《World Destruction X Universe Salvation》 -1 Settings @@ Each stage goes from the first level to the twelfth level before they can advance to the next one. These stages are the same for both, Complex Energy cultivators and Mystical Energy cultivators. Early stage means from the first to the fourth level, mid stage means from the fifth to the eighth level, and later stage means from the ninth to the twelfth level. This part is called Essence Awaken. 1) Without Awaken: Initial contact with the energy. 2) Initial Awaken: Awakened Skill and Energy Signature acquisition. 3) Intermediate Awaken: Awakened Skill now controls all the aspects of nature it can. 4) Advanced Awaken: Reverse Activation of the Awakened Skill acquisition. 5) Full Awaken: Control over every matter related to the Awakened Skill. This part is called Soul Manifestation. 6) Essence Metamorphosis. 7) Initial Manifestation. 8) Intermediate Manifestation. 9) Advanced Manifestation. 10) Full Manifestation. The difference between Complex Energy cultivators and Mystical Energy cultivators is that the first ones depend only on their effort and understanding of the nature of existence to reach higher stages, while the second ones depend only on their innate talent and bloodline to reach higher stages. Notes for nerds: A) Regarding strength, First Level Without Awaken cultivators can lift 100 kg with only one arm effortlessly, Fourth Level 200 kg, Eighth Level 300 kg, Twelfth Level 400 kg. First Level Initial Awaken cultivators can lift 500 kg, Fourth Level 1 000 kg, Eighth Level 1 500 kg, Twelfth Level 2 000 kg, and so on. A cultivator that advances an entire stage will become five times stronger. B) The planet of this story has for name Tifitia. Tifitia revolves around a white A5 class star called Zura, also it has rings and three large satellites that have been named by their colors: Blue, Red, and White. C) The circumference of the Earth is 40 075 km. Meanwhile, the circumference of Tifitia is 4 000 000 km. D) The duration of the day and the year, the gravity, and the density of Tifitia are the same as Earth''s, why!? Spoilers!@@ 1 Prologue of The Lolis Tears Floods Blue City Arc The Broken Earth Kingdom. The capital of the kingdom, Flowing City. Clouds Cutter Castle, in a secret martial arts training room. Under the light of the Luminous Spheres, a mother and a daughter, both human, are facing each other. The daughter seems to be seventeen years old, and the mother, twenty-five years old. Of course, their appearances don''t reflect their actual ages since both are cultivators of Complex Energy. Rose Alch, the daughter, looks at her mother, Angela Alch, with shyness in her posture and fear in her clear green eyes. This is not because Rose Alch has done some mischief, it''s simply because in The Broken Earth Kingdom you can count with just one hand the number of people who would not be afraid in front of the queen of The Broken Earth Kingdom due to the suffocating aura of power that she exudes. "Why are you interrupting my training?" Angela Alch asks her daughter coldly. Rose Alch shivers slightly, shocked by how intimidating those words are when coming from her mother, but she still gathers all her courage and says with a slightly weak voice: "I request permission to go to The Land of Monsters." Angela Alch''s right eyebrow rises quietly while she speaks: "Don''t tell me, you can''t stand the pressure of your position as princess anymore, due to your weakness, and in the end, you''ve decided... to throw away your life?" "I-I know that the probability of dying there is very high, but being in a place where there is no Complex Energy and is full of dangers perhaps could help me to breakthrough this bottleneck that I been carrying for twenty years now." Rose Alch says while firmly clenching her little white fists. The room turns silent. As the seconds elapses, Rose Alch, bit by bit, feels increasingly anxious and her heartbeats become faster and faster; but thanks to Rose Alch''s well-trained Awakened Skill, Angela Alch could not hear any sound coming from Rose Alch''s body. Finally, Angela Alch turns around to give her back to Rose Alch, and she then says with a hint of anger in her voice: "It was very clear that you were and are laughably weak, and now it seems that you also are severely stupid!" Angela Alch lightly moves her head to look at Rose Alch with a single eye and continues: "You''re no longer worthy to carry the surname Alch. From now on you are no longer Rose Alch but only Rose. Get out of here, and do whatever you want." Rose sucks a fist of cold air and stays stiff. She didn''t have much hope in her mother giving her permission to leave, and now it seems that she could leave but it will be forever. After processing her situation a bit more carefully, Rose calms down and then could not help but to raise the right end of her pink lips. After all, to Rose, her freedom is a great blessing and also a necessary blessing to achieve her dreams. "Understood. I''ll start to arrange my stuff and I''ll leave tomorrow morning. Mother thanks for all, I''ll always remember gratefully all you''d done for me and everything you gave me." Rose says these words while determination shines through her entire body, then, unhurried, she gets out from the secret training room. Once alone, Angela Alch proceeds to sit in a lotus position as she lets out a delicate sigh, and, having her eyes full of sadness, she mutters softly to herself: "My dear Rose... surpass yourself: The only one that could stop you. Don''t disappoint me, I''ve always expected great things from you." _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Southwest of The Broken Earth Kingdom. Blue City, the main port city of the kingdom. In a private chamber. The chamber has a lot of bookshelves in it, there are also piles of books on its floor, and at its center there is a big desk. A little being that looks like a six years old girl, is sitting at that big desk. She has long white hair, almost down to her waist, and she has silver eyes, and pale skin. Her name is Aly Blue. Right now, Aly Blue is working on a blueprint. She is drawing the structure of a complex battleship. Sadly, even though she is doing what she loves the most to do, she looks like she would start to shed sour tears at any moment. Soon she finishes her work, so she gets up from the chair. She then begins to walk towards the exit of the chamber, but halfway, all of a sudden, she gets dizzy and weak, and, eventually, falls to the floor. *Punm* There is a dull sound when she hits the flat floor. Aly Blue isn''t bothered in the slightest by the negligible pain from the fall, but still, she bites her lips hard as she starts to cry in agony and despair while she is yelling bitterly in her mind: (I know! I know! This is the consequence of my own choices! But is it really no hope!? I have only a few months to live, but I still want to do a myriad of things, what can I do in such short span of time that I have left!? It''s just not enough! It doesn''t even come close to be enough¡­!) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ North border of The Broken Earth Kingdom. Lurep Village, in a room of some inn. The morning''s gentle light pass through the only window of the poorly decorated room, it illuminates a trembling opened hand, which is holding a small glass vial that contains some yellowish liquid substance. Suddenly, as the devil''s soft whisper, a resentful voice echoes through the room: "Hehehe¡­ I can''t stop myself from shaking... Of course, it can''t be helped, after all, very soon, I''ll be able to tear apart his heart¡­ Hehehe¡­" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Somewhere, in a closed room. *Drip*... *drip*...*drip*... Drops of blood fall to the floor from a table that glows slightly with a mystical dark blue light. On the table there are thirty-seven swords, also emitting mystical light but this is white, all of them are penetrating the body of a naked young man. Some swords are nailed in his arms, others in his legs and most of them in his trunk. The face and body of this mysterious young man seem to be eighteen years old but his bright, deep violet eyes seem older, much older... almost eternal. Oh, his eyes, so mature, so overly mature that they''ve turned into two rotten things, so long ago, oh, his eyes, unrivaled with others in their abilities to harbor loneliness, pain, sadness, melancholy... anger and hatred. Those eyes, oh, those eyes that are able to create poets on a whim, oh, those eyes which are always shining desperately with a light of something that has gone far beyond the madness. Suddenly, the mysterious young man begins to move slightly to breathe in the oxygenless air, this action causes him to start bleeding more profusely. Then just as he finishes breathing in, his hoarse voice fills the room. "Larana... larana... He''s coming, he''s close. He comes alone, he comes wounded. He comes walking, he comes staggering. He comes carrying the pain that he wants to share... Larana... larana... Escape flying, while you still have your wings. Escape running, while you still have your legs. Escape swimming, while you still have your arms. Escape crawling, while you still have your chest... Larana... larana... Because when he arrives, it will rain tears. Because when he arrives, it will rain blood. Because when he arrives, the earth will be burned¡­ Because when he arrives, the skies will be broken..." _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Rose leaves completely alone the Clouds Cutter Castle. Meanwhile, on a high wall, two goblins are seeing how Rose''s silhouette becomes more and more distant. "So it''s true. Rose Al-- No, I should say just Rose, she has finally been discarded by her family because of her uselessness." A young voice sounds, in a mocking tone. "It''s like you say, young master Ben." This time it''s a mature voice. "*Sigh*... but it''s a pity, to think that such a monstrous talent that shocked all the Four Great Families of The Broken Earth Kingdom has ended in such a sorry state." "Ha! Pity!? It was a gift from the heavens that she has been stuck in the First Level Initial Awaken! If she had continued to grow in strength at that rate back then, the enemy kingdoms would have acted and the delicate balance of the war would have been broken. That would have started a total war with a completely unpredictable outcome!" Ben represses his subordinate for his light words. "Of course, I understand that. Excuse me for speak without thinking first, young master Ben." The subordinate responds quickly to apologize. Ben nods lightly. After a few moments, he orders to his subordinate: "Send Dani Zelu, tell him: Follow her from afar to avoid being noticed by some possible protector that the queen could have sent." At this moment, on the face of Ben, a sinister smile appears, his eyes become ones full of malice, and he then continues speaking: "Once we confirm that Rose has no protector, we will be entirely sure that the queen has forsaken her, at that time I will abduct her and let her become my little toy!" