had brought us back so soon.


    These gazes quickly turned to the members of the other three groups.


    It was as if they were asking them to expose me for the liar that I was.


    However, the members of those three groups all turned away when they were looked at like this.


    It was as if they didn''t want to engage with the ones looking at them.


    It was as if they were afraid to speak.


    The members of Tie Gang''s group couldn''t help being shocked and confused when they saw this.


    Tie Gang came forward to meet me with a frown on his face.


    He could tell that there was something wrong since I had come back without setting off the signal.


    So he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    But I just answered with a shake of my head before saying, "Let''s go back, there''s too many ears around here."


    Tie Gang was surprised to hear this, but he still gave a nod and turned to head back to the camp.


    Half an hour later, we were gathered in the same tent as before.


    Tie Gang wasn''t leading the meeting this time and instead had left it to me. He was sitting in the front row, waiting for me to give my report.


    Taking a deep breath, I slowly told them everything that I had learned in the mummy settlement.


    This time, I didn''t hide a single thing from them since I knew that there was no way that I would be able to hide anything. The ones from my group might help me hide these details, but it was clear that the others wouldn''t with the way that they looked at me with suspicion.


    So I decided to just tell them everything.


    Once I was finished, I fell silent as I waited to see how Tie Gang would react to this.


    Tie Gang had deeply knitted brows as he looked down, as if he was deep in thought.


    After a long silence, he finally looked up, but he didn''t look at me. Instead, he looked at the other members of my group as if he was confirming this with them.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t believe me, it was just that¡­this was simply too unbelievable for him to believe.


    So he needed a second opinion just to make sure that this was real.


    As he looked at them, the others in the room also turned to look at them with gazes as if they were trying to pressure them into saying that this was all false.


    However, they couldn''t lie about this since this was too important.


    In the end, all of the members of my group confirmed that this was correct.


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows again when he saw this and looked down again as if he was deep in thought.


    But the others didn''t take it so well.


    There were a few that revealed looks of panic before suddenly standing up. They pointed at me and shouted, "This is all a lie! There''s no way that any of this could be true! They must be lying to cover for themselves!"


    The members of my group were silent, but the members of the other three groups couldn''t help revealing ugly expressions.


    They were about to fight back against these accusers, but Tie Gang suddenly slapped his hand onto the table.


    The table instantly collapsed with a loud sound and everyone''s attention immediately turned to Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang didn''t even look up at them as he said in a calm voice, "You know the truth in your heart. Don''t let the panic take over." S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After he said this, everyone immediately fell silent before sitting down again.


    Yes, they knew in their hearts that it was too wild for it to be a lie that everyone would be able to agree to, but this was a way for them to calm themselves by proclaiming that this was a lie.


    After a long period of silence, Tie Gang finally looked up and he looked at me.


    There was a firm look in his eyes as if he had already come to a decision as he said, "You have a plan, don''t you?"


    When everyone heard this, they all looked at me.


    There were many different gazes aimed at me with many different emotions, but I ignored them all as I looked right back at Tie Gang.


    Seeing the look in his eyes, I could guess what his goal was.


    So I said with a nod, "Yes."


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "Alright, let''s hear it. If it''s good, we''ll follow your plan."


    There were many people that wanted to make an objection to this, but they didn''t get a chance as Tie Gang''s eyes swept over them and he said, "Unless any of you have any better plans."


    Everyone immediately fell silent after hearing this.


    Tie Gang gave a nod before saying, "That''s what I thought."


    Then he turned back to me as if he was waiting for me to tell them my plan.


    I took a deep breath and said, "My plan is¡­"

 Chapter 256 - 256: Raid dungeon (48)

    A day later, we were heading back to the mummy settlement.


    This time, there was only our group that went in.


    Without the other three groups, it was easier for Long Shui Ling to keep up her illusions. But of course, she would have to keep up the illusion of the other three groups since it would be strange if they suddenly went missing.


    Still without having to match their movements, it was no doubt easier for her to keep up the illusion.


    We easily made our way into the camp where we found the mummies currently training.


    When Singed saw me, it immediately waved me over to help it. However, I shook my head and gave a moan.


    It looked disappointed, but it understood and let me off.


    With my group, we moved around the camp and set up a few things in hidden spots.


    These were the explosives that we should have put in the camp yesterday.


    Though it seems excessive, it was better to cover everything just in case since there was no knowing what would happen.


    It didn''t take long for us to set these up and the mummies didn''t even notice them. They were well hidden, so there was no need for us to put any illusions on them to hide them.


    After putting these explosives in place, it was all about waiting.


    The hardest part would be on Long Shui Ling since she would have to keep up these illusions the entire time.


    After another few hours, it was finally time to set off.


    This was our first time seeing the mummy leader out of the floor boss room, but it came out this time to address all of the mummies who had been gathered.


    All of them stood in the center of the square as they waited for the mummy leader to appear.


    When it did, they all couldn''t help revealing looks of awe and fear.


    I also couldn''t help looking at the mummy leader with a strange look since it was releasing an aura that it hadn''t released before.


    This time, it looked like it really was the boss of this group.


    After the mummy leader came forward, it suddenly said, "My fellow people, today is the day that we fight for our freedom."


    The mummies couldn''t help revealing confused looks when they heard this.


    The mummy leader revealed a serious look as it said, "We have been under the suppression of that tyrant for too long. Today is the day that we finally free ourselves from his rule!"


    Many of the mummies didn''t seem too enthusiastic about this, almost as if they didn''t really care about this.


    But the mummy leader''s suppression was more than enough for them to go along with it still.


    The mummy leader could naturally see that there was a lack of morale, but it didn''t care at all. After all, these mummies were nothing more than distractions for it to get to its true enemy.


    As long as they stalled the others, that was more than enough for it.


    Once he finished saying this, the mummy leader revealed an excited look as it turned to look at me. With a wave of its hand, it said, "Now, I want to introduce the one that will be leading you all."


    I gave a sigh and had no choice but to go onto the stage.


    With the way that the mummy leader had spoken, it seemed like I would receive hate or apathy from the mummies since they didn''t support this fight.


    When I walked up over to where the mummy leader was, there were many gazes that had traces of hostility in them.


    They didn''t openly show their hostility, but it was clear that they weren''t happy to see me.


    That is until a few of them started to speak up for me.


    To my surprise, there were quite a few mummies that suddenly started speaking up for me as I stood up there, though it was mostly moaning from them.


    As I looked carefully, I saw that it was¡­the mummies that I had talked to on the first night.


    The ones that had been with us when we built our house, they were the ones that suddenly spoke up for me. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I didn''t know why they did this, but eventually the entire atmosphere started to change.


    It wasn''t just those mummies that were talking about me, but the others were slowly talking about me as well. Judging by the tone of their moaning, it didn''t seem like it was bad.


    It almost seemed like they were supporting me.


    But why would they do that when they didn''t know me?


    They shouldn''t be showing support for me like this without knowing anything about me¡­


    It didn''t take long before it seemed like the rest of the mummies joined in on the cheering.


    Judging by the way that they looked at me and moaned to each other, it almost seemed like they all knew about me.


    The mummy leader revealed a look of admiration before coming over to pat me on the shoulder.


    Just what was going on here?


    I couldn''t be more confused when I saw all of these mummies acting this way¡­


    But it seemed that they were willing to fight because I was here¡­


    So it seemed that there wouldn''t be a problem in putting the plan in action.


    After the rally to raise morale, the mummy leader called for the others to follow it as it headed to the floor boss room.


    It was at this time that we also sent the signal to Tie Gang''s group who were waiting outside.


    Since all the mummies were going, it meant that there was no one here to watch over the settlement.


    We had thought about using explosives to chase the ones that stayed behind out, but it didn''t seem necessary.


    When the time came, Tie Gang''s group should be able to make their way through this settlement and to the next floor where the fight would be.

 Chapter 257 - 257: Raid dungeon (49)

    When we reached the entrance to the third floor, we suddenly stopped.


    That was because there was a powerful aura that was coming from the third floor.


    This was an aura that was even more powerful than the one that the mummy leader had released earlier.


    It was clear that whatever was on the third floor was stronger than the mummy leader¡­yet it still wanted to fight them. This was without care of what the costs would be if they actually fought whatever was on the third floor.


    This mummy leader was either very selfish or it had some kind of plan.


    As far as I could tell¡­it was most likely selfish.


    But that was to be expected since it didn''t have this intelligence for long.


    Based on what I had heard from the mummy leader, I knew that this mummy leader had only been intelligent for a few days.


    So in terms of mental maturity, this mummy leader was on the same level as a child.


    Maybe that was why it insisted on fighting whatever was on the third floor.


    But that didn''t mean that the rest of the mummies would go that easily.


    They just remained there at the entrance to the third floor, not moving at all as if they were afraid to go up.


    When the mummy leader saw this, it revealed a displeased look. However, it knew that it wouldn''t be able to do anything to convince them to go.


    If it used force, that would have the opposite effect and make them even more unwilling to go. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It needed these mummies to distract the others while it faced the dungeon boss, so it couldn''t go without these mummies backing it up.


    So the only thing that this mummy leader could do was turn to me.


    The way that it was looking at me was as if it was asking me to do something.


    With a sigh, I turned back to look at the mummies and gave a moan before waving my hand at them as if I was calling them forward.


    Only when they saw that it was me did they slowly start moving towards the entrance to the third floor.


    The mummy leader looked at me with a grateful look before saying, "It''s time to leave our mark in history. Men, know that you are taking the first step towards your independence today."


    The mummies just looked at it like it was an immature child that was shouting out random things when they saw it acting like this.


    I also couldn''t help giving a secret sigh.


    I would be done with this mummy leader too if it wasn''t for the fact that I was using it.


    So I just went along with it and our group started moving up to the third floor.


    But as we went up the stairs, the aura that came from above us became even stronger.


    It was clear that whatever was up there wouldn''t be in a mood to show mercy¡­


    Still, we didn''t stop until we came up to the third floor.


    As soon as we came up, we were met by several mummies that were pointing spears at us.


    These mummies weren''t just normal mummies as far as I could tell since they had things that normal mummies didn''t. These were mummies that had golden jewelry on, showing that they were clearly different from the rest of the mummies.


    There was another one of these mummies with golden jewelry that came forward, but this one also had what seemed to be a golden headdress.


    After we were surrounded, the one with the golden headdress said, "You know that you''re not welcome here. Ever since you were banished from this place, you were told to never come back."


    It wasn''t just me, the other mummies also looked at the mummy leader with surprised looks.


    Not a single one of us expected something like this.


    It was so shocking that I even ignored the fact that this mummy with the headdress was talking.


    But the mummy leader didn''t care as it said, "And I told you that I would be back to take my revenge for kicking me out like that."


    The mummy with the headdress narrowed its eyes to look at the mummy leader before saying, "And how are you planning on doing that? When you were here, you couldn''t beat any of us."


    The mummies looked at the mummy leader with even more shock when they heard this¡­


    But they didn''t doubt this because they could feel the aura that was coming from the mummies pointing spears at them.


    This aura¡­was similar to the aura of the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader wasn''t worried at all as it suddenly burst into laughter before saying, "Is that all you have to say to me? And here I was worried that it would be something important, but this was all that you had to say?"


    All of a sudden, the mummy leader stopped laughing and looked at the mummy with the headdress with cold eyes before saying, "Is that really all that you have to say?"


    For some reason, the mummy with the headdress couldn''t help feeling worried when it heard this. For some reason, there was a chill that ran down the spine of the mummy with the headdress when it heard this.


    That mummy knitted its brows before raising its hand and saying, "Get ready."


    As soon as its voice fell, the other mummies readied their spears as if they were prepared to charge.


    When the mummies on our side saw this, they couldn''t help tensing up since they could feel the pressure coming from these mummies. They knew that these mummies definitely weren''t weak¡­


    Or at least they weren''t enemies that they would be able to deal with.


    But the mummy leader broke out in laughter again before raising its hand and saying, "It''s time for you to learn what the difference between us is."


    After it said this, there was a black energy that appeared in its hand.

 Chapter 258 - 258: Raid dungeon (50)

    The mummies with spears couldn''t help looking at the black energy with strange looks.


    The one with the headdress started to say something, but it didn''t get a chance to finish as the mummy leader suddenly pointed the hand with the dark energy in it at these mummies.


    When it did, the dark energy suddenly started to shake.


    It didn''t leave the mummy leader''s hand, but just shook there as if something was about to happen.


    Then the mummies with spears felt their hands become weaker as they suddenly dropped the spears that they had been pointing at us.


    They all looked at each other with shocked and confused looks as they didn''t understand what had happened.


    All they felt was this weakening sensation that made them lose their grip on their spears and drop them. They had no idea where this sensation came from or even what caused it.


    But it was there and they couldn''t resist.


    The mummy with the headdress immediately recognized what the cause was and looked at the mummy leader with narrowed eyes as it said, "What did you do?"


    The mummy leader revealed what seemed to be a smile based on its eyes and then said, "I thought that I was inferior and you didn''t care about what I did? Why are you suddenly caring?"


    The mummy with the headdress deeply knitted its brows, but there was nothing that it could say in response to this. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, it had no idea what was even happening, so it had no idea what to say.


    The mummy leader didn''t care about whether it responded or not, it just kept pointing its hand at them.


    It didn''t take long before there was some kind of dark energy that came out of these mummies.


    This dark energy was unlike anything that they had seen before, but for some reason they felt that it looked familiar. For some reason, it felt like they had seen it before.


    Then they suddenly looked at the dark energy that was in the hand of the mummy leader.


    That''s right, it was just like this dark energy!


    Why was this mummy leader able to control it?


    It was at that moment that they finally realized what was happening.


    This dark energy that was in the hand of the mummy leader, it was drawing out the dark energy from them and this dark energy was what was causing the weakening feeling inside of them.


    They didn''t know what this dark energy was, but they knew that it was something important to them.


    The only one that had a look of recognition on their face during all of this was¡­me.


    The moment that the mummy leader had gathered that dark energy, I immediately knitted my brows since I felt a familiar feeling coming from it.


    It was a feeling that I was familiar with since¡­I lived with someone that gave off the same feeling.


    Lilith.


    Whatever this energy was, I was certain that it was related to the demon king in some way.


    And the fact that the mummy leader was able to control it, it was very likely that it had a deeper connection with the demon king than I thought. It was even likely that this mummy leader was one of the chosen subordinates of the demon king.


    Or the ''lord'' as it chose to call them.


    The mummy with the headdress knew that this situation was bad, so it said, "Forget about everything and just take care of this traitor! As long as we can take it down, there''s nothing to worry about from the rest of them!"


    The mummies that had been standing there with shocked looks suddenly came back to their senses and were about to move forward to take care of the mummy leader.


    However, before they could move far, the mummy leader suddenly took a step forward.


    The moment that it did, it disappeared on the spot.


    When it reappeared again, it was where the mummy with the headdress was.


    The mummy with the headdress looked at it with shock and confusion, but it also quickly reacted and was about to attack it.


    But before it could, the mummy leader''s hand was already at the neck of the mummy with the headdress. It gripped that neck and lifted the mummy with the headdress up before saying, "Who''s inferior now?"


    The mummy with the headdress wanted to say something, but it found that it wasn''t able to say a thing with the way that the mummy leader gripped its throat.


    It was only able to make a few choking sounds that didn''t make any sense.


    The mummy leader didn''t waste any time and crushed the throat of the mummy with the headdress before throwing it to the side.


    As the mummy leader threw that mummy with the headdress away, there was some kind of black energy that came out of that body that it threw. This dark energy flowed through the air before coming to the orb that was in the mummy leader''s other hand.


    The other mummies were shocked when they saw this and didn''t know how to react.


    Then all hell broke loose when the mummy leader attacked them.


    There were some that tried to run away and there were some that tried to fight the mummy leader.


    However, not a single one of them was able to match the mummy leader''s speed.


    The mummy leader just ran around the ones that came to attack it and reached the ones that were running away. Once it appeared there, it suddenly said, "You think that you can get away?"


    When it reached the ones that were running, it stabbed them in the back with its hand that was now covered in a layer of that dark energy.


    Its hand quickly pierced through them and turned them into dust.


    Out of the dust came some more of the same dark energy that attached itself to the dark energy orb in the mummy leader''s hand.


    Slowly but surely, the mummy leader wiped out this entire group by itself.

 Chapter 259 - 259: Raid dungeon (51)

    Once it finished off this group, the mummy leader just stood there while dark energy kept gathering in the dark energy orb in its hand.


    As the dark energy gathered, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    I wasn''t the only one as the others all knitted their brows while staring at the mummy leader.


    Even the other mummies revealed complicated looks when they saw this.


    That was because all of us could feel the aura of the mummy leader getting stronger.


    It was as if gathering all of that dark energy just made it stronger¡­


    After a long time, it seemed like the mummy leader had finally finished digesting all of the dark energy that it had gathered.


    It closed its hand and the dark energy that had been gathered entered back into the mummy leader. As it did, we could feel that the aura of the mummy leader was getting stronger and more stable.


    When it opened its eyes again, it walked back over to us and waved its hand for us to follow it.


    However, no one moved a single inch since we were all too stunned to move.


    Not a single one of us could understand what had happened just now.


    The mummy leader saw this and turned around to look at us before waving its hand at us again to follow.


    I took the lead and went forward to ask with a moan, "What was that?"


    The mummy leader looked at me with one raised brow.


    If it was someone else, he wouldn''t have bothered to answer¡­but since it was me, he hesitated a bit before saying, "That was a special power that I was granted by the lord."


    With a sigh, he said, "When I was chased out all that time ago, I was given this power by the lord. Though I never really used it before this since I didn''t know how to use it properly. But during that fight just now, I figured it out. This power is the power to gather the lord''s power inside of me, to become the lord''s true vessel."


    I couldn''t help looking at the mummy leader with a strange look when I heard this. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But at the same time, I couldn''t help being wary.


    After all, in cases like this¡­it usually ended with the owner of the power losing control and draining their subordinates for their power.


    Though I didn''t know what the mummy leader would do, it was very likely that it would do the same when the time came.


    The mummy leader saw the look on my face and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I slowly shook my head and gave a moan to say, "Nothing."


    The mummy leader still looked at me with one raised brow before saying like he had forgotten something, "Oh right, I''ve just come up with a new name for myself. From now on, you can call me Lucifer."


    Lucifer¡­that was the demon that symbolized the sin of pride.


    Was this supposed to be a clue?


    I couldn''t help asking with a moan, "Why are you suddenly telling us to call you that?"


    The mummy leader looked at me and said, "I just felt like it."


    It was as if this was the most natural thing as he said this, which made me knit my brows even more.


    So I couldn''t help asking again, "Where did you come up with this name?"


    "Where did I come up with this name?" The mummy leader answered with a question before saying, "It just popped into my mind. I don''t know where I came up with it."


    This really seemed like it was being manipulated by something¡­or there was something that was slowly coming together.


    Could it be because of the dark energy that this mummy leader had just absorbed?


    That dark energy clearly had something to do with the demon king, but what if it was even more than I had thought?


    What if the demon king was scattered into pieces of that dark energy and by gathering it together, this mummy leader would become the demon king in the end?


    If that really was the case, then that would be a worst case scenario for me¡­


    If another demon king was suddenly born, there was no doubt that they would recognize me and then expose me.


    If I was exposed, there were only two choices.


    Either kill everyone that knew my new identity, or give up on my plans and my life and hide in the dungeons from now on like a fugitive.


    Neither choices were what I wanted.


    So I had to prevent this from happening if this was the case.


    For now, I would watch over the mummy leader to see how it turned out.


    After all, there was nothing that indicated this was the case right now.


    Once the mummy leader¡­Lucifer was done explaining all of this, it looked at me with an impatient look as if it was saying, "Can we go now?"


    I took a deep breath and started to follow it.


    The interesting thing was that as soon as I started to follow it, the rest of the mummies started to follow me.


    If one didn''t know anything, they would have thought that I was the leader with how all of the mummies followed me¡­but I knew better.


    Seeing that I was following it, Lucifer didn''t hesitate to head deeper into this place.


    However, the third floor wasn''t that big in the first place.


    It didn''t take long before we came across another group of enemies.


    This time, Lucifer didn''t hold back at all as it raised its hand and gathered the same ball of dark energy in it.


    With this ball of dark energy in its hand, it made quick work of the mummies that had caught us.


    After it finished off those mummies, I could see that there was a dark energy that surrounded it.


    It seemed that the more enemies it defeated, the more dark energy that it gained¡­


    The more dark energy that it gathered, the stronger the dark energy layer around it became¡­


    And, the more its aura changed.


    This seemed like it was getting more and more dangerous.

 Chapter 260 - 260: Raid dungeon (52)

    Eventually, we made our way to the dungeon boss room.


    We knew it was the dungeon boss room because of the way that it was decorated.


    The floor itself was designed like the inner chambers of a pyramid.


    So the dungeon boss room was where the sarcophagus of the pharaoh would have been.


    According to the information that we had received from the guild, the dungeon boss was actually a pharaoh mummy. So it wasn''t strange that this dungeon boss room seemed like the final resting place of a pharaoh.


    Standing outside the entrance to this final room were a bunch of mummies with spears, but they didn''t seem to stop us when we arrived.


    It was almost as if they were letting us go in.


    The mummy leader didn''t seem to care about this as it seemed like it wanted to attack them anyway, but a voice suddenly said, "Come in and let''s talk."


    As soon as the mummy leader heard this voice, it couldn''t help stopping.


    Then it revealed a frown as if it was wary of this voice.


    This was my first time seeing the mummy leader act this way.


    I could tell that the owner of this voice definitely wasn''t normal.


    If I had to guess, it was most likely the dungeon boss that spoke just now.


    The mummy leader didn''t say anything, but it looked back at me. It was as if it was asking me to come with it.


    I couldn''t help turning to look at Long Shui Ling.


    After all, it was only with her illusion that I was able to hide myself. If I went too far away from her, I didn''t know if she would be able to keep it up. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, she gave a nod with a strong look on her face as if she was saying that she could do it.


    So I decided to trust her and gave a nod to the mummy leader.


    The two of us walked past the mummies with spears and entered the dungeon boss room.


    As we walked past, the mummies with spears looked at us with strange looks, but they didn''t do anything to us.


    When we came into the dungeon boss room, we found a mummy with a pharaoh''s headdress sitting on the throne in there.


    We only took a few steps into the room before the mummy leader suddenly stopped. When the mummy leader stopped, I also stopped so that I was standing beside it.


    The mummy leader looked up at the pharaoh on the throne and said, "Did you expect to see me again?"


    From the bitterness in its voice, it was clear that the mummy leader resented the pharaoh.


    The pharaoh didn''t seem to really care as it casually looked down at the mummy leader. It didn''t even answer the mummy leader''s question as it asked, "Why are you doing this? I let you live on the second floor and do what you want. Now you''re biting the hand that feeds you?"


    The mummy leader trembled, but it wasn''t out of fear. In a voice that was filled with anger, it said, "You let us live on the second floor? You''re the one that keeps us there, making us unable to leave this place. I''ve told you many times that we should go into the outside world and take what''s ours, but you''ve stopped me every time."


    The pharaoh finally showed some emotion on its face as it said, "Your idea is suicidal. You have no idea what it''s like in the outside world and you want to invade it? That idea will get us all killed. You have no idea just how strong those that live outside are."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    After all, it seemed like the pharaoh knew more than the mummy leader¡­


    It seemed to know that there were humans living outside of this raid dungeon and was wary of them.


    The mummy leader just said in a bitter voice, "You''ve said the same thing again and again, but I''ve never seen any traces of this."


    The pharaoh just shook its head before saying, "You''re too young to understand."


    When it became a matter of age, the mummy leader shouted, "I''m not too young! You''re too stubborn to accept change!"


    The pharaoh didn''t respond after hearing this.


    Instead, the pharaoh turned its eyes to me.


    It looked at me for a bit which made me a bit nervous before saying, "Who is this?"


    The mummy leader revealed an angry look when it heard this before saying, "This is an issue between you and me! Stop getting distracted!"


    The pharaoh gave a snort before saying, "You''re the one that brought this one with you."


    Then the pharaoh looked more intensely at me as it said, "You have a power that is similar to the power of our lord, but there''s something different about it."


    The mummy leader had been about to say something, but it looked at me with a strange look after hearing this.


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows a bit when I heard this.


    It seemed that this pharaoh really had more of the demon king''s power than I expected¡­it was even able to sense that I was a completely different demon king.


    The pharaoh then said, "Who are you and what do you want?"


    I didn''t say anything in response to this and just looked at the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader was looking at me with a strange look, but when it saw me looking at it, it suddenly came back to its senses.


    As if realizing something, it suddenly turned back to the pharaoh and said, "You think that you can distract me with this lie?"


    The pharaoh shook his head and was about to say something, but the mummy leader wouldn''t allow it. The mummy leader looked right at the pharaoh and said, "I won''t listen to any more of your lies. I''m here to end this and that''s what I''m going to do!"

 Chapter 261 - 261: Raid dungeon (53)

    The pharaoh looked at the mummy leader as if it was trying to figure out if it was being serious.


    But then when the mummy leader raised its hand to gather the same dark energy, the pharaoh gave a sigh as it said, "It seems like you really won''t listen to reason¡­then since that''s the case, I''ll respond in turn."


    The pharaoh raised its hands and there was a flail and a crook that suddenly appeared in them.


    These were the symbols of a pharaoh in ancient times, so it only made sense that it would be using them now to fight.


    The mummy leader didn''t turn back to look at me, but it said, "Go and command the others! Don''t let them come into this room and disturb us!"


    I quickly gave a nod and a moan before turning to leave.


    The pharaoh watched me as I left and it said, "You can leave for now, but I''ll come find you later. I want to find out what secrets you are hiding."


    I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine when I heard this, but I suppressed this feeling and went out of the dungeon boss room.


    But the moment that I came out, I found that I was surrounded by spears.


    I didn''t know how the pharaoh had done it, but it had communicated to the guards without saying anything. So the mummy guards outside immediately turned around and pointed their spears at me when I came out.


    When our mummies saw this, they all suddenly became agitated.


    It was very strange to see this since I didn''t feel like they would get this agitated even if the mummy leader was being threatened like this. Yet they were doing this because I was the one having spears pointed at.


    It was almost as if they cared about me more than the mummy leader¡­


    I didn''t know what I had even done to get this kind of respect from them.


    Still, that was a question for another time¡­or a question that wasn''t even worth answering since I didn''t plan on letting any of them live.


    For now, I had to escape from these spears that were being pointed at me.


    Since it was already the climax, it didn''t matter if I showed a bit of my power.


    So I muttered under my breath, "Faster and stronger."


    As soon as I muttered this, I could feel the power that filled me. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Using this power, I suddenly crouched down and gathered the power inside of my legs.


    Then before any of the mummy guards could attack, I burst forth with all of that power and jumped over all of them.


    The mummy guards weren''t able to react in time since Long Shui Ling used her illusion to help make it seem like I had jumped higher than I actually did, which caught them all off guard. But even if they did react, they wouldn''t have been able to do anything since I had jumped out of their reach¡­or at least my illusion did.


    If they hadn''t been stunned by that illusion, they might have been able to throw one or two spears at me.


    But even then, I would have been able to block these spears easily.


    After I reached the other side, I quickly went back to our group of mummies and went to the middle where my group was waiting for me.


    Singed also quickly came over as if it was asking me what we should do.


    I didn''t hesitate to give a moan and as soon as I did, the mummies took a formation.


    This was the basic training that I had given them.


    I knew that it was impossible to teach them to fight properly in the short amount of time that I had, so I just taught them one simple formation. This was a simple formation that was effective enough that it would give anyone a fighting chance.


    Though in truth, that fighting chance was just to stall for time.


    They wouldn''t actually be able to do anything against properly trained troops.


    But that stalled time was all that I needed to put my plan in action.


    Some of the mummies pulled out shields, some of the mummies pulled out spears, and some of the mummies pulled out bows.


    This was a simple formation where there would be a shield wall to block the advance of the enemy, while spears and bows would back them up.


    This would be a hard formation to penetrate, but once a hole opened up¡­it would be over.


    And that was what I was waiting for.


    The mummy guards did their best to try to penetrate the walls, but these mummies had been decently trained that they wouldn''t break that easily.


    They were even able to take a few of the mummy guards down with them.


    It even seemed like they would be able to do some damage to the mummy guards at this rate.


    But during all of this, I was waiting for something to happen.


    After a few minutes, it didn''t seem like either side would back down, but someone tapped on my shoulder.


    When I turned, I saw that it was Claire.


    She had been silently watching the surrounding area, as if she was looking for something special.


    So when she came over, she must have seen it.


    "They just gave the signal." She whispered in my ear.


    I gave a nod before turning to Singed to give a moan.


    Singed was surprised to hear this, but it quickly went forward to give the orders that I had given it.


    Once the order was given, there was a hole that was formed in the shield wall.


    The mummy guards were surprised to see this, but they quickly reacted and sent a group to attack that hole. They didn''t understand why they would do this, but it was an opportunity for them that they didn''t want to give up.


    So they quickly went forward to charge that hole.


    As they did, I revealed a faint smile.

 Chapter 262 - 262: Raid dungeon (54)

    When the mummy guards reached that hole and were about to stab out with their spears, they found that there was something that was flying towards them.


    They immediately stopped moving forward and raised their spears to spin around in an attempt to block the things coming at them.


    This was a wave of arrows that had suddenly been shot from the back of the formation.


    Until now, the bows hadn''t been used as much during the fight.


    There were only a few arrows that came out from time to time since they had been fighting in close range. If they used the arrows, they might have harmed their allies instead of hurting the enemy.


    Only now did a wave of arrows come out like this.


    That was because the enemies had been gathered in a single spot for them to shoot.


    It was impossible for them to miss like this.


    Though they attempted to use the spears to knock down the arrows, they weren''t able to get them all in the end.


    So there were a few of the mummy guards that were injured by these arrows.


    But that wasn''t the end of it.


    Since they were distracted by the arrows, the mummies with spears in the formation also came forward to stab at the mummy guards. They were too distracted by the arrows to properly block and quite a few of them were stabbed by the spears.


    These mummy guards quickly backed away when they saw their comrades being stabbed like this.


    The mummies in the formation wanted to chase, but Singed quickly gave a moan that stopped them.


    As Singed gave this moan, it couldn''t help being surprised by how well this worked.


    It had thought that it was crazy to open up a hole in their formation like this, but now it understood that it acted as the perfect bait. As long as they were able to work properly, they would be able to bait them in and get them while they were all grouped.


    Understanding this, Singed didn''t hesitate to give the order for another hole to be made in their formation.


    However, it was clear that the mummy guards were wary this time.


    They had already seen what had happened last time, so they knew that they couldn''t rashly charge at this hole.


    But one of the mummy guards suddenly said, "Go, charge in."


    The mummy guards looked at each other with confused looks, but in the end, they still went forward.


    That was because the one that had spoken was one with a headdress just like the one that had led the other mummy guards by the entrance to the third floor. It was clear that this one was in charge of this group of mummy guards.


    They were hesitant, but they still went at the hole that was made.


    Singed revealed a disdainful look.


    It didn''t know what these mummy guards were planning, but since they were volunteering to charge into the formation, then it wouldn''t hesitate.


    Singed gave another moan and all of the mummies took their positions.


    These mummies were all prepared for these mummy guards to come in.


    But before the mummy guards reached them, the mummy with the headdress said, "Split up!"


    The mummy guards suddenly split into two groups.


    One was still charging at the formation and they were going even faster than before. The other had slowed down and was getting further away from the first group, but they were still coming at the formation.


    This sudden change caught the mummies of our group off guard.


    The archer mummies all turned to Singed with looks like they were asking what to do.


    This gap was all that they needed to break through.


    The ones that had stalled behind suddenly raised their spears and threw them at our formation. They went over the shield wall that had been spread to create this gap and landed where the archer mummies were.


    Some of them hit targets, but most of them missed.


    However, that was more than enough to stop the archers from firing their arrows and providing cover fire for the ones in front.


    The ones that had charged forward suddenly breached the hole and started breaking down the formation from within.


    In a matter of seconds, the situation had completely collapsed and the shield wall around that hole also started to break.


    The mummies with spears tried their best to push back the mummy guards, but there was a fundamental difference in power between the two sides. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mummy guards were elite monsters of the third floor while the mummies with spears were nothing more than normal monsters of the first and second floor.


    They wouldn''t be able to compete in the first place.


    Singed saw that it was all collapsing and it quickly came back to my side to ask for help.


    However, I didn''t say a single thing as I watched all of this happen.


    Then when the second group of mummy guards pushed into the formation¡­


    "Boom!"


    No one was able to react to this in time as an explosion suddenly rang out.


    This explosion happened right where the hole had been created, wiping out the mummies of the formation and the mummy guards.


    No one moved an inch as they all waited to see what happened.


    When the dust settled and the flames disappeared, a large gap was revealed as many of the mummies had been killed in that explosion.


    They didn''t expect the explosion, so naturally they didn''t have their guards up when it happened.


    When these mummies were hit by the flames, they were all burned away to ashes.


    Not a single mummy here understood what happened, but they also didn''t get a chance to even think about it.


    "Charge!"


    This voice rang out from behind the mummy formation.


    When they all turned in the direction of that voice, they found that there was a group of humans that were suddenly charging at them.

 Chapter 263 - 263: Raid dungeon (55)

    When they saw these humans, both groups of mummies immediately stopped fighting and tried to organize themselves.


    But it was already too late for that.


    They had been completely thrown into chaos by the explosion and their formations were a mess right now.


    The group that Singed led was closer, so they received the brunt of the attack.


    Or it could be said that they didn''t stand a single chance as the humans tore right through their formation.


    However, they didn''t stop to cut them down as they kept charging at the mummy guards.


    The mummy guards also hadn''t gotten back in formation yet, but they were stronger than the other mummies. So at the very least, they were able to put up more of a fight against these humans.


    That was until a certain human came forward.


    This human was very strange¡­instead of looking like a normal human, his skin had turned dark and looked like metal. No matter how they tried to stab him with their spears, they weren''t able to hurt him at all.


    But he kept swinging his sword and cutting them all down.


    The mummy guards couldn''t keep up with him at all as they were cut down by this human alone.


    Then when the other humans followed this human, they were pushed back even more by them.


    Singed thought that this group of humans would leave them alone when they saw this, but it found that there were a few humans that were coming in their direction as well.


    Singed tried its best to gather the mummies to stop them, but they were just too scattered and the humans were too fast.


    By the time that Singed tried to gather everyone, the humans were already wreaking havoc in their lines and pushing them back.


    Singed knew that they were in a very dangerous situation, so it turned around to look for Lin Fan.


    But when it did, it found that Lin Fan was gone.


    Singed couldn''t help being shocked seeing this, but it knew that it couldn''t remain shocked for long.


    Singed quickly went around looking for Lin Fan or the mummies that had been with Lin Fan, but it couldn''t find a single one of them.


    That was until there was a cry that rang out.


    One of the humans had suddenly been pushed back by some kind of explosion.


    This human wasn''t injured, but they were pushed back into the other humans and that stopped their charge.


    They were no longer able to charge at their group and they were able to stabilize around the one that had stopped the humans.


    When Singed saw who it was, it revealed an excited look of awe.


    That was because the one that it had been looking for was the one that had stopped this.


    I had stepped forward and stopped them from coming further forward.


    This group was one of the groups that had been with me when we came to the mummy settlement and right now, they could see that it was me who had stopped them.


    When they saw that it was me that had stopped them, they immediately knitted their brows and looked like they wanted to question me. However, I just shook my head and gave them a look as if I was saying, "Go along with it."


    The Awakeners looked unhappy about this, but they remembered Tie Gang''s orders to go along with whatever I did.


    So in the end, even if they were unhappy, they turned around and went to support Tie Gang.


    They left our group of mummies completely alone.


    Singed immediately came over to my side when it saw this and then it moaned as if it was suggesting that we attack the humans from behind while we had the momentum.


    But I just shook my head in response to this before giving a moan.


    This moan wasn''t for Singed, but rather some of the other mummies that were hanging around inside of the formation.


    When they heard this, they immediately came over to me. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was a group of mummies that I had picked out the day before that would report directly to me.


    I had even given them special training and equipment.


    So they could be considered a sort of elite squad.


    When they gathered, they all looked at me with surprised and confused looks as if they didn''t understand why they had been gathered. After all, they knew that they had been trained for a special purpose which was to¡­assassinate.


    They all had short daggers in their hands which would allow them to quickly stab a vital point and escape, which was what they had been training on the entire time.


    So for them to be called now, it must mean that I wanted to assassinate someone.


    But who would be important enough for them to assassinate?


    I looked at them and gave a moan.


    When I did, all of these assassins revealed surprised looks.


    That was because the moan that I had given was¡­for them to take out the mummy with the headdress.


    They had almost been certain that I would give the order for them to take out the humans, but they never expected me to give the order to take down the mummy with the headdress.


    I looked at them and gave another moan before they all revealed looks of understanding.


    They had forgotten why we were even here.


    We were here to support our leader who was currently in a fight in the dungeon boss room.


    So to access the dungeon boss room, we needed to take care of the mummy guards and the mummy with the headdress.


    For now, the humans were actually helpful to us.


    Singed looked at me with a strange and worried look, it was as if there was something that it wanted to say.


    But in the end, it didn''t say anything.


    Since they understood what they needed to do, the assassins didn''t waste any time in heading out.


    As they left, I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile.

 Chapter 264 - 264: Raid dungeon (56)

    These assassin mummies smoothly made their way through the crowd.


    With the chaos that enveloped the battlefield, there wasn''t a single person or monster that noticed them as they made their way through.


    There were multiple chances for them to attack the humans, but they didn''t do it in the end. They had looked like they wanted to do it, but they held themselves back in the end and focused on their task at hand.


    Singed looked at them with worried looks before turning back to me to give a moan.


    It had held itself back earlier, but now it couldn''t hold back anymore.


    After all, Singed felt a very bad feeling from all of this.


    It didn''t know what this bad feeling was, but it felt like there was some kind of trap waiting for them.


    But I just shook my head and gave a moan telling it that it was fine.


    At the same time, I said that this was the only way.


    Singed looked like it thought otherwise, but it fell silent in the end.


    Still, the way that Singed gripped its weapon made it clear that there was something that it wanted to do.


    The mummy assassins soon made their way over to where the mummy with the headdress was.


    This mummy with the headdress was surrounded by the different mummy guards.


    After the humans had charged at them, the mummy guards gathered as tightly as they could to stop the humans from breaking through. They made sure to stand right in front of the door to the dungeon boss room so that no one would be able to break through.


    But in the end, there was still one human that was pushing his way through.


    That one human whose skin had changed colour and was hard as metal.


    When the mummy assassins were around the mummy with the headdress, they stopped moving as if they were waiting for an opportunity.


    They could have gone in and stabbed that mummy with the headdress, but it was too dangerous right now. The mummy guards around the mummy with the headdress were all elites and they were very tense.


    They could tell that as soon as they approached the mummy with the headdress, they would be discovered by these elite guards.


    However, an opportunity soon came for them.


    "Go and take him down."


    The mummy with the headdress suddenly said to these elite guards.


    The elite guards looked at the mummy with the headdress with concerned and confused looks.


    The mummy with the headdress had been silently observing the situation and knew that this was very bad for them. They had been given one task and even if there were all these variables, this was what they had to do.


    And this human¡­was the biggest variable that would ruin this.


    So the mummy with the headdress had no choice but to do this.


    Seeing that they weren''t moving at all, the mummy with the headdress said, "Stop questioning my orders and go. Do you not remember what the task we were given was?"


    The elite mummy guards looked at each other before they left the mummy with the headdress and started charging at the human with the metallic skin.


    The mummy with the headdress narrowed its eyes to look at this human before muttering under its breath, "Just where did this human come from? It''s been so long since the last human came¡­so why would they suddenly appear?"


    There was no answer for these questions.


    They could only do what they needed to do.


    But this gave an opportunity to the assassin mummies.


    Seeing that the elite mummy guards had left the area around the mummy with the headdress, they moved forward to get closer to the mummy with the headdress.


    When they were all in place and saw that the elite mummy guards were now occupied with fighting that human, they suddenly jumped out and stabbed their daggers at the mummy with the headdress.


    The mummy with the headdress was surprised to see this since it had been focused on the human, but it didn''t panic when it saw these assassins.


    After all, there was a reason why it was chosen as the leader of these mummy guards.


    When the daggers of the assassins came forward, the mummy with the headdress reached its hand out.


    In one swift move, it grabbed the arm of the closest assassin and suddenly swung that assassin around, catching the rest of them. With this assassin that it held in its hand, it used them as a bat to knock the rest of them away.


    Once the other assassins had been knocked back, the mummy with the headdress held the mummy assassin that it had caught in its hand up in front of it. It looked at this mummy assassin and said, "Ho, so you''re even capable of doing something like this? It seems like whoever''s¡­"


    Before it could finish speaking, it suddenly gave a grunt of pain.


    That was because there was another mummy assassin that had appeared behind that stabbed it in the back.


    The mummy with the headdress looked back at this mummy assassin who had stabbed it in the back and its face twisted in anger as it shouted, "You dare!"


    It turned around even though it had a dagger in its back and swung the mummy assassin in its hand at the one that had stabbed it. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed like it wanted to use this mummy assassin to crush the one that had stabbed it.


    The one that stabbed the mummy with the headdress let go of its daggers and wanted to run away to draw the mummy with the headdress into a bad position, but¡­


    None of them got the chance to do that.


    The mummy assassin that the mummy with the headdress had been swinging suddenly swelled before¡­it exploded.


    No one knew where this explosion came from, but the mummy with the headdress was caught in the center of this explosion.

 Chapter 265 - 265: Raid dungeon (57)

    When the dust settled and the flames disappeared, a charred figure was revealed.


    However, unlike before where the ones caught up in the explosion were completely turned to ashes, this figure was still standing.


    Half of this figure was blackened by the flames of the explosion, but the rest of it seemed fine.


    It seemed that there had been something that had protected the other half of this figure.


    As for who this figure was¡­it was the mummy with the headdress, though it was missing the headdress now. That headdress had been melted by the heat of the explosion and was now clinging to the mummy''s head like a molten mess.


    With a cough of blood, the mummy roared, "You sons of b*tches! How dare you use this kind of sneak attack on me!"


    But not a single one of the mummy assassins could react to this.


    After all, they had no idea what had caused the explosion in the first place.


    None of them knew that this explosion was even capable, so they were absolutely baffled by why their companions had exploded like this.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t have the time to think about this¡­ S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All of a sudden, they started feeling this stuffed feeling inside of them, as if there was something that was expanding. They didn''t know what it was, but they started swelling up just like the other mummy assassin had.


    The mummy with the headdress saw this and panicked before turning to run.


    It had already felt the force of this explosion once and knew that if it took another one of these hits, then it wouldn''t be able to resist it.


    If it was caught up in another one of these explosions, there was no doubt that it would die this time.


    So when its life was in danger like this, it only thought of one thing.


    It thought of how to ensure its survival.


    It no longer cared about any of the orders that it had been given, it didn''t even care about the mummy guards that were nearby that were depending on its orders.


    If it was a bit more rational, it might have even ordered them to charge at them to block the explosion with their bodies.


    But it was panicking right now and only thought of one thing¡­how to get out of there as soon as possible.


    The human with the metallic skin took advantage of this and charged at the mummy with the headdress.


    By the time that the mummy with the headdress noticed this, it was already too late. The sword of that human was already swinging down on it and it could only watch as that sword cut right into its head.


    In its last moments, it just couldn''t believe that this was how it would end for it.


    It never thought that it would be forced into this situation and killed like this.


    On the other side¡­


    Singed had been shocked by the explosion that suddenly happened and was standing there in a daze as it tried to figure out what happened.


    But before it could¡­there was this painful sensation that came from behind.


    When it turned around, it saw Lin Fan was standing there with a sword that stabbed right through its chest.


    Singed looked back at me and gave a moan as if it was saying, "Why?"


    I looked right into Singed''s eyes and said, "This is the way that it has to be."


    There was no regret at all in my voice as I said this because I had already disassociated myself from this group.


    Thanks to Long Shui Ling''s illusion, the other mummies around us didn''t notice this at all.


    But the other Awakeners that were fighting the mummies could see the signal that we were giving them.


    They were confused about the signal that we gave, but they still listened and moved away from the mummies.


    The mummies were confused why the Awakeners did this until all of sudden¡­there were more explosions that rang out among the mummies.


    This time, the explosions rang out deep in the formation of the mummies, blowing large holes all over the place in their formation. It didn''t take long before most of the mummies had been blown up by the explosions.


    As for the stragglers, it seemed like they had completely lost all their will to fight.


    This was all prepared by me.


    I had saved some of the explosives that we were supposed to plant in the town and had used them on the mummies instead.


    I had found that as long as I used the Hypnosis, I was able to make them not notice the bombs that were hidden under their bandages.


    It was just a matter of setting them off at the right time like I had done.


    Now that the mummies had been cleared out with the explosions, there was nothing left for us to do except sweep through the remnants.


    So I gave a nod to my group and they started sweeping out the rest of the mummies.


    At the same time, seeing that the Awakeners were just standing there, I said, "What are you doing? Clear out the rest of them, don''t waste this chance!"


    They were stunned to hear me say this, but then they quickly came back to their senses and started attacking the mummies.


    The mummies were in no position to fight back since they had been completely scattered by the explosions.


    Even the mummy guards had been caught by this and had their formations scattered.


    Though, Tie Gang alone was enough to take them down after their leader had been killed.


    In no time at all, we sweeped through the rest of the mummies that were left.


    Though there were quite a few of them that looked at us with strange looks since the illusions were still up.


    Long Shui Ling had forgotten to take them off since she had been focused on fighting as well.


    I just ignored these looks, but it was clear that the rest of my group was a bit affected by this.

 Chapter 266 - 266: Raid dungeon (58)

    Once all of the mummies had been taken care of, I walked over to where Tie Gang was.


    Tie Gang was standing over the mummy guards that he had taken care of and seemed to be looking over them.


    As I walked over, I could see that there was something strange about his expression, so I asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Tie Gang looked back to see me before turning back to look at the mummy guard corpses on the ground. With a deep frown on his face, he said, "It''s strange how they don''t disappear."


    At first, I was confused by what he said, but then I realized what he was talking about.


    He was referring to the mummy guard corpses in front of us.


    That''s right, it was strange!


    The mummies that I had brought all scattered away and dropped loot items after they were killed, though some of those loot items were lost in the flames of the explosions that I had set.


    But these mummy guards¡­they didn''t seem to disappear.


    Even the mummy with the headdress that had its head split open by Tie Gang was still lying there.


    When I looked closely, I found that it was only the mummies that I had brought with me that had disappeared and turned into loot. The mummy guards that had originally been on the third floor didn''t disappear after dying.


    Though a few of the corpses had been burnt into ashes by the flames of the explosions, most of them still remained.


    What had happened in this dungeon that had changed these monsters like this? S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang gave a sigh and said, "Let''s worry about this later. For now, there''s still one more thing that we have to do."


    But I wasn''t able to leave this matter so easily since I had a deeper connection to this than Tie Gang.


    As a demon king, I knew that it was the demon king energy that was affecting these mummies. That was what changed them and made them strange like this, causing them not to disappear after death.


    I could even feel the energy that was similar to Lilith''s energy escaping them as they laid there as corpses¡­


    But the most shocking thing was that there was this sensation deep inside of me that seemed like it wanted to absorb this energy¡­


    I had never felt this way before, it was only when there was this large amount of this strange energy that I felt this way.


    It really didn''t seem to make sense at all¡­


    However, the thing that I was most curious about was how these corpses remained after they had been killed.


    Before this, it was almost as if the monsters in the dungeon didn''t exist in this world until a dungeon break happened. That was the explanation that was generally accepted by people on why monsters just disappeared in dungeons after they were killed.


    Though no one really had a theory as to what happened to them after they disappeared.


    But now it seemed like the demon king energy was capable of making these monsters real even though they were still in the dungeon.


    This opened up a completely new world for me.


    If I was able to use my Hypnosis powers to do the same with the monsters of the dungeon, wouldn''t that mean that I would be able to build up a large force that I could use at any time?


    Though there would be the problem of getting them out of the dungeon, hiding them in the human world, and many other things, it was still something that was definitely worth thinking about.


    In a worst case scenario, I would just be able to turn a dungeon into my personal safe zone. In the future, if anything happened or I needed to take care of someone, I could always use that dungeon.


    I couldn''t help feeling more excited as these thoughts came into my mind.


    But I was quickly pulled back from these thoughts by Tie Gang.


    Tie Gang came over and tapped me on the shoulder before saying, "Are you alright?"


    I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see his concerned expression before saying, "I''m fine."


    Tie Gang looked at me with the same concerned look before patting me on the shoulder and saying, "They''re just monsters. You don''t need to feel anything towards them. If they knew who you really were, they would have torn you to pieces. It''s just kill or be killed with them."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by his words before realizing that he had misunderstood something.


    He thought that I had been in a daze because I had felt guilty about betraying those monsters.


    But that was a good thing since I didn''t want him to even guess what I was actually thinking.


    I said with a nod, "Un, I know. I''ll be fine for the final battle, you don''t need to worry about me."


    Tie Gang saw the look in my eyes and gave a nod of appreciation.


    Then he turned to the rest who had finished cleaning up the mummies and said, "Everyone, get ready. We''re about to face the final boss."


    All of them revealed firm looks on their faces, but there were a few that had worried looks.


    These were the ones that had gone to see the mummy leader with me before.


    It was clear that they had a more clear idea of how strong this final boss would be.


    But to give the rest a good idea, I suddenly said, "Let me tell you what we''re about to face."


    Stay tuned with m-v l|e''m,p y r


    Tie Gang was surprised that I would step up like this.


    He had been planning on letting me hang back since he thought that I was affected by betraying the mummies, but seeing that I was already stepping forward, he took a step back for me to speak.


    "There are two bosses that we have to face. One of them is the mummy leader from before and the other is the dungeon boss¡­"

 Chapter 267 - 267: Raid dungeon (59)

    There was a clash of dark energy in the air before two figures were sent flying to opposite sides of the room.


    When they stabilized themselves, their appearances were revealed.


    One was a mummy that was currently holding a ball of dark energy in its hand.


    The other one was another mummy with a flail and a crook in their hands.


    The two of them just glared at each other with clear hostile intentions.


    It was clear that neither side liked each other and they even seemed like they wanted to see the other side die.


    At the same time, it didn''t seem like either side was about to back down.


    But neither side made a move as they just stared at each other.


    It was almost as if they were just having a stare down instead of fighting.


    But in reality, both of them were trying to size up the other side.


    Neither of them had been able to find an opening during their clash just now and they knew that they wouldn''t get anywhere if they kept fighting like this.


    Unless there was an opening, it would be impossible for them to inflict actual damage on the other side.


    So for now, it would be a waste of time to keep clashing like this.


    The pharaoh mummy was more than happy to stall for time since it believed that its subordinates would be able to clear out the mummy leader''s troops and come help it.


    The leader mummy thought the same, so it was worried that the mummy guards would come in soon.


    It felt more pressure than the pharaoh mummy to find a way to end this.


    But in the end, neither side was able to find a solution.


    That was until the door opened and a figure came in.


    When that figure came in, both of them immediately looked in the direction of that figure with sharp eyes.


    They knew that whoever''s side this person was on, that would be the side that would gain the advantage.


    When they saw who it was, the pharaoh revealed a disappointed and worried look while the mummy leader revealed an excited look.


    That was because it was Lin Fan who had suddenly come into the room.


    The mummy leader immediately said, "You''re finally here! Did you take care of the rest?"


    When I heard this, I gave a nod before giving a moan.


    The pharaoh mummy deeply knitted its brows when it heard this before saying, "Impossible, there''s no way that you took care of all my elite guards."


    The mummy leader revealed a wide smile as it looked at the pharaoh and said, "Nothing''s impossible."


    Then it turned back to look at me and asked, "Where''s the rest of them? Get them in here to help me with this thing."


    I shook my head and gave a moan.


    "They''re all injured and need time to regroup?" The mummy leader revealed an ugly look when it heard this before asking, "How long?"


    I gave another moan. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mummy leader''s brows unknit a bit when it heard this.


    "Ten minutes¡­alright, that''s acceptable." The mummy leader said with a nod.


    But the pharaoh mummy revealed an ugly look.


    If this was true, then this was a very bad situation for it.


    Then when it tried to contact the mummy guards outside, it revealed an even uglier expression as it said, "What did you do to them?"


    I didn''t say a thing when I heard this, but the mummy leader didn''t hold back, "Huh? You can''t contact your cronies? It seems like the upper hand has changed."


    It looked at me and said, "Work with me to stall it for now. Once the others come, we''ll take it down once and for all."


    I just gave a nod before moving forward.


    The pharaoh mummy saw this and it immediately dashed forward.


    It knew that if it remained still, then it would be forced into a bad situation.


    Sometimes, offense was the best defense.


    If it attacked first, then it would be able to control the situation and guide it to becoming favourable for it.


    I just dodged out of the way and continued forward until I was at the throne of the pharaoh mummy.


    The pharaoh mummy ignored me and charged at the leader mummy.


    The leader mummy had to face the onslaught of the pharaoh mummy all on its own.


    When it faced this attack, the leader mummy shouted at me, "What are you doing? Come and help me!"


    But I didn''t go over to help the leader mummy.


    Instead, I pulled out a few talismans that I threw into the air, creating balls of fire.


    However, all they saw was me raising my hands and summoning fireballs.


    Both of them were surprised since they had never seen a mummy with this power before.


    This was all thanks to Long Shui Ling who was hiding herself in a corner of the room with her illusion power.


    She was perfectly coordinating the illusion with the things that I was doing.


    When the mummy leader saw this, it immediately charged forward to try and keep the pharaoh mummy in place. However, the pharaoh mummy didn''t hesitate to pull back and run out of the direction the fireballs were aimed at.


    The fireballs quickly changed directions and followed the pharaoh mummy, but they weren''t able to hit it in the end. Read latest chapters at m_v-l''e|m,p| y- r


    The mummy leader saw this, but it said in an excited voice, "Keep it going!"


    It didn''t know where I had got this power, but it knew that this was a very useful power.


    So it did all that it could to keep the pharaoh mummy in place.


    What it didn''t know was that other than throwing out the talismans, I was doing something else at the throne.


    It didn''t take long before the door to this room opened again and there was another figure that walked in.


    Both of them quickly turned to look at that figure again with different expressions.

 Chapter 268 - 268: Raid dungeon (60)

    The figure that walked in¡­was not the figure that either of them expected.


    The one that came in¡­was a human.


    It was Tie Gang who came into the room.


    When they saw this, both of them looked at each other before jumping out in different directions.


    The pharaoh mummy jumped at the throne where I was, so I quickly moved aside as well.


    The mummy leader went to a separate part of the room that was equidistant from both Tie Gang and the pharaoh mummy so that it could react to anything that happened. I also went over to where the mummy leader was as if to provide backup to him.


    There was a tense silence that filled the room after Tie Gang came in.


    The one that broke the silence was the mummy leader who said to Tie Gang, "Human, why are you here? Where are my people?"


    Tie Gang looked at the mummy leader with a strange look.


    Though he had already heard about this mummy leader in the reports, actually seeing it was a completely different story.


    Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he could tell that¡­the reports didn''t give it justice.


    It was clear that there was something special about this mummy leader¡­no, it should be said that there was something that was completely malicious about it. This dark energy was much stronger than the dark energy that had been in the report.


    This dark energy was already coming close to reaching the A Rank realm, it was already close to being too much for him to handle.


    It had to be known that this was only a C Rank Raid Dungeon!


    This place should have been filled with monsters that would be easy for him to kill.


    Even the dungeon boss shouldn''t have been a problem for him.


    Yet, there was a monster like this here¡­


    No, it wasn''t just a single monster like this. There was another one who was standing by the throne at the back of this room.


    The pharaoh mummy had been able to fight this mummy leader for a while without losing. Even now, it didn''t seem like the pharaoh mummy was on the back foot in its fight with the mummy leader.


    So it could be seen that they should be evenly matched¡­


    Two monsters that had the ability to face him, this really was hard for Tie Gang.


    His only hope was the person standing behind the mummy leader.


    His only hope was Lin Fan.


    He hoped that his plan would work so that they could take them both down and leave this place.


    Seeing that Tie Gang didn''t say a thing after being questioned like this, the mummy leader turned back to look at Lin Fan. The way that it looked at Lin Fan almost seemed like it was questioning him on what was happening here.


    Lin Fan just shook his head to show that he didn''t know.


    The mummy leader narrowed its eyes, but it chose to accept this in the end.


    After all, the fact that this human showed up here meant that the guards of the pharaoh mummy had been defeated.


    The more likely story was that after Lin Fan came in to support it, they were defeated by these humans who had suddenly appeared.


    It knew that there was no time to doubt Lin Fan since he was its only ally.


    It was just too bad that Lin Fan wasn''t its ally in the first place.


    But thinking this, it started thinking of a way to manipulate the human into helping it.


    After all, it wasn''t the worst thing for this human to appear here. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mummy leader began thinking about how to convince this human to work with it against the pharaoh mummy.


    As long as it could get the human to work with it, then the pharaoh mummy wouldn''t stand a chance. After all, it could tell that this human wasn''t weak. At least this human was just as strong, if not stronger than it was.


    But if it took care of the pharaoh mummy and stole its black energy, that wouldn''t be the case.


    So for now, it was better to work with the human against the pharaoh mummy before stabbing the human in the back.


    The pharaoh mummy also seemed to have this same thought as it said, "Human, this creature is an anomaly that has appeared in my sacred kingdom. As long as you help this one destroy it, then this one will reward you."


    The mummy leader deeply knitted its brows when it heard this before turning to Tie Gang to say, "Human, don''t listen to this tyrant. We are merely freeing ourselves from its tyranny, so come work with me to take down this tyrant!"


    Tie Gang couldn''t help narrowing his eyes when he heard this.


    He already heard that both of these monsters had intelligence, but he never thought that they would be smart enough to immediately try and convince him to work with them against the other.


    This kind of intelligence¡­was very dangerous.


    If he didn''t take care of these monsters today and they somehow found a way to leave this raid dungeon¡­then it would be dangerous for humankind.


    So he was filled with even more determination to take the two of them down here and now.


    But he knew that his opportunity would come if he waited.


    So for now, Tie Gang put on a look of non commitment as he waited to see what Lin Fan had planned.


    During all of this, I had been silently moving closer to the mummy leader.


    My sword appeared in my hand, but no one was able to see it since there was an illusion cast over it.


    In my other hand was a detonator.


    When I had been at the throne earlier, I had left a surprise that was now hidden with an illusion.


    Once I came up behind the mummy leader, that sword suddenly came up and¡­


    It stabbed right into the back of the mummy leader.

 Chapter 269 - 269: Raid dungeon (61)

    That sword pierced right through the back of the mummy leader.


    If it had expected it, then it would have put up its guard and it would have been hard for me to stab through this mummy leader.


    But since it never expected it, it never had its guard up for a full force stab from me.


    The mummy leader''s eyes opened wide in shock as it slowly turned back to look at me.


    When it saw me standing there with my sword in its back, it asked, "Why?"


    I didn''t say anything as I suddenly pulled the sword out of the mummy leader.


    The shock of this forced the mummy leader forward and it fell to its knees, but it didn''t remain there for long as it raised its hand towards me. It seemed like even though it was shocked and confused as to why I would do this, it was still planning on attacking me since I had now become an enemy.


    But that was the moment that I pressed the controller in my hand.


    The moment that I did, there was a beeping sound before a large explosion rang out.


    As for where this explosion came from¡­it was the throne behind the pharaoh mummy.


    The large explosion suddenly came from behind the pharaoh mummy, catching it off guard. However, the pharaoh mummy came back to its senses quickly and turned to raise the flail and crook in its hand to block.


    It was just that the force of this explosion threw this pharaoh mummy out, sending it flying to the center of the room.


    It thought that it was safe because neither Tie Gang or the mummy leader were there.


    But out of nowhere, there were black flames that suddenly appeared in the air around it.


    Before the pharaoh mummy could even react, it was completely surrounded in these black flames.


    The black flames quickly condensed in the center where the pharaoh mummy was standing and it seemed like there was nowhere for the pharaoh mummy to escape.


    But before it could be surrounded by these flames, the pharaoh mummy suddenly started spinning the flail and crook in its hands. The spinning force of these two items generated a wind that started pushing back the black flames around it.


    It was as if the wind was creating a zone around the pharaoh mummy where no flames could exist.


    One could imagine just how strong these winds were for such a thing to happen.


    Unfortunately for the pharaoh mummy, it wasn''t just the black flames that were coming at it.


    There were arrows, icicles, rocks, and all kinds of other attacks that came from all around the pharaoh mummy. Just the wind alone wasn''t enough to push back all of these attacks.


    The pharaoh mummy did its best to dodge these attacks, but there were just too many of them for the pharaoh mummy to dodge.


    So in the end, the pharaoh mummy was hit with several of these attacks and knocked to the ground.


    Though it was hit with these attacks, the pharaoh mummy was tough. There were only small wound that appeared on it as it fell to the ground.


    The pharaoh mummy didn''t allow these wounds to affect it as it looked around for who had attacked when.


    When it looked around, it found¡­that there were now a bunch of humans standing around it.


    It didn''t notice them before and it was even as if they had appeared out of thin air.


    Just where did all of these humans come from?


    They had actually come in with Lin Fan, but no one noticed them since there had been illusions blocking them the entire time.


    In the end, it was because they didn''t move that Long Shui Ling had been able to keep these illusions up.


    If they had been moving and fighting, then it would have been impossible for her to hide everyone like this.


    That was also the reason why Tie Gang had come in alone afterwards.


    Simply put, he was bait.


    After the pharaoh mummy recovered, it raised its flail and crook as if it was about to attack the humans around it.


    But before it could attack, Tie Gang charged forward.


    Tie Gang had been standing there without moving because he had been waiting for this reveal. Now that they had been revealed and had surrounded the pharaoh mummy, it was his job to take it down.


    The ones that surrounded the pharaoh mummy quickly sent out attacks to support Tie Gang. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The pharaoh mummy had no choice but to defend itself since it was being pushed back by Tie Gang and attacked from all sides. It just couldn''t push Tie Gang away to create space for itself.


    With this pharaoh mummy trapped like this, there was space created for a few of them to leave this encirclement.


    This was Lin Fan''s group who turned to go help him.


    After pulling the sword out, I quickly moved away from the mummy leader to create space between us while seeing what it would do.


    The mummy leader just laid there on the ground for a bit as it recovered.


    As it did, the black energy seemed to enter its body and close its wounds. But the more its wounds were healed, the more of the black energy seemed to be consumed.


    It seemed like it was exchanging that black energy to heal itself.


    I never expected that it would be able to use that black energy that way.


    But I didn''t stop it because I could feel its aura was getting weaker.


    I let it heal because I wanted it to consume more of that black energy.


    The more that it consumed, the weaker it became after all.


    During this time, my group came over to me to support me.


    They looked at me with a look as if they were asking if they should attack, but I shook my head to tell them to wait.


    Eventually, the mummy leader was able to heal itself.


    Only the black energy that surrounded it was much thinner than before.

 Chapter 270 - 270: Raid dungeon (62)

    When the mummy leader fully healed, it didn''t attack right away.


    Instead, it looked right at me and asked, "Why? Why did you do this?"


    I was surprised by this since I thought that it should be clear why I did this, but then I saw Long Shui Ling wave her hand as if she was doing something.


    I realized that she hadn''t released the illusion until now since I hadn''t given the order to do so. She only just released it now because it didn''t feel like there was a point in keeping it up anymore.


    Once it was released, the mummy leader revealed a shocked look as it saw my transformation.


    "You, you, you were a human all along?" The mummy leader said in a shocked voice.


    I slowly gave a nod, as if I was stalling for time.


    The mummy leader didn''t notice at all as it just felt completely shocked by this.


    After a moment of silence, it suddenly said, "But I could feel it, the energy of the lord. It''s still coming from you even now!"


    When my group heard this, they couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    I just ignored this as I said, "That''s why it was so easy to fool you."


    The mummy leader revealed an angry look when it heard this, but it still didn''t attack.


    It almost seemed like it was stalling for time¡­


    I quickly realized what was happening and didn''t wait any longer to give my orders.


    Earlier, I had been stalling since I wanted to buy time for Tie Gang and the others to take down the pharaoh mummy while I kept this mummy leader busy.


    But when the mummy leader also tried to stall, I knew that this wouldn''t work.


    That was because I could see that the dark energy around the mummy was getting thicker.


    It was stalling to recover its powers.


    The more that it stalled, the stronger it would become.


    Compared to waiting for Tie Gang and the others to come to help, it was better if we just took down the mummy leader while it was still in a weakened state.


    So I decided that it was better to attack the mummy leader while we could.


    With a nod, there were black flames that suddenly appeared in the air around the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader could feel the heat that came from the black flames.


    Perhaps it wouldn''t need to be as worried if it was in a normal state, with the black energy to protect it. But now that it was in this weakened state, it wouldn''t be able to block these black flames if it were to take a hit head on.


    So the only thing that this mummy leader could do was¡­


    Instead of dodging backwards to avoid the flames, the mummy leader actually charged right at the black flames in front of it.


    Kaito was caught off guard when he saw this, but he didn''t hesitate to bring the flames down on the mummy leader.


    The black flames formed a large wall in front of the mummy leader and seemed like they would engulf the mummy leader. But before the black flames could do that, the mummy leader suddenly raised the hand with the black orb in front of it.


    That black energy orb seemed to surge for a second before suddenly becoming larger in the mummy leader''s hand.


    That black energy orb was what met the flames.


    Instead of being burnt away by those black flames as one would expect, the black flames were actually pushed back by that black energy orb.


    Then all of a sudden, there was a large gap that was formed in the black flame wall as the mummy leader roared, "Get out of my way!"


    The black flames were completely scattered and a path was created for the mummy leader right to us.


    The mummy leader didn''t hesitate to charge right at us after creating that gap in the black flame wall.


    As it charged at us, the mummy leader shouted, "You traitor! This is what you''ll get!"


    But even seeing the mummy leader charging at us, we didn''t panic.


    That was because there were more flames that appeared around us as Blaze stepped forward.


    This time, the flames weren''t black flames, but normal orange flames.


    But these flames seemed even more intense than the black flames.


    With a roar, Blaze swung his sword down at the mummy leader, causing the flames around him to fall down on the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader didn''t panic as it raised the same hand with the black energy orb towards the flames that fell towards it. The black energy orb surged once more as it gathered the dark energy around the mummy leader.


    This was how it had blown a hole in the black flame wall in the first place.


    It had gathered all of its dark energy in a single point to push back the black flames in front of it.


    It was doing the same thing now to push back Blaze''s flames.


    As it raised its hand, the mummy leader shouted, "You think that you can stop me with just this?"


    But Blaze didn''t take a single step back.


    That was because there were black flames that also appeared in the center of his flames.


    Kaito was standing beside Blaze with a hand up, generating those black flames that appeared.


    The two kinds of flames twisted together and formed a single wall of flames that fell down on the mummy leader.


    The two sides clashed and there was a moment of equilibrium before the mummy leader was pushed back. However, at the same time, the flame wall that had been gathered also scattered.


    It seemed like they had been even.


    The mummy leader narrowed its eyes to look at us before saying, "You think that you can stop me with just this?"


    I revealed a faint smile and shook my head before turning to look at Long Shui Ling beside me. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She dropped the bottle that she had been holding and said, "I''m ready."


    I gave a nod before turning back to look at the mummy leader.

 Chapter 271 - 271: Raid dungeon (63)

    There was another reason why I had been stalling earlier.


    It was to let Long Shui Ling recover her mana.


    She had mana potions that were far stronger than anything that the guild gave her and they all came from her family. So even if she was drained keeping up the illusion the entire time, she was able to recover her mana quickly with these potions.


    Without her illusions, we really would only be fighting at half our power.


    But now that she had recovered, it was time to take down this mummy leader.


    The mummy leader had been standing there as if it was waiting for something, but then it felt like it couldn''t just stand there anymore.


    When it heard the bottle drop to the ground, it turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    For some reason, it felt a sense of danger from this little human girl. This was a sense of danger that was greater than it got from any other human that was here.


    It felt like it couldn''t wait any longer since that little human girl was about to do something.


    When pushed to the brink of desperation, the mummy leader could only use what it considered its final tactics.


    It raised its other hand and¡­there was a second ball of dark energy that was formed.


    All of us couldn''t help being surprised since we had thought that the first ball of energy was the limit for the mummy leader. But now it seemed that this wasn''t the case¡­


    It seemed that it had been holding back still in the end.


    Or at least that was what we thought, but in reality¡­


    "Ha, ha, ha!" The mummy leader started to laugh the moment that it summoned out this second ball of dark energy.


    After laughing for a bit, it said, "The lord always provides! The lord would never abandon a loyal follower like me!" S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While we didn''t know why it said this, it was clear that it was talking as if it had just gained these powers.


    Was it because there was an actual demon king watching over this mummy leader, or was it because it had been forced into a corner and awakened this new power?


    Regardless of what it was, it was a fact that this mummy leader now had doubled its power.


    With two different balls of dark energy, it was able to do twice as much as before.


    But with the amount of flexibility that this gave the mummy leader, it wasn''t just twice as strong as before.


    It was now able to use the two balls of dark energy to attack in many different ways, which gave it countless methods to attack with and countless directions to attack from.


    So there was no letting our guard down anymore.


    After laughing for a while, the mummy leader suddenly stopped and turned to look at us.


    When it did, its eyes narrowed as if it was sizing us up before saying, "If you surrender now, I''ll spare the rest of you." But its eyes turned cold when it looked at me and it said, "But the traitor must die."


    There seemed to be something different in his voice as he said this.


    It was almost as if he wanted something else from me, other than revenge.


    But not a single one of our group moved out of the way after they heard this.


    It was as if they were firmly determined to stay by my side.


    Seeing this, the mummy leader gave a sigh before saying, "Don''t say that I didn''t give you a chance."


    It disappeared as soon as its voice fell and when it reappeared, it had already closed half the gap between us.


    As it ran, it said, "Now you''ll regret the choice that you''ve made."


    As it came closer, it raised the balls of black energy that were in its hands as if it was about to attack with them.


    Blaze and Kaito immediately went forward as if they were planning to meet the mummy leader head on, but Long Shui Ling stopped them by raising her hand.


    As they looked at her with confused looks, they found that she raised her hand and pointed it at the mummy leader.


    When she did, there was a mist that suddenly appeared around the mummy leader that made it stop.


    This mist wasn''t concentrated enough that it completely blocked the mummy leader off, so we weren''t able to see it. But it wasn''t faint enough that it didn''t completely surround the mummy leader.


    After the mist surrounded it, the mummy leader slowly came to a stop.


    With the look in its eyes, it was as if it was seeing something that was making it unable to move forward.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t lower her hand, but she turned around to say, "Do it now."


    The others were caught off guard by this, but they only hesitated for a second before gathering their mana.


    All of them aimed their strongest attacks at the mummy leader who had frozen in place.


    They didn''t shoot it out right away since they made sure to gather as much mana as they could. At the same time, they made sure that they would be able to attack at the same time.


    Hayato also created a ball of wind around the mummy leader just so that Blaze and Kaito could use their strongest flames.


    Once everyone had gathered their strongest attacks, they exchanged looks before silently giving nods.


    All of them suddenly threw their attacks out, except for Blaze and Kaito.


    All of these attacks went right through the ball of wind around the mummy leader and hit the mummy leader head on.


    The mummy leader stumbled, but it didn''t fall from these attacks. At the same time, it didn''t seem like these attacks penetrated deep into the mummy leader.


    It was as if the black energy around it had blocked these attacks.


    But what it did do was clear the look in the eyes of the mummy leader.


    Still, that wasn''t all that they had.


    Both Blaze and Kaito threw their flame attacks right at the ball of wind.


    The moment that it made contact, the flames quickly spread across the wind and engulfed the mummy leader.

 Chapter 272 - 272: Raid dungeon (64)

    With the support of the orb of wind, the flames burned strong around the mummy leader.


    With how strong it burnt, it didn''t seem likely that there would be anything that could survive this.


    But I didn''t dare let my guard down for a single second as I said, "Don''t relax yet. We don''t know what will happen."


    When they heard this, everyone suddenly focused their minds again.


    They had been about to relax when they heard this, but since it was me telling them this, they immediately became focused again.


    And it turned out to be the right choice.


    The flames burned strong for a minute, but then there seemed to be something that came out of the flames.


    When we saw this, everyone couldn''t help being shocked by it.


    It was¡­a mummy that was surrounded by dark energy.


    Even though it had been engulfed in the flames, it had been able to use the dark energy as a barrier to repel all of these flames so that it wasn''t burnt at all.


    "Is it a monster?" I heard that from the group before saying with a bitter smile, "It is a monster."


    They looked at me with surprised looks before suddenly revealing faint smiles.


    They never thought that I would make a joke like this, but it did help relieve the tension at this moment.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at the mummy leader before saying, "Everyone get back. I''ll fight it now."


    They were all taken aback when they heard this. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Long Shui Ling said, "But it''s dangerous to go alone. We should¡­"


    I looked at her and said, "It''s fine, just trust me."


    She opened and closed her mouth before giving a nod as if she believed in me.


    I looked at the others as well and they all slowly nodded in agreement.


    Though they had no idea what I was planning, they did trust me after everything that we''ve been through.


    I gave a nod to them before stepping forward towards the mummy leader who was making its way out of the flames.


    The mummy leader''s eyes still had a slight daze to them, but it looked right up at me before saying, "So you''re finally going to fight me."


    I gave a nod before pointing my sword at it.


    The mummy leader didn''t attack right away and instead looked right at me to ask, "Why did you do all of this? Even if you were a human, I would have worked with you because you too have the lord''s blessing."


    The way that the mummy leader said this, it was almost as if it was a lover that had been abandoned which made me reveal a strange look.


    But in the end, I said, "You are a monster and I am a human, this is just how it is."


    "I am a monster?" The mummy leader gave a bitter laugh after saying this before looking at me with a sharp gaze, "From how I see it, you are the monster for all you''ve done."


    I didn''t say anything in response to this.


    From a certain point of view, everything that the mummy leader said was considered valid.


    After all, I had befriended the mummies and gained their trust, only to use it to betray them in the end.


    That was something that a monster would do.


    But this was what humans were like with those that they considered monsters, so I had already accepted that this was how it was.


    Even if the mummy leader said this now, I would still act with the same commitment as before.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything and just looked back at it with the same calm look on my face, the mummy revealed a disgusted look before saying, "I will make you pay for all that you''ve done to my comrades."


    I gave a simple nod in response before raising my sword, as if I was waiting for the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader took this bait and charged forward with both of its hands raised.


    As it came at me, the dark energy gathered in its hands as balls of dark energy.


    I didn''t panic seeing the mummy leader coming at me like this.


    Right before it reached me, it suddenly disappeared.


    When it reappeared, it was already above me with its hands coming down at me, as if it was going to throw the balls of dark energy at me.


    But before it could make contact, I suddenly said, "Dizzy."


    The mummy leader trembled a bit before its head suddenly fell forward.


    I took advantage of this to move slightly so that it would move right past me and then I slashed at the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader''s eyes were narrowed and it looked like it was having trouble focusing, but it still used the layer of dark energy around it to block this.


    However, the moment that my sword made contact with that layer of dark energy, there was a bit of it that had been shaved off. That bit of the dark energy that was shaved off went into my sword before disappearing without a trace.


    When I saw this, I revealed a look as if I had expected this.


    The mummy leader also recovered from the dizziness that it felt and jumped back away from me.


    It went several meters away before stabilizing itself.


    Once it stabilized itself, it looked at me with a cautious look as if it was worried about something. It just stood there without moving, as if it was trying to figure something out.


    I also didn''t do anything as I waited for the mummy leader to act.


    After a moment of silence, the mummy leader looked at me with a strange look and asked, "What did you do?"


    I didn''t say anything in response as I just waited for its next move.


    But even then, the mummy leader didn''t do a thing.


    It was almost as if it was hesitating to act.

 Chapter 273 - 273: Raid dungeon (65)

    The mummy leader slowly looked down at its arms where my sword had made contact.


    It slowly moved its arm up and down, as if it was trying to see if there was anything wrong with them.


    As it moved its arms up and down, it couldn''t help slightly knitting its brows as if there was indeed something wrong. But when it looked at its arms closely, it didn''t seem like there was anything wrong based on the look in its eyes.


    It was a very strange feeling for the mummy leader since it didn''t know what this feeling was.


    After a while, the mummy leader finally seemed to notice something.


    It started moving the layer of dark energy around it, as if it was trying to do something with that layer of dark energy.


    Then it turned back to look at me and asked, "How?"


    Once again, I didn''t say a single thing as I just stared at it and waited for it to move.


    The mummy leader''s expression turned strange as it looked at me, almost as if it didn''t know what to make of me.


    But it became impatient in the end and couldn''t wait any longer.


    So the mummy leader suddenly jumped out at me, but it didn''t do the same thing as before. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instead of jumping right at me with the two balls of dark energy in its hands, it landed in the middle and then jumped out at an angle. It flew forward, but it wasn''t aimed at me this time.


    The mummy leader didn''t seem to be aimed at anyone as it jumped out.


    But it also didn''t seem like it was running away since its eyes were on me the entire time.


    It seemed like it was trying something desperate.


    After moving past me, it suddenly bounced off one of the pillars in this room and went in a different direction.


    It whizzed past me again and bounced off the floor before jumping into another pillar on the other side.


    As it bounced around like this, the mummy leader started moving faster and faster.


    I didn''t understand what it was doing at first, but then I realized that it was planning on using its speed to make me lose track of it so that it could attack from a blind spot.


    It was just too bad that this was impossible since I still had another trump card up my sleeve.


    But before I had to use it, I wanted to see if I could do something about this mummy leader without it.


    After bouncing around a few times, it became so fast that it was actually hard for my eyes to keep up.


    Then with one more bounce, it suddenly disappeared from sight.


    The only reason that I even knew where it was coming from was because it suddenly shouted, "Die!"


    I quickly turned around, but I just saw the orb of dark energy in front of my face.


    But before it could hit me, it suddenly stopped.


    It seemed that I really didn''t have a choice, I had to use my trump card in the end.


    All of a sudden, time stopped all around me.


    I moved out of the way and saw the mummy leader just frozen there in space.


    I had been afraid that the mummy leader would be able to detect something or even have something that could stop this ability since it was related to the demon king. However, seeing it frozen in the air like this, it seemed that I had been worried for nothing.


    It seemed that even if it had received this dark energy, it still wasn''t able to negate the power of a true demon king.


    I moved out of the way before raising my sword.


    There was a limit to this Time Stop, so it wasn''t as if I could waste time.


    I didn''t even know how long it would take for me to actually hurt this mummy leader, so I couldn''t waste time even if I wanted to.


    The first thing that I aimed for after raising my sword was its arm.


    I had already cut through the dark energy around its arm before, so I knew that it was possible for me to hurt it this way.


    When my sword made contact with the dark energy, it drained it away just like before.


    But the dark energy around it quickly surged forward to take its place.


    Even though time was frozen, it seemed that this dark energy could still act.


    Unless I was fast enough or unless I was strong enough, I wouldn''t be able to break through the dark energy barrier of this mummy leader.


    But there was something that I was.


    Persistent.


    Since I was able to drain the dark energy, that meant that there was a way, though it would take a while.


    I continued to cut the arm of the mummy leader again and again, draining more and more of the dark energy from around the area.


    This caused the dark energy layer around the mummy leader to become thinner.


    It didn''t happen right away, but it happened after a few dozen cuts.


    Then after a few hundred cuts, it finally became thin enough for me to cut through the mummy leader''s arm.


    But I didn''t stop there.


    There were many different places that I could cut, so I didn''t hesitate to keep cutting the mummy leader and draining it of its dark energy.


    Again and again, I cut the mummy leader until it was completely covered in cuts and its dark energy layer was paper thin.


    In total, this took an hour¡­


    If it hadn''t been for the extra time that came with leveling up the Time Stop skill, I really wouldn''t have been able to do this.


    After catching my breath from all of that cutting, I went back to where I was before. However, I deviated slightly from my original position so that the mummy leader would go right past me instead of hitting me.


    Then I started time again.

 Chapter 274 - 274: Raid dungeon (66)

    As soon as time started, there was a burst of blood that came from the mummy leader.


    Though it was strange that blood would come from an undead like the mummy leader who should have had all of its blood drained.


    None of the other mummies had released blood when they were killed¡­


    It flew right past me and fell to the ground since I had dodged out of the way.


    It was a good thing that I had dodged a bit more so that it wasn''t able to get any blood on me.


    After it landed on the ground, it didn''t move at all.


    Well, it tried to move, but it wasn''t able to move at all. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was as if it didn''t have the energy to move at all.


    Though with all those cuts on its body, it was a surprise that it didn''t fall apart to pieces.


    It seemed like this mummy leader''s body was much tougher than it seemed.


    But even then, it wasn''t able to move since I had made sure to sever all of the muscles that would have moved the limbs. I wasn''t certain if it would work since this mummy leader was an undead, but it seemed that it did work.


    When I looked closely, I could see something that was similar to living flesh under the bandages¡­


    The mummy leader''s eyes still had struggle in them, but it couldn''t move at all.


    So the only thing that it could do was, "How? What did you do just now?"


    I didn''t respond as I looked at the mummy leader staring up at me from the ground.


    Instead of saying anything, I raised my sword and walked towards it without hesitation.


    I had been cautious before since I had been dealing with an unknown demon king.


    But now that it seemed like the mummy leader wasn''t able to do anything, it was better to put it out of its misery before something changed.


    However, before I could stab down at the mummy leader, the look in its eyes suddenly changed. At the same time, the aura around the mummy leader became completely different.


    It was¡­a dangerous aura.


    I stopped moving forward and took several steps back, creating some space with the mummy leader.


    The mummy leader still wasn''t able to move, but it looked right up at me and said, "So you''re the one. You''re the one that ruined my vessel."


    I couldn''t help being shocked.


    It wasn''t because this was a voice that was unfamiliar, it was because I strangely felt some kind of resonance with this voice.


    It was as if¡­this voice belonged to someone that I instinctively knew.


    I slowly said, "Vessel? What do you mean?"


    The voice coming from the mummy leader gave a cold laugh before saying, "You don''t even know something as simple as this? Then there''s no need for me to worry about you."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    The mummy leader continued by saying, "You can have this vessel and that one over there. I''ll just create an even better one."


    The aura that had been around the mummy leader started to fade away after it said this.


    I knitted my brows even deeper, but I said, "Wait, who are you?"


    But there was no answer to this question as the aura completely disappeared.


    The mummy leader looked up in a daze, as if it couldn''t understand what had just happened.


    But then it revealed a look of despair.


    It looked down at itself and found that most of the dark energy that had been around it had faded away.


    It looked up again and said, "My lord, please don''t abandon me!"


    As expected, the one that had taken over the mummy leader just now was the demon lord that had given it the dark energy that it used.


    Seeing the mummy leader desperately calling out for it ''lord'', I figured that it was better to finish it off.


    There was nothing else that I could gain from this mummy leader and leaving it alive like this was¡­dangerous.


    This was usually where they gained special powers or awakened something.


    I wouldn''t let that flag happen, so I would finish it off before anything could happen.


    I walked right up to the mummy leader and raised my sword over it.


    The mummy leader had still been pleading, but when it saw my sword come over it, it knew what was about to happen. Instead of pleading to that lord, it looked at me and said, "Wait, I''ll follow you as long as you spare¡­"


    It didn''t get to finish as my sword came down and cut off its head.


    There was no way that I would ever be able to use this mummy leader if I let it live, so I wouldn''t let it live.


    The mummy leader''s head rolled on the ground a bit as if it couldn''t believe that I would kill it so easily.


    When it was over, I turned back to the others.


    It was clear by the looks on their faces that there were questions that they wanted to ask, but I said, "Let''s go and finish this."


    They looked in the direction that I was looking in before turning back to give slow nods.


    We came together and headed over to where Tie Gang was fighting the pharaoh mummy.


    But as we walked over, I couldn''t help looking down at my hand and squeezing it, as if I felt something.


    Long Shui Ling was beside me, so she saw all of this.


    She came forward with a concerned look and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    I looked back at her and shook my head to say, "Nothing."


    She looked at me as if she didn''t believe me, but I didn''t say anything else as I walked forward.


    In my mind, I couldn''t help thinking about what the demon king had said.


    Vessel¡­


    What did it mean by that?

 Chapter 275 - 275: Raid dungeon (67)

    When we came over, we found that Tie Gang was locked in fierce combat with the pharaoh mummy.


    However, it was clear that Tie Gang was pushing it back.


    The pharaoh mummy wanted to operate in a much larger area, but it was impossible for it since it was completely surrounded.


    The other members of the team had formed a blockade around the area where Tie Gang was fighting the pharaoh mummy.


    So no matter which direction the pharaoh mummy moved in, it was stopped by the others around them. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It might have been able to push through if it wasn''t for Tie Gang pressing down on it since it was stronger than the Awakeners in the blockade. But with Tie Gang chasing after it the entire time, it wasn''t able to spend any time in breaking through this blockade.


    In fact, it made it worse for the pharaoh mummy if it approached the blockade since it was being attacked from two different directions.


    So the only thing that the pharaoh mummy could do was fight Tie Gang inside of this area that it could move in.


    Though it was very limited because of this decision since there was just too little space for it to fight with.


    Tie Gang was pressuring the pharaoh mummy, but he didn''t push it too hard.


    It was as if he was waiting for something.


    "I''ll back you up now!" I suddenly shouted when I came over.


    Tie Gang didn''t look back, but he said, "Use the illusions to trap it!"


    I was surprised to hear this, but I turned to look at Long Shui Ling.


    She gave a nod before raising her hands and creating a layer of mist around both Tie Gang and the pharaoh mummy.


    When the pharaoh mummy saw this, it knew that this was bad.


    It started spinning the flail and crook in its hands to generate wind in an attempt to blow away the mist, but it didn''t have any effect at all. It didn''t seem to be able to move the mist at all even though it was such a strong wind.


    The mist just swirled around the pharaoh mummy until the light in its eyes seemed to dim and it stopped moving.


    Tie Gang let out a sigh of relief when he saw this before quickly moving forward to strike the pharaoh mummy from different directions.


    However, whenever he struck at the pharaoh mummy, it would react and attack back at him.


    If it wasn''t for the illusions blocking the perception of the pharaoh mummy, it might have actually hit him.


    After hitting the pharaoh mummy a few times, Tie Gang said, "Alright, surround it and capture it. There are a few things that I want to ask this dungeon boss."


    The Awakeners around him were confused and a bit worried about this order he gave them, but they still moved forward towards the pharaoh mummy after receiving this order from Tie Gang.


    Once they surrounded it, they used their various abilities to trap the pharaoh mummy.


    There was dirt summoned that surrounded the pharaoh mummy and then when it tried to break free, there were flames and ice that wrapped around the dirt.


    They just kept building layers upon layers around the pharaoh mummy until it was completely trapped.


    It wasn''t able to break free no matter what it did, but it certainly did all that it could to struggle and break free.


    Finally, it settled as if it realized that it couldn''t break free.


    It was then that Tie Gang came forward to stand in front of the pharaoh mummy and said, "Release the illusions."


    Long Shui Ling looked at me and I gave a nod before she released them.


    After the illusions were released, the pharaoh mummy slowly regained consciousness and looked at Tie Gang in front of it.


    It looked down at the bindings holding it and the part that was visible shook a bit as if it was trying to break free. However, it wasn''t able to do a single thing to the bindings around it.


    When it found out that it couldn''t break free, the pharaoh mummy looked at Tie Gang and said, "You weak humans! You can only do this to me because you group together like ants! With the power of the lord, you will never be able to stop me!"


    Tie Gang looked right at the pharaoh mummy and said, "But it''s with the power of these ants that you were captured like this, isn''t it?"


    The pharaoh mummy revealed an ugly look before saying, "If it wasn''t for the fact that I was exhausted from fighting that fool, do you really think that I would be trapped by this child''s play? If you''re really that powerful, then fight me all on your own!"


    Tie Gang shook his head and said, "Does it really matter in a life and death battle? All that matters is the fact that you''ve won, right?"


    The pharaoh mummy didn''t accept this at all and shouted, "You coward! Fight me fairly like a real man!"


    Tie Gang shook his head before raising his sword.


    The pharaoh mummy fell silent when it saw Tie Gang raising his sword like this and it closed its mouth completely when it saw Tie Gang placing that sword right at its neck.


    Tie Gang looked right into the pharaoh mummy''s eyes and said, "It''s not your turn to make demands. Right now, all you have to do is answer my questions, understand?"


    The pharaoh mummy could see that Tie Gang was being serious, but that didn''t stop it from acting up as it slowly said, "And if I don''t?"


    Tie Gang didn''t hesitate at all to move the sword forward a bit to cut into the pharaoh mummy''s neck as he said, "I think my hand might slip if you don''t want to cooperate with us."


    The pharaoh mummy''s heart dropped when it felt the pain coming from its neck.


    But before it could say anything¡­the aura around it changed.

 Chapter 276 - 276: Raid dungeon (68)

    It wasn''t just me that felt this change in the pharaoh mummy''s aura.


    Everyone felt it and looked at Tie Gang asking for instructions.


    Tie Gang just calmly took two steps back and said, "Everyone move back."


    Though they moved away from the pharaoh mummy, they still made sure to keep the binding around it so that it wasn''t able to move at all.


    Tie Gang also raised his sword, as if he was prepared for anything to happen.


    But nothing happened in the end.


    All that happened was the same thing as before where the voice of the pharaoh mummy changed as it said, "So, you got this vessel as well. It doesn''t matter, you can have it since it''s just one of the spares."


    Everyone knitted their brows the moment that they heard this voice.


    After a moment of silence, I asked, "What do you mean by vessel?"


    The pharaoh mummy and the others all looked at me when I said this, but I just waited for whoever was controlling the pharaoh mummy to respond.


    After looking at me for a bit, the pharaoh mummy said, "You were the one that took out my other vessel. It seems that there''s some kind of fate between you and me."


    I deeply knitted my brows when I heard this, but I just once again stressed, "What do you mean by vessel?"


    The pharaoh mummy started laughing when it heard this before saying in a voice that almost seemed like taunting, "Well, I guess you do deserve a reward after all of this."


    The pharaoh mummy suddenly looked at me and said with what seemed to be a smile, "What do you think of when you hear the word vessel?"


    I couldn''t help revealing a confused look when I heard this before slowly saying, "Something that contains something else."


    The pharaoh mummy gave a nod before saying, "What do you think a vessel like this would contain?"


    All of us knitted our brows when we heard this.


    But I slowly came to a conclusion¡­


    What would use a monster as a vessel?


    It would have to be something powerful and something that was related to the dungeon.


    The only thing that I could think of was¡­the demon king.


    A vessel for the demon king, that was the only thing that seemed to make sense.


    I immediately looked at the pharaoh mummy with narrowed eyes as if I wanted to confirm something.


    When the pharaoh mummy saw me staring at it like this, it revealed an even wider smile before saying, "It seems like you already have your answer. Then that is the only reward that you will be receiving today."


    It seemed like it was about to leave when it said this, so I quickly said, "Wait¡­"


    But it didn''t matter since the aura started to disappear already.


    The final thing that the pharaoh mummy, or rather the demon king said was, "In time, you will know."


    With these final confusing words, the aura completely disappeared and the pharaoh mummy returned to normal.


    However, it fell into a daze just like the mummy leader as it stared up into the sky.


    Around it, the other Awakeners were slowly revealing looks of understanding as they were coming to their own conclusion about what the demon king had said through the pharaoh mummy.


    Tie Gang also revealed a deeply concerned look as he turned to look at me.


    In the end, Tie Gang turned back to the pharaoh mummy and raised his sword once more to say, "I''ll put you out of your misery now."


    The pharaoh mummy immediately reacted when it heard this.


    A look of panic appeared on its face as it said, "No, no! I don''t want to die! Lord, please don''t abandon your faithful servant like this!"


    But there was no response at all to the pharaoh mummy''s fervent pleading.


    The pharaoh mummy started looking around desperately for anything that would save it as Tie Gang came closer.


    It looked around and around until its eyes finally fell onto me.


    When its eyes fell onto me, they suddenly lit up as they revealed a strange look.


    I couldn''t stop the bad feeling from filling me when I saw the way that the pharaoh mummy looked at me.


    Before Tie Gang could reach it, the pharaoh mummy suddenly said, "You! You have the same energy as the lord¡­No, it''s different! But you are just like the lord!"


    Everyone slowly turned to look at me with strange looks of doubt when they heard this, but I just revealed a confused look to show that I didn''t know what it was talking about.


    The pharaoh mummy didn''t stop as it said, "Please! I promise to serve you as long as you save me! I''ll give you everything as long as you save me! I will become your dedicated dog, just save me!"


    Tie Gang deeply knitted his brows and turned to look at me, as if even he was starting to doubt me.


    All I could do was shake my head to show that I didn''t know anything about this.


    But deep down, I couldn''t help cursing at this pharaoh mummy.


    If you were going to die, you should just die.


    Why were you saying all of this and dragging me down with you? Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Tie Gang just continued to look at me with this doubtful look for a bit, almost as if he was judging me. However, he eventually just gave a nod to me and turned back to look at the pharaoh mummy.


    He brought his sword up to the neck of the pharaoh mummy and said, "That''s enough out of you. You won''t gain anything from trying to confuse us like this."


    The pharaoh mummy just ignored Tie Gang and kept pleading with me to save it.