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Rose is walking towards the North Port of Flowing City, she walks through wide streets that are always full of the bustle caused by the civilized races, the domesticated monsters, and the domesticated vegetable monsters. Rose feels happy to see that on the streets of Flowing City each and every one of the twelve civilized races could be found living side by side in harmony, which by the way are: elf, elemental elf, war elf, human, shadow human, monster human, deliaf, goblin, dullahan, harpy, gargoyle, and gorgon. At least they''re all the civilized races that Rose knows that still exist on the world. Being alone against the world and just carrying a backpack with some changes of clothes, some medicines, and a few gold coins. Without knowing what kind of future this road will lead her to. Despite all of this, Rose can''t bear to continue walking anymore and begins to run, to run harder, to run faster than ever before. While a dazzling smile blooms on her beautiful face and her curly red hair flutter in the wind, her heart is throbbing hard full of impatience to see the world that she had met only in books and dreams. 2 The Boy and the Girl Meet 1 The Land of Monsters, in a foggy forest, at the foot of a giant ancient tree. Rose, who is wearing a white t-shirt and black jacket-pants, sits in a lotus position with her eyes closed. She has been like this for almost two days. Actually, if the person doing this weren''t her but instead some other with her same strength, that person would have already died thousands of times under the attack of the monsters. Rose is different because she has a Special Awakened Skill; and by using it, she can completely hide her smell, her body heat, and the sounds. This lets others with only two ways to detect her: The first one is of course by sight, however, the dense mist and the trees of this forest turn this way to detect her almost useless; the second one is by the First Level Initial Awaken aura that she releases, but, the monsters can''t feel her aura since they use another type of energy to cultivate. The monsters use an energy called Mystical Energy, whereas the civilized races use Complex Energy. On the other hand; Rose is very sensitive to sounds, this allows her to immediately discover if some monster gets too close, and so to her is an easy task to avoid them. In short, the monsters from this place will not be able to detect Rose unless an unexpected accident happens; and it is precisely because of this that she had the guts to enter The Land of Monsters, where there is no Complex Energy but only Mystical Energy. "*Sigh*..." Rose lets out a long, heavy sigh as she slowly opens her eyes with an expression full of sadness and disappointment. (... It didn''t work...) she says reluctantly in her head. Even though, before coming to attempt to make a breakthrough in this dangerous place, Rose knew that the chances of success in breakthrough the First Level Initial Awaken to reach the Second Level Initial Awaken were almost nil, she could not help but keep in her heart the hope of achieving it. Now that she has failed with this method, she has run out of ideas of how she could breakthrough. It has been twenty years since the last time she had a breakthrough and now she is already thirty years old; so it''s understandable why a woman as strong as Rose, who would not change her expression even if she is stabbed in the stomach, has such a sad and depressing face at this moment. But in the end, Rose is still an exceptionally strong woman, so, after a few minutes, her face turns solemn again. (I have to get out of here before my Complex Energy runs out.) Once she thought about this, Rose stands up, picks up her backpack, observes for an instant the shapes and details of the surrounding trees, then begins to walk following the same path she used to reach this place. She had not entered too deep into The Land of Monsters, so she quickly reaches the zone where Mystical Energy coexists with Complex Energy. At this point, Rose drastically increases her speed, and after a few hours, she manages to leave the forest. The landscape that appears in front of Rose is that of a green meadow, in the east there is a vast river and in the distance, there is the silhouette of the Lurep Village''s walls. Lurep Village forms part of the territory of Stormy Cloud City that belongs to The Broken Earth Kingdom, and the latter is one of the five kingdoms that make up The Continent of Civilized Races. When Rose arrives at the entrance of Lurep Village the sky was already dark, but her thoughts had already cleared up: (Since I need to find another way to make a breakthrough, early tomorrow, I''ll go to the library to find a clue, but for now, I''ll go eat and rest.) Once this is decided, Rose enters the village and goes to her inn. The inn that Rose had chosen is neither luxurious nor humble, it is something in between but it has everything that she needs. Upon arrival, she goes to the dining room and asks for a light meal. Once she is done killing her hunger, she goes up to the room she had rented for fifteen days and still has eleven days of time to use. In the room, Rose begins to undress, showing little by little her smooth and soft white skin akin to a newborn''s. The perfection of her skin has been maintained until now because she always had at her disposal the best medicines, if not for this, her skin would be able to scare even the bravest man of the Mercenary''s Guild. This is not an exaggeration. Due to the extreme training that Rose imposed on herself, every square inch of her skin has been torn apart at least a thousand times. Being completely naked, Rose enters the bathroom and then turns on the shower. After finishing bathing, she washes her clothes and hangs them to dry. Having done all that she had to do, Rose lies on the bed and falls asleep very quickly, obviously she is really exhausted. Early in the morning, Rose is in front of the entrance of Lurep Village''s Library. To Complex Energy cultivators, knowledge is essential. This is because the limit of how high the cultivation of a Complex Energy cultivator could become is determined by how deep is that cultivator''s understanding of the nature of existence. Thus, the libraries, to the civilized races, are of utmost importance. This becomes evident when someone sees the library of a village as small as Lurep Village, it is huge: Ten stories high, and it is the largest building in Lurep Village. Rose doesn''t have much hope of finding a realistic way that could help her to breakthrough; after all, even though she is only thirty years old, she already had read more than one hundred and fifty thousand books, the one hundred and fifty thousand best books that her kingdom has to offer, however, she has not found what she needed the most: A method to breakthrough that works on her. (If, here, I don''t find the information that I''m looking for, I''ll go to another library! I can''t just give up on this, after all, if I don''t have enough strength, accomplish my dreams will be impossible!) Rose''s eyes gleam with determination as she enters into Lurep Village''s Library. The librarian who attends Rose is an elderly gargoyle, he is dressing in a white librarian uniform, and he releases a Sixth Level Intermediate Awaken aura. Rose pays a gold coin as a fee of entry, this fee is enough to authorize anyone to read any book in the library for a day, and she then says to the gargoyle librarian: "I''m looking for books on how to make a breakthrough when you come across a bottleneck. But not the conventional ones because I have tried all their methods, and they haven''t worked on me." The gargoyle librarian looks with curiosity at this peculiar customer whose face he had not seen before, and who have a demeanor of someone of extraordinary background but the cultivation of a commoner. He says calmly, with his old voice: "Well, we have a whole section of exotic methods to breakthrough while being stuck in a bottleneck. However, I warn you, young lady, that such books are full of bullshit." "There is no problem. I understand that. I''m just going to try my luck." Rose replies, and she then asks tilting her head: "Where is that section?" "Follow me." The gargoyle librarian responds as he stands erect and begins to lead the way to a deep region of the library. Rose follows him closely. For a moment, within Rose''s precious eyes, there is a trace of envy as they reflect the wings of the gargoyle librarian. She knows very well how happy it would be to have a pair of wings and with them be able to ride the skies. Moments later, his old voice rings again in Rose''s ears saying: "It''s there, all the books in that room are the kind of books that you''re looking for." Rose looks at the room that the gargoyle librarian is pointing at, nods and enters that room. Seeing this, he informs her: "If you need any help I will be where you found me." Then he retires to his assigned post. The books in the room were neatly arranged, and Rose could easily see several titles she had already read. Without wasting more time, she grabs a book among those she had not seen before, and begins to read it without stopping for more than two seconds on the same page and without missing anything, this ability to read so quickly and so thoroughly could only be developed by a genius with monstrous capabilities, such as Rose. Time passes, the sky turns dark, and Rose is already finishing reading the hundred and thirteenth book when suddenly she sees, with a sideways glance, a book that has written on its spine: - The Mountain of Rose -, by: Lin the Lonely Adventurer. This left Rose breathless for an entire second because even though she is a fan of Lin the Lonely Adventurer, she did not know that that book exists. Rose grabs - The Mountain of Rose - impatiently and begins to read it carefully. The book describes a mountain, which the author named The Mountain of Rose and which was located in The Land of Monsters, in a place not too far from Lurep Village. The author affirms that she had never seen such a strange thing before, it happens that the land of the region that surrounds that mountain is reddish, being the closest ground to the mountain of a deeper reddish color. And if it were possible to see this region from above, which is not due to the dense fog, then you would see a piece of reddish earth with a circular shape and whose center is this mountain, with boundaries akin to a rose flower''s edges. It is precisely because of this that she named it: The Mountain of Rose. The author analyzed this strange earth and discovered, to her surprise, that it had healing properties similar to the healing properties of low-level medicine. All that land region of a radius of about two kilometers had healing properties! Of course such a situation deserved further investigation, but in the end, the author couldn''t find the source of this phenomenon, but even so, the author explained that she came to the conclusion: The only thing with such power could only be one of those legendary plants that are capable of increasing the level of cultivation without restrictions. 3 The Boy and the Girl Meet 2 This conclusion made - The Mountain of Rose - go to the section of exotic methods to breakthrough while being stuck in a bottleneck. The epilogue: "This is the first time I am writing a book. Why did I decide to do it? It''s because I don''t want to let my discovery go to waste. Since the healing properties of that land weren''t worth the risk of transporting its earth from The Land of Monsters to The Continent of Civilized Races, then it wasn''t done. Besides, the fact that there may be a legendary plant in that place is only my guess. I couldn''t find any concrete proof of it. But you, my dear reader, if you think that you have the necessary strength and ability to solve the mystery of The Mountain of Rose, try it! And if you do it, and we live in the same era, please find me, then tell me what you''ve found in that place." Rose, after she finishes reading the book, and having her eyes shining with stirred emotions, exclaims in her mind: (The first work of Lin the Lonely Adventurer! It seems that from here comes her unique style of writing incredible but real events and sceneries. This is too much of a coincidence: My name, my favorite author, the miraculous object that I need to make a breakthrough and the fact that it is in a place so close to where I am. Even though I am a very rational person, all these coincidences are forcing me to have the feeling that in The Mountain of Rose I will find what I''m looking for.) After leaving the library, Rose goes to the inn to pick up her exploration equipment: Her backpack. Then she leaves Lurep Village, and runs northwest, of course, she remembers perfectly the path described in the book to get to The Mountain of Rose. When the sky begins to shine, Rose is already in The Land of Monsters. Several kilometers later, she finally steps onto the region of the reddish earth. Rose stops here, pulls out a dagger and uses it to make a small cut to her index finger of her left hand. After she put her dagger back in her backpack, she bends down and buries her left hand in the reddish earth. Fifteen seconds later she takes her hand off the ground and looks at her index finger. "There is no doubt about it, low-level medicine." Rose says, with a big smile on her face. Once this is done, she continues moving towards The Mountain of Rose. Upon reaching the mountain, she climbs it up and quickly finds a cave that had been mentioned in the book. Just when she was about to enter the cave, she stops her steps because she had just heard particular sounds coming from the cave. (There are several gorilla type monsters within the cave! But they are quite scattered, so I think I''ll be fine as long as I stay alert. I''ll go in.) Rose decides. She enters the cave without hesitation because she knows that if that legendary plant really exists then it would have to be inside the mountain. Logically, a plant can grow in a cave but not underground without access to air, in addition, if the plant was on the mountain then the mountain would also have turned reddish but this is not the case. So it can only be somewhere inside this cave. The cave is large, it has hundreds of forks, and it is dark, there are also gorilla type monsters in it, so Rose will need a long time to fully explore it. At the moment when the light is no longer enough to illuminate Rose''s path, she takes out of her backpack a small transparent sphere whose interior has two parts divided by a thin glass, and each of these two parts has in them a liquid. Rose squeezes the small sphere, and then the thin glass that separates both liquids breaks. When these two liquids merge together, a reaction occurs: The small sphere begins to emit a faint sky-blue shining light. These liquids were obtained from a certain domesticated vegetable monster. The duration of the luminescence effect that these liquids produce is varied but in the case of Rose''s small sphere, the effect will last five days. Having his Luminous Sphere in hand, Rose continues walking towards the depths of the cave as she becomes very wary of her surroundings. Four days later. On the outskirts of The Land of Monsters. Rose is lying on the grass with her hands behind her head. During these past days, she has been exploring the cave and each time her Complex Energy was about to run out, she came to this place to restore it. Even though she has been working diligently, and she has already explored the entire cave twice, she has had no luck to find the legendary plant that she was looking for. Rose looks up at the immense starry sky and murmurs with resolve: "I''m not giving up." Rose stands up and returns to The Mountain of Rose''s cave. The search continues smoothly as the previous days until Rose makes a big mistake, perhaps because she had some degree of uncertainty in her mind or perhaps because her sense of danger lessened with the passing of the days. In any case, she enters a dead end even though a gorilla type monster is not so far away. Upon realizing this, Rose reacts immediately, and she runs towards the exit of the blind alley but after a couple of seconds, she stops. It was too late, the gorilla type monster is already heading to the entrance of that blind alley. Rose knew that she would not make it in time. The gorilla type monster is a furry humanoid creature, two meters tall, and has the muscles of its arms more developed than those of its legs. All creatures that can cultivate either Mystical Energy or Complex Energy have a Racial Skill, the gorilla type monster is no exception, it has a Racial Skill and it is called Luminous Eyes, a skill that makes its eyes have the ability to emit a red light. Thanks to this those of its kind can live in dark places. The gorilla type monster comes to the entrance of the blind alley, and then it enters the blind alley. *Pom* *pom* *pom* *pom*¡­ Rose can hear with extreme clarity the sound of heavy footsteps getting closer. In the blink of an eye, the Monstrous Gorilla reaches ten meters from Rose, but it continues advancing at the same speed. Now Rose closes her eyes with her head on the floor as she curses at herself: (What a good time to lose your caution, Rose! It''s a gorilla type monster! That race of monsters are usually in the Fifth Level Advanced Awaken! If it kills me, I''ll kill you, Rose!) In the next moment the gorilla type monster reaches Rose but, without its red gleaming eyes showing any surprise, it keeps walking calmly and relaxed. Meanwhile, Rose does not dare to move a single muscle and had already finished with her curses, so she started with her prayers: (Please cute little gorilla, don''t kill me. I''m still young, there are a lot of things I want to see and do. I swear that if you don''t kill me, I will not treat the gorillas badly for the rest of my life... No! If you don''t kill me, I''ll build to you a sanctuary for gorillas: With bananas and hot springs, so please don''t kill me, cute gorilla!) After being in the blind alley for a few minutes surrounding a rock, the gorilla type monster, for some strange reasons, feels that it should go so it follows its instincts and leaves. Actually that ''rock'' is Rose covered by her Earth Cloak that she got on the first day she arrived at Lurep Village. Since she can nullify the sounds, her body heat and her smell, she thought she could disguise herself as a rock! So she bought an earth color cloak. When Rose realized that she would not be able to leave the blind alley in time, she threw herself on the floor in a fetal position, and then she plucked the Earth Cloak from her backpack and covered herself with it. After that, it was a matter of luck if the gorilla type monster would notice her presence or not. After it had been some time since the gorilla type monster left, Rose manages to calm down and begins to feel the shame of herself for the absurdities in which she began to think when she was on the border of life and death. But then she forgives herself for that behavior, after all, it was the first time she had been so close to death. The moment Rose regains her tranquility, while her ear is still stuck to the ground, she perceives a slight sound coming from the ground, in truth an almost undetectable sound. Upon hearing this, Rose''s eyes open so much that they take the shape of a pair of lemons. (There is something underground!) Rose exclaims. Being overcome by emotion, she begins to track down the sound like a sniffer dog but instead of using her nose, she uses her ear. Then there she is on all fours trying to find out the place where the sound is louder. A while later, after crashing her head against the walls a couple of times, Rose manages to find the place where the sound is clearer, and she could even understand some words: "... Alone... wounded..." Rose, having her breathing accelerated and her hands slightly trembling with excitement, finally separates her head from the floor. She really has found something! Without further delay, she begins to dig with her fingers and fingernails. As Rose goes deeper, the mysterious voice becomes clearer and louder. Soon, the depth of the hole that she is digging is already about three meters¡­ four meters¡­ five meters. When it reaches six meters, the ground ends and Rose falls into a room. And as if that fall were a signal, the mysterious voice stops ringing. Rose gets up while looking with extreme curiosity at her surroundings, and of course, she notices in an instant the mysterious young naked man whose body is pierced by swords that emit a mysterious white light. The first thing that catches Rose''s gaze is neither the mystical swords nor his ghastly wounds but his awfully deep violet eyes. And then time stops, the world disappears, and all that is left is his eyes. Both, Rose and the mysterious young man, looking into each other''s eyes, remain silent for a long, long time... And then there is a second thing that catches Rose''s gaze, it is something that couldn''t be overlooked, not this mysterious young man''s and that is¡­ "¡­ So¡­ big¡­" Rose can''t help saying it. 4 The Promises The mysterious young man''s penis is that big, enough to make Rose open-mouthed. It is so big that it seems that the mysterious young man has two and a half legs! This has an explanation: He has been imprisoned in this room for so long that his clothes have long since turned to dust, on the other hand, his hormones have always worked perfectly thanks to his Awakened Skill. Also, the mysterious young man''s imagination still worked perfectly, rather, the mysterious young man''s imagination has reached a level unattainable to mere mortals, and finally his penis hadn''t been pierced by any sword but his hands had been. That is the explanation. When the mysterious young man notices that