    However, it didn''t work as I ignored it.


    In the end, Tie Gang cut the pharaoh mummy''s head off with a single slash and its head dropped to the ground with a splattering of blood.


    However, even after the pharaoh mummy died, everyone looked at me with strange looks.


    Even if the pharaoh mummy was dead now¡­the seeds of doubt had been planted.

 Chapter 277 - 277: Raid dungeon (69)

    There was a silence that lingered in the air after the pharaoh mummy was cut down.


    The main thing that everyone was staring at was not the pharaoh mummy, but me.


    There was a clear look of doubt that was in their eyes as they stared at me, making it very clear what they were thinking.


    Seeds of doubt had already been sown in their minds and now they were taking root and growing.


    If I didn''t do something soon, then it would only get worse.


    But if I said anything¡­wouldn''t that make me more suspicious?


    In the end, I was just glad that Tie Gang said something.


    "Alright, that''s that. That''s the dungeon boss taken care of, so we should be able to leave the dungeon now."


    All of them suddenly looked at Tie Gang when they heard this with uncertain looks in their eyes, but they accepted what he said in the end.


    However, they didn''t forget to give me one last look before moving around the room to find the exit.


    Tie Gang made sure that all of them had headed off to find the exit before coming over to me to ask, "You alright?"


    I looked at him and slowly gave a nod, though I could still see the doubt in his eyes.


    Even he wasn''t unaffected by the words that had been said.


    He saw the look on my face as well and said with a smile, "For now, let''s go home. Once we''re back, we''ll get you checked out and see if they can find anything strange about you."


    He patted me on the shoulder before saying, "I''m sure that it''s all a misunderstanding."


    Though I could hear that slight trace of doubt in his voice.


    For now, this was all that we could do, so I just gave a nod.


    But I turned to look at the corpse of the pharaoh mummy on the ground and asked, "What do you want to do with this thing?"


    Tie Gang was surprised to hear this question and he looked down at the pharaoh mummy corpse on the ground.


    After staring at it for a bit, he realized what was wrong.


    "Eh? Why isn''t it disappearing and dropping the loot? The loot from this dungeon boss was one of the things that our guild was commissioned to get this time¡­Does that mean we have to do this entire dungeon again if it doesn''t drop?" Tie Gang said in a genuinely surprised voice.


    But when everyone else heard this, they couldn''t help trembling.


    Again?


    He wanted to do this raid dungeon again?


    Even if they were dragged back in, they didn''t want to do it again.


    After a long silence where everyone held their breaths and looked at Tie Gang, he finally said, "Alright, for now, let''s just bring this thing back and see what they say. This is supposed to be the vessel of a demon king, right? Perhaps that should give us an excuse for not getting the drop."


    Everyone let out a sigh of relief when they heard this, but there was still a trace of worry in their hearts.


    If the guild really didn''t accept it, then they would have to do this raid dungeon again¡­


    They really didn''t want to do all of this again.


    But I knew that Tie Gang was just teasing them and raising their spirits.


    After all, this was a very important discovery. It far surpassed any request for items, so there was no way that we would be forced to go into this raid dungeon again.


    In fact, it was very likely that this raid dungeon would be closed by the Awakener Association and they would do some kind of investigation on what happened.


    It was impossible that they would allow us to raid it again before they found what had changed about this raid dungeon. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So Tie Gang''s words didn''t mean anything.


    It didn''t take long for them to find the exit portal for this dungeon, it was right behind the throne that the pharaoh mummy had been sitting on.


    The strange thing was that the throne hadn''t been damaged at all even though I had used a bomb on it.


    It was unknown what kind of material this throne was made of, but it really was hard that even a bomb wasn''t able to do anything to it.


    This was definitely something that we would have liked to bring back, but if we can''t even destroy it with bombs, how were we supposed to bring it back?


    Perhaps if Tie Gang went all out against this throne, he might be able to chip it. But was it really worth it to damage his weapon to bring back this throne of unknown origin?


    This throne would always be here, so anyone could research it if they wanted to.


    For now, the more important thing was to bring back the corpses of both the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy.


    But we couldn''t just leave right away after finding the exit portal.


    The first thing that we had to do was gather all the people that had been left behind on the various floors.


    We had left people behind to maintain the camps that we had set up, so we had to get them up here to the exit so we could leave together.


    It was a good thing that the war between the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy had brought most of the monsters up to the third floor where they had been wiped out.


    The few monsters that were left were easily wiped out by the Awakeners and the path was cleared for them to reach the dungeon boss room.


    Though when they arrived, it was clear that they were looking at me.


    Tie Gang narrowed his eyes a bit as he looked at the Awakeners who had been sent to escort these members up.


    Not a single one of them dared to meet his gaze in the end.


    So Tie Gang just gave a sigh and said, "Let''s get out of here then."


    With that, our attack on the raid dungeon was over.

 Chapter 278 - 278: After the dungeon

    When we came out, the supporters from the guild immediately came forward to help us.


    However, Tie Gang waved them away before waving at the leader of this group to come over.


    The leader was surprised to be called by Tie Gang like this, but he came over to hear what Tie Gang had to say.


    Tie Gang drew that leader in and whispered a few things to him.


    When they were done, the leader looked at Tie Gang with a shocked look, as if he couldn''t believe what he had just said.


    However, when he saw the serious look that was on Tie Gang''s face, he had no choice but to accept it.


    This leader was someone who had worked with Tie Gang before, so he knew what kind of personality Tie Gang had. When Tie Gang had this kind of serious look, he knew that he was absolutely serious.


    Since that was the case, he shouldn''t waste any time.


    With a nod to Tie Gang, he quickly arranged for the support team to head to different locations.


    The support team all had confused looks, but they quickly followed these orders and prepared everything.


    There were some that went to secure a path, there were some that went to clear out the reporters that were waiting, and there were some that carefully came forward to receive the items that we had brought back.


    As for what these items were¡­it was the corpses of the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy.


    These two were the most important things we obtained from the raid dungeon this time, so they were absolutely careful when transporting these things.


    We had even been kept here as guards to make sure that the transport for these items were done properly.


    Only when several armoured trucks drove off with these things did we finally get dismissed.


    Tie Gang looked at us with a smile on his face as he said, "Everyone get home safely and rest up." His face then turned serious as he said, "But be sure to keep the information about this to yourself. No one should have loose lips, understand?"


    All of us were surprised by how serious Tie Gang was, but we could understand why he was being this serious.


    So we all nodded in agreement.


    As we left, I could see that there were still people looking at me with strange looks.


    It seemed that it would be a while before I could rid myself of this.


    ¡­


    The next morning, the news that came out shocked the world.


    When such a big event happened, it was impossible to keep it under wraps since there were always loose lips.


    It was certain that whoever was the leak would be punished, but the damage had been done. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Traces of the demon king found in The Pyramid."


    That was the headline that was at the top of every newspaper, every news site, the focus of every news show, and plastered all over every form of media.


    In a single night, everyone learned of this matter.


    The internet exploded when the news of the demon king came out.


    There were many trolls that wanted to use this to gain attention, but there would always be the voice of truth that came through.


    I was surprised by how many details they were able to find out, it was almost as if they had been there themselves.


    But I knew that it was impossible for a second leak to happen.


    That was because I had already received a text from both the guild and Long Shui Ling.


    As soon as the leak happened, the guild had immediately cracked down on the person who did it. They had released their information on the guild''s forum to make an example out of them, so that no one else would do the same.


    So if anyone did actually leak more information, then it would be suicidal.


    Not to mention, Long Shui Ling''s text told me that the Long Family had gotten involved.


    They might not have gotten involved if it was a normal leak, but since Long Shui Ling had also gone into the raid dungeon and was involved in this matter, they had no choice but to get involved.


    One of the top guilds, Elementia and the richest family in the world, the Long Family.


    If someone wanted to make an enemy out of both of them, they would be insane.


    So for now, it would be impossible for anyone from the guild to leak anything else.


    The only ones that could leak information were the ones from the Awakener Association.


    The Awakener Association was a much more loosely gathered group with different factions, all of whom had different goals. There would even be people who would expose this information for their own benefits.


    Still, with Elementia and the Long Family working together, there was no information on those that had gone into the raid dungeon.


    Otherwise, my apartment definitely would have been surrounded by now.


    Though I knew that this was all for Long Shui Ling, rather than for any of us.


    Now that this information was out, I knew that something would happen.


    So the first thing that I did was seal off something inside of the safe that I had bought a while ago.


    When I put it in, it was struggling and fighting back, but it couldn''t do anything as I put it into the safe.


    Then it was all about waiting for what would come.


    It was a text from Su Chen at first asking me if I was free right now.


    I texted back that I was and I waited for him to come pick me up.


    But it wasn''t just Su Chen who came.


    It was an entire group that came to pick me up and judging by the magic energy coming from them, they weren''t normal people.


    These were all powerful Awakeners.


    When we met, Su Chen said, "I''m here to bring you to the guild headquarters."


    The Awakeners seemed relaxed, but I could see that all of their hands were on their weapons as if they were prepared to attack at any moment.


    I just raised my hands and said, "I''ll come with you, there''s no need to look at me like that."

 Chapter 279 - 279: Cuffed

    Su Chen gave a nod with a sigh after hearing this.


    This was a sigh of relief since he had been afraid that I would do something that I couldn''t take back.


    But seeing that I was willing to go back with them, he really was relieved.


    However, it didn''t seem like the Awakeners that followed him felt the same.


    After seeing that I agreed to come with them, the Awakeners exchanged glances before they split into two groups.


    One of the group still had their hands on their weapons as if they were prepared to cut me down if I did anything. The other group, which was just two of them, came forward with something in their hands.


    They came up in front of me and one of them said, "Put your hands down and stick them out in front of you."


    As they came closer, I could see what was in their hands.


    It seemed like a pair of bracelets, but with how thick they were, it was clear that they were cuffs.


    These were clearly to suppress my powers and bring me in.


    Su Chen deeply knitted his brows when he saw this and he asked, "What are you doing?"


    The one holding the cuffs still faced me and waited for me to put my hands down. The other one turned to Su Chen and said, "These were the orders that we received. We cannot go against these orders."


    Su Chen knitted his brows even more when he heard this and he was about to say something, but he stopped when he saw me shaking my head at him.


    I had honestly expected this, though the cuffs were definitely a bit far in my opinion.


    Still, if I didn''t go along with it, it would only become much worse.


    So for now, it was better to suck it up and go along with what they wanted to do.


    I put my hands in front of me and they put the cuffs on my wrists.


    As soon as these cuffs were placed on my wrists, they immediately started to glow.


    I could feel a restraining sensation coming from these cuffs on my wrists before they suddenly linked up with a magical chain. With this magical chain, they had become an actual pair of handcuffs.


    Only when those cuffs were on my wrists did the ones that were on full alert relax a bit.


    The one that had put the cuffs on my wrists reached their hand out to push my back and said, "Let''s go."


    I just let myself be pushed along by this person.


    When we passed by Su Chen, he looked at me with an apologetic and awkward look.


    But I just shook my head to show that I didn''t mind before saying, "Innocent until proven guilty, right?"


    These words of mine weren''t just for Su Chen, they were also for the ones that had been sent to capture me.


    However, I could see by the way that they were looking at me that they had clearly heard some things about me. It was clear that they didn''t trust me at all, they might have even thought that I was the enemy.


    The only reason they didn''t do anything to me was because they had been ordered not to.


    Whether that was because they were afraid that I might do something as the demon king, or if it was because they still trusted me, I had no idea. All I knew was that unless I got through this, it would be impossible to remain in human society anymore.


    When we came down, there were some people that looked at us with strange looks.


    I was certain that it would be hard to explain this to my neighbours later on, but there was nothing that I could do right now.


    As I was marched out, there was a familiar face who was waiting there for me.


    This was the same driver that had come to pick me up the first time.


    When he saw the way that I had been treated by the Awakeners, he narrowed his eyes to glare at them.


    A few of them turned their gazes away, but the ones that were right behind me didn''t look away. Instead, they matched gazes with the driver, as if they weren''t afraid of him at all.


    The driver just looked at them for a bit before turning back to me with a smile and saying, "Young man, it seems like you''ve gotten yourself in quite a bit of trouble this time."


    I looked back at him with a smile as I said, "It seems so."


    The driver said with a nod, "Well, sometimes you get caught up in these things, but I''m sure that you''ll be able to get through this."


    I was surprised by what the driver said, but I still gave a grateful nod as I said, "Thank you."


    The driver gave a nod back before turning around to open the door for me.


    The ones behind me pushed me forward and into the car without any care at all.


    This caused the driver to glare at them again, but they didn''t care as they came into the car with me.


    Su Chen was about to come in as well, but they stopped him from getting in the back with them. Instead, they pointed at the passenger seat beside the driver''s seat, indicating for him to go with the driver.


    Su Chen knitted his brows, but he stopped himself when the driver patted him on the shoulder and waved at him to follow.


    Su Chen gave a sigh along with the driver before getting in the front with him.


    From where I was sitting, I could see sneers from the Awakeners as they looked at the two of them.


    It was clear that whoever these Awakeners were, they looked down on both Su Chen and the driver.


    It was clear that whoever was behind these Awakeners¡­they most likely had it out for either me or Bing Lan since she most likely was the one that arranged for them to come with this group to get me. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 280 - 280: Examined (1)

    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at the headquarters.


    When we arrived, I found that there was a large crowd that was gathered outside.


    With the cameras in their hands, it was clear that these people were reporters.


    When they saw our car pull up in front of the headquarters, they immediately came to surround us.


    The driver had wanted to go to a less conspicuous place, but the Awakeners forced him to go to the front entrance.


    Then they pushed me out of the car and out in front of all of these reporters.


    The moment that they saw us come out, there were many cameras raised and flashes that appeared as they took their photos.


    These reporters immediately started asking all kinds of questions while taking their photos.


    "Is this another one of the whistleblowers?"


    "How do you feel about being caught like this?"


    "Can you please tell us what you did and how you feel about doing it?"


    In the face of all of this, I just held my head up high and walked forward without engaging with any of them.


    But the Awakeners that were behind me didn''t force me forward for once. In fact, they even grabbed the hem of my shirt so that I would be forced to walk slower in front of all these reporters.


    It was as if they were parading me in front of these reporters, giving them time to ask their questions and take their pictures.


    It was clear that whoever was targeting either me or Bing Lan had arranged all of this.


    There was nothing that I could do since I had the cuffs restraining my power and the Awakeners not letting me walk faster.


    In the end, it was Su Chen who pushed forward and pushed those Awakeners away from me, allowing me to walk faster.


    He glared at them before turning to the reporters and chasing them off.


    He was a skilled handler, so he was used to doing things like this.


    But it was already too late to stop them since they had taken plenty of pictures.


    At the same time, I could see on the faces of a few of these reporters that they wouldn''t hesitate to write false stories.


    Whether it was because they had no conscience or if they were paid, I didn''t know. All I knew was that they would most certainly slander me however they could.


    Still, I didn''t show any signs of distress as I held my head up high and walked into the lobby of the headquarters building.


    When we walked in, the members of the guild who were walking around in this lobby all turned to look at me with strange looks. There were some of them that recognized me, but most of them were just staring to see what was happening.


    Still, it didn''t take long before whispers were spread by those who knew who I was.


    Throughout all of this, I just kept walking forward with a calm look on my face.


    Though I did stop for a bit since I had no idea where we were going.


    The Awakeners escorting me weren''t in a rush to bring me in and made us walk in the lobby in front of everyone for a bit before finally bringing us down a hall.


    We didn''t go to the elevator and go to Bing Lan''s floor.


    Instead, I was brought to a large conference room that was on the first floor. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once we arrived, they made us wait outside as they went in to report that we were here.


    When the door opened, I could hear many different voices coming from inside and from the gap that formed, I could see that there were many people sitting in there.


    It seemed that whatever this was, it wasn''t small¡­


    After a few minutes, the Awakeners who had escorted us here brought us inside.


    I saw some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces.


    But the familiar faces that I saw were those important people of the guild that I had met before when I worked with them to catch Motoyasu.


    It was clear that this meeting was not a meeting of low ranking members.


    At the very head of this meeting was Bing Lan, so it was clear that this was a meeting for high ranking members of the guild.


    Once I was brought in, the room immediately fell silent as everyone turned to look at me.


    The way that they looked at me was strange, with many different emotions aimed at me.


    There were some gazes that had curiosity, there were some that had complicated expressions, and some that had straight hostility.


    I didn''t need to think about it to guess what this was all about.


    The mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy had both stated it, so there was no hiding it.


    It was about the fact that they said I had the same energy as their lord in me.


    And this lord that they referred to was¡­the demon king.


    So by that logic, it only made sense that I was related to the demon king in some sense.


    Since the demon king was the enemy of humanity, they naturally started to regard me as the enemy of humanity as well.


    The silence continued in the room for a bit before Bing Lan broke it by saying, "Who put those cuffs on him?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear that as her first question, but no one said a thing.


    The Awakeners who had done it couldn''t help taking an awkward step back and looking away from her, as if they didn''t dare meet her gaze.


    Bing Lan just remained silent, but her aura put pressure on everyone in the room as she remained silent.


    Finally, she said, "Why haven''t you taken them off him yet?"


    The Awakeners didn''t act when they heard this and some of the people in the room revealed complicated looks.


    After a bit of silence, one of them said, "Wouldn''t it be dangerous to take these cuffs off him?"

 Chapter 281 - 281: Examined (2)

    The moment that this was said, Bing Lan''s gaze immediately fell onto the one that had spoken.


    This was one of the people that I didn''t recognize, but for them to be here, it meant that they had an important position in the guild.


    But Bing Lan didn''t seem to care at all as she glared at him.


    The pressure that she put on this person didn''t just suppress him, it even suppressed the ones that were sitting beside him.


    These people all glared at the one who had spoken, as if they were blaming him for getting them caught up in this mess.


    But even then, not a single person dared to speak.


    After a long silence, Bing Lan said, "So you''re saying that you can''t even trust a member of our guild now? If that''s the case, then does that mean that you doubt whether I''ll be able to refrain from hurting you? Are you going to say that I''m a danger just because I''m a S Ranker?"


    The person who had spoken opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he didn''t know what to say.


    In the end, it was someone else who spoke up for him.


    This person was much further up the table, showing that they were in an even higher position.


    With how far up they were, it seemed like they were one of the higher management.


    After all, they were sitting with the first dungeon raid team leader and third dungeon raid team leader that I had met before.


    If I had to guess, they were most likely also a dungeon raid team leader.


    "Guild master, that is a completely different situation. You should know that this is a demon king that we''re dealing with, this isn''t something that we can be callous about?"


    Though no one said anything, the nods that some people gave were more than enough to show that they agreed with this person.


    But Bing Lan had a different idea.


    She just gave a snort before saying, "Second dungeon raid team leader, can you not read?"


    Everyone looked at Bing Lan in shock when they heard this.


    After all, not a single one of them expected the first thing out of her mouth to be this kind of insult.


    The one who had been called the second dungeon raid team leader knitted his brows, but he didn''t say anything as he waited to hear what Bing Lan had to say.


    Bing Lan didn''t continue right away as she looked at the ones that had nodded in agreement. Only after glaring at all of them did she finally say, "The report clearly stated that this was only what the dungeon monsters stated. If you read the report clearly, you should have known that they had already examined Lin Fan and found that there were no traces of this ''dark energy'' that they referred to.


    So I just want to know, is it because you can''t read or is it something else?"


    Everyone once again knitted their brows when they heard this.


    They knew that she was right, but this was something that was related to the demon king, so it wasn''t as if they could ignore it that easily.


    Or rather, it was that they wanted the merit of finding something related to the demon king that made them do this.


    If this Lin Fan really was related to the demon king and they turned him over to the Awakener Association, then wouldn''t they be rewarded?


    At the same time, there were some that knew how close this Lin Fan was to Bing Lan, so they wanted to use this opportunity to hurt Bing Lan''s prestige.


    So it wasn''t as if they could back down now.


    Bing Lan naturally knew that this wouldn''t be enough, so she took a deep breath and said in a powerful voice, "We are humans and our only strength is our ability to work together. If we start attacking each other because of the words of monsters, then is there any difference between us and the monsters?"


    As soon as she said this, it made it very difficult for them to say anything else.


    After all, if they did, it would make it seem like they really were as she had called them.


    They would be lower than monsters¡­


    But in the end, the second dungeon raid team leader still spoke up.


    "Still, this is something that regards the future of the entirety of mankind. This is not something that we can be careless about."


    Seeing that someone was willing to speak up for them, the others let out sighs of relief and waited to back him up.


    The second dungeon raid team leader continued by saying, "I suggest that for now, we at least lock him up until we can be certain that there is nothing wrong with him. If there is nothing wrong with him, then we can release him."


    After saying this, he turned to look at me with narrowed eyes as he said, "We can never be too careful."


    Though his words sounded righteous, I could see the hostility that was in his eyes.


    It was clear that he was targeting me for some specific reason.


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything in response to this, which the second dungeon raid team leader mistook as agreement, so he said, "Then shall we vote on this matter? I believe that we should act as soon as possible so nothing can go wrong."


    This time, the others in the room started to nod in agreement to this, though it wasn''t everyone that showed their agreement for this.


    But before they could force this vote out, Bing Lan suddenly said, "You''re right about this matter being for the good of mankind, but I think you''re mistaking something." S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Huh?" That was everyone''s response when they heard this.


    Bing Lan narrowed her eyes to say, "We have already confirmed that there is nothing wrong with him, so why are you treating it as if there is something wrong? Or are you saying that you don''t trust the medical staff of our guild to do something as simple as this?"


    Everyone slowly came to understand what she meant.


    In the report that was submitted, there was a detailed medical report about this where they had already run a test on Lin Fan.


    In that test, it had shown that there was nothing abnormal about him even though the mummy leader said that he felt the ''dark energy'' coming from him.


    So this could serve as evidence that there was nothing wrong.


    For them to keep pushing at this point meant that they were just trying to find fault where there was none.


    The second dungeon raid team leader revealed an ugly look, but he quickly made that expression disappear before saying, "Guild master, that was then and it was done in the middle of the dungeon. I don''t think we can say that those were the best conditions for a medical examination, right?"


    Bing Lan surprisingly gave a nod, but she also said, "That''s why I called him in today. We''ll be giving him another examination right now to prove his innocence."

 Chapter 282 - 282: Examined (3)

    No one responded after she said this.


    There was only silence that met Bing Lan as soon as her voice fell.


    However, she didn''t seem to care at all that no one said anything.


    No one said a thing because no one was able to say a thing.


    They all felt like they had just been played by Bing Lan and in a sense, they had been played by her.


    All of this could be solved by this, but they didn''t want it to end this way. After all, they wanted to manipulate the situation to suit their purpose and maximize their benefits, but now¡­


    Everyone turned to look at the second dungeon raid team leader.


    He was the one that had led the charge against Bing Lan in the first place, so they were looking to him to lead them again.


    But there was nothing for the second dungeon raid team leader to say.


    If he were to say something, it would be like he was going back on his words.


    The words that he said earlier used righteousness and caring for mankind as a base. The solution that Bing Lan gave was one that solved all of the problems that he mentioned, so it would be wrong for him to go against these words now.


    So there wasn''t a single person that was able to say a thing.


    Bing Lan gave them time to mull over this since she wanted to crush them if they had any objections, but it didn''t seem like they were able to come up with anything to her disappointment.


    Seeing that no one said a thing, she continued by saying, "Since no one has a suggestion, then let''s get this over with."


    She was about to stand up, but there was someone that suddenly spoke.


    This person seemed to be grasping at straws, but what they said did create ripples.


    "Will the Awakener Association really accept this?"


    As soon as this stone was cast into the pond, the ripples immediately started to spread across the pond and everyone jumped onto this.


    After all, this was the only scapegoat that they could use.


    The Awakener Association was following this case very closely, so they cared very much about anything that was related to the demon king. They naturally also knew about Lin Fan and had inquired about him before, but strangely they never asked for him.


    So they wanted to use the Awakener Association as the shield against the willfulness of the guild master.


    Since no one from the Awakener Association was here, they could speak as if they were speaking on behalf of them.


    The second dungeon raid team leader also jumped on this by saying, "That''s right. Even if we can accept the results, the Awakener Association might now. We should think this through and talk with them before doing this examination."


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything in response to this.


    This was something that she had also considered before, but she had been ignoring it since she didn''t want to bring up something that would hurt her case.


    Still, since it was brought up, she had no choice but to address it.


    Before she could, the second dungeon raid team leader said, "I suggest that we detain him for now and contact the Awakener Association. Once we are in contact with the Awakener Association, we will be able to work along with them for this."


    This was just a move to buy time, but buying time was more than enough for now.


    As long as Lin Fan was placed in a cell, it would be easy for them to make a move against him.


    After all, it was impossible for Bing Lan to protect him forever.


    So they just wanted to stall for now to get some breathing room.


    Bing Lan didn''t really have any good counters to this since what he had said was very reasonable.


    But she knew that if this matter wasn''t settled today, then they would play their tricks and make things even harder for her.


    Bing Lan didn''t want to use this card since she knew that it would be bad for the unity of their guild if she used this card. However, it didn''t seem like they were going to give her that option.


    It seemed like she had no choice but to use force.


    So Bing Lan was about to release her aura once more to suppress everyone here.


    But before she could, the door to this room suddenly opened and a voice rang out.


    "I wonder if I can help with this matter?"


    This was a voice that many people didn''t recognize, so they immediately turned to see who it was.


    When they saw who the person that walked in was, they couldn''t help being shocked.


    It only took them one glance to recognize this person, that was just how famous he was among the Awakeners.


    Normal people might not recognize him since he did a lot of behind the scenes work, but Awakeners were afraid of this person.


    That was because he not only took care of things in public, he also took care of things behind the scenes. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was why his moniker was the Dark Blade.


    When I saw this person coming in, I also couldn''t help being surprised since I also recognized this person.


    But I didn''t recognize this person because of how famous he was, I only recognized him because I had seen him before.


    It was Elliot who I had met at the Irregular License Exam before.


    When he saw me looking in his direction, he looked at me with a smile and waved at me.


    I couldn''t really wave back since my hands were still cuffed, but I looked back at him with an awkward smile.


    After waiting for a bit, he walked right up in front of everyone and said, "I wonder if I can represent the Awakener Association in this matter?"


    Everyone couldn''t help giving a gulp when they heard this.

 Chapter 283 - 283: Examined (4)

    After Eliott said this, there was a long silence that filled the room.


    Everyone looked at him with cautious gazes since they had all heard of him before.


    For him to suddenly show up in this place, it was clear that this was by no means a simple matter.


    The second dungeon raid team leader was the one that broke the silence.


    "Dark Blade, this is our Elementia. Is this really a place for you to come and go as you please?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear this aggressive tone from the second dungeon raid team leader.


    However, it did remind them of an important fact of where they currently were.


    This was the headquarters of their Elementia guild and even if he had a high status in the world of Awakeners, that didn''t mean that this Dark Blade was allowed to move freely in their headquarters.


    If one put it lightly, this would be considered trespassing.


    If one put it more seriously, this would be considered an invasion.


    So all of them suddenly narrowed their eyes to look at Eliott.


    But Eliott didn''t seem to mind as he looked at the second dungeon raid team leader with a calm smile on his face and said, "But I was invited to this meeting today, so I think that I have a right to come here. I even knocked on the door before I came in."


    Everyone immediately knitted their brows the moment that they heard this.


    The second dungeon raid team leader looked at Eliott with narrowed eyes before saying, "May I ask who invited you here today?"


    Eliott just turned to look at Bing Lan and said with a wink, "Why it was your guild master."


    Bing Lan was surprised deep down, but she forced herself to remain calm at this moment.


    Though the ones that were close to her could see the trace of surprise that was in her eyes.


    After looking at Eliott for a split second, she calmly said, "That''s right, I was the one that invited him here today since I was planning on getting Lin Fan examined. He can represent the Awakeners Association on this matter, right?"


    Everyone knitted their brows even more when they heard this.


    There was nothing wrong with what she said, but it was clear that there was something off about all of this. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The second dungeon raid team leader didn''t look at either of them and turned to look at the staff member who had followed Eliott in. This staff member had a look of terror on their face, showing that they were completely caught off guard by this.


    If Eliott had really been invited, would this staff member look this way?


    The second dungeon raid team leader narrowed his eyes to look at that staff member and put some pressure on him.


    When that staff member felt this pressure, he trembled before looking at the second dungeon raid team leader.


    The second dungeon raid team leader used his eyes to send a message that made the staff member even more terrified.


    It was as if he was saying, "Was he really invited?"


    But before he could force the answer out of the staff member, there was someone who moved in front of this staff member that blocked him from seeing them. At the same time, he could feel pressure coming from this person that moved in front of the staff member.


    He narrowed his eyes to look at this person and found that it was a red haired young man who was standing there.


    When he saw this red haired young man, he narrowed his eyes even more as a look of recognition appeared in them.


    This red haired young man¡­he was an Awakener who was just as famous as the Dark Blade Eliott.


    And he had the power to back it up as he easily negated the second dungeon raid team leader''s pressure.


    It had to be known that one had to be an A Ranker to be a dungeon raid team leader, so this red haired young man had the power of an A Ranker.


    Everyone once again fell silent after Bing Lan said this.


    None of them knew what the situation was, but many of them could guess that this wasn''t the truth. After all, if Bing Lan had invited them, why would she wait until now to reveal them?


    So the only explanation was that it wasn''t as meets the eyes.


    But they couldn''t call Bing Lan out in this place with these people from the Awakeners Association present.


    This would make Elementia seem weaker by showing them that they weren''t as unified as they seemed.


    So they had no choice but to¡­


    In the end, there were many that looked to the second dungeon raid team leader to lead them in this matter. However, the second dungeon raid team leader turned away, as if he was extricating himself from this matter.


    Seeing this, Bing Lan knew that there was no one left to oppose her.


    So she turned to look at the Awakeners standing behind me and said, "Why haven''t you uncuffed him yet?"


    This time, they didn''t hesitate as they felt the full force of Bing Lan''s pressure on them.


    This time, they could see that no one would be backing them up, so they had no choice but to follow Bing Lan''s orders.


    So they quickly came forward and took the cuffs off my wrists.


    But as they stood there in front of me with their backs to everyone, the looks on their faces made it clear what they were thinking.


    I just acted like I didn''t see anything, but I knew that this would spell trouble in the end.


    After seeing the cuffs come off, Bing Lan stood up and headed to the entrance of this room before saying, "Then shall we?"


    The others slowly stood up and followed her, but no one came close since Bing Lan came over to where Eliott and that red haired young man were.


    Eliott looked back at her with a smile and said, "Let''s go then."

 Chapter 284 - 284: Examined (5)

    They were about to leave before they realized that they were missing something.


    So Bing Lan turned to me and waved her hand for me to follow as she said, "Come on, we can''t do anything without you."


    I could feel the glares coming at me from the people still sitting at the table, but I ignored it as I went over to where Bing Lan was.


    Once I came over, they turned back around and started heading in a certain direction.


    Seeing that we were going without them, the ones that were sitting at the table had no choice but to stand up and follow us.


    Since we had left before everyone else, there was a bit of a buffer between us and them that I was able to talk to them in private.


    I turned to Eliott and said, "Thank you for coming to help."


    Though I didn''t know what was going on, I did know that he showed up at my moment of need. So at the very least, I should thank him for coming to help me.


    Eliott revealed a faint smile when he heard this and then he was about to say something, but Bing Lan cut him off.


    "You can''t steal him from us." She said in a cold and serious voice.


    Eliott revealed a wry smile when he heard this, but then he quickly raised his hands and said, "Of course I don''t have any intentions of doing that."


    Though he said this, it was clear by the smile on his face that he might have actually had other intentions.


    Bing Lan just glared at him for a bit before saying, "Just tell me what you want. If it''s in my power, I''ll get it for you." But she also added, "Remember, you can''t take him from us."


    Eliott''s smile became more awkward, but he still said, "It''s not that. I just want the right to reserve him as a contractor for the Awakeners Association."


    Bing Lan raised a brow to show that she was surprised by this before saying, "Why would you want that?"


    Eliott revealed a wry smile again as he said, "There''s no need to hide it, we both know what kind of power this young man is hiding."


    Bing Lan still had one brow raised as she looked at him with a confused look.


    Eliott was a bit surprised to see this, but he didn''t think much of it since he guessed that she was just faking it to raise the price of the contract.


    With a sigh, he said, "He''s a buff type supporter, he''s one of the rare ones, so there''s no need to pretend. We know that his contract will be pricey, so there''s no need to pretend like this. We''ll give you an amount that will satisfy you."


    Bing Lan tried to stay calm, but there was a twitch that appeared in her eyebrows when she heard this.


    She had known that Lin Fan''s power was to buff, but she had thought that it was just a temporary buff and debuff that wouldn''t last long.


    But now Eliott was saying that he was a buff type supporter¡­


    That had a very different meaning from what she thought Lin Fan was.


    A buff type supporter meant long term buffs that ignored ability rank, so that meant that Lin Fan would even be able to buff her for a long time if he used his buff on her.


    This was completely different from what she thought his power was before.


    She had only seen him use it on himself before, so she never thought that his ability could also be used like this¡­ S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bing Lan couldn''t help turning to look at Lin Fan with a gaze like she was blaming him.


    When I saw this, I really didn''t know what to say since I had thought that she had known all along, which was why she had recruited me into Elementia in the first place.


    Eliott was slowly realizing his mistake and he couldn''t stop his smile from turning awkward¡­but it was too late to take back what he said, so he could only keep going with it.


    Bing Lan finally calmed down after a while and said, "Alright, let''s go with the standard price for a buffer and I''ll give you 10% off for your help today."


    Eliott revealed a faint smile when he heard this.


    The standard price for a buffer wasn''t low, so 10% off was quite the amount.


    But it was the next part that really made him happy.


    "Plus, I''ll give you priority since you are our Lin Fan''s friend, so you can book him ahead of other Awakeners from the Awakeners Association."


    This was basically giving him exclusive rights to book him in front of everyone else from the Awakeners Association.


    Bing Lan saw the bitter smile that I had on my face, so she asked me with a smile, "What''s wrong? You''re not satisfied with this?"


    I quickly shook my head.


    It wasn''t that I wasn''t satisfied with this, it was just that it felt like I was being sold off.


    But I could tell from the context that this was a deal with a large amount of money involved, so I would be getting paid extra on top of just doing what I would normally be doing.


    Money was always a welcome thing.


    At the same time, I would be able to repay Eliott for helping me today, so I was fine with this.


    But there was someone who wasn''t happy with this.


    The red haired young man came closer and said, "What about me?"


    Eliott gave a snort and said, "What about you?"


    The red haired young man glared at him and said, "You get priority and I get nothing? I also came to help today, so shouldn''t I get something?"


    Eliott gave another snort before saying, "Didn''t you hear what the guild master just said? It''s because we''re friends that I get priority booking."


    "Friends?" The red haired young man repeated before coming right up to me.


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard by his sudden actions, but then I was surprised even more by what he did next.


    He suddenly reached his hand out to me and said, "You''re Lin Fan, right? I''m Enma."


    Eh?


    That was all that I could think as I looked at the red haired young man named Enma with a surprised look.


    I didn''t understand what was happening, so I looked at Bing Lan and Eliott.


    However, both of them just shook their heads and gave sighs in the end.


    This didn''t really help me, so I could only deal with this myself.


    It was true that he had come to help me too by putting pressure on the second dungeon raid team leader, so I should at least repay him a bit¡­


    So I slowly reached my hand out to take his hand.


    When I grabbed his hand, he immediately shook it and said, "Nice to meet you."


    Then without hesitation, he turned to Bing Lan and said, "See, we''re friends as well. So how about me?"


    Bing Lan looked at me with a brow raised.


    All I could do was give a sigh and then nod in agreement.


    Seeing this nod, Bing Lan gave a nod as well and said, "Alright, you can receive the same treatment."


    Enma started cheering and Eliott just gave a snort when he saw this, but he didn''t do anything in the end.


    With this, we arrived at the medical bay of the headquarters.

 Chapter 285 - 285: Examined (6)

    Once we came in, the doctors that had been waiting inside immediately came over.


    It seemed that Bing Lan had already prepared everything as there were many of them just waiting inside for us.


    As soon as they saw us, they immediately came over.


    These doctors didn''t even look at Bing Lan as they came up to me and started looking at me from different angles.


    The way that they looked at me made me feel very uncomfortable.


    It wasn''t that they were looking at me in an inappropriate manner, it was just that¡­they weren''t really looking at me like I was a patient.


    Rather, they were looking at me as I was some kind of test subject.


    I couldn''t help looking at Bing Lan with an aggrieved look, but she just looked back at me with an encouraging look like she was telling me to just accept this.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more aggrieved when I saw this.


    After a while, the others came in and they couldn''t help looking surprised when they saw these people.


    Judging by this, it seemed like the doctors that had been gathered were quite famous.


    But these doctors didn''t seem to care at all about the rest of the people that came in as they started moving to different pieces of equipment.


    Some of them stayed at their stations while some of them brought the equipment over to use on me. They use this equipment to poke and scan me, which made me feel even more awkward.


    But there was nothing that I could do as I just let them do what they wanted with me.


    After a while, one of them suddenly came over to Bing Lan with a disappointed look and said, "Guild master, are you sure that this is the one?"


    Everyone revealed confused looks when they heard this, except for Bing Lan who asked in a calm voice, "What''s wrong?"


    The doctor who came over said with the same disappointed look, "We all gathered immediately when you told us that we would be studying something related to the demon king, but there''s nothing here at all. No matter how we look at him, he''s just a normal person. Are you sure that you brought the right person with you?"


    Bing Lan revealed a faint smile while everyone else knitted their brows.


    Before Bing Lan could say anything, the second dungeon raid team leader suddenly came forward to say, "Are you sure about that? Could it be that you made some kind of mistake?"


    In his haste, he didn''t fully realize what he had just said.


    When the doctor and his colleagues heard this, they all looked at the second dungeon raid team leader with annoyed looks.


    It would be strange if they didn''t have these annoyed looks since he had basically called out their professionalism like this.


    But the second dungeon raid team leader didn''t have time to think about that.


    Bing Lan smoothed this matter over by suddenly saying, "How about you just run a few more in depth tests just in case."


    The doctor looked at Bing Lan with an unwilling look, but seeing the way that she looked at him, he knew what she was trying to say.


    So with another glare at the second dungeon raid team leader, he gave a nod and went back over to the other doctors.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit afraid of what these in depth tests would be, but I knew that I had to go along with it.


    In the end, I was directed to something that I was familiar with.


    It was the glass tube filled with liquid.


    I was brought over and had several nodes placed on me before being put into that glass tube.


    Once I was in that glass tube, there was the tube that was put in my nose to help me breathe and I closed my eyes while waiting for the test to be over.


    A few minutes passed and I was soon let out of the glass tube.


    When I came out, I could see the expressions on everyone''s faces.


    It was clear that they weren''t happy with the results of the test.


    But the fact that they weren''t happy meant that I was happy with the results.


    It meant that they weren''t able to find a single thing off about me.


    The doctors still asked Bing Lan if I was the right person and she just told them that there was no one else.


    The second dungeon raid team leader led his people away since he knew that there was nothing that he could do about this. With results like this, it would be hard for him to do anything else here.


    So he left before anything else happened that would make the situation worse for him.


    It seemed like he wasn''t that rash of a person, knowing when to advance and when to pull back. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That kind of person definitely wasn''t someone that was easy to deal with.


    In the future, he might be a thorn in my side¡­


    After all, it was clear that he was targeting me or Bing Lan for some reason.


    Since the tests cleared me of all suspicion, Bing Lan looked at Eliott for his opinion.


    Eliott said with a smile, "Since the results are as such, we can conclude that our friend Lin Fan here isn''t related to the demon king. It was just something that the monsters made up about him or a mistake that they made, so there''s no need to think about it any further."


    I let out a secret sigh of relief after hearing this, but I didn''t let my guard down as I kept my expression neutral.


    Bing Lan gave a nod before saying, "Thank you for coming out today to help us with this matter."


    Eliott just waved his hand and said, "It''s a small matter."


    Then he leaned in to say, "Let''s talk about the details of our other discussion soon."


    Bing Lan nodded with a smile in response.

 Chapter 286 - 286: Transferred

    Once that was taken care of, Bing Lan waved her hand at me to follow her.


    I was surprised, but I followed her out of the medical department and to the elevator.


    We took that elevator to the same floor as before and went to her office which was empty.


    She gestured at the chair in front of the desk and said, "Sit. Let''s talk for a bit."


    I gave a nod before sitting down, but I didn''t say anything as I waited for her to speak.


    I knew that Bing Lan wouldn''t call me here for no reason, so I waited to see what she had in store for me.


    Bing Lan just sat down in her own seat and looked at me in silence for a bit.


    With the way that she looked at me, it was as if she was trying to come to a decision about something. It was as if she was still considering what she wanted to do with me.


    But that wasn''t strange after such a large matter.


    So all I could do was wait.


    Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "I''m going to be transferring you."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look before asking, "Transfer? Where?"


    Bing Lan gave a nod as if she was already expecting this before saying, "I''m just transferring you to another team. You''ll be working under the first dungeon raid team for a bit."


    "The first dungeon raid team." I slowly repeated before looking up at Bing Lan.


    She just calmly looked back into my eyes, as if she wasn''t bothered by the way that I was looking at her.


    Seeing her like this, I calmly said, "So am I still being watched or¡­"


    I didn''t finish my words, but the meaning was clear. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was being transferred not as a reward, even if being transferred to the prestigious first dungeon raid team could be considered a promotion.


    Rather, I was being transferred because they were watching over me or if need be, they could take care of me if anything happened.


    Bing Lan just calmly looked at me still before saying with a sigh, "This is something that has to be done. I can''t just ignore this, you should know that."


    I slowly gave a nod to show that I did understand the situation that she was facing.


    After all, this was an event that drew the attention of many people and many different forces.


    Even if she had already proven that there was nothing wrong with me through the medical examination, there was still the need to be cautious. After all, she was the guild master and she needed to take care of everyone in the guild.


    This wasn''t something that she could decide to ignore on her own.


    So I just nodded to show that I agreed.


    Bing Lan gave another sigh and said, "You''re already close to Rupert, so you should be able to fit in fine with his team. I trust that he''ll take care of you."


    I gave another nod in response.


    Then after a bit of silence, Bing Lan suddenly acted like she remembered something and said, "That''s right, I''m also transferring someone to your team."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look before narrowing my eyes to ask, "Who?"


    Bing Lan revealed a mysterious smile as she said, "It''s someone that you already know and are close to."


    My face filled with confusion when I heard this, but it seemed like she was doing this on purpose.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Am I supposed to guess who it is now?"


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything, but the smile on her face said more than enough.


    With another sigh, I said, "Let me guess, is it Bing Xin?"


    The smile on Bing Lan''s face turned stiff before she said with that stiff smile, "How did you know? Did she already tell you?"


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard when I heard this.


    Based on this, it seemed like it really was Bing Xin¡­


    But why would she suddenly have Bing Xin join our group like this?


    Bing Lan didn''t waste any time as she stood up and walked to the side door to her office.


    When she opened it up, it revealed Bing Xin who had been sitting in the side room.


    But the strange thing was that there was a blush on Bing Xin''s face as she looked down. From time to time, she looked up as if she was peeking at me before lowering her head again.


    Bing Lan revealed a smile seeing this before bringing Bing Xin over and saying, "Well, here''s your new teammate. I bet you''re surprised to see her, right?"


    I slowly gave a nod in response to this.


    Even though I had guessed Bing Xin, it was honestly a random guess that didn''t mean anything.


    I had only chosen Bing Xin because of Bing Lan.


    She was the first name that came to my mind.


    I never expected it to actually be Bing Xin.


    Bing Lan then revealed a serious look and said, "She is joining you as a new member of your group, but she will suppress you if anything happens. In a sense, she will be your guard."


    I slowly revealed a look of understanding when I heard this.


    Bing Xin really was the best person for this.


    After all, it was known that she and I were close and she was a B Ranker, just a single rank higher than me, an Irregular C Ranker.


    So it made sense for her to join our group.


    And as Bing Lan said, she was there as a deterrent over what had happened in the raid dungeon.


    She was there to make sure nothing happened if it turned out that what the mummy leader and pharaoh mummy said were true.


    So this was killing two birds with one stone.


    I reached my hand out towards Bing Xin and said, "I look forward to working with you."


    Bing Xin took my hand and just gave a nod before lowering her head down again.

 Chapter 287 - 287: Tournament

    After watching us for a bit, Bing Lan waved for us to sit down again and we sat down in front of her desk.


    Once we were sitting, Bing Lan suddenly said, "Other than this, there''s something else that I want to discuss with you."


    I was surprised that there was more, but I gave a nod to show that I was listening.


    Bing Lan took out a piece of paper and put it in front of me before saying, "I need you to sign up for this."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this again before looking down at the piece of paper in front of me.


    I found that it was a flyer for some kind of event.


    When I looked at it closely, I found that it was a flyer for a tournament.


    This tournament seemed to be one that gathered the newbies of the various guilds together and made them compete in events to see who was better. It was something that was done to show off the future prospects of the various guilds, while also building up fame for the various guilds.


    But the most important thing was that it was a competition for the top guilds.


    This was a chance that should be given to the best rookies, but now Bing Lan said that she wanted me to enter it, I couldn''t help being caught off guard.


    However, when I thought about it, I slowly realized what she wanted to do.


    "You want to use this chance to show that I''m harmless?"


    Bing Lan gave a nod as she said, "Isn''t it a good chance? With this incident, we need to do something to show that you''re fine or else people will start demanding that you be captured again. Since that''s the case, let''s make it as big as possible."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows slightly when I heard this.


    While showing off like this wasn''t something that I wanted to do, I recognized that it was indeed the best solution in this situation.


    After all, if you showed everyone that there was nothing to fear, then it would be easier for us to move past this.


    There was nothing better than a public display like this.


    But at the same time, there was something to be worried about.


    This wasn''t just me that was being shown off, but the power of the entire guild.


    I wasn''t that confident that I would be able to defeat everyone that was at this tournament.


    So this plan that hinged on me performing well at the tournament might not work since I couldn''t guarantee victory.


    There were a few things that I had to ask before entering this tournament.


    "Is it just me alone who is entering the tournament or will there be others with me?"


    Bing Lan took out something else and this time it was revealed to be a folder.


    She placed it in front of me for me to read at my own pace.


    I opened it to find that it was a detailed information packet about the tournament that would have answered all the questions that I had.


    After I opened it, Bing Lan said, "You can keep that and read up on the tournament on your own time."


    Then without any hesitation, she also pulled out another folder that she put in front of me.


    I closed the first folder she handed me and opened up this second folder.


    I found that this folder had some personnel files in it and these files were familiar to me.


    That was because these were files that were about my team.


    I looked through this folder and found that other than my team, there was no one else here.


    I looked back up at Bing Lan and found that she was looking at me with a smile on her face.


    With all of this, I knew exactly what she was implying.


    Plain and simple, she was saying that my group was the only group that would be sent to this tournament.


    I was fine with this since if I had my group, I would be able to accomplish what I wanted.


    Though the one person missing was Bing Xin.


    It seemed that she didn''t count as a rookie anymore, so she wouldn''t be able to enter this tournament.


    But there was also something else that I wanted to add.


    "Can I bring some other people with me?"


    Bing Lan was surprised to hear this, but then she said, "Who do you have in mind?"


    The ones that I wanted to add were Kaito and his group.


    We had gotten along well during our dive into the raid dungeon, so I felt like they would be helpful in this tournament. They had abilities that worked well with our group''s, so it would be good if we could work together.


    Bing Lan quickly agreed to let Kaito''s group enter as well since they were at the top of the list if it wasn''t for me.


    With that settled, there was nothing left for us to discuss and I was allowed to leave.


    After exiting the office, I couldn''t help letting out a long sigh of relief.


    I really had not expected things to go this way, but it was a good thing that things had worked out in the end.


    Otherwise¡­I might have ended up on a dissection table.


    Or even worse, I would have ended up six feet in the ground. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But now that everything had been settled, I could feel my nerves relaxing and my body relaxing with it.


    It almost felt like I was about to fall forward.


    Before I could though, Su Chen suddenly appeared to catch me.


    With a shared smile, the two of us left this place.


    ¡­


    "How could this have happened!"


    "Smash!"


    The sound of something being smashed against the wall rang out before the same voice as before shouted, "Everything had been prepared, so how could they turn out this way? How could he escape?!"

 Chapter 288 - 288: He must die

    The ones around this person all lowered their heads as if they were afraid of attracting this person''s attention.


    But this person''s eyes fell onto the ones around him and he said, "Well? Why did it fail?"


    Still no one said a thing as they all lowered their heads.


    Finally, one of them said, "It should be because of the appearance of the Dark Blade¡­"


    That person immediately turned to look at this person and said, "Why did the Dark Blade suddenly appear? Why did we not have information on this?"


    Once again, everyone looked down and didn''t dare look up.


    Not a single one of them had an answer for this since they were just as surprised as this person when the Dark Blade appeared.


    Seeing that no one said anything again, that person slammed his fist down on the table in front of him and pointed at one of them to say, "Why didn''t you find anything about this?"


    This person that he was pointing at was the one that was in charge of gathering information for their group.


    So it could be said that it was his fault that they didn''t have this information.


    Everyone else let out a sigh of relief when they saw that this person was picked out since it meant that they would be spared the wrath of the leader.


    That person trembled when he was picked out and still didn''t dare look up.


    But feeling the pressure that fell on him, he had no choice but to look up and say, "I don''t know. We didn''t have any information on him making contact with the Dark Blade, so we have no idea when he became friends with him."


    The person in charge narrowed his eyes to look at this person before saying, "Are you sure that there was no information at all about this?"


    That person trembled when he felt the increased pressure, but then he suddenly remembered something.


    He quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and said, "There was some form of contact when he went to take the Irregular License Exam, but the time that they interacted was considered too short for them to form any relationship."


    The person in charge took this sheet of paper and read the report on it before throwing it in the face of the person who handed it to him.


    "You idiot! Can''t you read between the lines!"


    That person didn''t dare react at all to the paper being thrown at him and quickly lowered his head once more.


    The person in charge slammed his hand down on the table and said, "It''s clear that he caught the attention of Dark Blade at the exam, or else Dark Blade never would have personally appeared to give him that reward."


    Then he looked over all of them and said, "He must have some kind of special power that could catch the attention of both the guild master and Dark Blade, yet not a single one of you could understand that?"


    All of them revealed embarrassed looks when they heard this.


    Once he said it out loud and they thought about it, they realized that he made sense.


    This was the only explanation that this could be, but they didn''t understand why they didn''t think of it earlier¡­


    It was as if there was something that made them miss this¡­


    After revealing an ugly look, the person in charge glared at the person who was in charge of information and raised a hand.


    When that person saw this raised hand, he couldn''t help trembling as he said, "Wait, no, please, I''ll make up for this mistake."


    The person in charge just gave a cold snort and said, "It''s too late."


    Without any hesitation, he squeezed his hand together and that person twisted his face in pain.


    He quickly fell down atop the table while grasping at his heart and gasping for air. All the while, he was saying, "Please spare me, please spare me."


    After a minute of this, the person in charge finally released his hand and said, "I''ll give you one last chance, understood? If you can''t make this right, then you better run to the ends of the world."


    That person quickly nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I will make this right."


    The person in charge looked over the rest of them one last time before saying, "Get out."


    All of them looked like they had been spared as they quickly gathered their things and left this room.


    In no time at all, this person was all alone in this room.


    He didn''t say anything as he just stood there looking at this empty room.


    Then all of a sudden, he smashed his hand down on the table in front of him and said, "Damn that kid! How dare he approach the guild master like that!" sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He grabbed the broken table and smashed it against the wall, shattering it to pieces before shouting, "He dares get in between me and the guild master? Then he must die!"


    This person kept smashing up this room until there wasn''t a single thing left.


    By the end of it, he was panting and his hands were bleeding from being cut by the thing that he broke, but it didn''t seem like he noticed at all.


    After taking a moment to catch his breath, he wiped the blood from his hands with a handkerchief before reaching into his pocket to pull out a locket.


    He opened up this locket and it revealed a picture of¡­Bing Lan.


    He held this picture in one hand while his other hand came up to gently stroke the locket as he said, "Soon, there will be no one that will get in our way. When that time comes, you will be mine."


    After that, he started laughing in a maniacal manner.


    It was like he had completely lost his mind.


    As for who this person was¡­


    It was the second dungeon raid team leader, the A Ranker, Orson Wright.

 Chapter 289 - 289: Absorbing demon king energy

    Now that it was all over, the only thing that I wanted to do was throw myself in bed and sleep the night away.


    But I didn''t get that chance¡­


    As soon as I came in, I found that a certain someone was banging against the walls of the safe that I put them in.


    After making sure that Su Chen was gone, I opened the safe to release Lilith.


    As soon as she came out, she glared at me as if I was her enemy before saying, "Why did you lock me in there?"


    I revealed a bitter smile and said, "I didn''t have a choice. I just needed to hide you for a bit so that I could settle some things. You already know about what happened, so you should know how dangerous it was for me."


    Lilith''s anger didn''t subside as she said, "There were other ways that you could have done this. Did you really need to lock me up like this? I have ways of hiding myself, you know."


    I gave a shrug and said, "I was panicking and didn''t know what to do, so I just put you in there."


    Lilith came forward to hit me with those plush hands, but it didn''t hurt at all.


    Still, I just let her do what she wanted since I knew that it would be more annoying if I didn''t.


    After she hit me for a bit, Lilith''s anger finally subsided and she stopped hitting me.


    She looked at me and said, "Give me some of the demon king energy that you brought back with you."


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this sudden request, but then I said, "I don''t have any left. It was all absorbed by the system already."


    As for what that meant, I found that my experience bar had filled up quite a bit after that trip into the raid dungeon.


    During the trip to the raid dungeon, I didn''t really do anything that would be considered acting as the demon king, so I wouldn''t have earned any experience that way. So the only thing that I could think of was the mummy leader''s energy that I had absorbed.


    When I fought the mummy leader, bits of its energy had been absorbed by my sword which had weakened it.


    That absorbed energy had been turned into experience for my demon king system, which was what greatly increased the experience bar.


    But of course, I didn''t have any of that energy left since it had already all been absorbed, so I didn''t know why Lilith was asking for it.


    However, after I said this, Lilith looked at me like I was an idiot.


    I didn''t know how to feel about this, so I didn''t say anything.


    After a long silence, she said, "There''s still some left in your sword, didn''t you know that?"


    I was surprised when I heard this before quickly pulling out my sword to look at it.


    But no matter how I looked at the sword, it didn''t seem like there was any of that energy left in it.


    Or at least, I couldn''t sense it.


    Lilith walked right up to the sword and raised a hand to touch it.


    When she touched it, there was a layer of dark energy that suddenly appeared around the sword that caught me off guard.


    I couldn''t help being shocked by this because this was the same energy that I had seen around the mummy leader and the pharaoh mummy.


    I never thought that there would still be some of it left in my sword like this.


    Lilith raised her hand after making that dark energy appear and that dark energy seemed to follow the movement of her hand. The dark energy detached itself from the sword and started flowing into Lilith.


    As she absorbed the energy, she closed her eyes as if she was trying to sense something.


    The dark energy kept flowing from the sword and into Lilith until there was no more dark energy left.


    When all of the dark energy around the sword was gone, Lilith opened her eyes and said, "Hmm, I knew that it seemed familiar¡­"


    I couldn''t help asking, "What did you find?"


    Lilith looked up at me and said, "This energy, it''s the demon king of wrath."


    "Demon king of wrath?" I repeated in a shocked voice.


    Lilith gave a nod before saying, "There''s no doubt about it, it''s wrath. I''m very familiar with this sensation."


    I looked at her with a strange look when she said this.


    When Lilith saw this look, she said, "Wrath and lust have long gone together¡­Where there is love, there will be infidelity and wrath is naturally what follows after they are discovered."


    I slowly gave a nod since this did make sense.


    After a pause, Lilith added, "Wrath¡­that isn''t a good thing. Since the beginning, he and I have never gotten along. If it''s the demon king of wrath, he will most likely be your enemy rather than your ally."


    I deeply knitted my brow when I heard this before asking, "Are you sure?"


    Lilith just gave a slow nod in response.


    This was a demon king who was controlling monsters to form a vessel to manifest¡­


    This demon king would definitely be dangerous in the future and if I could only be enemies with him, then that would mean danger for me¡­


    But right now, I just had too little information on this demon king of wrath, so there wasn''t anything that I could do.


    I looked at Lilith and asked, "Is there any way that you could find this demon king of wrath so we can take him down while he''s still weak?"


    Lilith shook her head and said, "No, that isn''t within my abilities right now. I''ve regained some power by absorbing his energy, but I still barely have any powers right now."


    I gave a sigh when I heard this.


    Lilith walked over and patted me on the hand before saying, "For now, just do your best."


    Then without waiting for a response, she walked off to do her own thing. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was just left there with a bitter smile on my face.

 Chapter 290 - 290: First assignment with a new team (1)

    Several days later, Su Chen came to pick me up.


    Today we were heading to a break zone.


    That was where our first mission with the first dungeon raid team would be.


    Our team had been given several days off to recover after the raid dungeon incident.


    At the same time, this was a break that had been given to us so we could avoid the media and avoid causing even more of a mess.


    The incident of when I had been brought into the headquarters, all of the reporters that had taken pictures of me in cuffs, not a single one of those pictures made it into any form of media.


    There wasn''t even a single picture that made it onto the internet.


    It seemed that there was someone who had made sure to cover this up.


    It was most likely Bing Lan, but I felt like there was also someone else who also helped with this.


    As it turned out, there was indeed someone else.


    It was Long Shui Ling with the influence of the Long Family.


    "Are you alright? As soon as I heard what happened, I immediately told daddy to help you take care of it all." Long Shui Ling said as soon as she saw me.


    She came to find me before everyone else arrived, making sure that Su Chen was gone to talk to me alone.


    I just looked at her with a grateful look and said, "Thank you. You did great."


    Long Shui Ling revealed a blush and a happy smile before saying, "How about a reward then?"


    I shook my head with a smile before raising my hand to pat her on the head.


    Though I was slowly raising my control of her, giving her this kind of affection from time to time wasn''t that bad. It would be a lie to say that it wasn''t warming to have someone care about me like this.


    But it turned out that was a mistake.


    Bing Xin arrived third and when she saw me patting Long Shui Ling on the head, she couldn''t help looking at me with a strange look.


    I quickly pulled my hand away when I saw her.


    Long Shui Ling looked up at me with a displeased look, but she also quickly recovered when she saw Bing Xin standing there.


    With a smile on her face, she ran over to Bing Xin and said, "Big sister, I heard that you were joining our team. Welcome to our team!"


    Bing Xin snapped out of her daze when she heard this and she walked forward to Long Shui Ling to say with a smile, "Un, I''m looking forward to working with you."


    Then the two of them walked over with smiles on their faces, almost as if what had happened just now didn''t happen at all.


    When they came over, I looked at Bing Xin with an awkward look, but she cut me off by saying first, "What''s wrong?"


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this.


    It was as if that strange look that she had now didn''t exist at all with the way that she said this. With the way that she was acting, it was as if I was the strange one for acting this way.


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "No, nothing''s wrong¡­"


    Still I couldn''t help feeling strange when I said this.


    After I said this, Bing Xin just said with a smile, "Then shall we go and meet everyone else?"


    I slowly gave a nod before turning to head to where everyone else was gathering. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But after he turned around, there was another strange look that appeared in Bing Xin''s eyes.


    She didn''t know what that feeling was just now, but when she saw him patting Long Shui Ling on the head, there was this strange feeling that filled her.


    It should have been normal for them since they were companions that worked together, that was what she told herself.


    But she really couldn''t stop that feeling that filled her.


    When we came over to where everyone was gathering, I found that everyone else had already arrived.


    Su Chen had been about to head over to call me and Long Shui Ling, but we had already come over before he could.


    It wasn''t just our group that gathered here, but also the members of the first dungeon raid team.


    This was the elite first dungeon raid team of Elementia, so everyone here was a powerful Awakener in their own right.


    But when I arrived, I could feel the way that everyone looked at me.


    It was as if¡­they were blaming me for something¡­


    The members of my group and Kaito''s group gathered around me when they saw me come over.


    Kaito was especially excited as he said, "Boss, thanks for thinking of us!"


    I shook my head with a faint smile when I saw this.


    It seemed that not only him, but the rest of them had already taken me as their boss after what happened in the raid dungeon.


    But I knew that this wasn''t the only thing that he was thanking me for.


    During this time, Bing Lan must have sent someone to inform him and his team about the tournament that would be held. So they must know by now that they had been chosen as one of the participants for this tournament.


    That also wasn''t all that they were thanking me for.


    There was also the fact that they were now able to work with the first dungeon raid team, the elite team of the guild.


    So they were of course very happy to be here.


    While we were talking, there was someone that started walking towards us.


    When I saw this person, I immediately stopped talking with them and focused on them.


    The rest of our group was the same as they all turned to look at this person.


    This person was the leader of the first dungeon raid team, the A Ranker, Rupert Campbell.

 Chapter 291 - 291: First assignment with a new team (2)

    As he walked over, he raised his hand to wave at me with a smile on his face.


    Seeing this, I waved back at him.


    When he came over, he asked, "How are you feeling? Excited about working with our first dungeon raid team today?"


    Everyone in our group gave a nod, even me.


    After all, it was necessary to leave a good first impression.


    But it seemed like we couldn''t do that with the way that the others looked at us.


    Rupert came over to me and said, "I''m glad to have you, though it is quite the boring job today. We''ll just be hunting in this break zone, so you''ll be free to go about as you wish."


    All of us couldn''t help being surprised by this.


    We had only been told to come to this break zone, but no one had told us what the mission was.


    I had thought that it was another large group of monsters like when Bing Xue had been sent to that break zone, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    In short, they were here to babysit us.


    Since we weren''t allowed to go into the dungeons with what happened in the raid dungeon, we were only allowed to go to break zones. But how often would a problem occur with a break zone that would need handling from an elite team like the first dungeon raid team?


    So it was clear that they were just here to watch over us, or rather me as we hunted in this break zone.


    That was why they all looked at us with unhappy looks.


    I thought it was something else, but it was just that we were the reason why they had been demoted like this.


    Rupert saw the look on my face and he knew that I had figured something out, so he said, "It''s up to you to prove them wrong. Are you up for it?"


    Up for it?


    It didn''t matter if I was up for it or not when I was thrown into the pit like this, but there really wasn''t anything that I could do about it.


    I had no choice but to accept this and try my best to break the ice with the rest of the group.


    With a bitter smile, I said, "It''s not like I have any choice, right?"


    Rupert just looked at me with a knowing smile without saying anything.


    But then he came forward to place his arm around my shoulder.


    When he came forward, the others couldn''t help moving out of the way for him.


    For some reason, both Blaze and Kaito had glowing eyes as they looked at him. It was almost as if they were looking at their hero as they stared at Rupert. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a smile on his face, he said to the others, "I have something to talk to your leader about in private? Is it alright if I steal him from you for a bit?"


    They were surprised to hear this, but most of them nodded without hesitation.


    There were a few of them that nodded after revealing a complicated look for a few seconds.


    That came from Bing Xin, Long Shui Ling, and Claire.


    After getting their agreement, Rupert pulled me away with his arm around my shoulder and we went to the side where it was just the two of us.


    I knew that it wasn''t for no reason that he would pull me away from the others like this, he must have something important that he needed to tell me.


    So after being pulled away, I looked at him with a serious look and waited for him to speak.


    Seeing this look on my face, Rupert said with a smile, "There''s no need to be this serious, I just wanted to have a little talk."


    I just gave a simple nod, but I had the same look on my face.


    Seeing that I wouldn''t relax, he just said with the same smile, "We''ll be in the break zone for a few days for things to calm down and then we''ll be going into the dungeons again. You don''t need to worry about this, it''s just temporary."


    I was surprised when I heard this, but I gave a grateful nod when I heard this.


    It seems that Rupert had been worried about what I thought about all of this, so he wanted to make sure that I knew that we were only here temporarily.


    Then he added, "Of course, since it''s a place without much danger, you should try and get close to the other members of the team. Even if they hate you now, as long as you show them a bit of power, they will change their minds."


    I was once again surprised by this suggestion from him since I didn''t expect him to give me such an aggressive piece of advice, but it was good advice regardless.


    Then as if it was an afterthought, he suddenly said, "I want you to know that it is my job to watch over you."


    Then his voice suddenly became serious as he said, "If anything happens, I will have to stop you with force. I hope that you can understand that I don''t want to, but I will have no choice."


    The sudden change in the tone of his voice caught me off guard, but I quickly realized that this was what he really wanted to talk to me about.


    The fact that he went out of his way to talk to me about this really moved me.


    After all, there was no need for him to do this since he was the leader of this group.


    The only reason that he did was because he wanted to show me respect.


    I gave a simple nod and said, "It''s not a problem. If it does come to that, I''ll understand." Then after a pause, I added with a smile, "I hope that you will show mercy if it ever does happen."


    Rupert just patted me on the shoulder with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 292 - 292: Exploring the break zone (1)

    After that talk with Rupert, I went back to my group and waved for them to follow me aside.


    They were surprised to see this, but they still followed me over to the side so we could talk alone.


    Once we were alone, I said, "I''m sure that many of you have already noticed that we''ve been getting a few looks."


    All of them revealed bitter smiles when they heard this before nodding in response. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I also revealed a bitter smile before saying, "I''m sure that you can all guess what the reason is, but that doesn''t matter." I revealed a more serious look before continuing, "What does matter is what we''re here for today."


    All of them also revealed serious looks when they heard this.


    They knew that I wouldn''t say all of this for no reason, so there was something that I wanted to say.


    I gave a nod of praise seeing this before saying, "Since we''re here, naturally we have to show everyone just what we''re made of and make them accept us. So are you all ready?"


    There were excited looks that appeared on their faces when they heard this.


    Both Kaito and Blaze seemed especially excited for some reason as from time to time, they peeked back at Rupert in the distance.


    It was clear that there was a certain someone that they wanted to impress.


    But it was all good as long as they were motivated.


    Since staying here would just mean being looked down on by everyone, then there was no need to wait any longer.


    The base camp had been made, so it was time for us to head into the break zone.


    As we did, we passed by the other Awakeners who were just standing around the camp preparing their own things. As we passed by, they looked at us with the same looks and they didn''t even try to hide it.


    It was clear that they were blaming us for them being sent to a place like this.


    But it wasn''t baseless since this was the truth.


    The others looked at me with worried looks, but I just ignored them all as I said, "This is to be expected, we just have to prove them wrong."


    The worried looks disappeared from their faces and were replaced with determined looks.


    After passing through the gate to the break zone, the surroundings completely changed.


    Just by taking a few steps into the break zone, there were no more sounds around us other than the natural sounds of nature. All of the hustle and bustle that came with humanity just faded away once we were here.


    This was no longer the safe zone that had been created by humanity, but the dangerous break zone.


    But even though it was the dangerous break zone, we weren''t nervous at all.


    This was something that we were already familiar with, so we casually made our way forward.


    There really wasn''t a goal since our mission this time was just to slaughter the monster that lived in this break zone. It was just a normal material collecting mission that was beneath the first dungeon raid team, but here they were.


    So for now, we just wandered around until we found some monsters.


    But since this was a break zone, it didn''t take long for us to find some.


    Claire raised her hand to stop everyone before pointing in a certain direction.


    All of us stopped before moving forward slowly and more importantly, as quiet as we could.


    After moving a few steps, we saw what she was pointing at.


    It was a group of monsters that was just hanging out under a tree.


    As we came closer, we saw the appearance of these monsters.


    A dog head, that was the thing that stood out first. But when one looked at it closely, they would see that it wasn''t a dog''s head, but rather a cross between a dog and a lizard.


    There were scales, but also fur that covered that face.


    These creatures stood between two to three feet tall and had a variety of weapons in their hands.


    Kobolds.


    It was a pack of kobolds.


    These were the monsters that inhabited this break zone.


    While they didn''t seem that strong, the most terrifying thing about the kobolds was their ability to work together. They had a strong understanding that they could attack together even without words, which made it hard to deal with if one was alone.


    But for our group, it was easy to take down these kobolds.


    Not to mention, they weren''t aware that we were watching them at all.


    So they wouldn''t be able to guard against our ambush.


    Since it was just a group of kobolds, it didn''t seem like something that we needed to make that big of a fuss for.


    Rather, the bigger problem was deciding who would be the ones to take it down.


    Inspired by what I had said earlier, everyone wanted the chance to show off.


    I was surprised to see that even Bing Xin was joining in.


    In the end, we had no choice but to decide with the time honoured tradition.


    "Rock, paper, scissors."


    "Alright!"


    I was once again surprised since it was Bing Xin who won and gave this cheer.


    But then she quickly covered her mouth.


    It wasn''t that she was embarrassed to shout out like this, but rather it might have been a bit too loud that even the kobold could have heard her.


    Luckily, it didn''t seem like the kobold heard anything.


    During this entire time, the kobold had been standing under the tree grunting about something.


    With how they were standing there, it was like a group of co-workers who were on their coffee break shooting the breeze. It didn''t seem like they were terrifying monsters at all.


    However, they didn''t stand a chance against Bing Xin.


    After all, kobolds were only D Rank monsters in the first place.


    It was easy for a B Ranker like Bing Xin to take them down.


    With a single flick of her hand, all of the kobolds were encased in ice.

 Chapter 293 - 293: Exploring the break zone (2)

    The moment Bing Xin froze the kobolds, the temperature around us dropped.


    It was so cold that we could even see our breaths in the air. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was how powerful the ice that Bing Xin used was, it was even able to affect the area around her like it was nothing.


    I was already aware of this, but the others couldn''t help revealing shocked looks when they saw Bing Xin''s powers.


    Though they knew that she was a B Ranker, they didn''t know just how powerful her ice abilities were other than from the rumours that they heard about.


    Now that they had seen it in person, they couldn''t help admitting that all the rumours were true. Bing Xin''s ice powers were indeed terrifying and worthy of being described as such.


    There was no doubt that she would become an A Ranker in the future.


    There was even a possibility that she would become a S Ranker.


    The ones that were the most affected were Kaito and Blaze.


    As the two of them stood there, Blaze couldn''t help asking, "Can you melt that ice?"


    Kaito looked at him in silence for a moment before saying, "Honestly, no. What about you?"


    Blaze shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "If you can''t, do you think I can?"


    The two of them just looked at each other with bitter smiles on their faces.


    This one move from Bing Xin had more than cemented her power in their hearts.


    After she was done with them, she turned around and asked, "What do we do about the materials? They''re completely frozen now¡­"


    Hearing her say this, everyone couldn''t help revealing faint smiles.


    I also couldn''t help feeling that this was a very normal thing for Bing Xin to say.


    Though others thought of her as a tough and cold person, I knew what the real her was like.


    I turned to Su Chen as if I was asking for his opinion.


    Su Chen looked at the kobolds that were frozen and then asked Bing Xin, "They''re dead, right? They''re not just frozen alive, right?"


    Bing Xin quickly gave a nod in response to this.


    Su Chen nodded back before turning to me to say, "It''s not a problem. We can just leave them here to thaw and bring them back later. I have a good idea of how long it''ll take from my time working with you, young miss."


    Bing Xin looked at Su Chen with a grateful look before saying, "There''s no need to call me that anymore, you can just call me by my name."


    Su Chen was surprised to hear this, but he gave a happy nod in response.


    Since that had been solved, there was no reason for us to stay here any longer.


    What we were after was much bigger than this, so we were far from done yet.


    These kobolds were the weakest monsters in this break zone, so they wouldn''t allow us to prove anything.


    What we wanted were the higher ranked monsters that reigned over this break zone, those were the ones that would give us the best materials to bring back.


    So after putting the koboldcicles away in a place where no monsters would be attracted by them, we headed off looking for more monsters to take down.


    Since this was a break zone where monsters wandered around, it didn''t take long before we were able to find another group of kobolds. But this time, we didn''t attack them and instead ignored them.


    There was only so much that we could carry back, so we wanted to find stronger prey instead of loading up on those kobolds.


    But it didn''t seem like the stronger monsters were wandering around.


    After walking around for half an hour, we still weren''t able to find a single higher ranked monster.


    We were able to find several different kobold groups doing their own things, but not a single higher ranked monster.


    We could have continued walking around, but this really wasn''t the way to do it.


    If we kept trying to find the higher ranked monsters like this, who knew when we would find them.


    Just relying on luck wasn''t the way to go.


    The kobold group in front of us was walking around, as if they were on patrol.


    Since they were on patrol, that meant that they would eventually head back once they finished patrolling the area that they were responsible for.


    If that was the case¡­


    While the others in my team were still wondering what to do, my eyes followed the kobold patrol and I said, "Let''s follow them."


    They were all caught off guard by these sudden words, but I had already started following the kobold patrol.


    After looking at each other for a bit, they started following me to pursue the kobold patrol.


    Since they were patrolling, it wasn''t as if they were moving that fast.


    It took no effort at all for the rest of the group to catch up to me and with Long Shui Ling''s illusions, we easily hid ourselves from the kobolds. Though even without it, it would have been easy to hide from the kobolds in the first place since they weren''t that perceptive to begin with.


    While they were patrolling, the kobolds seemed to be talking to each other even if they weren''t using words.


    It seemed that they were just using grunts and other noises to talk, but they looked quite similar to those that were just bored with their jobs.


    The patrol continued on for another half an hour before they finally started heading back.


    On the way, they ran into several different groups of kobolds that they talked to.


    With each group that they met, they always checked the traps that the groups were in charge of.


    It seemed that there were many areas of traps set up in this forest, but what they were using these traps for¡­it was unknown.


    Once they finished their patrol, they went back to this area that seemed to be a camp for the monsters.

 Chapter 294 - 294: Exploring the break zone (3)

    When these kobolds reached the camp, they walked in a very strange manner.


    But through the strange way that they approached the camp, we were able to notice something about this camp.


    If we didn''t see the kobolds entering the camp like this, we wouldn''t have seen it, but there were traps that were scattered all around the camp. The reason why they walked in that strange manner was because they were avoiding the traps that had been set.


    This was the safe path to the camp.


    But because of this, we weren''t able to see what was inside the camp.


    The only thing that we could tell about this camp was the aura that came from it.


    This was not the aura of a normal monster.


    Whatever was in that camp was definitely powerful, which meant that this was the prey that we were looking for.


    The only problem was how to attack it.


    This powerful monster was hiding in a well defended camp that had traps surrounding it, there was no way that we would be able to approach without being discovered.


    After all, there was only a single path into the camp.


    If we tried to sneak in with Long Shui Ling''s illusion, there was no guarantee that a group wouldn''t come out of the camp. At the same time, even if we reached the walls, we didn''t know if there were more traps that were placed along the walls of the camp.


    So we really couldn''t charge in without getting more information.


    After talking for a bit, we decided to watch over the camp to see if there was anything that we could use for our attack.


    We settled in around the camp and carefully observed it. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And half an hour later, we found a way to attack.


    "Are you sure that there''s no other way out of the camp?" I asked Claire who had the sharpest eyes.


    She had been posted on a hill that looked right into the camp, so she had been able to see the layout of the camp.


    Claire gave a nod and said, "There''s only a single entrance, which means that there''s also only a single exit. As far as I could tell, they only had simple structures in the camp, so it was impossible for them to have anything like a secret exit."


    I looked at the camp with narrowed eyes.


    This was a camp that was completely made of wood and fur from animals.


    Monsters might try to build a society, but there was only so much that they could do with their limited intelligence and resources. This was nothing more than a primitive camp that only had traps as defenses.


    But since those traps created only a single path in and out of the camp, that meant¡­that it was also something that trapped them in this camp.


    Since they were surrounded by a wood wall¡­it was perfect for us to use one thing.


    This was the one trick that we had been using the entire time, but this time we had twice the firepower which made it even more effective.


    I turned to look at two matches that our team had and they looked back at me with a strange look.


    It wasn''t that they didn''t understand what role they had, it was just that the way that I looked at them made them feel uncomfortable.


    I walked up to the two matches and patted them on the back before saying, "Can you take care of this?"


    Blaze and Kaito nodded in response before saying in an enthusiastic voice, "Just leave it to us."


    With that, the plan was set.


    The only problem was that we might burn all of the materials that we need to collect¡­


    But Su Chen solved that problem for me.


    "We can''t carry most of the kobolds back with us in the first place, so it doesn''t matter if they burn away. The stronger the monster, the more resistant they are, so it shouldn''t be a problem for that higher rank monster to survive these flames."


    I had been thinking too much about taking all of the kobolds back.


    I shouldn''t have been blinded by trying to earn as much as possible, I should have just focused on the big prize. After all, it was the big prize that would earn us the most prestige with the rest of the group and that was the most important thing.


    So I stopped hesitating and gave a nod to Blaze and Kaito.


    The two of them went separate ways as they headed off towards the camp.


    Kaito took a high position that would allow him to see everything while Blaze walked right up in front of the camp with Long Shui Ling''s illusion on him.


    Everyone else surrounded the camp just in case there were any monsters that tried to break through the flames and succeeded, though it was more of a precaution than it was a necessity.


    The main force stood in the forest not far from where Blaze was and by that, it was Bing Xin.


    Once everyone was in position, Kaito gathered several balls of dark flames around him before suddenly throwing them down at the camp.


    These balls of dark flames didn''t fall fast and they didn''t fall into the camp.


    They were aimed with purpose, falling on the walls that were around the camp.


    They fell at intervals on the wall so that they were evenly spread out and caused the walls to ignite around the camp. There wasn''t a single gap for the monsters to escape from.


    Once the walls were ignited, it didn''t take long for the flames to spread through the camp since the structures were made of wood and fur.


    The kobolds immediately rushed to the exit in a crowd and there were many that were trampled or trapped in the camp with the flames.


    There were only a few that made it out of the camp at first and they followed the path through the traps.


    But before they could leave, there was a wall of flames that appeared that stopped them.

 Chapter 295 - 295: Exploring the break zone (4)

    The kobolds that came out were already covered in burns since they had to run in between the flaming gates.


    When they saw the wall of flames appear in front of them, they couldn''t help hesitating since they had been traumatized by flames at this point.


    However, they also recognized that there was nothing that they could do in this situation.


    Other than facing this flame wall in front of them, they could face the burning camp and horde of other kobolds behind them or face the traps that were all around them.


    Compared to these other choices, the flame wall at least gave them a chance to survive.


    If they push themselves, they should be able to run through this flame wall without getting too injured.


    So the kobolds only hesitated for a bit before suddenly charging at the flame wall.


    At this point, there were more kobolds that had pushed through the gates and were gathering with the ones that came out first.


    It was a decent sized group that pushed up to the flame wall.


    It was just too bad that many of them didn''t get a chance to reach that flame wall in the end.


    It was an arrow at first that hit one of the kobold''s right in the neck.


    That kobold that was hit wasn''t able to resist at all as it was picked up off the ground and thrown into one of the trap pits to the side. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then it was another kobold that was cut in half by a blade of wind, with the upper half falling onto the kobold that was behind this one.


    There were more and more attacks that rained down on the kobold that had no cover at all.


    That was the problem with having these traps.


    They had to keep the area open so that the traps didn''t stand out, so there was no cover for them.


    These traps had become traps that kept them in this place.


    These traps became traps that trapped them in this place.


    This was not what they were designed for, but this was what they were being used for.


    Since they marched on the path and had no cover, they were easy pickings for those that were hiding in the forest.


    In no time at all, the kobold group lost 4/5ths of their numbers. There were only a few kobolds that were able to reach the flame wall in the end.


    But they were not looking good.


    Still, they knew that this was the only way that they would be able to escape this place, so they had no choice but to jump through the flame wall.


    Bracing themselves, the kobolds jumped in a group to minimize the area that the flames could make contact with. But right before they could jump, there was a flame sword that suddenly came out of the flame wall.


    This flame sword wasn''t that strong, but it was more than enough to pierce through the skin of the kobolds.


    This flame sword completely stopped the ones that were coming at the wall, pushing them back from it.


    It killed one of the kobolds, but the rest of them were still fine.


    The kobolds looked at the flame wall with cautious looks when they landed, but they didn''t have time to do anything as more flame swords came out.


    These flame swords were the same as the flame sword that killed the first kobold.


    The kobolds knew that they couldn''t move forward under this wave of flame swords, so they raised their weapons to block it.


    But their weapons couldn''t do a single thing to these flame swords that just melted all of their weapons before cutting into them.


    Under this wave of flame swords, the kobolds were all killed.


    But in this situation, there were always more kobolds that filled the space of the ones that died.


    The ones that died were pushed out of the way by the kobolds that came from behind, being pushed into the traps on the side.


    However, that didn''t mean that they were safe yet as more flame swords came through the flame wall.


    They were completely trapped in this space, there was no escape for them at all.


    It really seemed like the kobolds would be grinded down in this meat grinder in front of the flame wall at this rate.


    But before that could happen¡­


    "Boom!"


    There was a loud sound that came from the gates to the camp.


    There was a mixture of flames and wood that flew out from the gate as something suddenly shattered the gate from inside.


    Right after the gate was shattered, this figure that was larger than the other kobolds came out to reveal itself.


    It was just like the other kobolds, but it was much bigger than them.


    This was the special higher ranked kobold.


    This was a Kobold General.


    It was holding a large warhammer in its hands which it had used to smash the gate just now.


    After smashing the gate open, the Kobold General''s attention immediately fell onto the wall of flames that was blocking their path to freedom.


    Without a single care for the kobolds that were in its way, the Kobold General started pushing right for the wall of flames. The ones that couldn''t dodge in time because they were injured were squashed under the foot of this Kobold General that was more than twice their size.


    The Kobold General rushed right at the flame wall and brought its warhammer down as if it wanted to smash the flame wall away.


    But before it could, the flame wall suddenly disappeared without a trace.


    The Kobold General couldn''t help freezing in shock and confusion when it saw the flame wall disappear like this.


    However, before any of the kobolds could react, there was a chill that came over them.


    When they finally reacted, they found that all of them had been encased in a layer of ice.


    Even the Kobold General was frozen.

 Chapter 296 - 296: Bringing back the loot

    The cleanup was easy as the kobolds were completely trapped between the flame wall and the burning camp.


    There wasn''t another high rank monster that came out, so all of the kobolds that were left were easy pickings for Claire and Hayate with their long range attacks.


    The camp continued to burn for a while until there was nothing left to burn.


    The wall around it, the buildings in the camp, and most importantly the kobolds that had been in the camp had all been burnt down¡­


    There wasn''t a single thing left of the camp once the flames had finished their rampage.


    The only things that were left were the corpses of the kobolds that had died outside of the camp.


    Of course, that included the frozen Kobold General that stood there like an ice sculpture.


    Once it was confirmed that all of the monsters were killed, the porters went forward.


    Blaze''s flame wall came down and they went forward to survey which ones we would be able to bring back with us.


    Though many of them were burnt because of the tactic that we used, it was still not a problem since these were minor burns¡­Well, that was just the ones from escaping the camp, there was no ignoring the large gaping wounds that were on their chests from the flame swords.


    Since these were the only ones that survived the battle, they would do what they could with these corpses. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It took them no time at all to cut out the parts that couldn''t be used and pack up the parts that could.


    As for the Kobold General, it was easier to just carry it back while it was frozen like this since it would deter other monsters and beasts from attacking them to steal it.


    Packing everything up, they went to pick up the kobolds that they had frozen before and brought everything back to camp with them.


    When they arrived, they naturally attracted everyone''s attention with the large Kobold General that they brought back.


    Seeing this large Kobold General, the people in the camp couldn''t help looking at us with strange and surprised looks.


    After all, they never expected us to come back with such a prize.


    Since we were at camp, there was no reason for the porters to keep hauling the Kobold General corpse.


    They put it down and Su Chen went to find the butchers that had been brought in to take care of this Kobold General.


    After a while, there were a few Awakeners that came over to take a look at this Kobold General corpse.


    The first dungeon raid team was made up of various levels of Awakeners.


    There were those at the top that were in the A and B Rank, but there were also rookies to the team who were in the C Rank.


    This Kobold General was a C Rank Monster that was close to B Rank, so it would be hard for them to fight this Kobold General themselves. Though the main reason why the Kobold General was considered close to B Rank was because of all the kobolds that it could command.


    If it wasn''t for that, they would be able to take down the Kobold General themselves.


    Still, for us to bring back a Kobold General just an hour after heading in, this really was a feat that was worthy of praise.


    The way that they looked at us started to change as some of the C Rankers even wanted to ask us how we had taken down this Kobold General.


    But before they could do that, there was someone that suddenly appeared and said, "These rookies just used a bunch of tricks to take down the Kobold General. They are nothing more than frauds."


    When everyone heard this, they couldn''t help revealing surprised and confused looks.


    However, it was one of the members of the first dungeon raid team that had made this claim. So the Awakeners had no choice but to believe this person over Lin Fan''s group.


    They had to stick together as veterans of the first dungeon raid team.


    But since this person was calling my team out, naturally I had to step up as the leader of this team.


    I walked up to this person and asked in a cold voice, "May I ask what you mean by that?"


    That person looked at me and said, "If it wasn''t for your luck of finding the kobold encampment, would you have been able to take down this Kobold General?"


    I gave a cold snort before saying, "Luck? We found it by figuring out the patterns of the kobold patrols and then following them to their camp. Can you really call that luck?"


    That person just completely ignored me as he said, "Not to mention, if it wasn''t for the trick that you used, you wouldn''t have been able to take down those kobolds. You just trapped them in the camp and used the flames to burn them out instead of fighting them head on. If you had fought those kobolds head on, you wouldn''t have survived."


    When he said this, the response that he received wasn''t as good as he thought.


    Instead of looking at us with looks of blame, there were looks of praise that were thrown in our direction.


    It was as if they thought that our plan was quite smart, but they just couldn''t say it out loud.


    Seeing this, that person that was accusing us felt that this wasn''t good for him, so he said, "Not only that, you burned all of the precious materials that we should have collected. Instead of coming back and calling for help, you chose to follow your pride and take care of it all on your own when you could have gotten everyone else involved."


    At this, the expressions on the faces of the others changed.


    It was one thing to take down a camp, but burning down the loot that they were supposed to collect¡­that was different.

 Chapter 297 - 297: That’s enough

    They were here on a mission and if there was loot that was wasted, this was not something that could accept that easily.


    If there was loot that they could have gotten, but was burnt because of one person''s pride, then they had to address this.


    So everyone stared at Lin Fan''s group and waited for an explanation.


    When I heard this, I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows.


    I could also see the way that the others were looking at us, so I could guess what they were thinking.


    In the end, it seemed like this person had found a straw to grasp at and hung on firmly.


    After seeing everyone''s reaction, that person said, "I saw it all. They were scouting out the camp and had plenty of time to call for backup, yet they didn''t do that. They just went ahead with their destructive burning the camp plan instead of coming to get help." S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I couldn''t help deeply knitting my brows when I heard this.


    It wasn''t because of what he said, but because of the fact that he had revealed.


    He had been following and watching over us the entire time¡­


    I couldn''t help looking at Rupert who was still in the camp, but it seemed like he didn''t know anything about it based on the look on his face.


    So why did this person follow us?


    I couldn''t recognize this person''s face at all, so I had no idea who this person was.


    Since I didn''t recognize this person, I had no idea if there was a grudge between us or not.


    If there was a grudge, then there was a reason why he would be following us.


    But if there wasn''t a grudge, just why was he doing all of this?


    Slowly, the Awakeners of the first dungeon raid team started to stir.


    They moved forward as if they were going to surround us, but they stopped before they came too close.


    However, with the way that they were standing, they were still close enough that we wouldn''t be able to leave if we wanted to.


    It seemed that they really wanted an answer to this question.


    I calmly looked at them and said, "We found a kobold camp and we took care of it. Is there anything else that needs to be said?"


    When they heard this, the Awakeners couldn''t help knitting their brows.


    The person who accused us revealed a wide smile when he heard this and said, "Yes, but you could have come back to report it and requested backup. But instead, you burned all of the kobolds and ruined all of the materials that could have been gathered. This is a waste of resources."


    I looked right at him and said, "Then can you guarantee how many kobolds were in the camp? We had no idea what the enemy we were facing was like, so we chose to take quick action before they left."


    "They were in a camp, how could they have left?" That person argued back.


    "Can you guarantee that?" I said with a cold look on my face.


    This time, they didn''t argue back because they couldn''t argue back.


    No one could guarantee what the monsters would do in situations like this, so it was perfectly normal to do something like this.


    But they had already been stirred up by that person, so it wasn''t as if they could back down now.


    One of the Awakeners was about to step forward to say something.


    But before they could, Rupert suddenly gave a cough and said, "Are you done yet? Have you not had enough?"


    Everyone was surprised to hear him suddenly speaking up like this.


    Rupert narrowed his eyes to look at the person who accused us and said, "They did what they should have done in that situation. They were without any information on the camp and there was no guarantee that the monsters would stay, so they were within their rights to do this."


    Rupert turned to the other Awakeners and said, "Don''t forget where we are right now. This isn''t the dungeon, this is the break zone."


    When they heard this, the Awakeners couldn''t help revealing awkward looks.


    They had their greed stirred by that person and had forgotten themselves.


    Rupert was right, this was the break zone and not the dungeon.


    In the dungeon, they would work together, so anyone that didn''t report these matters was in the wrong.


    But in the break zone, they were supposed to work in separate groups.


    So it was well within Lin Fan''s group''s right to do something like this.


    In fact, it wouldn''t even be wrong if they didn''t bring anything back since this was just how it was sometimes.


    They had gone too far in this matter and it was their fault¡­


    But they couldn''t just apologize to the new member of the team, especially one that everyone was angry with for causing them to come to this break zone.


    So the ones that came forward to surround Lin Fan''s group just gave snorts before turning around to leave.


    The person who instigated it was left standing there alone to face Lin Fan''s group.


    He had a look of shock and dismay on his face, but he didn''t dare push the matter and turned to leave.


    But before he could, he suddenly heard a low voice coming from behind him.


    "That''s enough. Don''t take this too far or else."


    He felt a chill run down his spine, but he didn''t turn back as he walked off.


    Rupert watched him walk away before giving a sigh.


    When he turned back to us, he said, "Sorry about that. It seems like they''ve taken rookie hazing a bit too far. I''m sure that they''ll calm down now."


    I gave a nod, but there was doubt in my eyes as I looked in the direction that person headed off in.


    Rupert could see this, so he gave another sigh and said, "He has his own circumstances, I hope you''ll forgive him."


    I looked at Rupert for a bit before slowly giving a nod.


    Though I remembered what that person looked like just in case.


    It didn''t seem like he would give up¡­


    ¡­


    In a corner of the camp, the person that had accused Lin Fan''s group was standing there with a locket in his hand.


    In that locket¡­was a picture of Bing Xin.


    He leaned in over that locket and stroked it gently as he said, "Soon, we''ll be together soon."


    His eyes quickly turned cold as he said, "I''ll take care of the ones that are getting in our way."

 Chapter 298 - 298: A date…or more than one

    After the incident at the break zone, we were given time off again.


    This time, it was much longer than usual.


    Ruper had said that it was for our hard work, but the way that he looked at the others¡­it was clear that there would be some things happening during this time.


    Regardless, it wasn''t up to us to say anything.


    All we could do was accept this and take this vacation.


    However, that vacation was anything but peaceful for me.


    That was because I received three different invitations.


    No, it was four by the time that I came back.


    The opportunity was too good that I couldn''t turn them down, but it really would be hard for me.


    If anyone were to find out about all of this, they would have thought that I was a scumbag since I had set up four different dates with four different girls.


    At first, it was just the three.


    It was Long Shui Ling, Bing Xin, and surprisingly Claire who asked me out.


    All three of them luckily asked me out separately and they all asked for different dates, so I could fit them all in and agree to go with all of them.


    Then after arranging all three of them, I was contacted by someone that I hadn''t had contact with in a long time.


    It was the police detective, the one that wanted to be my older sister, Ling Yue.


    Since she came to see me last time, I hadn''t had any contact with her.


    It was as if she had suddenly disappeared, but since I had been busy with everything that came up, I didn''t even think about it. I had even almost completely forgotten about her until she suddenly texted me asking to meet up.


    I was caught off guard, but I still hadn''t given up on getting this police detective as well.


    Having someone in the police force was definitely something that would be very useful in the future.


    So I also agreed to meet with Ling Yue.


    It was also a good thing that she had requested a different date, so I was able to fit her in.


    As I sat there on my couch after taking a shower, I looked at my phone at the text conversations that I had with all four girls.


    It really was a shock to me who had been all along just a few months ago.


    But now, I had four girls that were texting me and asking me for dates¡­


    Was this a good thing or a bad thing?


    I really couldn''t tell, but it was just how my life was now.


    As I sat there, Lilith suddenly jumped up onto my leg and asked, "What are you thinking?"


    I had been lost in thought while staring at my phone, so I was surprised when I heard Lilith''s voice. I looked down at her on my knee, but I didn''t answer and just gave a sigh.


    Seeing this, she said, "You''re so young and you''re sighing like this, I can''t imagine what you''ll become when you''re older."


    She didn''t wait for me to answer as she came forward to look at my phone.


    Then she turned back to look at me with a smile as she said, "Young man, you''re having a date with four different girls, how is this a bad thing?"


    I couldn''t help being surprised as if she had read my mind, but then I said, "How is this not a bad thing? I''m a dick who is four timing four different women. I''m pretty sure that you can call someone like that a scumbag, right?"


    Lilith just looked at me with a smile on her face as she said, "For a demon king of lust, not to mention four women, even a hundred women wouldn''t be considered much. Young man, why are you so afraid of accepting this?"


    I shook my head with a bitter smile before saying, "You have to remember that I was just a normal person before this happened and that was less than three months ago. Is this something that can be accepted that easily?"


    The smile on Lilith''s face slowly disappeared and it became a serious look as she said, "But you have no choice, do you? Young man, you should know what becoming the demon king means and since you are one, it isn''t as if you can just back down now. You might as well just accept it and do what you can."


    I gave a bitter laugh as I said, "Lilith was an ancient demon that corrupted people, right? Are you telling me that you''re the same demon and I''m the one being corrupted now?"


    Lilith once again revealed a smile before saying, "Do you feel yourself being corrupted? Or do you feel yourself being liberated? This is a question that only you can answer and you know the answer to it in your heart."


    I didn''t say anything when I heard this since there really wasn''t anything that I could say in response to this.


    There was a long silence that followed this.


    Finally, I said with a sigh, "I don''t need you to cheer me up, I''ve already accepted this."


    Then I looked at her with narrowed eyes and said, "What do you want? I''m sure that you didn''t come here just for nothing."


    Lilith said with the same smile, "I''m the Aspect of Lust and you''re the Demon King of Lust, my champion. Is it that strange that I would come and cheer you up?"


    I gave a bitter laugh without answering.


    Seeing this, Lilith shook her head with that same smile before saying, "Alright, I do have something to share with you. Since you''ve been working so hard to level up and since you''ve brought the power of the other demon king back, I''ve regained some of my powers. I wanted to show you what new power I''ve obtained."


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I heard this before quickly asking, "What kind of evil tricks did you gain this time?" S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lilith just looked at me with the same smile as she showed me her new ability.

 Chapter 299 - 299: First date (1)

    The first one that I had a date with was Long Shui Ling.


    She was the most anxious one and asked to see me the second day after our vacation began.


    When the day came, I was surprised to find a limo waiting outside of me.


    The one driving this limo was naturally Sebastien who had looked down on me before.


    But since Long Shui Ling was here, he didn''t dare do anything.


    After getting in the car, we headed off without any delay.


    I had no idea where we were going since Long Shui Ling had only asked me out on a date without giving me any more information.


    Now that we were on the way, I couldn''t help asking, "Where are we going?"


    "The zoo." Long Shui Ling immediately replied with a wide smile.


    What he would never know was how much effort Long Shui Ling had put into planning this date.


    She had thought of many different places and many different scenarios, but in the end, it was the zoo that she chose.


    That was because she felt that this suited their personalities their best out of all the options.


    As for money, she never even considered it.


    As the young miss of the world''s richest family, she never needed to worry about things like money. Even if she wanted to rent out the entire zoo, it wouldn''t be a problem for her.


    It would just be a simple matter of snapping her fingers and someone would take care of it.


    But she wouldn''t do something like that.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t like using her family''s powers like this and she didn''t like being treated special. That was just how she had been raised by her family and there was no changing that.


    But at the same time, there was another reason why she didn''t want to do this.


    Mood.


    She wanted all the others there to give it the proper mood of a date.


    If it was just the two of them wandering around an empty zoo, it really wouldn''t have been interesting.


    When we arrived, I couldn''t help being surprised by Long Shui Ling sending off Sebastien.


    Naturally he wanted to follow us around to keep Long Shui Ling safe from all the people, but Long Shui Ling wouldn''t have anything like that. This was a precious date and she wouldn''t let anything ruin it.


    So Sebastien was sent off by Long Shui Ling.


    But we could feel that there were guards all around us.


    As Awakeners, our senses were sensitive enough to hear them.


    Still, we didn''t do anything since we knew that it would be more trouble than it was worth.


    Since that was the case, we should just let them follow at a distance.


    After entering the zoo, I looked around to see that there were quite a few people here. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that no matter the day or time, a large zoo with an amusement park attached would be a popular place. Even though it was a weekday and kids should be in school, he saw them running around with their parents.


    It seemed that it wasn''t just adults who liked playing hooky.


    As we stood there by the entrance, while I was looking around, Long Shui Ling reached into her bag to pull out a notebook and a map. While pulling these things out, there was a smug look that appeared on Long Shui Ling''s face.


    It was as if she was saying that she would show me once and for all¡­


    But it didn''t go her way.


    After taking out the map and notebook, Long Shui Ling opened it to find¡­


    They were both smudged.


    She didn''t understand how they could have been smudged like this, she had just prepared these things last night. They should have been brand new other than her writing in the notebook.


    What she wrote in the notebook was the plan for this date.


    She had put all of the things that she wanted to do on it and had made marks on the map.


    But now¡­it was just too smudged for her to see.


    When she looked in her bag, Long Shui Ling found that it was because her water had spilled which was why this had happened.


    She quickly cleaned out her bag and made sure that it wasn''t damaged, but the look of disappointment on her face was clear.


    It was clear that she was disappointed by how this turned out, especially since she had put in all this effort.


    But when I saw her like this, I couldn''t help shaking my head with a faint smile on my face.


    All of this reminded me of Long Shui Ling when I first met her.


    She had been chased by the monsters in the dungeon and she fell in front of me, which was why I had saved her in the first place.


    It had been a while since I had seen this clumsy side of her and she had been getting stronger with her illusion powers.


    But now that I saw her mess up like this, I knew that she was still the same girl as before.


    The one that was a clumsy kind of cute.


    I couldn''t help feeling better since I had been afraid that my suggestions would have changed her.


    Seeing me shake my head like this, Long Shui Ling panicked and started waving her hand to say, "This, that, I¡­"


    She wasn''t able to form coherent sentences as she did her best to try and explain what happened.


    But she stopped in the end when I took her hand and said, "There''s no need for that."


    Long Shui Ling was caught off guard when she heard this and she revealed a confused look.


    I just said with a smile, "We''re here to have fun, right? Then there''s no need to think that much about how we''re supposed to have fun. We should just walk around and enjoy ourselves instead of following a strict plan."


    Long Shui Ling was surprised to hear this, but she slowly gave a nod of agreement.


    I shook my head again before pulling her by the hand that I had taken and said, "Come on then, let''s go have some fun."

 Chapter 300 - 300: First date (2)

    After what I said, Long Shui Ling slowly started to relax and have fun.


    She had been too worked up trying to make everything perfect that she had forgotten the reason why we had even come here.


    It was to have fun and enjoy ourselves.


    That was the point of the date.


    So as time passed, she slowly got more into it and soon she had a wide smile on her face.


    It would have been a lie to say that I wasn''t enjoying it, but I didn''t completely let my guard down.


    After all, there was a reason why I had agreed to this date in the first place and I was just waiting for my opportunity.


    As we walked around, we were in plain view.


    This was not a place where I could do what I wanted with Long Shui Ling and by that, I meant putting my suggestions in her. If someone were to hear me as I put my suggestions in her, they would naturally be suspicious.


    Just one person being suspicious would be enough to rouse those guards that were still following us.


    Even though they didn''t come near us, we could sense them still following us.


    They were in a circle around us, so they would be able to keep anything bad away and they would be able to help Long Shui Ling if anything happened.


    I didn''t doubt that they would do something bad to me if I did anything bad to Long Shui Ling.


    With them around, it was impossible for me to do anything.


    So for now, we just walked around until my eyes caught something.


    "Do you want to go and see that show?"


    Long Shui Ling had been admiring the elephants in front of us when I suddenly asked this.


    When she heard me, she immediately turned around and looked in the direction that I was looking in. As she did, she saw that poster that I was referring to.


    It was a poster for a penguin performance show.


    She immediately gave a nod and happily took my arm as we headed off.


    I also revealed a smile as we went along, but there was a hidden meaning in this smile.


    When we arrived at the show, it was already very crowded here.


    This was one of the main attractions of this zoo, so it was a place that many people gathered in.


    It was a place that the guards wouldn''t have an easy time following us in.


    So after we entered, we sensed that the guards had split off into two groups.


    There were still a few guards that followed us into the hall, but the rest of them surrounded the hall.


    With this, the first part of my plan worked.


    Now the second part¡­


    As we took our seats, we were surrounded by people, but not a single one of them cared about us.


    They were completely focused on the penguins doing tricks on the stage in front of us.


    It was very noisy as people cheered for the penguins.


    This was what I had been counting on.


    This might seem like the worst place to talk in private, but this was what actually made it the best place.


    Everyone was focused on the show, so they wouldn''t pay attention to what we were doing.


    Not to mention with how loud it was, unless they were right up in our face, it was impossible for them to hear what we were saying.


    So it actually created a perfect barrier against other people and the guards who had to sit a distance away from us.


    Long Shui Ling had been enjoying the show, but I suddenly moved in towards her.


    Long Shui Ling had been caught off guard when she saw this, but then she slowly closed her eyes and raised her lips, as if she was waiting for something.


    She had completely misunderstood, but that was fine for me.


    I did lean in closer, but I didn''t kiss her like she had expected.


    I went in beside her ear and whispered something to her.


    After a few seconds, Long Shui Ling slowly opened her eyes and she revealed a dazed look.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help revealing a sigh of relief.


    I had been worried that it wouldn''t work even though my suggestions had worked before.


    There was the whole matter of Lilith sensing the demon king of greed at the Long Family manor which I had been worried about. I had thought that this would mean that if I were to use stronger suggestions, she would be resistant to them.


    But it seemed like this wasn''t the case.


    I really couldn''t help wondering just what Lilith had sensed at the Long Family manor, but this wasn''t the time.


    There was only a limited time that I would be able to talk to Long Shui Ling alone like this, so I didn''t have time to delay.


    I whispered a few more things by her ear before pulling away again.


    To the people beside us, it seemed like we were just kissing, so they didn''t care about us.


    After a minute, Long Shui Ling''s eyes slowly cleared and she came back to her senses.


    She looked up at me and then there was a blush that came over her face. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That wasn''t strange since my last command was to make her think that we did kiss even if we hadn''t.


    She just lowered her head and acted shyly for the rest of the show.


    When the show was over, we walked back out and headed back to our date.


    But if one looked closely, there was something different about Long Shui Ling.


    Before this, she had been walking beside me, but now¡­she was walking two steps back.


    It was as if she was establishing herself in a lower position than me¡­


    That was the effect of my suggestions.


    While it would be gradual, I would make her more and more subservient until she was mine to fully control.

 Chapter 301 - 301: Second date (1)

    The second date that I had arranged was with Claire.


    Unlike the first date, this couldn''t really be considered a date.


    After all, there was nothing between me and Claire, so it wasn''t as if she could just invite me on a date.


    Instead, it was a trip to a special store for Awakeners.


    This was a store that was completely filled with different items that Awakeners could use whether it was in the dungeon or the break zones.


    This was a store that completely satisfied all of the needs of Awakeners. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though there were also some wealthy people that also shopped there since the items for Awakeners definitely weren''t normal items.


    The excuse that she gave me for this date was to pick up items for our team to use in the future.


    Since I was the team leader, I couldn''t refuse this request that easily.


    But at the same time, I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to achieve what I wanted to achieve with Claire.


    When I arrived at the store, I was early.


    I had made sure to arrive early just so I could prepare everything for what would happen today.


    However, when I arrived, I found that Claire was already waiting there for me.


    How did I notice her?


    It was because she had attracted a crowd around her.


    She was a beautiful young girl with blonde hair in ponytails, fair white skin, and fine carved face, but it was different today. Normally, she had the look of a young girl, but today she had the look of a mature woman.


    She had dressed herself up completely, which gave her a different feeling.


    Though her clothes didn''t show that much skin, they were form fitting enough to be stimulating even without showing skin.


    They perfectly accentuated her hourglass figure, which had a fair sized chest, wide hips, and a thin belly.


    This gave one a very good sense of just what kind of figure she had and it really was dazzling.


    That was why there was a crowd that was gathered around her.


    It even seemed like there were several of them that had already tried to hit on her, but they were completely rejected by her.


    Since I arrived, it wasn''t as if I could just ignore her.


    So I was about to go over to greet her.


    But before I could, Claire also saw me and ran over to where I was standing.


    When the crowd saw this, they couldn''t help following her with their eyes. When the crowd saw that it was me that she was running to, all of them started to glare at me.


    When she came over, I said, "It seems that you''re early too. Did you have to wait long?"


    Claire just shook her head and said, "No, I just go here."


    My lips couldn''t help twitching when I heard this.


    If she really just got here, how could she explain that large crowd that had gathered around her?


    If she really just got here, would it make sense that all of these people had gathered here around her?


    She must have arrived early and had arrived quite early for such a crowd to gather.


    But since she didn''t want to admit it, I wasn''t going to expose her.


    So I just said with a smile, "Oh that''s good. I was worried that I had kept you waiting."


    Claire just looked at me with a smile.


    The ones from the crowd that were close enough to hear what we were saying glared at me even more, but I just ignored all of these glares.


    Since that was dealt with, I turned to face the store and said, "Should we go in?"


    Claire gave a nod before moving behind me.


    It was as if she was going to follow me instead of going in with me.


    Seeing this, I couldn''t help raising a brow and asking, "What are you doing?"


    Claire was surprised when she heard this and she looked down to realize what she had done.


    With an awkward look, she said, "I''m just used to following you because of our work in the dungeons that I instinctively moved behind you."


    I shook my head with a bitter smile when I heard this before saying, "Well we''re not in the dungeon now. If you walk behind me like this, it really will be hard for me to explain. So how about you just come forward and walk beside me?"


    Claire gave a nod, but she didn''t move forward right away.


    She instead took a deep breath to calm herself before taking a step forward to stand beside me.


    As she stood there, she looked at me and I couldn''t help revealing an awkward smile since I didn''t know what she was doing.


    But Claire revealed a smile as she looked at me like this.


    From the beginning, she had only ever been able to stare at his back¡­


    Now that she was beside him, she had to admit that this was a feeling that she liked.


    I didn''t understand what was happening, but that didn''t matter.


    So I chose to ignore it and said, "Then should we go in?"


    Claire was still in a daze, but she eventually gave a nod.


    So the two of us headed into the store.


    Once we went through the doors of the store, the crowd that had been in a daze finally reacted.


    "Did you see the way that the two of them were acting?"


    "I did, I did. It''s clear that there''s some kind of strange relationship between the two of them."


    "The way that she went behind him without even thinking¡­do you think that they have that kind of relationship?"


    "Please don''t, I don''t even want to think about it. Such a beautiful girl and she''s being¡­"


    There were all kinds of whispers, but it seemed like the conclusion that they had drawn was the same¡­


    So the crowd followed them into the store.

 Chapter 302 - 302: Second date (2)

    After coming into the store, we headed in a specific direction.


    This was my first time in this store of Awakeners, but since I came, I had already figured out what I wanted to get.


    I had no idea what Claire wanted, but there were a few things that I did want. So I would take advantage of this chance to get them.


    Claire seemingly just followed me as we went through the store.


    It didn''t seem like she knew what she wanted to get.


    When she acted this way, it made it very clear what she wanted, but there was a problem.


    Even if they tried to act like they weren''t looking at us, it was very clear that there was a group of people who were following us.


    From what I could see, it seemed to be the same group of people that had gathered around Claire earlier.


    Were they still trying to get with her or was it something else?


    It had to be something else since I could see the way that they were looking at me.


    It wasn''t just them being angry at me, but rather it was as if they were trying to find something wrong with me that they could use.


    I didn''t know any of these people, so there shouldn''t be a reason for them to do anything like this.


    Just why were they following us like this?


    Could it be that they followed whoever had tried to trap me after the raid dungeon incident?


    Were they here to cause trouble for me or were they here for something else?


    For now, there was no need to think too much about it and I should focus on Claire first.


    After walking around for a bit, I turned to her and asked, "What should we look at first?"


    They had come here to buy things for their group, or at least that was the excuse that Claire had given him.


    Since that was the case, he wanted to see what kind of plan she had to invite him here.


    Claire had a surprised look on her face when she heard this before revealing an awkward look and saying, "I really don''t know. I didn''t think about what we would need, so I just thought that we could walk around and find something."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I heard this.


    I looked at her with narrowed eyes, as if I was trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.


    But the look on her face made it clear that she really didn''t have a plan.


    She had actually been planning on just walking around without any clue of what they were supposed to buy.


    It seemed that her age was still something.


    She was younger than me, but I forgot that sometimes because of how well she followed orders.


    But in reality, she was just a teenager who didn''t think things through.


    Even asking me out like this was most likely an impulse that she suddenly had after everything that happened.


    I gave a sigh and said, "Haven''t you been looking for a new weapon? How about we go and find one for you?"


    Claire revealed a surprised look when she heard this before giving a nod with a happy smile. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was happy because she never thought that he would remember something like this and even suggested they go shopping for a new weapon together.


    Seeing her act this way, I really couldn''t help giving a secret sigh.


    Who would have thought that such a simple girl would have caused me so much trouble recently.


    Because of how she kept clashing with Long Shui Ling, she had caused me quite a bit of a headache before.


    But now she was being tamed so easily with just a few words¡­


    It really was a stark contrast.


    Claire used bows, so we went to the ranged weapon department.


    This was a department that had all kinds of ranged weapons and as we walked through it, it would be a lie to say that my eyes didn''t wander. I couldn''t help being attracted by the guns that they had on display.


    These were mana guns that used the user''s mana to shoot mana bullets.


    These were guns that could be used by any Awakener since all Awakeners had mana of some form. These guns were designed to absorb the passive mana of Awakeners and gather them in the form of bullets to shoot.


    So these were guns that most Awakeners would be able to use regardless of their rank.


    That was because they also accepted mana from magic stones, so it didn''t matter how weak one was.


    But these were regulated because of how easily they could be used and one couldn''t buy them that easily.


    Which was why I had never been able to buy them before.


    But they looked very cool and I thought that I would look cool holding one, so I had always wanted one.


    Still, it wasn''t the time for that now.


    I went over to the bow section with Claire and waited on the side as she chose one that she liked.


    There really wasn''t much that I could add at this point since this was going to be her weapon. It was something that she would be using often, so it was something that she had to be comfortable with.


    The only way to make sure that she was comfortable with it was for her to test these bows out herself.


    After a while, she finally decided on two that she liked, but she could only buy one.


    It wasn''t that she couldn''t afford it, but rather the other would go to waste since she could only carry one of these bows with her at all times.


    Seeing that she was struggling to choose, I seized this opportunity and went forward.


    I went behind her and suddenly brought my arms up to reach around her.


    Claire was shocked when she saw this, but in no time at all, my hands had taken her hands and were helping her hold the bow.

 Chapter 303 - 303: Second date (3)

    My arms were wrapped around her and my hands were holding her hands as we held the bow together.


    There was a blush that appeared on Claire''s face along with that look of shock.


    It was as if she couldn''t believe what was happening right now.


    But I calmly said, "Alright, hold it like this and see if it''s good for you."


    However, Claire was just in too much of a daze to hear me properly.


    When I held her like this, the people who had been following us suddenly reacted. Many of them revealed disappointed looks when they saw this which confused me, but I went along with it.


    Holding her like this, I turned Claire around so that they would be able to see me holding her like this properly.


    I even said by her ear, "Alright, now just point it in that direction and pull on the bowstring to see how it feels."


    At this point, Claire was like a mechanical puppet in my hands.


    I made her point the bow at the ones that were staring at us and then I had her pull the string back as if she was about to shoot them.


    I wanted to use this as a threat, but I didn''t expect the reactions that came from the watchers.


    It wasn''t looks of fear or looks of disappointment, these were looks of heartbreak that I just couldn''t understand at all.


    I had wanted to put pressure on them by having Claire pull back this bowstring like this, but it seemed like something else had happened. I just didn''t understand what they were planning to do.


    I had thought that they were trying to get Claire and me to fight to ruin the relationship between our group, but that didn''t seem to be the case¡­


    After watching for a bit, those that had been watching turned and left with hurt looks on their faces.


    This just confused me even more¡­


    But at the very least, they were leaving us alone now.


    Once they left, I released Claire''s hands and moved away before saying, "Alright, how do you feel about this one?"


    Claire was still in a daze when she heard this, but there was a trace of disappointment that could be seen in her eyes.


    Seeing that she didn''t say anything, I said, "If it doesn''t seem right, how about we look at some oth¡­"


    "This one, I''ll take this one." She decisively cut me off.


    I was surprised by how firm the tone of her voice was when she said this.


    It was as if she would broker no argument on this matter.


    So I just gave a nod as I said, "Alright, if you like it, then you should get it."


    Claire gave a nod before happily holding the bow in her hand, even though she hadn''t bought it yet.


    As she held it in her chest¡­it went right between her breasts, accentuating them.


    Her figure definitely wasn''t small, so seeing them being pushed out against the bow like this really was stimulating.


    But I forced myself to remain calm as I said with a cough, "You should go and pay for that bow, or else someone else might take it."


    She jolted out of her daze when she heard this and quickly went off to pay for the bow.


    I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief as I saw her go.


    The rest of the date went as normal.


    Since they had left us alone, I was able to easily input the suggestions into Claire as we went about the store.


    When it was all done, the way that she acted around me had changed slightly.


    She acted more subserviently.


    It was just small things in her actions that showed this, but for the most part she still acted the same.


    As we were about to leave the store, Claire suddenly said, "Um, actually I bought something for you as well."


    I was surprised to hear this and I turned around to see what it was.


    Claire pulled this thing out from behind her and presented it to me.


    I was surprised to see what she had pulled out.


    It was a gun, but it wasn''t just any gun.


    It was the mana gun that I had seen earlier. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Claire saw the surprise on my face and she said with a happy smile, "I saw you looking at it earlier, so I figured that you wanted it. I just wanted to give you a small thank you present from coming shopping with me today."


    There was a warm feeling that filled my heart when she took this gun out, but there was also a feeling of guilt that filled my heart¡­


    That was because I had only come out with her because I had wanted to use her¡­


    In a sense, I was stepping on the feelings of this innocent young girl.


    So it could be said that I was a bad person.


    But I still said with a smile, "No problem, it was fun. We should do this again sometime."


    Claire''s eyes immediately lit up when she heard this as she said, "Really? Do you mean it?"


    Seeing her like this filled my heart with even more guilt, but¡­


    I had already committed myself to doing this, so there was no turning back now.


    Even if I felt guilt, this was something that had to be done.


    I steeled my heart and said with a nod, "Of course, we''re friends and you''re important to me. I''d be happy to hang out again with you."


    This time, Claire''s eyes dimmed a bit as she whispered in a disappointed voice, "Just friends, huh?"


    But then she invigorated herself again as she said, "Sure, I would love to hang out again with you."


    Then in a softer voice, she said, "How about we go to another place like an arcade or the aquarium next time."


    This was basically asking me out on a proper date, but I gave a nod in response that caused her to reveal a bright smile.


    I was already committed, there was no guilt to be felt.

 Chapter 304 - 304: Third date (1)

    The third engagement that I had was with Bing Xin.


    To my surprise, she had actually called me to another break zone even though we were on vacation.


    It seemed that she just wasn''t content with sitting still, so she wanted to move her body a bit while we were still on vacation.


    Though moving her body a bit by fighting monsters¡­


    I never thought that this was the kind of personality that she had.


    But then again, her personality had changed many times during the time that we had known each other.


    When I had first met her in that first break zone, she had a cold and indifferent personality.


    Then when I met her again after that incident, she had become a gentle and kind girl.


    And now, she has become a tomboy.


    Were these all a part of her personality or was there something that was changing with her because of the meddling that I did?


    I really couldn''t tell, but it really didn''t matter at this point.


    Since we were here, I would just keep walking down the path that I was already walking down.


    As a beautiful girl, it was impossible for Bing Xin to not attract attention. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We didn''t come here on official guild business and just came to enter the break zone on our own, so there were plenty of other Awakeners that were here.


    When we arrived, they immediately turned to look at the beautiful Bing Xin.


    With her flowing blue hair, sparkling blue eyes, and fine carved face, she was like a doll that was made of ice. This caused all the men and even some of the women to look at her in a daze.


    But when they saw me, they immediately revealed looks of doubt and disdain.


    It was as if they were saying, "Is that really who this beautiful woman is with?"


    Bing Xin just ignored all of this as she went over to register so we could enter the break zone.


    But before we could reach the gate and register, there were a few people that walked over.


    It seemed that they couldn''t stand that I was with Bing Xin, so they were taking action to solve that.


    Judging by how the others reacted when they came forward, it seemed that they had a bit of a reputation that others would treat them differently.


    However, I didn''t feel any fear seeing them come over.


    Perhaps it was because I had been dealing with too many powerful people during my time in Elementia that I just didn''t feel anything from these people. The aura that they gave off was even weaker than the members of my group who were the rookies of Elementia.


    So they definitely weren''t strong at all.


    Though they could be considered strong among independent Awakeners.


    After they came over, the leader of the group ignored me and went over to Bing Xin to say, "This beautiful sister, how about you come with us into the break zone? We''re all experienced Awakeners and can guide you if this is your first time."


    As he said this, the others that followed him started moving towards me.


    It was as if they wanted to separate me from Bing Xin while their leader tried to get her to come with them.


    Bing Xin immediately narrowed her eyes and gave a snort when she heard this.


    This immediately sent a chill running down the spine of this group, but they also couldn''t help feeling even more enticed by her.


    After all, she looked even more beautiful when she acted this way.


    It was like she was an empress of snow and ice ruling over her land.


    The leader wasn''t discouraged at all by this and came forward to reach for her hand as he said, "Now, now, there''s no need to be upset. We''ll make sure to treat you right if you come with us."


    Bing Xin narrowed her eyes even more when she heard this.


    With the way that she was raising her hand, they might have misunderstood that she was reaching out towards the hand of this person.


    But I knew that she was¡­preparing to freeze them all in ice.


    I could even feel the temperature around us dropping even if these idiots couldn''t.


    They were completely full of themselves since they thought that it was a done deal.


    I knew that it would be a pain if I let Bing Xin take care of them since her powers were very flashy. Freezing someone completely in ice was sure to attract attention and when that happened, it would be reported to Elementia that we had been here.


    So I took action.


    I stepped forward, pushing aside the ones that tried to cut me off.


    They were surprised, but they tried to push me back when they felt me pushing forward.


    Then to their further surprise, they found that they couldn''t resist at all as I pushed them aside.


    It was like they were pushing against a brick wall with how they couldn''t move me at all.


    In the end, I pushed them all aside and went forward to grab the hand of the leader.


    The leader had noticed me at the last second and had wanted to pull his hand away, but he found that I was already grabbing his hand at the next second.


    The leader narrowed his eyes to look at me and said, "What do you want? Can''t you see that we''re busy here?"


    I just simply looked at him with a calm look and said, "She''s with me. Please stop bothering us."


    "Huh?" A vein popped out on the leader''s forehead when he heard this before he roared out, "You''re telling me that an ugly kid like you is with this beauty? Who do you think will believe you?"


    He reached out for the sword that was on his back, but before he could reach it, he suddenly started screaming in pain.


    His legs buckled under him and he fell to his knees in front of me.

 Chapter 305 - 305: Third date (2)

    Everyone was shocked to see this man fall down in front of me.


    They couldn''t help looking at me with strange looks as I stood in front of that man who was on his knees in front of me.


    The man just stayed there on his knees screaming in pain as I held his wrist, but eventually those screams of pain became softer and softer until it seemed like he was able to resist the pain.


    He slowly looked up at me and said through gritted teeth, "Let me go, now!"


    I didn''t respond at all as I just kept my grip around his wrist like that.


    Finally, the man couldn''t take it anymore and he reached his other hand up again in an attempt to grab the sword that was on his back.


    It seemed that he was done pretending to be civil and was planning on using force to achieve his goals.


    Since that was the case¡­then there was no need for me to play along with him anymore.


    Right before he could reach that sword, he suddenly screamed out in pain once more.


    I gripped his wrist even harder than before.


    The man looked at me in shock and disbelief while screaming in pain as he didn''t believe that I could squeeze his wrist even more than I was already doing.


    Up to this point, I had a vice grip around his wrist which was why he had fallen down in pain earlier.


    But that wasn''t anywhere near my full strength.


    The training that I had done with Su Chen had paid off, so I was much stronger than before.


    Normal Awakeners just wouldn''t be able to match me anymore.


    Still, it didn''t do me any good to let this man keep screaming and attracting more attention.


    It was better to just¡­knock him out now.


    I reached my other hand up and with a single flick, that man''s head fell backwards before hitting the ground. The way that he slammed into the ground looked painful and had even created a crater in the ground.


    But I didn''t really care since this was what he deserved. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, it wasn''t as if he would die because of this because he was an Awakener.


    An Awakener was much tougher than one could imagine.


    After knocking him out like this, I didn''t waste any time in grabbing Bing Xin''s heart and running towards the entrance of the break zone.


    I just flashed my special C Rank Irregular License to the registration people before rushing in before any of the guards could stop us.


    The registration people were shocked by the license since they had never seen it in person before even if they had heard of it.


    The guards had wanted to go and stop us, but the registration people immediately stopped them.


    If they offended someone with this special Irregular License, who knows what would happen?


    So they didn''t dare say a thing about any of this.


    After entering the break zone, we didn''t stop running until we were a certain distance away from the gate.


    Only then did I stop running and let go of Bing Xin''s hand.


    I could see that there was a slightly disappointed look on her face when I let go, but I just couldn''t keep holding her like this.


    There was an awkward silence that hung in the air as neither of us knew what to say.


    But in the end, Bing Xin broke that silence by saying in a soft voice, "Thank you for helping me."


    I just shook my head with a faint smile before saying, "No, there''s no need to thank me, I was just doing what anyone would have done in that situation."


    Bing Xin still lowered her head and said, "But I still appreciate it¡­It was like when you saved me back then."


    I couldn''t help revealing an awkward look when she brought this up.


    The atmosphere between us became ambiguous because of this, but then¡­


    There was a goblin that suddenly jumped out of the bush and charged at us.


    Both of us were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of this goblin, but Bing Xin revealed a furious look after she came back to her senses.


    She muttered under her breath, "It was just getting to the good part and you ruined it all."


    There was blue energy that gathered around her hand and it seemed like she was about to release a big attack¡­A big attack that wasn''t suitable for dealing with just this goblin.


    I couldn''t help panicking a bit when I saw Bing Xin like this.


    If I let her release this attack, who knows what would happen?


    She might even change the landscape of this break zone with this one attack.


    So in a panic, I suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her from behind. I held her back while also throwing out a dagger that landed right in between the brows of the goblin.


    The goblin was pinned right to a tree that was behind it with this dagger.


    But I had other things that I was concerned with.


    I quickly said, "Wait, wait, I''ve already taken care of it. You don''t need to do anything."


    Bing Xin had frozen when she felt my arms around her.


    From another angle, one could even say that this was¡­a hug.


    There was another awkward silence that filled the air after this, but then Bing Xin worked up the courage to say, "Hold me tighter."


    She didn''t know why, but she enjoyed the feeling of being held like this very much.


    It was like her ice magic was being completely melted by the heat that was coming from him¡­


    I didn''t mind this and used a bit more force with my hand to hold her tighter.


    But it wasn''t for the reason that she thought it was for.


    It was so that she¡­couldn''t run away.


    I started whispering into her ears and slowly, Bing Xin''s eyes turned dim.

 Chapter 306 - 306: Coffee date (1)

    The last engagement that I had was with someone that I hadn''t met in a long time. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In fact, it had been a while since she had even messaged me.


    It was as if she had completely disappeared, but I had been too busy to remember her in the first place.


    It was the police detective Ling Yue.


    I had wanted to get her on my side for the police connections, but there had been too many things that happened that I completely forgot to check in on her.


    But now that she was contacting me, I wouldn''t let this opportunity go.


    So I went to the meeting place that she had set.


    It was a cafe that wasn''t that far from where I lived.


    Since she knew where I lived, it wasn''t strange that she would pick a place that was nearby.


    When I came in, I found that Ling Yue was already waiting for me.


    But the moment that I saw her, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because unlike all the other times that I had seen her before, she looked completely different this time.


    Instead of having the sleek look that she normally had, she was dressed¡­like a grandma.


    There was no style at all with her clothes and it was all too baggy to show her figure. It was as if she had just slapped on whatever was available and just came out without a single care.


    But the most surprising thing was the look on her face.


    She had dark circles under her eyes that seemed like she was completely exhausted.


    Adding in the fact that she was dipping forward, almost as if she was about to fall asleep at any moment, it was clear that she wasn''t in good condition.


    I couldn''t imagine what had happened that would cause her to be like this.


    I slowly walked over and even then, she didn''t seem to react to me.


    It really seemed like she was about to faint at any moment like this.


    Only when I was right beside the table did she slowly turn to look at me.


    She just stared at me with those tired eyes as if she didn''t recognize me, but then her eyes suddenly lit up and she almost jumped out of the booth that she was sitting in.


    She calmed herself down, but she looked much more awake from the shock at the very least.


    When she calmed down, she said, "You''re here. Come and sit down, we have a lot to catch up on."


    I gave a nod before sitting down in the booth in front of her.


    After sitting down, I looked at her with a worried look and asked, "Are you alright? If you''re tired, you don''t have to push yourself to come and see me."


    Ling Yue shook her head and said, "It''s fine, it''s fine. It''s just that I had to pull a double shift yesterday to get off work today. But it doesn''t matter since it''s business as usual for me now."


    I couldn''t help revealing a worried and confused look when I heard this.


    I slowly asked, "Is everything going alright at work? Why are you so busy now?"


    Ling Yue revealed a bitter smile when she heard this before saying with a sigh, "Since that case, they''ve been coming down on us for not being able to solve it."


    As for what the case that she mentioned was, it was the one that involved me.


    It was about the murder of Wang Bing''s group of bullies.


    That was the one case that had been ''solved'', but the solution was not one that anyone was happy with.


    After a long silence, Ling Yue said, "The chief was pushed out of his position and was reassigned to a remote police station. Since I was the one that remained, they put someone else in the chief''s place who would make it as hard as possible for me so that I would quit."


    I looked at her with a look of sympathy, not because I was the one that had caused this, but because she was suffering because of this.


    I patted her on the hand and Ling Yue looked up at me with a smile before saying, "Don''t worry, it''s fine. This is what I''ve been wanting to do since I was young, so I won''t let this little problem get in the way. As long as I work hard, it''ll eventually pass."


    I patted her hand again, but there was something that I had to ask.


    "What about your partner? Isn''t he able to help you?"


    When she heard this, the look on Ling Yue''s face turned ugly.


    She gave a snort before saying, "Him? I don''t even want to talk about that guy."


    I couldn''t help raising a brow and revealing a confused look when I heard this.


    As far as I could tell, they should have been close¡­


    So why was she suddenly saying this about him?


    Seeing the confused look on my face, Ling Yue hesitated a bit before saying, "He took some kind of plea deal and transferred out of our station. I have no idea where he went, but from time to time, he''s been messaging me to¡­"


    Her voice trailed off, but the way that she looked at me made it clear that this matter involved me.


    With a bitter laugh, I said, "He wants you to use me as a scapegoat, doesn''t he?"


    Ling Yue bit her lip, but she gave a slow nod in the end without saying anything.


    I gave another bitter laugh when I heard this, but I also didn''t say anything.


    Seeing the look on my face, it was Ling Yue''s turn to pat my hand and say, "Don''t worry, I know that you were nothing more than the victim. I''m not someone that will back down just because of a little hazing like this, so I won''t use you as a scapegoat."


    I looked at her with a grateful look when I heard this.

 Chapter 307 - 307: Coffee date (2)

    Ling Yue then changed the topic as she said, "Alright, enough about me already. Let''s hear about what you''ve been up to lately."


    I was surprised to hear her say this, but then I said, "Let me think, where should I begin?"


    Ling Yue shook her head with a faint smile when she heard this, "I''m sure that you''ve been up to many things. You were recruited by Elementia, was involved in that large incident with the demon king, and all kinds of other things, right?"


    I couldn''t help being even more surprised when I heard this.


    I looked at her with a brow raised and slowly asked, "How do you know all this?"


    Ling Yue said with a sly smile on her face, "Do you think that I haven''t been keeping track of you during this time? I know everything that you''ve been doing."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I just looked at Ling Yue with an unstable look, as if I was facing an enemy that I had never faced before.


    Seeing me look at her like this, Ling Yue finally couldn''t help bursting out in laughter as she said, "You should see the look on your face, you actually believed my bluff."


    The corner of my eye couldn''t help twitching when I heard this as I felt like I had just been played.


    Ling Yue wiped a tear from her eye from laughing before saying, "You should know that the police receive reports on important issues, so we receive reports on the things that you''ve been involved in. I accidentally saw some of them, so I know a bit about what you''ve been up to."


    Then her face turned sad as she said, "Big sister wanted to talk to you during this time, but I just couldn''t with everything that was happening."


    She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes and said, "You don''t blame big sister because of this, right?"


    I was surprised to see this, but I slowly shook my head as I said, "No, no, of course not. You were busy and that was indirectly because of me, so there really is nothing that I can say."


    Ling Yue gave a sniffle before saying, "It''s not your fault. You were the victim being bullied by those other kids, so how could you say that it''s your fault?"


    Then in a softer voice, she said, "I think that they actually got what they deserved, if that means anything to you."


    It was a lie to say that I wasn''t caught off guard by her saying this, but I shook my head and said, "Even if they did deserve it, they didn''t deserve to die, right?"


    Ling Yue''s eyes softened and she gave a nod of agreement.


    She didn''t know what came over her, but thinking of how she felt when she read about all the things that Wang Bing''s group had done to Lin Fan, she couldn''t help feeling angry at them.


    She took a deep breath to calm her emotions before saying, "But that doesn''t matter now, right? You''ve worked hard and now you''ve obtained a position that many people would be envious of."


    I just gave a soft nod when I heard this.


    Though deep down, I couldn''t help giving a bitter laugh.


    Ling Yue then said with a smile, "Big sister will have to depend on you in the future with the rate that you''re rising up."


    I just said with a smile, "Don''t worry, I''ll definitely take care of you in the future."


    Ling Yue''s heart couldn''t help skipping a beat at this.


    She didn''t know why she felt this way, but she felt that he was quite handsome when he said these words.


    After that, the two of us just chatted for a bit longer before she left to go rest.


    As she left, the light in her eyes had dimmed a bit¡­


    I had made sure to put in my suggestions while we were chatting.


    As I walked away from the cafe, I couldn''t help thinking about something.


    Xia Tian, the other detective who had been Ling Yue''s partner before.


    I knew that he wouldn''t give up on this matter¡­


    Wherever he had transferred, he most likely was looking for a way to strike at me from an unexpected angle. If I let him be, it would be a hidden danger in the future that could strike at any moment.


    So I should really be thinking of a way to take care of him¡­


    At the same time, I also thought about how to help Ling Yue.


    Seeing her overwork herself like this, I knew that she wouldn''t be of any help to me in the future.


    With the way that she was currently going, she might even work herself into the grave at this rate.


    So if I could find a way to help her, then I should help her.


    The ones that should have forced her into this situation were most likely related to this case somehow. If I had to guess, it was most likely Wang Bing''s parents.


    Wang Bing had said that his dad was in a high position in the Awakener Association, that was not a position that could be taken lightly.


    If someone like that wanted to interfere with the police, especially with a single detective, it should be easy for him to take care of Ling Yue.


    Since this was something that was related to the Awakener Association, that meant that I should have a say in this matter.


    It wouldn''t have been the case in the past, but now I was someone with connections.


    Though those connections had come to me on their own to become my friend.


    If I wanted to help Ling Yue, I should contact Eliott and see if he could do anything about this.


    I''m sure that with our relationship, he would help me with this matter.


    After all, he seemed like he really wanted to become closer to me.

 Chapter 308 - 308: To the club again

    After all of those dates, I still had some time to myself.


    So I decided that I would go to the club.


    It had been a long time since I went to the club, so I wanted to see how it was doing.


    When I arrived, I was surprised to find that the club had completely changed.


    First, it seemed much bigger than before.


    I found out later that Sasha had doubled down on the business and had bought the store next door. After buying the store next door, she knocked it down and extended the club to be twice as big as before.


    It was no longer a small club, but rather a large club that was much bigger than the rest of the buildings on this street.


    There was even a line to get in that was closely managed by the bouncers.


    I could see that there were a few familiar faces among the bouncers.


    They were the ones that had been working here since the Red Gang incident.


    Though they were injured during that incident, we had compensated them generously and it didn''t seem like they forgot about that since they were still working at this club.


    However, it seemed that I had been away from the club too long that some of the newer bouncers didn''t know who I was.


    When I tried to cut the line and go in directly, the bouncer at the door stopped me.


    "Name?"


    That was what he said when he saw me approach.


    I was surprised to be stopped like this since I had never been stopped from entering the club before. But seeing how busy it was, I guess that it was just a part of the new protocol.


    "Lin Fan." I said in a calm voice.


    The bouncer flipped through the list and then shook his head to say, "Not on the list. Get to the back of the line."


    Behind me, I heard a few snickers coming from the people that were waiting in line.


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I wasn''t on the list?


    I owned half this store and I wasn''t even on the list for my own store¡­I really didn''t know what to say.


    While I was thinking about what to do, there was another bouncer that suddenly came over.


    This was a face that I was familiar with since it was one of the bouncers that had been working here since the beginning.


    He came over and said in a cold voice, "Let him in."


    The bouncer at the door was surprised by this, but he still opened the door in the end.


    The senior bouncer bowed his head and said, "Sorry for the trouble, he''s new. He''s only been working here for a week, so he doesn''t know all of the rules yet."


    I gave a simple nod and said, "Un, it''s no problem."


    I could see that there were people that were staring at us, so it was better for me to drop this matter than to hold it against them.


    Not to mention, it was a simple mistake.


    It wasn''t as if he had offended me, so I wouldn''t make a big deal out of this.


    Sometimes, being a good boss meant forgiving these small mistakes since everyone could make them. That would inspire loyalty among your subordinates and make them respect you more.


    Without another word, I went into the club.


    After he went in, the junior bouncer waited for a bit before asking, "Senior, was that really alright? He wasn''t on the list and everyone just saw him cut the line. Won''t this hurt the club''s reputation?"


    The senior bouncer hit that junior bouncer on the head and said, "What do you know? He doesn''t need to be on the list, he owns this club."


    The junior bouncer revealed a confused look as he said, "Isn''t the owner Miss Sasha?" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The senior bouncer shook his head and said with a sigh, "Don''t you remember what Miss Sasha said? He''s the other owner."


    The junior bouncer suddenly revealed a look of understanding before revealing a look of panic.


    He said in a stuttering voice, "He, he, was the other owner?"


    The senior bouncer gave a simple nod.


    The junior bouncer trembled when seeing this before asking, "Will, will he hold it against me?"


    The junior bouncer had already heard about this other owner and he had heard about how Elementia was supporting this club because of this other owner. That was because this other owner was actually a member of Elementia.


    Anyone that could join a large guild like Elementia definitely wasn''t a normal person.


    If this other owner held a grudge against him because of this¡­wouldn''t his life be over?


    The senior bouncer shook his head and said, "Don''t worry, the owner isn''t as petty as you think. He just said that it''s not a problem, so you don''t need to worry. I''d be more scared of how Miss Sasha will punish you when she finds out about this."


    Though this junior bouncer was a man that was much larger than the average person, he couldn''t help trembling when he heard this.


    It was clear that he was afraid of this Miss Sasha.


    He looked at the senior bouncer and asked, "Senior, what should I do?"


    This time, the senior bouncer just shook his head and patted him on the shoulder before saying with a sigh, "Just accept the consequences."


    The junior bouncer looked like he was about to cry when he heard this.


    After entering the club, I couldn''t help being surprised by how big it had become.


    There had even been a dance floor added in the center that had many people on it right now.


    It wasn''t just a cabaret club anymore, it was a proper club now that people could enjoy drinking and dancing in. Though I could see that there was still the option to call for girls to drink with since that was the foundation that this club was based on.


    With how big it had become and how many people were here, it was clear that business was good.


    Though with the support of Elementia, it would be strange if business wasn''t good.


    I couldn''t help wondering just how much money Sasha was earning with all of this.


    There was an account that had been set up for me that Sasha would deposit my shares of the profits in each month, but I had never touched that account before.


    I was earning good money from Elementia and there wasn''t much that I was spending on in the first place since I still lived in the same crappy apartment, so I had never needed the money in the first place.


    But now I couldn''t help just how much money was in that account.


    It seemed that breaking Sasha and making her my puppet really was a good decision back then.


    Seeing how well she managed this business, it seemed that she really had a knack for this kind of thing.


    I wondered what else I would be able to get her to do if I needed her to do other things.


    Still, that wasn''t the reason I had come here today.


    For now, I would just do what I came to do and worry about that stuff later.

 Chapter 309 - 309: Grinding some more points

    I ignored what was happening in the club and walked over to the bar.


    Standing behind the bar was the same bartender as before.


    No matter how the club changed or how big it became, this bartender would be a staple of this club.


    When he saw me, he gave a nod to me and then waved for me to come over.


    I went over and went behind the bar with him before heading to the back.


    As we walked in the back, he chatted a bit with me.


    He was a silent person by nature, so him chatting with me was already a sign of respect towards me.


    He didn''t waste any time and brought me to Sasha''s office in the back.


    Since the club had become bigger, it was now a mess in the back as well. It was like a maze of corridors and if it wasn''t for the bartender bringing me back here, I would have really gotten lost.


    I gave him a grateful nod and he just gave a nod in return before heading back to the bar.


    Standing outside the door, I could hear the voices that were coming from inside.


    Well¡­it was just a single voice that was coming from inside, but I could hear that they were in several different conversations at the same time. It was clear that they were on calls with different people.


    "No, no, we can''t possibly fit an event of that size on such short notice. You have to either wait or give us a better price."


    "I told you, I need those supplies by the end of the week or else I''ll be calling your boss."


    "You think that I don''t know who you are? Just you wait and see. Trying to prank my club, you''ll suffer the consequences."


    "Like totally, I would have done the same thing."


    The way that she kept changing the tone of her voice, one might think that she was completely crazy.


    But it seemed that this was just how talented Sasha was.


    She was able to deal with all these people at the same time without breaking even once.


    The one at the end even seemed like a personal call.


    I gave a soft knock on the door before opening it and walking in.


    Sasha was surprised to see the door open and she was about to wave this person out until she saw who it was.


    When she saw that it was me, she revealed a wide smile and waved for me to come in. She pointed at the seat on the side for me to sit down before mouthing, "I''ll be done soon."


    I didn''t mind and sat down to wait.


    In no time at all, Sasha just ended all of the calls.


    The other side was clearly surprised from what I could pick up with my sharp ears, but she didn''t seem to care as she quickly ended all of the calls.


    Once she ended them all, she looked at me with a smile and asked, "What are you doing here? You didn''t call me ahead of time at all."


    I said with a smile, "I wanted to come and see the new club. At the same time, since I''m here, I might as well make a spot check to see if there''s anything wrong with my club, right?"


    Sasha didn''t panic at all when she heard this as she went back to the desk to bring a pile of paper over for me.


    She put them on the coffee table in front of me and waited for me to take a look at them.


    I raised a brow to look at her, but I still picked up the piece of paper on top of the pile to take a look at it.


    Just a single glance was enough to tell me that this was some kind of ledger.


    It was most likely a ledger for the club, showing how well the club was doing. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She took my joke seriously and even brought out all of this as if I was actually conducting a check.


    But I could tell that it wasn''t just because I had made this joke.


    The way that she stood there waiting for me to finish, the way that she looked at me with an expectant look, it was as if she was waiting for me to do something after I finished reading all of this.


    I could already tell what she was waiting for with the way that she looked at me.


    She was looking to be praised for her hard work.


    She was standing there like a child that was waiting for their parents to praise them.


    I couldn''t help revealing a faint smile when I saw this.


    I put the piece of paper down and waved my hand at her to come over.


    Sasha leaned in so that her face was right beside mine and waited to see what I would give her.


    I brought my hand up and moved it above her head to give her a pat on the head. As I patted her head, I said, "It seems like you''ve done a good job managing this club."


    Her eyes lit up when she heard this, but she didn''t get the chance to say anything as I suddenly stopped.


    She revealed a confused look as she saw my hand coming down.


    I brought my hand down to her cheek and then suddenly¡­I slapped her.


    After slapping her, I said, "But it seems like there were a few mistakes on this ledger. The amounts didn''t seem to add up."


    Sasha didn''t look hurt at all when I slapped her.


    I could see that there was an excited look in her eyes.


    That was because the errors that I had pointed out had been made on purpose.


    She wanted to give me this error so that I would¡­


    Well, since she was asking for it¡­


    "Yes, I promise I''ll do better next time." There was an excited tone to her voice as she said this.


    I didn''t mind since this was related to what I was here to do in the first place.


    I was here to grind experience points.


    My hand went further down and grabbed her chest that was leaning forward with her.


    I pulled on it as I said, "Now, what should we do with you?"


    I could feel an excited shiver coming from her through my hand after I said this.

 Chapter 310 - 310: Being rough

    Sasha didn''t say a single thing, but it was clear by the look in her eyes that she was looking forward to what was about to happen.


    So I pulled her forward until she was completely leaning in.


    I pulled her by the breast so that her face was right in the middle of my crotch.


    Holding her there, I said, "Shouldn''t you be doing something first."


    Sasha''s eyes lit up when she heard this and she didn''t hesitate to undo my belt before pulling my pants down.


    As she pulled it down, my dick flopped out onto her face and even slapped her from being pulled out like this.


    There was a look of visible surprise on Sasha''s face, but then she didn''t hesitate to take it in one hand while she brought her mouth forward.


    Opening her mouth wide, she enveloped her lips around my dick in one single motion before bringing her head down as much as she could.


    I could see that she was struggling to take it all down her throat, but I grabbed her head and said, "Come on, you have to be sincere about this."


    Sasha didn''t fight at all as she let me grab the side of her head and push her down on my dick. With that push, she was able to reach the base of my dick, but¡­


    Her eyes were popping out and her face was turning red, as if she was choking.


    Still, I didn''t let her go as I held her in place like that.


    Only when she seemed like she was about to pass out did I finally let go of her head and let her breathe again.


    When my dick came out of her mouth, it was covered in her slobber and there was drool dripping out the sides of her mouth. There were also tears that came out of the corner of her eyes, but the light in them didn''t dim.


    She looked at me as if she was just waiting for my orders even though she had just been choking a few seconds ago.


    I gave a satisfied nod before saying, "You know what to do next."


    Sasha gave an excited nod before turning around. She didn''t hesitate at all as she grabbed the hem of her pants and pulled it off.


    Then she thrust her butt forward towards me until it seemed like she was about to sit down on my lap. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She did sit down on my lap, but in a very specific way.


    Before she sat down, she came up onto the couch that I was sitting on and positioned herself so that her legs were on both sides of me. It was almost as if she was standing over me like this, but she was actually squatting down.


    After she made sure that it was all lined up, she suddenly started squatting down.


    With her slobber all over it, lubing it up, there was no resistance at all as my dick went inside of her.


    It went all the way deep into her, with her insides perfectly wrapping around my dick.


    It was as if her insides had already been molded into the perfect shape for me.


    But with how many times we had done it already, this wasn''t a surprise at all.


    "Ah! This is it! This is what I''ve been waiting for!" Sasha cried out as my dick went deep into her.


    However, I didn''t do a thing as I just laid there and let her do everything.


    During all of this, I watched as I gained experience points.


    This was another method that I had found to act like the demon king of lust.


    Domination worked in many ways and just giving orders without doing anything was considered a form of domination.


    So as long as I just gave orders and didn''t do anything, that counted as acting like the demon king of lust.


    But seeing that Sasha had stopped after taking my dick to the base, I said, "What are you doing, you little whore? Did I say that you could take a break?"


    Sasha trembled when she heard this, but she pushed herself off the couch again and stood up once more.


    Holding her entire body up like this and moving up and down was quite the tiring thing, but with me slapping her butt like that, it was even harder. Still, Sasha forced herself to push up on the couch and stand up over me again.


    But she never let my dick go.


    She made sure to come right up to the tip and then let herself fall down on my dick again.


    All during this, I kept slapping her on the butt as if I was forcing her to keep going.


    The combined pleasure of all of this¡­


    "Ah, I can''t keep going anymore¡­" There was a tremble that came from Sasha after she took my dick to the base the second time.


    This trembling became stronger and stronger until she suddenly leaned back and pointed her crotch forward.


    There was a spray of liquid that shot forward as she said, "I''m cumming! I''m cumming!"


    She just sprayed out in front of us before falling forward and landing face first on the ground in front of us. As she laid there on the ground, she was moaning in pleasure while her lower half was pointed up at me, revealing everything.


    When she had fallen, my dick had popped right out of her, so it was now hanging right over her as she laid there.


    But I didn''t let her rest even though she came.


    I reached out with my leg and kicked her behind raised in the air as I said, "What are you doing? I''m not done yet and you''re already climaxing on your own? Get up and fix this now!"


    With each kick, I could feel Sasha trembling in pleasure.


    She really was a prime example of a masochist.


    But eventually, she stood up again and started serving me once more.


    All the while, I watched as my experience bar increased.

 Chapter 311 - 311: Are you ready?

    Over a month passed after that.


    We went back to the dungeons with the first dungeon raid team during this time and we learned quite a bit about raiding dungeons with them.


    The first dungeon raid team was the first dungeon raid team for a reason.


    The ability that they demonstrated was clearly not something that one could look down on.


    So we were able to learn quite a bit about raiding dungeons from them.


    The incident that happened the first day only happened on that first day. After that first day, the person who had accused us had disappeared from the first dungeon raid team.


    Without that person inciting everyone, they slowly came to accept us for the ability that we demonstrated. Overall, it was a much better work environment for everyone.


    I didn''t know if Rupert had something to do with this or if he backed down willingly, but it was good that he was gone.


    All of us had also become much stronger because of this, so we were leagues stronger than before.


    That was good because it was now time for the tournament that Bing Lan had mentioned before.


    This was a tournament that was held jointly by the large guilds and even sponsored by the Awakener Association, so there was no doubt that this was a big deal.


    This was a tournament that was only for rookies, so as long as one was able to stand out in the tournament, one would have a bright future.


    But at the same time, that meant that the ones who were enrolled in this tournament were all powerful people as well. It would be hard to place, let alone reach the top.


    On this bright morning, I found that Su Chen was there waiting for me.


    As usual, he came to pick me up, but this time he had a clearly different tone to him.


    This time, there was this strange sense of pride to his expression.


    It was almost like a dad who was seeing his son''s first real achievement.


    I couldn''t help feeling awkward seeing this, but I had to admit that if it wasn''t for Su Chen''s help during this time, I might not have been able to achieve all of this. He was the one that was fully in charge of my exercise program, the one who had completely rebuilt my body.


    Though I didn''t become as muscular as Su Chen, I could see that I was visibly more muscular when I looked at myself in the mirror.


    I knew that everything that he had done had helped me reach where I was today.


    After looking at me like this for a bit, he suddenly asked in a calm voice, "Are you ready?"


    I looked back at him and gave a firm nod without saying anything.


    At this point, there was no need for words.


    Just this action alone was already enough.


    Su Chen also gave a nod before opening the door to the car for me.


    The two of us just drove in silence as we headed to the transport gate.


    Since this was a large event, naturally it wouldn''t be held in a city like ours.


    Especially since Elementia''s headquarters were here. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Elementia was only one of the guilds that sponsored this, so it wasn''t as if it could be held in their territory or it would send the wrong message.


    For this tournament, an island in the middle of the ocean had been prepared.


    This was a completely deserted island before the people of the large guilds had found it.


    Once they decided to turn it into the venue of the tournament, it had completely changed because of the power of these large guilds.


    I had even heard that there was a city being built on the island for this.


    But before heading off, we gathered with everyone.


    It wasn''t just my group, but also Kaito''s group that we gathered with.


    Last time Bing Lan had talked to me about this, I had brought up inviting Kaito''s group as well and she had agreed to this.


    I later learned that because Kaito''s group had been added, we had used up all of our slots in the tournament.


    So it meant that our group would be Elementia''s representative in this tournament.


    There were no backups, we were it.


    So if we failed spectacularly, that would be completely on us.


    If we failed, it would mean that we had lost face for Elementia which was something that was hard to live down.


    But were we bothered by that?


    After we had gathered, I saw all of them with serious looks on their faces.


    However, I knew that this wasn''t a problem since I could also see that there wasn''t a trace of worry or fear in their eyes.


    We had been focused on training for over a month now, so we were all much stronger than before.


    Naturally that also made us much more confident of our chances of winning.


    When they saw me arrive, they all gathered around me, but they all had the same serious look on their faces.


    Not a single person said a thing as they stood there.


    With the way that they were looking at me, it was as if they were expecting me to say something.


    I didn''t say much in the end since there was only one thing that needed to be asked.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Yes." All of them said this single word before giving firm nods.


    The power in their voices showed just how ready they were and how determined they were to win.


    With this, there was nothing left for me to say as we headed to the transport gate.


    Since we were going to the tournament on behalf of Elementia, we naturally received the VIP treatment and were allowed to transport from the private gate as soon as we arrived.


    This wasn''t much for Long Shui Ling, but it was definitely a lot of us who had lower status than her.


    When we arrived, we couldn''t help being shocked by the scene in front of us.

 Chapter 312 - 312: The power of the large guilds

    We had heard that they had built a city, but this was not something that we expected.


    After all, this wasn''t just a city.


    This was a city that was even larger and more fancy than the one that we came from.


    This was a city that had all kinds of different attractions and all kinds of facilities that even our city didn''t have.


    It was a city that would be equal to a capital of a nation.


    That was just how well built this city was.


    But wasn''t this supposed to be a temporary city that was built for this tournament?


    Why would they put in so much effort to build a city that was on a deserted island like this?


    It just didn''t make any sense¡­


    It didn''t seem like it was a matter of face at all.


    Still, that wasn''t something that I was supposed to be concerned about. After all, this was something that only the top members of the large guilds would know about.


    It definitely was not something that would come down to the smaller members like this.


    So for now, we should focus on the tournament.


    Even though we had arrived early, we saw that this place was already filled with different people.


    These were all people that had come to see the tournament, but we could tell that there were a few powerful Awakeners that were moving through the crowd. Judging by how young they looked, it seemed like they were our competitors.


    The rookies from the other large guilds, not a single one of them could be underestimated.


    This was just the power of the large guilds.


    Since we had come early, it wasn''t as if there was anything that we had to do right now.


    Though we had come here all serious, it seemed that it had been wasted since we couldn''t go to the venue yet as it was still being prepared.


    That was what we had found out after talking to the guides that were waiting to welcome the competitors.


    "You''re free to walk around the city until it''s time. We''ll give you a talisman that we can use to contact you whenever, as long as you''re in the city, so we''ll be able to tell you when you need to come to the venue." That''s what the guide said.


    While we were surprised to hear that the venue wasn''t ready yet, there was nothing that we could do.


    So the only thing that we could do was take that talisman and walk around the city.


    The first thing that we did was¡­


    "Sweets."


    That was what the girls demanded.


    It seemed that they had skipped breakfast and their blood sugar was low, so they needed some sweets to raise that blood sugar.


    I had thought that they were cranky, but I never thought that it was this.


    I just thought that they were focused for the match.


    Since they wanted sweets, we had no choice but to go to one of the cafes that were near the transport station.


    This was actually the cafe that the guide had recommended to us when he heard that we wanted to get some sweets.


    When we came in, we found that there weren''t that many people that were here.


    There were a few people that were sitting in booths, but they didn''t care as we walked in.


    The waitress just waved us in and said, "Sit wherever you want. There''s plenty of open tables."


    I gave a nod to her before leading our group into the cafe.


    Since we had such a large group, we had to take two booths and two tables in the end.


    It was just a good thing that this place was relatively empty so that we could take up all of these tables.


    But it didn''t take long for me to realize why this place was so empty.


    I looked out and coincidentally saw someone being knocked away when they tried to enter the cafe.


    I couldn''t help being surprised by this, but then I quickly realized that there must be some kind of barrier around this cafe. It blocked people who it didn''t recognize from entering the cafe.


    And based on the ones that got blocked, it seemed that it blocked people who were below a certain level of power from entering.


    That was why we had no problem entering.


    Well, that was except for the handlers. I couldn''t explain that one until I saw the mark on the wall.


    Eden, it was one of the large guilds of the west.


    This place was run by one of the large guilds, this was most likely why our handlers were able to ignore the barrier and come in with us.


    But if that was the case¡­then did that mean that the people around us were¡­


    I couldn''t help slowly looking at the others that were in the cafe with us.


    I could see that there were some unique individuals here that were also sizing up the people around them.


    At the same time, I noticed that there were some that clearly looked like handlers as well.


    It seemed that these people were Awakeners just like us, but if they were to gather here¡­they were most likely Awakeners from the other large guilds.


    It was no wonder the guide had advised us to come to this cafe. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that this was one of the places that the competitors for the tournament were gathering in.


    So this was a place where we could scout out our competition and make alliances if we choose to do so.


    Though I didn''t really care for the latter, the former was definitely a welcome opportunity.


    We had received information about our competitors, but there was nothing like actually meeting them to see just what they were made of.


    Still, we couldn''t just directly go and talk to them.


    So for now, I kept all of this to myself since it didn''t seem like the others had noticed this yet.

 Chapter 313 - 313: Alex

    Since we were at the cafe, we naturally ordered some food as well.


    It didn''t take long for that food to arrive and once it did, everyone started to eat happily.


    Since this was a cafe that was established by one of the large guilds, Eden of the west, it was naturally a very well established cafe.


    The dishes were all delicious and even the coffee was the best of the best.


    The only problem might be the price, but that was all waived because they had a special token for competitors.


    This would allow them to have everything paid for them since they were competitors.


    This was one of the benefits of being a competitor.


    As we sat there eating, the others looked at us with strange looks.


    I immediately saw through those strange looks.


    It was as if they were saying, "How could they eat when we''re in a situation like this?"


    I couldn''t help giving a secret bitter laugh and thinking that they really didn''t know anything about our group.


    But that wasn''t the most important thing.


    The most important thing was that we were drawing the attention of the other competitors.


    It was clear that they were paying more attention to us compared to before and that wasn''t a good thing.


    If everyone paid attention to us, when the time came, it would mean that they would gang up against this.


    This was not something that we wanted to see happen.


    So I decided that¡­I would tell Bing Xin and Long Shui Ling about this.


    There were just too many of them for me to take care of all of them alone, so I wanted the help of these two sensible girls to help me.


    I took them aside to talk privately, but I found that they already knew about this.


    They were just too good at acting that even I couldn''t see through their act.


    They were just pretending to enjoy themselves while also looking out for the others around us.


    Of course, they would have seemed much more convincing if it wasn''t for the cream that was on the corner of their lips.


    I did my best to not point it out, but it was definitely impossible for me to miss the cream that was on their lips.


    Still, since they already knew about this, then there was nothing for me to say.


    When we came back, we found that there was someone new sitting with us.


    This was someone that we didn''t notice before, which meant that they must have come into the cafe while we were away for that talk.


    But seeing how they easily blended into our group, it really was surprising.


    They didn''t blend in by hiding in our group, rather they were talking with our group and they all seemed quite happy to be talking to this person.


    This person seemed to be a handsome young man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.


    With his appearance, it would have been impossible to miss him earlier.


    However, to avoid attracting even more attention, I came over and asked, "Hey, who is this new friend who''s joined us?"


    They were happy to introduce him, but that blonde young man took the chance to introduce himself.


    "I''m friends with the owner of the store and seeing you all eat so happily, I knew that I had to come and talk to you. My name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex."


    As he said this, he leaned forward and lifted his collar to show me something.


    It was Eden''s mark.


    It seemed that this blonde haired young man named Alex was the competitor from Eden.


    I gave a nod before saying, "Then let''s talk about these desserts that you sell. They really are something else."


    Alex gave a happy nod before saying, "Well, they were made with love, so of course they are delicious."


    Instead of sitting down at the same time, I sat down at another table that was apart from the others.


    Alex raised a brow to look at me, but then he stood up and went over to this table.


    Seeing this, the others wanted to come over to our table as well, but Bing Xin and Long Shui Ling stopped them.


    So it was just the two of us sitting there.


    I didn''t say a word as I looked at Alex with knitted brows.


    He just sat there with the same smile on his face.


    It became a race of chicken, to see who would give up first.


    In the end, Alex was the one that caved first as he said, "I''ll just say that I had no ill intentions."


    I gave a sneer before saying, "You had no ill intentions? When you''re the one that approached us like this? Only a fool would believe that."


    Alex just gave a shrug before saying, "You can say what you want, but I''ll just tell you my truth and you can choose to believe it or not."


    I couldn''t help revealing a surprised look when I heard this.


    Alex continued by saying, "Besides, you''ve praised the goods of this store. I know that you''re not bad people since you enjoy the goods we sell here."


    Innocent?


    No, naive was the better world for this person.


    He believed someone just based on the fact that they enjoyed the desserts sold here.


    That kind of person wouldn''t last long, but I knew that he wasn''t that kind of person.


    If he was, he wouldn''t have approached us like this.


    I just said in a calm voice, "Just say what you want to say. We have other business to attend to."


    Alex gave a chuckle before saying, "Would you believe what I have to say at this point?"


    He looked at me as if he was really asking this question. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I slowly gave a shake of the head to see what he had in store.


    Seeing this, Alex didn''t look offended as he said, "Well, then I just have to give you something that would make you trust me, right?"

 Chapter 314 - 314: Other competitors (1)

    I couldn''t help raising a brow when I heard this, but still I remained silent as I waited to see what he would give me.


    To my surprise, he placed what seemed to be a touch screen phone on the table, but I had never seen a phone like this before.


    Rather than a phone, it seemed to be some kind of tablet.


    After putting this down on the table, he didn''t say anything as he waited for me to take it.


    I looked at him with the same raised brow and confused look, but I still took it in the end to see what he would give me.


    When I turned this thing on, it didn''t seem to have anything.


    In fact, it seemed that it didn''t even function like a normal phone or tablet.


    The only thing that it was showing was the feed from the camera on the back of it.


    Holding it in my hand like this, it didn''t seem like there was anything special about this thing.


    I slowly looked back up at Alex and asked, "This is it?"


    Alex just raised a hand and wagged a finger before saying, "How could that be? Why don''t you try pointing the camera at someone?"


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard him trying to act all mysterious like this, but I didn''t say anything. Instead, I just followed his advice and pointed it up at him.


    Alex was caught on the screen, but still there was nothing that appeared.


    Seeing that I was pointing it at him, he said with a bitter smile, "I didn''t mean me. Try someone else in this cafe and you''ll see what I mean."


    I didn''t bother playing with him and turned it to someone else at random.


    As soon as I did, I was surprised by what suddenly popped out on the screen of this phone.


    As he had said, I really did understand what he meant as soon as this popped out.


    Svetlana Vasilev


    Guild: Siberian Wolves


    Awakener Rank: A (Currently at C Rank)


    Power: Wolf Companions (Summoning skill)


    The rest of the popup was a bunch of background information on this person and a bunch of information on what her powers were.


    There was also a small blurb about the weakness of her power, but¡­


    "For more information, please contact your local service provider and order a subscription."


    My lip couldn''t help twitching when I saw this.


    It was clear that this was done on purpose to annoy me, but I knew that this was the game that he wanted to play.


    So the gift that he gave me was this information and if I wanted more information¡­then I would have to work out a deal with Alex.


    This seemed very interesting, but I also couldn''t help feeling suspicious of this.


    Out of all the people that he could have chosen, why us?


    Like I would actually believe what he said before about us liking the desserts here.


    At the same time, I couldn''t help being amazed by just how advanced this technology was.


    I had never heard of anything like this before and wouldn''t have believed it unless it was in front of me like this.


    So seeing this firsthand really was surprising, but I didn''t let myself show it on my face.


    At the same time, there was no verifying if the information on this was even true or not.


    So for now, I would have to see what he wanted.


    I put the phone down after pointing it at a single person and then looked at Alex with narrowed eyes to ask, "What do you want?"


    Alex was surprised to see how forward I was, but he wasn''t offended as he suddenly revealed a wide smile and said, "Very good, I like forward people like you. It''s too much of a pain to beat around the bush all the time, just like my¡­"


    He went off to tell a story about a relative that really didn''t have anything to do with this conversation.


    I didn''t interrupt him at first since I wanted to see where he was going with this, but it didn''t seem like he was going anywhere in the end.


    It seemed that he was the opposite of the kind of person he liked.


    He was someone long winded that seemed to like the sound of his own voice.


    If he was allowed to keep going, he most likely would have kept going for a long time.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to give a cough to bring him back to this conversation.


    As if he realized what he had done, Alex revealed an awkward look before saying, "Well, it''s very simple. What I want is to build an alliance with you for the tournament."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I didn''t say anything, I just looked at him as if I was trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    However, Alex didn''t look away as he looked back at me with a smile on his face.


    The way that he looked at me, it was almost as if he was saying that he had nothing to hide.


    Seeing him like this, I couldn''t help wavering a bit as I started to feel like he was being serious.


    But still, I didn''t let myself waver too much as I asked, "We have no idea what the tournament will entail, so how do you know that we''ll be able to make alliances?"


    Alex''s smile changed to become one that seemed like he had already expected me to ask this.


    With this smile he said, "Each guild was allowed to send many participants, why would they do that if they were just to compete with each other in the end? So there must be some aspect of the tournament that allows you to cooperate with each other, right? That''s all I''m asking for, for you to work with me during those rounds."


    I raised a brow to look at him, but this time I didn''t question this. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instead, I asked, "Why us?"

 Chapter 315 - 315: Other competitors (2)

    Alex revealed a surprised look when he heard this.


    He looked at me with this surprised look for a bit before suddenly saying with a smile, "DIdn''t I say it was because you liked the dessert from our shop?"


    My expression didn''t change when I heard this.


    I made it very clear that I didn''t believe what he said, but he didn''t say anything else.


    So I just stood up and prepared to walk off.


    Alex revealed a slight look of panic when he saw this, so he raised his hand and said, "Alright, wait a minute."


    I didn''t sit back down when I heard this, but I did stop turning to leave.


    I turned back to look at Alex, with a look that seemed to be saying, "You better tell the truth."


    Alex revealed an awkward smile and said, "You should know that your guild Elementia and my guild Eden are close to one another. So is it really that strange that I want to approach you?"


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before giving it to him straight, "I''m new to the guild, so I have no idea if this is true or not."


    Alex''s chin dropped when he heard this.


    This time, it was his turn to see if I was joking or not.


    However, I really wasn''t joking.


    I had been involved in many different things since joining Elementia that I didn''t have time to learn about things like this.


    For all I know, it could be true what he was saying, but I didn''t know if it was true or not.


    So for now, I would act as if I didn''t know what he was saying was true.


    After seeing that my expression didn''t change, Alex gave a sigh and said, "A C Rank Irregular License, that isn''t something that has ever been achieved before. This is not something that anyone could have done, so I believe that you''re special."


    Hearing this, I narrowed my eyes again.


    But this time, there wasn''t the same doubt or judgement as before.


    It seemed that the information network of Eden was quite good that they were able to figure all of this out. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though this was public information, for Alex to say that to me meant that he already knew who I was and it was most likely for that reason that he approached me.


    This was not something that any information network could do.


    So the information that was on the phone was most likely true as well.


    I just looked at him for a bit before saying, "Is that really it?"


    Alex slowly shook his head in response to this before saying, "Do you think that I would act just on that?"


    I gave a slow shake of the head in response to this.


    Seeing this, Alex revealed another bitter smile.


    Both of us just sat there in silence for a bit until he finally broke that silence by saying, "I said that I like the way that you enjoyed our desserts."


    I looked at him with those same narrowed eyes of judgement, but he stared right back at me.


    I couldn''t see through him at all, but for now¡­this should be enough.


    He had put enough on the table that I could consider working with him for now.


    But there was still one last thing that I needed from him.


    "Alright, it isn''t impossible for us to work together." I said in a calm voice.


    When he heard this, Alex''s eyes couldn''t help lighting up.


    It was as if he could see that his efforts had finally paid off.


    It even showed in his voice as it perked up when he said, "Just tell me what conditions you have."


    I nodded and said, "You''ve offered plenty of information, but there''s one piece of information that you haven''t offered yet. As long as you give me this information, we can work together."


    Though this seemed like it would be good for him, Alex couldn''t help narrowing his eyes a bit when he heard this.


    He felt a bit of a bad feeling after hearing this, as if there was something wrong.


    But he still asked, "What information?"


    I looked right at him and said, "Your information."


    Alex revealed a bitter smile when he heard this as he thought to himself, "I knew it."


    It really was as bad as he thought.


    He had been trying to keep this information hidden as a final trump card, but it seemed like the other side wouldn''t be fooled by the bait offered.


    Unless one knew what one''s ally was capable of, it would be hard to forge an alliance.


    After all, there was no knowing when this ''ally'' would betray you.


    With a sigh, Alex said, "Lightning, my ability is electricity."


    Then he raised his hand and in between his index and thumb, there was a bit of electricity that gathered.


    When I saw this, I could guess what ability he had and I was honestly surprised.


    Lightning, or even the ability to control electricity was rare since it was very dangerous.


    Electricity was a very volatile form of energy, so it was a hard ability to control.


    Even if people gained this ability, there were very few that could actually master it to the point of using it skillfully.


    So those that could were all considered powerful Awakeners.


    This Alex seemed like a kind of whimsical person, but it seemed that he wasn''t simple.


    But he did give me the information that I wanted, so I had to stay true to my word at least.


    So I reached my hand out towards him to his surprise and said, "Alright, since you kept your side of the bargain, then I can at least keep mine."


    Alex reached his hand out with a smile and said, "Then I look forward to working with you."


    I just gave a nod and simply said, "Un."


    But then I changed the topic by saying, "Where''s the other information that you promised me?"

 Chapter 316 - 316: Other competitors (3)

    Alex just casually put another phone on the table for me.


    But then as if he realized something, he reached out to pick up that phone and stood up to bring his chair over to where I was sitting.


    I couldn''t help feeling strange seeing him sit beside me like this, but I could feel something else.


    There were glares that were coming from another direction.


    There were three pairs of glares to be exact that were aimed in my direction when Alex sat down beside me.


    Alex also felt them as he looked in the direction that the glares came from with a strange look, but he wasn''t able to see a thing.


    Though I knew exactly who they were coming from.


    After a moment of silence, Alex turned back to me and raised the phone in front of us.


    Then he pointed it at one of the people that were sitting in the cafe.


    This person was sitting right beside my group and seemed to have been secretly keeping an eye on them.


    As soon as the phone was pointed at him, his information was revealed.


    Cheng Hui


    Beijing Tigers


    Awakener Rank: A (Currently at D Rank)


    Power: Echo Tiger Fist


    When I saw this, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    Though I didn''t know anything about Eden, it was a completely different story for Beijing Tigers.


    This was a guild that we had been warned about before coming to this tournament.


    This was a guild that had a bad relationship with Elementia because of an incident in the past.


    The Beijing Tigers was a guild that was sponsored by the Chinese Government, so it was a guild with history.


    One such history was Bing Lan''s own history with China.


    As her name suggested, Bing Lan was once a citizen of China and had registered as an Awakener there.


    But later on, she abandoned her citizenship and went on to create Elementia.


    However, since she was a S Ranker, it wasn''t easy for her to leave the country like that.


    They had wanted to keep her at all costs and as such, Bing Lan''s relationship with that country became tense.


    So later on when she formed Elementia, the Beijing Tigers that had been sponsored by the Chinese Government had always had a tense relationship with Elementia.


    They worked together when they needed to, but there were many clashes that happened between the two sides.


    It wasn''t strange to see him watching over us like this.


    But Alex must have also known this which was why he showed me this person first.


    It was clear by the smile that was on his face what he meant.


    Seeing the way that I looked at him, Alex gave a nod before moving the phone to another person.


    Fubuki


    Amaterasu


    Awakener Rank: B (Currently at C Rank)


    Power: Blizzard


    Amaterasu, that was another guild that I recognized.


    It wasn''t one that we had been warned about, but it was one that I was personally concerned with.


    After all, it had been because of me that they had lost the bid for the SS Rank Dungeon.


    I had no idea if they knew about me, but I was certain that they wouldn''t leave things be. Whether that was returning the favour to Elementia or to me, I knew that something would happen in the future.


    But I was more concerned about why Alex showed me this.


    Did he know about my involvement or¡­?


    I couldn''t discount this since Eden had already shown how much information was under their control.


    Alex saw the way that I looked at him and he just turned the phone with the same smile on his face.


    It seemed like I really couldn''t look down on him.


    The third person that he pointed this phone at was¡­


    Reinhold Griner


    Lowland Panzers


    Awakener Rank: A (Currently at B Rank)


    Power: Charge


    This wasn''t a guild that I recognized, but the person I did. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was because this person became an Awakener, he had been a pro athlete.


    He had played in the international football league and had been one of the offensive centers on the German team.


    With his Charge ability, he had been able to push through everyone and had been named the MVP for two seasons in a row.


    But in the end, he was recruited as an Awakener.


    In the last interview that he gave as a pro athlete, he had said that he had gotten too bored with playing sports and wanted to try something new.


    It would be a lie to say that I wasn''t his fan since he had the ability that the past me wanted.


    The ability to charge through all opposition like a true hero.


    I was surprised to see him now because I didn''t recognize him at all.


    It seemed that going into the dungeon had really changed Reinhold¡­


    But I was also confused why Alex was showing his information to me.


    With a smile, Alex said, "He''s also someone that I''ve considered having an alliance with. I just wanted to see what you thought about it."


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit excited since I had always wanted to meet him, but then I calmed down and said, "You''re free to try whatever you want."


    I gave a vague answer since I didn''t want to be attached to this.


    Alex just gave a nod before saying, "We''ll see then."


    But he also put the phone down after saying this.


    I raised a brow as I looked at him.


    I just saw him take out another tablet that was bigger than the phone we were using before.


    He didn''t bring it up at first as he looked at me and said, "The ones that I''m about to show you next are the real ones. They are the ones that are favoured to win this entire tournament."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I could see how serious he was.


    So all I gave was a nod in response.

 Chapter 317 - 317: Other competitors (4)

    The first one that popped up on the screen was a person that I recognized.


    Tammy Wellen


    Sol Warriors


    Awakener Rank: S (Currently at B Rank)


    Power: Maiden of the Sun


    She was a famous Awakener from Greece.


    Her ability Maiden of the Sun had brought her many followers who worship her as the saintess of the Sun God.


    This was how the people of her country and the people from her guild had advertised her.


    However, the power that came from this ability was worthy of this treatment.


    That was because she was able to turn her entire figure into flames, flames that had the power of the sun itself. With this ability, she could charge into battle as flames and burn anyone that stood in her way.


    So she was someone that many people admired.


    Not to mention, she was also someone that was a future S Ranker since her power was S Rank. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once she fully mastered it, she would become the S Ranker that the world expected.


    I never thought that someone this high profile would be in this tournament, but when I thought about it, it seemed right. After all, it had only been a single year since Tammy had arrived on the scene.


    Before this, she had been protected by her parents and wasn''t allowed to become an Awakener.


    It was only when she turned eighteen that she was finally allowed to become one.


    So she definitely qualified as a rookie and could participate in this tournament.


    I looked at Alex and asked, "Does your guild have a close relationship with her? Can you make her an ally?"


    Alex just looked at me with a smile and asked, "If I did, would I be here?"


    He didn''t hold back at all, but it really wasn''t painful since I knew that this was the truth.


    I just gave a nod and said with a sigh, "Are there any others?"


    Alex gave a nod before flicking with his finger on the tablet.


    When he did, the image on the tablet changed to the profile of another person.


    Ares


    Dawn of the World


    Awakener Rank: S (Currently at B Rank)


    Power: Ares Berserker


    This was a name that I didn''t recognize, even the name of the guild was one that I didn''t recognize.


    So I turned my attention to the description that came with this person.


    As it turned out, Dawn of the World was a small guild that only had a few dozen people, that''s why I had never heard of it before.


    Since this person was from a small guild, naturally he wouldn''t have fame like those from the large guilds.


    But he was a S Ranker, so it was strange that the big guilds would miss someone like this.


    There wasn''t much about this in the information provided, so I looked up at Alex for an explanation.


    He shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "I don''t know much more than this. No one really knows much about him since he suddenly appeared on the scene out of nowhere. No one even knows what kind of guild Dawn of the World is since they''ve always flown under the radar. You could say that he''s the ultimate dark horse for this tournament."


    Then in a more serious voice, he added, "I''ve heard that many guilds are looking to recruit this person and steal them from Dawn of the World."


    I looked at him with a strange look, but he just said with a smile, "We''re not in a position to recruit him now, so that''s why I''m giving you this information."


    I gave a slow nod, but I didn''t do anything with it either.


    If Elementia wanted to recruit this person, they would have already made their move.


    There wouldn''t be anything for me to do other than beating them in this tournament.


    Seeing that I didn''t have anything to add, Alex revealed a serious look and said, "The next one is the most serious one. This is the one that I''m the most worried about."


    Only after making sure that I was aware of this did he flick his finger to change the screen.


    Julius Rothschild


    Rothschild Family


    Awakener Rank: Unknown


    Power: Unknown


    There was no description of this person at all, it was as if this person was a complete mystery.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at Alex and he quickly explained, "Don''t look down on this. The Rothschild Family is not something to take simply."


    I raised a brow in confusion and asked, "What''s so special about the Rothschild Family?"


    This was a family that I had never heard of before.


    Alex was surprised to hear this before shaking his head and saying with a sigh, "The Rothschild Family was a wealthy Jewish banking family in the past before the world changed, but after that¡­they started amassing power through Awakeners. Currently, no one in the world knows just how many assets they have or how many Awakeners they have.


    However, there are speculations that say that they are as rich as the Long Family and have as many Awakeners as the Awakener Association itself."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this before slowly asking, "Aren''t these just rumours?"


    Before Alex could say anything, there was a voice that said, "Rumours are rumours, but what will you do if the rumours are true?"


    Both of us were surprised to hear this.


    When we turned in the direction that this voice came from, we found a blonde haired young man with blue eyes and blonde brows sitting there. He looked like a fine porcelain doll with this appearance and it even seemed like there was this strange glow to him.


    But we were shocked for a different reason.


    That was because we recognized this person right away.


    In fact, this person''s picture was currently on the tablet that we were looking at.


    This person sitting with us was Julius Rothschild, the young master of the Rothschild Family.

 Chapter 318 - 318: Other competitors (5)

    Seeing the two of us acting like this, Julius just raised his hands and said, "I come in peace. I''m just here for a small talk."


    Both of us looked at him with a wary look before exchanging looks with each other.


    We could both see the doubt and hesitation that was in each other''s eyes.


    After all, even if he had appeared out of nowhere, there was a reason why we had been talking about him before.


    So if he really had come here in peace, then this would be a good chance to talk to this candidate that was considered one of the best in the tournament and broker an alliance with him.


    As well, if they could get some information about him regarding his powers¡­


    Then that would be even more helpful.


    So the two of us slowly sat back down in our chairs, but we made sure to move away from the chair that Julius was sitting in.


    He didn''t seem to mind as he waited for us to settle.


    Only when we had finished shifting our chairs did he finally say, "Then shall we order some stuff first before we talk? I''m actually a little hungry since I rushed over here."


    Both of us once again revealed strange looks when we heard this.


    We looked at him as if we were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    But he just sat there with a smile on his face while he was holding up the menu in front of him. The way that he was looking through the menu seemed like he had already picked out a few things that he wanted and was just waiting to order.


    So Alex stood up with a sigh and said, "What will you have?"


    As he said this, he took out a notepad and a pen. Holding them like this, he stood on the side like a waiter as he waited for Julius to make his order. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Julius didn''t hesitate at all to pick out several things and then sat back without a care in the world. Even though he said that he was here to talk, he wasn''t talking at all as he just sat there like he was waiting for his food.


    Alex gave a sigh before bringing his orders to the kitchen.


    Even when it was just the two of us, he sat there with a smile on his face without saying a single word to me.


    It was as if he really came here to eat instead of talking.


    When Alex came back, he had a tray in his hand that had a teapot and several cups in them.


    He poured the tea for all three of us and then said, "It''ll take a while for the food to come."


    Julius gave a nod without saying a single word as he just sat there.


    It seemed like he really wasn''t planning on saying anything until he got what he wanted.


    This put the two of us in an awkward situation as we couldn''t really discuss anything while he was here. We still didn''t have a read on Julius, we didn''t know what he was here for and what he was capable of.


    Until we knew where his allegiance was, it wasn''t as if we could talk about things in front of him.


    So there was a very awkward silence that filled the air.


    Ten minutes later, the waitress came out with the food, but Alex just had her go back as he took it from her. He took over her job and placed the food out on the table in front of us.


    Before he even finished, Julius had already picked up a plate and brought it in front of himself before stuffing his face with the cake that was on the plate.


    The way that he ate, it really seemed like he was here to enjoy sweets instead of doing whatever he was here to do.


    But after finishing, he looked at the two of us who were looking at him with strange looks and asked, "What''s wrong? Why aren''t you eating anything? It makes me feel awkward if I''m the only one eating, don''t you know?"


    But neither of us played along with him and neither of us ate a thing.


    We just stared at him as we waited to see what else he would have to say.


    Seeing us like this, he shook his head and said with a sigh, "And here I thought that we could bond over some nice desserts, but that doesn''t seem like it''s possible."


    I just calmly said, "I don''t like sweet things and there are only sweet things here."


    Alex gave a nod of agreement to this.


    "Oh." Julius said with a surprised look before picking up the menu and saying, "Then should I have gotten some of the bittersweet stuff? Maybe this matcha cake would work for you?"


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before saying with a nod, "Alright, I''ll have that."


    Julius revealed a wide smile before turning to Alex to say, "Then we''ll have to trouble you for an order of the matcha cake."


    Alex''s chin dropped the moment that he heard this.


    He looked at me like I had betrayed him, but I didn''t react at all to this.


    So in the end, he stood up and went back to the kitchen to get this.


    This time, when he left, Julius looked at me and said with a mischievous smile, "I didn''t know that you had this side to you."


    It seemed that the gamble had paid off.


    I figured that stonewalling him wouldn''t do anything, so I chose to play along with him. The only way to play along with an unreasonable person like this was to act as unreasonable as him.


    So I went along with his crazy actions and put everything on Alex.


    As it turned out, it finally got a few words out of him.

 Chapter 319 - 319: Other competitors (6)

    However, I couldn''t let my guard down just yet.


    He was opening up a bit, that didn''t mean that he was completely ready to open up just yet.


    It was like fishing.


    You had to let it run a bit before reeling it in. You would let it tire itself out before pulling in the big fish.


    So I was waiting for Julius to come into my net.


    The only response that I gave was a simple nod, which caused another silence. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a while, Alex came back with a slice of matcha cake and set it down in front of me.


    Seeing the way that Julius looked at me, I took a bite of that matcha cake and drank some tea before setting the fork down.


    Then we just waited to see what he would do.


    Julius revealed a smile and shook his head before saying, "Alright, you''ve done so much to play along with me. At the very least, I can give you something to show that I''m being sincere."


    With a snap, there was a ding that came from the tablet that Alex had set down earlier.


    He looked at Alex with the same smile and said, "You might want to get that."


    Alex couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    That was because this tablet wasn''t capable of connecting to the net. It was a special tablet that contained sensitive information, so it was something that couldn''t be accessed remotely.


    The only way that it could be accessed was through a physical connection and he could clearly see that this wasn''t the case.


    So how did Julius just suddenly send something to this tablet.


    Alex slowly opened up the two new folders that had been added and he couldn''t help knitting his brows the moment he saw their content.


    I also came over and knitted my brows as well when I saw what was opened.


    It was two more files that had been added on two different competitors.


    Both Alex and I looked back up at Julius, waiting for him to explain what this was.


    Julius calmly said while eating, "Well, your database doesn''t seem to be as up to date as you think. It''s not just three people that''s favoured to win, it''s actually five." Then after a pause, he added, "Though I would like to say that in my opinion, it isn''t just five, but actually six."


    As he said this, he turned to look at me with an intentional look.


    I just ignored this as I looked back down at the tablet.


    Alex looked at me for a bit, but he also looked back down at the tablet too.


    Eve Laurent


    Lumiere


    Awakener Rank: A (Current at B Rank)


    Power: Light Emission


    This one didn''t seem like anything special until we read a few things about her.


    She was someone that had also passed the Irregular License Exam like me because her power had been looked down on and she wasn''t allowed to join any guilds.


    The only one that believed in her was her teacher, the S Ranker from Lumiere.


    An Irregular B Ranker that was being taught by a S Ranker¡­there was no doubt that she was hiding some real skills.


    After all, I had seen firsthand what kind of person could pass the Irregular License Exam.


    Someone with a B Rank Irregular License definitely was a threat.


    The second one was¡­


    Dean Martin


    Super Stars


    Awakener Rank: E (Currently at C Rank)


    Power: Power Charging


    This person was completely different from the rest.


    He wasn''t someone who had a high ranking power and had only become part of a large guild because of the Irregular License Exam.


    But the fact that he was able to come this far with just his will alone was more than impressive enough.


    It was clear that he had the will and imagination to break out of his mold and reach his current position.


    That was more than enough for me since I knew what he had to go through.


    As someone who had to do the same, I knew that he definitely wouldn''t be simple.


    But the key thing was that these two were both holders of the Irregular License.


    I looked at Alex and he calmly said, "I still don''t fully agree with this. Even if they have Irregular Licenses, that doesn''t mean that they were considered forerunners."


    Julius gave a shrug before saying, "It doesn''t matter what you think, all that matters is what our supercomputer predicts. Or are you saying that you can calculate odds faster than our supercomputer?"


    Alex looked at Julius with narrowed eyes, but he didn''t argue with him in the end.


    Julius didn''t keep up this topic either as he said, "Anyway, I think that you should be able to see my sincerity now. So let''s get to the main topic."


    He didn''t look at Alex and looked at me instead as he said, "Do you want to work with me?"


    Both Alex and I were surprised to hear this.


    Alex was the one that answered first as he said, "Why would you want to work with us?"


    Julius looked at him with a smile before saying, "It''s the same reason why you want to work with him. The C Rank Irregular License."


    Alex knitted his brows and wanted to say something, but Julius cut him off, "I just want you to know that it''s not you that I want to work with but¡­" He turned to look at me before saying, "It''s him."


    He turned back to Alex before saying, "Since you have already formed an alliance with him, I''ll let you tag along. But you should be aware of your own position and learn to be quiet when you should be quiet."


    Alex looked like he was a bit angered by this, but he held his tongue and didn''t say anything.


    Though the way that he looked at me, it was clear that he was advising me against working with Julius.


    But that didn''t matter to me.


    I just looked at Julius and asked, "Why us?"

 Chapter 320 - 320: Other competitors (7)

    This time, it was Julius'' turn to be surprised.


    He looked at me with one brow raised, as if he didn''t expect me to suddenly ask this.


    I knew that I had touched on something, so I continued by asking, "Or should I be more specific and ask, why me?"


    Julius wasn''t as surprised this time as he revealed a smile and said, "This friend, don''t you think that you''re being a little too egoistic? Why do you think that this is about you?"


    Though his voice was calm, I could tell that he wasn''t as calm as he seemed on the surface.


    It seemed that I had finally been able to shake this young man''s perfect image.


    I didn''t answer the question and just calmly said back, "Oh, then if it''s a mistake, I don''t think there''s a need to keep discussing this anymore, right?"


    I stood up and was about to leave when Julius suddenly said, "Alright, alright, we can talk this through."


    With this, I turned around with a satisfied smile and sat back down.


    The satisfied smile that I had wasn''t because of my ego¡­though it would be a lie to say that I didn''t feel a bit good about this.


    The real reason for this satisfied smile was because I had finally gotten Julius to fall into my trap.


    With this, the pacing of the discussion would go completely different.


    Before this, Julius seemed to control the entire pace of the conversation since he was the one that had shown up all of a sudden and acted all unreasonable. We had no choice but to go along with him to see what he wanted.


    So when it came to negotiation power, it was all in his hand rather than being divided evenly between us.


    But now that he had done this, he had to give up the pace a bit and some of the negotiation power since he was forced to reveal his hand.


    It seemed that his target was indeed me.


    Only, what was so special about me that he would want me?


    I might have attracted quite a few women, but I never thought that I would attract a man as well¡­


    No, it shouldn''t be that¡­right?


    When I sat down and this thought passed through my mind, I couldn''t help looking at Julius with one brow raised.


    Julius also felt very strange when he saw me looking at him like this, so he revealed a look as if he was saying, "Why are you looking at me like this?"


    After sitting down, I looked like I was waiting for him to explain, but Julius just sat there in silence for a bit.


    The look on his face made it seem like he was still trying to decide what he wanted to say.


    Finally, Julius revealed a serious look for the first time and said, "Your ability is Suggestion, right?"


    I was a bit taken aback by this, but I gave a nod.


    This was public knowledge, so it wasn''t as if there was a need to deny this.


    Julius then asked with the same serious look, "How much of an increase can you give to each attribute and how long will it last? Is there anything else that you can do with your ability?"


    I was even more taken aback by this sudden question.


    However, this time I didn''t answer as easily as I said, "Sincerity begets sincerity. Questions should be responded to before more are asked."


    He narrowed his eyes to look at me before saying, "My power is known as The Divine."


    Just the name for now, but it was at least a step forward.


    Hearing this, I gave a nod and said, "I can increase power and speed by a factor of up to ten times since humans only use around 10% of their brain in the first place. But you should know how dangerous removing limiters is."


    Julius revealed a shocked look when he heard this, but then his eyes lit up.


    At the same time, Alex who had been silently listening also revealed a shocked look.