a beautiful girl had fallen from the ceiling and that she did not make any noise when she had hit the ground, at that moment he figures out: (it is another hallucination!) Then he sees how that girl poses her gaze on his penis and mentions its size. Obviously, under these circumstances, he says coquettishly: "Do you like it? You can look at it as much as you want but if you give me a good hand job, I''ll give you these swords as reward." Yes, just like one of his sweetest fantasies: A sexy woman comes and in exchange for giving him a hand job, she takes away these hateful swords. Right now, Rose''s emotions are chaotic and within her, there are many doubts: (How is it that he can have it so big? No, I will ignore this issue, for now, more important: Why can''t I feel his cultivation? Why is he not dead while having such wounds? He can''t be human, there is no human who has violet eyes, so what race does he belong to? Why does it seem that these strange swords and that strange table are using Mystical Energy? How is that possible!?) Also, by having this scene in front of her, she already realized that the phenomenon that occurs around The Mountain of Rose is not due to some legendary plant but it is due to the blood of this mysterious young man, because of this, at this moment, she is quite upset, so after hearing such bullshit coming from this scoundrel, she orders: "Start to explain who you are before I start to cut your penis off with my dagger." Feeling her angry gaze, the mysterious young man thinks: (So she is a difficult one... I like that! The difficult ones are the funniest.) Then he says with a seductive smile: "Well, sexy thing, calm down. If you want to know me, I''ll help you to do it, let''s see... I don''t really remember my name, so you can call me whatever you want. I am just a vagabond who can use Mystical Energy, some people found out about it, and then they captured me to research the cause of how it is possible that someone who belongs to a Civilized Race could cultivate Mystical Energy. But while I was being studied and questioned, something incredible happened: This place''s Complex Energy suddenly disappeared. I don''t know what happened after that, I just know that the entrance to this room didn''t open again..." She looks at him in disbelief, and she says: "Are you kidding me? A Civilized Race''s person that cultivates Mystical Energy? Besides, you are telling me that you were here before the Complex Energy disappeared from this place, but that is just too hard to believe because that was more than a million years ago! Who could live so long while maintaining their sanity!?" He looks at her calmly while replies: "I''m not lying. A million years? I felt them as if they had been ten million years. Besides, what is the sanity that you are talking about? Do you think to speak with hallucinations is sane?" His response allows her to conclude: (This guy has been thinking all this time that I am a hallucination!) "*Sigh*..." Rose sighs angrily and closes her eyes to think: (Okay, Rose, let''s analyze the situation... He has definitely been in this place for a very long time, at least the necessary time to dye a piece of land with a radius of two kilometers with his blood, the fact that his blood has healing properties implies that he has some healing skill which has allowed him to survive until now, a skill that allows him to be almost immortal! Then, absurd as it is, the part that he can use Mystical Energy is true, since it does not matter what kind of skill it is, either Awakened Skill or Racial Skill, they all need some type of energy to be activated and the only energy in this place is the Mystical Energy... and it would not really make any sense if he lies to a hallucination when he knows it is a hallucination. Despite everything, his sanity is quite good. After being alone for so long, he kept his rationality to this degree... just, how great is his willpower? In addition, just talking causes him so much harm but even so, he kept singing... so he never gave up: He has continued trying to ask for help all this time. And if it''s like he says that this place is a kind of secret laboratory where they tried to study him, then the walls would have to be especially hard, but I was able to dig them with ease. So even though his singing could not be heard, it was not entirely in vain because over time it weakened the walls. To have such willpower, even though I can''t feel his cultivation, I can assure that he is someone who has reached a great height on the path of cultivation. It''s a shame that there isn''t any legendary plant to help me to breakthrough, but at least I came across such a remarkable person that could help me to achieve my dreams!) When her train of thoughts comes this far, she forms a slight smile on her face. Actually, Rose only used two seconds to think about all of this, and after forming that slight smile, she opens her eyes and extends her right hand to grasp a hilt of a sword. At that moment she says to him: "Before we can talk seriously, you need to understand something... I''m not an illusion!" While saying the last part, she was pulling the sword out of his trunk and then his blood began to flow outwards. Her action causes his eyes to almost pop out from his sockets, and he couldn''t help to exclaim while spitting blood: "You are not a hallucination!? But¡­ but¡­ but!" Meanwhile, the sword in Rose''s hand loses its light and instantly turns to dust, this surprises her for a moment, but then she ignores this, for now. Afterward, she says: "I will free you if you accept this deal: You will lend me your strength until I achieve my dreams, then I will help you fulfill yours!" The mysterious young man is not yet sure if this is real or if it is an illusion, and now, out of nowhere, he is proposed to make such a strange pact. He is speechless for a few seconds then he gives a slow laugh: "He he he¡­ what happens if my only dream were the destruction of this world?" Facing such a question, Rose keeps looking at his eyes in silence for a long time, she can clearly see melancholy and resentment in them. In the end, she smiles beautifully and affirms: "Even if your dream were harder than that, as long as you allow me to reach what I want, I''ll keep my word and help you." The mysterious young man, after hearing this, also keeps looking at her eyes in silence for a long time, he can clearly see her determination in them. Then he asks with a great amount of curiosity: "What are your dreams?" She responds with a mysterious smile: "I will not tell you now. So, do you accept the deal or not?" After hearing such an answer, he has a slight bad foreboding. But what he wants the most at this moment is to leave this room, so he responds with a wild smile: "It''s unfair that you make me promise to do something that I still don''t know what it is, it seems that you are crazier than myself... But, I accept! I promise, if you release me and you promise that you will help me to fulfill my dream, I will lend you my strength until you achieve yours!" "Jajajajajaja...!" Rose begins to laugh loudly while holding her stomach, then she promises while extending her arms and looking at the ceiling: "I promise that when my dreams come true, I will help you to fulfill yours!" Rose begins to draw the swords out of his body, one by one. Each time she drew a sword, it lost its light and turned to dust. While this was happening, the mysterious young man looks, having dozens of mixed emotions inside him, the swords letting his body, and he asks in his mind: (I''m not dreaming, right!?) Soon all the swords disappear, and then he closes his eyes and uses his Awakened Skill. In just one minute it heals all his wounds. Seeing this, Rose can''t help but exclaim in surprise: "Your skill is just too powerful!" To which he comments: "Of course it is, although it has just spent almost all my Mystical Energy." Then he starts moving his body as if he were a newborn trying to learn how his body works. After getting used to his new muscles, he tries to get up and with some difficulty, he puts his legs on the ground. He stops touching the table where he had lived for more than a million years. The table loses its light and like the swords, it turns to dust. At the same time that the mysterious young man stops touching the table, Rose begins to feel his aura and is surprised by it: (Can he also cultivate Complex Energy!? But, that being the case, he is only in the First Level Intermediate Awaken...) Having only as a source of illumination the Luminous Sphere that is on Rose''s hand, he looks at his body that is without swords and says with a merry laugh: "Hahaha... I feel naked without those swords." "Of course you are feeling naked! You are naked!" Rose says angrily as she throws her Earth Cloak to him. The Earth Cloak was stained with blood since she fell on this red floor under her feet. Clumsily, he dresses in the Earth Cloak. She sees how her Earth Cloak touches the mysterious young man''s penis, then, feeling a sense of loss, she says in her mind: (Goodbye, my dear Earth Cloak, I''ll keep your memory in my heart for the rest of my life¡­) "It''s true! You said you don''t remember your name. Mmm... What do you think if I call you Thorn?" Rose recalls then suggests. He stares at her with a perplexed expression, and finally asks: "Why ''Thorn''?" "Because my name is Rose." She responds. Suddenly, some loud shrieks sound in the room. "Ua, uua, uaa!" They look up and see a pair of bright red eyes staring at them through the hole that Rose dug. Thorn doesn''t seem surprised by it, but Rose does. She exclaims: "I was preventing any sound or smell to escape from that hole all this time! How did it find us!?" And she starts to quiver in fear. "So you can do that..." Thorn mutters, and then he raises his index finger of his right hand to point at the gorilla type monster. The gorilla type monster enlarges the hole with his fingers and nails so that he could come in and, only one short second later, it already has crossed the length of six meters of the hole! But just as it begins to fall from the ceiling, Thorn slightly moves the finger he had lifted, this seeming inoffensive action creates a very thin blade of wind that runs through the gorilla type monster''s neck. *Puunm!* The gorilla type monster''s headless body hits the ground. *Punm* The gorilla type monster''s head, which is showing an expression of extreme fear, hits the ground and starts to roll. Rose watches how all of this happens, with her eyes and mouth completely opened, while she is yelling in her head: (He has just used a skill to control the wind! He has another Awakened Skill! With his Complex Energy which he has cultivated only until the First Level Intermediate Awaken, he has defeated a Fifth Level Advanced Awaken gorilla type monster so easily! How is that possible!?) He squats down to get a better view of the gorilla type monster''s corpse and says with a relaxed smile: "Well, nice to meet you, Rose. And I am sorry for this, it has discovered us because it felt my aura of First Level Intermediate Awaken in Mystical Energy. That table, apart from suppressing my cultivation in Complex Energy, it also concealed my two auras." 