    Not because he had heard what had been said, but rather because there was something that suddenly cut off the audio for him. It was as if the two of them were in their own isolated world and he wasn''t able to hear a single thing.


    Julius then calmed down and said, "My ability allows me to change the world as I please, but it depends on how much mana I have."


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help being shocked when I heard this.


    I understood the words that came out of his mouth, but I really couldn''t imagine what kind of power this was.


    Change the world as he pleased¡­


    Did that mean that he was basically god?


    The Divine, it did sound like something that only god would have.


    Julius saw the look on my face and explained, "It takes a ridiculous amount of mana to do even the simplest things, so it isn''t as if I can do whatever I want. I can only do some small things with my ability without hurting myself. But with your buff powers¡­"


    I was slowly starting to understand why he was so excited, but I couldn''t help reminding him, "There are backlashes to using my power. Your body might not be able to handle the rebound."


    Julius just looked at me with a smile without saying anything.


    But he also reached his hand out towards me and said, "Let''s work together, alright?"


    He didn''t have any seriousness as he asked this.


    It was as if he was a kid that was asking someone to play with him.


    But this hand represented a great opportunity for me.


    The Divine¡­


    This was an insane power that I had never heard of, but I knew that I wanted him for myself when I heard this. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If I was able to control him, then there was nothing that I couldn''t do in the future.


    It was just a matter of controlling him.


    Would I be able to do it?


    Slowly, I reached my hand upwards and took Julius'' hand.

 Chapter 321 - 321: A familiar face

    After the deal was reached, Julius told us a few more things.


    These were things that Alex clearly didn''t know about, even with the information that he had shown me before.


    There was even more detailed information about the three that he had shown me before that Eden didn''t have.


    It seemed that the Rothschild Family''s information network really was on a completely different level.


    When we were done, the three of us went our separate ways.


    But before leaving, Jullius made sure to come in front of me and before I could react, he reached his hands around me to give me a hug.


    I was completely caught off guard by this, but I figured that this was how westerners said goodbye¡­


    At least that was until I heard his voice say, "Even after this tournament, I hope that we will be able to remain friends no matter what happens."


    I looked at him with a surprised look, but there was a very friendly smile that was on his face as he looked at me.


    I really couldn''t tell what he was thinking, but since he had already said and done all of this, the only thing that I could do was¡­


    I slowly gave a nod of agreement.


    Julius'' smile became even wider after hearing this before he finally let me go.


    Alex looked at the two of us with a strange look, but he walked off with a wave of his hand.


    When I went back to my group, the first thing that they asked was, "What happened?"


    I just gave them a general idea of what happened without giving them too much information. After all, this wasn''t the place to talk about this.


    But before I could even finish explaining the situation, there was a sound that suddenly rang out to say, "All contestants, please gather at the arena. We are now preparing to start the tournament."


    This was the talisman that we had been handed previously.


    The one that would tell us when we needed to gather so we could gather in time for the tournament.


    However, it wasn''t just a single talisman that went off.


    Most of the people around us had talismans, so it was quite loud with several of them going off at once.


    Of course, it also revealed that most of the people sitting here were contestants for the tournament. Though most people would already know this just based on the aura that the others released.


    Still, once it was out in the open, it was impossible to avoid it.


    Everyone started to look at each other with narrowed eyes, as if they were sizing each other up.


    But eventually there were some that left.


    With the flow of people that left, we also stood up and went out in the middle of the pack.


    There was one other group that seemed to follow us as we walked out.


    It was the group from the Beijing Tigers, led by the one called Cheng Hui.


    As we walked out together, he suddenly glared at me and then walked off with a snort.


    Was this supposed to be his challenge?


    If it was, it really wasn''t that effective since I didn''t feel anything.


    Well, it would be a lie to say that it wasn''t effective at all since the younger members of our group seemed to be provoked by him.


    But I shook my head and stopped them in the end.


    Otherwise, they might have really started a fight right then and there.


    As we were heading to the arena, we could see that there were many people that were gathering.


    It seemed like they were all gathering for the tournament.


    However, it didn''t seem like contestants were the only ones that were gathering.


    It was Long Shui Ling who recognized these people, but it seemed like those that were important members of large companies and organizations were also here.


    It seemed that they were here for one reason.


    They were here to scout out people.


    Though these contestants were mainly from the large guilds, there were some that weren''t. At the same time, even if they were from the large guilds, they could still sign contracts to work with different groups.


    Just like how I had signed a contract to work with the Awakener Guild.


    So it seemed like there was more at stake than I had thought.


    But out of the corner of my eyes, I could have sworn that I saw someone familiar.


    I didn''t know why this person would be here, but I could have sworn that it was someone that I knew¡­ S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, I wasn''t able to find them in the end.


    Bing Lan, who was walking beside me, asked in a concerned voice, "What''s wrong?"


    I slowly looked back and shook my head before saying, "Nothing."


    But there was still a disturbed look on my face.


    ¡­


    In the crowd, Yue Ling couldn''t help looking in a certain direction.


    She had been standing there in a daze as if she had seen something that had shocked her.


    The girl who was beside her suddenly asked, "Young miss, is there a problem?"


    Yue Ling slowly shook her head and said, "No, it was nothing."


    Another man who was also with them said, "Ho, little sister, are you getting nervous now that your engagement is about to be decided? After all that resistance that you put up, you''ve finally agreed to get engaged."


    Yue Ling''s face turned sad when she heard this, but then she said, "As long as they keep their promise, I won''t say anything."


    The man gave a snort before saying, "Still sitting on your high horse. Do you really think that your little boyfriend will be able to do anything to save you?"


    There was a trace of anger that appeared in Yue Ling''s eyes, but then she gave a sigh and walked off without saying a thing.


    The girl who was with her followed her off, but the man just looked at her with a sneer on his face.


    As she walked away, Yue Ling muttered, "Are you alright, now?"

 Chapter 322 - 322: Start of the tournament

    When we arrived at the arena, we were immediately brought into a waiting room that had been prepared for us.


    This was a private waiting room as it had our names on it.


    When we walked through the hall, we could see that all of the large guilds and even some of the bigger guilds had received private waiting rooms.


    It seemed that they had gone all out for this tournament.


    As we sat there in the waiting room, we were able to see everything that was happening on stage.


    It was a very fabulous show, worthy of a tournament jointly hosted by all the large guilds.


    There were world class entertainers that came onto the stage one after another.


    At the end, there were even several S Rankers that came out to say a few words. These were the guild masters of the various large guilds.


    Of course, not all the guild masters came.


    S Rankers were busy people in the first place and they weren''t able to get out of their work that easily. There were many things that needed S Rankers to personally handle, so they didn''t have that much free time.


    The ones that came were more than happy to come since it was a chance to slack off.


    That meant that Bing Lan wasn''t here even though Elementia was one of the sponsors.


    After this entire ceremony, they started introducing the contestants.


    The first contestants that were brought out were the ones that had made it through the general preliminaries.


    It wasn''t just only those from the large guilds that were at this tournament, but also the general public was allowed to enter. As long as they passed the preliminary tests and passed the open qualifiers, they would be allowed to join this main tournament.


    But that meant that the ones that were allowed to join the main tournament were all the cream of the crop.


    They were unaffiliated Awakeners who for some reason hadn''t been discovered by the large guilds yet.


    After they established their fame at this tournament, there was no doubt that they would be invited to join the large guilds.


    So this was not only an opportunity for them, but also an opportunity for the large guilds to find some more talents.


    After they were introduced, it was finally time to bring out the seeded contestants from the large guilds and large organizations.


    We were called out in the middle of the pack.


    When we arrived on stage, we were immediately met with cheers just because of the fact that we were from Elementia.


    But in a certain corner of the crowd¡­


    "It really is him¡­How could it be him?" Yue Ling said in a shocked voice.


    The girl who was beside her noticed this, but she could see the way that the other members of their group were looking at Yue Ling. So she quickly patted Yue Ling on the arm to get her to calm down.


    Yue Ling didn''t react at first, but then she slowly calmed down and revealed an indifferent look.


    But the damage had already been done.


    "Check that kid. See what happened in the past few months."


    On the stage, we walked to our designated location and then stood there waiting for the tournament to start.


    Standing beside us was Alex and the group from Eden on one side and Julius and the group from the Rothschild Family on the other.


    I knew about Alex since he had come out before us, but I was surprised about Julius since he came out right after us.


    Even Alex seemed surprised by this.


    It seemed that he had used his influence to change his spot so that he would be called up after us.


    As we stood there, Julius just looked at me with a wide smile and said, "What a coincidence."


    Both Alex and I revealed bitter smiles, but we didn''t say anything as we waited for the host to finish all of their introductions.


    From time to time, I could feel that there were some unkind gazes that came in our direction.


    They weren''t exactly filled with hostility, but it was clear that they weren''t filled with kindness towards us either.


    After a long time, the host finally finished introducing everyone.


    Just this alone was enough to take an hour with how many different people had to be introduced. Though if they didn''t spend a few minutes for each person just introducing them, then it might not have been as long.


    But this was something that had to be done to build prestige I guess.


    After it was all done, I was surprised to hear that we were jumping right into it.


    "Now that everyone has been introduced, let me introduce the first round." The host gestured and there was a screen that came down.


    Once the screen fully came down, there was a set of rules that appeared on it.


    At the same time, there was what seemed to be a scoreboard that appeared on the side.


    To my surprise, I found that I was one of the few that was put on the scoreboard.


    The others were¡­the ones that were favoured to win this whole tournament.


    Was I one of the favoured ones as well?


    Why did I never hear about this?


    The host continued by saying, "Since our contestants are all Awakeners, naturally we will test them in the one environment that Awakeners are known for. Our first round will be a dungeon dive."


    As soon as his voice fell, there was a portal that suddenly appeared on stage with him.


    None of us were really surprised by the fact that it was a dungeon for the first round, but we were surprised to see this portal appear out of nowhere.


    None of us seemed to expect this portal to suddenly appear like this. At the same time, it was clear that we could all sense the strange sensation that was coming from this portal. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed that whatever this was, it definitely wasn''t normal.

 Chapter 323 - 323: First round (1)

    The host didn''t even react when the portal appeared.


    He just kept going as if the portal appearing here was a normal thing.


    "Your objective will be to earn points in the dungeon. The ones that earn the most points will be rewarded in the next round. The ones that don''t earn enough points¡­" His eyes turned sharp and his voice turned dark as he said, "You won''t make it to the next round."


    Then his voice went back to the happy tone that it had before as he said, "I hope that all of you will do your best and won''t leave any regrets."


    The host turned to look at the screen that had the rules on them and said, "The ways to earn points are all written on the board, so look carefully and remember them."


    Then he turned once more to the contestants to say, "Of course, you''re free to work with each other and against each other. You''re even free to go on a massacre if you''re so inclined to."


    This time, many of the contestants couldn''t help reacting.


    Was he basically telling us to risk our lives for this tournament?


    We had never heard anything about this¡­


    But the host didn''t give any time for us to think about this as he said, "Let the first round begin."


    Then without waiting for any of us to react, he suddenly walked through the portal and disappeared.


    All of us couldn''t help just staring at the portal in a daze, as if we were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.


    But since the host had disappeared and there was nothing else that happened, there were some people that couldn''t take it anymore.


    These people didn''t hesitate to go forward and enter into the portal.


    As soon as they walked through the portal, they disappeared along with the host.


    There were some people that were hesitating and there were some that were wavering.


    I was on the side that was still hesitating.


    But when I looked at the clock, I found that it was just past noon.


    In fact, judging by how much time had passed, the host had timed it perfectly so that the portal appeared at noon.


    Was it all a coincidence or was it¡­?


    It seemed that the longer that we wasted here, the worse it would be for us.


    So I waved my hand at my group and started moving towards the portal.


    When they saw us move, Alex and Julius'' group also started moving.


    The two of them came up to walk beside me and looked at me with smiles before turning to look at the portal.


    We walked up together and stood there in front of the portal for a bit.


    Then I said, "Hold hands, we don''t know if it''ll separate us."


    Everyone was surprised, but there was a mad scramble for my hand in the end.


    There were three of them that wanted it and there were only two hands, so they fought over who would take it.


    In the end, it was Long Shui Ling and Bing Xin who won.


    Even if Claire had become stronger, she couldn''t compare to the two of them.


    The rest of our group just grabbed hands and lined up behind me, waiting for me to go into the portal first.


    Seeing that we were ready, I gave them a nod before walking forward into the portal.


    I could feel space distorting around me as I walked into the portal and when it stopped, I found that I was in a completely different place. Though I wasn''t surprised that I was in a completely different place since that was what the portal was for.


    What I was surprised by was that this place was in the middle of the forest.


    Looking around, I could see that there were the people who had entered the portal before us standing there.


    I could also see the host from before standing there, but he wasn''t saying a single thing. He was just standing there completely still, almost as if he was a statue instead of a person.


    Even if the people around him were saying things to him, he didn''t seem to react at all.


    It really seemed like he was a NPC from a game instead of an actual person.


    This seemed to be a dungeon of some sort, so at the very least, I knew that we were in the right place.


    However, there were still questions that I had about this.


    How were they supposed to keep track of our points?


    The rules said that we would be able to get points from killing monsters or stealing them from other contestants, but it didn''t say how those points were recorded.


    I wanted to think about more things, but there were more people coming out of the portal, so we had to move out of the way.


    It was Alex''s group that came after our group came in.


    When they saw us, they immediately came over and grouped up with us.


    I could also see that there were others that had grouped up together during this, so it seemed like we weren''t the only ones that had formed an alliance.


    Alex also looked around during this time.


    It seemed that he was trying to figure out what the situation was, just like I was doing.


    When Julius'' group came out, they also came over to me.


    However, Julius didn''t look around and just asked, "What are you guys doing? Let''s go and find some monsters to kill."


    Both Alex and I were surprised to hear this, but I couldn''t help asking, "Do you know if there''s anything that we need to get to record the points that we get? They didn''t give us any equipment at all."


    Julius looked at me with a raised brow as if he was trying to figure out if I was being serious or not.


    Seeing that I was serious, he shook his head and said, "Didn''t they give us tokens to register us as contestants? That''s what those are for."


    I suddenly remembered what he was talking about. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Right, they had given us tokens earlier when we had been shown to our rooms.


    So that was what it was for.


    Then if that was the case, we should head into the forest while we could.


    After all, there was a twenty four hour limit to being in this dungeon.


    That was our limit to collect as many points as we could.

 Chapter 324 - 324: First round (2)

    Alex and Julius'' team followed close behind as we headed off into the forest.


    We didn''t need to go that far out to find our first group of monsters.


    It seemed that there were many different monsters that were wandering around in this forest, one just needed to take a few steps to find a group to fight.


    The one that we ran into was a group of goblins.


    Goblins were monsters that were hard for weaker Awakeners to deal with, but for people like us¡­they were nothing more than cannon fodder.


    It really was interesting to think about it.


    In the past, I never would have thought about fighting goblins, but now I could take care of them without even a single worry.


    I had really grown quite a bit from being the one that was bullied before.


    This group of goblins was rather big, so Julius made a suggestion.


    "How about we split them up into three groups and fight them separately?"


    Both Alex and I knitted our brows slightly when we heard this before Alex asked, "Are you worried about the point split? Can''t we just decide after defeating them? It''s not hard for us to hold ourselves back to not kill them all."


    Julius raised a finger and wagged it before saying, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, of course not. Do you really think of me as such a shallow person?"


    Both of us raised a brow to look at him.


    The way that we looked at him, it was almost as if we were saying, "You aren''t?"


    Julius revealed an aggrieved look before saying, "Let''s get to know each other first. The best way for that is to see what each of us are capable of, right?"


    Alex and I looked at each other before turning back to look at Julius and giving slow nods.


    When he said this, we understood what he was trying to say.


    He wanted to let our groups take care of them separately so we could see what each other were capable of.


    Even if we had information on each other, there was nothing better than seeing us use our abilities firsthand. There would be things that we would be able to learn about each other from seeing us use our abilities.


    In the future, it would make it easier for us to coordinate with each other if we knew what we were capable of doing.


    So his suggestion was actually quite a good one.


    Like this, we split up into three groups and we would all be responsible for fighting a group of goblins.


    Splitting them up was very easy since they were dumb goblins.


    Just two arrows from Claire was more than enough to split them up. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The noise created by these two arrows caused the goblins to stop before splitting up into three groups. One main group that would be responsible for defending if anything went wrong and two side groups that would be in charge of exploring what made those two sounds.


    Now it was up to us to decide who we would face.


    Julius was the first one to charge out with his group. While running forward, he suddenly said, "To the early bird goes the worm."


    The group that he charged at was the main group of goblins.


    This was the group that had the strongest goblins, so in a sense they could be considered a prize. But at the same time, it meant that they would be harder to deal with.


    They were harder to deal with since these goblins were stronger, but they were a prize because the stronger goblins would certainly be worth more points.


    I exchanged a look with Alex when we saw this and then we both gave sighs before heading in different directions.


    Since he had already picked the main group, it really didn''t matter which one we took since they had an equal number of goblins in them.


    So we both went to take care of our own group of goblins, while also making sure to see what the others were doing.


    The group of goblins that we chose was the one that went left.


    This was a small group of around ten goblins and no elite varieties, so it wouldn''t take long for us to take care of them. But the point of this was to demonstrate our powers, so we had to make a show of it.


    I held back and let the others take care of it since I didn''t want to show all my cards.


    While it was good to share what you were capable of, there were some things that I wanted to keep hidden.


    I also made sure that Bing Lan and Long Shui Ling stayed back as well.


    Their powers could be considered trump cards just in case anything bad happened.


    Luckily, the other members didn''t mind since they thought that this was their chance to show off.


    So they didn''t hesitate to use their flashy attacks.


    Especially Blaze and Kaito.


    The two of them had been training together and they had gotten better at combining their flames together to use special attacks.


    Though I could see the glare that Qin Yue Ru shot at them from time to time¡­


    It almost looked like she was looking at a love rival when she glared at Kaito like this¡­


    But they were both men, it wasn''t as if anything was going to happen between them.


    They were just good friends, but there was nothing that you could say to a girl who was in love.


    The others also showed how much their training paid off with their different skills and I had to admit that I was impressed.


    It was clear that all of them had been working hard in the time period leading up to the tournament.


    As their leader, I was naturally proud of them.


    But for now, my attention wasn''t on them.


    Instead, my attention went to Alex and Julius'' group in the distance.

 Chapter 325 - 325: First round (3)

    The first one that I saw was Alex''s group.


    Alex himself didn''t do much other than shoot a few bolts of lightning from time to time.


    Instead, he left most of the work to his team members.


    These were the other contestants that had come from Eden, ones that I hadn''t spoken to before.


    But the moment that I saw their abilities, I knew why they were chosen for this.


    There wasn''t a single person that was chosen to come to this tournament who was weak. All of them had powerful abilities and skills that allowed them to make full use of said abilities, or they wouldn''t have been chosen.


    There were a total of five people in the Eden team other than Alex.


    Two of them had water based abilities, one of them had a sand based ability, and the other two seemed to have some kind of neutral ability, so I wasn''t really able to see what effects they had.


    The two with the water abilities were the main attackers for this group.


    They controlled water at such a fine level that they were able to make sharp needles out of water and use those to kill the goblins that they were facing.


    The one with the sand ability seemed like they were mainly using it to provide cover for the ones that were using the water abilities.


    As for the ones that had neutral abilities, they both used bows to snipe from afar.


    After running around for a bit, they all suddenly moved away from the group of goblins that were remaining.


    The goblins didn''t chase since they had been pushed back by them in the first place. They wouldn''t have been able to chase even if they wanted to since their numbers had already been cut in half.


    But they didn''t seem to notice the real problem.


    They were all covered in water and there was a puddle of water that was at their feet.


    Alex waited until his people had moved away before raising his hand to gather some electricity.


    When the goblins realized what was happening, it was already too late since they were being shocked by the lightning bolt that Alex had shot out.


    The water conducted that electricity and fried all of the goblins that were covered in the water.


    It seemed that Alex''s group really had a good composition.


    The two water users worked well with him, providing him with the medium to maximize the power of his lightning ability.


    Though when I thought about it, their synchronization with our team was actually quite bad since we had two fire ability users.


    You could say that it was literally trying to mix fire and water, it would never work.


    Still, at least knowing this was better than not knowing it.


    After they finished taking care of the goblins, I turned my attention over to Julius'' group.


    Julius'' group had run out first, but they hadn''t started fighting their goblin group yet.


    The goblins had taken a defensive position seeing Julius'' group coming over and had waited to attack. But Julius had stopped his group from attacking in the end and had just waited to see how the goblins would react.


    After the goblins saw that both my group and Alex''s group had taken care of the other two goblin groups, they could no longer stay still.


    They had been waiting since they had thought that they would be able to count on these two goblin groups for support. But now that they had all been wiped out, it was just them left and they had no choice but to fight.


    So the start of the battle came when the goblin shaman raised its staff to release a fireball.


    This fireball flew right at Julius'' group.


    During this time, the two goblin riders went in separate directions to flank Julius'' group while the rest of them charged forward, following behind the fireball.


    The fireball didn''t make it to Julius'' group as one of them suddenly raised their hand and a barrier appeared.


    After that, the barrier became wider and wider until it completely covered them.


    All of the goblins that charged at them slammed into this barrier and weren''t able to break through it.


    But the worst part for the goblins was that the barrier had rebounded the force of their attacks, knocking them back. This had pushed them all off guard and they weren''t able to do anything as Julius'' group suddenly came forward.


    It seemed that all of them were trained in weapons as they all pulled out a weapon to cut down a goblin each.


    There were a total of ten people in Julius'' group including him, so each of them cutting down the goblin in front of them had cut the goblins down by quite a bit.


    There had been fifty goblins in the first place, with ten going left and ten going right.


    This had cut the goblin group''s numbers down by half.


    And that wasn''t all.


    Since the goblins had charged forward, they had left the goblin shaman open.


    All Julius had to do was raise his finger and then shoot out a bullet of mana at the goblin shaman.


    That goblin shaman wasn''t able to resist that mana bullet at all as it pierced through its head and the goblin shaman dropped to the ground.


    Just like this, the rest of the goblins lost all that they could rely on and were cut down by the Julius'' group.


    They didn''t even have to show their powers other than the barrier power.


    Seeing the way that we looked at him, Julius just gave a shrug and said, "It seems like they were just too weak for us to demonstrate our powers." sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Both Alex and I shook our heads when we heard this.


    It seemed like there was a reason why Julius was known as one of the top contenders.


    But at the same time, we realized that we shouldn''t look down on the members of his group.


    It seemed that all of them were skilled individuals in their own rights.

 Chapter 326 - 326: First round (4)

    When it was all over, Julius came over with a wide smile on his face and said, "Well, what do you think?"


    I really didn''t know what to say in response to this since there was nothing that I could really say.


    We didn''t see much of their powers since they were so effective in dealing with the goblins, so there wasn''t much that I could say even if I wanted to.


    All I could do was give a thumbs up and say, "Good job."


    Julius'' smile became wider when he heard this and he gave a happy nod.


    With this, we at least had some idea of what each of us were capable of. So when the time came, we would be able to work together to a certain extent.


    Once those goblins were taken care of, it was time to plan out our next move.


    But there really wasn''t any planning since all of us already had the same idea of what to do. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bosses.


    That was the only right answer in this situation.


    We had to go and find some bosses to take down since that was the best way to earn points.


    Though we had no idea just how many points each of the monsters that we found were worth, there was no doubt in our mind that all of the monsters added up wouldn''t be enough to compare to the points that came from the bosses.


    The field bosses and the dungeon boss, all of these large value targets were the ones that we would be looking for.


    But the only question was how to find them.


    In the end, the only real answer to this was brute force.


    We would just use tracking to see if we could find groups of monsters and then use those monsters to see if we could find the bosses.


    With that decided, we set off to find our targets.


    It wasn''t a good plan, but it did pay off rather quickly.


    After all, we found another group of goblins and followed them back to a camp.


    We could feel the powerful aura that was coming from the camp, so we knew that there was a powerful monster that was inside of that camp.


    As we stood outside the camp, we had to decide how we would assault it.


    "Hit it head on."


    To my surprise, this was the suggestion that came from both Julius and Alex.


    It seemed that both of them didn''t think that we would have a problem taking down this goblin camp, so they didn''t hesitate to suggest attacking it head on.


    Though I didn''t really think the same.


    I was more of a cautious person and didn''t look down on even goblins, so I wanted to take a more tactical approach to this.


    However, there was nothing that I could say since they technically outvoted me.


    All of us were allies and we each had an equal say in the decision.


    With the two of them voting against me, it was two against one.


    So in the end, we decided to attack it head on.


    We didn''t even bother splitting into groups for this.


    The one that led the attack was Blaze and Kaito who created large fireballs that they threw into the camp.


    These large fireballs exploded in the center of the camp, setting it ablaze.


    The moment that the fireball set the camp ablaze, there were goblins that came out of the woodworks. They didn''t hesitate to run off in every direction, but they soon quickly gathered to see who was attacking them.


    That was because there was a roar that suddenly rang out through the camp.


    This roar suppressed all of the goblins that were running off and they quickly gathered in front of their burning camp.


    Then out of the center of the camp came a goblin that was much larger than the others.


    When we saw this goblin, I immediately recognized it.


    It was a Goblin General.


    Both Alex and Julius seemed excited to see this, but I couldn''t feel the same way.


    After all, I felt that it was almost too easy how we pulled this Goblin General out.


    It almost seemed like there was some kind of trap.


    But in the end, it seemed like I was proven wrong.


    I just watched as the two of them fought the Goblin General, while also taking a few goblins for myself.


    I needed the points after all since I really hadn''t killed many monsters since coming into this dungeon.


    The two of them were more than a match for the Goblin General.


    It almost made one feel sorry for the Goblin General with the way that it was abused.


    It was hit by lightning bolt after lightning bolt and during all of this, it was being pelted with mana bullets.


    These attacks just kept pushing it back, without giving the Goblin General a single chance to fight back. It couldn''t even approach them with how much these attacks pushed it back.


    So it was just passively defending and waiting for a chance to fight back.


    But just like this, it was beaten down by Julius and Alex until it couldn''t do anything.


    What finished it off was a bolt of lightning that completely filled its body with electricity and stopped its breathing.


    Though Julius was unhappy that he had the kill stolen from him, he knew that this was just how they had decided to share the points. It was whoever landed the last kill who would get the points.


    So he couldn''t get angry at all.


    When it was over, all of the goblins scattered, but everyone was ready for this as they had surrounded the goblins.


    It took us no time at all to take them all down and the entire camp was wiped out.


    During this whole time, I had been waiting for something else to happen since that was what I was used to.


    But nothing happened at all.


    In the end, it seemed like I had been thinking too much¡­

 Chapter 327 - 327: First round (5)

    When it was all over, everyone just picked up the items that dropped.


    Since we were in a dungeon, the monsters all dropped items when they were defeated.


    We had left the items from before because they were normal goblins, but not this time. This was a goblin camp, so the drops that came from this place were much better than drops from normal goblins.


    After picking them up, we were about to decide where to go next.


    But then we heard a cry.


    "Stop it! Why are you doing this?"


    It was clear that this was a human voice.


    Julius and Alex immediately looked over at me and I just gave a nod.


    Then our groups headed off without any hesitation.


    We went in the direction of the voice, but we made sure to hide ourselves as well as we could.


    My group was covered in Long Shui Ling''s illusions.


    Julius'' group was covered in a barrier that seemed to make them blend into the background.


    And Alex''s group was covered in a dome of water that refracted the light shining on them to make them invisible.


    We quickly found the source of this voice.


    It was a group that was currently being besieged by another group.


    As for who they were, they were all humans.


    They were all contestants that were also participating in this tournament.


    It was clear that the group that was surrounding the other group was attacking them.


    None of us were surprised to see this since we had already expected something like this to happen. Even the host had clearly stated that this kind of thing was accepted and it was clearly written on the rules that one could get points from other contestants.


    It was just that we never thought that it would be happening so early.


    It was only half an hour since this first stage had begun.


    It didn''t seem like enough time for people to gather points, so it seemed pointless to attack people now.


    But there were still people too dumb to realize that I guess.


    When we came closer, we were surprised to find that it was a group that we recognized.


    It was Cheng Hui and the group from the Beijing Tigers.


    They were the ones that had surrounded this group of people who seemed to be unaffiliated Awakeners.


    The group of unaffiliated Awakeners seemed like they were in a very bad position right now.


    One of them was even missing an arm, which they were now holding in their other hand.


    It seemed that the fighting had been quite intense before we arrived.


    As they stood there facing each other, one of the unaffiliated Awakeners shouted, "Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking us when there''s no grudges between us?"


    Cheng Hui and the rest of his group suddenly began laughing when they heard this.


    After laughing for a bit, Cheng Hui said with a nod, "Indeed, there''s no grudge between us."


    The unaffiliated Awakeners couldn''t help revealing a confused look.


    It seemed that this was the first time that Cheng Hui had actually responded to them, so they were naturally caught off guard by this.


    But then the one who had spoken before couldn''t help asking, "Then why are you doing this if there is no grudge between us?"


    Cheng Hui looked at him with a wide smile and said, "Why does there have to be a grudge for us to attack you? Maybe we''re doing it just for the points?"


    The unaffiliated Awakeners immediately knitted their brows when they heard this before their representative said, "You''ve been following us from the beginning, you should know that we don''t have any points."


    Cheng Hui gave a shrug and said, "Does it really matter? Just the chance that you have points is enough for me."


    Looks of disbelief appeared on the faces of the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    They never thought that someone would be this unreasonable, but here was Cheng Hui acting this way in front of them.


    The representative of the unaffiliated Awakeners couldn''t help shouting, "How could you be this unreasonable? You''re representatives of a large guild and you''re acting this way? Isn''t this letting down the fame of your guild?"


    Cheng Hui gave another laugh before his face turned cold and said, "Are you slandering our guild? Do you understand the consequences of these actions?"


    The other members of the Beijing Tigers group all suddenly had cold looks on their faces as well as they looked at the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    The unaffiliated Awakeners immediately felt the pressure that came from their group when their faces all turned cold.


    The representative quickly said, "No, no, we weren''t slandering your guild."


    But Cheng Hui wouldn''t listen to them anymore as he said, "For slandering our guild, the only fate left for you is death."


    As soon as he said this, the members of his group started attacking again.


    The unaffiliated Awakeners did their best to block these attacks, but they were pushed back even further.


    It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before they were crushed by Cheng Hui''s group.


    As we stood there watching, we saw all of this. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As Cheng Hui''s group attacked, Julius and Alex both looked at me as if they were asking what I thought about this.


    I shook my head as if saying that I didn''t know what to do either.


    Our three groups just stood there watching this, but I was slowly thinking about doing something.


    Seeing them bully the unaffiliated Awakeners like this, there was a feeling that was rising inside of me.


    But I could justify it since they were enemies of Elementia in the first place.


    If we were to take them out now¡­it would actually be good for us¡­


    So I was very tempted to just take them out here.


    Julius and Alex could see this, so they looked at me with looks like they were saying, "We''re behind you if you do this."


    In the end, I gave a nod and we made our move.

 Chapter 328 - 328: First round (6)

    No one saw us as we came forward and we were able to take positions around their groups.


    They were just too focused on each other that they didn''t notice anything around them.


    Judging by the looks on the faces of the group from the Beijing Tigers, it was clear that they were enjoying this. It was as if they were enjoying the feeling of suppressing someone like this.


    But I could tell that it wasn''t just that.


    From time to time, I could hear a few whispers.


    "How dare you guildless trash dare think that you''re on the same level as us?"


    "You think that just because you have a bit of power, you can be on the same level as us?"


    "In your dreams!"


    It didn''t seem like an inferiority complex since they were technically of higher status than these unaffiliated Awakeners.


    So it just seemed like they disliked unaffiliated Awakeners for some reason.


    It was hard to figure out just why they felt this way and I wasn''t really interested in them.


    After all, they were my enemies.


    There was no need for me to really understand what these enemies were thinking.


    Once we were all in position, there was no time to waste. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a nod to Long Shui Ling, there was a mist that suddenly appeared.


    When Cheng Hui''s team noticed this mist, they immediately stopped attacking the unaffiliated Awakeners and formed up together. The speed at which they came together really wasn''t normal.


    Even if they were terrible people, it seemed like they had trained properly.


    So that was one thing that could be considered admirable when it came to this group.


    But they were still enemies.


    Using the cover of this mist, the unaffiliated Awakeners were brought away by Qin Yue Ru, some members of Kaito''s group, and a few of Julius'' men.


    Once they were safe, we made our move on Cheng Hui''s group.


    ¡­


    "What''s going on here?" Cheng Hui said in an angry voice.


    But the members of his group weren''t able to say anything since they had no idea what was happening either.


    This mist had suddenly appeared and cut them off from the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    It was almost so thick that they weren''t able to see each other anymore.


    If they didn''t group up, it was certain that they would have lost each other.


    But just where did this mist come from?


    Cheng Hui looked at one of the members of his group and that person nodded before letting out a breath.


    When that breath came out, there was another mist that suddenly filled the air that pushed out the mist around them.


    This was a purple mist that was different from the white mist that had appeared.


    With this purple mist around them, it was as if they had gained a barrier against that white mist.


    But that white mist was still very thick around them.


    Not a single one of them dared to move from where they were standing since they knew that there must be a reason why this white mist had appeared. So if they did move, there was no doubt that they would fall into some kind of trap.


    But what should they do now?


    It wasn''t as if they could just remain here forever.


    Cheng Hui bit his lip for a bit before saying, "Group up, we''re charging out."


    The other members of his group had surprised looks on their faces, but they nodded in agreement in the end.


    Then all of them came together and gathered their mana as they wanted to use their skills to charge out.


    They were prepared just in case anything happened, but it didn''t seem like there was anything that was going to stop them.


    There was a layer of lightning, a layer of fire, and a layer of rocks that formed in front of them.


    Once these layers of energy formed, they immediately started charging forward with it as a shield.


    With these shields in front of them, they were able to move unimpeded for a few meters.


    But right when they were about to let their guards down¡­they suddenly hit something.


    They were able to react in time, but they found that this thing that they hit was not something that they could resist. It was a barrier that had suddenly appeared in the mist that shattered all of the attacks that they had gathered in front of them.


    If it wasn''t for the attacks, then they might have smashed into the barrier themselves and hurt themselves like that.


    But thanks to these attacks taking the brunt of it, they weren''t injured at all.


    After that, they immediately gathered more attacks to throw at the barrier.


    They didn''t know what this barrier was, but they were certain that whoever put it there wasn''t someone friendly.


    Since that was the case, there was no reason for them to hold back.


    They all used their different attacks to hit the barrier, but they were shocked to find that the barrier didn''t seem to take any damage at all.


    It was as if the barrier didn''t even exist as their attacks had gone right through it.


    But they didn''t have time to remain shocked as balls of fire suddenly rained down on them.


    They used different attacks to block these balls of fire, but they found that there were also some balls of fire that seemed to be fake.


    "Illusions." Cheng Hui suddenly said out loud.


    When he did, all of them suddenly realized what was happening.


    There was a skilled illusionist that was on the other side that was using illusions to make fake attacks and fake barriers. It was all a ploy to make them waste even more energy so that they would be easier to take down.


    Cheng Hui was about to say something, but before he could¡­


    There was a shock that suddenly came over them before any of them could react.


    They found that there was a layer of water that was at their feet and this was what was carrying the electricity to them.

 Chapter 329 - 329: First round (7)

    As the electricity coursed up through their bodies, they found that they weren''t able to resist at all.


    The power of this electricity was just too much for them and they all fell down.


    Some of Cheng Hui''s group weren''t even able to move anymore after being electrocuted like this.


    It was only Cheng Hui and one more member that was still able to move after this.


    But it didn''t take long before they were hit with another wave of attacks that knocked them to the ground.


    After being hit by this second wave of attacks, they just laid there without being able to move a muscle.


    Once they were restrained like this, the white mist around them started to fade.


    When it faded, there were a few figures that were revealed to be standing there in front of them.


    Cheng Hui narrowed his eyes to look carefully at the figures before suddenly revealing a look of recognition. That look of recognition quickly disappeared from his face as he revealed a hostile look and said, "It''s you? Why is it you?"


    ¡­


    I was surprised by how smoothly it went.


    With the mist that Long Shui Ling created, we were able to lure them into the area that we had prepared for them.


    Then with the barrier, we were able to stall them until everything was set up.


    When they were electrocuted by Alex''s lightning, I couldn''t help being surprised by how smoothly everything went.


    When it was all over, we released the mist and came forward to confront Cheng Hui''s group.


    As soon as the mist cleared and we revealed ourselves, Cheng Hui immediately recognized us.


    "It''s you? Why is it you?"


    That was what he said the moment that he saw that it was us.


    I didn''t answer this and just looked at Cheng Hui with narrowed eyes.


    Seeing that I didn''t answer him, Cheng Hui then shouted, "How dare you attack us in such an underhanded method? Do you not have any shame?"


    Hearing this, I really couldn''t stop myself from giving a cold laugh.


    Someone like him was saying that I had no shame?


    After all, I was watching when his group was tormenting the group of unaffiliated Awakeners just now. The way that they made sure to keep them alive as long as possible, just so they could inflict as much damage as they could on them¡­


    That was more shameless than anything we could have done.


    Seeing that I was laughing at him, Cheng Hui immediately roared out in an angry voice, "What are you laughing at? You dare laugh at me?"


    I shook my head when I heard his angry outburst.


    It seemed that I had overestimated this person.


    I had thought that he was a sly and shrewd person when I saw him sitting near our group back at the cafe. But now it seemed like he was nothing more than an impulsive person who didn''t really think things through.


    Wasting my time with someone like this wasn''t worth it.


    But there was one thing that I did ask.


    Earlier I didn''t care about that since I was still trying to figure out how to take down Cheng Hui''s group.


    But now that they had been taken down, I couldn''t help feeling curious.


    "Why did you target these unaffiliated Awakeners? They shouldn''t have enough points for you to care about this kind of thing."


    Cheng Hui looked at me with narrowed eyes when he heard this before asking back, "Why do you even care about them?" S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From this, Cheng Hui was able to tell that they had been watching them the entire time.


    I didn''t say anything as I narrowed my eyes to look at him, but then I raised my sword and said, "I guess it doesn''t matter then."


    Cheng Hui''s eyes opened wide when he heard this as he clearly didn''t expect me to do this.


    He quickly said, "What are you doing? Do you actually dare do that? Do you know who I am?"


    I just had an uncaring look on my face as I walked towards him lying there on the ground.


    Cheng Hui''s face twisted a bit and looked quite ugly as he said, "Wait, stop, don''t do it. I''ll answer your question."


    When he said this, I stopped and waited to see what he had to say.


    Cheng Hui looked at me with eyes that were filled with hatred, but he still said, "Why do you care what happens to those pieces of trash? They''re just dark skinned monkeys that eat fried chicken and r*pe women all day. Are they worth protecting?"


    "Huh?" I couldn''t help being caught off guard when I heard this.


    I looked at the other members of Cheng Hui''s group and saw that they all had the same looks on their faces.


    The representative of the group of unaffiliated Awakeners was a black man, same with the one that had lost an arm.


    I never thought that this would be their reason for attacking them¡­


    It was just simply racism¡­


    This group really wasn''t anything good, they were all trash it seemed.


    But I should have known that already by how they were acting before.


    It seemed like there was no reason to leave them alive anymore, they would just cause more harm than good if I spared them.


    I turned to look at Julius and Alex and both of them nodded to show that they agreed with what I was about to do.


    So I raised my sword again without a word and brought it over Cheng Hui''s group.


    This caused them to all reveal looks of shock and panic.


    Cheng Hui gritted his teeth and said, "You''re actually protecting those black monkeys! I swear that if I get back, I''ll expose you as the monkey lover that you are!"


    I shook my head with a sigh before bringing the sword down.


    Even in their last moments, Cheng Hui''s group couldn''t believe that I would actually do it.


    Their eyes were filled with shock as their heads rolled on the ground.

 Chapter 330 - 330: First round (8)

    Once they had been taken care of, we quickly searched their bodies for their tokens.


    We had no idea how the point transfer worked, so we wanted to see if there was some kind of way to do it with the tokens since they were the one that recorded points.


    As for how to divide the tokens, there were six members of Cheng Hui''s group in the first place, so we decided to give two to each of our groups.


    I received the one from Cheng Hui and the person who had released the purple mist.


    Then when it came to how we would divide it among our group, they all decided to give the points to me.


    So I held those two tokens in my hand, trying to figure out what to do with them.


    It was only after a while that I thought about taking my own token out to place beside these two tokens that we took.


    When my token was placed beside these tokens, there was a glow that suddenly appeared.


    There were numbers that appeared above these two tokens.


    If I had to guess, this was most likely the score that we received in this round.


    But those numbers quickly changed.


    The numbers that were above the two tokens started to decrease while the number that was above my token started to increase.


    When it was over, the number from the two tokens had been added to my total.


    It seemed that this was the way to steal points from other contestants.


    Seeing what happened, Julius and Alex quickly did the same with the tokens that they received. Though, they didn''t receive as much as I did from the two tokens that I had.


    It seemed that Cheng Hui''s group had funneled most of their points to Cheng Hui and the person who used the purple mist. So most of the points had gone to me while they barely received anything.


    Still, they didn''t complain since that was just how it was.


    It was a matter of luck to see who would receive the most points and they weren''t lucky enough to receive the points.


    They could only blame their bad luck for not picking the right ones.


    After we finished transferring the points, we went back to where Qin Yue Ru was with the unaffiliated Awakeners.


    When they saw us come over, they immediately raised their guards.


    However, Qin Yue Ru quickly calmed them down and they relaxed enough to let us approach.


    After coming over, I asked the leader of the group, "When did they attack you?"


    The leader thought about it and said, "It was a few minutes after we came in, they already started chasing after us."


    I gave a nod to show that I understood, but I didn''t say anything else.


    After all, I knew the reason why they had been chasing them in the first place.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, the leader of the group couldn''t help looking worried.


    It was as if he thought that I was debating whether I should take care of them or not.


    In reality, I was just thinking about how to send them off.


    I didn''t want to ruin the relationship between us since I figured that I could use them in the future, so I couldn''t just tell them that they were free to leave. It would create distrust in them that would make it harder for us to work together in the future.


    But there really wasn''t anything that I could take from them¡­


    In the end, it was the leader of the group who gave me a solution as he said, "Um, thank you for saving us. If you don''t mind, would you like some information that we received as repayment for saving us?"


    My eyes lit up when I heard this and I quickly gave a nod in response.


    The leader of the group let out a sigh of relief and patted his chest before saying, "I heard from a friend that there were several groups that were gathering not far from here. It seems that they''ve found a powerful boss, so they are gathering different groups to fight it together."


    It wasn''t just me whose eyes lit up when I heard this. Julius and Alex who had been listening from behind me also had their eyes light up.


    This information was actually much more valuable than I had thought it would be.


    This was a location of a boss that would certainly be worth a lot of points, but at the same time, it was also the location of several groups of contestants.


    Now that we knew how to steal points from people, all of these contestants could be considered walking piles of points for us to take.


    Well, that also depended on the people.


    If we liked them and thought we could cooperate with them, we wouldn''t take their points.


    But if they were like Cheng Hui''s group, then there was nothing for us to agonize over.


    After he told us where to go, I said, "Thank you, this is very valuable information." S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The leader of the group let out a sigh of relief before waving his hands and saying, "No, no, it should be us thanking you for saving us. If it wasn''t for you, we might have died back there."


    Then after a pause, he asked, "Um, about the people who attacked us, did you¡­"


    His voice trailed off, but the meaning that he was implying was clear.


    I just shook my head and said, "It''s better if you don''t know."


    The unaffiliated Awakeners all revealed surprised looks, but they nodded in agreement in the end.


    Qin Yue Ru gave them a bit more treatment, but once she was done, we parted ways from them.


    Since we had a destination in mind, we didn''t hesitate as we headed deeper into the woods.


    Though we couldn''t help being curious just how powerful this boss was and how many points it would give us.

 Chapter 331 - 331: First round (9)

    It didn''t take us long to reach the place that the leader of the unaffiliated Awakeners told us about.


    But we didn''t go in right away.


    Instead, we all used our different camouflage methods to hide ourselves before moving forward.


    As we came closer, we could see that there were several groups that were already gathered.


    There were some that we didn''t recognize, but there was also a group that we couldn''t miss.


    This was a group that was also favoured to win, just like Julius was.


    Tammy Wellen and the group from the Sol Warriors.


    This was who was in the center of this group.


    With how they were standing and with how they were surrounded, it almost seemed like they were the ones that were in charge of this meeting.


    From our position, we could hear a few things that they were talking about.


    "Did you hear about the boss? I heard that they found this very powerful boss that has two other side bosses."


    "Un, I heard that there are also a bunch of elite monsters as well."


    "Can you imagine all of the points we''ll get out of this?"


    It seemed like even those that were gathered weren''t certain on what the situation was. There seemed to be many speculations about what the enemy they had all been gathered here for was, but no one seemed to have any concrete information.


    But there were also a few whispers that weren''t as kind.


    "Do you see how they are standing there? They''re acting like they''re the ones that are in charge of all of this."


    "Shh, don''t let them hear you or who knows what will happen. You should know what kind of temper she has."


    "That b*tch, if it wasn''t for the fact¡­"


    Based on these words, it seemed like Tammy didn''t have a good reputation.


    I looked over Alex and he gave a nod.


    It seemed like it was a well known fact that Tammy didn''t have a good reputation¡­


    This was most likely in the information that Alex had given me, but I hadn''t read all of it.


    After a while, the chattering finally stopped as a group came forward.


    This was a group that was completely covered in cloaks, so no one was able to see their true appearance.


    The moment that this group appeared, everyone suddenly raised their guards.


    But the leader of this cloaked group suddenly said, "I''m grateful that everyone has gathered together so we can work together. Let me introduce myself." He gave a bow and said, "My name is Diablo and my group here is the Band of Demons. We have gathered you all here so we can fight the boss and get the points that we desire together."


    Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, but they didn''t let their guards down.


    The cloaked figure known as Diablo didn''t mind as he pointed at one of the members of this group.


    This cloaked figure he pointed at suddenly raised their hand and there was a screen that appeared.


    This wasn''t a screen like the TV screens, this was a screen that seemed to be made of water.


    This water mirror formed and then an image was shown.


    This seemed to be some kind of cave that they were looking at and in the center of it seemed to be something that was coiled up. They couldn''t see it clearly since it was coiled up like that, but after a while, the image cleared up as it zoomed in on this coiled up thing.


    It was a giant lizard. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But it wasn''t just a normal giant lizard.


    There was a pair of wings on its back.


    "Dragon?"


    As soon as one person said this, the whispers spread through the crowd and they all were about the image that they saw.


    There were some that also thought that this was a dragon and there were some that were denying that this was a dragon.


    After all, a dragon was considered a peak monster.


    Even young dragons were considered A Rank monsters and true dragons were considered S Rank or even SS Rank depending on their power.


    So if this really was a dragon, then there was no way that they would be able to fight it.


    Diablo didn''t say anything as he let the crowd whisper amongst themselves.


    After a long while, when the whispers started to die down, he said, "I''m sure that all of you have your own thoughts on this matter, but let me say that it isn''t a dragon."


    One person couldn''t help asking, "How are you so sure about this?"


    Diablo nodded at that person and said, "I have my methods." Then without caring for a response, he turned to the rest of the group and said, "Through my methods, I have confirmed that this thing isn''t a dragon, but rather some kind of mutated Salamander."


    Salamander.


    If this really was a Salamander, then this was a completely different story.


    After all, a Salamander was only a C Rank Monster and something that they could handle.


    Even if it was a mutated Salamander, it would at most be at B Rank, so they could still take it down.


    But they wouldn''t just trust the words of this cloaked figure that it was a Salamander.


    Diablo also knew that this would be the case, so he said, "I shall bring you all to the location of this mutated Salamander and you''re free to investigate it however you want. Once you confirm that it is indeed a mutated Salamander, we can talk about how we will hunt it."


    There was a silence that filled the crowd after he said this, but slowly the crowd started to agree to this.


    After all, there was no harm in just following him to see it.


    Seeing this, Diablo gave a nod and then turned to head off in a certain direction.


    The crowd looked at each other before following behind him.


    Then behind all of them was our group with our camouflage up.

 Chapter 332 - 332: First round (10)

    It didn''t take long for this group to arrive at the cave that had been in the image.


    This was a cave that was in a very strange area.


    This area was completely barren.


    It wasn''t barren because the land was dead, but rather it was barren because of the extreme heat that filled the air.


    As soon as they came close to this place, they could feel the temperature rising.


    Then when they came closer, the temperature suddenly increased by over fifty degrees.


    It reached a point that was unbearable to humans, let alone plants. If it wasn''t for the fact that they were Awakeners, then it might have been hard for them to stay here without being burnt to death.


    Though the land was barren, there were also a few plants that did grow here.


    These plants were plants that had adapted to the heat of this place, so they were able to grow even under these extreme conditions.


    As they passed by them, there were quite a few people that were tempted to pick these plants.


    After all, these plants had gained special energies adapting to the heat of this place.


    It could be said that these plants were filled with flame energy from growing here, so they could be considered herbs filled with flame energy.


    They would without a doubt be useful to anyone that had a flame attributed power.


    Even if they didn''t have a flame attributed power, there were plenty of people that had flame attributed powers that needed this kind of herb.


    So if they brought this herb back, there was no doubt that they would be able to earn quite a bit of money.


    However, not a single person split off from the group to pick this thing.


    That was because they knew that they had to be careful in an area that could grow this kind of plant.


    After all, the heat that was around them and the plants growing were all indicators of something that was filled with large amounts of flame energy. This could only happen when there was an abundance of flame energy that was released from something.


    And that something¡­was most likely the boss that they were here to take down. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So it seemed that at the very least, Diablo hadn''t lied about a powerful boss being here.


    They just needed to see if he had lied about what the boss was.


    A Salamander and a dragon, it was clear which one they preferred to fight.


    So they wouldn''t let their guards down until they saw the boss.


    When they arrived at the cave, they could feel the heat that was coming from it.


    It was already hot in this area around the cave, but the air that was being blown out from inside of the cave was even hotter than this. It was clear that there was something that was generating a large amount of heat inside of here.


    This heat seemed a bit too strong for a Salamander, but Diablo had said that it was a mutated Salamander, so it wouldn''t be strange if the heat was a bit stronger than a normal Salamander.


    They still held out hope that he wasn''t lying to them.


    Once they reached the entrance of the cave, Diablo suddenly stopped and turned to look at everyone else before saying, "This is as far as my group will be going. If everyone wishes to see the boss, you are free to do so as long as you don''t disturb it on your own. Once you are done, please come back out so we may discuss the terms of our cooperation."


    As soon as he said this, everyone looked at him with knitted brows.


    After all, the fact that he wouldn''t be coming with them was already suspicious enough.


    It made it seem very likely that there was some kind of trap waiting for them inside of the cave.


    As if he could see what they were thinking, Diablo calmly said, "You''re free to leave people out here to watch over us. I promise that we won''t do a single thing."


    All of them looked at Diablo with doubtful gazes, but he seemed to be sticking to his word as he went to the side with his group.


    Though the way that they sat down and relaxed almost seemed like they were asking for a beating.


    After all, they looked like they were on a picnic instead of being watched by everyone.


    Still, since they were willing to be watched to this extent, they didn''t think too much of it and split up their groups.


    There were some members of their groups that stayed out to watch over Diablo''s group and there were some members of their group that went into the cave to check the boss.


    As for us, we also split up into different groups.


    This time, we didn''t move separately as three different groups.


    Instead, we separated into just two groups based on the situation.


    One group would be going into the cave with the others while the other group stayed out here and watched over Diablo''s group.


    There was no knowing what would happen, so we made sure to cover all our bases.


    The group that was staying outside used the water barrier of the water user from Alex''s group to cover themselves.


    While our group that was going inside was using Long Shui Ling''s illusions to cover ourselves as we headed into the cave.


    After seeing it, Julius and Alex had to admit that the illusion ability really was the best cover that we could have used. The only reason that they didn''t use it before was because of their pride in their own people.


    With this illusion around us, we were able to easily sneak past the group standing there and headed into the cave.


    As soon as we entered the cave, we were hit by the heat that came from it. However, the other water user was able to block this heat for us by creating a very faint mist around us that cooled the area down.


    With this, we headed in after the group that went in first.

 Chapter 333 - 333: First round (11)

    That group moved slowly and carefully since they were looking out for traps.


    It was no problem for our group to catch up to them, especially since they already cleared the way for us.


    This cave wasn''t that big and there weren''t any monsters that were wandering around, so we were able to reach the final chamber quickly.


    When we came in, we immediately saw the creature that was lying there in the center.


    This was a large lizard that was coiled in the center of the room.


    This large lizard was the one that they had seen in the mirror just now, the mutated Salamander that Diablo spoke of.


    But just from this, it was hard for most of them to tell what exactly this thing was.


    They really wanted to get closer to it and see what it really was, to see if it really was a mutated Salamander like Diablo had said. However, they also didn''t dare get too close to it since it was dangerous for them if they got too close.


    The only thing that they could do was watch from afar.


    However, that didn''t mean that everyone was powerless when it came to this matter.


    There were some people with special abilities that could see through the giant lizard even if they were far away.


    In the end, it was Tammy from the Sol Warriors who suddenly said, "It really is a mutated Salamander."


    Everyone immediately looked in her direction, but she refused to elaborate any further on this. Instead, she just turned around and headed back in the direction that they had come from.


    Even the others from the Sol Warrior left with just a single wave of Tammy''s hand.


    The other groups just stood there looking at each other in blank dismay, not knowing what to do now that she left.


    But there were some other groups that also saw through this giant lizard and turned to leave without a word.


    Seeing that everyone was leaving like this, the ones that hadn''t been able to see through the giant lizard didn''t know what to do at first. But in the end, they chose to leave with everyone else since there was nothing to gain from standing here any longer.


    Seeing them all leave, we also followed behind them and left the cave as well.


    But as we were leaving, I looked over at Julius.


    He saw me looking at him, so he gave a nod to show that it really was a mutated Salamander that was there in front of us.


    I didn''t know how he confirmed this, but I was certain that he wouldn''t make a mistake with this.


    Since he was able to see this, then we should think about whether we would work with them or take the boss from them.


    But before any of that, we had to see what decision they would come to.


    When we came out, we moved over to where the rest of our group was. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When we came over, they shook their heads to show that nothing happened before we turned our attention back to the different groups gathering.


    When Diablo saw them come out, he said in a confident voice, "I''m sure that you''ve all seen the mutated Salamander by now, right?"


    There were doubtful looks on the faces of some people, but they didn''t say anything.


    Instead, they turned to Tammy and the Sol Warriors, as if they were waiting to see what she would say.


    Tammy just gave a simple nod and said, "How do we split the points?"


    Everyone was caught off guard by the question that she asked.


    She didn''t even ask about how they were going to take down the mutated Salamander, she just asked about how they would divide the points.


    Diablo was also clearly surprised even though his expression couldn''t be seen as he didn''t say anything for a while. But after a moment of being surprised, he said, "Well, there are some minions that were hanging around the mutated Salamander, so I''m sure that they are worth some points as well."


    The people around couldn''t help knitting their brows when they heard this.


    After all, they hadn''t seen this earlier when they had been observing the Salamander.


    Tammy didn''t react at all when she heard this as she just stared at Diablo, like she was waiting for an answer.


    Diablo saw this and shook his head before saying, "Then let''s just use the time honoured rule, whoever gets the last hit takes the points?"


    There was a silence that hung in the air as everyone waited to see what Tammy would say.


    After a long silence, she finally gave a slow nod as if she agreed with this.


    There were a few people that seemed like they didn''t accept this, but there was nothing that they could do since most of the others seemed to accept this.


    Since that was the case, all they could do was ask, "What other monsters are there?"


    Diablo nodded to the same person as before and they created the water mirror again.


    The image appeared and it showed the same scene of the Salamander from before.


    But this time, there were small mounds that suddenly came out of the ground around the Salamander.


    Then all of a sudden, there were smaller lizards that came out of the ground around the Salamander.


    When they saw this scene, everyone slowly started to understand what this was.


    They were hiding in the ground, that was why they hadn''t been able to see these other monsters that Diablo had mentioned before.


    But at the same time, they couldn''t help looking at Diablo''s group with strange looks as they tried to figure out how they had found them and forced these smaller lizards to show themselves.


    Diablo just ignored this as he said, "Since everyone has agreed to this plan, then should we talk about how we will work together?"


    But to his surprise, Tammy suddenly said, "No need, we''ll just all fight on our own."

 Chapter 334 - 334: First round (12)

    When they heard this, everyone couldn''t help looking at Tammy in shock.


    After all, the suggestion that she made meant that they would all be fighting on their own. There would be no coordination with each other, which would go against the reason for them gathering like this.


    The strongest advantage that they had gathering like this was the ability to work with each other.


    They would be able to cover each other''s weakness if they worked together, but if they fought on their own¡­


    It would be a messy free for all.


    There was nothing to gain from doing this!


    So those gazes that were aimed in Tammy''s direction slowly changed to strange looks.


    There were some that even seemed to wonder if she was alright in the head.


    After all, anyone would be able to see that it was better to work together than to fight alone.


    Still, this was Tammy Wellen from the Sol Warriors that said this, so it was hard for them to say anything against her. She was one of those that were favoured to win this entire competition, so she was someone that they didn''t want to offend for now.


    Or else their run in this tournament might end early because of this.


    In the end, the one that broke the silence was Diablo.


    "Fight on our own?" He said in a surprised voice.


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at him as she said, "Is there a problem with that?"


    Diablo turned to face her and then said in a cheerful voice, "No, not at all. I''m just surprised that miss Tammy was able to figure out my plan already. As expected of the number one expert from the Sol Warriors."


    The moment that his voice fell, everyone turned to look at him with looks of shock. At the same time, there were traces of betrayal


    "Brother, please! You''re supposed to be talking her out of it, not agreeing with her!"


    That was what everyone thought as they stared at Diablo. However, he just ignored all of them as he kept facing Tammy.


    In the end, even Tammy couldn''t help raising a brow to look at Diablo.


    It seemed that even she had been caught off guard by how Diablo answered her.


    After all, she didn''t expect him to actually agree with her.


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at Diablo before saying, "What plan are you talking about?"


    Diablo gave a nod before saying in an excited voice, "It''s very simple, we''ll split into two different groups and take on the monsters in the cave separately. Those in the first group will fight those monsters scattered around the cave while those in the second group will fight the mutated Salamander."


    Tammy narrowed her eyes even more when she heard this.


    She looked at Diablo like this for a bit before suddenly asking, "How will the groups be split up?"


    Diablo gave a shrug and said, "It''s of course based on strength isn''t it? There are some that can''t even do a thing to the mutated Salamander, so would there be anything to gain from having them fight it? Instead of sending them to their deaths, isn''t it better for them to take care of the monsters that will be popping out of the ground?"


    When they heard this, there were many people that couldn''t help revealing ugly looks.


    That was because they knew exactly who Diablo was referring to.


    They at least had some awareness of their own strength.


    It was just that the way that he had said this wasn''t really that pleasant to the ears.


    The way that he said it was really a sharp jab to their pride.


    So of course they couldn''t help glaring at him with displeased looks.


    However, Tammy gave a nod of agreement to this. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was naturally able to see through the abilities of the groups that had gathered here, so she knew who would be useful in fighting the mutated Salamander and who wouldn''t be.


    But she still asked, "Then the split?"


    Diablo just said in a cheerful voice, "Miss Tammy will lead the group that will engage the mutated Salamander. You are free to choose who you wish to bring with you. As for the rest of us, we will figure out a leader once the first group is set."


    Everyone knitted their brows when they heard this, but no one said a thing.


    After all, they weren''t fools.


    They knew that this was indeed the best plan.


    There was no way that there would be actual coordination between their groups, that was something that was impossible since they didn''t know anything about each other.


    So sending the strongest after the mutated Salamander really was the best choice.


    It would spare them the fate of having to risk their lives to fight that thing.


    Though they wouldn''t get the points from the mutated Salamander, it was still enough for them to take down the smaller lizards that were around the Salamander.


    These were monsters that hung around the mutated Salamander, so they wouldn''t be that weak. If they weren''t weak, then the points that they were worth wouldn''t be that little either.


    They would be allowed to fight a fight that wasn''t too dangerous and earn good points, so there was nothing wrong with this.


    It was just that their pride did hurt a bit from being called weak like this.


    Tammy gave a nod of agreement before saying, "Alright, then I''ll choose the ones that will come with me now."


    Those that weren''t confident in their power didn''t say anything since they knew that this wouldn''t be related to them.


    Those that were confident in their power had confident looks on their faces as if they were certain that they would be chosen.


    But in the end, there were only three other groups that were chosen out of the ten groups that had confident looks on their faces.


    "Why wasn''t I chosen?"


    That was what one of those who wasn''t chosen suddenly said.

 Chapter 335 - 335: First round (13)

    This was a person that came from a small group of five.


    But even though their group was small, that didn''t mean that they were weak.


    The guild that they came from was only one of the big guilds and couldn''t be considered one of the large guilds. However, these five all had powers that were future A Rank powers, only they were currently in the C Rank.


    Tammy looked right at the person who said this and said, "You''re not satisfied with this arrangement?"


    That person was caught off guard by this question that Tammy asked him directly, but then he said with a nod, "Of course I''m not satisfied with this arrangement. How am I any worse than the ones that you''ve picked? I should clearly be on the team to fight the Sala¡­"


    Before he could finish, there was a pressure that suddenly fell onto him.


    This person gritted his teeth when he felt this pressure come on him, but he was still able to remain standing.


    However¡­that didn''t last long as the pressure became even stronger as it fell onto him.


    The pressure kept getting stronger and stronger until this person couldn''t resist anymore and fell to one knee. Even though he was on one knee, the look on his face made it clear that he wasn''t planning on stopping his resistance.


    It was just too bad that this wasn''t the end yet.


    The pressure once again grew as it pressed down on him. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This time, he wasn''t able to resist at all as he was pressed down into the ground.


    There was an embarrassed look on his face as he was pressed down by this pressure in front of everyone, but there really wasn''t anything that he could do since the pressure was just too strong.


    In the end, Tammy said with a snort, "It seems like you''re only at this level. Then I guess you aren''t qualified to join my team."


    As soon as her voice fell, the pressure that had been falling down on this person immediately disappeared.


    That person slowly looked up from the ground at Tammy with a look of anger and hatred in his eyes, but that look quickly disappeared as he stood up.


    He tried to save what little bit of prestige that he had left, but it really was hard to do that with the way that he had been treated. It could even be said that whatever was left of his prestige had been smashed to pieces on the ground.


    After standing up and dusting the dirt off himself, he turned to Diablo and said, "It seems that we are not appreciated here. Since that''s the case, we will not be joining you in this boss hunt."


    No one said anything to stop him since they knew that it was already too late for any kind of peaceful resolution to be reached.


    It was clear that this person''s face had been completely swept away, so there was only one way forward for him.


    Since that was the case, Diablo just gave a nod and said, "It seems that we are not destined to work together this time. I hope that we will be able to work together again in the future."


    Since Diablo hadn''t offended him, that person gave a nod and a bow before turning to leave with his group.


    Though it had to be noted that during this time, he didn''t look at Tammy once.


    Whether that was out of disdain or fear, no one knew except for him.


    But the fact was that he didn''t turn in her direction a single time.


    Once he was gone, Tammy looked at the rest of them as if she was challenging them.


    However, there wasn''t anyone that looked in Tammy''s direction in the end.


    With this, she had successfully forced them into accepting her decision.


    Diablo gave a cough to relieve the awkward situation before saying, "Then shall we decide who will be the leader of the second group?"


    When they heard this, everyone became much more spirited.


    This was not something that Tammy had control over, so at the very least, this was something that they could try to grasp in their palms. As long as they had control over the second group, it wouldn''t be hard for them to earn a bit more from killing the smaller lizards.


    There were many people that immediately came forward to volunteer themselves as the leader of the second group. It seemed like almost every single one of the groups in the second group wanted to nominate themselves as the leader.


    However, that would just make it harder for them to decide in the end since they would all have to convince each other to give up and accept them as the leader.


    It seemed like this would take a while to decide.


    Or at least that was how it seemed at first.


    All of a sudden, Tammy said, "You''ll do."


    As she said this, she reached her hand up to point at someone.


    Once she pointed at someone, everyone immediately turned to look at who she was pointing at.


    It turned out that she was pointing at Diablo.


    "Huh? Me?" Diablo said in a confused voice.


    His group was the only group that didn''t volunteer since he didn''t seem interested in it.


    But now, Tammy was directly nominating him as the leader.


    So not only him, but everyone else was caught off guard when they heard this.


    They all looked at Diablo with a strange look, as if they were trying to figure out if there was some kind of secret relationship between him and Tammy.


    But Diablo quickly shook his head as if he was trying to deny it.


    Tammy didn''t care about any of this as she turned to face the cave and said, "That''s decided unless someone has an objection."


    No one said a word in response since they had all seen what had happened to the last person who had complained.


    Seeing this, Tammy said, "Good."


    Then without hesitation, she entered the cave.


    Everyone just looked at her as she walked into the cave in a daze.


    But Diablo quickly recovered and said, "Let''s go then."

 Chapter 336 - 336: First round (14)

    This time, we didn''t leave anyone outside since they all went into the cave.


    We followed closely behind the second group since we didn''t think Tammy''s group would do anything without the second group.


    So it seemed like the second group were the ones that would be in charge of starting the fight.


    But as we followed behind them, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    This plan of theirs really was the worst plan for us.


    After all, by having everyone do their own thing, there were just too many variables that we had to be concerned about. There were so many different ways that this could go wrong that it was very hard for us to do anything if we wanted to do anything.


    So that''s why we had to discuss this before they actually started fighting.


    I looked at Alex and Julius with a look that seemed to be asking their opinions.


    Both of them had bitter smiles on their faces, making it clear that they were thinking the same thing as me.


    The one that we felt the most bitter towards was naturally Tammy.


    If it wasn''t for her, we wouldn''t be in this mess.


    She had single handedly cowed everyone else in this group under her, so we didn''t have anything to exploit.


    The only thing that we could do was try to figure out some kind of flaw that we can take advantage of.


    "Neither of you have anything, do you?"


    Both Alex and Julius shook their heads when they heard this.


    So with a sigh, I said, "Then for now, let''s observe?"


    Both of them nodded in agreement before turning to look at the group in front of us.


    Since we didn''t have anything, naturally we could only tread cautiously and wait to see what we could find.


    But there was still something that I wanted to ask.


    "Is this her actual personality or is she just acting?" Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I asked Alex and Julius this as we followed behind their group.


    Both of them nodded in response before Alex said, "This is just how she was raised. Before the dungeons appeared, her father was one of the richest people in their country, so she was raised as a young miss. After the dungeons appeared, her father financed and created the Sol Warriors as her guards, so it could be said that she was still the young miss after the dungeons appeared."


    Julius then added with a nod, "She''s just like this naturally. When I met her at a party for rich people before, she acted this way to people that were trying to bully some of the weaker young masters and young miss. She''s someone that had a natural pride in her."


    I narrowed my eyes to look at Tammy after hearing this, but for some reason, I couldn''t help feeling that perhaps they had been misunderstanding her.


    After all, I had already experienced quite a few people who were hiding their real personalities in my time. So to a certain extent, I had developed an instinct for recognizing things like this.


    I also got the same feeling from Julius, that he wasn''t showing everything.


    Still, it was good to cooperate with him for now, so I ignored this instinct.


    For now, I just remained silent and watched for a flaw to exploit.


    It was the same as before where it didn''t take long to reach the inner cave with the sleeping giant lizard.


    It was still the same as before where the giant Salamander was curled up in the center of this cave.


    It didn''t seem like the smaller lizards that Diablo had shown everyone before even existed.


    However, they stopped in the same spot as before and waited for Tammy to react.


    Tammy just calmly looked at Diablo, as if she was waiting for him.


    Diablo gave a sigh before saying, "Let''s spread out and get ready to attack."


    Everyone couldn''t help raising a brow in surprise when they heard this, but they slowly understood what he was saying. Once they understood, they followed his orders and spread out in this cave.


    They were spreading out so they wouldn''t get in the way of each other.


    They wouldn''t be fighting together, so it would actually hinder them to gather together.


    It would be better if they spread out so they all had space to fight.


    Once everyone was spread out, Diablo said, "Let''s go then."


    Without waiting for anyone to say anything, he jumped down with his group.


    Seeing him jump down without any hesitation, the others didn''t waste any time as they jumped down as well.


    The moment that they landed in the cave, there were tremors that came from under them.


    At the same time, the moment that they landed, the large lizard that was in the center of the room seemed to shake. However, that large lizard didn''t seem to move as it settled again.


    Instead, there were mounds that appeared on the ground of this cave.


    After these mounds appeared, the dirt was flipped over to reveal lizards that were smaller than the one in the center, but were still quite large.


    These lizards immediately turned in the direction of the humans who had jumped down.


    This scene was just like the scene that they had seen before, but there was something else that was different.


    As soon as the lizards came out, they raised their heads and there was a red light that came from their mouths.


    Then they all suddenly opened their mouths and shot out plumes of flames at the humans who had suddenly invaded their territory.


    This created a wall of flames that seemed to swallow all of these humans.


    It was as if they had been engulfed in flames and burnt to a crisp.


    But when the flames settled, all of the humans were just standing there without even a single burn.


    They were contestants from the large guilds, they were chosen for a reason.


    With that, the fight between the lizards and the humans began.

 Chapter 337 - 337: First round (15)

    The Awakeners that were fighting the lizards down below proved why they had been chosen to enter this tournament.


    Even if they were too weak to fight the mutated Salamander, that didn''t mean that they would struggle against these smaller lizards that weren''t as strong.


    The flames that these smaller lizards shot out of their mouths were all easily dispelled by the Awakeners.


    There were many different skills used to dispel these flames, but there wasn''t a single person who struggled against these smaller lizards. They were able to easily break through the wall of flames that came at them.


    After these flames were dispelled, they didn''t waste any time in charging forward.


    It was clear to everyone that these lizards needed to recharge after firing these breaths of flames, so they wouldn''t waste this opportunity that they had been given. Since these lizards couldn''t use their flame breath, it could be said that their strength had been cut by half.


    After all, other than their flames, they only had their strength as giant lizards.


    Just that alone wouldn''t be enough to stop these Awakeners.


    One minute, that was all it took for a lizard to die.


    It was one lizard at first, but then it was another and another that followed after this.


    It seemed that the lizards were being completely overwhelmed by these humans who had suddenly appeared.


    There were more giant lizards that appeared out of the ground that shot their flame breaths at the Awakeners, but that didn''t help at all as they were just as easily dispelled by the Awakeners.


    It almost seemed like a one sided slaughter with how easily they were taking down all of these giant lizards.


    As more and more giant lizards fell, the largest one in the center stirred.


    This mutated Salamander couldn''t ignore what was happening in its territory anymore and turned to look at the humans that had invaded its cave.


    When it saw the humans slaughtering its kin, it reeled back its head and gathered a red glow in its mouth.


    This was just like the other lizards, but the pressure that came from this was completely different.


    It was clear that the breath of this mutated Salamander would be completely different from the rest.


    The Awakeners couldn''t help feeling worried when they saw this, but they didn''t have to worry for long. That was because the mutated Salamander suddenly brought its head forward and released its breath at them.


    When it did, all of them couldn''t help taking a step back as they didn''t know how to deal with this.


    Luckily, Tammy made her move before it could go too far.


    Tammy suddenly raised her hand that transformed into flames and then she shot out a pillar of flames at the flame breath. When the two flames slammed into each other, the pillar of flames that came from Tammy''s hand actually blocked the flame breath.


    It not only blocked the flame breath, but it actually scattered it.


    It seemed that Tammy''s flames were more powerful than the flames of the mutated Salamander.


    When the flame breath stopped, the mutated Salamander had completely woken up from its slumber. There was something that seemed like a shocked look that was on the face of the mutated Salamander as it looked at Tammy.


    Tammy didn''t waste the opportunity that she had been given as she jumped out and said, "Your opponent is me!"


    She completely transformed into flames after jumping into the air and there was a jet of flames that appeared behind her as she propelled herself towards the mutated Salamander.


    Unfortunately, Tammy had made a mistake.


    She thought that the mutated Salamander was the same as the lizards.


    She assumed that it would have to recharge its flames after shooting that flame breath, but that didn''t seem to be the case.


    The mutated Salamander quickly gathered another flame breath and fired it out at Tammy.


    But this time¡­Tammy actually found it hard to completely dispel it. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was actually pushed back by the mutated Salamander''s flame breath.


    It seemed that the first attack had been a casual attack and this second attack was a more concentrated breath.


    It had far more power than it did before.


    Still, Tammy was able to resist it.


    When she landed on the ground, she looked up at the mutated Salamander and said, "It seems like it won''t be easy."


    However, there wasn''t a single trace of giving up that was on her face.


    She knew that even if it wasn''t easy, it was still doable, so she wouldn''t give up this fight.


    At the same time, the other members of the Sol Warriors and the other groups chosen by Tammy also started to make their move.


    They had wanted to see what the mutated Salamander was capable of with Tammy taking the lead. Now that they knew what it was capable of, there was no reason for them to remain idle anymore.


    The Sol Warriors went down to support Tammy while the other split off to attack the mutated Salamander from different directions.


    The mutated Salamander quickly revealed an angry look before suddenly bursting into flames.


    It seemed like just shooting a flame breath wasn''t all that it could do. It seemed like it could control flames on a completely different scale than the other lizards.


    But that didn''t bother these Awakeners as they attacked from different angles.


    The mutated Salamander seemed like it was being overwhelmed when it was being grouped up like this.


    It seemed like it wouldn''t take long before the mutated Salamander went down.


    Seeing this, we all split off as well.


    I had made sure that Long Shui Ling''s ability would cover us all when I made this plan.


    Luckily, this cave wasn''t big enough that she wouldn''t be able to reach us anymore.


    The plan was to split up and attack from different directions when the mutated Salamander was about to go down.


    This wasn''t the best plan, but at least it was a plan that had a chance of success.


    As for who would get the last blow, that was up to fate.

 Chapter 338 - 338: First round (16)

    The fight looked like it was about to be over, but before it ended¡­


    The mutated Salamander suddenly used a different move.


    It started flapping the wings on its back that seemed almost too small for its body once it was opened wide.


    After flapping these wings a few times, the mutated Salamander was carried off the ground.


    While this cave wasn''t that large, it did have a high ceiling so the mutated Salamander was able to easily fly up into the air.


    When it did, the lizards that the other Awakeners had been fighting suddenly pulled back.


    The Awakeners didn''t stop them since their attention was fully on the mutated Salamander that was in the sky.


    There were a few attacks aimed at the mutated Salamander as it ascended into the air, but they were easily blocked by the flames that gathered above its skin. These flames formed a layer of flame armour that completely protected the mutated Salamander.


    Once the mutated Salamander got high enough up in the air, the flames that had been around it started to flow up towards its mouth.


    At the same time, it reeled its head back as if it was gathering its breath and its chest seemed to swell to double the size as before.


    The pressure that came from this mutated Salamander when this happened was so much that many of the weaker Awakeners couldn''t help feeling a trace of fear.


    Before it unleashed the breath that it was gathering, the lizards that had pulled away from the Awakeners suddenly dug into the ground. They once again went back into hiding underground in an instant.


    But that wasn''t the important thing.


    The important thing was why they did this.


    They were avoiding the breath of the mutated Salamander!


    It was using a scorched earth tactic where it wouldn''t hold back in burning ally and enemies. It was using all of its power in a single breath to burn away anything and everything in its path!


    This was dangerous!


    Tammy knew how dangerous this was, so she shouted, "Formation!"


    As soon as she shouted this, the members of the Sol Warriors group took their places around her. They didn''t hesitate to raise their hands and release their mana around Tammy.


    When they did, the mana that they released turned into flames that gathered around Tammy in a tornado of flames.


    As Tammy stood in the center of that tornado of flames, her figure started to change.


    It was the tips of her limbs at first, but the transformation quickly spread to the different parts of her body. In no time at all, she had turned into a maiden that was completely made of flames.


    This was her power, Maiden of the Sun.


    It allowed her to turn herself into flames and control those flames to fight.


    This power was further empowered by the formation that her teammates had taken around her.


    The flames that were generated by her teammates were being absorbed by her, making her figure bigger and bigger.


    When both sides finished gathering their powers, they looked at each other.


    The mutated Salamander looked down at the humans at first, but then it turned to look at Tammy.


    The mutated Salamander could feel the sensation of danger coming from this figure made of flames, so it changed the direction of its flame breath. It was targeting Tammy now, wanting to use the full brunt of its flame breath to wipe her out.


    Tammy didn''t mind this since she also wanted to use this chance to take down the mutated Salamander.


    With a raise of her hand, the flames that had gathered around her formed a tornado that flew up into the sky.


    The target of this flame tornado was naturally the mutated Salamander.


    While sending this flame tornado upwards, she shouted, "Die!"


    The mutated Salamander responded in turn as with a roar, it released the flame breath that it had been gathering.


    Unlike the flame breath that it released before, it wasn''t a wave of flames that rained down on them. This time, it was actually concentrated flames in the form of a beam of flames that was aimed specifically at Tammy.


    The tornado of flames and the beam of flames clashed against each other and it didn''t seem like either side was being pushed back by the other. It seemed like they were evenly matched in terms of power.


    That was until the beam of flames seemed to push back the tornado of flames.


    Tammy''s figure of flame immediately knitted her brows when she saw this and said, "More power! Use everything you have!"


    When she said this, the others from the Sol Warriors let out a roar before they released even more flames with this formation.


    The flames quickly gathered around Tammy and strengthened the flame tornado she released.


    When the flame tornado grew, the power of it also grew.


    This time, it was the beam of flames that was pushed back.


    The mutated Salamander revealed a look of shock before trying to use more power, but it really couldn''t.


    This was already all of the power that it could release, so there was no more power for it to draw on.


    It could only maintain the losing balance for a few seconds before its flame breath was scattered by the flame tornado.


    The flame tornado continued to sweep the mutated Salamander in it.


    Though the flames seemed to want to obey the mutated Salamander, they were still controlled by Tammy.


    So they burned through the thick skin of the mutated Salamander, causing it to be covered in burns. At the same time, it burned through the skin of the mutated Salamander''s wings, causing it to drop to the ground.


    As it slammed down on the ground, there was a large cloud of dust that was stirred. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the dust settled, the mutated Salamander just laid there without moving as it was covered in burns.


    But still it was not dead.


    Its thick skin had saved it in the end.


    "The time is now!"

 Chapter 339 - 339: First round (17)

    The three groups that had been chosen by Tammy to fight the mutated Salamander chose to strike at this time.


    They had been waiting on the side the entire time, waiting to see how the fight between Tammy and the mutated Salamander would go.


    When they saw that Tammy was spent and the mutated Salamander was almost dead, they chose that moment to strike.


    That was why they had been waiting on the side the entire time.


    In fact, they had even been praying for the mutated Salamander to survive Tammy''s attack, just so they could do this.


    Tammy and the group from the Sol Warriors knitted their brows when they saw this, but they couldn''t do a thing. Using that formation just now had exhausted them and they wouldn''t be able to fight until they recovered.


    Tammy wasn''t even able to maintain her flame form anymore, so she had reverted back to her human form.


    Tammy and the Sol Warriors could only watch as these three groups charged at the mutated Salamander. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They all prepared their attacks and it seemed like they were about to take down this mutated Salamander that couldn''t move anymore.


    But right before they could reach it, they were suddenly hit with attacks that came out of nowhere.


    Before they could even react, there was a mist that appeared at the same time.


    The mist covered up these three groups that had been attacked.


    Luckily for these three groups, they had been able to block these attacks that came at them.


    However, they had all been pushed away from the mutated Salamander.


    "What is this?"


    That was the only thing that the members of these three groups could ask.


    After all, this mist had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. At the same time, they couldn''t sense anything from this mist.


    It was as if this mist existed and didn''t exist at the same time.


    Since they couldn''t see through this mist, they didn''t dare rashly.


    They just formed a formation and raised their guards to see if anything would happen while trying to figure out a way to break free of this mist.


    But as they had expected, the mist appearing wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    There were attacks that came out of nowhere, coming from different angles at them.


    If they hadn''t had their guards up, they definitely would have been caught off guard by these attacks.


    However, since they had their guards up, they were able to block them in the end.


    It should be said as expected of the ones that Tammy chose to fight with her.


    They definitely were much stronger than the other Awakeners that had been gathered.


    The only problem was¡­this was just the beginning.


    They soon found that there were attacks that seemed to fade away after they made contact. They raised their weapons to block these attacks that were coming at them, but these attacks seemed to disappear into thin air when they made contact with them.


    It was as if these attacks had never existed in the first place.


    Seeing this, they started to figure out what this mist and these attacks were.


    "Illusions."


    All of them were able to figure it was illusions that had surrounded them when they saw this.


    But that didn''t matter.


    Even if they were able to understand that they were surrounded by illusions, that didn''t mean that they were able to stop it.


    They were overwhelmed by the number of real and fake attacks that came at them.


    They weren''t able to figure out which was real and which was fake, so they had to block every single one of them. The ones that they weren''t able to block hit them head on and did quite a bit of damage.


    Since they didn''t block them, there was no defense put up when they were hit.


    This direct hit would without a doubt cause some damage, even if they were elites.


    So eventually, they were completely blasted down and unable to fight at all.


    It was only then that the mist was released, but the true form of the ones that had attacked them wasn''t revealed.


    Instead, this time, it seemed that the mist was now surrounding the mutated Salamander.


    When everyone saw this, they immediately wanted to do something.


    But what could they do?


    This mist covered the mutated Salamander and cut it off from them.


    They could only watch as the mutated Salamander disappeared from in front of them.


    There were some that wanted to approach the mist, but they found that there was a wall of flames that cut them off when they tried to enter the mist. If they tried to go any further, then they would be burned by these flames.


    So they had no choice but to wait and see what happened.


    Inside of the mist, our three groups stood there facing each other.


    In front of us was the giant mutated Salamander.


    The three of us looked at each other before raising our weapons at the same time.


    We never thought that we would be in this situation, but this was a situation where we had no choice left.


    All three of us would attack at the same time and see who kills this mutated Salamander.


    That was the only way that this would be considered fair.


    With a nod at each other, we all let our weapons fall at the same time at the mutated Salamander.


    Though the mutated Salamander was still alive, it had been knocked out cold by Tammy''s attack. So in the end, it didn''t suffer at all as we killed it in a single move.


    The mutated Salamander didn''t even have a chance to make a sound as our weapons cut right into its thick skin.


    When it was over, the mutated Salamander disappeared and dropped the loot items.


    After that, we all took out our tokens.


    We had learned that with the tokens we were able to see our point values.


    So we opened up the interface to see who received the points.


    When we did, we couldn''t help looking shocked.

 Chapter 340 - 340: First round (18)

    That was because the points on our cards had all increased.


    In fact, the increase in points seemed equal for all of us, so it seemed that we had all gotten some points from killing the mutated Salamander.


    But how did it know to do that?


    Or was it programmed to share the points with anyone that participated in eliminating it?


    If so, did that mean that the others also received points?


    We turned to look at the other members of our groups.


    They were confused why we were looking at them at first, but then they quickly took out their cards as well.


    When they opened up their cards, it seemed that it was indeed the case as all of them had received points as well. The points that they received weren''t any less than the points that we received.


    It seemed that we had indeed split the points from killing the mutated Salamander.


    But how was it split?


    Was it just given to everyone that participated in the fight or was it distributed to the group of the ones that finished it?


    Did that mean that everyone else who had participated in the fight had also received some of the points?


    However, based on how many points we received, if it was really split between all those people, then this mutated Salamander must have been worth a ridiculous amount of points.


    If that was the case, if only we had fought it alone instead of with everyone¡­


    Still, it was too late to regret.


    There were so many things that were unknown that it was hard to figure out what the real reason was.


    But that didn''t matter right now since I could see that Long Shui Ling was starting to struggle keeping up this illusion. It was fine when it was just us, but to create a large scale mist illusion to keep the area where the mutated Salamander had been hidden was hard for her to keep up.


    After all, there was the mist that she had created earlier to trap the Awakeners.


    That had also used up quite a bit of her mana.


    I knew that it wouldn''t last long, so we should get out of here as soon as possible.


    I looked at the other two and they could understand what I wanted to say just by the gaze that I gave them. They both nodded in agreement before they started moving away from where the mutated Salamander had died. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We quickly headed towards the exit with Long Shui Ling''s illusion on us.


    But the moment that we left the area with the mist, the mist started to dissipate.


    When the people who had been waiting outside of the mist saw the mist dissipate, they immediately ran forward as if they were fighting to get the share of the prize.


    It was just too bad that there wasn''t a prize left for them.


    The mutated Salamander had disappeared and even the loot had been taken.


    So after everything that they''ve done, they didn''t get a single thing.


    There were some people that wanted to keep searching and there were some people that wanted to find the other large lizards.


    They wanted to at least earn a few points from the large lizards that were all over this room.


    However, they weren''t able to find a single one.


    Even when they dug in the area where the giant lizards had dug into the ground previously, they weren''t able to find a single giant lizard. It was as if they had all disappeared without a trace.


    How could this be?


    There were some that didn''t want to give up and kept digging in this cave even though they didn''t find anything.


    But there were some that also accepted that there wasn''t anything here.


    Since they accepted this, they no longer remained in this place.


    The fight was already over and the prize had been taken, so there was no reason for them to stick around any longer.


    Instead, it was better for them to go looking for more monsters to kill.


    Time was still ticking, so they needed to earn points as quickly as possible.


    The three groups that had betrayed Tammy were among those that left.


    They knew that it was impossible for them to work with Tammy and the Sol Warriors after betraying them like this, so they didn''t bother staying here any longer.


    Tammy also didn''t stop them since she knew that this was over.


    But there was something that she and her group had been doing the entire time.


    They had been cautiously looking over the surrounding area, as if they were trying to find something.


    "Well?" Tammy asked them.


    The rest of the Sol Warriors group shook their heads and said, "We can''t find anything."


    Tammy revealed an unhappy look when she heard this, but she didn''t say anything else.


    After all, she knew how hard it was to find them.


    This was a group that had snuck in under everyone''s gaze and stolen the mutated Salamander from them.


    Would this group be that easy to find?


    So with a sigh, Tammy said, "Alright, rest up and get ready to leave."


    The Sol Warriors nodded before sitting down and pulling out potions to recover their mana.


    Tammy was about to do the same when she suddenly saw a note fall out of her pocket.


    As the note fell to the ground, she looked at it with a stunned look.


    After a moment of silence, she looked around herself as if she was trying to find whoever had put this note in her pocket. However, she wasn''t able to find a single person around her.


    She wasn''t even able to sense a single aura around her.


    In the end, she just picked up the note and opened it to see what it said.


    "I apologize for stealing the boss, but this is just how this first round is. I do not wish to antagonize you and hope that we can work together in the future."


    It was a short and simple note, but it had plenty of information.


    Tammy revealed a faint bitter smile after reading this note.


    She shook her head with this bitter smile on her face before crumpling up the note and putting it in her pocket.

 Chapter 341 - 341: First round (19)

    After putting that note in her pocket, Tammy knew that there was no reason for them to stay here any longer.


    With a wave of her hand, she said, "Let''s go."


    The other members of the Sol Warriors were surprised since she had just told them to heal up just now before telling them that they were leaving. However, they didn''t question her as they just followed behind her, leaving this cave.


    There were still a few people that remained, but when the majority of them saw that even Tammy and the Sol Warriors were leaving, they didn''t stay here any longer.


    One of the groups that stayed was Diablo and his group of cloaked figures.


    They just stood on the side and watched as the Awakeners kept digging in vain, trying to find the lizards.


    But no matter how much they tried digging, they weren''t able to find a single lizard that was hiding in the dirt.


    Eventually, all of them gave up with defeated looks on their faces.


    It seemed that their spirits were crushed by the fact that they weren''t able to find anything, so they just left this cave in search of other opportunities.


    The only ones that didn''t leave was Diablo''s group.


    They just stood there on the side of the cave, watching as these other groups dug.


    When these groups left, they couldn''t help looking at Diablo''s group with strange looks, as if they were suspicious of them. But they still left without saying anything to them since they knew that their time was short.


    They didn''t have time to waste on a place that didn''t have any points for them to collect.


    Once the last group left, Diablo suddenly said, "It seems that kids really are impatient these days. We led them here and they just don''t have the patience to wait for the prize."


    He turned to one of the cloaked figures and asked, "How long has passed?"


    That person took out what seemed to be a strange phone that had a timer on it and said, "Thirty four minutes, on the dot."


    "So there''s another twenty six minutes left before it happens." Diablo said while stroking his chin. Then with a sigh he said, "Kids really are impatient these days."


    The other cloak figures didn''t say anything, but they did shake their heads in sympathy as if they agreed with Diablo.


    Their group just waited for another twenty six minutes in this cave.


    After those twenty six minutes passed, there was something that started to change in this cave.


    There was a rumbling sound that rang out before a part of the cave suddenly collapsed.


    This was a part of the cave on one of the walls that suddenly had cracks form in it before breaking down. The part that broke down revealed a hidden compartment in this cave.


    This seemed to be some kind of hidden room.


    Only when the dust settled did Diablo''s group start moving towards that hole in the wall.


    They walked right over to it and then stood at the entrance of this hidden room, looking in at the item that was inside.


    This hidden room was a very simple room that didn''t have much in it. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The walls of the room were completely white, even the roof and floor of this room were completely white. The only thing of note in this room was a pedestal in the center that had something on it.


    This thing was a red gem.


    This red gem was the scarlet colour of the darkest flames.


    Seeing this gem, not a single member of Diablo''s group went forward to take it.


    Instead, they just stood at the entrance admiring it.


    After a long silence, Diablo finally said, "Hmm, since they didn''t take it, does that mean that the hidden condition for that event is met?"


    The same person who took out the timer earlier gave a nod before saying, "That''s right. The energy released by this Inferno Gem left behind will eventually spread to the different parts of this dungeon and incite the beasts to try and find the source. Once that happens, the beast wave will occur and the contestants will be swarmed by the monsters of the dungeon."


    Diablo gave a nod, but once again not a single member of their group came forward to take the Inferno Gem to stop this.


    After a long silence, Diablo said, "Well, this should be interesting to watch. I never thought that when we led these kids here, this was how it would end."


    The others nodded in agreement, but it was clear that they were also excited about this.


    The way that they were talking was very suspicious.


    It was almost as if they already knew everything that would happen.


    And that was because¡­they did know everything that would happen.


    Diablo and his group, they were actually part of the management.


    They were the ones that had led all of the contestants to this place on purpose so they would fight the boss and clear this event. But they never expected the contestants to leave this thing here.


    After another long silence, another one of their group suddenly asked, "You said that they were impatient, but what about the ones that snuck the kill?"


    Diablo gave a chuckle when he heard this before saying, "Well, they were completely surrounded, so I doubt they would have stayed. It was most likely because whatever they used to hide themselves was running out, so they had no choice but to leave."


    As he said this, there was a trace of admiration in his voice.


    After all, even though they were part of the management and much stronger than most of the contestants, they actually hadn''t been able to see through whatever they had used to hide themselves.


    It seemed that there were still some impressive contestants out there.


    Diablo turned back to look at the red gem in the center of this room and said, "I really can''t wait to see what happens next. This will definitely be much more exciting than we planned the first round to be."

 Chapter 342 - 342: First round (20)

    After leaving that cave, we really didn''t have anything else to do.


    We couldn''t gather any information since we had chosen to steal the boss, so all we could do was wander around like a headless chicken looking for monsters.


    It was a good thing that there were monsters all over this dungeon, so it wasn''t hard to find things to kill.


    The only problem was the amount of points they gave.


    These weak monsters didn''t even give one thousandth of the total points that the mutated Salamander gave and that was after splitting it up. So it was clear that there was nothing to gain from fighting them.


    But the problem was that there was nothing else for us to fight¡­


    So it was making the best of the situation.


    All the while, we kept looking for stronger monsters.


    However, it was as if the stronger monsters had all disappeared.


    Two hours later, we were still no better off than we were earlier.


    We had stopped attacking the various small monsters that were around and gathered around.


    When we gathered, I was the one that said, "We can''t keep going like this. There are no points to earn from this, so we''ll fall behind the others at this rate."


    Everyone nodded in agreement to this.


    They weren''t fools, they all knew that our time was slowly ticking down.


    But no one said anything after this since they knew that there was nothing that they could say.


    There was only silence as we stood there until¡­


    "Roar!"


    There was this loud roaring that came from around us. This roaring wasn''t just the roar of a single beast, but the roaring of many beasts.


    It was almost deafening with how many beasts were roaring at the same time.


    As soon as we recovered from our daze, we immediately raised our guards and prepared for whatever was coming. After all, it was impossible that there would be nothing after this kind of roar.


    But just where did this roar come from?


    That question was quickly answered by the things that came out of the forest.


    They came out of the forest just like they were coming out of the woodworks.


    There were many different beasts that suddenly ran out and they all swarmed towards us.


    Seeing this, we had no choice but to run.


    We could have fought them, but this was a very bad place for us to fight them.


    After all, it was clear that this was a stampede.


    The only ending that we would have if we stood there was getting trampled by this stampede.


    There were just too many beasts that it was impossible for us to stop them if we stood in their way.


    As we ran, I had Blaze and Kaito leave behind a wall of flames to try and disrupt the beasts. However, all that happened was that they crushed through the wall of flames to still continue charging at us.


    In fact, it didn''t even seem like the wall of flames did anything to them when they hit it.


    It was as if it was just annoying them rather than hurting them.


    When the beasts charged into the flames, there was what seemed to be this invisible barrier that blocked all of the flames that were in front of them.


    This was the phenomenon that was formed when beasts gathered in a stampede like this.


    It was when all of their mana was gathered together and with this gathered mana, it formed a barrier in front of them that could block most attacks.


    That was why stampedes were so terrifying.


    In the end, the only thing that we could do was jump up into one of the trees in the path of the stampede.


    For some reason, we saw that the beasts avoided trees that were in their way even though they weren''t afraid of the flame wall that Blaze and Kaito had formed.


    Though we didn''t understand it, we still jumped up into the trees that were in the path of the stampede.


    Once we jumped into the trees, it was as if magic happened as the beasts all ignored us. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One moment, they had been chasing us and the next, they were completely ignoring us.


    They moved past the trees and continued running forward in a certain direction.


    It seemed that from the beginning, the beasts had never been targeting us.


    From the very beginning, they were just charging in a certain direction, with a goal in mind. As long as we didn''t get in their way, they wouldn''t care about us at all.


    But that raised the question.


    What were they targeting?


    The stampede lasted around ten minutes before all of the beasts disappeared.


    That was just how many beasts there were in this stampede.


    Though they had passed us, not a single one of us got out of the tree.


    We just stood there in the tree, looking in the direction that those beasts had run off in.


    There was only one thought in our minds.


    "Look at all those points!"


    Every single one of the beasts would be worth points and there were so many of them in that stampede.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that there were so many of them, we might have fought them to get those points.


    But that didn''t mean that we didn''t have a chance to collect those points.


    I looked at Alex and Julius who were both in their trees with their group with a look that made my intentions clear.


    Both of them nodded in agreement when they saw that I was looking over at them.


    It was only then that we jumped out of the trees and started following the tracks of the stampede.


    With how many beasts there were and how many tracks they left behind, it wasn''t hard for us to follow these tracks.


    But as we did, I couldn''t help feeling a bit strange.


    It was that the direction that this stampede was heading in seemed familiar.

 Chapter 343 - 343: First round (21)

    I was right, it was a familiar place.


    After following the tracks of the beasts, we found ourselves back at the cave where we had fought the mutated Salamander.


    The beasts were completely crowded around this cave, but it didn''t seem like they were about to push in. Instead, it almost seemed like they were just guarding the entrance to this cave, so that no one would be able to enter.


    It seemed that they were guarding something that was important to the cave.


    With how many beasts were gathered, it didn''t seem like just the stampede that we had encountered earlier was here. It seemed like there were even more beasts than what was in the stampede.


    But why did they all gather here?


    No, it was better to ask, just what had they gathered to protect?


    With the way that they were standing around the cave, it was clear that they were protecting something.


    The thing that could bring all of these beasts together would without a doubt be something very powerful and rare.


    It didn''t take long for our greed to be provoked.


    However, we weren''t the only ones that had been drawn to this.


    Since everyone was standing in the trees to avoid the beasts, it was easy to notice each other.


    This time, we didn''t surround ourselves in the illusion, so the others were able to notice us.


    If we kept using the illusion, when it was discovered that we were using the illusion, those that we had stolen from with this power would realize that it was us. With how many Awakeners had been in the mutated Salamander''s cave when we killed it, there was no doubt that it would be quite troublesome to have to deal with them. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So for now, it was better to not use the illusions.


    As we looked closely, we could see a few people that we recognized in the trees around us.


    These were the ones that Alex and Julius had told me to pay attention to when we had been in the cafe. These were the ones that were considered to have some kind of skill.


    That included Tammy and the Sol Warriors who we had stolen from earlier.


    Everyone was wary of each other, but no one made a move.


    After all, the first person to make a move would without a doubt be surrounded by everyone else.


    That was just how tense the situation was.


    And with each passing moment, it became more and more tense.


    After all, even if we had no idea what the beasts were doing, we were certain that there would be other beasts inside the cave that we couldn''t see. We had no idea what those beasts inside of the cave would be doing, but there was no doubt that the situation wasn''t good for us.


    As the pressure fell onto us, there was finally someone that couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Men! Follow me!"


    This was a group from one of the large guilds.


    It was a group from a big guild from Australia called Kangaroo Jack.


    This guild wasn''t as big as the large guilds, but it was still a guild that could be considered first rate.


    So the ones that came from this guild certainly wouldn''t be weak.


    After the leader of the Kangaroo Jack group shouted this, he and his men jumped down onto the ground and charged at the beasts.


    The moment that they landed, the beasts immediately turned to face their direction.


    However, unlike before, they didn''t charge at them like when they were stampeding.


    Instead, they just strengthened their position and prepared for the offense of the Kangaroo Jack group.


    When the leader of the Kangaroo Jack saw this, he immediately said, "Spread out!"


    The members of his group went off in different directions, though they all kept going forward to hit the wave of beasts in front of them.


    It seemed that their plan was to strike at different parts of the beast wave.


    If they could strike from different parts of the beast wave, with the power that they had, there was no doubt that a shockwave would spread through the beast wave. This shockwave would surely shake the unity of the entire beast wave, making it easier for them to take it down.


    But they found that it wasn''t as easy as they thought.


    The beasts that they tried to attack all had powerful defenses.


    They found that their attacks weren''t able to pierce through these defenses at all, so their charge was completely stopped.


    Once they lost the momentum of this charge, there were various attacks that came in their direction.


    It took all that they had just to dodge out of these attacks, though there were still some that hit them.


    As they fled, the Kangaroo Jack group all looked very sorry.


    At the very least, the one good thing was that they didn''t suffer any casualties.


    Though they were heavily injured, at the very least, they were all able to get out of there with their lives.


    But this just went to show how powerful these gathered beasts were.


    Those with sharp eyes immediately noticed why this was the case.


    It was the unity of the beasts, it was the fact that they were all working together that made them hard to deal with.


    Individually, the beasts weren''t that powerful.


    However, when they all came together like this and gathered their power, they became hard to deal with.


    This was not something that any single group would be able to deal with on their own.


    There were just too many beasts here.


    Everyone had learned from the mistakes of the Kangaroo Jack group and there wasn''t a single person who jumped down to challenge the beasts after this.


    But they also couldn''t just give up whatever treasures were inside of the cave.


    After coming this far, they couldn''t just turn back and give up now.


    So there were some ideas that were floating among these Awakeners.

 Chapter 344 - 344: First round (22)

    There were looks that were exchanged between Awakener groups.


    Eventually, there were meetings that were called between Awakener groups.


    There were small meetings that were called at first as those that were familiar with each other met to discuss the matter of the beast wave.


    But they knew that this was far from enough to deal with all of these beasts.


    So through mutual acquaintances, eventually all of the Awakeners were gathered in a single meeting.


    That included our group.


    It was through someone that invited both Alex and Julius.


    As for us, we didn''t really get invited since we weren''t that close to any of the other guilds.


    If it wasn''t for Alex and Julius proposing this alliance, we would have most likely been wandering this dungeon all by ourselves.


    For this large meeting, it was only the representatives of each group that came. However, even with just the representatives meeting, there were over fifty different people that were gathered.


    That just went to show how many people had been participating in this tournament in the first place, as well as showing how much prestige could be gained from this tournament that so many people signed up for it.


    When we all gathered, no one really said anything as they all warily looked at each other.


    This was the first time that most of us were meeting each other and we were all competitors with each other, so it was hard for everyone to accept each other that easily.


    The silence was only broken when Tammy suddenly came forward to say, "Which one of you stole the mutated Salamander from us?"


    The moment that she said this, everyone looked at Tammy with surprised looks.


    After all, not a single person had expected her to suddenly say this.


    However, there also wasn''t a single person that said a thing. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They could see the look that was on Tammy''s face, so they knew that whatever this was about, it wasn''t a good thing.


    Not to mention, there were quite a few of them that had gone with Tammy to fight the mutated Salamander. So they also wanted to see if anyone would admit to taking it from them.


    As for our group, we acted like we didn''t know anything.


    I was certainly surprised to hear her suddenly ask this, but of course I wouldn''t throw myself into the flames. Alex and Julius also understood this, so they all revealed calm looks of surprise.


    I also made sure to look at Long Shui Ling just in case.


    If anything happened, we might need her illusion to get away.


    After all, there was no reason for Tammy to suddenly ask this unless¡­she had some ideas of who it was.


    Tammy saw that no one came forward to say anything, so her eyes swept over everyone here.


    After a long moment of silence, Tammy said, "I''m not angry about what happened. I just want to know if you received something special from killing the mutated Salamander that might trigger this event."


    When she said this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit strange.


    That was because I couldn''t help finding myself agreeing with her.


    I had completely missed this since I was worried that she had figured out something, but it seemed that Tammy had been thinking rationally.


    However, I also knew that it was impossible for it to be the item that the mutated Salamander dropped that caused this. If it was, they wouldn''t have swarmed this cave and would have swarmed us instead.


    Not to mention, the item that had been dropped had already been put into the Storage Ring.


    The Storage Ring''s space was a separated dimension, so it was impossible for any of its aura to leak out. So it was impossible for the item that had been dropped to cause this.


    The item that was dropped was a scale of the mutated Salamander, so that was possible that they were drawn by it.


    Could it be that there was something that they had missed when they rushed to leave that cave?


    Perhaps there was another scale that dropped that had caused the beasts to gather like this?


    It was a mutated beast, so there must be something special about it.


    This something special would draw in the other beasts that also wanted to become stronger, which could explain the beast wave.


    As these thoughts passed through my mind, I maintained a calm look on my face.


    I looked over at Alex and Julius and both of them had the same calm looks.


    It seemed that both of them agreed that we should still remain silent about this even if the information that we had would help everyone.


    Seeing that no one came forward still, Tammy gave a sigh and said, "Then I guess we have to do this without any information."


    She went back to the Sol Warriors and didn''t say anything else.


    The others all looked at each other with wary looks, as if they were trying to figure out if any of the others were the ones that Tammy had mentioned before.


    However, not a single person said a thing or was able to discover anything.


    There were some gazes that were cast in our direction, but they also didn''t find anything since we had calm looks on our faces.


    After a long silence, there was a blonde haired young man that came forward.


    This was a handsome blonde haired young man with hair that wasn''t too long and eyes that were as blue as the clearest water.


    He was dressed completely in white and there seemed to be a book in his hand.


    When one looked at it closely, they saw that this was the bible that he was holding.


    After coming forward, this blonde haired young man said, "Everyone, let''s not worry about this right now. Let''s talk about how we should handle this situation in front of us."


    As soon as he came forward, he started trying to take control of the situation.


    That made everyone slightly knit their brows.


    But in the end, no one said anything against it.

 Chapter 345 - 345: First round (23)

    When the blonde young man saw this, he said with a nod, "We''ve all come here with the same intentions, so I feel that we can all work together regardless of what may come between us."


    Everyone looked at each other.


    There were some that looked at their enemies and there were some that looked at their friends.


    It was clear that there was a complicated web of relationships between everyone that was here.


    But still, it didn''t seem like anyone was against cooperating.


    On the other hand, I narrowed my eyes to look at this blonde young man who had come forward.


    I recognized him since I had seen his file on the device that Alex gave me.


    This person''s name was Michael Grace and he came from a guild named Deus Mecum.


    This name meant "God is with me".


    As the name suggested, this was a guild that had been formed by the Vatican and was the central pillar of Christianity in this world filled with dungeons. This was a guild that gathered all those that believed in God and worked to further the spread of Christianity.


    In a sense, it was no different from a cult.


    Though if one were to call it a cult, they would certainly be put on the enemy list.


    The Vatican had stored up quite a bit of power and had even shown some sacred relics before. These sacred relics had all powered up after mana filled Earth from the dungeon breaks, so those sacred relics couldn''t be looked down on.


    That was how Deus Mecum had become one of the largest guilds.


    Though it helped that they were the largest religion before the appearance of the dungeons.


    Right now, the reason why everyone went along with Michael was because Deus Mecum liked to portray itself as a neutral guild.


    Following the scriptures of their religion, God loved everyone and we were all children of God, so they remained neutral in most matters.


    As such, this Michael could be trusted as a neutral party to gather everyone together because of Deus Mecum''s prestige.


    In fact, they actually hoped that he would help them navigate the complex web of relationships between them with his neutrality.


    Seeing that no one said anything still, Michael continued by saying, "For now, how about we all put aside our differences and figure out a way to reach the center of this cave."


    After a pause, he added, "I''m sure that the longer we wait, the worse the situation will be for us."


    At this, everyone narrowed their eyes to look at the cave.


    They hadn''t been able to sense it earlier, but they could feel an increasing aura coming from the cave. It was as if there was something inside the cave that was getting stronger and stronger.


    While they had no idea just what it was inside the cave that was getting stronger, they knew that this would be bad for them.


    Not to mention the boss of this dungeon, just these monsters that came out after they finished powering up would be too hard to fight.


    So for now, it was better to take down whatever was in the cave while we still stood a chance.


    Of course, it would be a lie to say that there wasn''t a trace of greed hidden in this.


    To everyone''s surprise, I suddenly said, "I agree with this."


    They all looked at me, but the ones that glared at me the most were Alex and Julius.


    It was as if they were saying, "What are you doing?"


    But they moved closer to me as if they were prepared to help me if anything went wrong.


    It was just that things didn''t go as they thought they would.


    After looking at me for a bit, the others turned back to look at Michael and they also started to state their agreement with this. It was as if I had been completely forgotten even though I had been the first one to say something.


    When they saw this, Alex and Julius understood what I was doing.


    There was no reason for anyone to suspect me, so even if I said something, they wouldn''t think anything of it.


    Rather, by being the first one to say something, they would think of me as cannon fodder.


    That was because I was someone that agreed so easily, there would be no way that I would be anyone powerful if I folded that easily. This would just make them think even less of me and let me completely fly under the radar.


    After understanding this, there was even a trace of regret that appeared in the eyes of Alex and Julius. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If they had followed me and had agreed along with me, then they would have been treated the same way as me.


    This would greatly help us later on when we went into the cave.


    There was a benefit of being underestimated.


    It would make your enemies let their guards down and it would make your friends want to protect you.


    While they didn''t have many friends, there was no doubt that they had many enemies after what had happened with the mutated Salamander.


    So for now, it was best to fly under the radar as much as possible.


    After everyone agreed to this, Michael suddenly said, "Then we should come up with some kind of plan for this."


    With a nod, there were two others that came over to his side before he said, "If everyone is alright with this, I would like to recommend that the three of us have joint command over this mission. We will not force you to follow our orders, but it would at least be helpful for us to have some form of command to coordinate our actions, right?"


    The two that he had called up were from guilds in European countries that were close to the Vatican.


    It was clear that this was all premeditated, but slowly everyone nodded in agreement.


    It was all because of the latter part that he added.


    He wouldn''t force anyone to follow his command.


    That was the only reason why this flimsy alliance was built.

 Chapter 346 - 346: First round (24)

    Once the flimsy alliance was formed, we didn''t waste any time jumping down from the trees.


    The beasts that surrounded the cave didn''t really react to us.


    They were no longer stampeding and seemed to be guarding the cave instead.


    It was clear that whatever was in the cave was their main goal, so we didn''t rush into a fight.


    We knew that there was a limited amount of time before the beasts inside the cave became stronger, but that didn''t mean that we should rush into a bad situation. The first thing that we had to do was find a way into the cave itself without taking too much damage.


    If we drained ourselves before we even got in the cave and fought the bosses inside in that condition, there was only defeat waiting for us.


    The first thing that we had to do was observe and find a weak spot in their formation to penetrate from.


    It took a while, but we were able to find it in the end.


    The distribution of beasts was actually strange, it was that most of the beasts were gathered around the back of the cave rather than the front where the entrance was. This created an uneven defense that made it easy for us to break through the front if we wanted to.


    However, no matter how we looked at it, it really seemed strange.


    But when we looked at it, we found that there was nothing strange about the back of the cave.


    It seemed that there weren''t any hidden passages that could lead into the cave or any special items that were there. It just seemed that the beasts were just gathered there for no special reason.


    After taking some time to confirm this, we decided to not worry about it and charge the cave still.


    With the different groups, we were able to quickly find a vanguard that would lead the way.


    However, it was a surprise to everyone who this vanguard was.


    "I''ll do it." Tammy suddenly spoke up again.


    After what she had said earlier, she had fallen silent and hadn''t said another word.


    That was until she suddenly said that she would volunteer as the vanguard.


    Everyone looked at her with strange looks as if they were trying to figure out just what she was trying to do, but Tammy ignored them as she looked at Michael and said, "Unless there''s a problem with me taking that position?"


    Michael also had a strange look on his face at first, but then he quickly revealed a smile that made him seem very friendly as he said, "Of course not, there''s no problem at all." S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though the Sol Warriors and Deus Mecum were both based in Europe and seemed neutral, there was actually a hidden grudge between them.


    I only knew this because of the information from Alex.


    On the surface, it didn''t seem like there were any tensions between the two sides, but beneath the surface¡­


    The reason for this tension between them was actually very simple.


    It was simply because they were both religious organizations.


    One worshipped Christianity while the other worshipped the sun goddess.


    So it was simply a fight for believers and followers.


    Still, they had to remain neutral on the surface, so it wasn''t as if Michael could do anything to Tammy.


    He could only accept her proposal and wait to see if there was any chance for him to strike.


    But Tammy was just too powerful for that.


    Tammy turned into flames as she charged forward and swept across the beasts that were in front of the entrance. These beasts tried their best to fight back, but without the momentum of the charge from earlier, they just weren''t able to resist the flames that came at them.


    Seeing these flames, I couldn''t help turning to look at Blaze and Kaito.


    Both of them were watching Tammy push through the beasts and when they saw me looking at them, they shook their heads with bitter smiles on their faces.


    They knew what level of power they were at and they knew that they wouldn''t be able to do the same as her with their firepower.


    They had to admit that her flames were better than theirs.


    But of course, that didn''t mean that they would give up in the future.


    This just made it clear why she was one of the favoured contestants in this tournament.


    With Tammy''s flames clearing the way, we quickly made our way to the entrance of the cave.


    There was even a large area in front of the cave that was left completely open by the beasts.


    The moment that we arrived in this area, we immediately understood why it was left open by them.


    The heat was just too much.


    This heat was even greater than before when we came to this cave.


    It was almost so hot that we received burns just from standing there.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that we were Awakeners, we might have really been burnt by all of this.


    It was no wonder there was a lack of beasts that were standing in front of the cave itself.


    They were trying to avoid this heat that was coming from inside.


    But why was this heat coming out like this?


    Or rather, just where was this intense fire energy coming from?


    That was what was causing the heat, it was a large amount of fire energy that was coming out of the entrance of this cave.


    No one had any idea where this fire energy came from, but we did know one thing.


    This kind of large amount of fire energy usually meant that there was some kind of treasure.


    It seemed that there really was some kind of treasure in this place that was attracting all of the beasts.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit of pity since this should have been ours.


    After all, the only explanation was that it was linked to the mutated Salamander and we had left it behind.

 Chapter 347 - 347: First round (25)

    As we headed into the cave, there were many different people that used their powers.


    They didn''t use their powers on anything that was in the cave, but rather to surround their own group.


    That included our group, or rather Alex''s group''s water ability Awakeners.


    They raised their hands and gathered some mist around us, which cooled the area around us. The only ones that didn''t enter this mist were Blaze and Kaito.


    They declined the offer to enter this mist so they could walk around in the fire energy.


    Though that was because it would be good for them to walk around in this fire energy.


    Since they were flame attributed Awakeners, they could absorb this fire energy that was around them. So the longer that they stayed in this dense fire energy, the stronger they would become.


    The stronger they became, the stronger their flames would be.


    It was clear that they had been incited by the display that Tammy had put on earlier, so they were doing all that they could to grow stronger while they had the chance.


    I didn''t want to put a damper on their mood, but it was clear that this wasn''t something that could be achieved in just one or two days.


    Still, it was at least good that they were motivated since this didn''t seem like it would be simple.


    That was because as we walked through the cave, there were no beasts at all.


    We had thought that we would run into a few beasts as we made our way deeper into the cave, but there weren''t any that appeared. It was almost as if this cave was completely empty.


    However, we knew that this wasn''t the case since we could feel the aura growing stronger in front of us.


    The plan had been to go slowly since there was no knowing what was waiting for us, but after seeing that there weren''t any beasts to get in our way, there was a hint of impatience that appeared over the group.


    Finally, Tammy wasn''t able to take it anymore and started moving faster.


    When she moved faster, the other groups weren''t willing to let her get ahead of them, so they also started moving faster.


    In the end, they didn''t care about being cautious at all as they headed deeper into the cave.


    While they went deeper, I made sure to hang back with my group.


    I didn''t know what was ahead, but I was certain that it wouldn''t be easy to deal with.


    Since there was cannon fodder that was willing to take this risk, there was no need for my group to go.


    When we reached the cave where the mutated Salamander had been, we were surprised by what we saw.


    It was completely filled with beasts.


    There was only the entrance to this room that was open and free of beasts, but every other place was filled with beasts. Moreover, when we looked closely, we found that all of these beasts were covered in flames.


    It seemed that all of these beasts were flame attributed beasts and they were absorbing the fire energy that was in the air, which made them stronger. The longer that we let them be, the stronger they would become and the more dangerous they would be.


    So Tammy looked at her group and then jumped down to face the beasts.


    There were some others that also jumped down, but most of us remained up here.


    Though these beasts would certainly give us points, it wouldn''t be smart to waste our energy right now. Not to mention, there were more beasts than humans here, so we would be immediately swarmed if we jumped down.


    But that quickly changed when we saw something in the distance.


    It had been blocked by the beasts at first, but the disturbance that Tammy created caused the beasts to shift out of the way, revealing what they had once covered.


    It was a room.


    There was this hidden room on the opposite side of this cave.


    Though we couldn''t see what was inside of that room, we could feel the fire energy that was coming from it.


    Whatever was in that room was the source of the large amounts of fire energy.


    The alliance that we had created was fragile to begin with and now there was this that was thrown in there, there was no way that this alliance would remain.


    Michael was the first one to try and take advantage of this alliance by saying, "Everyone, please work together to clear a path!"


    However, his words fell onto deaf ears.


    Everyone knew that he was just trying to use them to clear a path to that room for himself, so they all ignored him and did their own thing.


    Most of the people here immediately jumped down to fight the beasts with Tammy.


    As they jumped down, there were some minor conflicts that came up.


    "Get out of here, this is our area!"


    "Who died and made you king? I can go where I want!"


    It was mainly conflicts over where they were fighting the beasts.


    However, with the valiant efforts of Tammy and the others that had jumped down earlier, a large space had already been cleared. There was plenty of room and plenty of beasts for everyone.


    As more and more people jumped down to face the beasts, there was a tension that fell over the ones that remained.


    It pressured them into wondering whether they should jump down as well. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That naturally included our group who just stood above and watched everyone fight.


    In the end, I turned to look at Alex and Julius to say, "Should we just observe them for now?"


    For the first time, Julius shook his head in disagreement and said, "No, staying here will actually be worse."


    I revealed a confused look, but I waited for him to explain.


    Julius just simply pointed at a few beasts that were on the side when he saw this.


    When I looked at the beasts, I immediately understood what he was talking about.

 Chapter 348 - 348: First round (26)

    These beasts hadn''t engaged with the ones that had dived down and were just moving around them.


    Instead, they were climbing up the walls of the cave and heading towards this cliff at the entrance of this cave where we were standing.


    It would only be a matter of time before they reached where we were.


    Once that happened, they would be surrounded and cut off from the rest of the cave. They would be pushed back out of the cave by the beasts that were coming at them or at least stalled by these beasts that they wouldn''t be able to fight for the treasures.


    In short, there was nothing to gain from staying here.


    Though jumping down also posed a risk.


    After all, with the beasts coming over, it would only be a matter of time before the exit to the cave was blocked by them. Once that happened, it would be hard for us to leave even if we wanted to.


    Once that happened, the only way forward was to charge into the large group of beasts in front of us.


    After a moment of hesitation, I saId with a nod, "Alright, let''s go. We''ll hang at the back of their group and follow them."


    Alex and Julius both nodded in agreement when they heard this since this was the best decision.


    Though following them would mean that we would have to fight as well, it was still better than not following them since the vanguard would clear out most of the beasts. The ones that would be left for us would be the weak ones that escaped through the cracks, so it would be easy for us to finish them off.


    It would allow us to save energy until we reached that room that was releasing this energy.


    So without any further hesitation, we jumped down and followed behind the groups that had jumped down already.


    It didn''t take any time for us to hear screams and cries of retreat coming from behind us.


    It was clear that these came from the ones that weren''t fortunate enough to escape in time.


    They were most likely seriously injured and had no choice but to back down.


    After all, once we jumped down, we found that there wasn''t a single beast that was weak here.


    They were just as strong as the C Rankers and with their numbers, they would certainly be hard for normal C Rankers to deal with.


    Of course, with the composition of our group, it was easy for us to deal with these beasts. Plus, most of the beasts that reached us all had burns on them, showing that they were already injured by the vanguard.


    So this made it very easy for us to take them down.


    Since we had caught them off guard by suddenly appearing, the speed at which we went through the cave was very fast.


    By the time that the beasts recovered and regained their senses, our group had already made it halfway across the room. No, looking closely, it was more than halfway.


    There was only a bit left before reaching the room where the fire energy was coming from.


    Since we were so close, I was actually able to see a bit of what was inside the room.


    It seemed that there was some kind of red light coming from the room and I could see that there were a few beast corpses that were lying by the entrance.


    These beast corpses were not beasts that we had killed¡­so there had to be something inside of there causing the death of these beasts.


    It was most likely whatever was left behind by the mutated Salamander.


    It seemed that even if we wanted to get the treasure from that room, it wouldn''t be easy since the treasure wouldn''t let us take it so easily.


    There were others that also noticed this and a few of the sharper groups moved backwards.


    Tammy also naturally noticed this, but she couldn''t move back since she was the vanguard. So she had no choice but to keep using her flames to push the beasts out of our way.


    While we were getting closer and closer, I said to Alex and Julius, "Let''s hang back."


    However, this time, both of them didn''t seem as willing to accept this.


    It was as if they had already been planning to charge in to see what was the source of this large amount of fire energy.


    But in the end, since I was the one that said this, they agreed with me.


    I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief when I saw this.


    If I didn''t say anything, would I have been forced to go in with them?


    That was the last thing that I wanted.


    No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like there would be some kind of trial that we would need to pass to get to the treasure.


    I wouldn''t risk my life for something like that.


    I would prefer to be the oriole behind the mantis as it stalked the cicada.


    Though there was only a bit of distance left between us and that cave, these last few meters were the hardest.


    That was because the beasts that were gathered outside of this room were the strongest ones out of all the beasts here.


    They didn''t go down in one blow from Tammy''s flames and many of them were even able to fight back.


    Seeing this, Tammy said, "Attack together or else we''ll never make it!"


    When they heard this, the ones that had been charging with her looked at each other before following her orders.


    They knew that they were just a bit away from the room, so they had no choice but to work with her to reach it. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With all of these Awakeners working with Tammy, they were able to create a path to that room releasing the red light and the large amounts of fire energy.


    When we reached the entrance to this room and saw what was inside, we were shocked.

 Chapter 349 - 349: First round (27)

    Inside of this room, there were many beast corpses that were scattered around.


    The smell of blood was still fresh and strong in the air, showing that it hadn''t been long since they died.


    But that wasn''t the most shocking thing.


    The most shocking thing was the pedestal that was in the center of this room with this red gem on it that was releasing a large amount of fire energy.


    As soon as we saw this, we knew that this must have been the thing that triggered the beast wave.


    At the same time, when I saw it, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief.


    It really wasn''t something that we had left behind. After all, this red gem was placed in this special room with a pedestal holding it up, this was not something that the mutated Salamander should have dropped.


    This was most likely some kind of mechanism of the dungeon that had only been unlocked when the mutated Salamander died.


    We didn''t see this since we had left right away, but I couldn''t help being curious about something.


    There was no doubt that Tammy and the others should have stayed behind to search this cave after we left. They should have seen this room with the red gem in it even if we hadn''t.


    So why did they not take this red gem?


    When I looked over at Tammy, I found that she had a frown on her face as she looked at this red gem.


    At the same time, it seemed like there was a look of unfamiliarity as she looked at this red gem. It was almost as if she was seeing this red gem for the first time.


    When I saw this look on her face, I couldn''t help thinking to myself.


    "Did she not know about this?"


    If she didn''t know about this, then it made more sense.


    After all, if Tammy did know about this, then there was no way that she or the others would have left it behind. There would have been a large fight over this red gem and maybe even some deaths would have occurred.


    So there must have been some kind of hidden condition that had triggered that had caused this red gem to appear.


    But what was that hidden condition?


    I had no idea at all. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After my thoughts settled on this matter, I started turning my attention to the beast corpses that were scattered across the ground.


    It was clear that they had been killed by something and it seemed like it was quite the gruesome death.


    But what had killed them?


    There didn''t seem to be anything in this room¡­


    No, when a room was too clean, it would be suspicious.


    There was most likely some kind of trap that was here¡­


    I looked over at Alex and Julius and it seemed like they had figured out the same thing as me. So we all made sure to stand away from the center of the room, moving close to the exit just in case anything happened.


    But we also made sure to leave some people behind us so that they would have to fight the beasts that were following behind us instead of us.


    We were in the perfect position to observe the situation.


    After a long silence, there was someone that finally couldn''t take it anymore.


    This person was a part of one of the groups that had jumped down right away with Tammy''s group as part of the vanguard.


    It seemed that this person had quite the courage since they were able to follow Tammy in the vanguard.


    But it also seemed like they didn''t have that much of a brain as they charged forward without any hesitation.


    At first, it seemed like nothing was about to happen as they ran across the wide room towards the red gem.


    When the others saw this, they couldn''t help feeling a bit of regret over not going forward first. There were also a few people that took a few steps forward, as if they were preparing to go forward as well.


    Though the reason they were about to go forward wasn''t the same reason as why this person charged forward.


    They were planning on surrounding this person that had run forward after he grabbed the red gem off the pedestal. They were planning to surround him and take that red gem with force.


    As that person that ran out got further and further away from us, as well as getting closer and closer to the red gem, he said in an excited voice, "It''s mine! It''s all¡­"


    All of a sudden, that person stopped talking and they suddenly froze on the spot.


    They looked down for a second before suddenly bursting into flames.


    These flames were so strong that we couldn''t help raising our hands to protect our eyes. At the same time, with how hot the heat coming from these flames were, we had no choice but to also take a few steps back.


    When the beasts that were still in the room saw this person burst into flames, they gave a snort as if they were saying, "What an idiot."


    Naturally, not a single one of them did a thing to help this person that was covered in flames.


    They also moved away from that person, as it seemed that these flames were also too hot for them even though they were flame attributed beasts.


    When it was all over, the flames had burned that person to ashes.


    No, it was so powerful that even the ashes immediately turned white.


    It seemed that the flames were nothing to scoff at.


    When it was all over, the ashes scattered away and that person disappeared without a trace.


    It seemed that there were traps that were around this red gem, that was why the beasts hadn''t approached it yet.


    At the very least this person''s life hadn''t been lost in vain.


    At the very least, they showed us one of the traps that was in this room.

 Chapter 350 - 350: First round (28)

    But it turned out that the person that ran forward hadn''t done so in vain.


    There was a fluctuation in space near the group that this person belonged to before something came out of that fluctuation in space.


    It was like something was ripping through the fabrics of space, creating a crack that they came out of.


    This was a person.


    It wasn''t just any person, it was the person that had been burnt in the flames just now.


    Once they came out, they rubbed their neck and said, "I never thought that I would use one of my clones so quickly."


    I couldn''t help being shocked when I saw this before raising the device that Alex had given me before to point at this person.


    When I saw the information given, I understood what happened.


    Clone.


    That was the ability that this person had.


    However, it wasn''t as overpowered as one might think since it was an A Rank ability that was currently at B Rank.


    For now, it only gave this person the ability to form three clones. Or at least that was what the official released description of this power stated, but who knew if this was accurate or not.


    It was very likely that they had hidden the real number of clones that they were able to make, but that was understandable. This was their trump card, so it was best for them to keep it hidden if they could.


    So it wouldn''t be strange if they had understated it in the official description or had bribed someone to change it.


    But there was another ability that caught my attention as well.


    It was the spatial ability that had been used.


    When that clone had come out of the crack in space, it was clear that whoever had caused that crack in space had some kind of spatial attributed ability which was very rare.


    I found that it was one of the girls who was in that group.


    Her ability was called My Dollhouse.


    It was the ability to create a separate subspace inside of the dollhouse that she carried around and to control dolls that were placed inside that dollhouse.


    While this didn''t seem that powerful, someone with sharp eyes would be able to see the true power of this ability.


    It was the part about creating a subspace.


    This subspace didn''t have a limit on living creatures, so it could carry people inside of it as well.


    Paired up with the person with the Clone ability, they could be considered a powerful combo.


    The one with the My Dollhouse ability would store the real body of the person with the Clone ability, releasing many different clones that would fight, distract, or do anything else that was necessary.


    In short, her ability made the person with the Clone near invincible which made them the perfect combination. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though the others didn''t have the same information as us, they could see that this person that had been turned to ashes by the flames had seemingly come back to life.


    Since that was the case, they looked at him as if they were expecting him to go forward again to test for traps.


    But that person just stayed with his group and didn''t seem like he was going to move forward.


    Seeing the way that everyone looked at him, he just ignored them all as he observed the red gem on the pedestal.


    Seeing that he wasn''t planning on doing anything, Michael suddenly came forward and said, "This brother, since you have the ability to revive, how about you help us scout out the way? We promise that we''ll repay you when it''s all over."


    There were some looks of disdain that were cast in Michael''s direction when he said this, but they didn''t say anything as they waited for a response from that person.


    After all, though he was shameless for asking this, he did what many of them had wanted to do.


    This person''s ability really was the best way to explore this place.


    After a moment of silence, that person gave a snort and said, "Don''t you have any shame at all? Why don''t you explore by yourself instead of begging someone else?"


    Michael ignored the disdain in this person''s voice and calmly said, "This brother, you should know how dangerous this place is. This isn''t something that we can explore without any caution like you. We already agreed to work together, so don''t you think that this is in everyone''s best interest?"


    That person gave a disdainful laugh as he said, "In everyone''s best interests? Alright, let''s see some sincerity then. Take out your tokens and let me take your points. If you do, then I''ll do it for you."


    Michael and the others revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.


    But then Michael continued by saying, "This brother, you should know that cooperation is based on trust. You should trust us since this isn''t the best place for negotiations like this."


    That person gave another snort as he said, "You also said that we''re free to do what we wanted and I don''t want to. Unless you''re planning on forcing me." As he said this, he narrowed his eyes to look at Michael.


    Michael also narrowed his eyes to look at this person before looking at the others.


    It was as if he was trying to get the crowd behind him to put peer pressure on this person to go.


    There were a few that moved over to where he was, but there were many that didn''t move.


    After all, if they did, it would mean that one of the fundamental clauses of their cooperation would be reversed.


    Once this happened, it would mean that they would accept Michael as their leader and he would be able to force them to do things that they didn''t want for the ''good of the group''.


    So there were people that weren''t blinded by benefits and stuck firm.


    But there were also many that were on the fence since this person''s ability really was best for this.


    "Enough."

 Chapter 351 - 351: First round (29)

    Everyone looked in the direction that this voice came from and they saw that it was Tammy who spoke.


    Michael immediately knitted his brows when he heard this since she was the last person that he wanted to deal with.


    She had already shown her power, so she had already established her prestige that could rival his. At the same time, she was from the Sol Warriors which was a guild that went against his Deus Mecum guild.


    So there was no doubt that Tammy would be against him. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he expected, she said, "If he doesn''t want to go, no one can force him."


    She stated this calmly like she was just saying something, but the firm tone in her voice made it seem like a fact. It was as if she would defend this person if anyone tried to force him to go.


    Hearing this, that person with the Clone ability revealed a grateful look before moving closer to Tammy and her group.


    Seeing this, Michael couldn''t help revealing an ugly look as he realized that he had just shot himself in the foot.


    Tammy had waited for him to do all of this before stepping up to help that person. In this way, she would make it seem like he was against him and that she was helping him.


    She had used him as a tool to gain the trust of this person with the Clone ability.


    When he had been used like this, Michael couldn''t help feeling annoyed, but he quickly forced that feeling down since he knew that getting angry now wouldn''t be of any use. He knew that he had to do something to salvage this situation, or his position would get much worse.


    After all, he had tried to use pressure to force that person to go and that had hurt his reputation since he had stated that he wouldn''t force anyone to do anything. It was clear by the way that the others looked at him that they no longer trusted him like before.


    So he had to say something to calm the situation down.


    Michael took a deep breath and forced down the anger that he was feeling before forcing a smile onto his face.


    He looked at the person that he had been trying to force to go forward before and calmly said, "I apologize if I came off a bit forceful, it was the stress from the situation that made me act irrationally. I hope that we can move past this and still work together."


    The person with the Clone ability looked at him with a look of disdain before giving a snort and turning away.


    Though he was more than capable of turning him down, this person didn''t do so since he knew that this was a bad idea.


    Right now, they were in a dangerous place, a place where they needed to work with each other.


    If he really turned down Michael''s apology, the tense situation would go from bad to worse.


    So even if he didn''t like it, he had to accept that they would still be working together.


    But from now on, he would remain near Tammy since he could tell that she was able to suppress him. At the same time, it was clear that Tammy was the one that most people were choosing to follow because of all that she had done.


    Michael was only the leader in name, but most people would rather follow Tammy than follow Michael.


    Once this matter was settled, everyone turned back to looking at the red gem in the middle of the room.


    As they looked closely, they could slowly see what had caused the person with the Clone ability to go up in flames earlier.


    The large amounts of flame energy right near the red gem created a combustion zone. Anything that could catch on fire that got too close would immediately burst into flames like the person with the Clone ability had.


    It seemed that the beasts that were still in this room were avoiding that combustion zone, but it also seemed like they were slowly getting closer.


    That was because they were absorbing the fire energy that was coming from the red gem and slowly decreasing that combustion zone. At the same time, they were getting stronger and stronger as shown by the flames that surrounded them, allowing them to resist the fire energy more and more.


    It seemed that it would only be a matter of time before they reached the red gem in the center.


    It wasn''t hard to imagine what would happen if they reached the red gem.


    They were already becoming stronger from the fire energy that the red gem released, so they would almost definitely become stronger if they absorbed the red gem directly.


    So they had to stop them.


    But how?


    Tammy had been observing the red gem the entire time instead of looking at the beasts around the red gem.


    While the others were still observing the beasts with uncertain looks, Tammy suddenly started moving forward.


    As she moved forward, she said to her group from the Sol Warriors, "Don''t follow me and watch out for the others."


    Without waiting for a response, Tammy walked right up to where the person with the Clone ability had burst into flames earlier.


    She was just a single step away from that zone as she stopped.


    Taking a deep breath, she took that final step and suddenly burst into flames as well.


    But it was different from before.


    Instead of being burnt by the flames, the flames seemed to be absorbed by Tammy.


    It was as if they were becoming a part of her rather than hurting her.


    Everyone was shocked when they saw this and a bit lost as to what to do next.


    That was except for me who had a look of deep thought in my eyes when I saw this.


    Staring at Tammy absorbing those flames, I slowly had an idea.

 Chapter 352 - 352: First round (30)

    The others in the group all watched Tammy as well to see what would happen.


    The look on Michael''s face made it clear that he was hoping to see her fail, but the rest of them were actually looking forward to seeing the results.


    But of course, everyone also made sure to position themselves a bit more forward.


    It was as if they were preparing to make a move just in case Tammy were to succeed.


    In the end, it was all about their own benefits.


    Even if they were clinging to Tammy''s leg now, it was only a matter of time before they stabbed her in the back for the red gem. That was why they were all moving into position to make sure that this was possible.


    Though there were a few that went over to where the Sol Warriors group was.


    At the very least, they were planning to stay with them until the end.


    During this time, I moved closer to Alex and Julius to share my idea with them.


    "Let''s work with Tammy."


    Both of them revealed surprised looks when they heard this before quickly asking with serious looks, "Why?"


    They didn''t reject this idea right away and instead wanted to see what I was thinking.


    As expected of the ones that I chose to work with.


    I just calmly said, "She''s the better one to work with out of all of them."


    They raised their brows as if they doubted this, but that wasn''t strange since that was actually the situation that we were in. Out of the two sides that we could have worked with, Tammy was the side that was weaker.


    While she had her supporters, the majority of the group were waiting to steal the red gem from her. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So the moment that we helped her, it would mean going against everyone here.


    But we, or rather my group, had something that could counter that.


    So I said, "Trust me, it''s the better of the two options. That is unless either of you needs the red gem?"


    Both of them looked at the red gem before slowly shaking their heads.


    It was clear that this red gem with its fire energy was something for Awakeners with flame attributed powers. It wouldn''t be of any use to them, who didn''t have any flame attributed powers.


    Though they couldn''t help looking at Blaze and Kaito who were standing behind me with bitter looks.


    I just ignored the two of them who wanted this red gem for themselves and said, "Then since neither of your groups need it, why not give it to Tammy so we can work together with her?"


    The two of them looked at me with hesitant looks at first, but in the end, it was Julius who gave a nod of agreement first. Seeing this, Alex also gave a nod of agreement even though there was still a look of hesitation in his eyes.


    I wasn''t surprised by this since they clearly couldn''t see the benefits that came from this cooperation.


    So I waved my hand at them and they came closer so we could talk in secret.


    With everyone watching Tammy, it was a very good chance for us to talk in secret like this.


    "You see, even if she takes this, there are still many beasts that are outside¡­"


    I slowly told them my plan and there were looks of deep thought that appeared on their faces.


    After a long time, they finally nodded in agreement to this plan of mine.


    Though it seemed risky, it was the kind of risk that they were willing to take.


    But there was one problem with my plan.


    "How are we supposed to contact her without the others noticing?"


    None of us had a power for this kind of situation, so it wasn''t as if we could just say these things out loud since we were trying to plot with Tammy against the others that were here.


    In the end, it was Julius who gave me a solution.


    "I can do it. Did you already forget what I said about my power?" Julius said with a smug smile.


    The Divine, he could change the world however he wanted¡­


    Right, he did say that before.


    This kind of power should be able to mimic many other different kinds of powers, so being able to talk mentally should be one of the things that he could do.


    So I said to Julius, "Can you connect me to her?"


    Julius gave a simple nod before raising a hand and gathering some mana.


    I could feel that there was this strange mental link that formed in my brain, but I didn''t do anything until Julius gave me the go ahead signal.


    "Is this miss Tammy of the Sol Warriors?"


    I was also looking at Tammy while this was happening.


    There were knitted brows on her face as she struggled against the flames, but then there was a look of surprise that appeared on her face as she looked around.


    There was no response, but it was clear that she heard what I said, so I continued by saying, "If there''s something that you want to say, just think it and I''ll be able to hear it. Though I can''t hear any thoughts that you''re not willing to share, so you don''t need to worry about that."


    That was a completely different power and to do that, Julius would need to expend a large amount of mana. It would be far greater than just linking our minds to talk just like he was doing now.


    There was a long silence before Tammy''s voice rang out in my mind to a bit of a surprise to me.


    "Who are you and what do you want?"


    She didn''t beat around the bush at all.


    "I am the one who said that we can work together."


    There was a look of surprise that appeared on Tammy''s face and seeing this, I kept pushing.


    "I am the one who stole the mutated Salamander."

 Chapter 353 - 353: First round (31)

    There was only silence that followed after I confessed this.


    I could also see that there was no change in expression on Tammy''s face when I said this.


    It was as if she didn''t have any reactions to this.


    Was it because she was shocked or was it because of something else?


    After a while, seeing that she still wasn''t saying anything, I couldn''t help saying, "Are you still there?"


    Tammy''s voice responded, "I''m still here."


    I couldn''t help letting out a secret sigh of relief since I had been scared that she was angry and had suddenly decided to cut this conversation short. But it seemed that she was just unhappy about what I had said since she spoke in a curt voice.


    I decided to provoke her a bit as I said, "It seems that you''re angry about what happened?"


    A snort rang out in my head.


    It seemed that even these small noises could be transferred which made me question Julius'' power even more. I really couldn''t help wondering just how much of my mind he was able to read with his power.


    If he really could read that much of someone''s mind¡­then wouldn''t he also be able to hear this?


    I looked over at Julius and he just looked at me with a smile.


    I really couldn''t see through him¡­


    But Tammy''s voice rang in my mind again.


    "This is a tournament where we''re all supposed to compete with each other, so it isn''t strange if you steal a monster away from me."


    She tried to say this in a voice that was as calm as she could make it, but it was clear that there was a trace of annoyance that was in her voice.


    No matter how hard she tried to hide it, it was impossible to hide this.


    It wasn''t strange since I was the one that had stolen the monster that she had worked so hard to kill.


    I didn''t say anything and this time, it was Tammy that broke the silence by saying, "Alright, what do you want? You said that you wanted to work with me? What did you mean by that?"


    The rushed manner that she said this, it seemed that my goal had been accomplished.


    It was clear that her emotions were a bit disrupted which was what I had wanted to see since it would make negotiations easier. With her emotions disrupted like this, she wouldn''t be able to think as clearly as she normally would, allowing me to control the flow of the conversation.


    I just calmly said, "While you might be able to get the red gem now, what are you planning to do once you get it? You should know that everyone is planning on stealing it from you the moment that you take it, right?"


    There was no response, but I could see from the knitted brows on Tammy''s face that she also recognized this.


    She was well aware of the situation that she was in, but she hadn''t been able to do anything since there was no solution that she could come up with.


    I didn''t say anything since I just wanted to let her stew on this for a bit.


    After a long silence, Tammy gave another snort as she said, "Then you''re saying that you know of a way to get me out of this."


    Once again, I didn''t say anything as I waited for Tammy to say something.


    She didn''t take that long to say, "Then you''re saying that you really have something?"


    I just calmly said, "Well, it depends on what kind of terms we can reach. I can say that we do have methods to get you out of her safely, but I think it will depend on your sincerity."


    Tammy deeply knitted her brows this time as she didn''t respond.


    After a long silence, she finally asked, "Then what do you want? The red gem?"


    I quickly said, "No, not at all. That thing has no use to us."


    Tammy revealed a surprised look as she immediately replied, "Are you sure that you don''t want this thing? Can''t you see how many people are fighting over it? Even if you can''t use it, don''t you think that you could get quite a few points for it?"


    Once again, I said, "Like I said, we have no use for this thing."


    There was another silence that followed before Tammy said, "Just what do you want then?"


    It seemed like she was tired of playing games, so she was no longer holding back anymore.


    I revealed a faint smile as I started telling her my demands.


    When it was over, Tammy couldn''t help asking in a surprised voice, "Are you serious?"


    I just calmly said, "That''s right, these are my demands."


    Tammy was silent for a bit longer before saying, "Alright, as long as you can get me out of here safely, then I''ll follow the terms of this deal."


    In response to this, I said, "Alright, tell me when you''re about to grab it and we''ll start."


    "Un." That was Tammy''s only response.


    I could see that she was looking at the crowd as if she was trying to find who she had been talking to, but none of us gave her a clue as we cut off the connection.


    ¡­


    Half an hour later, Tammy didn''t seem like she was any closer to the red gem in the center.


    However, all of sudden, the beasts that were around the red gem reacted.


    They seemed to look around as if they were trying to find something before their eyes suddenly turned to Tammy.


    When they looked at her, there were looks of anger and hatred that were in their eyes.


    It was as if she had done something, but Tammy had just been standing there the entire time.


    Then before anyone could react, the beasts suddenly charged at Tammy.


    They didn''t hesitate at all as they jumped into the air and slashed at her with their claws all together. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 354 - 354: First round (32)

    Though the beasts were charging at her, it didn''t seem like Tammy was reacting at all.


    The closer and closer that they came, it didn''t seem to bother Tammy at all.


    She just stood there covered in flames as she continued staring at the red gem.


    When everyone saw this, they couldn''t help turning to look at the group around the Sol Warriors.


    It didn''t seem like they were reacting either. They all just stood there as if nothing was wrong.


    Some of the people watching couldn''t help finding this strange.


    It would be fine if Tammy didn''t react since it was possible that she might have some kind of hidden ability that would allow her to escape this situation. However, it would be impossible for this group to be this calm, especially since there were plenty of people that weren''t as familiar with Tammy.


    They were just Awakeners from other guilds that were currently cooperating with Tammy, so they wouldn''t know her true abilities.


    It would be impossible for them to be as calm as this.


    Something had to be wrong¡­


    The ones that realized that something was wrong moved closer to the exit, as if they were preparing to run at any moment.


    The one that was the most into this, the one who was the most invested in this didn''t find anything wrong. Though he should be the one that should have noticed first if something was off with Tammy, he didn''t notice a single thing.


    Michael just clenched his fists and watched with serious eyes.


    The look in his eyes almost made it seem like he couldn''t wait to see Tammy being ripped apart by the claws of the beasts.


    His obsession with this made him miss the clues that the others had seen.


    Finally, the beasts reached Tammy and slashed at her with their claws.


    However¡­there was no contact made.


    The moment that the beast claws should have made contact with Tammy, there was this strange phenomenon that happened.


    It was as if Tammy suddenly faded away for a second before she reappeared in the same spot, but it seemed like the claws of the beasts didn''t make contact with her at all. It was as if the claws of the beasts just went right through her body, like it wasn''t there.


    It wasn''t just one beast that this happened with, it was multiple beasts who tried slashing at Tammy and they all missed.


    After they missed, they landed around her and looked at Tammy with shocked and confused looks. It was as if the beasts couldn''t figure out just what was happening.


    There was a long moment of silence before the beasts started slashing at Tammy.


    This time, they completely surrounded her and slashed at her from every direction. No matter how one looked at it, there really was no escape for her.


    However, the same thing happened where their claws just seemed to phase right through her without any resistance. It was as if Tammy didn''t exist at all, which was why they couldn''t touch her.


    Eventually, the beasts had no choice but to give up.


    After all, it didn''t seem like anything was going to work.


    One of the beasts suddenly gave a roar and the others all looked at that beast.


    It seemed that they had suddenly come up with an idea as they all looked at that one beast that gave a roar. Then all of them turned back to Tammy before being covered in flames.


    These flames didn''t hurt the beasts and they even came together around Tammy.


    Then all of a sudden, the flames came from all around her, surrounding her without giving her a single inch to move.


    These flames would without a doubt be powerful since these were the flames that concentrated the power of all these beasts together. There wasn''t a single Awakener that was watching that would have been able to resist these flames.


    But still, the flames didn''t do anything to her.


    The flames just surrounded her and didn''t actually make contact with her.


    Tammy was able to stand in these flames like she wasn''t bothered by them. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even the expression on her face didn''t change as the flames surrounded her.


    In no time at all, she was completely engulfed in flames, but there was no change in her expression still.


    However, there was something that did change.


    As she was surrounded by the flames, her figure started to fade.


    In no time at all, she disappeared without a trace.


    When this happened, the beasts had been so shocked that they suddenly stopped releasing flames. The flames that had surrounded Tammy disappeared, but Tammy was no longer there.


    When the Awakeners looked more carefully, they noticed that the Sol Warriors and the others around them were also gone.


    But most importantly of all¡­the red gem was gone.


    They finally realized why the beasts had suddenly attacked Tammy, but they also realized why Tammy didn''t react at all to the attacks of the beasts.


    She was just an illusion.


    Under this illusion, Tammy had already taken the real red gem and had run away.


    When the beasts lost the thing that they were after, they naturally turned to the one that was closest since they thought that she stole it. But when it turned out that Tammy didn''t do a thing, when Tammy disappeared like this, their attention turned to the others that were in the room.


    The Awakeners all cursed under their breath and tried to find where Tammy was, but they didn''t find a trace of her in this room.


    At the same time though, they didn''t have that much time to look for her since the beasts were coming closer.


    The beasts lost Tammy as a target, so they changed the target of their rage to the other Awakeners that were in this room.


    It seemed that they had really been screwed over this time.


    They had wanted to steal the red gem from Tammy after she took it, but instead she had turned them into a scapegoat for the angry beasts.

 Chapter 355 - 355: First round (33)

    When the Awakeners saw these beasts charging at them, they didn''t hesitate at all to turn and run.


    They could feel the aura coming from these beasts and they had seen the attacks that these beasts could do, so they knew just how powerful these beasts were.


    While it was possible for them to defeat these beasts, there was no doubt that it would take them quite a bit of effort to do so.


    Once they defeated these beasts, what would happen to the beasts outside?


    In fact, if they fought these beasts, would the beasts outside just accept this and let them fight without charging in?


    No, that was impossible.


    The moment that the fighting began, they would be surrounded by the beasts. They would be pinched in between the beasts that were outside this room and the beasts that were inside.


    They would have nowhere to run and if they wanted to escape, they would have to pay a heavy price. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Not a single person was righteous or selfless enough to sacrifice themselves for the others, so naturally they wouldn''t do that.


    The only option that was left for them was to run out of this room.


    They would break through the beasts that were waiting for them outside and try to reach the exit of this cave.


    As long as they could break out of this cave, they would be able to run away and escape this beast stampede. Once they were out of the cave, it would be easy for them to pick these beasts off one by one.


    When the time came, there wouldn''t be a lack of points for them.


    So they just needed to get out of this place and they would be able to get out of this predicament.


    But the entrance to this room was already blocked by the beasts.


    In fact, the beasts seemed like they were about to enter the room since they had felt the fire energy disappear.


    Once Tammy took the red gem, the intense fire energy that had been coming out of the room had already disappeared. The heat that they had felt earlier was just from the residual fire energy and the illusion.


    But the beasts outside didn''t feel the same thing, so they came over to check what happened once the fire energy disappeared.


    That was why they were blocking the entrance.


    Seeing that it was very likely that they would be trapped, Michael finally couldn''t take it and said, "Push through!"


    This time, he wasn''t talking to everyone, but rather to his own group.


    They had saved their energy since they had relied on Tammy the entire time, so this was the time to use it. The alternative to not using it was being trapped, so it was better to use it all for the chance to survive.


    The moment that Michael gave this order, the members of his group immediately charged forward and cut down the beasts that were in front of them. The beasts had been completely caught off guard since they had been investigating the entrance to this room.


    For them, the only explanation that the fire energy disappeared was if the beasts that led them absorbed the red gem. They assumed that the humans had already been wiped out, so they were caught off guard when these humans suddenly appeared.


    Being caught off guard like this, they weren''t able to fight back at all as the human weapons cut into them.


    But the beasts were able to regroup since there were so many of them, the humans just couldn''t cut them all down.


    In the end, there was a path that was created by Michael''s group.


    The others had been hesitating since they didn''t know if they should follow him or not, but the moment that they saw the path being created, they knew that they had no choice. They all raised their weapons and followed Michael''s group, helping them cut out a path.


    With the rate that they were going, it seemed very likely that they would be able to make it to the exit of this cave.


    Though there were some people that fell prey to the beasts along the way, they didn''t stop for a single moment.


    The ones that caught were left to fend for themselves, there was nothing that they could do for them.


    It seemed like they would make it, but¡­


    There was a faint light that came from the ground in front of them before a burst of flames suddenly appeared.


    Before they could even do anything, there were a bunch of flames that appeared in front of them. These flames gathered together to form a wall that blocked the way forward.


    These flames created a large wall that went from one side of the cave to the other side of the cave, completely cutting it off.


    It was like this cave had just been cut in half by this large flame wall.


    The moment that they saw these flames, everyone immediately recognized what these were.


    It was without a doubt Tammy!


    Michael took the lead as he came forward first and shouted, "What do you think you''re doing? Are you trying to trap us all here? Let down the flame wall now!"


    But there wasn''t a single reaction from the flame wall as it remained up.


    Seeing this, the expressions of the Awakeners all turned ugly.


    They could see the beasts that were coming from behind getting closer to them, so they had no choice but to raise their weapons and send their attacks at this wall of flames.


    The attacks hit the wall of flame head on, but they found that they weren''t able to do a thing to it. Even though they had combined all of their powers, they just couldn''t chip this wall of flames.


    But not giving up, they kept attacking the wall of flames with more and more attacks.


    It was just too bad that nothing worked in the end and the beasts caught up.


    So in the end, they had to turn around and face the beasts that caught up to them.

 Chapter 356 - 356: First round (34)

    On the other side of the flame wall.


    After the flame wall came up, we immediately went forward to surround Tammy''s group, Blaze, and Kaito.


    It was them working together that had raised this wall.


    But the key to this flame wall was actually something else.


    It was the red gem that was being held in Tammy''s hand that was what made this flame wall powerful.


    She was drawing on the endless fire energy that came from the red gem to power up the flame wall that she created. With all of that fire energy, she was also benefiting since she was absorbing that fire energy that came out.


    Of course, it wasn''t just her that benefited from this.


    It was also the members of the Sol Warriors, Blaze, and Kaito who helped with the flame wall that benefited from this.


    They were also able to absorb the energy that came from the red gem, so their flames were also getting stronger.


    But since they were setting up this wall, that meant that they were vulnerable. Even with the power of the red gem, the wall itself took all of their power to maintain. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So they weren''t able to move as they were focused on the wall.


    Even though there were some beasts that were held back by this wall, there were still some other beasts that were on this side with us. When they saw the wall, they immediately found the source since there was a large amount of fire energy that was coming from where Tammy''s group was standing.


    These beasts were coming at them to bring down this flame wall.


    That was where we came in.


    We had to stop these beasts and prevent them from reaching Tammy''s group.


    But that was also what we wanted.


    After all, all of these beasts were worth points.


    This was actually the deal that I had made with Tammy.


    It was to give her the red gem while we got the rest of the beasts that were here. As long as we got these beasts, it was very likely that we wouldn''t need to worry about passing this first round.


    Seeing the beasts coming, our three groups moved in different directions.


    In a situation like this, it was better for everyone just to fight on their own since there was no threat from these beasts. There was no need to complicate things by forcing us to cooperate with each other.


    The fighting was intense, but it didn''t last long.


    These beasts were the ones that had been left out here, which meant that they weren''t strong enough to resist the fire energy. When they faced us, we were able to easily lure them with Tammy''s support.


    From time to time, the flame wall would have extra segments come out that hit the beasts that we were fighting.


    These beasts fell to the ground covered in flames, making it easy for us to kill them.


    Just like this, the rest of the beasts were wiped out.


    The only other incident was¡­one of the groups that had followed Tammy had tried to steal the red gem while we were fighting the beasts.


    The ones that stopped them were the group with the person that had the Clone ability.


    They stopped that group while we were still fighting the beasts.


    It seemed that Tammy hadn''t helped them in vain.


    When it was all over, Tammy didn''t let down the flame wall.


    Through this flame wall, we could hear the sounds of fighting coming from the other side.


    It sounded very fierce and it sounded like there were quite a few casualties, but we didn''t react at all after hearing this. If the situation was reversed, there was no doubt that they would have acted the same way.


    So we just waited for the fighting to end.


    When the sounds from the other side stopped and it was all over, Tammy finally let the flame wall down.


    There were beast corpses that were scattered all around, but there were also human corpses lying among these beast corpses.


    At the very center was a group that was covered in blood and injuries.


    Whether this blood was theirs or the beasts, it was hard to tell, but they were completely soaked in the blood.


    Seeing the flame wall come down, they immediately turned in the direction of the exit and wanted to dash out. However, they found that there was another wall of flames that surrounded them before they could react.


    This wall of flames just trapped them in the center of this cave.


    One of them gritted his teeth and said, "Let us out! You think that you''ll get away with betraying us like this?"


    This person was Michael.


    He no longer had the same friendly look as before and instead he spoke in a voice that was filled with malice.


    The others also had looks of hostility in their eyes, but they were more cautious than him.


    Tammy just came forward and said, "Is that so? Then what do you think will happen if we don''t let you go?"


    All of them trembled when they heard this.


    They had thought that Tammy would be just as drained as them, but they could hear it in her voice¡­she wasn''t tired at all.


    It seemed that she was still filled with energy and would have no problem fighting.


    That was because Tammy had been relying on the power of the red gem to put up that flame wall, so she had barely used any of her own power during this time. She had more than enough power to fight these people who had been completely drained fighting against the beasts.


    At the same time, we also had plenty of power since we had fought with the support of Tammy''s flames.


    These flames had made it easy for us to take down the beasts, so we didn''t strain ourselves at all.


    Between a side that was exhausted and a side that was still filled with energy, it was clear who would win.

 Chapter 357 - 357: First round (35)

    Michael knew that acting tough in this situation wouldn''t do him any good, so he said, "What do you want?" S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other Awakeners that were with him were surprised to see him back down, but they didn''t say anything. After all, they knew exactly why he was backing down at this moment.


    Before Tammy could say anything, I suddenly said, "Let''s just kill them all and be done with it."


    As soon as I said this, all of them looked at me in shock and disbelief.


    It was as if they never thought that I would suddenly give this suggestion.


    Then before anyone could respond, Michael suddenly pointed his finger at me and said, "Who do you think you are to propose something like this? This isn''t a place for someone like you to¡­"


    Before he could finish, Tammy cut him off by saying, "He is my partner, so he can say whatever he wants."


    As soon as they heard this, they once again revealed shocked looks.


    Michael and his group all looked at Tammy, as if they were trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.


    But Tammy just had a poker face, so they couldn''t see anything from it.


    At that, they couldn''t help feeling a bit worried.


    This was someone that Tammy treated as an equal, so what would happen if she suddenly decided to listen to him?


    Would they really die here?


    All of them couldn''t help feeling a chill run down their spines as soon as this thought ran through their mind.


    These Awakeners were the prized rookies of the large and big guilds, so they had an arrogance that others didn''t have. This came from being looked up to by everyone else, which stroked their egos until they reached this point.


    This built up their confidence until they thought that they were more important than anyone else.


    But that also made it so that they were more afraid of death.


    They firmly believed that they were destined to achieve something great, so when their lives were in danger, they were more afraid than anyone else.


    With death so close, they couldn''t help feeling scared.


    But it was Tammy who spoke up for them in the end by saying, "They''re from the various large and big guilds, there''s no telling what they''ll do in the future if we kill all of them. Leaving them might mean having to face them in the future, but at the very least, the guilds behind them won''t pursue this matter."


    After she said this, everyone looked at me as if they were waiting for my reaction.


    I didn''t say anything at first as if I was unwilling to accept this, but in the end, I said, "Fine, we don''t have to kill them."


    When they heard this, all of them let out sighs of relief.


    But the next words caused the ugly looks to appear on their faces again.


    "However, we can''t just let them go without suffering a single consequence." I said in a cold voice.


    Hearing this, Tammy gave a nod of agreement before looking back at Michael to say, "What do you think that your punishment should be?"


    Michael had a very ugly expression on his face when he heard this, but he quickly calmed himself down to say, "Haven''t we already been punished enough. How are we supposed to keep earning points in this condition? How do you expect us to pass the exam in this condition?"


    After a pause, he said in a gentler voice, "As long as you let us go, I promise that we will drop this matter and won''t bother you in the future."


    I just shook my head and said, "Not good enough."


    Then I also looked at Michael to say, "At the very least, we need to take your points as well. After all, you just gained a bunch from slaying these beasts, right?"


    All of the Awakeners revealed ugly expressions when they heard this.


    They had been hoping that they would forget about this, but it was true that they had earned quite a few points from fighting those beasts just now.


    As long as they were able to leave this place safely, then they wouldn''t need to worry about earning more points. With the points that they currently have, it should be easy for them to make it to the next round.


    That is as long as nothing happened to their points.


    But now they were being robbed for their points.


    Michael took a deep breath and said,"You should know your limits and know when to¡­"


    Before he could finish, I had already come forward to kick Michael down on the ground before saying, "Give me the token now or else."


    Michael looked up at me with a shocked look on his face.


    It was clear that he never expected me to suddenly get violent like this.


    Seeing that he wasn''t doing anything, I raised my foot again as if I was about to kick him once more.


    Michael hesitated for a second, but in the end¡­he took out his token for me.


    I snatched the token from his hand and brought out my own token.


    When I did, the other Awakeners looked at me with strange and confused looks, as if they were trying to understand what I was doing.


    Though there were a few that understood what was happening.


    Michael was one of the ones that didn''t know what was happening, so he said, "What are you doing?"


    I just ignored him as I brought my token up to his token.


    Then holding the two tokens, I brought out the score on both of them.


    Everyone was surprised to see this since they clearly didn''t know that the token had this function. Even Tammy had a surprised look, showing that she didn''t know about this as well.


    After that, I brought Michael''s token over to my token before putting them together.


    The moment that they came together, the point value started to change.

 Chapter 358 - 358: First round (36)

    The points from Michael''s badge started to decrease while the points that were on my badge started to increase.


    In no time at all, all of the points had disappeared from Michael''s badge and had gone to mine.


    Once I was done, I just tossed the token back to him like it was worthless.


    Michael caught it and looked down at the number that was still projected.


    With a bitter look on his face, he just stared at the large goose egg that was in front of him.


    Then he looked up at me with a look of rage, as if he was saying that he would get me for this.


    I didn''t care at all as I turned to the others and said, "Bring out your tokens or else."


    All of them had seen how I had treated Michael, so they knew that I was serious.


    However, there were many of them that were hesitating to take out their tokens.


    Once they did, they would lose all of the points that they had obtained. Once they lost those points, it would be very unlikely that they would be able to make it to the next round.


    After all, half of their time had already passed and if they lost all of their points, how would they catch up to those that still had their points?


    Not to mention, they were all injured and needed time to heal, so they would have even less time to make up for the point difference.


    They knew that as long as they handed over the token, then it would all be over.


    So there were some that were thinking of different ideas.


    They wanted to find a different method to end this so they wouldn''t have to give up their tokens.


    After a long silence, one of them suddenly came forward to say, "How about we give you something else? We have plenty of treasures here and as long as you''re willing to take them instead of the token, then we''ll give you everything."


    As they said this, they took out several items that they placed in front of them.


    These items were the items that this person''s guild had given them for this tournament.


    These were items that had been specifically given to this person for the tournament, so there was no doubt that they would be precious items. These items had been prepared by their guild to help them pass this tournament, but now they had no choice but to offer it up.


    After all, comparing the two, the points on the token were more important.


    While these items might help them later in the tournament, there was no meaning to these items if they couldn''t make it past the first round.


    If they were knocked out in the first round, then it would be a major blow to their prestige and their position in their guilds. In short, it would be like saying that there were no prospects for them in the future.


    So this was the last thing that they could allow to happen.


    It was just too bad for them that I didn''t care at all about them.


    I gave a nod to the others and they also came forward to kick these people down to take their tokens.


    Right now, the most important thing was passing this first round and taking out as many of our rivals as possible. It didn''t matter how they begged us since there was a need to take them all down to ensure that we would pass since we didn''t know just how many people would pass in the first place.


    But there were a few that were spared from having their points taken in the end.


    It began with Tammy saying, "Can you spare that one?"


    I had been about to take this person''s token when Tammy had suddenly spoken.


    When I turned around to look at her, she explained, "Their guild has a working cooperation with our Sol Warriors, so we need to give him some face at least."


    Hearing this, I slowly gave a nod and let that person put the token away.


    But I didn''t let things end there since there was a chance that they might be a rival in the future.


    Since I couldn''t knock him out here, then I would just take what they would rely on in the future.


    Like the first person suggested, I took the precious items of this person.


    These were the items that their guild had given them, the items that they would have relied on to do better in the next round. So I was weakening them in preparation for the future.


    Since I made one exception, there were other exceptions that were made.


    These were the ones that had connections to Alex and Julius, as well as those that had connections to Elementia.


    It was Bing Xin who told me about these ones since I didn''t know as much about the working relationships of Elementia.


    Other than these ones, the rest of them all had their tokens taken from them and their points stolen.


    The way that they looked at us, it was clear that we had made quite a few enemies. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, that was just how things were.


    As for the distribution of these points, we made sure that everyone received a fair share so that all of us would have around the same amount of points.


    But to my surprise, everyone had insisted that I take more of the points than them.


    I didn''t know what they were planning, but I received enough points so that I was far ahead of everyone else.


    Though it seemed like a kind gesture, I couldn''t help feeling that there was something here that I couldn''t see¡­


    Still, this wasn''t the time to think too deeply about this since we were still inside of the dungeon.


    The only thing that I could do was accept this gesture of theirs and move on.

 Chapter 359 - 359: First round (37)

    When it was all over, when we had finished robbing them, we finally let them go.


    The group led by Michael looked at us with strange looks, but they didn''t hesitate to head to the exit of this cave.


    The way that they glared at us made it clear that they wouldn''t forgive us for this matter, but they definitely didn''t move slowly as they moved towards the exit of this cave.


    The looks on their faces also showed that they didn''t understand why we would let them go that easily.


    We didn''t move at all as we waited for them to leave this cave.


    Only when they left did we start to follow them.


    We made sure to stay far enough behind that they wouldn''t worry about us following them. After all, we also needed to leave this cave, so it was only natural that we would follow behind them.


    It would have actually been bad for them if we didn''t follow them out. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But before we could reach the exit, we suddenly heard screams and sounds of fighting coming from in front of us.


    The moment that we heard this, I gave a nod to Long Shui Ling.


    She gave a nod back before raising her hands, though there was a strained look that appeared on her face.


    When I saw this, I immediately wanted to go over and help her, but she shook her head at me to show that she was fine.


    Once I received this shake of the head from her, I didn''t waste any time.


    I knew that the more time that we wasted, the harder it would be on Long Shui Ling.


    So I looked at everyone and said, "Let''s leave this place as soon as possible."


    They nodded in agreement before following me and Long Shui Ling.


    They followed us since it was Long Shui Ling''s powers that were hiding us, so there was no one better to lead.


    As we reached the exit of the cave, we could hear the sounds of fighting and pained cries even more clearly.


    We could even see the fighting that was happening at the entrance of the cave.


    Michael''s group had forgotten one thing in their ordeal¡­there were still a bunch of beasts that were waiting outside.


    These beasts might be weak compared to the ones that had been inside of the cave, but they were injured and found it hard to fight. They didn''t even have half of their usual fighting capabilities because of this.


    Plus, there were far more beasts out here than there were in the cave.


    With these numbers, just a single stop of spit from each beast would be enough to drown them.


    This was not something that they could handle in their current state.


    They did their best to fight back against the beasts that surrounded them, but they just couldn''t do enough to create a path for them to escape from.


    Seeing that their situation was bad, Michael suddenly waved his hand and said, "Back into the cave! We''ll lead the beasts to them!"


    ''Them'' that he was referring to was our group.


    At the very least, it seemed like he was still thinking clearly.


    Since there was only one path out of the cave, there was no doubt that we would have to fight these beasts if we wanted to leave this cave. So Michael''s plan was to lead these beasts to us so that we had no choice but to fight them.


    It was just too bad that this plan wouldn''t work since we were already out of the cave and beside them. They just didn''t see us because of Long Shui Ling''s illusions.


    At the same time, the beasts also didn''t see us, so they didn''t turn their attention to us.


    It was a smart move to try and force a fight between us and these beasts, but it wouldn''t work out for them.


    In fact, it actually helped us that they started leading the beasts into the cave.


    Because of the way that the cave was shaped, this caused the beasts heading into the cave to form a narrow line.


    This narrow line left space on the side for us to escape.


    Since Michael''s group was so gracious to help us establish this escape route, there was no reason why we shouldn''t take this.


    We went around the beasts that were charging into the cave and quickly disappeared from this area.


    Looking back at the cave, I could already imagine what kind of scene was happening inside.


    Once they realized that we weren''t there, they would have no choice but to fight the beasts to get out of the cave again. That would be a brutal fight since the beasts would completely take up all the space inside the cave, giving them no space to fight these beasts.


    They would be trapped by the beasts, with only a single path out and more beasts swarming in.


    In short, it would be like hell for them.


    If any of them survived, it would be very surprising.


    But this was just the consequences of their own actions.


    After all, Michael and the others had been planning to use us to take care of these beasts.


    Since that was the case, they deserved whatever they received.


    After we left this area, we didn''t stop until we were at least several kilometers away.


    Only then did we finally stop to catch our breath from running continuously.


    Long Shui Ling also quickly fell to the floor on her butt since it had taken a lot of mana for her to maintain the illusion this long.


    I went over and handed her a mana potion before making sure that she was alright.


    But Bing Xin took over since there was someone that wanted to talk to me.


    Tammy was standing there in front of me, looking at me with a strange look before she suddenly said, "Thank you for helping us. If it wasn''t for you, then we might not have made it out of there."

 Chapter 360 - 360: First round (38)

    I looked at her with a calm look before waving my hand and saying, "There''s no need to thank us, we just used each other for our own gains."


    Tammy gave a nod, but she still felt compelled to say, "If it wasn''t for you, we really might not have made it out of there alive."


    The other members of the Sol Warriors nodded in agreement when she heard this.


    But I made sure to raise my hand and say, "Please don''t misunderstand, there was no deeper meaning to it. We were simply using each other."


    I didn''t know what she was doing, but it didn''t seem like a good idea for her to think too much about this. Instead of letting her think more about it and come up with some ideas of her own, it was better to shut her down here and now.


    Seeing that I just would not accept her gratitude, Tammy gave a sigh and said, "Alright, we''ll leave it at that."


    Then she turned around and looked at the other groups that followed her to say, "You can go now. There''s nothing left for you here."


    They were surprised to hear this, but they didn''t reject this.


    After all, we were still competitors in this tournament and they had gained plenty from this.


    We had given them tokens from the other group as well, so they had also earned quite a few points from all of this.


    Now that they''ve earned that much, it was better not to be greedy.


    As long as they were able to keep a hold of the points that they currently had, it wouldn''t be a problem for them to make it to the next round.


    So right now, all they wanted to do was lay low until this round was over.


    Since Tammy was giving them permission to leave, they didn''t hesitate to do so.


    They just thanked us and then turned to leave.


    In the end, this was a competition and everyone had to look out for themselves. Even if we had worked together now, that didn''t mean that we would be able to work together forever.


    It was very likely that we would be competitors in the next round.


    The one thing that I was surprised by was that Tammy had decided to stay.


    I couldn''t help asking her, "Our deal is over, there''s no need for you to stay here any longer, right?"


    Tammy just looked at me and said, "I''ve said that I would work with you, so I''ll work with you until the end of this round."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I could see the look in her eyes.


    She was someone that stuck to her convictions and since she had said this, it would be hard to chase her away. So there was no need to force this matter and just let her stick with us.


    After all, even if she betrayed us, we had a way of dealing with her.


    But as an ally, she was quite reliable with the red gem that she had obtained.


    How that would affect us in the future¡­it was hard to tell.


    I waited for the groups that were leaving to disappear before suddenly saying, "I think that it should be time to reveal yourselves, right?"


    Everyone looked at me with a confused look when they heard this.


    Well, everyone except for Julius who looked at me with a faint smile.


    There was a silence that hung in the air as everyone waited to see what happened.


    But then there were several cloaked figures that jumped out of the trees around us and landed in front of us.


    When they did, everyone in our group immediately pulled out their weapons and raised their guards. That was everyone except me and Julius.


    I just raised my hand for everyone to calm down before looking at the cloaked figures to say, "I figured that you would be around."


    As soon as they landed, everyone immediately recognized them.


    It was Diablo''s group.


    Diablo came forward to say, "How did you know? I think that we hid ourselves quite well."


    I just said with a smile, "Well, it seems not well enough."


    In truth, I didn''t actually know a single thing about this.


    It was more instinct that had made me ask this.


    I figured that it usually wouldn''t end here and there would be something else that happened since the boss of this dungeon hadn''t been found yet. Before that happened, there would still be something left.


    Of course, I never expected Diablo''s group to appear. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Diablo gave a chuckle before saying, "Then how did you notice?"


    My brain quickly turned before I came up with an excuse, "You''ve been acting suspicious since the very beginning, do you really think that no one would notice?"


    Diablo gave another chuckle before saying, "Well, it seems that dropping clues did pay off."


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him before saying, "Who are you and what do you want?"


    Another chuckle rang out before he said, "So it seems that you don''t know everything. Should I say that you''re lucky or should I say that you''re perceptive?"


    I didn''t say anything in response to this.


    After a momentary silence, Diablo said, "Can I see the Inferno Gem?"


    I narrowed my eyes again before turning to look at Tammy.


    She was the one that had the gem, so I would leave this up to her.


    She looked at me before looking at Diablo for a bit. After a bit of silence, she pulled out the gem for him.


    Diablo looked closely at the red gem that he called the Inferno Gem before saying, "It''s the real thing, good job."


    As if to praise us, they suddenly raised their hands and started clapping.


    For some reason, it almost seemed sarcastic the way that they were clapping.


    I narrowed my eyes again and asked, "So what now?"


    To my surprise, Diablo gave a shrug as he said, "It''s not what you think, we just have to find the one that took this Inferno Gem and give them something special."

 Chapter 361 - 361: First round (39)

    None of us said a thing after hearing this.


    We just looked at Diablo with looks of suspicion and confusion.


    What did he mean by this?


    Diablo didn''t mind the looks that we gave him at all as he just said in a casual manner, "Man, I really never expected anyone to get that thing. After all, even if you were to make your way through all of those beasts, there are all those that are waiting outside and even humans that want to take this thing from you. No one is immune to a treasure like the Inferno Gem after all."


    There was nothing wrong with the words that he said, it was just that the way that he said it was a bit infuriating¡­


    The cloaked figures around Diablo nodded in agreement before giving their own opinions.


    It seemed that all of them were the same as Diablo, even the words that they said sounded similar to what he said.


    It made all of us reveal dark looks on our faces.


    But from the things that they said, there was something that I slowly realized¡­


    The way that they were talking, it was as if they knew more than they put on. It was almost as if they were the ones that had planned everything.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at this group before suddenly revealing a look of realization.


    At the same time, I could see that Julius had the same look of realization as me.


    Both of us looked at each other with smiles before shaking our heads.


    The others looked at us with strange looks, as if they were wondering what we were doing.


    I gave a cough and said, "I never thought that you would be people on the side of the administration. So you were leading us here and set up the event?"


    When they heard this, Diablo''s group stopped talking and turned to look at us.


    Though we couldn''t see their expressions, it wasn''t hard to guess that they were most likely looking at us with smiles on their faces.


    Diablo gave a nod and said, "So you figured it out in the end." After a pause, his tone changed to one that almost seemed a bit disdainful as he said, "A bit slow since we''ve already given you so many hints."


    My lips couldn''t help twitching when I heard this, but I didn''t refute him.


    I just waited for him to finish what he was doing so he could tell me what was going to happen now.


    But he just didn''t stop as he started discussing this matter with the other cloaked figures.


    It seemed that they weren''t happy unless they completely bashed into the ground.


    I could see that Julius had a relieved look since he had also figured this out, but had left it to me to confront Diablo.


    After taking a while to bash me, Diablo finally turned back and said, "That''s right, we work with the administrators of this tournament to play a role. Our role is to lead people to that cave and then initiate that event."


    All of the things that he said were things that we had already figured out, so there was nothing to say in response.


    What I was waiting for was¡­


    "Since you have obtained the Inferno Gem, that means that you have obtained the right to receive some special information."


    Finally, he was getting to the part that we actually cared about.


    It was the reward that came from clearing this event.


    Otherwise, who would have listened to all of their insults?


    Diablo''s voice suddenly turned serious as he said, "As the ones that obtained the Inferno Gem, you have the right to obtain information on the final boss of this dungeon."


    But then he suddenly stopped before saying the rest and turned to Tammy to ask, "You''re the one that obtained the Inferno Gem in the end and the one that is entitled to this information." He slowly turned to look at the rest of us to say, "Do you want to step aside to talk privately or do you want me to say it in front of everyone?"


    There was a worried feeling that filled me when I heard this, or at least that was what was starting to develop. It didn''t get a chance to become a proper worried feeling since Tammy responded right away.


    "There''s no need to hide it from them. I wouldn''t have gotten this if it wasn''t for them." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She had said this without any hesitation, as if she had already made up her mind.


    Diablo gave a nod before saying, "Good, it seems like there''s nothing to worry about."


    We couldn''t help revealing confused looks when we heard this, but he didn''t elaborate further on this.


    Since he didn''t elaborate, it wasn''t as if there was anything we could do about that.


    Diablo just simply said, "The final boss of this dungeon is a dragon."


    Dragon¡­


    That was a terrifying word.


    After all, all dragons were considered at least A Rank Monsters with how powerful they were and those were only the weakest dragons. The stronger ones would easily be considered S Rank Monsters.


    Those were monsters that were as strong as the guild masters of the large guilds.


    Seeing the look on our faces, Diablo slowly said, "But of course, it''s a young dragon, so it''s only B Ranked."


    We all looked at him with bitter looks when we heard this.


    His face was hidden by the cloak he was wearing, but I was certain that he should have a smile on his face with the way that he was looking at us.


    He was clearly teasing us by giving us the information bit by bit instead of all at once.


    But I couldn''t help feeling that it was a bit strange.


    There didn''t seem to be anything to gain from doing this with us.


    Could it be that there was a reason for him stalling like this?

 Chapter 362 - 362: First round (40)

    The more that I thought about, the more likely that I thought that this was the case.


    After all, it wouldn''t take this long just to hand over some simple information and this was a trial that had a time limit.


    But the most important thing¡­it seemed like he was deliberately stalling with how much he was talking.


    Perhaps there was something special about the final boss of the dungeon?


    Perhaps it required time to be stalled to become stronger?


    So the more time that Diablo wasted, the stronger the dragon would become?


    There was an ill feeling of premonition that filled my heart the moment that I had this thought.


    I decided to trust my instincts and suddenly turned around to say, "If you''re not going to give us the information that you''re supposed to, then I guess there''s no reason to stick around any longer."


    The moment that I said this, there was a silence that lingered in the air.


    Diablo, who had been talking the entire time, finally fell silent.


    The way that he looked at me, I could tell that he was shocked by what I said even though I couldn''t see his face.


    But he quickly recovered as he turned to Tammy and continued to talk.


    However, that didn''t last long since he found that Tammy had also turned around to leave.


    This time, he couldn''t remain still as he said, "Wait, don''t you want the information on the dungeon boss? If you leave now, there''s no chance to get this."


    Tammy didn''t respond at all as she just looked at me, as if she was expecting something from me.


    So with a sigh, I said, "We would like this information, but when will you give it? Instead of wasting time here, isn''t it better to go and find more beasts to take down?"


    At first, everyone looked at me with confused looks.


    But the moment that they heard this, they slowly began to understand what I was implying and started following me as I walked away.


    In an awkward voice, Diablo said, "Isn''t it just taking some time to talk? Can''t you consider the price of making a friend?"


    I turned back around and said, "I make friends with people that I want to make friends with. For someone as suspicious as you, I would rather not. Who knows if by the time that I get there, there will be a trap waiting for me?"


    After a moment of silence, Diablo suddenly burst out in laughter.


    Instead of being offended as one might expect, he just laughed it all off before saying, "You got me, I was indeed told to stall for whoever got the Inferno Gem. It is as you expected, there is a hidden mechanism to this dungeon."


    As soon as he said this, everyone immediately raised their guards as if they were prepared to fight.


    However, I just raised my hand to stop them before turning to Diablo to say, "So why reveal that now?"


    Diablo gave a shrug as he said, "Since you already know, is there a reason for me to hide it anymore? Not to mention, there''s a prize for discovering this, don''t you know?"


    I gave a slow nod without saying anything as I waited for Diablo''s next words.


    Seeing this, he said in a serious voice, "As you expected, there is a special thing about this dungeon, but I can''t tell you too much. All I can say is that if you want to take down the dungeon boss, do it as soon as possible."


    As I had expected, it seemed that the dungeon boss became stronger over time.


    If I had to guess what it was, there was something that nurtured the dungeon boss as time passed.


    It might be a young dragon now, but there was no telling when it would grow up to become a proper dragon.


    Once it became an actual dragon, then all of us fighting together might not be enough to take it down.


    So before that happened we needed to take down the dungeon boss.


    But I couldn''t help thinking of another thing after learning of this.


    The dungeon boss became stronger over time and calculating the time since we had come into the dungeon, twelve hours had already passed.


    The amount of time that we had in total was twenty four hours.


    Assuming that the dragon reached its peak before the time ended, whether it was an hour or two before this stage ended, the dragon should already be halfway matured.


    At this point, it might even have reached A Rank or even the peak of the A Rank¡­


    So it might already be something that we couldn''t take down.


    Diablo could see the look that was on my face and as if he could tell what I was thinking, he said, "Whether you go or not, it''s your choice. However¡­" At this, he reached his hand up and pointed at the Inferno Orb that Tammy was still holding, "If you want a chance at victory, then you should bring this orb along."


    I raised a brow as I looked at him, as if I was asking him what he meant.


    However, Diablo just spread his hands and shook his head to say, "That''s all I''m allowed to say." Then he looked back at me to say, "That''s your reward for seeing through my attempts to stall. You won''t get anything else out of me."


    But after his voice fell, he also threw something at me. I looked down to see that it was a folded piece of paper.


    With that, he gave a nod to his group and then all of them suddenly disappeared.


    We didn''t know how they disappeared, but all I could think was as expected of people on the administrator team. They really were far more powerful than we were.


    Once they disappeared, everyone looked at me as a silence hung in the air.


    I opened up the folded piece of paper to find that it was a map.


    I just ignored all this as a look of deep thought appeared on my face. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a long time, I finally said, "Well, what do you think about this? Should we go for it?"

 Chapter 363 - 363: First round (41)

    Everyone looked at me in silence at first before slowly giving nods.


    They had taken a moment to weigh the pros and cons of this decision, but in the end, it seemed like the pros outweigh the cons in this case. After all, this was the final boss of this dungeon, one that they were making such a big deal over.


    It was clear that there would be something special about this final dungeon boss. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So they really wanted to see just what was special about it.


    But before going, I turned to look at Tammy and slowly asked, "Are you coming with us?"


    Everyone was surprised that I would ask such a thing.


    It was only Alex and Julius who had a serious look as they looked at me before turning to look at Tammy.


    They understood why I asked this.


    Tammy had obtained the Inferno Gem, something that seemed to have an infinite amount of fire energy to it. This was something that was very valuable to someone with a fire attributed power like Tammy.


    Now that she had obtained more than enough points to pass without fighting any more beasts, there was no doubt that she would want to find a safe place to absorb this Inferno Gem.


    But Diablo had said how important the Inferno Gem was in fighting the final boss of this dungeon, so they were worried that Tammy would go off with it and leave them helpless against the final boss.


    So what they cared about the most right now was how Tammy would react.


    Tammy just gave a simple nod without any hesitation as she said, "The deal was that I would help you fight the monsters. Since you''ve given me something this precious, naturally I have to repay that favour."


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a faint smile when I heard this.


    All of us knew that this deal only applied when we were in the cave.


    Now that we were out, there was no deal holding us since Tammy wasn''t obligated to help us fight beasts anymore.


    But she was saying that she still wanted to follow this deal.


    Was it because she felt that what she had done in the cave wasn''t enough to repay us?


    No, I could see it in her eyes.


    She was using us as an excuse, she also wanted to see what the final boss of this dungeon was like.


    Since that was the case, it worked out in our favour.


    After all, Diablo had said that we would need the Inferno Gem that Tammy currently wielded to fight this final boss.


    So it was for the best if Tammy could come with us.


    With this decided, there was no more hesitation that came from our group.


    With a nod from me, I said, "Then let''s go find this boss."


    Everyone nodded in agreement before following me as I had the map.


    With this map, we were able to quickly find the path to the dungeon boss.


    Though even without the map, it would have been very likely that we would have found the dungeon boss once we arrived in the area.


    That was because there was something very striking about this area that made it easy to find where the dungeon boss'' lair was.


    Opposite of the area around the mutated Salamander''s lair, this place was completely covered in ice and snow. It was so cold that even our breaths could be seen in the air even though we still hadn''t arrived at the nest of the dragon.


    There was no need to guess to know that this dragon was an ice attributed dragon.


    It was no wonder that Diablo had said that the Inferno Gem was needed to take down this dungeon boss.


    The Inferno Gem released an endless amount of fire energy and against the ice attributed dragon, that was the best weapon that we could have.


    But of course, we couldn''t just charge into the lair of the dungeon boss without any preparations¡­


    So the first thing that we had to do was scout out the area.


    As we were wandering around this frozen wasteland, we found many different things.


    There were different plants that had ice energy in them that Bing Xin harvested for herself.


    Since she had an ice attributed power, these would definitely make her stronger.


    At the same time, there were many ice attributed monsters that were wandering around this place.


    However, they were like lambs to the slaughter in front of Tammy.


    With the Inferno Gem, her flames had reached a completely different level that these ice attributed monsters just couldn''t compare to.


    There was no resistance at all that came from these monsters as they were mowed down by the flames that Tammy released.


    When it was all over, there was just a puddle of water and a burnt corpse that was left.


    The one other thing that was discovered was¡­a few corpses.


    These were human corpses that had been left in the snow.


    As soon as we came upon them, I immediately used the phone that Alex gave me to find that these weren''t any of the rookies from the large guilds.


    It seemed that these were unaffiliated Awakeners that had accidentally stumbled upon this place and had lost their lives¡­or at least that was what we thought at first.


    When we looked more closely, we found that there were stab marks on these corpses.


    It seemed that someone else had found this place before us and had silenced these unaffiliated Awakeners so that no one would be able to find this place.


    We didn''t bury them, but we did offer them a prayer for their soul.


    Though that was mainly because we took their tokens from them.


    These tokens even worked when the ones that owned them died, so we transferred their points over.


    As compensation for these points, we offered them the consolation of taking care of the ones that had done this to them.

 Chapter 364 - 364: First round (42)

    After wandering outside the cave for a bit, we turned our attention inward.


    After all, it wasn''t as if we could just keep wasting our time outside.


    There was only a certain amount of time that we had before the dungeon boss became too strong for us to handle, so we couldn''t waste more time.


    But to our surprise, we found that the dungeon boss'' cave was actually quite clear.


    It didn''t seem like there was anything that was there.


    The only thing that came out of this cave was a slight chill.


    It seemed that it was even colder inside of the cave than it was outside, but that wasn''t strange since that should be where the source of this ice energy came from in the first place.


    It was only when we walked through the cave that we finally realized that something was off.


    It wasn''t the fact that there were no monsters walking around here, it was the few burns that I found that lined the walls. There were burnt spots where the ice was melted and the cave was charred black.


    This was a clear sign that there had been some kind of fight here earlier.


    If I had to guess what it was, it was most likely the ones that had killed the unaffiliated Awakeners that we had seen outside.


    Since there were signs of fighting here, it was very likely that they had cleared out all the monsters here and were currently fighting the dungeon boss. It seemed that someone had made it here before us, but who could it have been?


    I wasn''t the only one who realized this, the others also realized the same thing from the clues that were around us.


    After sharing a look with each other, we immediately started moving further deeper.


    But at the same time, I made sure to have Long Shui Ling put her illusions around us.


    We didn''t have the illusions on us right now because I had been planning on killing the monsters that we encountered. Leaving them in this cave would be bad for us since it would mean having to fight them when they were attracted by the noise of the fight with the dungeon boss.


    It was better to clear out all of the obstacles that were in the way before that.


    However, there was another problem as we went further into the cave.


    It could be considered a problem that also wasn''t a problem since it was that kind of thing.


    The problem was that there was no sound coming from deeper in the cave.


    If there was a group that was fighting the dungeon boss, then shouldn''t there be some kind of sound echoing out from the depths of the cave.


    If there weren''t any sounds, then did that mean that they had finished fighting the boss?


    Did they defeat the dungeon boss or¡­?


    There were just too many unknown variables that we couldn''t help feeling a bit nervous.


    After all, just like how Diablo had told us about the dungeon boss, there could have been others that had been sent by the administrators to tell the participants about the dungeon boss.


    So it was very likely that the group that had come before us also possessed information about the dungeon boss and that they might have taken down the dungeon boss first.


    Since that was the case, did that mean that this was a wasted trip?


    Or would we be walking into a trap set for those that came to fight the dungeon boss?


    Anything was possible at this point.


    Finally, we saw the end of the tunnel and what seemed to be a large cave in front of us.


    We didn''t go in right away and instead just sent one person to peek in.


    I was the one that was chosen to peek in, or rather I insisted on being the one that peeked in.


    Once I poked my head in, I couldn''t help being shocked by what I saw.


    This was a cave that was like the one that the mutated Salamander had been in.


    No, when I looked at it closely, it seemed like it was just the same as the one that the mutated Salamander had been in. The only difference was that instead of being incredibly hot in here, it was freezing cold.


    The walls, floor, and ceiling were all lined with ice.


    This wasn''t just any normal kind of ice, but rather ice that had formed in layers. It was ice that had ice on top of it because of how cold it was.


    In the center of the room was something that was different.


    Instead of a large coil, it was a large ball of white that was lying there on the floor. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just a single look was enough to tell that this was an ice dragon, but I could also tell that it was still young based on its appearance.


    It almost had a cartoonish feel to it rather than giving off the seriousness that one would expect from an actual dragon.


    But when I looked closely, I could see that there was ice energy that was slowly flowing into the ice dragon as it laid there. It seemed like there was something inside of this room that was filling the ice dragon with this ice energy, allowing it to mature at a fast rate.


    After seeing all of this, I turned my attention to the room to see if I could find what was sending that ice energy into the ice dragon.


    However, my attention was caught by a certain thing.


    Or rather by a few certain things that were in the room.


    These were sculptures made of ice that were just standing around in this room.


    They were grouped together and they were in different positions, but there was one thing in common between them.