5 The Night in Which Our Adventures Started "Oh, now I understand. By the way, why are you so strong if you''re only in the First Level Intermediate Awaken in both Complex Energy and Mystical Energy!?" Rose asks almost shouting. "I am five times as strong as a normal First Level Intermediate Awaken cultivator, you shouldn''t think that having double cultivation doesn''t bring me more than one benefit. Also, my understanding of the wind had become quite impressive." Thorn responds as he puts one of his fingers inside the gorilla type monster''s neck. "That''s awesome!" Rose gives a compliment, having her eyes full of admiration. He then puts his finger, which is stained with the gorilla type monster''s blood, in his mouth. "*Cough* *cough* *cough*... What a repulsive flavor!" Thorn coughs and says this, but immediately afterward, he repeats his early action and tastes its blood again. Seeing this, Rose says impatiently: "Why are you wasting our precious time!? We have to get out of here before we attract more monsters. If we''re cornered, we won''t be able to get out of here alive because it is obvious that you don''t have much Complex Energy and Mystical Energy left!" He looks at her and, hitting his back, he says: "I''m waiting for you to ride my back." Rose becomes speechless, but soon she thinks: (I guess in this way we will move faster.) So she rides his back. Piggybacking her, he stands up. Then from his bare feet, a gale begins to come out. Slowly, they begin to float and ascend. Rose is not surprised by this since it is known that most Wind Type Awakened Skill users can fly. Soon, both leave the room, and floating above the hole that Rose dug, Thorn, asks her: "Lead me to the exit." She quickly explains to him the route to get to the entrance of the cave, and then they set off. On their way, they meet another gorilla type monster but Thorn quickly slays it, don''t allowing it to use its Awakened Skill, just as he did with the other one. And like this, they come out of the cave without more incidents, and then they are covered by the dense fog of the forest. They start to ascend quicker than before and, a few minutes later, they leave the foggy region. At that moment, they couldn''t help but stop moving, and then they just keep looking at the starry sky. This is because the sky with which they had met is just too beautiful, this night is really a night like very few, it is a soul striking night. The eye-opening rings of the planet split flawlessly a triangle formed by three full immense satellites in half. One of these satellites is blue, other is red and the third one is white; all of them are shining brightly, but even so, they don''t overshadow the colorful flickering lights of the stars that seem to be alive. Thorn''s eyes stop blinking. Involuntarily, his mouth opens and it remained open. His heart is invaded by a sense of satisfaction stronger than any other good feeling he had felt in the last one million years. This emotion is so great that tears began to flow from his eyes. The freedom he is feeling when looking at this sky is just too overwhelming, and just too perfect. With a quiver in his voice, he can''t help but slowly mutter: "... The sky... was it always that... wonderful?" Meanwhile, the look that Rose shoots at this starry sky is just captivating, because it is more passionate than any gaze that a maiden could use to look at her life''s most loved one. It is a stare whose passion has not been weakened in the slightest by the number of times she had seen this firmament. After a while, she replies sweetly: "The sky has always been wonderful, but, this night, I guess, it is showing off more than usual... Maybe it wanted to give you a welcome gift..." Silently, they appreciate that sky for a long time. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ In this world there are many energy minerals, which are obtained from Earth Type Awakened Skill users and the parts or secretions of certain monsters and vegetable monsters. These energy minerals form in high temperatures an alloy called zenanium. The zenanium''s properties vary greatly depending on the types and amounts of energy minerals that are used in its creation. The zenanium is classified, from lowest to highest quality, with these characters: E, D, C, B, A, S, S2, S3, etc. The Civilized Races use the zenanium as the main material for the construction of daily tools and structures such as roads, sewers, bridges, buildings, city walls, ships, chariots, etc. Even the daily clothes are made of zenanium with elastic properties. In general: Without Awaken cultivators'' weapons and armors are made of E-class zenanium, Initial Awaken cultivators'' weapons and armors are made of D-class zenanium, and so on. The Lurep Village''s black E-class zenanium walls are five meters wide and eighty meters high. Thanks to their great thickness and their complex structure they can even withstand the attacks of someone in the Twelfth Level Full Awaken. These imposing walls protect two million Civilized Races'' individuals! In addition, they have a system of anti-flying-creatures weapons, because of this the buildings within the village are not constructed higher than the walls. They are made in such a way that they have three large gates: The north gate that faces The Land of Monsters, the south-east gate that faces the Lurep Village''s Port and the west gate through which four large highways that lead towards other villages run past. These roads are always occupied by Civilized Races entering or leaving either on foot or in chariots, some of them are just visiting while others are carrying goods. But no one is entering or leaving flying. For various reasons, inside the walls of any village or city, it is forbidden to fly and also to battle. Early in the morning, on the balcony of a building overlooking the north gate; there is a humanoid sitting with crossed arms, he has no head and a light jet black smoke cloud is above his neck, he is a dullahan. The Dullahan''s light jet black smoke cloud takes various forms and each dullahan has a characteristic form of light jet black smoke cloud over its neck. This light jet black smoke cloud not only allows others to identify a dullahan from another but also all dullahan use it to see and hear as it function as receivers of light and vibrations. As for this dullahan''s light jet black smoke cloud, it has a shape of three horizontal little rods. He has the body of a robust male. He is wearing a pitch black A-class zenanium armor with green and red patterns. Also, he releases a Third Level Full Awaken aura. He is Dani Zelu, the young master Ben''s footman. He has been following Rose prudently and cautiously so that ''the possible protector'' doesn''t notice his presence. At that moment he observes how Rose enters in Lurep Village while talking to a young man with black hair and violet eyes who is wearing only a bloodstained cloak. Then his dark voice coming from his neck sounds: "When she had left, she was alone... where that boy popped up from?" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Rose and Thorn walk through the Lurep Village''s streets. She had taken him to her inn so that he could take a good bath, she too took a bath, and then they go in search of a clothing store. He looks shocked and says in an agitated voice: "I can''t believe what you''re saying: Now, the Civilized Races'' territory is only one-tenth of the world! And, how can it be possible that the slimes, xandrias, arils and also the dragons have become extinct!?" She looks at him with compassion and says: "I''m sorry... I guess it must be very hard for you to find out so abruptly that now you are the last xandria in the world." "Well, I knew that sooner or later my race would go extinct after all our Racial Skill is a useless thing, so I''m not really impressed by it. What surprises me the most is that the dragons too have become extinct!" Thorn''s expression becomes solemn and in his eyes can be found traces of fear, he explains: "They were the most powerful Civilized Race that existed, unrivaled living beings whether on the land, above in the air or even in the depths of the sea. Not only were they the most powerful, but also the most numerous and those who occupied the greatest extent of territory in the world. Even if all the other Civilized Races had come together to battle the dragons, the dragons would have won so easily that they would not even consider it a battle but simply a one-sided massacre." "Wow. That powerful!?" She is surprised by his words. "That powerful! Now, do you understand the great surprise you have given to me when you have told me that those sovereigns of the world have just like this become extinct?" He asks without losing his shocked expression. They continued walking and after a while, they stop in front of a three-story building that has several types of clothes drawn on its walls. Rose looks at him and says: "We arrived, here we will get some clothes for you. Let''s get in." One hour later. They are returning to the inn while Rose wears a smile, Thorn wears a white t-shirt with some black words in it that says ''I am the boss'' and... a black skirt that reaches up to his calves. He tried really hard to put on some pants but, his attempts failed due to the size of his mushroom head! So he has a very angry face right now, it''s a face that says ''if you dare to ask me why I''m wearing a skirt, I''ll paint your cheeks red with slaps''. And it happens that no matter what world it is, in none of them is there a lack of morons. A tall and muscular humanoid with white skin, golden hair, blue eyes and pointed ears, a war elf; who wears a blue and black singlet, approaches to them laughing and says pointing his finger at Thorn''s skirt: "Hahaha... boy, why are you wearing a skirt? Hahaha..." Of course, after hearing this, Thorn starts moving to be in a good position to slap him. But just before he can raise his hand, he sees through the crowd with a sideways glance a humanoid who instead of hair has green snakes and his eyes are completely green, he is a male gorgon wearing a white armor that has the symbol of The Broken Earth Kingdom''s flag: A ship on the upper part, a wheat stalk on the lower part, a spherical flask on the right part and a hammer on the left part; It is the combination of the Four Great Families'' crests. This gorgon belongs to the kingdom''s militia, he is a soldier. At this moment he is patrolling the village in search of some fool that may dare to break the laws. Seeing this soldier, Thorn remembers that Rose had told him that it is forbidden to fight inside the village so he has no choice but to swallow his anger. Then he says to the impertinent war elf: "Ge--" "What a man with so little chivalry!" But before he