    All of these statues seemed to be human shaped.


    After a while, I understood what these were.


    They were the ones that had come to fight the dungeon boss before us.

 Chapter 365 - 365: First round (43)

    I pulled out the phone that Alex had given me to point at them, though I didn''t know if it would still work with them being frozen like this.


    I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did still work.


    They were not a group that was worthy of note.


    They were just a group from one of the big guilds and not one of the ones that was favoured to win.


    Though I would have liked to learn where they had received information on this dungeon boss from. Or did they discover all of this on their own and found the dungeon boss out of pure luck.


    Regardless, this meant that others would be able to find this place and there was the chance that someone would interfere.


    So it was better to be safe than sorry.


    The other thing I was worried about was the fact that they had been turned into ice sculptures.


    They couldn''t be considered that weak since they were still from a big guild, yet they had still been turned into ice sculptures.


    This made me worried about just how powerful the attacks of the ice dragon were if even these people couldn''t block it¡­


    At least we had the Inferno Gem that they didn''t, but that didn''t give me much assurance.


    Other than that, there was nothing else in the room, so I poked back out and explained the situation to everyone.


    There was a long silence that fell over the group until Tammy suddenly said, "Shall we attack it then?"


    We all looked at her with surprised looks, but none of us thought that she was dumb for suggesting this.


    We had already seen everything that Tammy was capable of, so there was no one that would think that she was dumb.


    It was only that¡­this idea did seem a bit lacking¡­


    As if she understood what we were thinking, Tammy raised the Inferno Gem in her hand and said, "Isn''t this the best assurance that we have? I''m sure that there''s a reason why he told us that this was important."


    All of us fell into deep thought after hearing this.


    Right, there was still the Inferno Gem that these other Awakeners didn''t have and there was the Sol Warriors with their powerful flames. So even if we can''t take down this ice dragon, we could at least get away without much harm.


    The most pressing issue was our time limit and the fact that we lacked information.


    Still, we couldn''t get more information unless we faced the ice dragon head on.


    In the end, it was useless to think too much about this.


    I spread my hands and gave a shrug before saying, "You''re right, let''s do this."


    The others slowly nodded in agreement, showing that they had also thought this through.


    Sometimes, it was better to just go with it than to think too much.


    However, it wasn''t as if we could just ignore all thoughts.


    I grabbed one of the frozen sticks on the side and then started drawing up a plan in the snow on the ground as I said, "We''ll use this as a basic plan. If you have any suggestions, feel free to give them."


    ¡­


    "Face me!"


    Tammy yelled this as she charged into the cave.


    The moment that she yelled this, the ice dragon immediately woke up and turned to look at her standing there.


    It had a very confused look on its face as it didn''t seem to understand what was happening, but that was when fireballs rained down on it.


    Tammy had distracted the ice dragon so that it didn''t notice the fireballs until it was too late, so it took the full brunt of this attack.


    When the flames subsided, the ice dragon had several burns on its body.


    It seemed that flames were indeed very effective against this ice dragon.


    However, those flames just weren''t strong enough that the ice dragon was seriously injured. These burns only seemed to be on the surface and they also seemed to be slowly healing.


    Still those fireballs were nothing more than tests in the first place.


    It wasn''t as if they had expected these weak fireballs to work.


    They just wanted to see what kind of resistance the ice dragon had.


    Now that the ice dragon was completely awakened and had a good idea of what was happening, a look of anger appeared on its face. This wasn''t a proper look of anger, but rather a look of anger that a child might have.


    It seemed like it was pouting, like it was throwing a tantrum, like it was saying¡­


    "Who are you to disturb my nap!"


    The ice dragon reared back its head and started gathering ice energy in it.


    As it did so, one could even see moisture in the air freezing and turning into ice, showing just how cold the ice dragon''s breath really was.


    Tammy of course threw out attacks at the ice dragon while it was gathering its breath, but it just didn''t make it in time as the ice dragon suddenly brought its head down to release this breath at Tammy.


    Tammy didn''t panic as she raised her hand that had the Inferno Gem in it and created a wall of flames in front of her.


    The breath of ice slammed into the wall of flames with a large "ci" sound.


    It was the sound of ice being melted by the flames.


    In the end, it was the flames that lasted longer than the ice breath.


    After its ice breath was stopped, the ice dragon couldn''t help revealing a shocked look.


    It was as if it couldn''t believe that there was someone that could stop its invincible ultimate move like this¡­


    But Tammy also had a surprised look on her face.


    She looked down at the Inferno Gem before looking up at the ice dragon with a strange look on her face.


    It was almost as if¡­she was disappointed by the ice dragon.


    S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 366 - 366: First round (44)

    The reason that Tammy looked like this was because she found that the ice breath was just too weak.


    It had barely consumed the fire energy that she had tapped into from this Inferno Gem to form this barrier.


    In fact, she still had plenty of energy left after stopping that ice breath.


    Too much that if she didn''t use it, it would actually hurt her.


    So Tammy gathered more fireballs around her and shot them at the ice dragon.


    This time, the ice dragon didn''t just stay there to be hit by the fireballs.


    Instead, the ice dragon spread its wings and prepared to fly into the sky to avoid these fireballs. Or at least that was what it had been planning to do before it suddenly realized that this wasn''t possible.


    That was because these fireballs were much faster than before.


    It was just too fast for the ice dragon to dodge in time.


    All it could do was gather a layer of frost around itself in an attempt to shield against these fireballs.


    The fireballs landed right on the ice dragon and there was a large burst of flames that exploded. These flames completely engulfed the ice dragon and it disappeared from sight.


    However, we didn''t let our guards down as we waited to see what the ice dragon would do.


    Only when the flames disappeared¡­we found the ice dragon lying there on the ground.


    It seemed that this ice dragon was covered in burns, but this time the burns didn''t seem light at all. It seemed that the ice dragon had suffered quite heavy burns from being hit with these fireballs.


    The way that it laid there, it was almost as if it was only a single step away from death.


    So we all couldn''t help feeling suspicious.


    Would the ice dragon really be that weak that it was defeated that easily?


    This had to be some kind of trap, right?


    However, even after waiting for a bit, it didn''t seem like the ice dragon was about to stand up again. It seemed that this ice dragon was completely down as it just laid there without moving.


    Still, we didn''t let our guards down, so we all started using long range attacks.


    For those that didn''t really have the power for long range attacks, we took out weapons that had been prepared for us and bombarded the ice dragon with them. Though we kept hitting the ice dragon, it didn''t seem to react at all.


    Or rather, with the way that it laid there, it seemed like it didn''t have the energy to fight back anymore.


    None of us knew what to do in this situation since we had been expecting a much fiercer fight.


    With the way that the ice dragon fell so easily, it really seemed like some kind of trap to make us let our guards down¡­


    So in the end, I turned to Tammy to give a nod.


    She nodded back before gathering more fire energy from the Inferno Gem to form a large fireball in the air above her. She was making sure to take her time in gathering this fireball, almost as if she was trying to give the ice dragon time to react to this and get out of the way.


    But the ice dragon just didn''t move at all.


    No, it wasn''t that it didn''t move at all, it was that it couldn''t move.


    We could see that the ice dragon was struggling to move, but it didn''t have the strength to move its body at all.


    The eyes that the ice dragon had looked like it was filled with despair in this situation.


    It didn''t seem¡­like a trap.


    After a while, Tammy finished gathering the fireball above her and she didn''t hesitate to throw it at the ice dragon.


    But this fireball went as slow as it could.


    The ice dragon had a look of terror on its face as its claws tried grabbing on the ground to pull it out of the way, but it seemed that it was just too slippery for the ice dragon to move out of the way.


    In the end, the ice dragon could only watch as the fireball fell onto it.


    When the fireball landed, there was a large burst of flames that came from it that engulfed the ice dragon once again.


    When these flames subsided, there was a crispy charred ice dragon that was left.


    The flesh of the ice dragon even turned a delicious brown colour, as if it had been cooked perfectly. At the same time, there was a delicious smell that filled the air that made our saliva drip a bit.


    It was just too bad that we were in a dungeon, so the corpse of the ice dragon disappeared without a trace.


    There were just a few items that dropped where the large corpse of the ice dragon had been.


    However, not a single one of us moved forward to pick up those items.


    Instead, we raised our guards and waited to see if there was anything else that appeared. After all, it seemed like it was just too easy for that to be considered the dungeon boss fight.


    It almost seemed like it was a prelude to what would be the real dungeon boss fight. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unfortunately, there wasn''t a single thing that happened.


    It seemed that this ice dragon really was the real dungeon boss¡­


    As that realization sank in, we couldn''t help feeling disappointed.


    This was just too easy of a fight that it didn''t seem like it should be the dungeon boss fight.


    So I was nominated to go forward and collect the items.


    In the end, we were only disappointed after collecting the items and finding out that our points had increased by a large amount.


    This ice dragon that Tammy had bombed to death with just a few fireballs was really the boss of this dungeon.


    As we accepted this, there was a strange feeling that lingered in our hearts.


    It was as if this wasn''t enough for us¡­

 Chapter 367 - 367: First round (45)

    Once that was finished, there was nothing else for us to do.


    This ice dragon that we had slaughtered was the boss of the entire dungeon, so there wasn''t much else that would be good for us to kill. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When it came to points, there was no need for us to care any longer since our points were more than enough.


    All of us had received points after killing the ice dragon, so we now had triple the points that we had before. We had already been certain that no one would be able to kick us out of the spots that would pass this round, but now we were even more certain of that.


    So we decided that there was no need to hunt even more.


    Instead, we just made this ice cave our base.


    This was the nest of the dungeon boss, so this was not a place that normal monsters could approach. At the same time, it had already been cleared out by the ice statues that were standing nearby, so there wouldn''t be any monsters that would attack us.


    We really doubted that the monsters would spawn that quickly after the dungeon boss was killed.


    So this place was actually a very good place to hole up in.


    There was only one exit that could be easily fortified and this place wasn''t that easy to reach in the first place because of the cold. We were only fine because we had the Inferno Gem to generate heat for us.


    When it wasn''t being used for fighting, it really was a powerful heater that created a zone of heat that kept the cold away.


    Speaking of the statues¡­


    "What should we do with them?" I asked everyone else.


    No one really said anything as they looked at the statues with strange looks.


    I could already guess what they were thinking, so I didn''t hesitate to kick one of them to the ground.


    As soon as that sculpture hit the ground, it shattered to pieces.


    Everyone looked at me with a surprised look at first, but then they all revealed smiles as they understood what I was doing.


    Then without hesitation, they also turned to a sculpture of their own.


    There weren''t enough for everyone to take one for themselves, so they shared a few of them.


    Then all of them kicked out at the sculptures in front of them, knocking them to the ground.


    As soon as they hit the ground, they immediately shattered to pieces, just like the first sculpture that I kicked down. With this, all of the ice sculptures that had been in the room were shattered.


    In this way, we took revenge for those unaffiliated Awakeners that had been killed by these ice sculptures. Though it really wasn''t revenge since they were already dead from the ice dragon''s ice breath.


    Still, we at least didn''t leave them with a complete corpse, so that was some form of consolation.


    The items that we received from the ice dragon weren''t that special, so we each took what we wanted.


    There was one thing that I wanted, so I was able to get that for myself.


    But the most shocking thing was that an hour after we had set up here, there was a door that opened.


    We had been surprised by this door, but we found that it was similar to the one that had opened up in the mutated Salamander''s nest. When we looked in, we also found that there was a large amount of ice energy coming from it.


    If this was left on its own¡­then it was very likely that the same thing that happened with the Inferno Gem would happen here.


    But we had someone that could take care of it.


    Bing Xin.


    Bing Xin had an ice attributed power that wasn''t weaker than Tammy''s fire attributed power.


    So with our help, she was able to break through and get the blue gem that was on the pedestal.


    As soon as we put this away and cleared out the ice energy, we quickly went to the exit to see if the same thing would happen.


    But after waiting for an hour, we didn''t find anyone.


    It seemed that the ice energy hadn''t spread far enough to attract the beasts like the Inferno Gem had done, so it seemed that we were safe for now.


    Of course, we didn''t let our guard down and placed someone outside to guard the area.


    We went in shifts so that no one would have to do it for too long since it really was cold outside.


    With all of that settled, it was now just about waiting for the end of this first round.


    Both Tammy and Bing Xin had things to do since they had obtained the Inferno Gem and the blue gem respectively. I could feel the power around them growing which seemed like a bad thing for us.


    Well, not Bing Xin getting stronger being bad for us, but Tammy getting stronger was definitely bad.


    She was our competitor in the end and there was no guarantee that the next round would be one where we could cooperate with each other.


    So this would hurt us in the future¡­


    Before this first round could end, Tammy suddenly came to me and asked, "Can we talk? Alone?"


    The moment that she said this, there were three pairs of eyes that turned in her direction.


    It was naturally from Long Shui Ling, Claire, and Bing Xin.


    But she just ignored them as she looked at me, waiting for my response.


    I had to take a minute to think about it, but in the end, I gave a nod of agreement.


    I could feel the looks that came from Long Shui Ling, Claire, and Bing Xin, but I ignored them as I went with Tammy to an isolated corner of the room where we could talk in private.


    As soon as we were alone, she suddenly said, "You''re something else, aren''t you?"

 Chapter 368 - 368: First round (46)

    The only response that I could give was a surprised and confused look since I didn''t expect this from Tammy.


    After all, I really had no idea what she meant by this.


    Was interesting a good thing or a bad thing?


    Seeing that this was the response that I gave, Tammy revealed a faint smile as she said, "That is what I mean. This look of yours, it really is funny and interesting."


    I was even more confused when I heard this, but I asked, "What do you mean by this?"


    Tammy gave a nod before saying, "I won''t lie, you''ve caught my attention more than I''ve thought and I''m acting on that now."


    I didn''t say anything as I just waited to see what she would say.


    Tammy suddenly took a step forward towards me and said, "You''re not dating anyone, right? If so, become my man."


    My chin dropped the moment that I heard this.


    I gave a gulp as I looked at her, as if trying to figure out if she was joking or not. However, from the look in her eyes, I could tell that she wasn''t joking which shocked me even more.


    She just silently looked at me, as if she was waiting for my response.


    But what response could I give?


    After a long silence, I took a deep breath to calm myself before saying, "Why? I don''t think that there''s anything that special about me, right?"


    Tammy nodded before shaking her head as well and saying, "You can''t say that there''s nothing special about you. There''s just this feeling that I get from you that you''re different from other people. I think that''s what attracted me to you."


    Different from other people¡­


    Well, I was certainly different from other people since I was the Demon King of Lust, but it wasn''t as if I could just say that out loud.


    I had thought about getting Tammy under my control as well before, but I had figured that it would be too much trouble at this stage. I had planned on becoming friends first and then working from there.


    I never thought that she would be so direct that she would confess to me like this.


    After some thought, I came to the conclusion that¡­


    I couldn''t accept this.


    Even if I was beaten to death, I couldn''t accept this. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, the moment that I did, everything would fall into chaos.


    The careful balance that I had created would instantly be destroyed and many different things would come to light. Before I had prepared everything with the other girls, I couldn''t gather more girls.


    So I bowed my head and said, "I''m sorry, I can''t be with you."


    Tammy was genuinely surprised as if she couldn''t believe that I would turn her down.


    To my surprise, she suddenly brought her hands to her chest and pushed them up as she said, "Am I not beautiful enough? Or is it that I''m not strong enough? Not rich enough? I don''t think there''s a reason for you to turn me down, right?"


    Beautiful?


    She definitely was a beautiful girl with her long flowing red hair, piercing red eyes, finely carved face, fair skin, and her hourglass figure with just the right amount of curve in each place. Her chest wasn''t too big and her bottom wasn''t too wide, she had just the right amount of fat in each place.


    This kind of beauty wasn''t inferior to the other girls.


    As for the other things that she listed, I didn''t know too much about her, but I was sure that she wouldn''t be lacking as one of the prized rookies of the Sol Warriors.


    It was just that¡­


    I shook my head and said, "It isn''t any of that, it''s just that I barely know you and I don''t think that it would be right for us to go out. Maybe we should start as friends first?"


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at me before suddenly saying, "It''s because of those other girls, right? You''re close to them?"


    I couldn''t help trembling when I heard this, but then I forced my face to be calm as I said, "What are you talking about? I don''t know what you mean."


    Tammy revealed a faint smile before saying, "There''s no need to hide it, I can see how you treat them and how they look at you. I''m a woman as well, so I can understand how they feel."


    I really was taken aback when I heard this.


    I didn''t really understand what she was talking about, but I could tell that it was quite impressive.


    Still, I couldn''t get sucked up into her pace, so I shook my head and said, "It isn''t like that, we''re just friends."


    Tammy said with the same smile on her face, "Just like how you want to be friends with me?"


    I couldn''t refute this since I knew that it was a trap.


    If I refuted it, it would be the same as admission through denial.


    If I didn''t refute it¡­well, I would be admitting it through silence.


    So there was nothing that I could say in response to this.


    Tammy didn''t mind that I was silent as she reached out to pat me on the shoulder and said, "Don''t worry, I won''t be defeated. Let''s start as friends and I''ll take care of the rest. With me here, you don''t need to worry about anything."


    I really didn''t know what to say, but at least she accepted that we would be friends.


    That would at least buy me some time until I figured out what to do¡­


    When we came back, I could feel three glares directed in my direction.


    But Tammy was the one that met those glares as she looked at the three of them with a smile on her face.


    All three of them were taken aback by this before glaring at me even more afterwards.


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face.

 Chapter 369 - 369: Results of the first round (1)

    Time passed very quickly as we made our camp in that nest of the ice dragon.


    No one actually came to challenge the ice dragon after us, so there were no disruptions.


    The only thing that we did have to take care of were a few monsters that had wandered in from outside, but that really wasn''t a problem since they were weak monsters. Just the guards that were at the entrance were more than enough to take care of them.


    When time ended, we were curious about how we would be able to leave this place, but that was answered very quickly.


    There was something that started to glow and release strange fluctuations.


    When this happened, all of us pulled out the things that were releasing these strange fluctuations.


    It was the tokens that we had been given.


    Some of us recognized what was happening and some of us didn''t.


    The ones that didn''t¡­


    "What is happening?"


    "Why is there this strange aura coming from this thing?"


    The ones that did just remained silent as they waited for what would happen to happen.


    Though those that had a greater understanding knew that to do something like this definitely wasn''t cheap. The amount of Return Stones that were needed to achieve something like this¡­was surely not something that a single guild could provide.


    As expected of a tournament that was being held by multiple different large guilds.


    After the light built up for a bit, there was a large flash of light that came from these tokens.


    The one thing that I noted was that the tokens on the ground by the ice sculptures that we destroyed had never lit up. It seemed that they already knew that their owners were dead, so they didn''t react at all.


    If they knew that their owners were dead, did that mean that it was also reported to the ones that were outside?


    Then did that mean that the organizations behind the ones that we killed already knew that their people were dead?


    If that was the case, I could only wonder if they knew who did it¡­


    No, even if it didn''t show who did it, it should have been clear just based on the change in points. I was certain that they would have displayed the amount of points earned by each person outside, so they should have seen when the points of their rookies disappeared and when our points increased.


    It shouldn''t be hard to guess what happened after seeing that.


    It seemed like there was trouble waiting outside for us¡­ sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the flash of light cleared, we found that we were in the same place as before.


    When we appeared in front of the crowd, we were immediately met with cheers and applause. This crowd seemed different from the one that was here yesterday, but it wasn''t hard to guess why that was.


    This first round took an entire twenty four hours, so it wasn''t as if the crowd from yesterday would have remained sitting here for that long. After the first round started, they would have been sent off and they would have been gathered again before the first round ended.


    But there were those that only had tickets for the first day and not the second day, so there would be a change in the audience.


    However, the ones from the guild didn''t change.


    I could also see Su Chen and the rest sitting there in the audience waving at us.


    After giving us some time to adjust, the host suddenly said, "Let''s welcome our contestants back!"


    As soon as the host said this, the applause and cheering became even louder.


    There were some that embraced this and waved back to the crowd, but there were also people that were too tired after what had happened inside the dungeon. They just moved to the corner and waited for this to be over.


    Not a single one of them left since they wanted to hear the results of the first round.


    At the same time, there were some that were looking for faces that they recognized.


    That included Michael who was looking in our direction at this moment.


    You would think that the one that he glared at would be Tammy, but it was clear that he was glaring at me. After all, I had been the one that had trampled on him and taken his token from him.


    If looks could kill, there was no doubt that he would have wanted to kill me.


    But he couldn''t do anything in front of everyone like this, so he had no choice but to hold back.


    If he bit his lips any harder, there was no doubt that he would be bleeding.


    It wasn''t just Michael alone who was glaring at someone.


    There were many others who were also glaring at each other after the first round.


    It was clear that there were many grudges that had been formed because of what happened in the dungeon, so it wasn''t strange to see everyone acting this way.


    The host let the crowd go for a bit before saying, "There were many things that happened in this first round and it was a rollercoaster seeing all different changes in the score in real time."


    As expected, they had been watching the score and they had made it available to everyone to watch as well.


    If cameras had been allowed in dungeons, there was no doubt that they would have filmed us the entire time.


    But if cameras had been allowed in, plenty of deaths could have been avoided.


    That would have cut into the theme of this first round, so they wouldn''t have sent in cameras even if cameras had worked in the dungeon.


    This was just how this first round was.


    The host continued by pointing at a screen that suddenly came down in the center of the stage and saying, "Now, let''s see what the final scores are and who the winners of this first round are."

 Chapter 370 - 370: Results of the first round (2)

    After the screen came down, there was a list that appeared on it.


    It was a list of all the participants in this tournament and on the side was a list of numbers that corresponded with these participants.


    These were the number of points that they had obtained in this first round.


    It was a very long list, but at the bottom, there were some names that were grayed out.


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out that these names at the bottom were the names of the ones that had died in the first trial.


    I also recognized one of the names that was there.


    Cheng Hui, the one from the Beijing Tigers.


    His group was the group that we had killed right away after entering the dungeon since he was the one that had tried to pick on those unaffiliated Awakeners. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Speaking of the unaffiliated Awakeners, I could see them not far away.


    They had waved at us with smiles when they saw us earlier and I had acknowledged them as well.


    This list was very long and had many different names, but everyone was able to quickly find themselves since they had a general idea of where they would be. That was because in these twenty four hours, everyone had figured out how the tokens work.


    They had been able to see their points, so they just had to look at the second half of the list and then find their names after finding their points.


    I started from the bottom and worked my way up since I didn''t want to be too far up, but I couldn''t help feeling more and more anxious when I couldn''t find myself near the bottom of the list. The further up I got, the more anxious I became.


    That was until I reached the very top of the list.


    There were over a thousand participants in this first trial, so I started to panic when I reached the top hundred. Even then, I still wasn''t able to find my name, so I had to keep going up higher.


    I went all the way to the top of the list and that was when I finally found my name.


    It was right there on the very top¡­


    My name was on top of every other name that was on this list.


    Then right beneath me were Tammy, Alex, and Julius'' names. Further down from that were the names of my group, Alex''s group, Julius'' group, and Tammy''s Sol Warriors.


    It seemed that we had far surpassed anyone else who had been in the dungeon with us, so we were without a doubt the top contenders.


    I had thought that there would have been others who would have been able to surpass us, but that didn''t seem to be the case¡­so that put me right at the top and that gathered everyone''s attention.


    "It''s him! It''s that person from Elementia that everyone was talking about."


    "It seems that he teamed up with Tammy¡­did you see how close they were?"


    "He doesn''t really seem that handsome, does he?"


    That last one hurt.


    I had to admit that the last one hurt.


    The host had given everyone time to look at the rankings for the first round, but after that he didn''t waste any time in saying, "Those that ranked at the top of this first round will receive a special reward. This will help you in the second round."


    Though he said this, there was no one that came forward to hand over these special rewards.


    Was it because they would be given later or was it because of something else?


    No one really got a chance to ponder that question as the host continued by saying, "We shall now begin the second round."


    When he said this, everyone was shocked.


    After all, not a single person had expected the tournament to run like this.


    They had just spent twenty four hours in a dungeon, which was something that was quite tiring. Now they were being told that they would have to go through the second round right after that without any rest¡­


    It was naturally hard for them.


    There were many that looked at the host with looks of complaint, but the host just ignored all of them as he continued by saying, "I''m sure that all of you are wondering what this second round will be."


    With a snap of his fingers, there was a door that suddenly appeared out of the ground.


    Though to call it a door was a bit strange since this really wasn''t a door because it didn''t really lead anywhere. It was better to call this thing a portal since there was a swirl of energy that was inside of this door frame.


    After this portal appeared, the host said, "You will now take this portal to the special zone set up for this second round. There you will find a test that will measure your various stats and abilities. This will measure your basic abilities and measure how qualified you are to be here."


    All of the participants couldn''t help revealing strange looks when they heard this.


    This almost seemed like an insult to them since they were all chosen from the large guilds in the first place. It was as if they were saying that they had been chosen for their connections rather than their abilities.


    They naturally couldn''t accept this that easily.


    But I had something else in mind.


    They didn''t say who had passed and who had failed this first round.


    The only thing that they did was bring this board up in front of us with our names and scores, there wasn''t any indication on who passed and who failed.


    As if in response to this, the host suddenly said, "Oh right, before I forget."


    There was another snap of his fingers before holes opened up in the ground. These holes appeared under certain people and those people dropped down into those holes without being able to react.


    The host then said with a smile, "There, those are the ones that failed."

 Chapter 371 - 371: Second round (1)

    Once those people disappeared, the host turned to look at me and said, "Now, please enter the gate in the order of your rankings. The top ranker will enter first and everyone after the top ranker will enter in order."


    As he said this, everyone turned to look at me.


    There were some people that didn''t know who I was because they had never met me before.


    But now that the host had singled me out like this, everyone knew who I was.


    Everyone immediately looked at me with different intentions.


    It was clear that everyone wanted something from me now that I had become the top ranker.


    At the same time, everyone regarded me as a potential rival since I was the top ranker.


    I had only obtained the top ranking for the first round, but that was still enough to prove that I had abilities to earn this. This ability meant that I would be a danger to them in the later realms, so they were taking note of me now.


    In a sense, part of my goal had been achieved.


    Bing Lan had sent me here to establish myself for the future SS Rank Dungeon Raid. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Only by establishing fame would I be able to secure a spot on that raid team, so I had to spread my name even if I wanted to be lowkey to hide the fact that I was the Demon King of Lust.


    This first place in the first round would allow me to accomplish that.


    After a moment of silence, I stepped forward towards the gate.


    As I walked over, I looked at the host and asked, "What about the prizes that were promised to the top rankers? We haven''t received them yet. Aren''t they supposed to help us in the next round?"


    The host had a look of praise in his eyes when he heard this.


    He had thought that everyone had forgotten about this since he had blindsided them with the second round. But it seemed that there were still people that were able to keep their cool and think things through.


    The host put the mic down so that what he said wouldn''t be broadcasted before saying, "The prize will be given once you enter the portal. The second round is in an isolated space created by the organizers, so there''s someone waiting inside to give you your prize."


    I was surprised to hear this from the host, but I was actually more surprised by the information that I had received from what he said.


    Isolated space¡­


    It seemed that there was some kind of controlled aspect to this second round.


    The first round was in the dungeon, so I could use my abilities without worrying since there would be few people that would see it. But it was different in this second round.


    Since it was an isolated space created by the organizers, there was no doubt that there would be some kind of surveillance set up in this place. That meant that they would be able to see everything that I did and show it to everyone watching.


    That meant that I had to hold a few things back since I had no idea what would be caught¡­


    After a moment of silence, I gave a simple nod to the host before walking up to the portal.


    Taking a deep breath, I walked through the portal and the sounds around me disappeared.


    The moment that I stepped in, it was as if everything had suddenly gone dark and silent. Even though my eyes were still open, it was as if I couldn''t see a single thing in front of me.


    It was as if all the light in this world had suddenly disappeared and I was left in complete darkness.


    I only took a few steps before coming to a stop.


    After turning my head a bit, I couldn''t help turning around and reaching out with my hand behind me. I wanted to see if the portal that I had gone through was still behind me.


    However, my hand touched nothing at all.


    The portal that I had walked through had disappeared without a trace.


    I was just left alone in this darkness.


    As I stood there in the darkness, I was wondering what I should do.


    But before I could think of anything, there was a clicking sound before a light appeared.


    The beam of light fell down from the ceiling¡­no, it didn''t come from the ceiling. It was just a beam of light that seemed to come down from above, without a source to it.


    The first reaction that I had to this was to cover my eyes.


    After all, I had been in the darkness for some time and my eyes had adjusted to this darkness.


    Being suddenly thrown into the light like this was something that was hard for my eyes to adjust to, so I had to cover them to prevent the light from hurting them.


    But eventually my eyes adjusted and I was able to see that there was a figure that was standing in the beam of light.


    This figure just stood there without saying a single word, almost as if they were waiting for something.


    When my eyes finally adjusted, I found that it was a beautiful girl who was standing there under that beam of light. She was a beautiful girl in what seemed to be a gothic loli dress with her blonde hair in twintails.


    Once she saw that I was looking right at her, she said, "Welcome to the second round. I am your guide that will help you as you embark on this trial."


    "Guide?" I couldn''t help repeating before revealing a bitter smile.


    The way that she had said this, it was almost as if this was some kind of game¡­


    The guide didn''t take offense to the way that I said this.


    In fact, she even ignored me as she said, "Now, please accept your prizes for the first round."

 Chapter 372 - 372: Second round (2)

    As soon as her voice fell, there were several things that appeared in front of me.


    They just floated there in front of me, as if they were waiting for me to take them.


    It was a set of armour, a sword, and a token.


    I looked at these things with a raised brow before asking, "These are?"


    The guide pointed at the sword and armour first to say, "These are the special equipment that have been issued to you for this second round. They will increase your power by 100% while you are in this trial." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A set of equipment that could double my power as long as I was in this place, that was definitely something very precious.


    But there were a few concerns that I had about this.


    First, what was considered double?


    Was it double my base physical stats or did it also double the amount of mana that I had?


    There were many things that I couldn''t help thinking about since double was just too general of a term.


    However, that only lingered on my mind for a few seconds before I moved on to the next thing.


    Trial.


    This guide had called this place a trial¡­what did she mean by that?


    Also, what would the trial entail?


    As I was lost in thought, the guide continued explaining a few more things about the armour and sword that I didn''t find that interesting, so I didn''t really pay attention to them. That was until there was a certain thing that she said that I had no choice but to pay attention to.


    This was something that had caught my attention right as soon as she said it.


    "In case the armour and sword are damaged, they will not repair themselves during the round. You will have to wait for the end of the round for them to be repaired."


    Trial and round, those seemed like the key words to pick up from her explanation.


    But before I could ask her questions about this, the guide had already moved onto the second item.


    "This token¡­it''s hard to explain what this token is without explaining what the second round is like. So before I tell you the function of the token, I''ll tell you about the second round."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I quickly focused myself as she began her explanation.


    Without even needing to ask anything, she was about to answer my questions herself.


    So naturally I would pay attention to what she was about to say.


    As it turned out, this second round was really a trial like the guide had said before.


    It was a test of one''s power and one''s adaptiveness.


    The trial would be fifty rounds of fighting with different enemies being spawned in each round. As long as all of the enemies were defeated, then the next round would start.


    But that wasn''t the only way for a round to end.


    There was another way for a round to end, which was going over the time limit.


    There was a time limit of ten minutes given for each round and once that time limit was reached, it would be considered a failure.


    However, failing a single round didn''t mean that it was over yet.


    There were a total of three lives that were given.


    That meant that one could fail a total of three times on one stage and still pass it.


    Though the lives were shared across all of the stages instead of just three lives for each stage. Once all three lives were lost, that meant that one would fail the trial and would be sent out.


    However, it wasn''t as if one would fail to reach the third round because of this.


    The guide clearly explained what the criteria for who passed this round was.


    "Those that pass all fifty rounds will reach the third round, but it''s impossible for everyone to pass all fifty rounds. It will even be likely that there will be no one that passes all fifty rounds."


    The way that she said this was like she was explaining this trial, but there was a strange intonation to her voice that strangely irritated me¡­


    I didn''t know what it was about the way that she said it, but it really didn''t sound nice.


    "So of course we can''t just kick everyone out of the tournament since that would mean the tournament would be cancelled. Instead, we will take the top fifty who make it the furthest in this trial. So it''ll all depend on how many rounds you can clear if you want to make it to the next round."


    Once again, the words that she was saying weren''t strange, but the way that she said it¡­


    It strangely got on my nerves.


    The guide suddenly took a step forward to grab the token that had been floating there in the air. She lifted it up in front of me and said, "This token will allow you to skip five rounds. That is your right as first place in the first round. You better appreciate it."


    I finally understood why she strangely got under my skin¡­


    It was because she was talking like an ojou, like she was better than me¡­


    Still, I resisted the urge to dropkick her and reached out for the token that she was holding.


    The guide just casually threw it to me, though the throw that she made was really bad. It barely reached me, so I had to take a step forward to grab it.


    Still, now that I understood what this token was for, I understood how important it was.


    But there were still questions that I had to ask.


    "When can I activate it? Can I do it in the middle of the round or do I have to do it right away before the round starts? Can I see the enemy first before deciding whether to use the token or not?"


    Faced with this barrage of questions, the guide couldn''t help taking a step back with a surprised look on her face.


    It was clear that she didn''t expect me to ask all of these questions.


    However, she didn''t answer them as she said, "Alright, it''s time for you to go."


    Before I could say anything, there was a flash of light that appeared in front of me.

 Chapter 373 - 373: Second round (3)

    This flash of light became stronger and stronger until I was forced to close my eyes.


    When the flash of light was gone and I was able to see again, I saw that I was in a completely different place.


    This was a completely different room, but there seemed to be some kind of light that came from above that lit up this room. With this light, I was able to see the inside of this room perfectly.


    This was a room that was circular in shape and was quite big.


    It was a room where if I ran, it would take me around five minutes to reach the other side.


    So there was quite a bit of space to move around in. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But while looking around, I found something strange.


    There was no roof¡­


    I didn''t know where this light came from, but it seemed like it was coming from above. The only problem was that once it reached a certain height, it was as if the light had been eliminated as nothing was reflected.


    It was as if after a certain height, all light was stopped.


    This room really seemed like a strange room, but I didn''t get to look around for any longer as there were growls that came from in front of me.


    When I looked in the direction that the growls were coming from, I found that there were some goblins standing there.


    The guide had said that I would have to fight certain monsters each round and that would be the way to pass the round. It seemed like for this first round, the monsters that I would have to defeat were this group of goblins.


    But seeing these goblins, I couldn''t help revealing a strange look.


    There might have been a time where these goblins were too strong for me to deal with, but now¡­


    All I could see was cannon fodder.


    These goblins couldn''t pose any threat to me at all since they were nothing more than E Ranked Monsters. I was someone that was even able to fight against C Rank or B Rank if I went all out, so it was like using a bazooka to kill an ant.


    It was just too much.


    Since they were here, I didn''t waste any time thinking about it anymore.


    "Let''s just finish this quickly and see what else this place has."


    As soon as I muttered that to myself, I immediately charged at the goblins.


    As expected, the goblins weren''t able to keep up with my speed at all.


    But that wasn''t just because of my normal speed.


    I had put on the armour and held the sword before charging at these goblins.


    The moment that I dashed forward, I found that I was more than twice as fast as before.


    Just like the guide had said, my speed had actually doubled¡­No, it was actually more than double since it wasn''t just my speed that increased. The armour seemed to increase all different kinds of aspects, some of which indirectly affected my speed.


    So in truth, I was actually more than twice as fast.


    Even at my normal speed, it would have been hard for these goblins to keep up with me.


    But with more than twice my normal speed, I was like a blur to these goblins.


    "Kree!"


    The goblins screamed out in pain as I cut them down.


    But as I cut through the goblins, I couldn''t help looking at the sword in my hand in shock.


    That was because it had been too smooth, it was like a hot knife cutting through butter when I cut these goblins down.


    "Isn''t this a bit too much?" I couldn''t help muttering to myself.


    The guide had said that it was impossible for the participants to finish all fifty stages, but if the stages were like this¡­wouldn''t it be too easy?


    Even if the later stages became harder, it shouldn''t be that much harder, right?


    I was filled with confidence as I cut down the rest of the goblins.


    Once all of the goblins had been cut down, there was a door that appeared in front of me. Along with this door, there was a timer that appeared above the door that was decreasing.


    The time that the timer had at first was fifteen minutes and it was slowly going down.


    This timer¡­was most likely the amount of rest time that I had before I had to go to the next stage.


    But I didn''t need it.


    The goblins had been too easy to take care of, so I hadn''t used up any energy at all and I was still good to go. I didn''t waste any time in stepping into that door and then with a flash of light just like before, I found myself in a room that was just like the one from before.


    Only this time¡­


    "GRR!"


    It was a group of orcs that were waiting there for me.


    Orcs were D Ranked Monsters, so the difficulty was indeed increasing.


    Though to me, orcs and goblins really weren''t that different.


    They might have been hard for the past me to deal with, but the current me was much stronger than the past me.


    Not to mention, I was filled with confidence because of this special equipment that I was wearing.


    You could even say that I was on a high because of the increase in power this equipment gave me.


    Still, I was much stronger than the orcs, so it didn''t take any time for me to deal with them.


    In no time at all, the orcs were lying dead on the ground.


    As soon as the orcs were taken care of, there was the same door that appeared in front of me with the same cooldown.


    It should be that all of the stages had similar break periods, but I didn''t need this one either since the orcs were just too easy.


    Without wasting any time, I stepped into the door.


    With another flash of light, I was in a new room.


    But this time¡­I couldn''t help being surprised by the monster waiting for me.

 Chapter 374 - 374: Second round (4)

    It was a mountain.


    Well, it wasn''t exactly a mountain, but it was a large pile of rocks that was in the center of this room.


    This monster was completely covered in rocks and looked more like it was just a pile of inanimate rocks than anything, but if one looked closely, they would be able to see the hide that was underneath.


    It seemed that there was a layer of rocks that formed a shell on this thing''s back while the underside wasn''t covered by anything.


    As soon as I saw this, I could guess what kind of animal it was.


    It was some kind of armadillo.


    Though I didn''t really know what the name of this monster was, I just temporarily named it rock armadillo in my mind.


    But judging by the aura that was coming from it, it was clear that this thing wasn''t weak.


    With my experience, I could guess that this thing should be around C Rank.


    First a bunch of E Ranked Monsters, then a bunch of D Ranked Monsters, and now a C Rank Monster¡­


    This was only the third round! S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the trend that this was going at, wouldn''t it mean that the next round would have a B Ranked Monster and the round after that would have an A Ranked Monster?


    If that really was the case, then how was anyone supposed to finish this entire trial?


    After all, there were fifty rounds of this!


    I couldn''t even begin to imagine what would come after an A Ranked Monster if this really was the case.


    Would they even trap a S Ranked Monster in this place and make it an enemy.


    S Ranked Monsters¡­these were definitely not jokes.


    In the outside world, S Ranked Monsters would be considered disasters. Any S Ranked Monster would result in the evacuation of an entire province or country, that was just how dangerous they were.


    But back to this rock armadillo, it didn''t seem like it was planning on doing anything.


    However, if one thought about it, it seemed like this kind of monster would be something that would rely on its defenses and would be a more passive monster. So it wasn''t strange that it wouldn''t be doing anything.


    In fact, I could see that it was looking in my direction, only it didn''t seem like it was planning on doing anything.


    After a moment of silence, the rock armadillo even raised one of its clawed hands and gestured at me.


    It was almost as if it was saying¡­


    "Bring it on."


    It was clear that this rock armadillo had intelligence, more intelligence than a normal monster like it should have. This rock armadillo should have been trained or it should be a monster that was naturally smarter than other monsters.


    But the way that it chose to use this intelligence¡­


    I really had nothing to say about this.


    Still, I wasn''t one to back down from a fight.


    Since it wanted a fight, then there was no reason for me to not take advantage of this. Since it was so eager to fight, it was clear that this rock armadillo would make many mistakes.


    I would go along and provoke it to take advantage of said mistakes.


    As long as I led it on, this should be an easy fight.


    It was only a few slow steps at first, but seeing that the rock armadillo didn''t seem to move, I started moving faster towards it. Eventually, I was running right at the rock armadillo with my sword at the ready.


    But even then, the rock armadillo didn''t seem to do anything.


    That was until I came close to it.


    The rock armadillo brought its head forward and then curled itself up like an armadillo would.


    When it did this, it took the form of a large boulder.


    Then using the force of it tucking itself in, the rock armadillo started to spin towards me.


    This thing was fully using its anatomy as an armadillo to attack. At the same time, since it was covered in rocks, the defense of this rock armadillo should be very strong.


    This was basically a sturdy boulder rolling at me at this point.


    I was caught off guard by this since it was much faster than I thought, it didn''t seem like I would be able to get out of the way in time.


    If this was a normal situation, I would have used the Time Stop skill to get out of the way and then counterattack. However, I had no idea who was watching and what they were capable of, so I had no idea if they would be able to see through my Time Stop skill.


    As long as that was the case, I wouldn''t take this risk¡­


    So I gritted my teeth and said, "Stronger."


    After saying that, I swung the sword out at the boulder that was coming at me.


    In response to this, the rock armadillo actually jumped up into the air and fell down towards me. It seemed like this rock armadillo was planning on adding gravity to its attack.


    I didn''t know how heavy this rock armadillo was, but it was covered in these heavy rocks.


    So no matter how one looked at it, it didn''t seem like it would be that light.


    But there was nothing that could be done since it was already falling down at me.


    The only thing that I could do was swing my sword up to meet the rock armadillo.


    The moment that the sword connected with the rock armadillo, I was shocked.


    That was because I didn''t feel the resistance that I should have felt as I cut into the rock armadillo.


    There was nothing that stopped me from swinging all the way through.


    When it was over, there was something that slammed into the ground, creating a large crater behind me.


    But it didn''t do a single thing to me as I stood there with my sword held up high after that swing.

 Chapter 375 - 375: Second round (5)

    When I looked down, I saw that there were two halves of the rock armadillo lying there.


    It had been cleaved right in half from its head and the parts had smashed into the ground, forming a large crater.


    When I looked up, I saw that there was a door there with a timer on it waiting for me.


    This time, I didn''t go through the door right away.


    Instead, I lifted up the sword and looked at it carefully.


    After all, I knew that it wasn''t because of me that this rock armadillo had been cleaved in half. Even if I had buffed myself, I shouldn''t have been strong enough to cut this rock armadillo in half like this.


    No, in the first place, a normal sword wouldn''t have been strong enough to cut through the rock armadillo directly like this. The only way that a sword could cut so smoothly was if it was very sharp.


    This was a testament of how sharp this sword that I had been given was.


    At the very least, my normal sword wouldn''t have been able to do the same even though it was a magic weapon.


    But even then, it felt like something was off.


    After all, I shouldn''t have been strong enough to cut straight through the rock armadillo like this.


    So I looked at my own hands and said, "Stronger."


    When I did, I entered the same state as before when I attacked the rock armadillo.


    The moment that I felt this state, I understood what happened.


    I had buffed myself by making myself twice as strong as normal, but this feeling that I had right now¡­it wasn''t just double my strength. When I slowly swung my hand, I could feel the powerful wind that was generated.


    With the feeling inside of me, I could tell that this was at least four times my normal power.


    No, it should be even more than four times my normal power¡­


    "The sword and armour. That''s what must be buffing me." I slowly said in a voice of realization.


    This sword and armour had the ability to double my stats, but I never thought that it would also be able to double those stats when I used the Suggestion buff on myself. So that meant that when I buffed myself with double strength, this equipment actually increased that to four times my normal power.


    That just went to show how amazing this equipment was.


    But that also wasn''t the most important part of this.


    The most important part was¡­there were no side effects to this increase.


    Unlike my ability which increased one''s stats through releasing their limits with hypnosis, this just directly increased their stats with some kind of magic.


    When my ability was used to increase stats, the limiters inside of their brains were released.


    However, that came with a cost.


    The limiters that humans put on themselves were there for a reason. It was so that humans wouldn''t exert too much strength that they would hurt themselves.


    So while I was also able to buff by four times, that would mean almost releasing all limiters and causing the muscles of the body to rip apart from that strength. In that way, it was like a final resort that could only be used when one was in absolute danger.


    It wouldn''t kill, but it would definitely seriously injure the one using it.


    Unless it was absolutely necessary, this wasn''t something that should be used.


    But now¡­I was able to use the same level of power without even suffering from the consequences.


    This sword and armour really were divine items!


    I really wished that I was able to keep them after this trial, but I knew that this would be impossible.


    The guide had said that this was only something that would be available during the trial.


    If this was something that could be used in the outside world, there was no doubt that everyone would want this sword and armour. It was such an overpowered item that even wars would be fought over it.


    Still, I didn''t go through the door as I walked over to the corpse of the rock armadillo.


    Using the sword, I started cutting up the rock armadillo.


    It wasn''t that I was angry with it or anything, it was just that I wanted to test how strong I was and how sharp this sword was. This rock armadillo was the perfect thing to test all of this on.


    Though if anyone was watching me, they certainly would have thought that I was crazy.


    Still, that wasn''t necessarily a bad thing¡­


    Only after cutting that rock armadillo into small bits did I finally walk through the door that was there. The countdown on the door only had a minute left, so I would have been forced out of this place regardless.


    With a flash of light, I found myself in a new room.


    There was only a single thing in this room just like the others, but I was surprised to see this.


    This thing was a large monster right in the center, but the most shocking thing was the blue tone to its skin.


    This blue tone was without a doubt an irregular tone, one that wasn''t normally found on monsters.


    As for the monster, it was an ogre.


    This thing was a Blue Ogre, a B Rank Monster like I had expected¡­ S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Did that mean that the fifth round would really have an A Ranked Monster and the sixth round would have a S Ranked Monster?


    Was this even a trial anymore?


    If this was how the first few rounds were, then who would be able to even reach fifty rounds?


    It was no wonder the guide had said that it would be impossible for someone to clear all fifty rounds¡­


    But as I was trying to figure out what to do, I realized something about the Blue Ogre in the center.


    It didn''t seem to move¡­


    It had its eyes closed¡­


    It even seemed like it was snoring¡­


    It was almost as if this Blue Ogre was sleeping!

 Chapter 376 - 376: Second round (6)

    I carefully observed the Blue Ogre and I could see that there was even this snot bubble that was coming out of its nose.


    It seemed like it was in a deep sleep and no noise would wake it up.


    But even then, I still didn''t approach the Blue Ogre.


    I wanted to observe the Blue Ogre first to see if there was anything that I could use against it. At the same time, I also wanted to observe the room around me to see if there was anything here that I could use.


    However, the room didn''t seem to have a single thing in it.


    It seemed that the best way to do this was to take down the Blue Ogre before it woke up¡­That meant using one attack with unparalleled power to take it down right away.


    Or else it would be messy if I had to fight the Blue Ogre head on.


    However, it wasn''t as if I could waste too much time thinking about this.


    The rounds only lasted ten minutes each and I had already spent a fourth of my time observing this room. If I wasted any more time, I would be the one that suffered in the end.


    It seemed that this was one of those cases where it was better to act instead of thinking too much.


    Luckily for me, I had something that gave me the confidence to take down this Blue Ogre in one move.


    I looked down at the sword that I was holding in my hand and revealed a confident look.


    Right, if it wasn''t for this sword and armour that I received as a reward for placing first in the first round, I really wouldn''t have been confident in taking down this Blue Ogre. But with these incredible items in my possession, I was feeling confident enough to take it down.


    Taking a deep breath, I calmed my mind before locking my eyes on the Blue Ogre.


    If I wanted to take it down in a single blow, I would have to make the perfect strike in just the right spot to kill it in one shot.


    So even if it took a bit more of my time, I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect.


    I took the time to move closer, as close as I can without waking the Blue Ogre up.


    When I was close enough, I looked carefully at the Blue Ogre to see which part of it would be the best to attack. In the end, I settled on the neck since that was always the best way to attack.


    There was nothing that could survive after its head was cut off.


    No, there were things that could survive after their heads were cut off, but I wouldn''t ever want to meet those things.


    After making sure that everything was prepared, I took my stance and brought my sword up.


    Taking a deep breath, I said in a soft voice, "A lot faster and stronger."


    I could feel the power filling my body when I said this. It was a kind of power that was far beyond anything that I had ever felt before.


    With this power, I was certain that I would be able to take down this Blue Ogre in one shot.


    So once more, taking a deep breath, I prepared myself.


    Then with a single step, I found that I was flying forward towards the Blue Ogre. The speed at which I charged forward was almost too fast for me to handle, but I was able to keep up in the end.


    With one single swing, the sword came forward to cut the Blue Ogre''s neck.


    To my surprise, I found that there was no resistance at all from the Blue Ogre.


    It was as if I had a hot knife that was cutting through butter instead of a sword cutting through thick Blue Ogre hide.


    When it was over, I saw that there was something that was spinning through the air.


    Then when I came to a stop, I looked at it to see that it was the head of the Blue Ogre.


    The body collapsed behind me with a large ''thud'' and a splashing sound.


    The moment that I heard that splash, I quickly moved out of the way.


    As expected, there was a spray of blood that came out from the Blue Ogre''s body hitting the ground. If I had dodged a bit late, then the blood might have splashed onto me.


    Looking at the Blue Ogre''s head and body, I couldn''t help revealing an amazed look before looking down at the sword in my hand.


    I had already known that this was a very sharp sword, but I never thought that it was so sharp that it was even able to cut through a Blue Ogre this easily.


    But without it, it might not have been as easy for me to take down this Blue Ogre, so I was grateful for this sword.


    That didn''t stop the painful feeling from filling my body though.


    This painful sensation was the backlash of the ability that I just used.


    It was the muscle ache that came with releasing my limits.


    Of course, it wasn''t as bad as ripping apart my muscles by fully releasing my limits, but my muscles would be sore for a bit without being healed. I would need healing to reach my peak form quickly, which was a problem since there were still the next forty six rounds to deal with.


    It seemed like the guide was right, this really was impossible if this was the rate that the difficulty of this trial increased at.


    What was waiting for me should be an A Ranked Monster, right?


    Well, let''s see how this goes¡­


    But of course, I wouldn''t head into the next round right away.


    Before that happened, I would use the break time to heal up.


    Fifteen minutes wasn''t a lot, but it was better than nothing.


    S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 377 - 377: Second round (7)

    The moment that I stepped through the portal, I could feel the waves of energy assaulting me.


    The waves of energy that hit me in the face were much stronger than the ones that I felt coming from the Blue Ogre just now.


    As I had expected, there was an A Ranked Monster that was waiting for me.


    Along with the waves of energy that were hitting me, I also felt the heat that was coming from the center of the room.


    Standing in the center of this room was a large mass of flames, but it looked like it had a certain form to it. This large mass of flames looked like it took the form of a shirtless man.


    It was hard to make out the features of this thing since it was made completely of flames, but it seemed like some kind of handsome young man that was made of flames.


    Ifrit.


    The moment that I saw this, I realized what it was.


    As a member of Elementia, I had received some teachings of what kinds of powerful monsters were out there.


    This Ifrit was one of those that I had been taught about.


    Ifrits were spirits of fire that controlled the very essence of fire.


    At a minimum, these monsters were at least A Ranked.


    Feeling the heat and the aura that was coming from it, I didn''t doubt this ranking.


    There was no doubt that this thing was very powerful¡­


    Too powerful for me to fight at least.


    Even with the buff of the sword and armour, this wasn''t a fight that was good for me.


    After all, this Ifrit was a fire spirit, a being that was made completely out of energy.


    A being made out of energy couldn''t be hurt unless it was hit with an energy attack, so the physical attacks that I used were completely useless in the first place.


    At most, I would be able to scatter the flames of the Ifrit.


    I wouldn''t be able to do anything to the Ifrit itself with my physical attacks.


    Unlike with the Blue Ogre, this Ifrit immediately noticed me when I appeared in this room.


    As expected of a high ranked monster¡­is what I would have liked to say.


    But in reality, what I really said was¡­


    "Damn it! Why did it notice me so fast!"


    As soon as the Ifrit noticed me, it didn''t waste any time in gathering flames around itself.


    The flames swirled around the Ifrit like a tornado of flames that grew stronger and stronger. It seemed that at this rate, the entire room would be engulfed with flames with the way that this tornado grew.


    But that tornado of flames soon settled and disappeared, revealing the Ifrit once more.


    When I saw the Ifrit, all I could say was¡­


    "Damn! Is this its battle form!?"


    The Ifrit had grown to twice the size that it was before, but that wasn''t the most shocking thing.


    It still had the face of a handsome young man, but the body underneath the face was anything but that. It was the body of a muscular bodybuilder that was on par with Su Chen, while also being covered in armour made of flames and holding a sword of flames.


    This Ifrit was clearing gearing up for a fight.


    Once its battle form came out, the Ifrit didn''t hesitate to charge at me.


    With its sword raised and the flames surging around it, the pressure that this Ifrit put on me really was something else. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I knew that I wouldn''t be able to beat this Ifrit unless I was willing to show some things that I wasn''t willing to show.


    So I decided that I wouldn''t beat it.


    My goal was just to pass this round and rank as high as I could so I could reach the round of the tournament.


    So there was no real need for me to fight this Ifrit.


    I had an item that would allow me to skip this stage after all.


    After taking out the token, I tried to figure out how to use it.


    I looked at it from many different angles and poked at it from all over, but it didn''t seem like it would work.


    That was until I said, "I want to skip this round."


    As soon as I said this, there was a light that came from the token.


    This light grew stronger and stronger until it suddenly burst forward from the token, forming a large layer of light that spread across the room.


    It hit the Ifrit''s sword that was just above me, only a few inches away from my head.


    The moment that it hit the Ifrit''s sword, the sword suddenly froze in the air.


    It was as if there was some kind of battle between this light and the Ifrit''s sword, but the sword was dispelled in the end.


    The wave of light completely scattered the flames of the Ifrit''s sword and then it scattered the flames that made up the Ifrit itself.


    As I watched all of this, I couldn''t help muttering to myself, "Just what is this light?"


    The light continued scattering the flames, even going as far as pushing the Ifrit away and scattering the flames that made up the Ifrit''s body.


    The Ifrit looked like it wanted to run away, but it couldn''t outrun the light as it scattered the Ifrit''s flames.


    When it was over, the Ifrit disappeared without a trace.


    Once the Ifrit was gone, the same door as before appeared in front of me with a timer above it.


    It seemed that this token really was useful.


    So if there was a S Ranked Monster in the next room like I thought there would be, there would be no hesitation in whipping out this token to skip that room.


    As I was about to step into the door, I found that there was something strange around me.


    The light had also cleared the ash that had been on the floor, revealing these strange tiles on the ground.


    For some reason, I could feel a cold feeling coming from these tiles.

 Chapter 378 - 378: Second round (8)

    When I saw these tiles, I stopped heading towards the portal that was there and went over to look closely at the tiles that were on the ground.


    When I looked down, I saw that there were some strange patterns that were on these tiles.


    After looking at it for a bit, I realized that the patterns on these tiles were similar to the ones that were on the talismans that I had received when we went into the raid dungeon before.


    Those talismans that added a flame effect to my sword.


    That meant that these tiles on the floor most likely had some kind of effect when they were activated.


    Based on the chill that was coming from them, it seemed likely that these things would release ice energy when used.


    Looking at the different tiles on the floor, I could see that there was the same pattern that was on all of the different tiles.


    These tiles should all release the same ice energy¡­


    But why were they placed in this room?


    I looked at all of these tiles carefully and found that they were placed in a pattern as well.


    The way that they were placed, it was almost as if the tiles formed an even larger array.


    Of course, I didn''t mess with these things since there was no knowing what they did.


    I had already cleared this round, so I wasn''t about to cause more trouble for myself.


    Still, seeing this made me realize something.


    They created the trial for this tournament, that meant that it was impossible for there not to be a way to pass these rounds. No matter what they would have prepared a way for the contestants to pass the rounds.


    Even if they were facing an A Rank Monster like the Ifrit.


    Thinking back to how the Blue Ogre had been asleep¡­this seemed even more likely.


    The Blue Ogre being asleep and this array in the Ifrit''s room, they were clearly ways for people to pass.


    Perhaps there was something else that was hidden inside of the Blue Ogre room that I didn''t find.


    If there was something, it was most likely some kind of thing that would allow the user to one shot the Blue Ogre like I had done. That would be the only way to guarantee that someone passed, which was what was needed.


    After all, there were some that didn''t have attack abilities in the first place like Qin Yue Ru.


    I couldn''t help worrying about everyone else as they took their trials¡­


    But there was no time to worry about that.


    The time on the timer had gone down because I had wasted quite a bit of time looking around this room. If I didn''t go now, I would be forced out anyway.


    So I didn''t waste any time in this Ifrit room anymore and prepared for the next room.


    But as I walked through the door, I suddenly realized something.


    Why weren''t my muscles aching anymore?


    ¡­


    Outside of the trial, there were many different screens showing the progress of the different contestants.


    Some of the screens were bigger and some of the screens were smaller.


    The ones that were smaller were clearly the ones that weren''t doing as well, so they didn''t receive any attention.


    The bigger screens had the scenes of those that were at the head of the pack.


    So the biggest screen that was right in the center¡­had Lin Fan on it.


    Everyone had been surprised when they saw how far he was able to get.


    On the other side, there was no one that had gone past the fourth floor. There were even quite a few people that had gotten trapped on the third floor. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These were people that didn''t have the offensive capabilities to break through the rock shell of the rock armadillo.


    So they were still stuck trying to figure out how to defeat the rock armadillo.


    The ones that had made it to the fourth stage had tried the same thing as Lin Fan.


    However, there hadn''t been a single person who was capable of defeating the Blue Ogre in a single shot like Lin Fan did. All they could do was injure the Blue Ogre and then slowly bring it down.


    But compared to the exciting fights that Lin Fan gave them, the crowd didn''t really pay attention to the smaller screens.


    The only ones that did were the fans of those others or those that were in the same guild as them.


    When Lin Fan used the token to clear the fifth stage, there were many people that reacted.


    "Is he cheating?"


    "What is that token that he just used? Was that allowed?"


    "This¡­isn''t that too powerful?"


    These were the whispers that echoed through the crowd when they saw him use the token to skip the fifth round.


    The host was the one that calmed them all down by explaining, "This is the prize for being first place that contestant Lin Fan received. This token allows him to skip five rounds without having to fight the enemies there. Since he has used it to skip the fifth floor, he now has four more uses of this token."


    They hadn''t seen the scene of Lin Fan with the guide, so they hadn''t heard her explanation of the items that she gave Lin Fan.


    That was why the crowd didn''t know about these prizes.


    After settling, they all carefully watched as Lin Fan observed the special tiles.


    There were many in the crowd that were confused what these tiles were, until a certain person said¡­


    "That''s the Ice Pillar Array!"


    There were looks of confusion that filled the crowd when they heard this, but there were some that recognized this name.


    The host was the one that filled the gaps in knowledge by saying, "The Ice Pillar Array is a special array that will create a pillar of ice above it, freezing everything in its range once it''s activated."


    As he said this, the crowd finally started to understand why this Ice Pillar Array was special.

 Chapter 379 - 379: Intermission during the second round

    Since there was something like this placed in the same room as the Ifrit, this must be the designer''s way of making this possible.


    Otherwise, there would have been people who would have complained about this second round.


    After all, a round that was impossible was not something that they could accept.


    This was a tournament that was being held by many of the large guilds, so they didn''t think that they would do something like this.


    But still, the difficulty level of this trial¡­was a bit too much¡­


    After all, they had to find all the different tiles and activate the Ice Pillar Array to even have a chance to take down the Ifrit.


    That meant having to dodge all of the attacks of the Ifrit while looking for these tiles that they didn''t know existed. So unless someone was very powerful and had exceptional insight, then it would be impossible for them to do something like this.


    But in a way, they could accept that this was something that was created by the large guilds for this tournament.


    This level of skill was only something that those that were from the large guilds would have.


    "Isn''t that kid from Elementia just lucky that he had a token that allows him to skip that room?"


    It was only a single comment, but soon it started to spread.


    After all, even though Lin Fan had passed that room with the Ifrit, it was all because of the token that he received. So there were naturally people that were dissatisfied with this since it seemed too easy. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The ones that started this whisper were the ones from the other guilds that were just jealous of Lin Fan''s abilities.


    Even if Lin Fan had used the token to skip the room with the Ifrit, there was no denying his power since he had taken care of the Blue Ogre in a single strike. That strike was far beyond what most of them were capable of, especially those that knew just how hard Blue Ogre hide was.


    This was not something that they could do, even if they used all of their power.


    But just like a wildfire, the rumour started to spread and many people started looking down on Lin Fan.


    Those that didn''t know were caught up in the voice of the crowd and soon started doubting Lin Fan''s abilities just because of this rumour.


    However, in a private box¡­


    "Ho, it seems that this kid really has some special abilities. It seems like you made the right call in getting that contract with Elementia."


    The one who spoke was a handsome young man with white hair sitting in a chair with a glass of wine in his hand. There was a smile on his handsome young man''s face as he looked at the screen.


    Standing behind this handsome young man was someone that Lin Fan would have recognized.


    It was Eliott, the one that had come to save him last time.


    But Eliott was standing behind this handsome white haired young man, with the way that he was standing making him seem like he was the subordinate of this young man.


    His next words proved that this was the case.


    With a bitter smile on his face, Eliott said, "Boss, I didn''t know that he was this powerful back then. I thought that it would be good if he could buff by 200%, but it seems that it''s even beyond that now. I don''t know how he''s become so strong in such a short period of time."


    Though he had a bitter smile on his face at first, the bitterness soon disappeared and he just had a normal smile on his face when he finished speaking.


    The handsome young man narrowed his eyes for a bit before saying, "It''s not just that. It seems like he''s still hiding some things with the way that he moves."


    Eliott couldn''t help revealing a confused look before asking, "Boss, what do you mean by that?"


    The handsome young man revealed a smile as he said, "It''s the way that he moves. As long as you have enough experience, you can see that there''s a bit of stiffness as he moves."


    Eliott still had a confused look on his face, so the handsome young man explained, "There''s clearly another way that he''s used to fighting that he''s not showing now. That means that he''s hiding his real power."


    Eliott was surprised before pulling up the replay from earlier.


    If they were in a normal seat, they might not have been able to do this, but this was a special VIP seat. The things that they could do here were completely different from the normal seats.


    After watching the replay for a bit, he slowly said, "You''re right¡­he really freezes from time to time, showing that he''s hesitating on what to do. But isn''t this just because he''s adapting to the situation?"


    The handsome young man shook his head before saying, "No, if it was that, he wouldn''t have that look in his eyes. The look in his eyes shows that he clearly knows what he wants to do, it''s just that he''s holding himself back."


    Eliott didn''t say anything this time, but the look on his face made it clear that he had his doubts.


    The handsome young man didn''t care as he kept looking at the screen with narrowed eyes.


    After a long silence, he finally said, "Test him with that dungeon. I want to see what he''s really capable of. If he is good, then we''ll be able to use him in the future."


    Eliott just gave a simple nod in response to this, but the look in his eyes showed his feelings very clearly.


    Shock, there was only shock in his eyes.


    But once again, the handsome young man didn''t care as he muttered under his breath, "I hope that you will be who I think you are. I really hope that you won''t disappoint me."

 Chapter 380 - 380: Second round (9)

    When I appeared in the next room, I had been fully expecting to be hit with a large wave of energy.


    I was expecting to be completely suppressed by what was in this room since I thought there would be a S Ranked Monster here.


    However, that didn''t seem to be the case.


    When I appeared in the room, I couldn''t help feeling that it was a bit dim.


    It was as if there was something that was covering the light that was coming from above.


    When I looked up, I found that there was indeed something that was covering this light.


    It was the foliage from a bunch of trees.


    Then when I took the time to look around, I found that I was completely surrounded by the trees that the foliage came from. I found that I was in the center of what seemed to be a forest.


    I was no longer in the same room that I had been in previously.


    But the problem was¡­where was the enemy that I had to fight?


    There were only ten minutes here and I couldn''t even see the end of this forest, so how was I supposed to find the enemies like this?


    Or at least that was what I thought until I heard some rustling in the bushes in front of me.


    I quickly pulled out the sword and pointed it in that direction, as I waited for whatever was coming to come out. However, it didn''t seem like there was anything coming out of those bushes.


    There was only a rustling sound that came from it before everything went silent.


    If I hadn''t heard it clearly, I might have even thought that I was imagining it.


    But I knew that I heard the sound of rustling, so I knew that there must be someone or something who was currently stalking me. Though I wasn''t able to make out just what it was that was there around me.


    I couldn''t even sense an aura from these things.


    It was as if they had completely hidden themselves as part of the forest, making them invisible to anyone else.


    "Hmm, so that''s the way that you want to play, is it?" I said under my breath before slowly pulling out something from my Storage Ring.


    I put this thing on the sword before saying, "Faster and stronger."


    As soon as I said this, I swung out in front of me with the sword in one clean arc.


    The sword that was swept out cut right through the trees that were in front of me, cleanly cutting right through the trunks. But at the same time, there were flames that were created the moment that the sword cut through the air.


    These flames seemed to come out of nowhere as they streaked through the air.


    The trees that had been cut were lit on fire and then flew out in front of me.


    As they flew through the air, the flames from the trees started spreading in all directions.


    Since this was a forest, there was plenty of timber for these flames as the surrounding trees also caught on fire. The fire quickly spread through these trees and it didn''t take long before the whole forest around me was covered in flames.


    Just like this, I had set the entire forest ablaze.


    I could hear the screams of pain and panic that were coming from around me after the forest was lit on fire like this, but there was still a problem.


    I was also right in the center of the flames.


    Though I had blown them back with the slash of my sword just now, it would only be a matter of time before the flames reached me.


    After all, there was still grass that was under my feet that could bring the flames to me.


    The only way to stop this was to find some way to block the flames.


    But I didn''t panic when I saw the flames coming closer to me.


    Instead, I took out a stone that I placed over my sword.


    Before putting the stone on the sword, I quickly ripped off the remains of the flame talisman, causing the flames around the sword to disappear. Then once those flames were gone, I put the stone on the talisman.


    There was a chill that appeared around the sword as a layer of ice appeared around the stone, freezing it to the sword.


    Only when it was stuck to the sword like this did I suddenly swing out with the sword again.


    The moment that I did, there was ice that formed in the air before forming a wall of ice all around me. This wall of ice completely separated me from the flames that were all around me.


    Once this ice separated me from those flames, I could feel the temperature dropping.


    "Ah, now it feels much better." I said to myself as I casually put my sword down and waited for the sounds around me to disappear.


    I could hear the screams of pain and panic, I could hear the sounds of something hitting the ice wall around me, I could hear the flames crackling as they burned strong. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But I ignored all of this as I casually waited for all these sounds to disappear.


    Though from time to time, I did have to lift the sword and swing it again to replace the ice that had been melted.


    When the sounds finally disappeared, I released the ice wall that was around me.


    As I did, I couldn''t help looking at the gem that was on the sword.


    This was a Frost Gem that Bing Xin gave me, which I never thought that I would need to use.


    However, I was very grateful that she had given it to me or else I wouldn''t have had the confidence to do this. It would have been much harder for me to clear this stage if it wasn''t for this Frost Gem.


    When the ice wall disappeared, I saw the portal with the timer in front of me.

 Chapter 381 - 381: Second round (10)

    Though the portal had already appeared, I didn''t go right into it.


    Instead, I looked around the room to see if there was anything special about it.


    It seemed that the monsters that had been stalking me were goblins. Or at least that was what I thought they were, though the corpses were a bit too burnt and maimed for me to identify them properly.


    Still, I could at least tell that these were goblins because of the shape and their sharp ears.


    There was no mistaking the sharp ears that these goblins had.


    As for the rest of the room, it didn''t seem like there was anything special about this place.


    Well, it was only a bunch of goblins that were hiding in the forest, so it wasn''t as if they were that hard to take down in the first place. It was only because I was being cautious that it had become this big in the first place.


    After realizing this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile.


    Well, since there was nothing for me to do here, I didn''t bother staying in this room any longer.


    I walked right through the portal and went to the next stage.


    ¡­


    "Ugh, this thing really is disgusting."


    I couldn''t help saying this as I pulled my sword out of the monster that was on the ground.


    The blood that leaked out of the monster and went into the water that was also at my feet.


    Because there was so much water, I wasn''t able to avoid it at all as the blood of the monster soaked me.


    At the very least, I would be cleaned up once I reached the next round.


    That was something that I had discovered during my time here.


    With each round cleared, the contestant would receive a full heal and be completely cleaned by some kind of magic. These were the things that I discovered when I went from the fourth floor to the fifth floor and from the sixth floor to the seventh floor.


    I had been so focused on the Ifrit when I was on the fifth floor that I didn''t notice that all of the aching from my body had disappeared.


    The aching that came from using my power to take down the Blue Ogre had completely disappeared the moment that I went to the fifth floor.


    So it turned out that one could fight with all their power on each floor and then be healed by whatever it was in this trial.


    At the same time, I found that they cleaned my clothes since I had been covered in soot when I went from the sixth floor to the seventh floor because of the burning forest.


    All of that soot had disappeared without a trace and I had been cleaned up completely.


    I didn''t know what was doing this in this trial, but I was grateful since it did help.


    Currently, I was on the ninth floor and I had just finished stabbing this merman to death.


    This wasn''t the normal merman that one might see in movies, but rather a fish like creature that walked on two legs. This thing used a trident and was able to swim very fast, which made it hard to deal with in this room, which was a room that was filled with water.


    Each of the floors after the sixth room had been like this.


    There was a different environment for each and the monsters that were there gained advantages from those different environments.


    For the seventh and eighth floors, the monsters there were only D and C Ranked, so I was able to find some way to deal with them with brute force. Though when it was over, I found that there were mechanisms in those rooms that allowed me to negate those advantages of the monsters.


    That was the way that I was supposed to clear those rooms, instead of just using brute force to kill the D and C Ranked Monsters.


    However, this ninth floor wasn''t the same since the merman that was here was a B Ranked Monster.


    It was just too strong for me to beat up with brute force and it was just too fast with the speed buff that it received in the water.


    But I had found that way to negate this in the end.


    Before I negated the merman''s advantage, this room had been filled with water. There were only a few spots that I had been able to step on without falling into the water.


    So it had been really hard for me to fight the merman while it was swimming under the water.


    But luckily I had figured out the mechanism for this room.


    Those few spots of land, they had to be destroyed to drain the room of the water that was in it.


    Those were the parts of the plugs for the drains that stuck out of the water. So they had to be destroyed completely to allow the water to drain away.


    The more plugs that were destroyed, the faster the water would drain.


    This was not an easy thing to do since each plug destroyed meant less land to stand on.


    As for fighting a merman in the water¡­there was no better way to commit suicide.


    So that wasn''t an option.


    I had to use all my powers to keep the merman at bay while dealing with the decreasing amount of space that I could stand on.


    So it was a race to see if I fell first or if the merman ran out of water first.


    In the end, I was the one that had won that gamble. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing the merman lie there on the ground bleeding out, I really felt the urge to stab it another time because of all the trouble that it caused me.


    But I held myself back in the end since I was certain that people were watching.


    Looking at the door, I steeled myself since the next room was the real room.


    It seemed that the pattern was that each five rooms had an A Ranked Monster.


    So the next room would without a doubt have one waiting.

 Chapter 382 - 382: Second round (11)

    When I stepped through the portal, I was hit with an icy wind right in the face. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This wind was so cold that it seemed like it would freeze me at any moment.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I was an Awakener who could resist this icy wind with my natural magic power, then it would have been very likely that I would have been frozen right away.


    Standing in the center of this blizzard was a single figure.


    It was hard to see this figure at first, but then it was as if the snow parted in front of me to reveal the appearance of this figure.


    It was a beautiful woman who was standing there in the center of this room.


    But the strange thing about this woman was that she was completely blue.


    It wasn''t just her hair, her eyes, or even her clothes that were completely blue.


    It was her skin that was even blue.


    It was like she was completely made of ice with the way that her skin looked.


    Though it did look a bit strange since her lips were blue, as if she was suffering from frostbite. It was too deep of a blue color for it to be considered lipstick, so it just looked very strange¡­


    But that wasn''t the most important thing.


    It was that her hand had been raised.


    That was what had caused the gap in the snow in front of me, showing that she was the one that controlled the snow that was around us.


    Snow Woman, that was the name of this monster.


    It was an A Rank Monster that was in complete control of ice and snow, making it very difficult to fight.


    The smart move now would be to use the token and skip this round, but I didn''t do that.


    After all, there were fifty rounds and the distribution of the rounds seemed to be that there were A Ranked Monsters every five rounds. The token that I had would allow me to skip five rounds, which meant that at most, I would be able to reach round thirty before being wiped out by the A Ranked Monster there.


    That was unless I was able to take down the A Ranked Monsters on my own without needing to use the token.


    The less that I used the token, the greater my chances of clearing this second round was.


    So until I absolutely needed to use this, I wouldn''t use it.


    The Snow Woman just stared at me for a bit before suddenly opening her lips.


    I was surprised to see that she wanted to talk to me, but that expression on my face quickly changed to a bitter smile.


    That was because although the Snow Woman opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, there wasn''t a single sound that came out. It really looked like she was saying something, but I wasn''t able to hear a single thing.


    Even when I tried to read her lips, I couldn''t understand a single thing.


    But that was more because I didn''t know how to read lips in the first place.


    If I did, maybe I would have been able to do something.


    However, since I didn''t, I wasn''t able to do anything.


    Seeing that I wasn''t reacting to her words, the Snow Woman shook her head before flicking her hand again.


    As soon as she did, the gap in between the snow closed once more and she disappeared from sight. The snow became even stronger as it completely whited out everything that was around me.


    However, the strange thing was that there wasn''t much snow around the area that I was in.


    It was as if the snow was avoiding me¡­


    But I knew that this wasn''t a good thing.


    I could guess what the Snow Woman''s plan was to surround me in snow like this.


    She was most likely trying to restrain my movement so that she could end this in one move. At the same time, she was trying to block my vision so that I wouldn''t be able to react to the attack that she threw at me.


    This Snow Woman seemed much more intelligent than the other monsters that I had faced, but it wasn''t as if I would just let her take care of me that easily. I had to at least put up a fight so that I would be able to see if I had a chance against her.


    But the thing was¡­I didn''t know what I had to do.


    The only thing that I could do was put another talisman on my sword and then swing it around to create flames around me. These flames were able to push the snow back a bit, but it didn''t seem like it was doing much.


    This was the difference in power between my talisman and the Snow Woman.


    The Snow Woman was a proper A Rank Monster while the talisman was just something that I had received to fight weak mobs with.


    I didn''t really have anything stronger.


    While waiting for the Snow Woman to attack, I was looking around the room to see if there was anything at all that I could use.


    But it was hard since the room was whited out because of the snow around me.


    I was lost until I looked up at the ceiling.


    When I looked up at the ceiling, I found that there was something above me that caught me off guard.


    It was that moment when I was caught off guard that I sensed something from in front of me.


    When I looked back down, I saw that there were several icicles that were coming out of the snow cover in front of me. These icicles were moving incredibly fast and they looked very sharp.


    Seeing this, I took a deep breath and said, "Release all limiters."


    This was my final move and I would be barely able to move once this was used, but I would be healed when I went to the next room.


    With what I had seen on the ceiling, it was worth it to take this risk.

 Chapter 383 - 383: Second round (12)

    Once all of the limiters were released, the amount of power that filled my body was insane.


    The limiters that the body placed on itself greatly inhibited one''s strength.


    At best, it only allowed one to use a fifth of their power at most.


    But once those limiters were released, I would be able to gain power that was over five times greater than what I currently had.


    No, it wouldn''t just be five times greater since it would fluctuate depending on how much strength I used. After all, human muscles didn''t just use 100% of their power all the time, so humans used different amounts of strength from time to time.


    With the limiters released, it could go from five times to over ten times the amount of power that I normally had.


    Then add in the doubling effect of the sword and armour¡­I felt that the amount of power that I had was infinitely close to reaching that of a S Ranker.


    I knew that there must be a single step away since S Rankers were so special for a reason.


    However, to face the A Rank Snow Woman, this should be enough.


    The only problem was that this couldn''t be maintained.


    The longer that I stayed in this state, the more I would hurt myself.


    After all, humans put limiters on their powers for a reason. Without limiters, one wouldn''t care about what happened to one''s body. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This amount of strength that I had was more than enough to rip the muscles of my body with just a few simple moves. So I had to be careful with how I moved my body and I couldn''t maintain this state for long.


    But a few seconds was all that I needed to take care of the Snow Woman.


    With the speed that I had, I immediately dodged out of the way of the icicles that were coming at me.


    Then without any hesitation, I kicked off the ground and flew up towards the ceiling.


    The moment that I kicked out, I could hear the snapping sound that came from my legs.


    It was just a single leg that I used, but the bone had snapped from the force of the kick.


    It was a worthy sacrifice since it was enough to propel me to the top of this room.


    At the top of this room, I had seen several tiles that were just like the ones that I had encountered in the previous room.


    But this time, I could feel heat coming from them when I came near them.


    Without any hesitation, I slapped the flame talisman on my sword and swung out at the tiles that were in front of me.


    The flames quickly gathered in the air around the sword before being absorbed by something. They were pulled away from my sword and quickly moved through the air before disappearing without a trace.


    They had been absorbed by the tiles that were on the ceiling.


    I didn''t know if this was the way to do it, but I hoped that it worked or else I would have no choice but to crush the token that I had been hiding in my pocket.


    After seeing nothing happen for a few seconds, I brought my hand close to my pocket as if I was about to use it. But before I could, I suddenly saw flames coming out of the tiles.


    I didn''t know if this succeeded or not, but at the very least, something was about to happen.


    When the flames came out of the tiles on the roof, the snow down beneath suddenly stopped and revealed the Snow Woman standing there.


    She looked up at me with a look as if she was blaming me for doing something bad.


    Was it really that bad that she would have to look at me with such an evil glare?


    But there was no time for her to worry about this as the flames being released by the tiles were getting much stronger. It was so strong that I was even starting to get hurt even though I had wanted to stay away.


    This feeling was like being in a sauna, but it wasn''t the pleasant kind of sauna.


    It was the kind that was hard to stay in since someone put too much heat into it, but you also couldn''t get out because of reason.


    Still, since it had worked, I didn''t have any plans to stay here, so I used the momentum of gravity to bring me down.


    Before I could land on the ground, the Snow Woman suddenly jumped up at me.


    I couldn''t help being caught off guard by just how strong her legs were as she jumped up at me. It was almost as strong as my legs after I had buffed them.


    As expected of an A Rank Monster.


    The way that she was flying up at me, it was clear that she was blaming me for all of this.


    She reached her hand out as if she wanted to grab me and choke me out, but it was hard for her with the heat of the flames.


    It was even so hot that she was unable to keep her body intact.


    It was so hot that even parts of her started to melt.


    During all of this, she still jumped at me as if she wanted to grab me and throw me down.


    However, I was already prepared for this.


    "You might want to bring me down, but I''m not ready to die yet. So I''ll have to use you for a bit to help me block these flames."


    I still had the power of the suggestion on, so I was able to move at incredible speeds to move out of the way. By the time that the Snow Woman reacted, I was already behind her.


    I pointed up at the flames in the sky and said, "You should do your best to block these."


    She looked at me like I was a crazy person.

 Chapter 384 - 384: Second round (13)

    When the flames scattered and the dust settled, the snow had disappeared.


    I was standing there on the ground and behind me was the burnt corpse of the Snow Woman.


    She had tried her best to block those flames that were coming from the ceiling while also dealing with me, but the flames came too quickly. The Snow Woman had no choice but to focus on the flames that were coming at her.


    But how was she supposed to stop them?


    Even when she gathered all of her snow and ice powers, she wasn''t able to stop the flames in the end.


    So all that was left was the burnt corpse of the Snow Woman.


    Though thanks to the Snow Woman, I was able to block the damage that came from the flames.


    In fact, I had been partly frozen because of the Snow Woman and that actually helped me block some of the flames that went past her. The rest were blocked by the blue gem that Bing Xin gave me.


    However, if it wasn''t for the fact that most of the flames were blocked by the Snow Woman''s power in the first place, I wouldn''t be standing here right now.


    The most important thing was that¡­the door to the next floor opened up with the same timer.


    With one leg, it was hard to get over to the portal, but I was able to make it over in the end.


    Looking back at the Snow Woman, I let out a sigh of relief before walking through into the portal.


    ¡­


    The twenty fifth floor, that was the floor that I was about to step into.


    Ever since beating the Snow Woman, I had been steadily making progress through these floors.


    The eleventh to fifteenth floors, it had a gimmick just like the sixth to tenth floors.


    The gimmick of the sixth to tenth floors were the terrain fields that the enemies could take advantage of.


    The gimmick of the eleventh to fifteenth were large numbers of enemies.


    There were goblins on the eleventh floor just like the first and sixth floor, but there were so many goblins that it was an entire tribe. There were over a hundred goblins that I had to fight and there was even a hobgoblin that was leading them.


    Still, they weren''t a match for me.


    But when it came to large amounts of higher ranked monsters, that was a bit harder.


    However, the designer of this trial wouldn''t make it impossible.


    They would include a way for the contestant to beat this round.


    The method that they gave was¡­once again a special array that had an effect.


    Taking advantage of this, I was able to take down all of the monsters that came at me.


    Even the two A Ranked Monsters that appeared on the fifteenth floor.


    There was another special gimmick for the sixteenth to twentieth floors.


    Then there was another special gimmick for the twenty first to twenty fourth floors.


    This gimmick was the addition of traps.


    There were various traps that were scattered around the rooms that would randomly trigger.


    I had to avoid all of those traps while still fighting the monster in front of me.


    If it wasn''t for the increased speed, I might have really been unable to keep up.


    In the end, I was able to pass all of those floors and reach this twenty fifth floor.


    But the moment that I stepped onto the twenty fifth floor, I knew that this place was different.


    This aura that hit me in the face was much stronger than the aura of any other A Ranked Monster that I faced in this trial. In fact, it seemed more like the aura that I encountered when I met the guild master.


    Could it be that¡­


    "Roar!"


    As soon as this cry rang out, I immediately realized what this was.


    It was a sound that I had heard before during the first round.


    It was the same cry that the dungeon boss of the first round had.


    It was a dragon.


    But this time, it wasn''t a young dragon.


    This was a fully developed dragon, which meant that this was a S Ranked Monster that was at its peak that I was facing.


    This was not something that I could defeat, or even have a chance of fighting.


    So I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile on my face as I thought, "Isn''t this a bit too much?"


    Still, I didn''t panic since there was a plan B that I could use.


    I could always just use the token that I had been holding onto.


    This token was something that would allow me to skip five levels and so far, I had only used it once for the fifth floor. For the other floors, I had used my own power to break through and I had been able to defeat those A Ranked Monsters on my own.


    Though to defeat them, I had to exploit the things that had been included in the design of these trials, but that was what they were there for in the first place.


    This floor with the S Ranked Monster, that seemed like the best place to use such a thing.


    But I didn''t use it as soon as I came into the room since¡­there was something that I wanted with the S Ranked dragon.


    I had found that it was very good training fighting against these A Ranked Monsters. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The different situations that I had been put in had given me many new experiences, giving me experience that I could use in the future.


    There was no doubt that this would make me much stronger.


    So along the way, I had started to see this as training rather than taking a trial.


    It was the same for this S Ranked dragon.


    Eventually, I would have to fight S Ranked Monsters.


    However, unlike this place where it was just a trial, I could actually die in the real world.


    So wasn''t it better to test myself against the S Ranked dragon?


    Taking a deep breath, I looked at the dragon and said, "I''ll be counting on you."

 Chapter 385 - 385: Second round (14)

    The dragon naturally didn''t understand what I was saying.


    I also didn''t have time to waste with the dragon as I started looking around the room.


    There had to be something that would allow me to defeat this dragon, so I was trying to find it.


    The dragon didn''t waste any time playing around with me as it suddenly reared its head back.


    The moment that it did, there was this strange flow that appeared in the room.


    It was a flow of air that was pulling the air around me upwards.


    That was because the dragon was much higher up than me and with the flames that it was gathering in its mouth, it created an area where there was a concentrated space of heat.


    This concentrated heat pulled the air up since hot air flowed upwards.


    That just went to show how hot and powerful the breath of this dragon was that it was even able to pull air from just gathering its flames.


    This dragon was definitely in a completely different league from the ice dragon that I faced before.


    But I was still looking around the room, trying to find anything that I could use against this dragon.


    Before I could find it, the dragon had finished gathering its breath.


    "Roar!"


    With a single powerful roar that almost shattered my eardrums, the dragon released that breath that it gathered.


    Seeing this, I didn''t hesitate to say, "Release all limiters."


    This S Ranked dragon was not something that I could fight without going all out.


    Even then, it was very unlikely that I would even be able to do anything to this dragon.


    So without any hesitation, I released all of the limiters that were on my body.


    As soon as the limiters were released, the same thing happened where my body was filled with energy. However, I was fully healed after coming into this room, so there was nothing holding me back.


    In fact, I had released my limiters a total of three times now and every time that I was healed up, I found that I was even stronger than before.


    So the current me couldn''t be compared to the me that had been on the tenth floor.


    I was more than twice as strong as I was then.


    With a single step, I was able to clear the dragon''s breath and this time, I didn''t shatter my leg bone. I had found out just how much strength I needed and how to use it so that I didn''t break myself when using this power.


    That was also the experience from fighting three different times with my limiters released.


    Once I cleared the dragon breath, I didn''t hesitate to slice the ground in front of me.


    It wasn''t that I was running out of ideas or I was desperate, I did it because it created a plume of dust that suddenly covered me. I was using this dust as a smokescreen to lose the attention of the dragon while taking that chance to search the room.


    It was just too bad that the dragon wasn''t willing to play along.


    Though there was this dust cloud that filled the room, it didn''t last at all as a gust of air suddenly blew that dust cloud away.


    This gust of air came from the dragon suddenly turning around and sweeping its tail out.


    When it did, this large gust of air was formed that blew away all of the dust and revealed me.


    I was shocked since I never thought that the dragon''s tail swing would be this powerful.


    No, even before that, I didn''t think that the dragon would suddenly use a tail swing like this since it wasn''t something that one would think of when it came to a dragon. They would usually use their breath or use their claws, it was rare to see a dragon swing its tail like this.


    But I still had my limiters released, so I quickly jumped out of the way.


    It seemed like I was about to clear this tail that was like a large building flying at me, but then¡­the tail suddenly sped up.


    I didn''t know how it did this, but that speed was not something that I could keep up with.


    I was still mid jump, so there wasn''t much that I could do. I tried twisting my body to avoid this tail sweep, but it was pointless.


    I was grazed by the tail.


    Though I sacrificed one of my legs to push off in the air for more speed, it didn''t work.


    I cleared most of the tail, but there was a bit left that I didn''t clear that caught my leg.


    The moment that the tail made contact with my leg, I could feel the force coming from that tail that swept me away.


    This force was too powerful for me to resist and I could only let it carry me as I flew out from being grazed. Though since I was only grazed, that meant that I didn''t fly straight.


    The power that was transferred from the tail to me came at an angle so I actually spun many times in the air as I was sent flying before smashing into the wall of this room.


    The breath was knocked out of me when I hit the wall like this, but at least the dragon wasn''t attacking anymore.


    Or that was what I thought.


    I soon felt the flow of air around me, telling me that the dragon wanted to fire another breath attack.


    However, I could barely move this time¡­


    My body ached all over and I was even a bit embedded into the wall.


    I couldn''t get out in time no matter what I did.


    A bitter smile appeared on my face, but there was never a look to give up that appeared in my eyes.


    I was just realizing how weak I was in front of a S Ranked Monster.


    This really was the difference between us and I couldn''t be mad about it.


    The only thing that I could do was try to improve so that I could fight this dragon one day.


    But before that¡­


    "I want to skip this round."


    S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 386 - 386: Second round (15)

    The light suddenly appeared on the token and then there was a wave of light that came out from it.


    This wave of light spread out in front of me and slammed into the concentrated flames that were aimed at me.


    When the wave of light made contact with the concentrated flames, it scattered it right away. There was no resistance at all that came from the flames as they were blown away by the wave of light.


    The wave of light went right up to the dragon and then hit it without any resistance.


    The only difference this time was that the dragon didn''t disappear.


    It was as if the wave of light couldn''t erase the dragon like it had done with the Ifrit previously.


    Was that because the Ifrit was a being that was just made of energy while the dragon was a being that was made of mass?


    Still, at the very least, it seemed like the dragon had been frozen because it had been enveloped by that wave of light.


    It was still in the middle of releasing its breath as it just froze there, but it didn''t seem like it would move again.


    After the wave of light spread to the walls of the room, the portal finally opened up in front of me.


    When I saw this portal, I let out a sigh of relief.


    I knew that with this portal, it meant that I had passed this round.


    I had been a bit worried when I saw that the dragon didn''t disappear, but seeing the portal relieved all of that anxiousness. At the very least, even if something happened, I wouldn''t have to do this round again.


    A S Ranked Monster¡­it really was just too much for me to handle.


    As I was about to step into the portal, there was a voice that suddenly said, "Child, wait. Let''s talk for a bit."


    I looked around myself and found that there was nothing around me.


    So after a moment of silence, I asked, "Who''s there?" S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As soon as my voice fell, there was a light that suddenly came from beside me.


    It was only a faint glow at first, but it quickly became too bright that I had no choice but to close my eyes and look away. It was only when it faded a bit that I was able to open my eyes and see what it was.


    It was the frozen dragon that had suddenly started to glow.


    This glow had dimmed because there was something that was coming out of the dragon.


    It had taken all of the light that had covered the dragon with it, almost as if it was the condensation of all of this light.


    When it came out, I was able to see what it was.


    It was a miniature version of the dragon.


    Well, to call it a miniature version wasn''t correct either.


    It was better to say that it was a cross between a SD dragon and a baby dragon that came out of the dragon.


    After coming out, it just floated there in the air for a bit as if it was getting used to its surroundings. Then all of a sudden, the small dragon turned to look at me to say, "Young man, let''s talk for a bit."


    Seeing this small dragon that looked like a baby dragon calling me ''young man'' like it was my elder, it really was a strange feeling.


    But I knew that this small dragon was anything but simple.


    After a moment of silence, I slowly asked, "What do you want to talk about?"


    The small dragon suddenly revealed what seemed to be a smile as it said, "Well, it isn''t often that someone reaches this far into the Tower of Trials, so I wanted to see what kind of person you are. If possible, I want to see if there''s a chance we can cooperate in the future."


    "Tower of Trials?" I asked in a confused voice.


    The small dragon raised a brow as it looked at me before saying, "That''s right. You didn''t know that?"


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "I was sent here by someone else. I have no idea what this place is."


    "Ho, is that so?" The small dragon looked at me with an amused look before suddenly raising its small arms up.


    Those small arms were placed in front of it and there was what seemed to be a screen that appeared in front of the small dragon. After this screen appeared, the small dragon waved its hands a few times before saying, "Interesting, very interesting."


    I had been silent since I wanted to see what the small dragon was doing, but I couldn''t hold back anymore when I heard the small dragon say this, "What''s interesting?"


    The small dragon looked up from the screen in front of it and said, "The fact that you''re from an unregistered world."


    "Unregistered world? What does that mean?"


    The small dragon revealed another smile as it said, "It just means that there are many things that I can''t tell you. Including what it means to be from an unregistered world. But it does make things much more interesting for me. I might even be tempted to throw you a bone if you ever come up to where I am."


    I couldn''t help feeling even more and more confused when I heard this, but there was a small part of me that knew that putting on a weak look right now wasn''t a good idea.


    So I gave a snort and said, "It''ll only be a matter of time before that happens."


    The small dragon was silent at first, but then it burst into laughter as it said, "Is that so? Then I''m looking forward to that."


    It kept laughing for a bit before finally wiping the tears in its eyes and saying, "Since you''ve managed to make me laugh, I''ll give you a reward. I''m sure that it''s what you wanted in the first place, I''ll answer a few of your questions as long as I can answer them."

 Chapter 387 - 387: Second round (16)

    As soon as I heard this, I couldn''t help knitting my brows.


    Though I had no idea who this small dragon was, my instincts told me that it definitely wouldn''t be anyone simple.


    So perhaps I might be able to get some very important information from it.


    After a moment of silence, I asked the obvious first question, "Who are you?"


    The small dragon gave a chuckle before saying, "We both know that it''s impossible for me to answer this question. You don''t have to play around like this, you can just ask what you really want to ask and I''ll answer."


    I revealed a faint smile as well when I heard this.


    Yes, like the small dragon said, this was just a test to see what it would say.


    I hadn''t expected anything out of this, but hearing the small dragon say this, I couldn''t help feeling a bit disappointed. After all, there was a small part of me that had hoped that I had been wrong.


    So I thought about it a bit while muttering, "So I assume that the unregistered planet and anything related to that is the biggest taboo there is¡­"


    The small dragon gave a nod as it said, "That''s right."


    I just ignored it as I continued talking to myself as if I was thinking things through.


    But there was something that caught my attention out of the corner of my eyes.


    It was the timer that was above the portal that was still counting down.


    Right¡­it wasn''t as if I had infinite time here.


    There was a limit to the time that I had, so I couldn''t waste it trying to figure out what to ask for too long.


    I looked back up at the small dragon and asked, "What is this place?"


    For now, that was the most important and most pertinent thing to me.


    There must be a reason why the small dragon appeared in front of me in this trial, so it was better to figure out what this place was.