could finish speaking he is interrupted by Rose''s loud roar. She points her finger at Thorn and says indignantly: "My friend may not have protruding breasts nor a butt that could attract a lot of admiring glances, but even so, she is a woman! And it''s a great rudeness to call her ''boy''!" Her voice resonates loudly. "Eeeeeehhh!?" Several passersby who heard and saw this were surprised. "Eeeehh!?" After shouting this, the war elf looks at Thorn more closely and with wide eyes. As for Thorn, he was speechless and with vacant eyes. After looking at him for a while, the war elf says: "Now that I see you better, you do really look like a woman! You''re even cute!" At this moment Thorn is tempted to kill both the muscular war elf and Rose in a brutal and savage way with his own fingers and nails. "Yes, it''s a bit difficult to notice it at the first sight, but she definitely is a pretty girl." "*Sigh*... I feel embarrassed about myself as a man by my inability to recognize a beautiful lady even when she is in front of me..." "Mmm... I wonder if she is already committed to a man, what I would give to have a fianc¨¦e with such beautiful and exotic eyes as hers." The bystanders comment and start to move away while Rose tries with all her willpower not to laugh. The war elf suddenly kneels before Thorn and puts his forehead on the solid ground, then he says in an apologetic tone: "Please, beautiful young lady, forgive my previous harsh words. This will be a black stain in my honor as a man that I will carry my whole life. And if there is by any chance something that I can do for you to make amends for my terrible mistake, feel free to say it." "Get lost." From Thorn''s mouth a voice darker and colder than Dani Zelu''s, echoes. Unfortunately, his voice was so distorted by anger that it had become high-pitched, thus giving off the impression of being the voice of a woman. "Yes! Of course! I will not annoy you anymore with my disgraceful presence." In the end, it happens that the war elf retires having his cheeks painted red but not by slaps, it was by shame. Thorn throws a look full of resentment towards Rose, but what he sees after doing so is a smiling Rose who is lifting her thumb. Then she says to him: "You don''t need to thank me." She punches her chest, raises her head with pride and continues saying: "You can trust on me. I''ll keep your ''big secret'' safe of wild women." (Why are you so proud of yourself, bastard!? What secret are you talking about!? I would be happy if ''my size'' becomes public knowledge!) Thorn wants to scream this with all his might, but the blood that got stuck in his throat out of anger prevents him to do so. 6 Joining a Guild The inn''s dining room. "*Snif* *snif* delicious, so delicious! ... *yum* *yum* I am so happy to be alive! *yum* *snif* *yum*..." tears of joy do not stop flowing from Thorn''s eyes. For more than a million years the only things he had to eat was the flesh of his own lips and his own blood, so to understand how great his happiness is at this moment is an impossible task, it is enough to say that he is so happy that he has forgotten about the existence of the skirt he is wearing. "Hehehe... Enjoy while you can, later we''ll be busy. You see, I don¡ät have a single gold coin left now, so we''ll have to work!" Rose says this, placing her face on her palms, as she watches Thorn with a smile. She quite enjoys the view of Thorn happily eating. After all, she knows for how many years he had not tasted a good food. After finish eating, they go up to the rooftop terrace, and then they sit on a bench overlooking the various and unique buildings of Lurep Village. "¡­ Well, I agree that we have to get money, but what are we going to do after that?" Thorn asks while still having his eyes slightly red. "Mmm... I wanted to breakthrough my bottleneck, but now that I''ll have your help I''ve decided to start looking for a ship designer. Of course, before that, we will have to get enough money to be able to hire one." Rose explains calmly. The confusion appears on Thorn''s face, he asks: "Ship designer? ... Why do you need a ship? Even though I can take you to wherever you want by flying." Her mysterious smile appears and she responds: "I don¡ät need a ship, I need a ship designer." Thorn seems even more confused than before but finally, he says: "Okay, I guess I''ll understand what you''re up to at some point anyway. So, where are we going to find a ship designer?" She points southwest and answers: "Where is located the principal headquarters of the Fishermen''s Guild, the place where the best ships in the world are building: Blue City!" "Fishermen''s Guild?" He asks. Rose exclaims: "Oh! Of course! The guilds were created after the catastrophe, so I guess you don''t know of their existence. The guilds are groups of people with specific objectives that aren¡ät associated with any kingdom. There are many but currently, there are only five important: Assassin''s Guild, Adventurer''s Guild, Mercenary''s Guild, Guild Investigator and Fishermen''s Guild." "Oh... so it is legal that an Assassin''s Guild exists." He comments with interest. "They earned their place with their own strength and they also have a strict set of internal rules that allow them to survive." Rose explains. "... I see... Anyway, how are we going to get money?" Thorn asks. Rose says with an expression full of righteousness: "It''ll be by renting our bodies, obviously!" "Eeehhh!!?? Why do you say it''s obvious!? ... B-but... Okay, as long as I have to attend only to female clients, I accept it!" Thorn shows a shocked expression at the beginning but then he starts to blush, afterward, he smiles emotionally to accept Rose''s proposal. She sees his strange reaction, then she shows him her palm, and with a serious expression, she says: "Excuse me, I was not clear enough. What I was trying to say is: We will join the Mercenary''s Guild and rent our bodies to perform different tasks, but except sexual tasks." Thorn''s smile disappears and he says with his head down: "Oh... *sigh*... okay..." After deciding which course of action they will take, they head to the headquarters of the Mercenary''s Guild of Lurep Village. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The headquarters of the Mercenary''s Guild of Lurep Village is located in a four-story building that occupies an area of 500 m x 300 m and has the shape of two forearms crossing each other in the form of an ''X'', both with closed fists. Vei Dal is a seeming middle-aged human shadow who works in this headquarters, he has black hair, white skin, and brown eyes. The human shadow race has the appearance of a normal human but with the difference that their Racial Skill allows them to control the shadow element. Vei Dal is in his office reading some books, suddenly, someone knocks on the door. *Knock* *knock* "You can come in." Vei Dal says. The door opens and two people enter. (Those violet eyes are awesome... But, why is he wearing a skirt?) He wonders. "If you''re here, I guess you want to enroll yourselves in our guild." He tells them. "Hello, yes, we came to register. My name is Rose and my sister''s name is Thorn." (Sister!? Oh... now I understand...) He shows an expression of enlightenment. "Thorn and Rose... without surnames?" Vei Dal gets slightly suspicious and asks. After all, even the peasants have a surname, the only ones who do not have surnames are those who have been banished from their own families. "We are a pair of innocent sisters. It just happens that we were expelled from our clan because we refused to marry the clan head''s son." Rose explains with a dejected expression. "The guy wasn''t our type..." With a beautiful female voice, Thorn adds shaking his head. (C-cute! How could I have believed that she is a man!?) Vei Dal criticizes himself. "T-that''s really unfortunate... Regarding membership registration... you just have to leave your Energy Signature, and pay the registration fee which is three gold coins per person." Vei Dal explains slowly. After listening to his words, Rose and Thorn look at each other faces, they then remain in an uncomfortable silence for a while. Finally Rose says: "Eh... would you excuse us for a moment? I need to consult something with my sister." "Of course, take your time." Vei Dal responds kindly, and he then thinks: (Perhaps they don''t have enough gold coins¡­) They leave his office. But after a few seconds, he hears Thorn''s agitated voice coming from behind the door. "Why are you pulling out your dagger!? Do you want to sell my organs!? " (What are she doing!? Did she go crazy!? She can''t do such a thing as selling organs in this place!) Vei Dal worries. Then he shouts: "Here is no place for you to do that! The medical center is five streets up! If you want to sell organs, let it be there!" He does not hear any response for a while, after a minute he starts worrying and wonders if he should come out to see what is happening. But just as he was about to stand up, the door opens and a peaceful Rose and a depressed Thorn enter. Rose apologizes: "Hehehehe... I''m sorry for the uproar. It seems that my sister doesn''t want to sacrifice a miserable organ for the team''s sake..." (Well, I do not blame her! Also, why does it seem that you are the boss when your cultivation is a whole stage below than hers and despite the fact that she wears a t-shirt that says "I am the boss"? This is too irrational!) Vei Dal exclaims in his mind. Rose continues: "So I have no choice but to sacrifice this precious item of mine ..." She pulls out a canteen and hands it over to Vei Dal. He holds the canteen and asks puzzled: "What''s inside?" She answers with a smile: "Medicine. You can check for yourself in what level it is." Vei Dal looks at her for a moment and then bites his hand. He opens the canteen, and carefully drops a crimson drop on his wound. He watches how his wound heals quickly and is surprised by that, then exclaims: "It needed a single drop and only two seconds! Is all of this high-level medicine!?" "It is! I know that in The Broken Earth Kingdom the only ones who can trade with medicine are the Alch family, but we could make a small transaction without anyone knowing about it¡­ What do you say?" Rose proposes with a sly smile while rubbing her hands. To which he responds in a low voice: "Mmm... I don¡ät know... it depends... how many gold coins it will cost me?" "Well, I know the risks involved in illegally trading medicine, so I''ll sell it to you for only fifteen gold coins." Rose says cunningly. Vei Dal responds immediately: "It is a deal." Of course, he accepts quickly, after all the same amount of high-level medicine would normally cost forty-five gold coins. After making the transaction, Vei Dal starts enrolling Thorn and Rose in the Mercenary''s Guild. Actually, the process is quite simple. They receive a sheet of paper where they have to answer some basic questions like name, age, cultivation, etc. In the final part of the sheet of paper there is a small rectangle where with one of their fingers they must release some of their Complex Energy, then in the rectangle, a unique pattern will appear. This pattern is known as Energy Signature. After this, they receive a card each, it is basically a license to be able to work as mercenary. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The Contract Hall of Mercenary''s Guild is the place where you go if you want to hire one or a group of mercenaries. To enter this hall you have to pay a gold coin. Once inside you will find several mercenaries sitting on different benches and at the side of each occupied bench, there will be a blackboard where the skills of the mercenaries sitting on that bench are written. Customers can find the mercenaries with the kind of skill they need, once they find what they are looking for, they could begin negotiating the job and the price of it with them. Thorn and Rose enter the Contract Hall. Thorn looks somewhat depressed and says after a deep sigh: "*Sigh*... I know it has not been the great thing... but... why do I keep feeling that you are using me as an object without considering my feelings? ..." "Mmm... it must be because I was using you as an object without considering your feelings..." Rose looks into his eyes feeling guilty and continues: "I''m sorry, it''s probably my habit as a princess... but believe me, I''m very grateful for all the help that you are giving me." Thorn smiles slightly when he hears Rose''s words. For some reason, her words bring him a feeling of comfort and accomplishment. They find an empty bench and sit down on it, after writing on the blackboard: Wind, special: Hide sound, smell and body heat. They were waiting for almost an hour. Then after reading the blackboard, a young dalmatian dog type monster human tells them: "I have a job for you guys." 7 A Breakthrough after a Million Years The whistling wind hits Rose''s face hard, while she holds onto Thorn''s shoulders. And he holds Lapi White, the dalmatian dog type monster human. They head to White Farm to destroy a vegetable monster that has been eating the farm crops. At late afternoon, they arrive at their destination. The White Farm has a white four-story building that the White family use as a home. On the sides of the building are large D-class zenanium pens. Inside these corrals, there are several domesticated monsters like chicken types, pig types, cow types, and sheep types. All these monsters are easy to tame because they can''t reach the Initial Awaken stage. Also in the distance there are the fields of wheat types, pea types, rice types, carrot types, vegetable monsters. In the same way, they are only vegetable monsters that can''t reach the Initial Awaken. As soon as Thorn descends in front of the door of the building, Rose leaves his back, and Lapi White says with a shout: "Dad, I have brought the mercenaries!" Even before he could finish talking, the door of the building opens and from it comes out a silver wolf type monster human. He comes out wearing a smile, and chuckling, he says: "Hojojojo... Welcome son, you''ve done a good job." He looks at Rose and Thorn, and says: "You must be the mercenaries that my son bought, my name is Lobup White. It''s a pleasure to meet you both." Laughing, Rose says: "My name is Rose, my sister''s name is Thorn. And the pleasure is ours, Mr. Lobup White." "Hojojojo... it is a surprise, usually mercenaries are not so polite hojojojo... Come in, Come in, surely you must be exhausted by the trip. For today you should rest and early tomorrow we will take care of that vegetable monster." Lobup White says as he makes a signal with his hand to show them the entrance to his house. They enter the building. Lobup White invites Thorn and Rose to dinner. They accept the invitation happily. At dinner, the White family is surprised by the way Thorn eat. At the end of the dinner, Lobup White guides Thorn and Rose to the guest room so they could spend the night there. The guest room is spacious and has a row of five beds. After entering, at the moment when they both are the only ones in the room, Thorn tells Rose: "I feel that today was the longest day of my life... with everything that has happened I haven''t even had the time to make my breakthrough..." She responds with envy in her eyes: "Can you make a breakthrough right now?" "Yes, the door is already there, I just have to go through It." he replies. "Good, go ahead and make your breakthrough, I will not let anyone interrupt you while you do it." Rose assures. Thorn proceeds to sit in lotus position on one of the beds. He closes his eyes and breathes deeply. Then he forms a mental connection with his Complex Energy body. Thorn''s mental body appears in a space of infinite darkness and in front of him is a green door with dark green lines through it, they give off the impression of veins. Thorn forms a fist and taps with it that door, immediately after the door shatters. Normally breaking this door takes a long time but Thorn''s current mental body is simply too powerful compared to the door to enter the Second Level Intermediate Awaken. After smashing the door, a passageway appears where Thorn''s mental body could fit. He enters that passageway and soon arrives at an immense room where a Thorn exuding a green aura was waiting for him. This green aura Thorn has the same strength and combat capability that Thorn had at the time he reached the First Level Intermediate Awaken. Green aura Thorn uses his Wind Type Awakened Skill to ascend 100 m in an instant, and he then nose-dives towards Thorn with his fist pointed at him. Thorn forms a claw with his hand and with extreme hatred, he looks at green aura Thorn, then mutters resentfully: "Because of your weakness, I had lost everything." Thorn then raises his clawed hand and moves his fingers so fast that they leave afterimages. Hundreds of wind blades come from Thorn''s fingers and go through green aura Thorn''s body. Tens of thousands of bits of green aura Thorn''s body rain down on Thorn''s body. He watches how the blood and flesh of his old self fall on him with a cold stare. While Thorn is making his breakthrough, Rose stares at Thorn, wondering: (How long will he take to breakthrough?) Usually, it takes hours to kill a version of yourself with the same level of cultivation. At that time when she did not stop making breakthroughs, she only needed twenty to thirty minutes and always she succeeded in the first attempt. Just that was incredible enough to render everyone in Clouds Cutter Castle speechless. Suddenly Rose feels that Thorn''s aura in Complex Energy turns to Second Level Intermediate Awaken aura. Rose''s eyes almost popped out of her sockets, she opens her mouth and says stuttering: "H-he had t-taken j-just... f-five seconds..." Thorn opens his eyes and observes Rose''s funny expression, then he says with a smile: "Do not be surprised so much by it... it was to be expected that it would not take me much time, after all, I had more than a million years to understand my Awakened Skill and to strengthen my mental body." "Oh... it''s true... you''re right..." Rose nods. "By the way, you mentioned that you had difficulties to breakthrough, what exactly is it all about?" He asks after remembering that he still did not know all the details of the situation of Rose''s cultivation. She makes a sad expression and says: "I''ve been stuck in the First Level Initial Awaken for twenty years now... I''ve tried a lot of methods but I still can''t see the door." Rose makes a self-mocking smile and continues: "I have not even been able to find out the reason why I''m stuck..." Thorn puts on a thoughtful expression and says: "So since you got your Awakened Skill you''ve been stuck... and even now you don''t know why... maybe..." he gives Rose a serious look and then he asks her: "Are you aware that your Awakened Skill is arrogant?" Upon hearing that question Rose is surprised by it and replies: "That can''t be possible. Arrogant Awakened Skills are irrationally powerful skills, for example, your skill to heal and become almost immortal or Lin the Lonely Adventurer''s skill that allows her to control gravity itself! How is it that possible that my skill could be at their same level!?" Thorn laughs and exclaims: "So that was the problem! I assure you, you have an Arrogant Awakened Skill!" Rose remains stiff for a few moments then asks after swallowing her saliva: "*Glup*... Why are you so sure about it?" "Because your skill is incredibly powerful." Thorn responds without hesitation. "Eh!? I know that my skill can be useful in certain circumstances but... incredibly powerful? "Rose says skeptically. Thorn nods and says: "It is... after all, it is only in its initial stage and yet it already encompasses three aspects that are the sound, heat, and smell." "But even so, it is weak¡­" Rose says dejectedly. "I can understand why you aren''t convinced by my words... it''s okay if you do not want to believe me, but at least try to believe that your skill is the best in the world to check whether my hypothesis is correct or not." Thorn advises as he lies on his bed and closes his eyes. "Mmm... it''s true that my skill is quite complex even though it is only in its initial stage... and if it''s as you say and my Awakened Skill is arrogant then it would make sense why I''m stuck... after all the Arrogant Awakened Skills have this small flaw that if its user is not convinced that his skill is the best skill in the world then the user get stuck in his/her cultivation... that''s why these kinds of skills are called ''arrogant''..."Rose says slowly. After contemplating her circumstances a bit more carefully, an expression of determination appears on Rose''s face, and then she smiles slightly and mutters: "You''re right. Anyway, what can I lose trying?" So she closes her eyes, breathes deeply and forms a connection with her Complex Energy body. Her mental body appears in an infinite darkness, but in contrast with Thorn, she can''t see any door. She begins to convince herself with all her strength: "My skill is the best skill in the world, my skill is the best skill in the world, my skill is the best skill in the world..." Very early, when the sky is still dark. Thorn wakes up and sees Rose sitting in lotus position with her eyes closed. He wonders: (Has she been like this all night? It seems she has not yet succeeded... I guess it''s not so easy to convince yourself of something you do not believe...) He stares at her peaceful and flawless face, and then he is dazed by her beauty. A few seconds later, he shakes his head and screams in his mind: (Concentrate on your goal!) Later they are called by Lobup White for breakfast. After breakfast Lobup White takes Thorn and Rose to one of his cultivation fields. This cultivation field is barren. Lobup White points to that barren field and says: "A week ago, this whole field was full of wheat type vegetable monsters that we were growing, but then, in a single night, it became what you are seeing. Since