    The small dragon gave a nod before saying, "Alright, I can answer that."


    The small dragon spun around while gesturing as if it was referring to the room that we were in before saying, "This place is called the Tower of Trials, it is a place that is connected to many different worlds. It is a place that is used to test one''s abilities and one''s talents and those that receive a high enough rating¡­"


    The small dragon was about to keep going, but it found that there was something that was preventing it from saying the next words.


    After trying a few times, the small dragon said with a sigh, "I guess that''s censored then. It''s not something important, but they are actually censoring this¡­Well, I guess that''s fine since it''s not that important. You wouldn''t understand even if I told you."


    I couldn''t help being a bit taken aback when I heard this, but then I asked, "What''s in the floors above this. I heard that there are a total of fifty floors, so can you tell me what''s above this?"


    The small dragon thought about it before nodding and shaking its head. After it did this, it said, "I can''t tell you everything, but I can give you a few hints."


    I just gave a simple nod in response and waited for these hints.


    The small dragon stroked its chin as if it was thinking before saying, "The thirty seventh floor, look carefully to the east. At the edge of this room, there''s one tile that is loose that contains treasures that will be useful to you."


    I was even more surprised when I heard this before quickly asking, "Then the rooms that I''ve already done¡­"


    I didn''t finish my words, but the meaning behind it was clear.


    The small dragon revealed a faint smile as it said, "Well if you miss it, you miss it. There''s nothing that can be done about that, right?"


    A bitter smile crept on my face when I heard this, but I also didn''t have a choice but to accept this.


    After all, the small dragon was right.


    After a moment of silence, the small dragon added, "For the last floor, you will meet an old acquaintance. If you plan on beating her, then be sure to do it within five minutes. If you take longer than that, then something bad will happen."


    There was a part of me that really wanted to ask what this bad thing was, but I couldn''t just ask since I knew that I wouldn''t get an answer.


    If it wanted to tell me, then it would have said it directly. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since it didn''t want to say it, then there was nothing that I could do.


    After gathering my thoughts, I took a deep breath and turned to head to the portal.


    There were still five minutes left on the timer, but I didn''t think that I would be able to get anything out of this small dragon. Since I wouldn''t be able to get anything, there was no point in hanging out here any longer.


    But the small dragon suddenly said with a smile, "Young man, you really are in too much of a rush. You should slow down from time to time and learn to enjoy life while you can."


    I turned around to look at the small dragon before turning back to the portal.


    Seeing this, the small dragon shook its head and said, "Wait, I still have something that I want to discuss with you."


    I was surprised, but I did turn back since it seemed like the small dragon did want something with me. I just had no idea what it wanted.


    After a pause, the small dragon said, "I want us to become closer, but to do that, I would need to¡­"


    It didn''t finish as it fell into deep thought before suddenly saying, "Alright, I know what to do."


    There was another bundle of light that appeared on the frozen dragon.

 Chapter 388 - 388: Second round (17)

    This bundle of light floated there in the air for a bit before suddenly flying out to stop in front of me.


    I couldn''t see what this bundle of light was at first, but when the light slowly faded, I was able to see the true appearance of this bundle of light.


    It was an egg.


    It wasn''t that large of an egg, it was just around the size of a large watermelon.


    But I could feel the heat that was coming from it, showing that it wasn''t a normal egg.


    Since it was an egg that came from the dragon, it was most likely one of the dragon''s eggs.


    "You''re a female?" I couldn''t help asking in a surprised voice.


    The small dragon gave a chuckle before saying, "You humans always seem to care so much about gender. But I''m not a female, I''m a male. This is an egg that came from my wife and me."


    "Wife?" I repeated in a softer voice.


    It turned out that dragons also had the concept of marriage that they called each other wife and husband.


    It really was a strange thing learning about the customs of the dragon like this, but there was something that was more important to figure out.


    What did the small dragon mean by giving him this egg?


    As if it could guess what I was thinking, the small dragon said, "This egg is one of many that my wife has laid. However, it is one of the weaker ones that doesn''t have a chance to become a true dragon. Normally, we would abandon this egg and let it fend for itself, but it is still our child in the end. I want to at least provide a safe place for it, even if it is temporary."


    "Temporary?" I asked when I heard this.


    The small dragon gave a shrug as if it didn''t really care before saying, "It can be temporary or it can be for longer. That is all up to you since this child will not have any prospects in the future."


    I shook my head with a bitter smile.


    A dragon regardless was an A Rank Monster, that was not something that could be ignored.


    So I would of course never abandon this thing if it was offered to me.


    Instead, I asked the small dragon, "Why me? Why do you want to build a relationship with me?"


    The small dragon just revealed a faint smile before saying, "I have a good feeling about you. I''ll be waiting for you when you leave this place and come to the real world."


    "Huh?" I was confused when I heard this, but I didn''t get a chance to ask anything else.


    That was because before I could react, there was something that suddenly sent me flying.


    When I looked down, I saw that it was the egg that had pushed me away.


    This egg had suddenly slammed into me as if it was trying to hug me, but all that did was push me right into the portal that was behind me. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the small dragon saw us flying away like this, it raised a hand and waved it to say goodbye.


    Once they had disappeared, the small dragon suddenly said, "That feeling around that child¡­It should be the feeling of the world that he belongs to. I hope that he will be able to resist the invasion and come up to the stars."


    Then the figure of the small dragon faded before disappearing without a trace.


    ¡­


    I was standing in front of the portal on the forty ninth floor.


    It had been a hard journey making it all the way here and I even had to use all of the chances to skip a round that the token gave me.


    So I couldn''t help feeling a bit helpless as I stood in front of this portal.


    After all, there was no way to skip this next trial and it was a trial that held an old acquaintance of the small dragon.


    That small dragon came from a dragon that was a S Ranked Monster, so the old acquaintance of this small dragon shouldn''t be weak. It wouldn''t be strange if this old acquaintance was also a S Ranked Monster.


    Other than the twenty fifth floor, there hadn''t been another S Ranked Monster.


    It was all A Ranked Monsters in every fifth room that I reached.


    Though I did have to use the token for three of them.


    They really were just too hard for me to beat on my own.


    Not to mention¡­the egg kept getting in the way.


    This egg kept floating on its own and getting in the way, so I really had no choice but to use the token to skip those rounds.


    As for the treasure on the thirty seventh floor, it was just a bunch of trash¡­


    When I opened up the tile with an expectant look on my face, all I found were a feather, a scale, a tuft of white fur, and what seemed to be a fragment of some kind of shell. At first, I had thought that it was some kind of dried turd, but it turned out to be a piece of shell.


    I really didn''t understand what the small dragon was talking about when it referred to these things as treasures.


    After all, there were no signs of energy coming from these ''treasures'' of his.


    They didn''t seem like they were items that had any form of magic in them.


    So I really couldn''t help feeling disappointed.


    After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked at the egg beside me and asked, "Are you ready?"


    The egg moved up and down as if it was giving a nod.


    I wasn''t surprised by this anymore since I had long figured out that the egg was able to understand what I was saying and could respond even though it didn''t hatch.


    Taking another deep breath, I walked through the portal.


    The moment that I did, I was hit with the heat that came from in front of me.

 Chapter 389 - 389: Second round (18)

    There were powerful flames that were in front of me the moment that I walked in.


    These flames released a heat that made me feel like I was melting.


    Even with the natural defenses that I had as an Awakener, this was still just too much for me.


    So I had no choice but to take out the gem that Bing Xin had made for me.


    This gem wasn''t just used with the sword, it could also be used to create a chill that would cool me down, which was exactly how I was using it now. It was only because I was using this gem like this that I was able to stand in the face of these flames.


    The flames that were in front of me were so hot that they had even turned blue.


    These were flames of the highest quality that no other flames could beat.


    These were flames that were so powerful that they could even melt down the strongest ice in the frozen arctic.


    But what attracted my attention wasn''t these flames, but rather the figure that was lying right in the center of these flames. There was a small bundle that was lying right in the center that seemed to release these flames with each breath.


    It seemed that this bundle that was sleeping was the one that was releasing these flames the entire time.


    For this thing to release these flames while asleep, it really was something else.


    This just went to show just how powerful this thing was that it could release this kind of flames.


    But this was also a chance for me since this thing was sleeping.


    It was just like the Blue Ogre on the fourth floor.


    As long as I could kill it in a single strike, then I would be able to clear this floor without any problems. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But would it really be that easy?


    That was the doubt that was lingering in my mind.


    No matter how I looked at it, it didn''t seem like it would be so easy that I would be able to kill it in a single strike. Then once that strike failed, it seemed like it would be very likely that I would be struck down by the awakened enemy¡­


    There was a long moment of hesitation as I deliberated what to do, but then¡­


    I suddenly started walking towards the small bundle in the middle.


    Though it was hard with the flames that this thing released, I was able to walk up to it in the end. However, it really felt like I was being cooked alive as I stood there in front of that thing.


    Once I was there, I took a deep breath which was painful since the air was burning hot and said, "Hey, wake up."


    This might seem crazy, but there was a part of me that felt like this was the right choice.


    I didn''t know which part of me thought this was the right choice, but there was that part of me that thought that this was the right thing to do.


    It mustn''t have been a very smart part of me since the moment that I said this, the large bundle in the middle started to stir. After stirring, this thing revealed its true appearance.


    It was a bird, but it wasn''t just any bird.


    It was a phoenix.


    It was a beautiful phoenix with blue feathers that seemed to be made of flames.


    Even as a human, I couldn''t help being surprised by how beautiful this phoenix was.


    After waking up, the phoenix looked around itself as if it was confused to be woken up like this and then it turned to look at me.


    As it looked at me, I could immediately feel the pressure coming from the phoenix.


    This thing was powerful, even more powerful than the dragon that was on the twenty fifth floor.


    If I had to qualify this pressure that I felt, it should be in the SS Rank instead of just the S Rank.


    This trial really was something else if it even used a SS Rank to guard the final floor¡­


    There was a moment of silence as the two of us looked at each other before the phoenix finally opened its mouth.


    I thought that it was going to say something, but it didn''t say a single thing.


    The only thing that this phoenix did was open its mouth to release flames at me.


    With the distance between us, I wasn''t able to escape at all as the flames engulfed me.


    The moment that the flames did, I learned how it felt to be cooked alive. There was nothing that I could do to resist this as I could feel the flesh sliding off my bones as I was being melted by these flames.


    I just looked up at the phoenix with a bitter smile on my face as I asked, "Why?"


    The phoenix suddenly stopped breathing the flames on me and said, "If you want to wake a lady up from her sleep, you should do it more gently. Try to do better next time."


    I didn''t know what to say in response to this, but the bitter smile that was on my face became even more bitter.


    This phoenix was calling itself a lady, it really was something else.


    Still, at the very least I had confirmed one thing.


    This final round could be done without fighting.


    That was the most important thing because¡­I had deeply learned just how powerful this phoenix was. The flames that she shot out were just a simple breath from her, yet the power contained within the flames were enough to melt me.


    It didn''t just cook the meat of my body, it actually melted my flesh away.


    That was enough to show just how powerful the phoenix was and how my instincts had been correct, it would have been impossible to kill this phoenix in a single strike and I would have just wasted my chance.


    My vision faded as I died and when I woke up, I found myself in an empty white room.

 Chapter 390 - 390: Second round (19)

    After waking up in this pure white room, I looked around myself to see if there was anything here.


    However, there wasn''t a single thing that was around me.


    There wasn''t even a way out of this room.


    It was just a room that had pure white walls and nothing else.


    I couldn''t help feeling a bit scared since this almost seemed like some kind of psychiatric ward. It was like one of those nicely padded rooms where they kept crazy people¡­


    The only thing that was missing at this point was the straitjacket that kept me from hurting myself.


    As I was about to start attacking the room around me, there was a person that suddenly appeared in front of me.


    I didn''t attack this person, but I also didn''t put my sword down as I waited for them to finish appearing. When they did, I immediately recognized this person even though it had been a while since I had last seen them.


    It was the guide that had appeared when I had first entered the tower.


    After appearing, she looked at me with a look of praise as she said, "I never thought that you would make it this far without dying once. Though it seems like you''ve already used up all of the attempts on that token of yours."


    I gave a nod before taking out the token to toss to her.


    The guide caught the token and said with a smile, "Are you returning it or are you hoping that I''ll give you another chance to skip with how well you''ve done?"


    I didn''t say anything, but the way that I looked at her made it clear what I was thinking.


    She just looked back at me with the same smile as she tossed the token back at me.


    It seemed like she was refusing to give me anything, but that wasn''t surprising at all.


    It would have actually been more surprising if she had chosen to give me something.


    After catching the token and putting it away, I asked, "What is this place?"


    The guide gestured to the room around us and asked, "What do you think this place is?"


    Now that I''ve calmed down, I had a good idea of what this place was. However, it wasn''t as if I was in a hurry to answer since there were some things that I wanted to obtain from this guide.


    I might not have cared before, but after meeting that dragon¡­


    I just looked around as if I was inspecting the room until I calmly said, "This is the respawn point."


    The guide gave a nod before saying, "Yes, this is the respawn point. It''s amazing that you were able to guess it right away since most people wouldn''t think of that. They would usually refuse to believe that they died, but that''s just how people with pride are."


    I revealed a look as if I was interested in this and said, "Oh? People with pride? What kind of people with pride?"


    The guide looked at me with narrowed eyes for a bit before saying with a sigh, "Oh, you know those people that think that they''re better than others. The ones that come from rich families that think that they are above the common men." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Hearing this, I just gave an understanding nod before saying, "Hmm, it seems like there are those kinds of people from all different kinds of places."


    The guide nodded as she said, "That''s right. They really are a pain in the butt since I have to deal with them when they come into the tower. Especially those young masters from the other races¡­or you would expect me to say."


    The guide''s expression suddenly changed into a taunting smile as she continued, "Did you really think that you could use a leading question to get me to confess the information that you wanted? You think that I''m really that easy to fool?"


    Though I was surprised, I forced myself to remain calm on the surface.


    Instead, I said with a confused look, "What do you mean? I have no idea what you''re talking about."


    The guide didn''t care about what I said as she narrowed her eyes to look at me while saying, "It seems that someone has been interfering. Let''s take a look to see who it is."


    After a moment of silently looking at me, particularly at my chest, she said, "Oh, it seems like someone has made contact with you and it seems like they did it through the tower. It seems like I''ll have to talk to them later."


    Once again, I shook my head with a confused and dumb look as I said, "I really have no idea what you mean."


    The guide just looked at me with a smile as she said, "So you''re telling me that you''ve always had that dragon egg inside of you?"


    Since I had been exposed, there was no longer a need to hide it.


    I looked at her with a surprised look and asked, "How did you know?"


    The guide said with the same smile, "You can try to hide things from me, but it doesn''t work inside of this tower. The inside of this tower is my domain and as long as I want, I can learn anything about what''s inside of this tower. So there''s no use trying to hide from me."


    After narrowing my eyes to look at her for a bit, I just calmly said, "Then is there anything that you can tell me?"


    The guide shook her head and said, "If I could, I would have already told you for your achievements, but there''s nothing that I can say. You can only blame the world that you come from, that is what the restrictions are."


    I just deeply knitted my brows after hearing this.


    At the very least, I had confirmed that there were many other worlds out there and that this Tower of Trial connected to those other worlds.


    But it really was a surreal feeling having this confirmed.

 Chapter 391 - 391: Second round (20)

    Seeing the look on my face, the guide calmly said, "That should be enough of a reward for you."


    She turned around and tapped the air in front of her.


    When she did, there was this door that suddenly appeared in the middle of this room.


    After making this room appear, she turned around to look at me and said, "When you''re ready, this door will bring you back to the fiftieth floor."


    Though the guide said this almost like I had all the time that I wanted, I could see the time that was above the door.


    At the very least, she was giving me twenty minutes instead of the normal ten minutes. That was better than nothing since I needed all the time that I could get to think of a way to deal with the blue phoenix.


    After all, there was nothing that I possessed that gave me confidence to deal with it.


    Even my powers as a demon king seemed useless in front of this blue phoenix.


    I doubted that I would be able to use my Hypnosis to control the blue phoenix and at the same time, I didn''t want to use my Time Stop skill since that was my final trump card.


    The rewards that came from this trial wasn''t worth revealing my power here, so of course I wouldn''t do it.


    But as time went down, I still wasn''t able to figure out a single thing.


    There was just nothing that I could do since it was just too powerful for me to fight.


    Even when it came to talking to it, it didn''t seem like there was anything that could convince that blue phoenix to not kill me.


    So when the time came to an end, I gave a sigh and walked up to the door as I said, "I guess I''ll just try to stall for as long as I can and see if I can find anything about the blue phoenix."


    But right before I stepped through the portal, I suddenly thought of something.


    "She called herself a lady¡­maybe I can try that?"


    As my voice fell, I had already stepped through the portal and was hit with the heat once more.


    But this time, the blue phoenix wasn''t sleeping.


    Instead, it was just sitting there in the center of the room, staring at me.


    Even before I appeared, it was already staring in this direction as if it already knew which direction I would appear in. It seemed that this blue phoenix knew much more about this place than I had thought.


    But even after seeing me appear, it didn''t seem like it was going to do anything.


    It was almost as if it was waiting for me to do something.


    So I took a deep breath and started moving forward.


    As I moved forward, I could see the wary look that she cast in my direction. It was clear that she didn''t trust me, but it would be strange if she did.


    However, I made sure to raise my hand up to show that I meant no harm at all until I was right in front of the blue phoenix. It was hard to stand there just like before, but it also felt like I was a bit better off compared to before.


    At the very least, I wasn''t sweating like a dog this time, so I had at least adjusted to the heat a bit.


    Once I was in front of her, I suddenly reached my arm forward to give a bow before saying, "My lady, I apologize for being rude earlier. If I may, may I make your acquaintance?"


    There was no answer that followed which worried me a bit, so I couldn''t help peeking up at the blue phoenix.


    I saw that she was just staring at me without even blinking, almost as if she was sizing me up. As such, I could feel the pressure that was coming from this powerful SS Rank Monster, but I didn''t buckle under this pressure.


    Finally, the blue phoenix said, "Now this is the way that you''re supposed to act. Finally, someone who understands how to treat a lady."


    With a smile on her face, the blue phoenix said, "Alright, you can stand up and talk to me."


    I let out a sigh of relief before standing up to look at the blue phoenix.


    After a moment of hesitation, I suddenly said, "My name is Lin Fan. May I ask the lady what your name is?"


    The blue phoenix gave a nod before saying, "My name is¡­"


    Though she clearly said her name, it was almost as if there was something that blocked her words as I couldn''t hear what she said.


    The blue phoenix revealed an annoyed look when this happened before saying, "I guess for now, you can call me Blue Phoenix."


    I slowly gave a nod, but there really wasn''t much that I could ask since I didn''t know what to say.


    In the end, I didn''t beat around the bush as I said, "My lady, is there some way that you could allow me to pass this trial?" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The blue phoenix gave a nod as she said, "Of course, this trial is one that''s meant to be passed in the first place. I''m not a fan of fighting in the first place, but they always try to attack me right away, so there''s no point in talking to them. However, it seems that you''re different."


    I let out a sigh of relief when I heard this before saying, "Then is there anything I can do to prove that I should pass this trial?"


    The blue phoenix tilted her head as if she was thinking about it before saying, "Then how about you run a hundred laps around this room?"


    My chin dropped as I looked at the blue phoenix in shock.


    After a few seconds, I asked, "Are you sure that this is all you want?"


    The blue phoenix raised a brow to look at me before saying, "What? You don''t want to do it?"


    "No, no." I said as I shook my head before saying, "I''ll do it, I''ll do it."


    The blue phoenix said with a smile, "Then go ahead. I''ll just watch over you."

 Chapter 392 - 392: Second round (21)

    There was a moment of hesitation as I looked at the blue phoenix as if I was trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.


    But in the end, when she was about to say something again, I started running around the room.


    The room itself wasn''t that big of a room, but it wasn''t that small either.


    To run around it, meaning to go a single lap was to run around two kilometers.


    Meaning that to run a hundred times around the room was to run around two hundred kilometers. That meant that I would have to run the distance of over four marathons to run a hundred laps around this room.


    At the same time, I only had ten minutes to do so since there were only ten minutes per round¡­


    This was definitely not a speed that normal people could reach.


    No, it wasn''t even a speed that normal Awakeners could reach.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had trained with Su Chen and had the ability to increase my power, then even I might not be able to do such a thing.


    I had looked down on this trial since she had said it so casually, but running a hundred laps in this room definitely wasn''t that easy. So I didn''t hold back at all as I buffed myself from the beginning.


    "A bit faster and stronger."


    It was only a small buff since like a marathon, it was important to pace oneself while running long distance. If I used all of my energy from the beginning, then I would find myself running out at the very end.


    Of course, I made sure to hold the sword in my hand and wear the armour while running.


    Since I was going to do this, I made sure to have this set of equipment that doubled my stats while doing it. I wasn''t a fool that I would just ignore them just because it made it a bit easier to run.


    The payoff would be too much.


    Though I did cut a strange figure while running because I was holding a sword and was in full armour.


    The good thing was that the blue phoenix seemed to find this funny, so she didn''t mind that I had these buff items on while running.


    Or at least that was what I thought at first¡­


    "You look strange running like that. If you''re going to run, you should at least use proper form."


    I was focused on running, so I didn''t hear it at first, but¡­


    "You should swing your arms and raise your knees when you run. Only then will you be able to run properly."


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this as a strong urge to curse the blue phoenix out appeared deep inside of me. But I resisted that urge in the end and was able to hold myself back.


    This was the blue phoenix''s trial, so of course she could tell me to do whatever she wanted me to do.


    Since she was telling me to run with my knees up and with my arm swinging, I had no choice but to do so. Though it did make things much harder since I was holding a sword and wearing armour that got in the way.


    I was going much slower because of it, so I had no choice but to say.


    "Faster and stronger."


    With the added buff, I was able to maintain the same speed as before, but the strain on my body was clearly much greater. I had to maintain the buff while also using more power to maintain this.


    But as long as it was just this, then I wouldn''t have a problem maintaining this.


    It was too bad that the blue phoenix didn''t leave things like this.


    "The way that you''re holding that sword, it really does look strange."


    A bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard this. For the blue phoenix to suddenly say this, it was clear that there was another request that she was going to make¡­


    As expected, she said, "You know, it would be really cool if you ran like you were marching. It would give it a very good feeling."


    March?


    She wanted me to march while I was running?


    I really didn''t know what to say in response to this.


    So instead of responding, I just kept running as I was already doing as if I didn''t hear what she said.


    But¡­she said it again and she stared right at me the entire time as if she was putting pressure on me.


    So in the end, I pulled out a potion and stuffed it in my mouth after saying, "Much faster and stronger."


    This was me going all out since there was nothing else I could do at this point. Since this was what she wanted, the only thing that I could do was comply.


    At the very least, I would be cured when I left this trial, so this was all that mattered.


    If I could pass this, then it would be worth it. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, the blue phoenix was satisfied when she saw me marching along at incredible speeds. With how fast I was going, it was hard to believe that I was just marching.


    But I did all that I could to maintain that marching form.


    It seemed that at this rate, I would be able to make it.


    That made me feel relieved.


    One thing of note was that the heat had dropped since I wasn''t right by the blue phoenix anymore.


    Since I was running around the edge of the room, it meant that I was in the coolest place since the blue phoenix was right in the center.


    Or at least that was what I had thought.


    But after a while, I couldn''t help feeling that it was getting hotter and the increasing temperature wasn''t stopping¡­


    As for the time¡­it had been around five minutes since I arrived in this room.

 Chapter 393 - 393: Second round (22)

    After the first moment, I realized that the temperature was rising rapidly.


    Since that five minute mark, it was as if the temperature of the room kept climbing and climbing. It was as if we were in an oven and someone had just turned that oven on.


    The heat was similar to getting closer and closer to the blue phoenix at first, but then it became even hotter than standing beside the blue phoenix.


    This was a heat that was making me sweat buckets, but that wasn''t it.


    I could actually feel my skin getting burned from the air that was around me.


    This was not a heat that I could endure at this rate, so I had no choice but to stop running and take out the gem that Bing Xin gave me to keep myself cool.


    This only worked for a few seconds before the heat was too strong even for the gem to stop.


    I had no choice but to put the gem away since I could feel that its powers were weakening under this heat. If I kept this gem out, there was no doubt that it would be destroyed by this heat in a matter of time. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing that I stopped running, the blue phoenix asked, "What''s wrong? Why did you stop running?"


    Hearing this, I immediately turned to her and asked, "My lady, do you know why it''s getting so hot?"


    The blue phoenix had a confused look at first as she looked around herself and said, "It''s not that hot."


    But then after thinking about it, she suddenly said, "Oh right, that''s the natural heat that comes from my body. Once the challenger enters the room, the room seals and the heat gets trapped inside of this room. Until the challenger disappears, the heat will continue to build up inside of this room until it reaches high temperatures."


    Then as if it was an afterthought, she said, "But it shouldn''t be that hot that it would affect you."


    The way that she said this was so casual that it didn''t seem like it was important at all, but¡­


    This was a very big deal for me!


    After all, I was currently being cooked alive by the heated air of this room.


    The longer that I stayed in this place, the more that I would be cooked by the heated air.


    I had to figure out a way to reduce the heat or get out of this place as soon as possible.


    Getting out of this place¡­there were only two ways.


    One was to let the blue phoenix let me pass this round and reach the top of the Tower of Trials.


    The second was to die and return to that respawn room.


    Of course I would prefer one over the other, but it didn''t seem like the first option was going to happen. After all, the blue phoenix was currently looking at me with a look like she found this boring.


    There was no doubt that she wouldn''t allow me to pass with just this.


    As for finishing the laps¡­there was no way that I would be able to do that.


    This heat was just too much for me to even stand there, let alone run like that.


    So the only thing that I could do was¡­


    "My lady, is it possible to turn down the heat? I''m sure that this isn''t much for someone as great as yourself, but for a lowly mortal like me¡­Well, I''ll die at this rate." I tried to act as humble as possible since that was the most likely way to convince her.


    The blue phoenix looked at me with a gaze that almost seemed like it didn''t matter to her.


    But then she said, "Oh, is that so? It''s too bad that I can''t actually do anything about this. Even if I were to stop the heat coming from me, it won''t get rid of the heat that is already in this room. So if you can''t overcome the current heat, then you''ll still die."


    My chin dropped when I heard this, but this wasn''t the worst part yet¡­


    The blue phoenix then said in a softer voice that I was still able to hear, "Not to mention, it will be uncomfortable if I do hold back my powers. So I really don''t want to."


    I really didn''t know whether to laugh or cry at this point.


    My life was worth so little that she didn''t want to suffer a bit of discomfort just to help me get rid of this heat.


    I could feel that the heat was still climbing around me which meant that the blue phoenix hadn''t turned off the heat that was coming from her yet.


    I could even see my skin turning red at this point, just like the colour a lobster would turn if they were boiled.


    The only thing I could do was say with a bitter smile, "Then what should we do?"


    The blue phoenix didn''t hesitate at all as she looked at me and asked, "You still have one more attempt after this, right?"


    I was surprised and caught off guard by this sudden question from the blue phoenix, but I still slowly gave a nod in the end.


    The blue phoenix suddenly revealed a smile as she said, "Then all you have to do is come back again. Once you die, the heat will dissipate and then you can come back to try it again. To compensate you, I''ll even cut the laps that you have to run in half."


    I just looked at the blue phoenix with a look as if I couldn''t tell if she was being serious or not.


    But the blue phoenix''s expression didn''t change at all as she said this.


    It seemed that she was indeed being serious about this.


    However, the fact that she had said this with a straight face really made me want to curse her and punch her in the face!

 Chapter 394 - 394: Second round (23)

    I tried to hold on for as long as I could, but the heat really was something else.


    This kind of heat was not something that a mortal could resist.


    This was something that only those immortals that I read about could resist.


    Though it was too bad that there were no such immortals in our current world.


    Even after the appearance of the dungeons, there were only some cultivators that had appeared. However, these were worldly cultivators that hadn''t broken through the shackles of this world and could only be considered powerful Awakeners.


    The strongest cultivator was someone who had created his own force called the Mount Hua Sect.


    They were a mysterious sect that closed themselves off from the outside world to cultivate according to their techniques. They rarely opened up to the world and rarely came out, so they were a force that was filled with mystery.


    But the strength that their members demonstrated made them a place to fear.


    Just the ones that had come down to the world to participate in events were already high ranking Awakeners.


    So far, there had been two S Ranks, five A Ranks, and dozens of B Ranks that had come from the Mount Hua Sect.


    No one knew just how powerful this sect really was.


    Perhaps it really was a place where immortals cultivated¡­


    But putting that digression aside¡­the real problem now was the heat that was around me. It was getting stronger and stronger without a single chance to resist it. The longer that I stayed in this room, the more that I was cooked by this room¡­


    I really couldn''t do anything against this heat.


    It even started to hurt to breathe.


    Was this how it felt to be cooked alive?


    I looked at the blue phoenix as if I was hoping that there was something that she could do for me.


    But the blue phoenix just looked at me as if she was waiting for me to die.


    The only thing I could do was give a bitter laugh as I felt my body functions slowing down.


    Eventually, I couldn''t feel anything anymore and I fell down on the ground.


    With my last bit of strength, I could see the blue phoenix looking down at me with what seemed to be a smile.


    That was when I really wanted to punch her in the face.


    ¡­


    "So you failed again."


    When I appeared in the white room, I found the guide standing there waiting for me with a smile on her face.


    That also made me want to punch her in the face, but I was able to hold myself back.


    Instead, I asked, "Where does that blue phoenix even come from? Why is she so unreasonable?"


    The guide stood there with a faint smile on her face without saying a thing.


    The way that she looked at me, it was almost as if she was saying that I already had my answer¡­


    What answer?


    All that happened was that I got killed again!


    But seeing that she wasn''t going to say anything, I gave a sigh and said, "Just leave me alone if you don''t want anything. I want some time alone to think."


    However, the guide didn''t disappear after I said this.


    She just stood there looking at me with the same smile on her face as she said, "Who says that I don''t have anything for you?"


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a surprised look when I heard this before asking, "What is it?"


    The guide raised a hand and tossed something over to me before saying, "Since we won''t meet again the next time you die, I figured that I should give this to you now."


    I easily caught this thing since it was a simple toss that came my way, but when I saw it, I couldn''t help being confused.


    That was because the thing that the guide had tossed me was a simple coin.


    There wasn''t anything special about this coin nor were there any special markings, but this coin was clearly something special. I could tell because of the material that this coin was made of, it was not a material that I was familiar with.


    After looking at the coin for a bit, I looked back up to find that the guide¡­was gone.


    After she tossed me the coin, she disappeared without saying a thing while I was distracted by the coin.


    As for what this coin was¡­I still had no idea.


    Shaking my head with a bitter smile, I eventually put the coin away.


    But at the same time, I couldn''t help looking at the timer that was over the door.


    I only had ten minutes left.


    I had wasted ten minutes trying to figure out what that coin was¡­ S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Was it all a ploy by the guide?


    No, she wouldn''t be that mean, right?


    I really had no idea since I didn''t know the guide well enough to comment on this.


    Still, since she gave this thing to me, there must be a reason for her giving me this coin.


    I would just see what I could do with it in the future.


    For the rest of the time, I tried to figure out what to do.


    It was just too bad that I wasn''t able to figure out a single thing.


    Though I did remember something from the twenty fifth floor.


    The small dragon had told me something about this fiftieth floor.


    He had told me that if I wanted to fight the blue phoenix, I needed to make it quick.


    He had said that five minutes would be my time limit.


    Thinking about it now, I finally realized what he meant by five minutes.


    It was the five minute time that I had before the heat suddenly turned up, that was what the small dragon had been warning me about.


    Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the portal since there was nothing else that I could do.


    Whether I was prepared or not, this was my final attempt.

 Chapter 395 - 395: Second round (24)

    When I stepped through the portal and appeared in the room, the first thing that I did was head to the edge of the room.


    Once I was there, I turned back to the blue phoenix and said, "Should I start running then? Will you count the laps that I did before or do I have to start all over again?"


    The blue phoenix revealed what seemed to be a smile before shaking her head and saying, "Child, there''s no need for that anymore."


    I couldn''t help revealing an ugly look when I heard this. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed like the blue phoenix''s personality had completely changed¡­


    Did that mean that it was going back on its words?


    If that was the case, then this really would have all been a waste of time for me, so I couldn''t let that happen.


    Taking a deep breath, I said, "No, it''s fine, I can keep running. You don''t need to worry about me, I can do this just fine."


    The blue phoenix shook her head and gave a chuckle before saying, "Child, you''re misunderstanding. I''m saying that you''ve already passed, so there''s no need for you to keep running."


    I had been about to start running when I heard this.


    For a moment, it was as if time stopped.


    I froze there as if I was making sure that I had heard the correct thing before turning to look at the blue phoenix and asking, "Can you say that again? I don''t think I heard the right thing."


    The blue phoenix gave a nod before saying, "I said that you''ve already passed, so there''s no reason for you to keep running anymore."


    She created a chair out of thin air and said, "Alright, come and sit so we can have a chat before you leave."


    I looked at the blue phoenix with a very strange look, but eventually I came over to sit down in front of her.


    Then before I could react, the blue phoenix suddenly started to shrink.


    She continued to shrink until she was the same size as the small dragon from before.


    She also created a chair for herself to sit in before creating a table in between us that had some tea and cookies on it. Without a care, she just poured herself some tea and ate the cookies that were there before saying, "Go on, have some tea and cookies. I''m sure that you''re parched and tired after all of that."


    I didn''t have anything on the table as I just looked at her with a strange look.


    The blue phoenix could see the way that I looked at her, so she said, "Don''t worry, this isn''t a trick or anything. I just want to spend some time talking to you before you pass. Though it has been a long time since someone has passed this entire Tower of Trials, so I''m sure that you''ll create a large stir when you go out."


    Hearing this, I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile since I knew that she was right.


    Though I didn''t know how far the others got, I was sure that it wouldn''t have been as far as me.


    As well, there were some things that shouldn''t be known to others that would be broadcasted¡­Those were things that I wanted to hide if possible, but it didn''t seem like it was possible.


    However, as I was thinking this, the blue phoenix suddenly said, "There are things that the tower itself will censor, so you don''t need to worry about our conversation being leaked. In fact, your other conversations with certain individuals should have also been censored by the tower, so you don''t need to worry about that."


    I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this before asking, "Isn''t this tower controlled by the large guilds, why would they do that?"


    The blue phoenix gave a chuckle when she was asked this before saying, "While I don''t know what these ''large guilds'' are, it seems like you''re mistaking something. You think that those people might control this Tower of Trials, but that is not the case. The Tower of Trials¡­is far greater than you think."


    There was a part of me that had already suspected this, but I never thought that this would actually be the case.


    But I knew better than to keep asking.


    The look on the face of the blue phoenix made it very clear.


    Even if I wanted to keep asking, there was no chance that she would even answer my questions.


    So I didn''t bother asking them.


    At the very least, I had confirmed what I wanted to confirm.


    There was something greater than all of this about this tower and that there were other worlds out there. While I didn''t know what kind of worlds were out there, this confirmation was more than enough for me for now.


    After all, I still had trouble in my own world, so I didn''t want to get involved in other worlds.


    The blue phoenix saw the changes in my expression and she said with an appreciative nod, "Smart child, as expected of the one that I chose."


    I knitted my brows again when I heard this before asking, "Why did you suddenly decide to let me pass?"


    The blue phoenix had been in the middle of sipping her tea when I asked this, so instead of sipping her tea, she just looked at me with a smile as she said, "Why do you think that I chose to do this suddenly?"


    I was surprised to hear this before asking, "What do you mean by that?"


    The blue phoenix''s smile became wider as she said, "Well, it''s simply because this whole process has been a trial for you. If you had made even a single wrong decision, we wouldn''t be here right now."


    I was even more surprised after hearing this, but after thinking about it, I realized that¡­she was right.


    It finally explained the strange way that she had been acting.

 Chapter 396 - 396: Second round (25)

    The blue phoenix went on to explain, "There were three things that I tested you on since you arrived here."


    I couldn''t help being surprised since I never thought that there were specific things that I was being tested on.


    At most, I thought that it was just the trial of running a hundred laps that was a test for me.


    The blue phoenix continued by saying, "First, it was a test of intelligence. I pretended to be asleep to see what you would do when you met an opponent who was stronger than you. If you had been dumb enough to think that you could defeat me, then you would have failed."


    When she said this, I couldn''t help giving a bitter laugh deep down.


    There had indeed been a part of me that had thought that I could take down the blue phoenix in one strike. I had even thought about how I would do it and what I would do if it failed.


    But in the end, I figured that there was more to gain from seeing if I could talk to the blue phoenix than if I could kill it. It was because I had talked to the small dragon that I came to this decision.


    It wasn''t because I was smart.


    "Second, it was a test of perseverance. I wanted to see if you would persevere even when met with powerful opposition, such as dying again and again. In the end, you came back even though I killed you twice and made you fail twice, so that was enough to show your perseverance."


    I could have sworn that I saw something wrong¡­but when she said this, it was almost as if there was this faint smile that was on her lips. It was almost as if she found something funny as she said this.


    For her to be smiling as she said this, there could only be one reason and it rubbed me the wrong way, but I endured it.


    However, there was something that I felt I should say.


    "So if I didn''t have all three attempts left, I would have failed the perseverance portion?" I asked in a very strange voice.


    After a moment of thought, the blue phoenix gave a slow nod as she said, "That''s right. If you didn''t have all three attempts, then you would have failed."


    I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I heard this.


    Did she know just how hard that was in the first place?


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had the token that allowed me to skip five stages, it would have been impossible for me to reach this point on my own. It would have been more likely that I would have been stopped on the twenty fifth floor because of the S Ranked dragon.


    For her to require all three attempts to be kept¡­


    It seemed that she really was quite the demanding person.


    But there was a part of me that also thought¡­


    "I didn''t do it because of my perseverance, but because I had no other choice. Even if I didn''t want to, it wasn''t as if I could just waste my three chances, right?"


    "The third thing that I was testing for was your patience. I made all kinds of unreasonable demands and you were able to keep up with all of them. That shows that you are a person with patience, someone that can endure when the going gets tough. It is people like that who will go far in this world."


    Once again, I couldn''t help giving a secret bitter laugh.


    Patience?


    It was just that I couldn''t beat her.


    If I could beat the blue phoenix, I would have already done so and moved on.


    It was only because I couldn''t that I had gone along with all those demands since I couldn''t see any hope of getting through this trial without doing them.


    So I didn''t think that I had any of those traits that she thought I did.


    If anything, it should be said that I just had luck because I stumbled upon all of these things.


    I didn''t think that I had the abilities that she was praising me for.


    Eventually, these thoughts leaked out of my eyes and the blue phoenix was able to see them.


    With a chuckle, the blue phoenix said, "You shouldn''t look down on yourself too much." S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I was surprised when I heard the blue phoenix say this before shaking my head with a bitter smile and saying, "It''s true, I really don''t think that I have any of the traits that you say I do. I think that it was all luck that I passed all of those tests of yours."


    The blue phoenix shook her head with a smile on her face before saying, "You shouldn''t sell yourself short too much. You have much more potential than you think."


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile on my face.


    The blue phoenix looked at me for a bit before saying, "It seems that you lack confidence, but that''s not something that I can give you right away. It''s something that needs to be built over a long time and it''s clear that you haven''t been able to do so. I hope that when we meet again, you will be different."


    I was surprised and confused when I heard the blue phoenix say this, but it didn''t seem like she was about to say anything else.


    Once the blue phoenix finished saying this, she changed the topic by saying, "For now, let''s talk about your reward. Since you''ve passed my trial, then that means that I should give you some kind of special reward."


    I couldn''t help raising a brow when I heard this.


    Does it really mean that or did this blue phoenix have something else in mind?


    The blue phoenix just revealed a smile and said, "Since that dumb dragon gave you one of his children, then it only makes sense that I give you one of mine."

 Chapter 397 - 397: Second round (26)

    As soon as she said this, there was this ball of light that came out of the blue phoenix.


    This ball of light floated out towards me before stopping right in front of me.


    As the light faded and it started to take form, it finally settled on the form of an egg.


    But the moment that it settled on the form of an egg, the other egg that was inside of me suddenly came out. That dragon egg floated there in the air, as if it was sizing up the phoenix egg that was in front of it.


    After a long time, both of the eggs suddenly started to move.


    They went right at each other and slammed into each other, as if they were fighting.


    But it was just two eggs that were slamming into each other like this.


    The only thing that I thought when I saw them doing this was¡­


    Will they break each other like this?


    So I was about to go forward to stop the two of them, but the blue phoenix said with a smile, "Just leave them. Kids will be kids, they will fight with each other and then they''ll become friends." sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But then as if it was an afterthought, she added, "But then again, it''s that old stubborn fool''s kid¡­will it inherit his stubbornness? No, it shouldn''t since it''s her child as well, so they should be able to become friends."


    It seemed that the blue phoenix and the small dragon really went far back, though it was clear that they didn''t like each other.


    However, it was like she said.


    After the two eggs slammed into each other a few times, they finally stopped and just floated there in the air for a bit. After floating there for a bit, the two of them came at each other again, but it was different this time.


    Instead of slamming against each other, it was as if they were rubbing up against each other.


    It seemed that they had finally made up and this was their version of a hug, or a handshake to patch it up.


    It was like two yankees who fought on a riverbank and then became friends after the fight.


    I even felt as if there was a sunset cast on the river behind them as they did this.


    But then the two of them came over to me and then went right into my body.


    Without even waiting for me to do or say anything, they just went right into my body.


    I really didn''t know what to say, so all I could do was reveal a bitter smile.


    These kids really did whatever they wanted.


    Still, I just left them be since a dragon and a phoenix¡­these were both S Ranked Monsters. Not to mention, they were clearly intelligent based on how they were acting.


    In the future, if I had these two beasts by my side, there was no doubt that they would be very useful.


    Of course, they would be my hidden trump cards.


    Once the two eggs settled, the blue phoenix turned to me to say, "I hope that you will take care of my child."


    I gave a nod to the blue phoenix before saying, "I will take care of them like they were my own child."


    The blue phoenix just gave a nod, but the look in her eyes made it clear what she was thinking.


    Still, there was nothing that I could do about this.


    This was certainly something that all parents felt when their children left the nest, so there was nothing that I could say that would make the blue phoenix feel better. The only thing that I could do was understand and just accept this fact.


    Since it was all over, there was nothing left for the blue phoenix to say.


    So instead of talking to me, she said, "I hope that you will be stronger when you come back. But even if you aren''t, you''re free to come back at any time."


    Though when she said this, she did say it in front of me since the egg had already gone inside my body.


    I could feel tremors from the egg, but they weren''t sad tremors.


    Instead, it seemed like they were annoyed tremors that almost seemed like a child that was complaining about a parent embarrassing them. Though in the context of the situation, it was similar to that.


    The blue phoenix gave a soft laugh before saying, "Alright, I won''t bother you anymore."


    She moved aside before gesturing to the portal to say, "You should go now. Take care that you don''t miss the chance to leave this place."


    As she said this, I realized that I had actually lost track of time.


    There was only a minute left on the timer that was above the door and it was still going down.


    Seeing this, I quickly went over to the door, but I didn''t walk through.


    As I stood there in front of the door, I turned back to look at the blue phoenix one last time.


    I saw that she was still looking at me, but the gaze in her eyes wasn''t for me.


    Rather that gaze was most likely for her child that was inside of me now.


    After this one last look, I walked through the portal and I found¡­


    I was back in the same room as when I had first entered this Tower of Trials.


    This was just like the room where I had met the guide and received the prize for the first round.


    So that meant that¡­


    I looked up to see that the guide was standing there waiting for me with a smile on her face.


    As she looked at me, she suddenly said, "So you made it in the end."


    I just gave a slow nod before asking, "So now what?"


    The guide suddenly revealed a smile before saying, "Since you have passed the Tower of Trials, naturally you will receive a prize worthy of this accomplishment."

 Chapter 398 - 398: Second round (27)

    Though this sounded like something good, I couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong with this.


    Since the guide had talked to me alone in the white respawn room, I had felt that there was something off about her.


    It was almost as if she had other intentions talking to me.


    As if there was something that she was expecting of me.


    Seeing that I didn''t say anything, the guide didn''t care as she waved her hand.


    The moment that she did, the sword and armour that I had been wielding suddenly disappeared.


    I had completely forgotten about them since they felt so natural, like they were a part of me. But the moment that they disappeared from me, I could feel the difference compared to when I had them on.


    The increase in power really was something else¡­


    It almost felt like my body was a bit heavy now that I didn''t have this increase on me.


    It was almost like I was weighing my body down with some weights for training like this.


    But there wasn''t anything that I could do. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the first place, the sword and armour were things that had been given to me by the guide. So even if she wanted to take it away, all I could do was watch as she took them away from me.


    It had almost been too easy for her to take these things away.


    It only took her a wave of her hand.


    At the same time, this confirmed something.


    The sword and armour were not the prizes that I would be receiving for clearing this Tower of Trials.


    If these were the rewards, then was there a point in taking them away?


    No, it would be pointless to do something like this.


    So I couldn''t help feeling curious about what the reward would be.


    Once the guide had finished taking the sword and armour away, she narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Other than those things, it seems like you''ve obtained quite a few things during your time in the tower."


    I was surprised to hear this, but that surprise didn''t last long.


    The blue phoenix had already said that it was impossible to hide things from her when I was in the tower, so naturally it would be the same for the guide who managed the tower.


    It was impossible to hide the dragon and phoenix egg that I received from her eyes.


    The only thing that I was concerned about was how she would take care of this.


    Would she ignore it or¡­would she take them away from me?


    Though I didn''t really care either way, I would naturally prefer to be able to take these eggs away with me.


    They were free eggs for powerful creatures that I could hatch in the future, so naturally I would want to take them with me.


    I could see that she was deliberately staying silent, as if she was teasing me which caused a bitter smile to appear on my face.


    It was only when this bitter smile appeared that the guide finally said, "With my privilege, I should be able to call this a special reward from the Tower of Trials and allow you to take them with you. I hope that you will show your gratitude for this one day."


    I just gave a simple nod, though I had no idea when this one day that she mentioned would be.


    After all, I highly doubted that I would be able to meet them again in my lifetime.


    I now knew that they were from a completely different world.


    I already had plenty of things to deal with in my own world, so it was very unlikely that I would ever be able to go to another world.


    I just thought that they were completely overestimating me.


    The guide gave a satisfied nod when she saw this before saying, "Other than this, I still have some things that I want to give you."


    With another wave of her hand, there were a few gems that appeared in the air in front of me. These gems were of different colour and size, but I could feel the energy coming from them that told me that these were not simple gems.


    Once she was satisfied with my reaction to these gems, the guide said, "These things are your reward for clearing this Tower of Trials."


    I raised a brow as I looked at these gems before asking, "These things are?"


    The guide didn''t answer my question and instead said with a smile, "Why not take one of them and try it out?"


    I looked at her with a doubtful look, but I still followed her instructions and grabbed one of those gems.


    The moment that I did, I realized just what these gems did.


    They boosted the stats of the person who wielded them.


    As I grabbed this gem, I could feel my body becoming lighter, just like when I had been using the sword and armour. Though this feeling wasn''t as good as when I was using the sword and armour.


    It seemed that even if these gems boosted stats just like the sword and armour, they weren''t as good as them.


    The guide waited for me to grab each one to test them before saying, "It''s a full set of gems that increase your power by 50%." She gave a shrug as she said, "I would have given you a full set that doubles your power, but that wasn''t up to me. I could only give you this, but it should be fine since it''ll help you to not have one that powerful."


    I raised a brow, but she answered me right away by saying, "It would be hard to hide things like this, right?"


    I immediately understood what she meant and gave a nod in response.


    She was right, precious things were hard to hide and treasures like this would surely attract the greed of others.


    It was better to have a weaker version so there would be less people lusting after it.

 Chapter 399 - 399: Questioned (1)

    Once she finished giving me all the rewards, the guide looked at me and said, "I hope that we will be able to meet again one day."


    I couldn''t help feeling surprised and confused when I heard this, but¡­there was no reason to offend the guide.


    So all I could do was give a nod in response.


    The guide gave a nod as well before raising her hand to form a portal.


    Once that portal was formed, she said, "This portal will bring you back to your own world."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I didn''t hesitate to head over.


    I had been worrying about how to leave this place, but now the exit was placed in front of me. But there was a part of me that couldn''t help feeling a bit worried seeing this exit in front of me since it had been formed by the guide.


    There was this strange feeling that I had about the guide ever since we had met.


    It wasn''t that I didn''t want to trust her, but¡­this feeling made it hard for me to do that.


    I really didn''t know what it was about her that made me feel this way, but I did feel this way.


    Still, there was no other way out, so I just stepped into the portal.


    As I stepped in, I turned back to say, "Thank you."


    The guide gave a simple nod without saying anything else.


    Once he had disappeared, there were two figures that suddenly appeared beside the guide.


    It was a small dragon and a small phoenix who had appeared.


    After appearing, the guide asked, "What do you think about him?"


    The dragon and phoenix looked at each other and gave a snort before turning back to the guide to give their opinion.


    "He''s an interesting young man. I hope that I will see him again."


    "He''s a kind and patient man. I hope that nothing bad will happen to him and my child."


    The guide nodded in response to what they said before turning to look back at the portal to say, "I think that he will bring great change once he leaves his world. But until then, it seems like I''ll have to prevent others from finding out about him."


    As soon as they heard this, the small dragon and phoenix looked at the guide with narrowed eyes.


    Both of them seemed like they were sizing up the guide.


    But then they both said, "We won''t say a thing. You don''t need to worry about that."


    The guide gave a simple nod before saying, "Thank you. That was what I was hoping you would say."


    Then before waiting for a response from them, she waved her hand and sent them away. As they were disappearing, the small dragon and phoenix didn''t seem to mind that they were being sent away like this. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once they disappeared, the guide muttered under her breath, "I hope that you will be the person that I believe you are."


    ¡­


    When the flash of light disappeared, I found that I was standing on stage in front of everyone again.


    But there wasn''t a single sound that rang out when I appeared.


    I could see that everyone was looking at me, but it was as if they were all shocked by my appearance. They were so shocked that not a single person seemed to be making a single sound.


    After a long time, the host was the one that reacted by saying, "We have our final contestant here, making his way out of the second trial. I''m sure that it was all very exciting watching him, so let''s give him a round of applause."


    But even with the host trying to break the ice, there wasn''t a single person that actually clapped for me.


    It seemed that all of them were just too shocked to react normally.


    The host revealed an awkward smile, but he had a job to do. It wasn''t as if he could just ignore this just because no one was reacting.


    However, before the host could say anything, there was something that rang out in his ears.


    He seemed to be muttering something, or at least that was what I saw.


    After muttering for a bit, the host came over to me and said in a soft voice, "The organizers would like a word with you."


    I revealed a bitter smile when I heard this, but it would be a lie to say that I hadn''t already expected this. I knew that because of all the unexpected things that happened in the Tower of Trials, I would surely be called to talk to the organizers.


    So I just simply gave a nod in response and waited for him to bring me away.


    But it wasn''t the host that led me away.


    Instead, there were a few cloaked figures that suddenly came up to stage to surround me and escort me away. The way that they did this made it seem like they were protecting me, but I could clearly tell that they were preventing me from running away.


    After all, when I stood in the center of them all, I could feel all of them putting their pressure on me as if they were trying to keep me suppressed. At the same time, I could feel the gazes that were cast in my direction, making it clear that they wouldn''t let me escape.


    But I had no intentions of escaping since I knew that there would be no way to escape.


    This tournament was held by the large guilds together, so unless I could completely avoid all of these large guilds, it would be impossible to turn.


    But these were large guilds for a reason.


    These guilds had wealth, power, and influence that couldn''t be ignored.


    So I just had to go along with them.


    Led by this group, I was brought to an empty room with a mirror wall and made to sit down.

 Chapter 400 - 400: Questioned (2)

    After sitting in the room for a while, there were two men that came in.


    Just their appearance alone made it clear what they were here to do.


    They were clearly here to question me.


    But at the same time, I could see which one was supposed to be the good cop and the bad cop.


    That was usually how things were done in these cases.


    The one that was the bad cop slapped his hand on the table and said, "You better tell us everything that we want to know, or else!"


    Then the good cop said, "There''s no need for that, we just want to have a talk with you."


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile on my face before saying, "You''ve never said what you were looking for, so what am I supposed to say?"


    The two of them looked at each other with awkward looks before the bad cop slapped the table again to say, "Stop playing the fool! We want that information now!"


    The good cop once again said, "Just talk to us and we''ll be able to do something for you. But if you don''t say anything, then there really isn''t anything that we can do."


    Though he was supposed to be the good cop, the words that he said really sounded like what a bad cop would say. It seemed that when I didn''t react at all to his words, he started to buckle and revert to his original personality.


    I really didn''t know who got the two of them to do this, but it was clear that they weren''t qualified for this.


    It was clear that these two had no idea what they were doing and were just creating a bigger mess by trying to interrogate me.


    Was this really the best that those large guilds had?


    That was what I thought until the door opened and another group came in.


    This was a group of five that looked much more professional than these two.


    The one who was leading them was a blonde haired young man who seemed like a proper interrogator.


    To my surprise, when the two that were currently interrogating me saw this group, they showed shocked looks like they weren''t expecting them. Then they suddenly looked like they were kids that had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.


    It was like they had just been caught doing something bad.


    The blonde haired young man narrowed his eyes to look at the two of them before asking, "What are you doing here? Why aren''t you properly guarding the door like you''re supposed to?"


    The two of them revealed even more awkward looks when they heard this, but they didn''t say anything.


    After he said this, I was slowly figuring out what had happened.


    These two that had come in with the good cop bad cop routine¡­it seemed that they weren''t supposed to be here. If I had to guess what they were, they were most likely the ones that should have been guarding the door to this room.


    As for why they were in here, I already had a guess.


    After a long silence, the bad cop finally said, "We thought that we would be able to make him talk."


    The good cop backed him up by saying, "Yes, we thought that as long as we put some pressure on him, we would be able to make him talk. If you just give us a bit more time, then¡­"


    "Stop." The blonde haired young man cut him off when he heard this and said, "Leave now and collect your severance cheques. There''s no need for idiot guards in this place."


    As expected, the two of them had been guards that were supposed to be guarding the door.


    But for some reason, they had left their post and had come in on their own to try interrogating me. If they had good techniques, then I might have called them smart, but with the techniques that they had tried to use¡­I could only call them idiots.


    Then again, only idiots would have thought that they could interrogate better than those that were trained for it.


    Only idiots like them would think that they could do something like this and would be rewarded for it.


    The two of them looked like they wanted to say something, but they weren''t able to say a thing in the end as they were hit with the pressure of the blonde haired young man. They had no choice but to lower their heads and walk out in shame.


    Though as they were walking out, I could hear them muttering a few things. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I told you that this was a bad idea. Now we even lost our jobs."


    "You''ll never be able to rise up in the world as long as you don''t take risks. That''s why I''m telling you that this was our chance."


    "But it wasn''t, we got fired in the end."


    "Not all things work out in the end."


    Yep, they were idiots.


    I had thought that there might be the chance that this wasn''t the case, but they were complete idiots.


    When those two left, the five of them came forward to where I was sitting.


    It was only the blonde haired young man who sat down, the rest of them all stood around the table where we were sitting.


    They weren''t standing too close, but they also weren''t standing far away. It was as if they would be able to react as soon as anything happened.


    So it was very likely that they were here to make sure that nothing happened while the blonde haired young man was in this room. It didn''t seem like they were here to stop me at all.


    That made me even more curious as to who this blonde haired young man was.


    With a smile, he said, "I''m sorry about that just now. It seems like we really hired some fools."

 Chapter 401 - 401: Questioned (3)

    I narrowed my eyes to look at this blonde haired young man, but I didn''t say anything in response.


    After all, it didn''t seem like there was anything that I could say in response to this.


    No, it was better to say that there was nothing to gain from responding since it was clear that he was just trying to build a false rapport with me.


    He was trying to put on a friendly appearance to make me let down my guard, but I wouldn''t be fooled that easily.


    Seeing that I wouldn''t respond, the blonde haired young man didn''t seem to care. Though the guards that were standing around were all looking at me with looks of judgement, as if they were angry that I had ignored the blonde haired young man.


    But to be fair, I also ignored them as I focused on this blonde haired young man.


    It was clear that he was the one that was in charge here.


    The blonde haired young man didn''t care about the way that I ignored him and just continued by saying. "I''m sure that you''re wondering who I am, so let me introduce myself. My name is Eric Vanderbilt, it''s a pleasure to meet you."


    After saying this, he reached his hand out towards me, as if he was waiting for a handshake.


    I looked down at the hand for a few seconds, but I still reached my hand out to shake it in the end.


    Though I could have ignored it, there was a part of me that told myself that I shouldn''t ignore it. I didn''t know which part of me it was, but it was there telling me not to ignore this person.


    After shaking his hand, Eric continued by saying, "I''m sure that you''re also confused about why I''m the one who is here talking to you. Well, that''s simply because the Tower of Trials that was used in the tournament belongs to my family."


    I slowly began to understand what was happening when I heard this.


    The information that I had obtained from the guide and the two beasts in the tower was already more than enough for me to know what the tower was.


    It was not something that was created by the large guilds, it was definitely some kind of treasure that they obtained and used for the tournament.


    Of course, they most likely never expected someone to clear the entire Tower of Trials, so that was why they had locked me up like this.


    Seeing the look on my face, Eric continued by saying, "I just want to say that I don''t have any ill intentions towards you. It''s just that our family has had this Tower of Trials for a long time now and we still haven''t been able to figure out anything about it. I was hoping that you would be able to give us some information about the tower and the trials you encountered inside."


    I narrowed my eyes to look at him, but it really seemed like he didn''t have any ill intentions.


    But I couldn''t help asking, "Shouldn''t you have seen everything that I was doing in the tower? Is there a need to ask me these things?"


    Eric chuckled as he nodded in agreement before saying, "Indeed, it was broadcasted, but¡­there were some parts that were cut off. It seemed that there were certain floors that we weren''t allowed to see¡­such as the twenty fifth floor and the fiftieth floor. We were hoping that you would be able to tell us what happened on those floors specifically."


    The twenty fifth and fiftieth floors¡­


    As expected, it was the two floors with the big bosses that they hadn''t been able to see.


    I knew that it would be impossible to completely deflect this, so I had to gather my thoughts to figure out how much I should tell them.


    After a while, I said with a nod, "The boss on the twenty fifth floor was a S Ranked Dragon and the boss on the fiftieth floor was a SS Ranked Phoenix."


    As soon as I said this, the four guards that were around looked at me with gazes filled with disbelief. It was clear that they didn''t think that someone like me would be able to defeat them.


    Eric was much more calm, but he still said, "Is that so? Then how did you defeat them? If you can tell us, we would be happy to reward you for this."


    I just looked back at him and calmly said, "There were mechanisms in the room that when activated would allow you to win against the bosses. I''m sure that you''ve seen them when I was taking care of the other floors."


    Eric gave a nod of agreement before saying, "Then can you tell me what those mechanisms are?"


    I slowly shook my head before saying, "When I left the tower, there was a restriction that was placed on me that prevented me from talking about these things. It seems that the tower doesn''t care about the regular floors, it''s just those floors that they want to keep secret."


    There was more doubt that was cast in my direction, but my attention was completely on Eric. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As long as he accepted this, it meant that this matter was over.


    He didn''t say anything as he just stroked his chin, like he was pondering the matter.


    After a while, Eric finally said, "Alright, I understand your circumstances. I thank you for everything that you''ve told us today and I''ll make sure that the others understand as well."


    The others¡­he was referring to the organizers of the tournament.


    Did he really have that much power that he would be able to sway the large guilds that easily?


    But I didn''t have time to think too much about this as Eric suddenly stood up like he was about to leave.


    Before leaving, he turned back to me and said, "If you ever want to work together, please feel free to contact our Vanderbilt Family. Someone as talented as you is always welcome."

 Chapter 402 - 402: Before the third round

    As he had said, I was let out of that room soon after and announced as the top ranker in the second round.


    When I saw the list of people who had passed, I couldn''t help being surprised.


    That was because it had also listed how many floors they had been able to pass.


    Other than me, there was no one else who had even made it past the twentieth floor.


    The second top ranker was Tammy as expected since she had been second in the first round as well. At the same time, with the boost that she had obtained from the Inferno Gem, her flames had reached a completely different level of power.


    So it wasn''t strange at all that she had been able to make it to the twenty fourth floor.


    It was the twenty fifth floor that had stopped her in the end.


    The one that did surprise me was the one that had come in third.


    It was Bing Xin.


    I had thought that it would be Alex or Julius, but it wasn''t. The two of them hadn''t even come in fourth.


    It was Long Shui Ling who had come in fourth for this second round, but that wasn''t as surprising since I knew just how broken Long Shui Ling''s powers were.


    Bing Xin was a complete surprise since I didn''t think that she had this kind of power, but I later learned that it was completely because of the blue orb that she received from the dungeon boss.


    Just like how Tammy had gone to a different level of power with the help of the Inferno Orb, Bing Xin had gone up to a different level of power with the help of the blue orb.


    So she had been able to freeze many of her enemies.


    She had even been able to fight against the A Rank Monsters because of this orb.


    Though I also learned that it wasn''t just because they had these that they were able to make it this far.


    It was also because they had tokens that were similar to mine.


    Though the number of times that they could use their tokens was less than mine.


    For Tammy, who was second, she was only able to use it three times.


    For Bing Xin, who was in the top ten, she was only able to use her token once.


    That was the crucial difference between Bing Xin and Tammy.


    Bing Xin had only reached the twentieth floor while Tammy reached the twenty fifth floor. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But comparing myself to the rest, it seemed like I really was the outlier.


    It was no wonder the organizers had taken me away and had questioned me like that.


    Though thinking about it, it really wasn''t being questioned as just asked a few simple questions about the tower.


    I also couldn''t help thinking about what had happened to Eric.


    He was from the family that owned this tower, so surely he must be involved in this tournament in some way.


    For some reason, I felt like I had heard the name Vanderbilt before¡­


    It sounded strangely familiar¡­


    But there wasn''t time to think about this as I was being crowned the champion of the second round.


    When I was being placed in front of everyone, I could see the strange looks that they were giving me. There were many complicated gazes that were cast in my direction, but it was clear what most of them were thinking.


    How did he do it?


    After all, I had done what no one else had been able to do.


    Not only that, I had far surpassed everyone when it came to how many floors were cleared.


    This wasn''t a small gap, especially for those that had been in the tower taking the trial.


    They knew just how hard each floor was to pass.


    So at the same time, there were also some people that were looking at me like I was a monster.


    While we were doing this, the host asked me, "What is your secret? How did you manage to figure out the mechanism for each floor and take advantage of it?"


    I really didn''t know what to say other than, "I just got lucky I guess."


    The host raised a brow as he looked at me before saying, "Really? Just luck?"


    All I could do was give a nod.


    The host had a disappointed look as if he was expecting much more from me, but there really wasn''t anything else that I could say. There were just too many things that I couldn''t mention about the tower without revealing things that I didn''t want to reveal.


    Luckily, this host was a professional and he knew what to do after this.


    Instead of dwelling on this, the host just went on to introduce the third and final round of the tournament.


    As expected, it was a tournament style fight between all of the contestants.


    But to my surprise, I found that I was given a bye all the way to the round of eight.


    Tammy was also given a bye to the round of sixteen.


    And there were others that were given byes to the round of thirty two.


    The ones that were truly unlucky were the ones that were at the very bottom of the rankings that would have to slog all the way from the first round to the finals. But it would be very unlikely that they would even make it past the first round.


    First, there was the fatigue to think about.


    Second, there was the fact that those that were stronger were automatically placed in the higher rounds.


    So even if the contestants in the first round won their fight, they would have to fight an opponent that was much stronger than them.


    The only thing that they could pray for was good luck to be matched with someone who had passed from the second round like them since the fights in each round would be determined by a draw.


    They could only hope that they had good luck.

 Chapter 403 - 403: Resting up

    This draw show wasn''t really related to us, so there was no need for us to stay any longer.


    So most of us chose to leave since we were quite tired after dealing with the first and second round one after another.


    But it wasn''t as if the ones that were fighting in the first round would be fighting right away either. They were just here for the draw show and then they would be allowed to leave to rest up.


    We had been given a total of three days to rest up before the first round.


    That way, we would be rested and refreshed for the fight.


    There was nothing interesting about a fight between two half dead people after all.


    No one would be able to demonstrate their full power like this.


    Once we left the arena, we were immediately shown to a hotel by a group of guides.


    They were planning to bring everyone to different hotels at first, but when our groups said that we wanted to go to the same place, they immediately settled it for us and brought us to the same hotel.


    This was the last time that we would be able to talk as friends and allies since after this, we would be competitors.


    After everyone showered and came down to dinner, we had our final talk.


    Alex was the one that broke the silence by saying, "It really was a hard road, but it seems that we''ve all made it in the end. Though for some of us¡­"


    We all looked at a few certain people that were sitting with us.


    They revealed awkward looks, but it didn''t seem like they couldn''t accept this.


    After all, they knew the reason why they hadn''t been able to pass.


    Their powers just weren''t suited for the Tower of Trials, so they weren''t able to do anything when facing those monsters.


    For our group, it was Qin Yue Ru and two members from Kaito''s group. They had support abilities, so they weren''t really suited for fighting monsters like this.


    They hadn''t even been able to make it past the fourth floor, which was why they hadn''t been able to make it through. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was the same with a few members of Alex and Julius'' groups.


    The only group that had all of its members make it through was Tammy''s Sol Warrior group who all had fire based powers. Those fire based powers gave them a certain amount of fighting potential even if they were more support based.


    So in the end, they were able to squeeze in near the bottom, but not low enough that they would have to fight in the first round.


    Julius said, "It doesn''t matter since you''ve already made it to the second round and further than plenty of other people. You''ll still be recognized as talented people to watch out for in the future."


    Alex quickly nodded in agreement before saying, "Right, right, so don''t beat yourselves up about it. We all know that it was just because this trial was incompatible with your powers that it ended up like this."


    The more that he talked, the more he was stuffing his foot in his mouth.


    I really wondered if this was the same Alex that I had met back at the cafe a few days ago.


    Tammy was the one that stopped them by saying, "Alright, let''s not think about that anymore. For now, let''s just celebrate reaching the final round."


    With that, she raised her cup and said, "Cheers!"


    Everyone nodded and then raised their cups with her.


    With that, we started eating.


    I had to admit that the organizers really did know how to take care of us.


    The restaurant in this hotel that they put us in was top notch.


    I had never tasted anything like this before, but every dish that I had seemed to melt in my mouth when I tasted it.


    It certainly deserved to be the hotel that was chosen by the organizers.


    Or at least that was what I thought until I saw how Tammy and Julius act.


    These rich kids¡­they really didn''t seem like they liked these dishes. It was almost as if they thought that it wasn''t at the same level as them as they only had a few bites before stopping.


    They were completely different from Long Shui Ling who was happily enjoying her dishes.


    It seemed that there was a difference in how they had been raised even though they were all rich kids.


    When dinner was over, the only thing that we thought about was going to bed.


    The fatigue had built up over the past few days and even as Awakeners, we could feel it hitting us.


    So no one said a thing as we all headed up to our rooms to sleep.


    The room was definitely a luxurious room since it was one that took up an entire floor. It was just like the one that the Awakener Association had prepared for me when I took the Irregular License Exam.


    No, it was decorated with even more luxurious decorations.


    It was just that I was in no mood to care about these things.


    Once I had finished changing and I reached my bedroom, the string of tension finally snapped.


    This was what had kept me awake all this time, but now that I could finally relax, it cut without a single moment of hesitation. I could feel my entire body loosening when this string of tension cut and I started falling forward.


    It was just a good thing that there was a bed in front of me, or else I would have fallen on the ground.


    At this point, even if I fell on the ground, I most likely would have just slept there.


    That was how tired I was.


    Darkness, that was all that followed next as I lost all consciousness.


    That was until I suddenly heard a noise that suddenly woke me up out of this deep sleep.

 Chapter 404 - 404: Intruder in the night

    It was definitely hard being knocked out of a deep sleep like this, but there was nothing that I could do when there was an intruder in my suite.


    So I immediately sat up and didn''t even get dressed.


    The only thing that I pulled out was my sword as I started heading out into the main living room.


    Before coming out of the bedroom, I made sure to take a look at the main living room as well.


    It was a good thing that the lights for the main room were right by the bedroom, so I was able to reach it. With one hand on the light and one hand on my sword, I suddenly went into the main living room.


    The moment that I came out of the bedroom, I turned the light on to surprise whoever was out there, but that was a mistake¡­


    My own eyes were unable to adjust to the light that suddenly appeared.


    I had forgotten how bright this light was since I had been too tired before falling asleep, so I made this mistake of blinding myself temporarily.


    But when my eyes adjusted, I quickly looked around the room to find the source of that sound.


    It didn''t seem like anything was off until I looked at one of the chairs.


    This was one of the chairs for the dining table and it was out of place, as if something had knocked it out of place. It was clear that whatever had made that sound was still here in this living room.


    I moved myself so that my back was against the wall, but still close enough to the bedroom that I could move if necessary and looked carefully around the room.


    It didn''t seem like I was able to find anything, but for some reason, it felt like there was someone here.


    In the end, I just said out loud, "Is anyone here? If you are, come out and let''s talk."


    There was only silence that followed this as expected.


    If they really snuck into a place like this, would they really just come out because I asked them to?


    But it wasn''t as if I could just leave them here, could I?


    So the only thing that I could do was move over to the phone and pick it up before saying in a loud voice, "I guess I''ll have to call the hotel staff and see if they can send someone to help me."


    At this, there were several figures that suddenly jumped out from their hiding spots.


    I was definitely caught off guard to see all of them here.


    There were two that I might have expected, but the others were just completely unexpected.


    Long Shui Ling and Tammy I could accept since it seemed likely that the two of them would do something like this.


    But for Claire and Bing Xin to also be here¡­


    They just didn''t seem to have the personality for something like this.


    Once they were all out, I asked in an awkward voice, "What are you all doing here?"


    Tammy was the first one that spoke as she said, "I came to see you to have a small talk, but it seemed like the door was closed, so I had no choice but to let myself in."


    I turned to the other three and it turned out that they had seen Tammy breaking in, which was why they had followed after her.


    But there was something that I had to question¡­


    How did they see her break in?


    It wasn''t as if they were watching my door the entire time, right?


    Or else they shouldn''t have noticed something like this.


    It was just a good thing that I had placed the suggestion in them ahead of time or else this would have been bad. After all, they would have started to question why everyone else was here if they didn''t have the suggestion in them.


    But there was someone that didn''t have a suggestion in them.


    There was one person that looked like they were about to question things.


    So before she could, I said, "For now, how about we all go back to our rooms and I won''t say anything about this, alright?"


    As I said this, I put all of my power in my Hypnosis Skill so that they wouldn''t notice that anything was off.


    The only one that I was actually worried about was Tammy since there was the chance that it wouldn''t work on her with her powerful resistance. But it seemed that it still worked in the end as she slowly gave a nod.


    Everyone all agreed to leave matters as they were for the night, even though there were signs that they found something wrong. They just had no idea what was wrong about this situation that they couldn''t say anything in the end.


    Once they were all gone, I couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had already predicted something like this would happen and had put those suggestions in them, there was no doubt that there would have been a bloodbath tonight.


    At the center of that bloodbath would have been me¡­


    So I could only count my blessings that I had the insight to do this.


    But I never thought that Tammy would actually be this aggressive or that the other girls would be so obsessive that they would keep watch over my door¡­


    Was it because their feelings had been suppressed because of the suggestions?


    I couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong, but I just couldn''t put my finger on what it was.


    It felt like I was creating more danger for myself, but I also didn''t know how to solve it¡­


    I was too tired to keep thinking about this, so I threw away these thoughts and went back into the room to sleep.


    What I didn''t notice was that in the corner of these rooms, there were certain devices that could be used for listening in on what was in the room¡­ S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 405 - 405: Third round (1)

    When morning came, I went down to an awkward scene.


    It seemed that everyone remembered their actions from last night and were now feeling shame about it.


    They wouldn''t look at me directly, so I couldn''t help revealing a bitter smile when I saw them like this.


    But still, this was better than the alternative.


    If they had remained as aggressive as last night, that would have been bad for me.


    There was only so much that my suggestion could make them forget.


    Once they reached a certain point, it would no longer keep them in the dark and I wouldn''t be able to maintain the fragile balance that I currently had.


    Luckily there were others that were able to make them forget about all of this.


    For the next two days, I was able to distract them by having the others do all kinds of activities with them that I was able to not be intruded on in the middle of the night.


    When these three days of rest were over, it was time for the third round to begin.


    We didn''t have to watch the first matches, but I wanted to since it would be a good chance to see what these other contestants were capable of. Even if I had the data that Alex gave me, nothing was better than seeing their power firsthand.


    So I wanted to see just what they were capable of.


    And I had to say¡­I was a bit disappointed.


    After seeing the powers that Tammy, Alex, and Julius'' groups had, the fights between those that were lower ranked seemed disappointing. Though there were a few interesting fights, they weren''t really considered that powerful.


    It was more that they had interesting powers that I had never seen before.


    I really couldn''t look down on the others from the large guilds.


    But there was also one more that I couldn''t help taking note of.


    It was one of the few unassociated people that had made it through the second round.


    This was someone who had a very interesting power.


    It might have seemed like a wind attributed power at first with the way that they were using it, but for those that had trained eyes, they could see that this wasn''t the case.


    This person was using wind blades to attack their enemy, but that was only what it seemed on the surface.


    In truth, what they were actually doing was manipulating space itself.


    So what they were throwing at their enemy were spatial slashes.


    If any of these spatial slashes hit their enemy, it would have certainly cut them cleanly in half. That was just how sharp these spatial blades were, judging by how they cut cleanly through the stage.


    However, everyone else seemed to believe that this was just some form of wind power.


    When I raised the phone that Alex gave me to point at this person, I found that this person wasn''t actually in the database. It seemed that this person really was an unknown person based on the fact that even Eden''s database didn''t have any information on this person.


    I looked at Alex in another part of the arena and he looked at me with a bitter smile while shaking his head.


    I looked at Julius as well, but he also shook his head to show that he didn''t know about this person.


    When I turned back to look at this person, I couldn''t help taking a deeper look at them.


    This was a handsome young man with slicked back black hair and sharp black eyes. It seemed like he was a very serious kind of person with the way that this made him look, but he was also moving in a playful manner like he wasn''t taking this seriously.


    It really was hard to figure out just what this person was about, but one thing was for certain¡­


    He was strong.


    When it was all over, his opponent had no choice but to give up.


    His opponent had been one of the entrants from a large guild and he thought that it would be an easy victory since his opponent was an unaffiliated Awakener.


    But it had been a much closer match that he thought it would be.


    That was because the unaffiliated Awakener had been controlling him the entire time, to make it seem like a closer match.


    It was most likely to hide himself so he wouldn''t attract any unwanted attention.


    But this couldn''t be hidden from those with sharp eyes.


    From the movement of this young man, it was clear that he was controlling his enemy the entire time. He was using his attacks to guide his enemy to move in the way that he wanted the enemy to move, which allowed him to manipulate his enemy how he wanted.


    The Awakener from the large guild never realized this.


    In the end, he just fell down and fainted because of exhaustion.


    It seemed that not everyone in the first round could be underestimated.


    There were some that were indeed powerful¡­ sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the other fights in the first round, there wasn''t anyone else that caught my attention.


    There were some that could pose a threat, but they weren''t really that powerful in the end.


    Or rather, the young man with the spatial ability had left too big of an impression that I couldn''t feel anything about the others that didn''t stand out as much.


    So in the end, I could only pay attention to that young man.


    Once that first round was over, it was time to draw for the second round which was the round of thirty two that would start tomorrow.


    This time, it concerned us since our group was getting involved.


    I wasn''t since I had a bye to the top 8, but the rest of my group that had made it would be going into this second round.


    So once it was over, they were called onto the stage to draw for their fights tomorrow.

 Chapter 406 - 406: Third round (2)

    "Ha¡­"


    That was all that Kaito and Blaze could say when they came back.


    That was because their luck with the draws really were bad.


    In this round of thirty two, out of all the people that they could have drawn¡­they were actually matched with each other.


    It was a fight between Kaito and Blaze, one that no one would have expected.


    However, it would certainly be an interesting fight since they both used flames.


    At the same time, Hayate and Claire were matched with one from Kaito''s group.


    This was a fight between members of the same guild, but it was almost expected since we had the most number of people in the top thirty two in the first place.


    We had a total of ten people, six from my group and four from Kaito''s group, so it was to be expected that we would be matched with each other. But for so many of us to be matched with each other¡­it really was considered bad luck.


    Long Shui Ling, Bing Xin, and the last member of Kaito''s group had a better draw that they were matched with people that we had never interacted with before.


    The other fight that was interesting was a fight between Alex and Julius.


    It seemed that they hadn''t been lucky either and had been matched with each other.


    But there was nothing that could be done since it was a fair drawing in the end.


    If they wanted to blame anything, they could only blame their bad luck.


    ¡­


    The next morning, it was time for the second round.


    The first fight of the day was actually Blaze versus Kaito.


    Before they entered the stage, neither of them had talked to each other.


    Since leaving the hotel, it was as if they had come to a mutual understanding and had avoided each other. It wasn''t that they weren''t friends anymore, but rather they acknowledged each other and the power that the other had.


    It was only when they stepped onto the stage that they faced each other again.


    Standing there on the stage, the two of them looked at each other with stern looks on their faces.


    With how they were facing each other like that, it almost seemed like they were about to swing punches at each other at any moment. But they didn''t do that in the end.


    All they did was reach their hands out in front of them and grab each other''s hand to give a firm handshake.


    Right after the handshake, they jumped back to the edge of the arena and started releasing their flames. They didn''t even bother waiting for the judge to tell them to go as they were already preparing for the fight.


    The judge shook his head with a bitter smile before saying, "Go."


    But of course, no one paid attention to him.


    The crowd was shocked by the amount of flames the two of them created, but it was clear one side had the crowd''s attention more.


    Kaito''s black flames really were eye catching compared to Blaze''s normal red flames.


    The black flames seemed like they would be more powerful than the normal red flames, but that wasn''t the case. After all, Blaze had been working with Kaito the entire time, so he knew just how strong Kaito''s black flames were.


    Naturally, his flames would also be strong if they could work with these black flames. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once they had finished gathering their flames, they suddenly charged at each other.


    The two waves of flames came right at each other before suddenly clashing in the middle of the stage. There were flames that suddenly burst forth into the sky, forming a pillar that was half red and half black, reaching all the way to the clouds.


    With the way that they exploded into the sky, there was even a hole that was punched in the clouds in the sky.


    That was just how powerful their flames were.


    But it wasn''t as if the flames were only going up¡­they also went all around the two of them.


    There was a moment where the audience was terrified by the flames that were coming at them, but that fear quickly disappeared. That was because they saw that the flames were blocked by something in front of them.


    There seemed to be this invisible barrier in front of them that stopped the flames, allowing them to let out a sigh of relief.


    After the fear subsided, excitement quickly took over.


    This kind of flashy fight was naturally something that everyone enjoyed watching.


    After the flames subsided a bit, they could see Blaze and Kaito just standing there in the middle. The two of them had their flames wrapped around themselves as they punched each other.


    It wasn''t that they were fighting properly, but rather they just stood there exchanging blows.


    No, it wasn''t even a proper exchange of blows.


    They just stood there punching each other one after another. It seemed that they were taking turns hitting each other and the one that fell would be the one that lost.


    It was like one of those movies where rivals fighting just took turns hitting each other.


    With each blow that was struck, there was a burst of flames that spread behind the person that was hit. This was a demonstration of just how much power was in the fist that hit that person.


    And with each passing blow, the flames were getting stronger and stronger.


    However, Blaze and Kaito both had relaxed looks on their faces as they taunted each other.


    "Is that all you have? Did you not eat breakfast today?"


    "You''re the one that didn''t eat breakfast today! I can barely feel your weak punches!"


    "Well, then take a few more of them if you want!"


    "Why don''t you take a few of my punches as well!"


    Just like this, the two of them kept slugging each other as if they didn''t feel the punches, but it was clear by how their legs trembled that they were indeed feeling the effects of these punches.


    In the end, it was Blaze that was able to knock Kaito down with one final punch.


    After a moment of silence, there was a loud wave of applause that came from the crowd.


    Watching two rivals fight like this was definitely a passionate match that could rile people up.

 Chapter 407 - 407: Third round (3)

    After that match, the next one seemed a bit disappointing in comparison since it was just a normal fight between two Awakeners that didn''t have any flashy abilities.


    They did their best to put on a show, but there was nothing that they could do. They just weren''t on the same level as Blaze and Kaito who had received power from the Inferno Gem.


    So the crowd just seemed bored of their fight.


    It didn''t even matter which one of them won, so they could only walk off the stage with bitter smiles in the end.


    The rest of the fights were also quite simple, so there wasn''t much to see.


    In fact, Bing Xin''s match was so fast that there was no suspense at all.


    Her opponent seemed to recognize her as he tried to flirt with her by saying, "Miss Bing, I''ll go easy on you. When this is over, I hope that I will have a chance to take you out to dinner sometime."


    But Bing Xin just completely ignored this fellow, even if he was from one of the large guilds.


    The way that she did it made her seem like the Bing Xin that I had met all the way back then.


    It turned out that she acted that way towards people that she didn''t know just so they wouldn''t bother her. The her that I got to know later on was the real her that she only showed to people that she trusted.


    Well, I already knew that, but this was a blast from the past seeing Bing Xin act this way.


    I had to admit that this kind of Bing Xin did move my heart a bit¡­


    But did that mean that I was a M?


    I shook that though away as soon as it appeared in my mind.


    As for Bing Xin''s battle, it only lasted an instant.


    Her opponent didn''t even get a chance to make a move as he was surrounded by ice.


    When he did react, he found that he was being frozen completely and he only had the chance to say, "No, wait, don''t!"


    But before he could finish his thought, he was encased in ice and completely frozen.


    Bing Xin didn''t even bother sparing him a glance as she walked off the stage.


    It should be said that she had gained quite a few fans because of this.


    The other battle of note was between Alex and Julius.


    When the two of them stepped out onto the stage, they had a completely different look on their faces. They were no longer facing each other with smiles, but rather serious looks.


    No, there was still a smile on Julius'' face, but that was just how he looked naturally.


    It was the look in his eyes that were different as they had become much more serious.


    The two of them did the same thing as Blaze and Kaito where they shook their hands, but their fight was completely different.


    That was because it was completely one sided.


    I had thought that it would be a more even match, but that wasn''t the case at all.


    There was one side that was clearly doing better than the other.


    Though he tried his best, Alex just wasn''t able to do a single thing to Julius.


    As he was firing his bolts of lightning one after the other, there was a bitter smile on his face as if he had already expected something like this to happen. It was almost as if he already knew that he would be suppressed by Julius like this.


    As for how he knew¡­ Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Well, there was a reason why Julius was favoured to win this tournament in the first place.


    As I watched their fight, I realized that I had completely underestimated Julius'' power.


    The real power that came from Julius'' ability was the flexibility behind it.


    Insulators, that was how Julius had defeated Alex in the end.


    He kept creating different insulators around him that blocked the lightning that Alex threw at him. So no matter how Alex tried to attack Julius, he was able to stop all the lightning bolts that he threw.


    Since he couldn''t do anything with his lightning bolts, he was pushed back by Julius until he reached the edge of the stage.


    Then with a single push, Alex was knocked off the stage and lost the match.


    It didn''t even seem like Julius had broken a sweat during this fight.


    However, Julius did reach down over the edge of the stage to give his hand to Alex to help pull him up. It seemed that the friendship that they had developed would last which was also a good thing for me since we were all friends.


    After pulling him up onto the stage, Julius seemed to whisper something into Alex''s ear that suddenly made his chin drop. He looked at Julius for a bit before suddenly cupping his hands and saying, "I admit my defeat completely."


    Julius just waved his hand and said, "There''s no need to be that formal."


    Just this alone was enough to establish Julius as one that was far above the others.


    Though many people already knew this.


    The fights kept going and it didn''t seem like there would be anything else interesting happening before it ended.


    But then the final fight caught my attention.


    That was because this was a fight between one of the members of my group and someone that had caught my eye before.


    This was the unaffiliated Awakener who had used the spatial laws, the one that no one had known about previously.


    I had only remembered how he looked, but I didn''t know his name.


    But after the fight with the member of my group, his name was imprinted in my mind.


    That was because¡­it wasn''t a fight.


    Rather, he was just playing with that member of my group.


    It was almost as if he was trying to break them completely so they would never be able to fight again.

 Chapter 408 - 408: Third round (4)

    The member of my group, who was originally one of Kaito''s group, was named Yun Che.


    He was someone with an ability called Heretic''s Gates.


    What this ability allowed him to do was open the gates that naturally existed in his body to increase his own power.


    These gates were limiters that his body had set on itself that would prevent it from breaking down. But the moment that he released these gates, his body would absorb far more magic power than usual.


    This would allow him to increase his physical abilities by several times, while also putting great strain on his body.


    Normally, he would only be able to go up to the third gate since that was his limit.


    However, this time, he had pushed himself all the way up to the fifth gate which increased his physical attributes by five times. Though it was only for a few seconds, he should have been far faster than the unaffiliated Awakener.


    Still, he had failed in the end as he slammed into the wall of the unaffiliated Awakener.


    It was the only time that he didn''t mess around with Yun Che.


    After that, Yun Che fell to the ground where he was being tortured by the unaffiliated Awakener.


    He wanted to say that he gave up, but it seemed that there was something that stopped him from saying it. So the judge had no choice but to let it continue even though most people couldn''t watch anymore.


    Finally, I couldn''t take it anymore and jumped down along with Kaito. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    We would have been stopped, but it seemed that certain people also couldn''t take it so they allowed us to stop the match since we were from the same guild as Yun Che.


    I had to hold Kaito back in the end since he looked like he wanted to attack the unaffiliated Awakener.


    When it was all over, I could see that there was a broken look in Yun Che''s eyes, as if he had succumbed to the torture that he had been put through and no longer had the desire to fight.


    If this was left alone¡­it would leave a deep scar in his heart that would continue to affect him in the future.


    The only thing that I could do for now was¡­


    "Calm your mind. You''re alright now."


    After hearing this, his eyes started to relax a bit before his eyelids started to close.


    When they finally closed, he drifted off to sleep and the medics were able to come forward to treat him.


    It was a good thing that the judge had been watching, or else he might have been seriously injured. There were a few cuts on Yun Che''s body that were just a few centimeters from reaching vital parts of his body.


    We were certain that if the judge hadn''t been watching, the attacks of the unaffiliated Awakener might have slipped and done some serious damage.


    It was clear that this person held some kind of grudge that they were willing to go this far¡­but why?


    We didn''t know this person at all, so there was no reason that this person should have held a grudge against us¡­


    When the unaffiliated Awakener saw us like this, he looked at us with narrowed eyes as if he was sizing us up. Then he just gave a snort and turned around without a word, as if he didn''t care about us.


    The judge had already judged that the fight was over, so there was no need for him to stay around anymore.


    For the first time, I took note of this person''s name.


    His name was William Reid, a person that was completely unknown, but seemed quite powerful.


    But that wasn''t the most important thing right now.


    Kaito had looked like he wanted to fight Wiliam then and there, but once William left, he turned his attention back to Yun Che on the ground.


    Seeing us standing over them, one of the medics said, "For now, his wounds have been treated, but¡­there are still the wounds in his heart that won''t be cured that easily. We''ll have someone take a look at him once he wakes up."


    I gave a simple nod and said, "Thank you."


    As the leader of our group, it was my responsibility to make sure that everyone was alright and to take care of matters like this.


    Since Kaito was no longer the leader of the group, he was able to act a bit more selfishly.


    But it was impressive how he was able to hold himself back.


    Or at least that was what one thought until they looked down to see his trembling hands. They were trembling from how much he was clenching them.


    I patted Kaito on the shoulder and said, "It''ll be fine."


    He looked up at me with a gaze that clearly said that he didn''t believe me, but that expression soon disappeared from his face.


    He just gave a simple nod in response.


    Kaito knew that there was nothing that he could do by being agitated, so all he could do was calm down and trust that they would do their best for Yun Che.


    The two of us followed the medics as they transported Yun Che to the medical bay in the stadium. Once we arrived, we found that the others were already waiting there for us.


    There were even Alex, Julius, and Tammy''s groups that were there.


    They looked at us as if they were asking how he was.


    I just shook my head and said, "We still need to see how he is when he wakes up. They''re going to run some tests and then bring in a professional to help him."


    Everyone just nodded before watching as Yun Che was taken in by the medics.


    Before any of us were able to say anything else, there was another figure that suddenly walked in.


    This was someone that none of us expected to see here.


    It was Bing Lan who suddenly walked in.

 Chapter 409 - 409: Third round (5)

    When Bing Lan came in, she also had a surprised look on her face.


    That was because she was looking at Alex, Tammy, and Julius'' group.


    It was clear that she was surprised to see them here as well, especially since the one that was hurt was a member of Elementia.


    After looking at them for a bit, she turned to look at me as if she was asking for an explanation.


    I just calmly said, "They are friends that are visiting."


    She looked at them once more before nodding with a smile and saying, "I hope that you will keep taking care of my guild members in the future."


    Bing Lan as the guild master of Elementia was considered one of the large guild masters, so she had also been involved in the planning of this tournament.


    She knew a few things about what would be included in the tournament, so she knew about the first round and how it required people to cooperate. So she figured that the members of her group must have worked with these people and developed bonds with them.


    That was good since this was also part of the reason why they were holding this tournament.


    They wanted to let the younger generation get to know each other so that they could work together in the future.


    Their three groups were surprised to hear this from Bing Lan, but they quickly said that it was no trouble at all.


    Tammy even tried to say something else, but she was stopped by a cough from me. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After that, Bing Lan turned to me to ask, "How is he? I''ve only heard that he''s being looked after, but I didn''t hear anything other than that."


    I told her the same thing as I had told the others, but I was looking at Bing Lan with a strange look after explaining this.


    After all, I didn''t think that this was the only thing that Bing Lan was here for.


    She was the busy guild master of Elementia¡­


    If she could come running whenever a member of her guild got hurt, then she wouldn''t have any free time at all.


    There was no way that she was here just because Yun Che had gotten injured.


    "So we''ll just have to wait and see how it goes¡­" Bing Lan muttered under her breath.


    But I suddenly asked, "Guild master, what are you really here for?"


    It wasn''t just Bing Lan who was surprised when she heard this, the others all seemed surprised by this as well.


    Bing Lan looked at me with a strange look for a bit before suddenly saying, "How could you tell?"


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile before saying, "Lucky guess."


    Bing Lan gave a sigh before looking over at the other three groups.


    When they saw this, they realized that this must be something that was private for Elementia, so they didn''t stay any longer and excused themselves.


    When it was just us, I looked at Bing Lan and asked, "So, what is it?"


    Bing Lan didn''t say anything as she just gave a sigh and sat down on one of the chairs in this waiting room.


    It seemed like there was something weighing on her that stopped her from saying anything, but this wasn''t useful for us since we needed to know what she wanted to say.


    So I gave a cough and said, "Is there something you want to say?"


    Bing Xin came over to Bing Lan''s side and patted her hand.


    When Bing Lan saw this, she gave Bing Xin a nod before looking up at us and saying, "This matter is partially my fault, but also Elementia''s fault."


    We all looked at her with a confused look, as if we couldn''t understand what she was saying.


    Bing Lan gave a sigh before continuing, "William Reid, he is the son of an old member of Elementia who was with us in the beginning. But because of differing opinions, we had no choice but to let him go. However, William''s father, Richard Reid couldn''t let things go, so he tried to harm Elementia in the end to get revenge. We had no choice but to put him down and make him disappear."


    Bing Lan paused for a bit before she continued with another sigh, "His son William is most likely here to take revenge for his father, which is why he was targeting Yun Che in that fight."


    When I heard this, it was like the final puzzle piece was slotted into its position and I could see the full picture.


    It was no wonder that William was so hostile towards us.


    It turned out that I was right about the fact that we had never met before.


    It turned out that he was only hostile towards us because we belonged to Elementia.


    That meant that in the next round, if he was matched with someone from our guild¡­then he would most likely try the same thing.


    I looked around at our group and with a sigh, I said, "If you get matched with him, fight him if you''re confident. If you''re not, then just forfeit the match. We shouldn''t underestimate someone who irrationally is seeking vengeance."


    Bing Lan nodded in agreement before saying, "The most important thing is that you''re all safe."


    All of them couldn''t help revealing unwilling looks when they heard this.


    It was as if they couldn''t just let this matter rest.


    They wanted to take revenge for their comrade¡­


    But at the same time, it was also something that was decided randomly since we would have to draw for the next round.


    In the end, someone did get this chance to fight William.


    Since we had all come to see Yun Che, they did the drawing for us while we were gone. They understood the situation, which was why they had accepted having someone draw in our place.


    The one that was matched with William in the end was¡­


    Long Shui Ling.

 Chapter 410 - 410: Third round (6)

    It took a while for Yun Che to wake up, but he woke up in the end.


    However, we weren''t allowed to see him right away as a psychologist was sent to look at him first.


    It didn''t take long for that psychologist to finish and we were allowed in.


    It seemed like Yun Che was fine when we saw him, but the psychologist really had a lot to say about this.


    "I saw the video of the trauma that the patient suffered and I couldn''t believe how calm he was when he woke up. It was as if he didn''t suffer at all from the trauma¡­I''ve never met someone with such a strong mind before."


    The psychologist went on to praise Yun Che''s mental fortitude, but Bing Lan was looking at me.


    I also realized what it was and revealed an awkward look.


    Pulling me aside, she asked, "What did you do earlier when you went to stop the fight? I saw that you whispered something to him."


    With a bitter smile on my face, I said, "I used my Suggestion to calm his mind. I didn''t think that it would have this much of an effect, I was just trying to put him to sleep so he would be able to calm down." S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bing Lan looked at me with a strange look when she heard this, but she didn''t pursue it further.


    She just shook her head and said, "It seems that your powers are far greater than I thought. If this was known by the world, there would be far more people out there that would want you since mental illness is a thing that''s hard to treat. If your Suggestion works on other mental illnesses¡­"


    I gave a nod to show that I understood since I knew what she was referring to.


    Low grade healing magic didn''t work on the mind, it only worked on the body.


    The high grade healing magic that worked on the mind was only possessed by some of the most powerful healers, but it wasn''t as if they could heal every single person with mental illness.


    To even call one of those healers, it would take a large sum of money.


    At the same time, it would take a large amount of connections since those high grade healers were all those that were connected to powerful organizations, so they weren''t that easy to hire in the first place.


    Also¡­it would take a long time to heal the mind since it was a delicate thing. It would take many healing sessions that would all cost large amounts of money to book, so it wasn''t something that could be arranged that easily.


    If my Suggestion was a more effective method¡­then it would cause a large stir.


    Not only would it put me against those that had high grade healing magic, it would also make me a target of those that needed my help.


    Elementia might not be able to protect me when the time comes.


    But the thing that I was the most scared of was that people might be able to discover the other powers that I had because of this. If they figured out that I could affect other people''s minds with my Suggestion power, it wouldn''t take them much to figure out that I could hypnotize them¡­


    Once that happened, it would only be a matter of time before I was exposed¡­


    So I couldn''t let this get out.


    Bing Lan looked at me and said, "For now, let''s keep this a secret."


    I quickly nodded in agreement and we discussed this no further.


    After making sure that Yun Che was fine, the rest of us went back to our hotel since it was getting late and there were still more fights tomorrow.


    Other than Long Shui Ling''s fight with William, there was another interesting fight tomorrow.


    Bing Xin would be fighting Tammy.


    A battle between fire and ice, but more than that¡­it was a battle between an ice cold beauty and a fire hot beauty.


    This would definitely be a fight that the crowd would be interested in watching.


    Before we went to rest, I went to find both Long Shui Ling and Bing Xin.


    Of course, I went to find them separately so I could give them more intimate advice.


    But to my surprise, both of them just said, "I''ll be alright. Don''t worry."


    It didn''t seem like they wanted to talk at all as they both closed the door in my face¡­


    Was it because they were nervous or was it because of something else?


    Instead of them feeling worried, I was the one that felt worried.


    ¡­


    When the morning came, Long Shui Ling had a serious look on her face.


    Her match would be the first match and it seemed like she was very focused on it.


    She didn''t even talk to anyone as we headed to the stadium.


    When we arrived, we bumped into William who had also just arrived.


    As we both came out of our cars, we looked at each other.


    To our surprise though, William actually came over and said, "Forfeit. I won''t show any mercy."


    It seemed that while he didn''t hold back for Yun Che, he was holding back for Long Shui Ling.


    Was it because she was a girl, was it because she was from the Long Family, or was it because she was a beauty?


    Regardless of what it was, it didn''t seem like William wanted to fight her.


    But of course, it wasn''t as if he was going to give up.


    Long Shui Ling narrowed her eyes to look at him before saying, "I hope that you won''t forfeit. I still have to take revenge for my friend."


    William was surprised to hear this from Long Shui Ling, but he didn''t remain surprised for long.


    With a snort, he said, "I gave you a chance and you didn''t take it. Don''t expect any mercy."


    As soon as his voice fell, he turned around to leave without giving us a chance to say anything.


    I looked at Long Shui Ling with a concerned look, but she just said with a smile, "Don''t worry. I''ll take care of him."

 Chapter 411 - 411: Third round (7)

    The first match of the day was between William and Long Shui Ling.


    So not long after we arrived at the stadium, Long Shui Ling was already being called up to the stage.


    Before she left, I took her hand and squeezed it before saying, "Good luck."


    Though this might seem a bit suspicious before, it was fine now because the others had suggestions in them. So even if they were to see this, they wouldn''t really react to a small thing like this.


    Long Shui Ling looked back at me with a touched look before saying, "Don''t worry, I got this."


    Though I still felt a bit worried, I gave a nod to show my confidence in her.


    With that, Long Shui Ling headed off to the stage.


    ¡­


    William had arrived on the stage first, so he was already standing on the stage when Long Shui Ling came out.


    As he watched Long Shui Ling step onto the stage, he couldn''t help narrowing his eyes.


    Even if he was a fool, he would still recognize Long Shui Ling.


    William was a thorough person, so he had checked the background of all the people from Elementia before this tournament.


    He wanted to make sure that there wouldn''t be any problems with taking his revenge against Elementia.


    Long Shui Ling was one of those problems that he wanted to avoid.


    It wasn''t because she was a beauty that he hesitated to hurt her, it was because of her status.


    It was the Long Family that made him hesitate.


    He knew that Elementia wouldn''t be able to do anything to him if he were to hurt their members in this tournament.


    If they were to retaliate against him because of what happened in this tournament, there was no doubt that they would receive backlash. At the same time, the other large guilds would be there to support him since they would want him to join them.


    It was different with the Long Family.


    If he hurt Long Shui Ling and incurred the wrath of the Long Family, there would be no one to cover him. Even the large guilds that would want to recruit him would leave him to fend for himself.


    After all, the Long Family''s power couldn''t be looked down on.


    The power of money was not something that could be resisted.


    So William really didn''t want to do anything to Long Shui Ling.


    But he also couldn''t just let her go since she was a part of Elementia.


    If he really let her go, it would destroy his plan to get revenge on Elementia for his father.


    The only thing that he could do now was¡­


    "Surrender now and I''ll spare you." He had to put on a tough face and try to convince Long Shui Ling to surrender. As long as she surrendered, then he wouldn''t have to worry about all of this.


    But he wasn''t surprised when he heard her say, "I will take my revenge on you for hurting my friends."


    Inside, William was screaming, "Just surrender and leave me alone!"


    On the surface, he gave a snort as he said, "Have it your way. There will be no mercy."


    Seeing that the two of them had finished, the judge said, "Let the fight begin."


    As soon as the judge said this, William charged at Long Shui Ling.


    Around him were those same spatial blades that he had used before.


    He really meant it when he said that he wouldn''t be holding back as there were more of these blades than before. It seemed that he was planning on ending this in one move¡­


    But he still knew how far he should take this.


    The first spatial blade that he threw out was only supposed to leave a slight injury after Long Shui Ling dodged out of the way. But to his surprise, she didn''t move a single inch.


    It was as if she had no fear towards this spatial blade at all.


    William didn''t divert the spatial blade at first since he was certain that she would dodge out of the way. He was certain that she wouldn''t just stand there for him to hit her.


    He never would have thought that she would actually do that.


    Before he could stop it, the spatial blade hit Long Shui Ling''s body and cut her right in half.


    The top part of her body fell to the ground while the bottom part of her body just remained there standing.


    William didn''t know what to think as he stared at the two halves of Long Shui Ling''s body.


    He didn''t even realize that¡­it was too quiet.


    There wasn''t a single sound around him, which was very strange since there should have been many spectators here.


    If they had really seen Long Shui Ling being cut in half like this, there was no doubt that someone would have made some sound.


    But there wasn''t a single sound around him.


    While William was still dazed, he saw Long Shui Ling''s ''corpse'' suddenly start to move.


    The top part seemed to sit up on its own before starting to crawl towards William. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He just watched as Long Shui Ling''s severed top half that was covered in blood started to crawl towards him.


    Seeing her like this made him reveal a look of fear and he couldn''t help taking a step back.


    But when he did, he found that he suddenly bumped into something.


    When he turned around, he found Yun Che standing behind him.


    "What are you¡­" Before he could finish, he found that Yun Che was already grabbing him from behind.


    He wasn''t able to break free of Yun Che''s grasp no matter how much he struggled.


    During this, Yun Che said, "How dare you do that to me!"


    William couldn''t take it anymore and said, "Judge, isn''t this against the rules!"


    But he found that the judge wasn''t there anymore.


    In fact, there was no one that was currently around him.


    It was as if he was in a completely different space.

 Chapter 412 - 412: Third round (8)

    As soon as he saw this, William realized that he had fallen for the enemy''s ability.


    Since he had already investigated those from Elementia, William knew exactly what Long Shui Ling''s power was.


    It was the power to create illusions.


    That meant that all of this should be an illusion¡­but for some reason, it just felt so real at the same time.


    After all, he could feel Yun Che pulling from behind him.


    However, since this was an illusion, that meant that none of this should be real. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Taking a deep breath, William ignored the pulling that came from Yun Che behind him and told himself, "This isn''t real, this isn''t real."


    The only way to combat an illusion was to know that it was an illusion and then focus one''s mind to break through the illusion. As long as one had a strong enough mind, they would be able to break free of the illusion''s grasp and regain control of themselves.


    It seemed to be going well as William didn''t seem to hear Yun Che anymore.


    He didn''t even feel the sensation of Yun Che grabbing him anymore.


    It was as if Yun Che had completely disappeared.


    But then¡­there was another voice that rang out, "How could you do this to me?"


    William couldn''t help opening his eyes since this voice sounded very familiar¡­


    When he did, he revealed a shocked look.


    That was because the one that had grabbed his feet wasn''t the top half of Long Shui Ling as he had expected. Rather, this top half had changed into a completely different appearance, but the shock was there.


    That was because he recognized this top half with just a single glance.


    Even if he didn''t want to recognize this top half, it was impossible since it had been deeply imprinted in his mind.


    This¡­was something that came from his past.


    It was not something that Long Shui Ling should have access to.


    So how did she create an illusion of this?


    "How could you let me die?!" That top half cried out as she grabbed William''s leg.


    William couldn''t help trembling when he heard this and there was a small part of him that reacted to it. But he just kept telling himself, "This isn''t real, this isn''t real¡­"


    It was just too bad that this wasn''t the end of this.


    There were more figures that suddenly appeared around William.


    With the appearance of each figure, the look on William''s face couldn''t help changing.


    It was as if he was becoming more and more shocked with each figure that appeared.


    All of these figures that appeared around him had different appearances and they all came forward to grab his arm before saying, "How could you do this to me?"


    With each figure that appeared, the reaction that came from William became stronger and stronger. It was as if there was some kind of trauma that was being pulled up from deep inside of him.


    Finally, he couldn''t take it anymore and shouted, "How! How are you able to do this!"


    He still believed that this was an illusion, but there was a part of him that started to waver.


    That was because every figure that appeared was one from his past and all of these figures should have been people that Long Shui Ling didn''t know. So he just couldn''t understand how she was able to create illusions of them.


    Or could it be that these weren''t illusions at all?


    No, if they weren''t illusions, what were they?


    After all, all of the people that had appeared around him were people that were dead.


    Before he came to participate in the tournament, William had done some shady things to survive.


    After his father had been kicked out of Elementia, it didn''t take long for him to fall into depression which he escaped from by drinking. The more that he drank, the more debt that he incurred.


    So when his father died, that debt had fallen onto William to repay.


    William had no choice but to do some shady things to repay this debt.


    That was what had led him to killing all of these people.


    As he was being dragged down more and more, William finally couldn''t take it anymore as he started shooting spatial blades all around him. He seemed like he wanted to cut down all of these figures that were around him.


    When the spatial blades made contact with these figures, they seemed to scatter them away which gave William a chance to move.


    But where was he supposed to go?


    It wasn''t as if there was a place for him to run to escape all of these figures that wanted to drag him down.


    That was until he saw a single path.


    After they had been scattered, it took a few seconds for these figures to reform.


    While they were reforming, he found that there was a space where there weren''t any figures at all. It was almost as if there was a path for him to escape being surrounded by these figures.


    William''s mind had already long collapsed, so he just took that opening and ran forward.


    Once he made it to that opening, he found¡­that he was falling.


    He didn''t know what it was that made him fall like this, but it felt like he was falling into the abyss.


    As he fell, all of the figures around him suddenly jumped onto him and started to pull him down. It was as if they wanted to drag him down into hell with them.


    Seeing all of this, William shouted, "No! Back! Stay back! I had no choice! I just did what I had to do to survive!"


    While shouting this, he waved his hand and sent out spatial blades as if he wanted to escape.


    But this time, it didn''t have an effect at all on these people.


    The last thing that he saw were all of these figures surrounding him before he felt a blow come from the back of his head.


    This blow knocked him out.

 Chapter 413 - 413: Third round (9)

    The crowd was silent after what happened.


    That was because not a single person had understood what had happened.


    The moment that the match began, there was no movement from either side.


    Then all of a sudden, William had started throwing out spatial blades all around him.


    However, not a single one had been directed in Long Shui Ling''s direction.


    She had just remained standing there, watching him as he started shouting out into the void.


    He screamed out many different things until he suddenly started running in a certain direction.


    This was the opposite direction of Long Shui Ling.


    In the end, William ran right off the edge of the arena and then slammed his head into the ground, knocking himself out. That was how this strange fight had ended.


    The judge wasn''t even able to react right away, but he still had his professionalism and called it a victory for Long Shui Ling.


    Long Shui Ling took her first steps after the match ended.


    She walked over to the edge of the arena and looked down at the unconscious William before saying, "This is what you deserved for the way that you acted. In the future, restrain yourself and you won''t be plagued with such guilt."


    With a sigh, she added, "I hope that you will be able to recover from this, but if you don''t, you can only blame yourself for your actions. You shouldn''t have touched my friends."


    She didn''t say anything else as she turned around and walked off the stage on the other side.


    Long Shui Ling could have gotten off the stage on the same side as William and it definitely would have been a shorter walk, but she clearly didn''t want to go down from the same side as him.


    That was how much she disliked him.


    Once she was gone, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers.


    Though they didn''t know what happened, they knew that it must have been related to Long Shui Ling based on what she had said.


    The funny thing was that what they were cheering for wasn''t even the fight itself, but rather they were cheering because it was Long Shui Ling.


    Simply put, the way that she had spoken after the fight was over was just too handsome that they couldn''t resist falling in love with her.


    So they cheered for her.


    There were some that even asked for her number or for a chance to get to know her better.


    There was no doubt that there would be people taking care of them later because of two people who were just too overprotective of Long Shui Ling.


    As I watched her come off the stage, I couldn''t help thinking that she had really become terrifying.


    I didn''t know what had happened, but I could guess that Long Shui Ling had obtained a new ability during her training. This new ability must have been what had caused William to go crazy like that.


    Judging by how he had acted, it seemed that it must have been quite the terrifying illusions that had been shown to him for him to react in such a manner.


    Long Shui Ling had really changed in the time that I had known her. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From a girl who had been chased by monsters and wasn''t able to cast her illusions unless she had time to prepare to someone that could break minds with illusions like this.


    She had become a terrifying person.


    But the main reason for this wasn''t just because of the experience that she gained.


    It was also from the confidence that she had gained from diving into the dungeons with us.


    Long Shui Ling was a much more confident person and that was for the better.


    The next match wasn''t as interesting since it was just between two people that were considered regular.


    It wasn''t until the fourth match that something interesting happened.


    That was because the fourth match was the match between Bing Xin and Tammy.


    Before they had gone for their match, they had actually met once in the waiting room.


    I was watching from the waiting room since I wanted to be with everyone else, so I had also seen their meeting.


    The two of them just looked at each other before turning away to make their own preparations.


    When it was time for their fight, the two of them actually came over to stand beside each other again. The two of them just matched gazes and stared at each other for a bit before suddenly turning and walking out.


    But before they left, I could have sworn that the two of them had looked in my direction.


    While I didn''t know why they would do that, there was a bad feeling that filled me when I saw this.


    However, it had happened too fast for me to confirm this and when I reacted, they had already left the waiting room.


    When the two of them came out, they walked up to the stage side by side instead of entering from different doors like everyone else did.


    The moment that the two of them came out, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers.


    After all, the two of them were both beauties, so they naturally stirred up the crowd when they appeared. Especially when they walked in side by side like this, creating an even more beautiful scene.


    But the two of them just ignored the crowd as they walked forward onto the stage.


    The two of them walked up to where the judge was before suddenly stopping.


    However, neither of them did a thing as they just stood there.


    The judge looked at them with an awkward look since it was him that the two of them were staring at. It was just that he could tell that they weren''t really looking at him.


    Instead, they just seemed to be staring forward.


    The judge had wanted to say something, but then the two of them suddenly turned towards each other at the same time.


    As they did, they suddenly punched out at each other with their hands covered in fire and ice respectively.

 Chapter 414 - 414: Third round (10)

    The fists collided in the air and there was an explosion of ice and fire that came out from this collision.


    The fire spread out in a wave behind Bing Xin.


    The ice created a large wave of ice behind Tammy.


    But neither of them seemed injured by this.


    Their fists just remained in the air, making contact with each other.


    The judge had been nearby at first, but he had no choice but to jump back because of the extreme heat and ice that came from this collision. Even if the judge was a powerful Awakener that had been sent by the large guilds, this was just too much for him.


    After a moment of silence, both Bing Xin and Tammy jumped back a bit.


    They separated to create some space in between them.


    The judge looked at the two of them with a bitter smile on his face before saying, "Let the fight begin!"


    Though there was no need for him to say this since the two of them had already started the fight on their own.


    But after he said this, the two of them just remained idle again as they stared at each other.


    While they were staring each other down, the delayed cheers came from the crowd.


    The crowd hadn''t been able to react in time to this large spectacle at first, so they had remained there in a daze for a bit. But once they reacted, the reaction that came from them was very loud as they burst into cheers for this fight.


    This wasn''t just a fight between two beauties, this was a fight between two very powerful Awakeners.


    A fight between two powerful Awakeners was without a doubt a fight that they welcomed very much.


    Especially when it was a fight between two who controlled ice and fire.


    These two opposing elements slamming against each other again and again, it was not something that could be seen every day.


    After a moment of silence, they suddenly started releasing their energy around them.


    The energy that was released formed different attacks around them, but this time they weren''t planning on fighting in close range.


    There were fireballs that appeared around Tammy while there were icicles that appeared around Bing Xin,


    Once both of them had finished gathering their attacks, there was one single glance at each other before they shot these attacks at each other. There was no hesitation at all as they released these attacks.


    But none of the attacks were able to reach the other side.


    The fireballs and icicles clashed in the air and cancelled each other out.


    With each collision, there was what seemed to be a beautiful display that was released just like a firework.


    But those that could feel the energy fluctuations coming from these collisions knew that it wasn''t that simple. Those that could feel the powerful energy fluctuations could only reveal shocked looks in response since the power behind each of these collisions was just too much for them to handle.


    This went beyond what should have been considered a fight between rookies.


    This was a fight between true A Rank Awakeners.


    No, not only that¡­with the power that they demonstrated, they came infinitely close to the realm of S Rankers. So there were many people that started taking note of both Tammy and Bing Xin.


    There were people that already knew that it would only be a matter of time before Tammy reached S Rank.


    However, Bing Xin was a complete surprise to them.


    As far as they were concerned, Bing Xin had been second fiddle to her older sister Bing Lan.


    While Bing Lan was the powerful one that had become a S Ranker and established her own guild, people didn''t have the same hopes for Bing Xin.


    They thought that it would already be good enough if she was able to reach the B Rank. Anything past that would all depend on her, but no one really had any hopes for her going further.


    But now¡­the power that she demonstrated was already on par with an A Ranker and approaching that of a S Ranker.


    Just what had happened to her that she would become like this all of a sudden? S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bing Xin and Tammy just focused on their fight, throwing more and more attacks at each other without stopping.


    Nothing really happened at first, but slowly¡­they were starting to affect the area around them.


    The fire and ice that scattered around them started to change the arena that they were standing in. The fire torched the ground, creating scorched earth while the ice froze the ground, creating a frozen wasteland.


    It was random at first, but then it created two different sides of the arena with the fire and ice continuing to spread.


    As for where it was spreading¡­it was spreading towards the audience.


    At first, the audience didn''t seem that concerned, but there was worry and fear that crept into their hearts. They could see the fire and ice slowly creeping towards them and it didn''t seem like it was about to stop.


    They couldn''t help being worried as they felt the heat and chill coming from this.


    But before it could reach them, there was a barrier that suddenly appeared in front of the audience.


    This barrier fell right down from the sky and appeared right in front of them, blocking the encroaching flames and ice from reaching them.


    Seeing this barrier, the audience couldn''t help letting out a sigh of relief before they felt a bit silly. After all, this was a tournament that was being held by the large guilds, it wasn''t as if they hadn''t been prepared for this.


    They felt silly for even being worried about this.


    It was just that no one in the audience saw that there were faint cracks that were forming in the barrier.


    They were just too focused on the fight that was happening on the stage.


    But that didn''t mean that this wasn''t happening.


    It seemed that even this barrier couldn''t contain the power of this fight.

 Chapter 415 - 415: Third round (11)

    All of a sudden both Bing Xin and Tammy stopped firing their attacks at each other.


    The crowd immediately fell silent when they saw this and waited with bated breath to see what would happen next.


    Bing Xin and Tammy just looked at each other before Tammy said, "Let''s end this."


    Bing Xin nodded before releasing her energy.


    Tammy followed suit as she released all of her energy as well.


    The two of them no longer formed the small attacks, but it seemed like they were gathering their energy for one final big attack.


    When they saw this, the crowd was immediately filled with excitement.


    The entire crowd was silent as they watched with excited looks in their eyes.


    But there were people that were nervous as well.


    The barrier wasn''t able to hold up against the smaller attacks that they threw, so what would happen if they used this one final big attack?''


    Wouldn''t the barrier be shattered by the collision of this big attack?


    The judge immediately said something in that earpiece of his. With the nervous look on his face, it was clear that he was telling whoever was behind it to strengthen the barrier.


    The barrier didn''t change much, but those with sharp eyes could see that it became thicker.


    It seemed that they were putting more energy into this barrier out of fear of the attacks of these two.


    Anyone that could see this should be able to imagine just how hard the organizers of this tournament were being pushed because of these two. However, they didn''t stop them since this was what the tournament was all about.


    It was to showcase the new young talents that were emerging and these two were definitely at the very top.


    One might even imagine that this was the finals of the tournament and not just a match in the round of sixteen.


    Though some might feel that this would be the peak of the tournament since there might not be another fight like this.


    It took them a while to gather their attacks, but the energy that was coming out from these attacks made it clear that this was their final attack. They were using all of their power for this one final attack that would determine the fight.


    For Tammy, it was a lion that was made of flames.


    For Bing Xin, it was a mirror of ice.


    The two of them looked at each other for a moment before suddenly raising their hands and pushing them towards each other with a roar. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When they did, the flame lion and the mirror of ice started to move.


    The two attacks clashed in the air and it didn''t seem like either side was about to back down.


    There was no explosion of fire and ice when they clashed as it seemed that they completely cancelled each other out. The mane of the lion was getting smaller while parts of the mirror were also being melted.


    With the equilibrium formed, it was hard to tell who would win this clash.


    But those that had sharp eyes could tell that the mirror of ice was melting faster than the mane of the flame lion was being extinguished.


    Though it seemed like an even match, there was one side that was being pushed harder.


    However, that person just had a firm look on her face as if she wasn''t bothered by it at all. She was putting on a strong look so that no one would be able to look down on her.


    That caused the other person to look at her with admiration, but that didn''t stop her from putting on the pressure.


    Eventually, a conclusion was reached.


    The mirror of ice started to have cracks form in it while the flame lion continued to push.


    It was clear that Bing Xin was the one struggling in this fight.


    Finally, the mirror of ice cracked and Bing Xin couldn''t help taking a step back.


    But she never turned away from the flame lion that was right in front of her.


    This flame lion charged right at her with its mouth wide open, as if it was about to swallow her.


    Then it slammed right down where Bing Xin was standing with its mouth wide open.


    The crowd gave gasps of shock when they heard this and there were many that were worried about Bing Xin. They weren''t worried because they knew her personally, but were worried because she was a beautiful woman that they wanted for themselves.


    But there was nothing to worry about.


    After the flame lion slammed into the ground, it burst into flames all around Bing Xin, creating a circle of fire around her. However, there wasn''t a single burn on Bing Xin as the flames kept a distance from her.


    It was clear that Tammy had held the flames back so that she wasn''t hurt by them.


    Bing Xin just silently looked at Tammy for a bit before saying, "It''s my loss."


    The judge didn''t hesitate at all to call the end of the fight, but he also let out a sigh of relief when he saw this.


    It seemed that the two of them had already noticed that they were breaking the barrier, which was why they had chosen to use this final attack to settle it. They had controlled the backlash of this final attack so that it wouldn''t affect the barrier at all.


    It seemed that the judge and everyone else had underestimated these two girls.


    When it was over, Tammy walked over to Bing Xin and reached her hand out.


    Bing Xin looked at her hand and then up at Tammy before reaching out to take it.


    A handshake to settle this fierce fight, it was the best conclusion that could come out of it.


    As the two of them shook hands, the crowd once again burst into cheers for the two of them.


    The cheers surged in this stadium, as if it was about to devour the stadium itself.


    That was just how exciting this fight had been.

 Chapter 416 - 416: Third round (12)

    When they came back to the waiting room together, it seemed that the relationship between Bing Xin and Tammy had become much better than before.


    As they were walking in, they were even chatting with each other in a friendly manner that was completely different from how they had been before the fight.


    It was as if all of the grudges that they had before had been forgotten and now they were close friends.


    When I thought about it, it was similar to how yankees fought each other and then became friends afterwards.


    Though these two were the furthest thing from that.


    Still, it was good to see that they had become close like this.


    First, there was their relationship with me.


    I didn''t want things to be rocky between them even though both of them felt something for me. I wanted them to at least be able to work normally since I would need them to do that in the future.


    Second, it was their future as powerful Awakeners of large guilds.


    There was no doubt that both of them would become even stronger with the Inferno Gem and the blue gem that they received from the first round. In the future, it was very likely that they would become S Rankers.


    When that time came, there was no doubt that they would have to work with each other.


    So it was good to see them get close for the time when they do work together.


    The rest of the fights after their fight were as expected.


    Blaze and Julius were both able to win their fights and make it to the next round.


    This time, I was also called to the stage for the drawing show since I was finally drawing for my fight.


    I hadn''t had to worry about this the entire time since I had directly made it to the round of eight. But now that the round of eight was here, it was my time to fight.


    However¡­I never expected the result that it gave me.


    Long Shui Ling.


    My first fight was with Long Shui Ling.


    She was just as surprised when she saw that I was the one that she was fighting, but she didn''t say anything more about it.


    I had wanted to talk to her about this, but seeing that she just ignored this topic whenever I brought it up, it seemed that I wouldn''t be able to talk to her about it.


    The other surprising result was Blaze against Tammy.


    It seemed that his luck in the draw had ended and now he was up against Tammy who he acknowledged had a stronger flame than his.


    However, he didn''t seem like he was depressed.


    Rather, it looked like Blaze was actually looking forward to this fight.


    It seemed like he wanted to test just how his flames would stand up against her flames.


    This would help him in the future as it would allow him to learn how to make his flames stronger.


    Since the drawing show was over, it was time for us to go back to the hotel to rest again.


    ¡­


    The next morning, it was time for the round of eight.


    This time, my match with Long Shui Ling was the first one of the day.


    I had fully expected her to treat me differently when we came down for breakfast in the morning just like how Bing Xin and Tammy had been yesterday. However, I was surprised to find that she was acting the same as always.


    It didn''t seem like she cared about the fight that we were about to have.


    It almost seemed like she wasn''t a participant in the tournament at all with how carefree she was.


    Rather, it made me look like the one that was the fool since I was the one that was worried about how this fight would go.


    Long Shui Ling was powerful, I had to admit that.


    If she was able to use her illusions right away, there was very little chance that I would be able to win unless I used my hidden trump cards.


    After all, the Time Stop and Hypnosis skills were just too broken to contend against.


    They were the skills of the demon king.


    But I didn''t want to use those skills unless it was absolutely necessary since this was a place where the world could see me. If someone with sharp eyes were to notice this, there was no doubt that my identity as the demon king would be exposed.


    So I was actually very worried about this fight.


    When it was time to leave, Long Shui Ling even took the same car as me and sat beside me without a single care in the world.


    It was like she didn''t care that we were about to fight after this.


    But I just couldn''t be the same. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So even if she was happily talking to me, I just gave a few non-committal responses from time to time.


    She didn''t care as she happily chatted away.


    Even when we arrived at the stadium, she insisted on going into the same waiting room as me¡­


    It was as if she didn''t have a single care in the world.


    Still, I couldn''t say any harsh words to her, so I just ignored her and prepared myself.


    When it was time for the fight, Long Shui Ling suddenly said, "Look at you, all nervous for nothing."


    Without explaining herself, she walked off to head to the stage.


    I was just left there with a confused look on my face as I wondered what she was talking about.


    But I still had to follow her onto the stage, so I left the waiting room.


    When we arrived on the stage, there were cheers that came from all around us.


    The audience seemed very excited about this fight, but that wasn''t strange since they had just witnessed Long Shui Ling''s power yesterday.


    At the same time, this would be the first fight for me, the number one person from both the first and second rounds.


    So it would be a very exciting fight.


    Or at least it should have been¡­

 Chapter 417 - 417: Third round (13)

    Once we were both on the stage, we stood there facing each other.


    Long Shui Ling just looked at me with a wide smile on her face which made me feel quite strange as I didn''t understand what she was doing.


    However, I didn''t have time to figure it out.


    The judge came forward and asked both of us, "Are you ready?"


    I could even hear it in the voice of the judge, it seemed that even he was excited for this fight.


    I just calmly looked at him and gave a nod.


    Long Shui Ling did the same thing before turning back to look at me with the same smile on her face.


    Once he received these confirmations from us, the judge suddenly said, "Then let the fight begin!"


    "I forfeit."


    The moment that the judge''s voice fell, Long Shui Ling said this.


    There was only silence that lingered in the air after she said this as no one was able to process this.


    Even I couldn''t help looking at Long Shui Ling in shock after hearing this.


    However, during all of this, she just had a casual smile on her face as if she didn''t care about this at all.


    Finally, the judge recovered enough to ask, "I''m sorry, I think I misheard. Can you please repeat what you just said?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a casual nod before saying, "I said that I forfeit."


    The judge looked at her with a shocked look this time as he couldn''t hold himself back anymore. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if he wasn''t able to find the words that he wanted to say.


    But finally, he said, "Why?"


    Long Shui Ling gave a shrug before saying, "I have no reason to keep participating in this tournament."


    "Huh?" The judge really couldn''t understand what she was saying this time.


    This tournament was one that was being held by many large guilds, which meant that it was a very prestigious tournament. As long as an Awakener won this tournament, there was no doubt that they would become famous in the future.


    Yet she said that there was no reason for her to participate in this tournament any longer?


    No matter how he looked at it, this seemed very strange.


    So the judge turned to look at me with a look of suspicion.


    It was as if he was thinking that I had something to do with Long Shui Ling''s forfeit.


    But Long Shui Ling was unhappy to see this and said, "Does it matter if I forfeit? I''m free to do whatever I want, right?"


    The judge was taken aback when he heard this.


    If she was forced to forfeit, then Long Shui Ling wouldn''t have acted this way.


    So did that mean that she was really forfeiting of her own volition?


    That just didn''t make any sense at all!


    This completely shattered the world view of the judge since he thought that this tournament was a very prestigious event that anyone would want to participate in. However, it seemed that Long Shui Ling went against this norm which shattered that world view.


    Long Shui Ling didn''t bother with the judge anymore as she came over to my side and said, "Let''s go."


    She looked like she wanted to take my hand, but she held herself back in the end.


    Seeing this, I revealed a bitter smile and then followed behind her.


    Once we had moved away from the judge, I couldn''t help asking, "Why did you forfeit?"


    She just said with a smile, "Like I said, what reason do I have to participate any further. I think that I''ve already gone far enough, so there''s no need for me to remain in this tournament any longer. Not to mention, it''s more important that you go as far as you can. I want everyone to see how special you are."


    The way that she said this and the way that she looked at me when she said this, I couldn''t help feeling a chill run down my spine.


    This was the fear that I had felt before when she and the others had appeared in my room.


    It was almost as if there was some kind of darkness inside of her that was corrupting her¡­


    I had no idea just what it was, but I could tell that it wasn''t a good thing.


    But how could I get it out of her?


    I had no idea.


    Just like this, the two of us headed back to the waiting room where Long Shui Ling was once again questioned.


    Though there were a few that didn''t question her on her decision.


    The ones that didn''t question her were Tammy, Bing Xin, and Claire.


    In fact, it almost seemed like they supported her in her decision. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the rest of them, Long Shui Ling just said, "I have no reason to go any further than this like I already said. Don''t you want to see our leader go further and reach the top? So there''s no need for us to fight."


    Blaze was the one that corrected her by saying, "But if you forfeit like this, wouldn''t they think that he was won because of his relationship with you? This doesn''t really prove how powerful our leader is, right?"


    Long Shui Ling reacted in a strange way as she said, "Show me the one that thinks this. I''ll prove it to them."


    Blaze couldn''t help being surprised when he heard this, but that wasn''t it.


    Even Tammy, Bing Xin, and Claire also joined in on this by backing Long Shui Ling up.


    Faced with the four of them, Blaze had no choice but to back down.


    Though he did look at Tammy with a strange look.


    She was the one that he was supposed to fight, but to him¡­it didn''t seem like she cared about him at all.


    It was as if she thought that he wasn''t worth her time, so she didn''t bother caring about him. Instead, she focused on worrying about Lin Fan¡­


    There was a small part of Blaze that was unwilling to accept this.

 Chapter 418 - 418: Third round (14)

    The fight between Blaze and Tammy went just the way that one would expect it to go.


    It was a completely one sided fight.


    However, Tammy did hold back to a certain extent that Blaze was able to do a few things and pick up a few things from the way that she manipulated her flames.


    But it was also a large blow to his pride since it seemed more like a teaching spar rather than an actual fight in the tournament.


    Still, there was no other way since Tammy completely outclassed Blaze.


    She was already stronger than him in the first place since she was one of the favourites to win this tournament.


    Then there was the fact that she had obtained the Inferno Gem, which just made her even stronger. With this Inferno Gem, she was leagues above who she used to be before coming to this tournament.


    When it was over, at least it didn''t seem like there were any hard feelings between them as they still shook hands.


    At the same time, I could see that I didn''t need to worry about Blaze since Kaito and Qin Yue Ru were going to comfort him.


    However, it was funny seeing the two of them trying to cheer him up.


    Kaito acted more like a lover than just a friend to Blaze with how he tried cheering him up that it made Qin Yue Ru reveal a very strange look. It was almost as if she was envious of the relationship between the two.


    A small part of the expression on her face almost made it seem like she had been planning on taking advantage of this situation to put the moves on Blaze to see if they could get closer.


    All I could do was cheer her on.


    Or at least that was what I thought until Tammy suddenly came to our waiting room as well.


    She didn''t do this yesterday, but she suddenly came in front of me and said, "I won."


    I didn''t know what to say when she did this, but it looked like she was expecting something from me.


    So after looking at her in a daze for a bit, I said, "Congratulations."


    She seemed a bit disappointed at first, but then she said with a nod, "Just watch, I''ll win tomorrow too."


    I gave a nod to show that I wasn''t doubting this.


    At this point, it really seemed like Tammy would be the favourite to win this with the power that she demonstrated.


    Even I didn''t feel confident in fighting those flames with her after seeing how powerful they were.


    Still, I didn''t mind since I had already done enough in this tournament.


    Perhaps I should just forfeit if I were to be matched with her.


    But that didn''t seem to be the case.


    The other two matches weren''t as exciting, but they were still matches in the round of eight, so they received a lot of attention. The ones that passed in those two rounds were Julius and Ares.


    Ares, that was a name that seemed familiar, but it took me a while to remember.


    Well, it actually took Alex reminding me to remember who this was.


    This was one of the names that had been on the phone that Alex gave me.


    He was also one of those that had been favoured to win this entire tournament, but since there were people that stood out more than him in each of the rounds, I had completely forgotten about him. But it seemed that Ares had been slowly making his way up and had even reached the final four.


    This kind of ability couldn''t be looked down on.


    It was just that his skills with the draw really weren''t good.


    His luck was so bad that it had matched him with Tammy.


    Since he was matched with Tammy, it meant that the one that I was matched with was Julius.


    After he had made his draw, the two of us didn''t even need to draw to know who we were facing.


    Once that happened, Julius looked over at me with a smile.


    It was strange seeing this smile since it almost reminded me of how Long Shui Ling had been acting this morning.


    But that shouldn''t be the case, right?


    Why would Julius surrender when there was no reason for him to surrender.


    Long Shui Ling at least did it because she wanted me to stand out, but Julius shouldn''t feel the same way.


    Still, I couldn''t help feeling very strange because of the smile that he looked at me with.


    As if to counter this feeling, I walked over to him in front of everyone and raised my hand out towards him while saying, "Let''s have a good match tomorrow."


    The moment that I did this, everyone looked at the two of us.


    No one disliked a story like this.


    Two competitors acting as rivals as they prepared for their fight, this was the kind of thing that they expected to see in a tournament like this.


    But to my surprise, Julius just said, "Why are you acting this way? I thought that we were close enough to be brothers already."


    After saying this, he moved closer to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, really acting as if we were as close as brothers.


    I could see the flashing of cameras around us as this happened. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While there were those that enjoyed a rival story, there were also those that enjoyed a story of rivals becoming friends. Especially when they were from two large organizations that had power like Elementia and the Rothschild Family.


    There would certainly be plenty more content to push out from them being friends than them having a fair fight as rivals.


    I could already imagine what some of the headlines will be after this tournament.


    But it wasn''t as if I could just throw off that arm that was on my shoulder since I did want to be friends with Julius.


    So all I could do was nod with a smile on my face.


    It seemed that he had countered my trap with a trap of his own.

 Chapter 419 - 419: Third round (15)

    The next morning, it was time for the round of four.


    There were only two matches today, so it wasn''t as rushed as before.


    At the same time, since the tournament was coming to a close, they were trying to show off as much as possible.


    So instead of rushing to hold the matches, they held the matches separately.


    There was one in the morning and one in the afternoon.


    In between those matches were a bunch of different acts that would serve to entertain the crowd while also promoting different things. There were promotions for different products, companies, and even the large guilds themselves.


    However, since these promotions were flashy, people were happy to watch them.


    It was already close to noon when the first fight began.


    It was Tammy versus Ares.


    My match with Julius was being held in the afternoon.


    When she was about to head onto the stage, I found that Tammy suddenly came to my room.


    She stood there in front of me and said, "I''m going now."


    I was very confused why she would do this, but I just gave a nod and said, "Be careful, don''t let your guard down."


    She just said with a smile, "I won''t. I''ll definitely win."


    I was even more confused seeing her acting this way, but I didn''t think too much about it since I didn''t think that there would be a problem with her fight.


    And I was right. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a completely one sided fight.


    Ares was powerful, but¡­he didn''t have the right things to deal with Tammy.


    It was a complete mismatch when it came to powers as he was a physical attacking Awakener while Tammy was an elemental power Awakener.


    With how powerful her flames were, Ares wasn''t able to approach her at all and was completely pushed back by her flames.


    He soon found himself completely surrounded in these flames with nowhere to go.


    It seemed that the fight was about to be over, but¡­


    Ares suddenly turned red.


    This was something that had never happened before, but it seemed that he had been holding back his power the entire time. This was a final trump card that he had never used until this very fight.


    At the same time, he pulled out this seemingly strange looking red club that worked with his new power.


    When he swung out with that red club, it completely scattered the flames that were around him.


    He had finally gained the power to fight back against Tammy''s flames, so one might think that he stood a chance.


    But it turned out that Tammy had also been holding back.


    Even though she had been fighting at the same level as her other matches, it turned out that she had been holding back.


    The only time that she had been serious was in her fight with Bing Xin, but even then, it seemed that everyone had underestimated her.


    Her flames¡­suddenly became stronger.


    They became as strong as when she used her final attack against Bing Xin.


    It turned out that the final attack that she used against Bing Xin was actually a state that she was able to maintain, it wasn''t a one time thing that used all of her power. This was her new elevated level of power.


    Drawing on the Inferno Gem, she was able to create these powerful flames endlessly.


    Even if he could scatter the flames previously, Ares found that his power was completely useless against these new flames.


    It turned out that even when he used his final trump cards, he still fell short.


    He was able to keep the flames at bay for a bit until he suddenly turned back to normal.


    That red hue that had appeared on his body disappeared and he was back to his normal state.


    That red hue was only a temporary final buff, so he was actually weaker after that red hue disappeared.


    When that happened and he was surrounded by flames, Ares had no choice but to give up.


    That was how the first fight of the day ended.


    But I didn''t feel that way since there was another fight for me before my fight this afternoon.


    While everyone was excited about how powerful Tammy was, she didn''t care at all about this as she came to find me.


    Standing there in front of me, she leaned her head in and said, "Pat my head."


    I was completely caught off guard by this sudden request of hers.


    I looked at her with a very strange look before asking, "What''s going on here?"


    She looked up at me for a bit and said, "I did good in my fight, so I want a reward. Pat me on the head and praise me."


    I could only reveal an awkward look when I saw her like this, especially since the other girls were here.


    But to my surprise, I found that they actually agreed to this.


    They looked at me and gave nods before revealing encouraging looks like they wanted me to do this.


    I couldn''t help feeling even more confused seeing this.


    I would have rather fought a hundred dungeon bosses than be in this situation, but it seemed that I really had no choice.


    After all, no matter how I tried rejecting her, it didn''t seem like she was going to give up.


    So in the end, I had no choice but to pat Tammy on the head and said, "Good job."


    It was the bare minimum, but it was enough to make her look at me with a bright smile.


    The more that they acted this way, the stranger that I felt.


    It all felt like there was something wrong with this situation¡­almost as if I was being manipulated to a certain extent¡­


    But I was pulled out of my thoughts when Julius came over and said, "Brother, let''s put on a good show this afternoon."


    I was surprised to hear this, but I quickly said with a nod, "Right, let''s put on a good show."


    It seemed like Julius was finally motivated to fight.


    That alleviated a bit of the strange feeling that I had that something was wrong.

 Chapter 420 - 420: Third round (16)

    The performances that they put on were quite interesting.


    These were performances that showed off the power of the various other Awakeners from the large guilds. These were the ones that didn''t have a chance to enter the tournament since there were limited spots.


    I could see that there were the ones that had argued with us during the raid dungeon there as well.


    It seemed like Elementia had also prepared an act for this.


    After the performances and the lunch break, it was finally time for my fight with Julius.


    As we were called onto the stage, he once again looked at me and said, "Let''s put on a good show."


    I was surprised and confused as to why he kept repeating this, but I said with a nod, "Let''s put on a good show."


    He patted my shoulder with a smile before walking forward.


    I was a bit dazed by this, but I still followed him even if I was a bit behind him.


    By the time that we reached the end of the corridor and came out to the stage, we were walking side by side again.


    As soon as we came out, I could hear the cheers that were coming from the crowd. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though when comparing the cheers, it seemed like there were more people cheering for Julius than there were for me. At the same time, it was clear that most of the ones that were cheering for Julius were females.


    Right, when you compared the two of us, it was clear who was the more handsome one.


    I had a very ordinary appearance, even if it had been increased a bit once I became an Awakener.


    Julius was a very handsome blonde haired young man, so there was no doubt that he would be able to capture the hearts of the ladies better than me.


    But he just grabbed me by the shoulder and brought me in close before waving at the crowd. He looked at me as if he was expecting me to wave to the crowd with him.


    Seeing all the people staring at us, I had no choice but to wave back at them.


    However, deep down, I felt another strange feeling.


    It was almost as if he was trying too hard to convey that we were close to one another.


    It was almost as if he was trying to convince everyone that we were as close as brothers even though we weren''t actually that close.


    We were certainly friends, but that didn''t mean that we were the best of friends.


    We hadn''t known each other nearly long enough for that.


    Once we finished waving to the crowd, the two of us headed onto the stage together.


    When we came onto the stage, I found that it was the same judge as before.


    There was a rotation of three judges and this was the judge that had been in charge of the fight between me and Long Shui Ling.


    When he saw me come onto the stage with Julius, he couldn''t help giving me a strange look.


    The way that he looked at me was almost as if he was remembering what happened last time. It was almost as if I had left some kind of trauma on him with how the fight between me and Long Shui Ling had ended.


    That just made me reveal a bitter smile.


    Seeing this, he shook his head and revealed a smile as he looked at me, as if he was encouraging me.


    But I couldn''t return that smile since there was this strange feeling inside of me still.


    It almost felt like I had missed something, something that seemed quite important.


    I just couldn''t put my finger on what it was.


    When the two of us got onto the stage, Julius finally let go of me and walked forward before turning around so that he was facing me.


    This finally seemed like a proper fight, so I let out an internal sigh of relief.


    As if to probe him, I gave Julius a nod which he quickly returned.


    The judge also seemed much more assured when he saw this before revealing an excited look.


    This was a fight in the semifinals, so there was no doubt that this would be an exciting match.


    The crowd was already hyped for this, so there was no need for him to keep stalling any longer.


    The judge looked at both of us before raising his hand and bringing it down to say, "Let the fight begin."


    Before I could take two steps forward, Julius suddenly said something that shocked everyone that heard it.


    My feet immediately froze when I heard him say this as I looked at him with disbelief.


    The judge was the same as he looked at Julius with disbelief, with his hand still out from starting the match.


    "I forfeit."


    That was what Julius had said as soon as the match began.


    The crowd had been cheering for the start of the fight, so they didn''t hear what was said clearly. However, they slowly stopped cheering when they saw the way that the judge and I were acting.


    It didn''t take long before there was a silence that filled the arena.


    After a long silence, the judge finally looked at Julius and asked, "What did you say? I don''t think I heard what you said correctly."


    Julius calmly looked at the judge and said, "No, you heard it correctly. I said that I want to forfeit."


    "Why?" The judge asked without any hesitation.


    Julius didn''t really give an answer as he said, "I have my own reason to forfeit, that''s all that I''m willing to say."


    The judge clearly wasn''t satisfied with this answer, but it wasn''t as if he could say anything else to Julius in this situation.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to ask him anything, it was just that he knew that it would be useless to ask him anything while he was acting this away.


    So instead, the judge turned to look at me.

 Chapter 421 - 421: Third round (17)

    Though he looked at me, I could only shake my head to show that I didn''t know what was happening either.


    The judge looked at me like he didn''t believe me at first, but he eventually turned away.


    I didn''t find it strange that he didn''t believe me since I should be the only one that benefited from Julius forfeiting like this. So it wouldn''t have been strange if I was manipulating him in some way.


    But this time, I really didn''t do anything.


    I was just as shocked as the judge when I heard that Julius was forfeiting.


    When the judge turned away, I looked at Julius and said, "Are you sure about this? Do you really want to surrender?"


    The judge turned back when he heard this and he nodded in agreement before waiting for Julius'' response. The way that he acted almost seemed like he would be willing to overturn Julius'' forfeit as long as he said anything.


    But Julius just calmly said, "Yes, I have no reason to keep going with this tournament. I''ve already accomplished my goals, so I''ll let my brother carry on for me." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The look on my face turned stiff when I heard this.


    However, it was worse for the judge who really looked like he wanted to crack a few heads.


    I calmly asked, "What about putting on a good show?"


    Julius gestured around us and said, "Isn''t this a good show? Look at how they are all reacting."


    The stiff look on my face turned into a bitter smile when I heard this.


    There was even a part of me that wanted to crack his head now after he said this.


    The judge had progressed to looking like he was going to explode from anger.


    It really seemed like he wasn''t satisfied unless he enraged everyone that was around him, including me.


    The crowd that was slowly putting it together was getting more and more angry.


    Julius came over to put his arm around my shoulder again and said, "Then shall we go? There''s no need for us to stay here anymore."


    I just gave a sigh and gave up at this point since I knew that there was nothing that I could say that would convince him.


    It was better to get out of here as soon as possible since I could see that the crowd was getting disgruntled.


    With a nod, the two of us started heading off the stage.


    But it was at that moment that the crowd actually exploded.


    It was only a single person at first, but as soon as they did, everyone else quickly followed them.


    As soon as the first person threw something, it was as if the crowd had awakened from the daze that they had been in. There were more and more things that were thrown into the stadium.


    There were many things that were thrown at Julius and me, but none of them seemed to hit us.


    It was as if there was a barrier around us that no one could break through.


    I could see that the finger of the hand on my shoulder was pointing up, so it was most likely a barrier that Julius had put up.


    Even now, I still couldn''t get a gauge on just what the limits of his power were¡­So I was certain that I would have lost in this fight since I wasn''t planning on using my trump cards in the first place.


    Once we reached the exit, we could still hear the booing that was coming from behind us


    However, Julius looked at me and said, "You''re wondering why I forfeited, right?"


    I was caught off guard when he suddenly looked at me and said this, but I slowly gave a nod in the end.


    He just said with a casual smile, "Well like I said, there was nothing for me to gain from continuing on with this."


    I was even more confused when I heard this.


    He gave a sigh as he said, "I just want you to know that I don''t have any bad intentions towards you. I sincerely do want to be your friend."


    The more that he spoke, the more confused I became.


    But in the end, I still gave a nod to show that I understood.


    The smile returned to Julius'' face as he said, "Just know that the prize isn''t as useful to me as it would be for you. In fact, it should only be useful to you, so I doubt there would be anyone that would compete with you."


    Once again, confusion filled me as he spoke in these cryptic words.


    I tried asking him more about this, but it didn''t seem like he would be willing to say anything more than this.


    However, there was a strange feeling that filled me again after he said this.


    It was almost as if he was implying something at the very end¡­something that I hoped wasn''t true.


    After all, if this was true, then it would mean something just as bad would happen tomorrow.


    Since Julius didn''t seem willing to share any more information with me, I went to find the only other person that I might be able to get this information from.


    I went to find Tammy.


    She was still in the waiting room when I came back, so I went right up to her and said, "We''ll be fighting tomorrow."


    She gave a nod before saying, "Yes, it''ll be the two of us on stage tomorrow."


    I looked at her in silence for a bit before bluntly saying, "Are you planning on forfeiting tomorrow?"


    She didn''t give me an answer and just said instead, "I''m looking forward to seeing you on stage tomorrow."


    That wasn''t a yes and it wasn''t a no, but I could tell that there was something more to this that she wasn''t telling me.


    No, it was better to say that the answer was already there for me, but I was refusing to see it.

 Chapter 422 - 422: Third round (18)

    As I laid there in bed, I couldn''t help thinking about what Julius had said in the afternoon.


    He had told me that the prize wasn''t useful to him and would be useful to me.


    But even if that was the case, would he really forfeit like that?


    After all, even if the prize wasn''t useful to him, there should be a use to the fame and prestige that came from winning this tournament, right?


    So even if he didn''t want the prize, he should have remained just for that.


    So why would he forfeit that easily?


    I couldn''t help feeling that there was something wrong with all of this.


    Julius and the Rothschild Family, they should have secrets that they wanted to hide, which was why they didn''t want the wrong kind of attention. As such, it was most likely because of this that he had forfeited in the first place.


    I also didn''t want the same kind of attention since I had secrets that I wanted to hide.


    Especially the one about my other identity¡­


    Then did that mean that I should also give up tomorrow?


    Yes, if I gave up tomorrow, it would be what everyone would expect.


    Tammy had already shown her power, so if I forfeited the match, it would be something that they could all accept.


    That would be the best case scenario, wouldn''t it?


    Slowly, I came to a decision and I was starting to feel tired as the strings of tension cut.


    Or at least that was what I thought was going to happen.


    But before I could fall asleep, there was a voice that said, "Wait a minute."


    I was surprised to hear this voice since it was a voice that I hadn''t heard in a long time.


    Since setting off for the tournament, this voice had been silent the entire time, no matter how I tried to talk to her.


    But now, she finally seemed willing to talk.


    Since she was willing to talk, I let her out.


    Standing in front of me was Lilith who had gone completely silent this entire time.


    As she stood there in front of me, she crossed her arms and looked at me with a serious look.


    I couldn''t help being surprised when I saw her acting like this since it was rare for her to act like this.


    Normally, she would be more carefree and would be teasing me.


    But now¡­it seemed like there was something serious that she needed to discuss.


    Seeing that she didn''t say anything in the end, I took the initiative to say, "What is it that you want to talk about?"


    Lilith looked at me for a bit before saying with a sigh, "Are you planning on forfeiting tomorrow?"


    I was surprised to hear this, but then again, she was the one that had put the demon king system in me. Back when she did it, she had spoken directly in my mind.


    So it shouldn''t be strange that she would be able to read my thoughts.


    I just gave a calm nod and said, "That''s right, I''m planning on giving up. What''s wrong with that?"


    Lilith didn''t say anything at first, but then she suddenly said, "You can''t forfeit. You have to win tomorrow and take first place."


    I couldn''t help being taken aback when I heard this, but then I asked, "Why? There''s nothing to gain from winning this, is there?"


    Then before she could say anything, I suddenly asked, "Unless there''s something that you''re hiding from me?"


    The moment that I asked this, Lilith immediately fell silent as if she was hesitant to speak.


    It seemed that there really was something that she was hiding from me that she didn''t say anything this entire time.


    Finally when she spoke, she said something that I didn''t expect.


    "I''ll make this a quest and let you decide."


    With that, there was a prompt that appeared in front of me.


    I was caught off guard by this sudden prompt, but I was even more shocked when I saw what it was.


    It was a mission from the system and as expected, it was to win the tournament.


    However, the shocking thing was the prize that was offered.


    "A new exclusive skill for the Demon King of Lust."


    I couldn''t help looking at Lilith with a shocked look after reading this, but she didn''t seem to react at all.


    So at the very least, it seemed like this was real.


    But what was so important about winning this tournament that she would even offer something like this?


    I couldn''t help feeling another bad feeling.


    It was like there was something that was very wrong with this situation that made me feel like it was very dangerous.


    But the temptation that came from a new skill being offered¡­


    The ones that I already had were very powerful, so if I were to get another one¡­


    I really didn''t know what to do anymore.


    I had already come to the conclusion that I should give up, but when this mission was offered to me, I once again started to hesitate.


    Should I give up and take the safe path or risk it and complete this mission, while taking the danger that came with it?


    Once again, I felt like I couldn''t sleep anymore.


    So I turned to Lilith and asked her something.


    It wasn''t about the match tomorrow, but rather about what had happened in the Tower of Trials.


    After she finished hearing this, Lilith just simply shook her head and said, "I have no idea what this is about. I''ve never heard of other worlds and intelligent beings on them before."


    I couldn''t help looking at her with a strange look that had a trace of doubt, but it really didn''t seem like she was lying.


    It seemed that she really didn''t know what I was talking about.


    So in the end, I just dropped this matter.


    As Lilith was returning to the Storage Ring, she said, "You should decide carefully what you want to do tomorrow."


    The way that she said this was almost like this wasn''t her problem anymore even though she was the one that caused this dilemma for me in the first place.


    S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 423 - 423: Third round (19)

    The next morning was time off for us.


    The fight was scheduled for the afternoon, so we didn''t have to be at the arena until after lunch.


    That was because there was a different show being put on in the morning.


    It was a demonstration of all the different things that the large guilds had discovered recently.


    Since there was nothing to do in the morning, I decided to head over to see what they were presenting.


    But I soon realized how bad of an idea this was. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The scene from the fight with Julius yesterday had spread and I was easily recognized as a result of this. So it didn''t take long before people started pointing at me and whispering.


    There was no one that did anything, but it didn''t seem like that would last long.


    It seemed like there were people that wanted to do something to me getting ready¡­


    It was just a good thing that I had Long Shui Ling with me.


    Rounding a corner and having her place an illusion around me was enough to solve this.


    Well, it wasn''t just me alone that had an illusion cast around me. Since we had come in a group and we were all fairly well recognized, all of us had an illusion cast on us.


    That included Tammy who strangely wanted to come with us.


    It seemed that this would be troublesome in the future¡­but that was for the future.


    I had tried to talk to Tammy this morning, but it seemed like she was completely avoiding what I wanted to talk to her about. This was the only thing that she wouldn''t talk to me about, it didn''t seem like she was holding back when it came to other things.


    The other members of the Sol Warriors group just seemed to awkwardly avoid me.


    It wasn''t that they didn''t talk to me, it was just that they went out of their way to talk to me.


    Was it because of Tammy or was it because of something else?


    In the end, I had no choice but to give up.


    As we walked around the exhibition, I had to admit that it was quite the interesting exhibition.


    The things that the large guilds displayed were all things that they had discovered in the dungeons.


    For example, new kinds of materials, new kinds of monsters, and all kinds of other things.


    These were just some of the discoveries that were made in the past few years.


    But the most interesting thing to me were the exhibits about S Rank Dungeons.


    There was rarely any information released about S Rank Dungeons other than what was made public. While I didn''t know why the large guilds chose to release this information now, it was definitely something that I couldn''t miss out on.


    That was because¡­I was looking for the other demon kings.


    There were more demon kings, I had already realized this fact after everything that I had encountered.


    But I had never met another demon king until this point.


    Well, I''ve met the proxy of a demon king, but that was it.


    I just knew that since the demon kings were the end goal according to the voice that gave everyone their power, then they should be related to the dungeons in some way.


    Demon kings shouldn''t appear in weak dungeons, they should only appear in the stronger dungeons like the S Rank Dungeon. Or even like the SS Rank Dungeon that we were still competing to explore.


    So if I could find anything about the demon kings from this information, it would be very useful.


    It was just that there wasn''t a single thing here.


    I couldn''t help feeling disappointed when I realized this, but I also knew that this was only normal.


    Demon kings weren''t that easy to find¡­


    After that exhibition, we went to have some lunch, but it really was hard to find an appetite in this situation. I was still facing a dilemma of whether I should give up or whether I should win this tournament.


    I couldn''t help shaking my head with a bitter smile when I saw how easily Tammy was eating her food.


    It was as if she didn''t have a single care in the world¡­


    Compared to me, she seemed completely relaxed about our fight.


    But there was also something else that made things worse during lunch.


    It was an entire war that happened because Tammy had suddenly raised her fork with some food on it to my mouth while saying, "Ah¡­"


    As soon as she did this, the others immediately intercepted and did what they could to do the same.


    They wouldn''t have done it if she didn''t spur them on¡­but once she did, it became an all out battle.


    I was just glad that I wouldn''t have to see her anymore after this.


    Tammy really was a barrel of gunpowder that could explode at any moment and ruin my plans.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I had already prepared by putting suggestions in them, this would have definitely been much worse.


    After lunch, we headed to the arena and it was time for our fight.


    Before we went up to the stage, while we were in the waiting room, the judge suddenly came to see us.


    The way that he looked at us¡­particularly at me made it very clear what he was here for.


    But in the end, he didn''t get what he wanted since Tammy just had a poker face the entire time. No matter what he tried to say to her, she just deflected it with a smile.


    The judge left with a depressed look, but he looked at me with a pleading look.


    I also deflected this since I didn''t know whether to forfeit or not, but it definitely wouldn''t be what the judge wanted.


    When it was time, Tammy looked at me with a smile and said, "Let''s go and put on a good show."


    I just shook my head with a bitter smile.

 Chapter 424 - 424: Third round (20)

    "Are you kidding me?!"


    "What is this joke!?"


    "Fight already!"


    Those were the shouts that came from the crowd around us. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But it wasn''t like that in the beginning.


    When we first stepped out onto the stage, the crowd was cheering excitedly for us.


    It seemed like their expectations had been raised even though they had been disappointed previously.


    But it wasn''t strange that they were like this.


    After all, this was the final match of this tournament. No one would think that the final match would end just like the semi finals had, with one side forfeiting before they even started fighting.


    When we came up to the stage, we were introduced by the host that was waiting there.


    It seemed that this time, they weren''t just leaving everything to the judge.


    This time, they were actually properly holding a show before the fight began.


    Tammy was the one that was introduced first and there were loud cheers for her. It seemed that there were more females cheering for her than there were males.


    She had quite a few female fans, but that wasn''t strange since Tammy was what many of them would have aspired to be.


    When it was time for her to say a few words, Tammy said, "Please watch over me today."


    There was a moment of silence after Tammy said this as the crowd was a bit confused as to what she meant by this, but it didn''t take long before they started cheering for her again.


    It seemed that even if they didn''t understand what she meant by this, she was popular enough that it didn''t matter.


    Then after Tammy, it was my turn to be introduced.


    This time, the reaction from the crowd was much more tame than when Tammy was introduced.


    There were less cheers and there were even a few whispers.


    It was clear that I didn''t have the same reputation as Tammy, but that wasn''t strange because of everything that had happened. I was the only one who had advanced without fighting a single match.


    All of my opponents had forfeited before I even had the chance to fight them, so there were many people who even speculated that I had done something to them before the fight.


    I didn''t say a thing when I heard all of this since I already knew that it was impossible to change their view of me.


    When the host finished introducing me, he asked, "Is there anything that you have to say?"


    The way that he said this almost seemed like there was a deeper meaning to his words, but I just said with a sigh, "Let''s just get this over with."


    There were some people that reacted positively to this, but it also seemed that many people reacted negatively to this. They thought that I was being too arrogant for what I had done.


    I wasn''t bothered by this at all, but for some reason, it seemed that Tammy was bothered on my behalf.


    In the end, the judge came forward and started the fight¡­or rather before he started the fight, he looked at us and said, "Can you just give them a proper fight?"


    Neither of us said a single thing in response to this.


    This just made the judge give a sigh like he had already given up before saying, "Alright, get ready to fight then¡­" Then under his breath, he said, "Even if you don''t even want to."


    Tammy looked at me and I looked at her.


    There was a part of me that wanted to give up, but there was also a part of me that wanted to finish the mission that Lilith had given me last night.


    That moment of hesitation was all that Tammy needed to get the jump on me.


    As soon as the judge''s hand came down, she said, "I forfeit."


    The judge didn''t seem to react at all when he heard this as he just looked at her with a gaze like he had already expected this. Then he turned to look at me, as if he was waiting to see how I reacted.


    I hesitated for a moment which was why I was slower, but I also said, "I forfeit."


    The judge looked at me with a bitter smile.


    It was almost as if he was saying, "Why are you doing this to me?"


    But it wasn''t as if he could say anything at this point since both of us had forfeited.


    Though Tammy had forfeited first, so by the rules¡­I was the one that won.


    It was just that no one would be satisfied if things ended like this.


    As expected¡­


    The crowd suddenly started jeering us, which was what led to the scene of them shouting at us to start fighting.


    However, neither Tammy nor I looked like we were planning to do anything like that.


    The judge just looked at the two of us for a bit before saying, "I''m not getting involved in this, you decide who loses and I''ll make the call."


    He was actually shirking on his job as the judge and just leaving it to us!


    Tammy narrowed her eyes to look at me before saying, "Why are you forfeiting?"


    I just looked at her and asked back without answering, "Why are you forfeiting?"


    She looked at me and said, "I have my own reason to forfeit, so just take the victory. Isn''t it a good thing for you to win this tournament?"


    I shook my head and said, "I have my own reason not to win either. So why don''t you just accept the victory instead?"


    Tammy knitted her brows before stepping forward and saying, "No, you have to win. That is what needs to happen for all of us."


    I was confused when I heard her say this, but I still shook my head and said, "No, I don''t want to win."


    Tammy leaned in and suddenly said, "If you don''t accept the victory, I''ll announce to the world that we''re together."


    I was shocked to hear her say this.


    I looked at her with a very strange look before saying, "Why would you do that?"


    She just calmly said, "It''s a threat."


    I didn''t know how serious she was about this, but I knew what the consequences of this were. So even if there was a slight chance that she would do something like this¡­I really couldn''t risk it¡­


    So I said with a sigh, "Fine¡­you win. Do what you want."


    Tammy revealed a smile, though a trace of disappointment appeared in her eyes as well as she said, "I never thought that you would be so against being with me. It really hurts, you know?"


    I quickly explained, "That''s not what I meant, it''s just that¡­"


    Tammy shook her head as she said, "There''s no need to explain, I understand your situation. But just know that I will make you fall for me one day."


    With that confident smile, she walked away and went over to the judge to say, "I''m forfeiting."


    The judge looked at me as if he was confirming this and I just gave a nod to show that it was the case.


    With that, the finals of this tournament had been settled.

 Chapter 425 - 425: A surprise guest

    Once it was announced that I was the winner, the crowd jeered even more.


    But today, they didn''t start throwing things into the stadium like they had done before.


    That was because¡­the organizers had already learned from their mistakes and had made sure that there was nothing to throw.


    Though it did cause quite a bit of a stir among the audience when they heard the new rules that had been implemented by the organizers.


    They weren''t allowed to bring food or drinks or anything else with them as they watched. This really did seem different from any other event that was similar to this tournament.


    But no one complained in the end since there was no way that they could complain.


    This was an event that was held by many of the large guilds jointly, so it wasn''t as if they could complain when they saw all the security that was there.


    Thinking about it now, it seemed like it had been a good idea to do this or else it would have been a mess here.


    Though that didn''t stop people from using their voices to complain.


    There were many complaints that came from all around us, that came down at us like a tidal wave. But it wasn''t as if there was anything that we could do about this since we were the ones that caused them to act like this in the first place.


    After the match was decided, it was time to hold the awards ceremony.


    Though this had to be the first awards ceremony to be booed at the entire time.


    Not a single person in the crowd was satisfied with how things ended and they wanted us to fight even though the matter had been decided.


    The rankings went me in first place, Tammy in second, and Julius in third.


    Julius being in third was decided this morning in a much smaller and private third place match against Ares.


    I heard that Ares had been completely outmatched by Julius, which just went to show how strong he really was.


    If he had been the one to fight Tammy, that really would have been the best fight to end the tournament with.


    It was just too bad that neither of them seemed interested in winning.


    However, that wasn''t the end of it yet.


    There was a special guest that had arrived during this awards ceremony.


    This person was introduced as a special guest without anyone being told who he was. This was a handsome young man with white hair who walked up to the stage with a smile on his face.


    As I looked in his direction, I couldn''t help revealing a strange look of recognition.


    It wasn''t the handsome white haired young man that I recognized, but rather the person who was walking behind him.


    It was Eliott.


    He didn''t seem to look at me as he walked behind the handsome white haired young man. It was almost as if he was trying to fade into the background as much as possible as he followed behind the handsome white haired young man.


    But since it was Eliott who came with the handsome white haired young man, did that mean


    The handsome white haired young man walked over to the host and then reached his hand out for the mic.


    The host handed it over without any resistance.


    After receiving the mic, the handsome white haired young man said in a soothing voice, "I''m sure that everyone is wondering who I am."


    The crowd fell silent when they heard this voice. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They had been jeering still, but they were all shocked by how soothing this voice sounded that they couldn''t help falling silent.


    There was even more silence that followed after what the handsome white haired young man said, "My name is Asura, I am the chief of staff of the Awakeners Association."


    The moment that this was said, everyone looked at the handsome white haired young man in shock. Slowly, there were looks of recognition that appeared in the eyes of the crowd..


    That was because this person was a famous person.


    The chief of staff of the Awakeners Association, that meant that he was the one in charge of all the different heads of the different departments of the Awakeners Association.


    He was the number three person of the Awakeners Association after the president and the vice president.


    Someone like him was considered a very big deal in this world filled with Awakeners.


    Most people didn''t recognize him since this chief of staff of the Awakeners Association normally worked behind the scenes. He worked through the different department heads instead of taking action himself, so most people didn''t know him.


    But even so, there were people that did know him since he was just that important of a person.


    After the handsome white haired young man finished saying this, he continued by saying, "I''m here on behalf of the Awakeners Association today to offer a special prize to the winner."


    Once again, there was only shock and silence that followed after the crowd heard this.


    After all, not a single person had expected this kind of twist.


    This tournament was one that was held by the large guilds working together, it was something that had been done without the Awakener Association.


    But now¡­the Awakener Association had sent their number three to offer a prize to the winner.


    At the same time, it was clear that neither the host nor the organizers were stopping them, making it clear that they were agreeing to this.


    When did they come to this agreement?


    Wasn''t this supposed to not include the Awakener Association so that they could properly show off the talents of the large guilds?


    Why was the Awakener Association suddenly involved in this matter?


    Asura just ignored the crowd that looked at him in shock and confusion and walked over to the podium to stand in front of me.


    As he stood there in front of me, he looked at me with a smile on his face that made a bad feeling fill me.


    It felt like something was wrong when he looked at me like this.

 Chapter 426 - 426: The Awakener Association’s gamble

    While looking at me still, Asura suddenly said, "We will be providing support to the winner of this tournament. They will be given priority in all dungeons managed by the Awakener Association and they will receive the greatest support of the Awakener Association staff."


    He went on to list a bunch of different benefits that would be offered to me, but I couldn''t help knitting my brows when I heard this.


    I understood what Julius had meant by this previously right away.


    Cooperating with the Awakener Association, that was not something that everyone would benefit from.


    There were those people that would benefit from it since the Awakener Association did have immense resources. But for those that weren''t as close to the Awakener Association, this kind of connection with them wasn''t useful.


    It would actually bring more harm than help since it would force them to come to a confrontation with the Awakener Association.


    It made sense that this wouldn''t be as helpful to Julius since he was from the Rothschild Family.


    They were a family that had hid their wealth and power for a long time, so they naturally didn''t want to be exposed by cooperating with the Awakener Association.


    But that made me wonder why Tammy had given up.


    The Sol Warriors shouldn''t be at odds with the Awakener Association, so she should have benefitted from this as well¡­


    As for me, I would naturally benefit from this.


    After all, I had Eliott who I was already working with.


    I had already agreed to cooperate with the Awakeners Association through Eliott, so there was no doubt that this would only make our cooperation even better. As long as I didn''t do anything that would harm that relationship or Eliott suddenly didn''t want to cooperate with me, then nothing should have changed this.


    When he finished saying all of this, Asura came right up in front of me and reached his hand out as he said, "I''m looking forward to working with you from now on."


    I looked down at him and slowly reached my hand out to shake his hand.


    But I could feel that there was something strange about the way that he looked at me.


    It was almost as if there was something else that he wanted from me, but I didn''t know just what he wanted. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After taking my hand, I suddenly felt Asura pulling me forward off the podium.


    I landed beside him and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder before saying into the mic, "This young man is a prime example of what the younger generation of Awakeners should be. Working hard to achieve a goal and becoming the best member of society that one can be. In these dark times, we should all strive to act in this manner to benefit society as much as possible."


    There was only silence that followed after Asura said this.


    The crowd just looked at him with very strange looks, as if they couldn''t understand what he was saying.


    Dark times?


    What did he mean by dark times?


    In this current era, humans were flourishing because of the resources that came from the dungeons. They had many new technologies that were fueled by the magic crystals that they farmed from the dungeons.


    So with the single threat that everyone united against, there was less open conflict.


    Though of course, it was impossible to completely get rid of all conflict since there would be a competition for resources no matter what happened.


    But it was far from calling it dark times since the world was overall better.


    So what was he talking about?


    Asura could see the way that the crowd looked confused and he suddenly said, "The reason I say that this world is now in dark times is because of the appearance of the final enemy for humanity. The reason I say this is because of the appearance of the demon king."


    There wasn''t a single mouth that was closed in this stadium after he said this.


    Even I couldn''t help looking at him in shock when he said this.


    Though this matter had been reported before, it was only regarded as traces of the demon king and no one had ever confirmed that there was a demon king.


    But now, Asura, the third ranked person of the Awakener Association was announcing the existence of the demon king. When someone of his status announced something like this, there was no way that people could ignore it.


    It was just¡­why would he announce something like this?


    Anyone who thought about it would be able to figure out that by doing this, he would be causing chaos.


    Just by announcing this, there was no doubt that people would panic and spread many rumours about this matter.


    So why did he do it?


    His next words explained it all.


    As soon as I heard them, I knew why he was doing this.


    "I''m sure that everyone is worried about this, but that is why I have come here today. I want to see the new generation of Awakeners with everyone. They will be the ones that will lead our world into the future and be our vanguard against the demon kings.


    I want everyone to know that our Awakener Association will be there to help everyone in the fight against the demon king." Asura said in a very passionate voice.


    He was creating a public enemy and then inserting the Awakener Association as the one that protected everyone.


    In this way, the Awakener Association''s prestige and influence would become much greater than before.


    They would be able to become the organization that everyone trusted and wanted to join once they established themselves as the greatest defender of humanity.


    But in a sense, this was also a gamble since it all depended on how the crowd reacted.


    If the crowd didn''t react, it didn''t matter what they said about themselves since they wouldn''t support the Awakener Association.


    But this gamble paid off for the Awakener Association in the end.

 Chapter 427 - 427: For the future

    The crowd''s reaction was quite intense as they cheered for what Asura said.


    It seemed that there were many that were excited because of what he said.


    Judging by the way that they looked and the aura that was coming from them, it was clear that they were Awakeners as well.


    They were excited because for them, it meant that this was a chance for the future.


    But even for normal people, they couldn''t help feeling excited.


    Since the dungeons had appeared over ten years ago, there had been no mention of the demon king. The demon kings were regarded as the final boss of this whole affair, but no one had even caught a glimpse of a single demon king yet.


    So when the demon king was confirmed by the Awakener Association, they could finally feel assured.


    The demon king was like a danger that had been looming over them the entire time.


    If there was a chance that this danger could be eliminated, they would naturally be happy.


    The crowd started cheering for what Asura had said and it seemed like there were many people who wanted to volunteer their powers to him.


    But Asura wasn''t finished yet.


    There was a reason why he had put his arm around my shoulder and brought me closer to him.


    I had no idea why he did this, but he definitely did.


    After pulling me in, he said, "In this new generation, we even have someone who has fought against the demon king before."


    As soon as his voice fell, all of the cheering suddenly stopped.


    Everyone looked right at Asura, as if they wanted to ask him just what he meant by this. However, he just calmly stood there with a smile on his face, as if he was teasing them.


    After a moment of silence, Asura said into the mic, "Our little friend Lin Fan here has already faced off against the minions of the demon king and has triumphed over them. In the future, I believe that he will lead us against the demon king."


    There was only silence that followed after he said this, but I could feel everyone looking at me.


    It was clear that they were sizing me up, as if they were wondering if this was even true in the first place.


    But after that moment of silence, there were cheers that rang out.


    This time, people didn''t seem to care about what had happened before as they cheered for me.


    Of course, it wasn''t just blind faith that they cheered for me like this.


    Rather, it was because it was Asura that they cheered for me like this.


    Everyone naturally knew that I was a part of Elementia and they knew that the incident involving the demon king before happened in a raid dungeon that Elementia was visiting. Though it had never been reported that I had been in that dungeon since there had been a coverup of that.


    But now that Asura said this, people naturally believed him because of his prestige.


    They thought, "There''s no need for him to lie to us, so it must be true."


    I could feel the excitement that came from the cheering around me, but I didn''t feel happy about it at all. Rather, I had deeply knitted brows as I watched everyone in the crowd cheering for me like this.


    I would have preferred staying in the shadows than being exposed like this.


    So I couldn''t help glaring at Asura after he said this.


    But he just ignored me as he continued, "In the future, humans will fight back against the demon kings and take control of the dungeons. We will no longer have to fear dungeon breaks, sudden dungeon appearances, or even demon kings! Together, we shall take down the demon kings!"


    The cheering reached a peak after Asura said this.


    Many people were cheering for the Awakener Association, but I could hear that there were also people that were cheering for me.


    With just a few words from Asura, my reputation had been completely turned around.


    I couldn''t help thinking if Lilith knew that this would happen that she created the mission for me to win this match.


    But then again, I didn''t think that it was very likely.


    She most likely had some other goal in making me win this tournament and I had gotten caught up in this because of that.


    As the crowd cheered around us, Asura leaned in and whispered, "I''ll explain later and I''ll be sure to compensate you properly. But for now, just go along with it and hype up the crowd." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    I didn''t know what to say in response to this, but I could feel his hand gripping harder on my shoulder.


    So in the end, I waved at the crowd which made them cheer even harder.


    It seemed that everyone was cheering as if they believed in the future that Asura talked about.


    It seemed that they were cheering for the future where humans would defeat the demon king and bring this era of dungeons to an end.


    But it was unknown if they knew just what kind of cost would come at this.


    It was also funny that a demon king like me was being used as a tool to rally people to fight the demon king¡­


    Once he let the cheering go on for a bit, Asura said, "From now on, the Awakener Association will be accepting new members. If anyone wishes to join the Awakener Association and fight against the demon king, then please consider it."


    This was the other true goal of doing all of this.


    It was all to make the Awakener Association stronger.


    All I could do was reveal a bitter smile and wave at the crowd at this.


    I couldn''t help wondering just where I would fit in the future that he described.


    After all, as a demon king, it wasn''t as if I had a place in this future.

 Chapter 428 - 428: I’m sure that you have your questions

    When the ceremony was over, I was called to meet someone like I had expected.


    When I entered the room, there were two people that were waiting there.


    It was Asura and Elliot.


    Asura was sitting down while Elliot was standing on the side, as if he was guarding the room.


    Once the two of them saw me come in, Asura waved his hand at me with a smile on his face, as if he was calling me to sit down with him.


    Elliot just stood there with an awkward look on his face, but the look that he gave me was as if he was asking me to go along with this. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So I just sat down in the seat in front of Asura and waited to see what he wanted.


    After sitting down, Asura just looked at me with a smile on his face, as if he wasn''t bothered at all by this situation. It was as if he didn''t care about the awkward silence that lingered in the air at all.


    I just gave a cough before saying, "Is there anything you want from me?"


    Asura still didn''t say anything as he calmly looked at me.


    After a while, he finally said, "I''m sure that you have your questions about what happened earlier, so let''s talk about it."


    I was certainly surprised hearing how blunt he was with me, but it wasn''t as if this was a bad thing. The more forward he was, the sooner that I would be able to leave this place.


    There was no doubt that there were people watching, so I did want to leave as soon as possible.


    Asura saw that I didn''t say anything, so he said, "I know that we used you without your permission and that violates that contract that we''ve already established. However, you should know how dangerous the world is now that everything is changing."


    He narrowed his eyes to look at me before continuing, "Unless something changes, it''ll only be a matter of time before we are overrun by the monsters in the dungeons. Especially with the appearance of the demon king."


    I slowly gave a nod in agreement, but then I asked, "You think that the demon king is real? There are a lot of people that believe that this is nothing more than a hoax."


    Asura wasn''t offended when he heard this and instead looked at me with a smile before saying, "There''s no need for you to test me, I''m not one of those fools in power that can''t recognize the changes around them. I know that this is not a hoax."


    Then after a pause, he added, "Even if it was, it''s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to things like this, so you don''t have to worry about it. I guarantee that this has my full attention."


    There was a part of me that was worried when I heard this.


    I was testing him, but it wasn''t for the reason that he thought I was testing him for.


    After all, I was part of the problem, not part of the solution.


    I was on the opposite side, the side of the demon king.


    The more seriously that he took this, the worse it was for me¡­


    But I couldn''t show that, so I had to force myself to maintain a calm look on my face when I faced Asura.


    After taking a moment like I was letting this sink in, I said, "I understand, but that doesn''t explain why you''ve asked me here. That is unless you are planning to include me in something else, then I have to remind you that we already have a contract."


    Asura wasn''t offended at all when he heard this and just revealed a smile like he found this interesting.


    After looking at me for a bit, he said, "Of course not, we aren''t planning on doing anything to you at all. We just invited you here to give you compensation since we were the ones that involved you without asking for your opinion."


    This time, I was surprised.


    After all, this was not what I had expected to hear.


    I never would have expected them to compensate me on their own. I thought that I would have to get Elementia involved before receiving any form of compensation.


    Asura gave a nod to Elliot and he came forward to where we were sitting.


    He didn''t sit down as he waved his hand over the table and a briefcase appeared.


    After making the briefcase appear, he opened it up in front of me to reveal a black card and a crystal. Those were the only two things that were inside of this briefcase.


    The black card was clearly a credit card, but it was one of those infamous cards that shouldn''t have a limit.


    The crystal was something that I didn''t recognize at all and at the same time, I didn''t dare use my demon king system''s appraisal on it because of who was here with me.


    So I just looked at it with a curious look as I waited for¡­


    "It''s an Evolution Crystal." Asura suddenly said when he saw the look on my face.


    I just looked up at him with a confused look since I had no idea what this Evolution Crystal was.


    Asura also figured that this was the case, so he continued by explaining, "This is an item that was discovered recently in one of the S Rank Dungeons. It''s an item that allows an Awakener to upgrade their skill."


    He didn''t say any more than that, but that was already enough to shock me.


    After all, it was common knowledge that one couldn''t increase the level of the skill that they awakened, no matter what they did. It was the innate level that the skill could reach and it wouldn''t surpass that, that was the rule that had been established.


    But now it seemed that this rule had been broken with the introduction of this Evolution Crystal.


    It was no wonder they believed that the world was changing.


    There was no doubt that this item would change the entire world.

 Chapter 429 - 429: Useless

    After he finished explaining what the Evolution Stone was, Asura said, "Do you want to use it here?"


    The way that he looked at me as he said this¡­


    It was clear that he wanted to see me use this Evolution Stone.


    It seemed like he wanted to see what would happen after my power was upgraded to the next level.


    However, it wasn''t as if that was something that I could show to just anyone.


    If my power was only Suggestion like they believed it was, then that might have been fine. However, I had a completely different power that I couldn''t show them or else it would be bad for me.


    So I couldn''t use this Evolution Stone in front of them.


    Shaking my head, I said, "No, it''s not safe to use it here."


    The two of them slightly knitted their brows when they heard this, but they eventually gave nods in response to this.


    I was prepared for them to look a bit offended, but it didn''t seem like they were offended at all. It even seemed like they completely understood what I was trying to infer when I said that it wasn''t safe here. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though it was also clear that they had some kind of misunderstanding when it came to their understanding.


    They didn''t know about my real powers after all.


    Since that was all that they had for me, Asura had Elliot escort me out just in case anything happened.


    The things that they gave me were considered quite valuable and it was a fact that I was meeting with Asura, one of the top people of the Awakeners Association. If there was anyone watching, now would be the time to strike even if they didn''t know the exact value of the items that I had.


    So he sent Elliot to escort me out just in case.


    As I was brought out, Elliot suddenly stopped and said, "I know that you must be feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this and I understand if you have your doubts about all of this, but I just want to say that the chief does have the world''s best intentions at heart. He''s just a bit¡­" There was an awkward look that appeared on his face before he said, "Well, he''s someone that goes at his own pace, so he isn''t someone that is easy to get along with."


    That could easily be taken as an understatement since I knew what kind of personality Asura had after my short meeting with him.


    But I also knew there was a reason why people were willing to follow him.


    So I just shook my head and said, "I understand. You don''t need to worry about it, I won''t hold it against him."


    Elliot was surprised to hear this before suddenly revealing a smile. With that smile on his face, he patted me on the back and said, "I knew that there was a reason I liked you. It seems like you really do have a good eye."


    I just smiled without saying anything.


    After making sure that I didn''t hold a grudge against them for what happened, Elliot sent me back to Su Chen who had been waiting for me the entire time.


    He was the one that would bring me home after all as my handler.


    It was a long few days, but it was finally over and I was able to go home.


    The first thing that I did as soon as I got home was crash on my couch, but it wasn''t as if I could completely crash yet. There was still something else that I had to take care of before crashing.


    I took out the card and the stone that I received from the Awakeners Association.


    The black card was certainly useful, but it wasn''t something that could be used a lot.


    Money was good, but it was also restrictive since it wasn''t my money.


    The Evolution Stone was what caught my attention more.


    I was thinking about using it to power up the Demon King System, but¡­


    "You should stop that thought. This is not something that you should use."


    Lilith suddenly came out of my Storage Ring and landed in front of me to take the Evolution Stone from me.


    After looking at it for a bit, she threw it onto the ground and said, "This thing is useless for you. You shouldn''t even think about using it."


    I was completely taken aback when I heard her say this as I didn''t understand why she would say something like this.


    I just looked at her in a daze for a bit before asking, "What do you mean by that?"


    Lilith turned back to look at me with a strange look and was silent for a bit before saying, "This thing doesn''t match you. It isn''t a good fit for your power."


    "My power? You mean the Demon King System?" I asked in a confused voice.


    Though there was a part of me that was already thinking that this would be the case. This was something that would upgrade the power of those Awakeners that fought against the demon king, so it shouldn''t be something that could be used to power up the demon king.


    That would just go against the purpose that it was created for.


    Lilith gave a nod before shaking her head and saying, "It''s not just that."


    I was even more confused when I heard this, but I still asked, "What about Suggestion? Wouldn''t it work to make that stronger? It would be a good cover for me, wouldn''t it?"


    Lilith shook her head again before saying, "You shouldn''t think about that. It''s not good for you if you rely on that power too much."


    I couldn''t be more confused as I heard this.


    What she said didn''t seem to make any sense at all, but¡­


    It didn''t seem like she was planning on explaining herself as she said, "In short, this thing is useless to you and the people that are around you. You shouldn''t think about using this thing."

 Chapter 430 - 430: Strange response

    There was an awkward silence that hung in the air after Lilith said this.


    She had turned her head away as if she didn''t want to look at me, but there was a part of the way that she acted that seemed like she wasn''t able to look at me.


    It was almost as if there was some kind of secret that she was hiding from me with the way that she turned her head.


    I just remained in silence since I really didn''t know what to say in response to what she had said.


    There was a part of me that wanted to refute what she said, but I realized that I couldn''t since I didn''t know everything about this thing in the first place. At the same time, a part of me recognized that she must have her reason for saying this.


    It was just that she wouldn''t tell me that reason¡­


    Seeing her like this, I felt a bit conflicted.


    There was a part of me that wanted to ask this, but there was also a part of me that wanted to trust her to a certain extent.


    I knew that Lilith did many strange things, but the things that she had done had usually helped me in the long run. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the first place, if it wasn''t for her giving me the demon king system, none of this would have even happened.


    So at the very least, I should show her this kind of respect and trust.


    In the end, I was the one that broke the silence by saying, "You should know that we are much more deeply linked than other people¡­or living beings. We should at least show that we have the minimum amount of trust in each other by sharing some information, right?"


    Lilith still didn''t look at me when she heard this, but I could see that she was slowly peeking back at me.


    At the very least, it seemed that she was a bit hesitant about keeping silent.


    It seemed like she had been moved to a certain extent by my words.


    Even though to others, it might have seemed like I was thinking too much since she was in a bunny doll in the first place.


    After a long moment of silence, Lilith suddenly gave a sigh before saying, "This is something that I can''t tell you about. It''s not that I don''t want to tell you, it''s just that you''re not ready to hear it yet."


    There was a very confused look that appeared on my face after hearing this.


    I narrowed my eyes to look at her as if I was trying to see if she was being serious or not. After all, this was a very strange answer no matter how one looked at this.


    But looking at her, I could see that she was serious about this.


    It seemed that whatever trouble she was facing was serious enough that she was acting this way.


    It made me even more curious about what she wasn''t telling me, but since she was willing to take the first step¡­


    "Alright, I''ll trust you this time. I hope that you will be able to tell me more in the future." I said this with a deep sigh.


    Lilith looked at me with a strange look before giving a nod.


    This was the kind of nod that seemed to come from someone with something to feel guilty about.


    Though I had no idea what she would feel guilty about.


    I was about to turn in for the night, but Lilith suddenly stopped me by saying, "This is what''s best for you. I just want to tell you that if you want to know more, you have to become stronger. The more of a demon king you become, the more of the system you will have access to."


    I couldn''t help slightly knitting my brows when I heard this.


    This was something that Lilith kept telling me to do, but to become more of a demon lord was harder than it seemed.


    After all, to do the things that were required of a demon lord, especially a demon lord of lust¡­wasn''t that easy. It wasn''t something that I could just accomplish because she told me to do.


    It would attract a lot of attention to do things like that and this was not something that I could afford to do.


    Attention was the last thing that I wanted right now.


    So in the end, I just gave a simple nod without saying anything else.


    That was because there was something else that I learned from her words.


    She was telling me to act more like a demon king in a time where we were supposed to share more information with each other.


    This wasn''t a direct piece of information, but rather a very indirect piece of information.


    Lilith was trying to tell me that this warning of hers was related to¡­the origin of the demon king system.


    The reason she was stopping me was most likely related to the origin of this demon king system that I had.


    But what I didn''t understand was how the origin of the demon king system was related to this Evolution Stone. It didn''t seem like it would be related beyond the fact that they were both related to the dungeons.


    The dungeons were the domains of the demon kings and the Evolution Stone had come from a dungeon.


    That was the only link that they seemed to have.


    Lilith didn''t seem like she was going to say anything else.


    I could even see that she was trembling a bit while wincing her face.


    It seemed that she had already pushed herself to just tell me this much.


    If she were to try and tell me more¡­there was no doubt that she would be punished more by whatever was currently punishing her.


    In that case, as her partner, I should know not to push this matter any further than this and just accept what she could give me.


    But it all made me very curious as to what the origin of the demon king system was.

 Chapter 431 - 431: Popular phase

    I was summoned to the guild headquarters the next morning.


    This was not something that I had been expecting and it was certainly a surprise to see Su Chen waiting for me early in the morning.


    But there was nothing I could do as he basically dragged me off to the guild headquarters.


    When we arrived, it was different from how I had been treated before. This time, it seemed that I was much more of a celebrity.


    It seemed that everyone recognized me because of the tournament. At the same time, there were even some girls that waved in my direction.


    These were some pretty cute girls that waved in my direction, but I knew that there was only one reason that they were suddenly interested in me. Girls like this were nothing more than trouble.


    At the same time¡­I could feel a chill coming from behind me from time to time when these girls waved at me.


    I didn''t know exactly where this cold gaze came from, but it wasn''t hard to guess why I was receiving this cold gaze. So I didn''t linger and just followed Su Chen to the same elevator as before.


    When we arrived at the office, I was surprised to find that it wasn''t just Bing Lan who was waiting there for me. There were some other people that I was familiar with that were also there.


    These were the team leaders of the dungeon raid teams.


    They weren''t just there to discuss something with Bing Lan, they were there specifically waiting for me.


    In fact, when they saw me come in, they all came forward with smiles and congratulated me on winning the tournament. Even those team leaders that I wasn''t close with talked to me in a friendly manner.


    It seemed that all of them had ulterior motives and it wasn''t hard to guess what they were thinking. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They most likely wanted to bring me into their teams now that I had won the tournament and had become a popular commodity.


    However, Bing Lan stopped them by saying, "Alright, that''s enough. You''ve gotten your time with him, now I have something to discuss with him in private. All of you can leave now."


    The dungeon raid team leaders had unwilling looks on their faces, but they still left the room after leaving a few more words with me.


    I could tell that they were quite enthusiastic about recruiting me to their teams.


    Though it wasn''t as if I had any intentions of joining them right now.


    There was something else that I wanted to do and it was related to what Bing Lan wanted to talk to me about.


    Once all of the dungeon raid team leaders left, Bing Lan pulled out a stack of papers that she placed on the table in front of her and then gestured to them. The way that she did this without saying a word was as if she was telling me to take a look at these things.


    I raised a brow since I had no idea what these were, but it didn''t take long to figure out what was happening.


    These were all requests from different organizations and they were all requests for me.


    It seemed like they all wanted me to work with them on different dungeon clears.


    After I finished reading them, Bing Lan said, "It seems like you''ve become quite the hot commodity after showing off like that."


    There was a trace of bitterness in the smile that appeared on my face.


    I knew that half of these weren''t because of me, but rather because of the Awakener Association.


    Because of what had happened, there were many people that wanted to use me to not only get a link to Elementia, but also the Awakener Association.


    She wasn''t wrong that I was a hot commodity, but it wasn''t a good thing.


    In a sense, it could be said that I was in a popular phase.


    It was just that this wasn''t a popular phase that I wanted.


    After thinking about it for a bit, I said with a shake of my head, "I won''t be accepting any of these."


    Bing Lan didn''t seem surprised to hear me say this, but she did ask, "Are you sure about that? Some of these pay quite well. I wouldn''t mind if you want to take them since we could earn quite a bit from the commission fee."


    The same bitter smile appeared on my face when I heard her ask this, but I still said, "Yes, I''m sure."


    Bing Lan gave a nod of approval when she heard this before sweeping away all the papers on the table. They were pushed off the side and then just thrown onto the ground, as if she didn''t care about them.


    I was surprised to see this, but she just said, "Don''t worry about them. You can go home or do what you want now."


    I was even more surprised to hear this since I thought that there would be more, but Bing Lan explained, "You just needed to show your face today, I can take care of the rest."


    From this, I could tell what she wanted today.


    After that tournament, there was no doubt that many people would want her to bring me in so that they could try to win me over.


    That was why Bing Lan called me here today.


    Though she didn''t actually want me to listen and follow anyone since she knew that I had my own things to do. At the same time, she also had her own plans for me, so she didn''t want me to be sidetracked because of others.


    It was no wonder she agreed to me rejecting all of these offers so easily.


    It seemed like Bing Lan had even been counting on this.


    Seeing that I wasn''t leaving, Bing Lan said, "What? Are you not going? Do you miss me that much?"


    I was caught off guard seeing her tease me like this, but I didn''t dare respond to it since I still wasn''t ready for that yet.


    Perhaps in the future, but right now¡­a S Ranker was just too much.