then, similar cases have occurred with other of our fields. We try to catch the culprit, but the most we accomplished was to discover that the culprit is a vegetable monster with an Earth Type Awakened Skill. That vegetable monster is a very sensitive one because as soon as we get slightly closer to it, it gets in the ground and then we can''t do anything to it." Lobup White extends his arms and says: "That''s why we were looking for someone with a skill related to stealth." After finish listening to Lobup White''s speech, Rose and Thorn look at each other and they found the worry on each other''s faces. They realized that although Rose can hide the sound, smell and heat of both Thorn and herself, the vegetable monster would feel them by Thorn''s First Level Intermediate Awaken aura in Mystical Energy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Outskirts of Lurep Village. Dani Zelu is standing with his arms crossed. Suddenly a red butterfly type monster appears out of thin air. Dani Zelu raises his palm. The red butterfly type monster lands on his palm and releases a small piece of paper. The red butterfly type monster takes flight, and a few moments later it disappears into thin air. Dani Zelu unrolls the small piece of paper and reads what is written on it: "I have confirmed that she has no protector. Capture her and bring her to my cabin on Nedu Lake." 8 The Wisp of Hope Thorn steps forward, and says: "I''ll explore the fields, perhaps I''ll find some clue to guess where will be the vegetable monster''s next attack." After saying this, he begins to explore the fields by flying. He took fifteen minutes to explore. While descending, he says to Lobup White: "I had found out its approximate location, and I think its cultivation is in the Fourth Level Intermediate Awaken." Lobup White is impressed by Thorn''s efficiency, so he compliments: "You''re awesome! In this short span of time you''ve found out all we need to ambush it!" He looks very excited because it seems that finally, he would be able to get rid of that vegetable monster. Rose, however, looks worried. She is thinking: (Fourth Level Intermediate Awaken¡­ if Thorn gets less than a kilometer from that vegetable monster, it will feel his aura. Also from a kilometer of distance Thorn''s wind blades won''t be able to hurt it because they''ll lose their ''sharpness'' through wind effects¡­) Thorn looks at such a concerned Rose. He can understand what is in her head, so he smiles: (If you comprehend the extent of my strength someday, your worries will disappear¡­ but this time, I can use this situation to comprehend the extent of your strength¡­) After thinking about this, Thorn says: "Mr. Lobup White, we will need your help to prepare the ambush. Once the ambush is ready, Rose will kill that vegetable monster!" "Eeehh!!??" Lobup White yells. "Eeh!?" Rose exclaims. Their surprise is understandable. After all, it is hard to believe that a cat can kill a lion, even if the lion is blind. "Could it be¡­ could it be that Miss Rose can''t hide the sounds, smell and heat of other individuals?" Lobup White asks cautiously. Actually Rose is very capable of doing that, but Lobup White''s misunderstanding is a great excuse, so thorn uses that excuse: "It is as you say, Mr. Lobup White." He then looks at Rose and asks: "what do you think?" Rose realizes that Thorn''s expression is way too calm. She ponders: (Are you trying to kill me? No, it is silly to do that at this point. Are you testing me? Probably. Are you training me? This may be the case¡­) Rose lets out a sigh. (In general vegetable monsters have a core, I just need to destroy its core to kill it. I have confidence in my knowledge of vegetable monsters, so I''m sure that once I see what kind of vegetable monster it is, I''ll know where its core is. Just one stab, just one, is all I need to kill it. So, my dear skill, do you want to make me believe that you are the best skill in the world? Here it is your chance!) With resolve, Rose looks at Thorn and says: "I will kill it!" Thorn''s heartbeats quickened by such a Rose. He then smiles and says strongly: "Good! Let''s begin the preparations!" They are led by Thorn to where the vegetable monster''s approximate position is at. After arriving at that location, they gather the domesticated vegetable monsters in the same place. Afterward Thorn and Lobup White leave Rose alone on that place. Thorn and Lobup White are standing two kilometers from Rose. After some time, Lobup White can''t hold himself back anymore and nervously asks: "Will she be¡­ alright?" Without stop looking at Rose, Thorn nonchalantly answers: "Yes, she will be." (After all, if she is in danger, I''ll rescue her. But, Rose, you must have the strength to do at least this much, otherwise, you won''t be able to help me to destroy this world!) Thorn affirms in his mind with a solemn face. Calmly, Rose sits on the ground and waits for the vegetable monster to come. She awaits hiding her smell, her heat body and the sounds around her. She very patiently awaits, and awaits¡­ an hour¡­ two hours¡­ three hours. Until the earth under the great pile of domesticated vegetable monsters begins to shake. Feeling this vibration, she slowly stands up while toughly grasping her dagger. At first, a red flower comes out from the ground, soon tick thorny branches also comes out. Quickly these tick thorny branches surround the domesticated vegetable monsters, and all of a sudden, their thorns enlarges to perforate the domesticated vegetable monsters. These thorns begin to devour the defenseless domesticated vegetable monsters. "Auu¡­ auuu¡­" "Ouaa¡­ ouaaa¡­" "Yiiii¡­ yiiiiiiii¡­" The painful cries of the domesticated vegetable monsters echo in Rose''s ears. This sound wakes her up from her stupor, it happened that she had been frozen after seeing the appearance of this vegetable monster. This is because this enemy is a rose type vegetable monster! Of course, she wasn''t surprised by just its name but was by the fact that rose type vegetable monsters are one of the very few and rare vegetable monsters that have two cores! And she has just one dagger! Thorn also know that rose type vegetable monsters have two cores, so when he saw it, he too was surprised by it. Thorn wonders: (So what will you do now, Rose?) Suddenly, Rose drops her dagger. A disappointed Lobup White asks: "Is she giving in?" Thorn smiles and answers with a question: "Is that the face of someone that is giving in?" "Mmm!?" Lobup White looks at Rose. What he witnesses is Rose slowly walking towards the main body of the rose type vegetable monster. She wears on her face a look that says ''you are my prey!''. Rose carefully dodges its thorns. She very soon is a meter from her prey. Its main body is where its flower and its two cores are. One of its cores is within its flower, the other one is within the branch that holds its flower. Rose must destroy its two cores at the same time, otherwise, the rose type vegetable monster will have the opportunity to counter. Being before her target, Rose says in her mind: (For twenty years I''ve been training hard, really hard, always pushing myself beyond my limits. The sweat and blood that I had shed, the times that I had shattered my bones, the burning pain in my head that I felt every day after squeezing my brain to bring out hundreds of ideas to make my blows faster, and stronger. All that! The solely purpose of all that! Was to get the strength to smash down every single thing that will dare to stand in my way to my dream!) Rose raises her hands until they''re about chest high. Her eyes blazing: (I am sorry but I won''t let anything stop me, not even for a day! Nor you, puny flower, nor myself, not anymore. Do I have to think that my skill is the best skill in the world? It is a piece of cake! If I have to think that I am a pig then I''ll be a pig! Whatever the cost, I am going forward!) In this instant, her knife hands begins her attack. She steps forward, and she circulates all the Complex Energy that her body can bear and a little more. She then star to stab with her hands towards its two cores. She uses every single muscle in her body to do so, even the impulse of her heartbeat. This martial art that she is using was created by her, and it still don''t have a name, because she had been improving and changing it bit by bit, it is a martial art that isn''t finished yet, and probably never will be, after all there is no limit to how strong a martial art will get. But even that being the case, and even though Rose is unaware of this, right now, this nameless martial art is the quickest, the strongest, the most beautiful and the most perfect martial art that this world has seen. In just an instant, her knife hands penetrate the wood and flowers of the off-guard rose type vegetable monster, and they then break both of its two cores at exactly the same time. Before it dies, the rose type vegetable monster didn''t have the time to make the slightest of the resistance, it just became motionless before falling apart. "Haa¡­ ha¡­ haa¡­" Rose is grasping for breath, her entire body is trembling with pain, all her bones are on the verge of breaking, most of her muscles have been torn apart and her blood is coming out of her nose, ears, mouth, and eyes. But even so, there is a smile on her face: (I did it! I did it! I killed a Fourth Level Intermediate Awaken! Perhaps¡­ just perhaps, my skill is really the best skill in the world--) *Boom!* Abruptly, an explosion sound comes from within Rose''s Complex Energy body, it is a sound that only Rose can ear. After that she stays stiff, shocked by what her own senses are telling her. Because at this moment she is feeling that inside of her there is the door to a breakthrough! Without giving any heed to her surroundings, she closes her eyes and forms a connection with her Complex Energy body. Her mental body appears in that dark space, and there it is, her crystal door which is releasing a gentle white light. That familiar, unique and precious door that she had missed for twenty years now. Afraid of losing this opportunity she hastily punches that door, her skin just taps the door and it shatters. She is startled by the fragileness of the door, but she doesn''t waste time thinking about it, she starts to run wildly through the passageway that has just popped up. In less than a second, she is already in the same room as her ten year old self. Her old self from twenty years ago. Her loli self, looking like a six years old little girl, is releasing a gentle white aura. Despite being a little girl of unbelievable beauty releasing a gentle white aura, she is still failing to look innocent because of her eyes, her cold and lonely eyes. Seeing Rose running towards her, that loli begins to prepare herself to punch. Rose makes a quick footwork and appears behind her loli self, then, without letting the loli to react, she stabs her index finger into the back of the loli''s neck. She destroys in this way the loli''s medulla oblongata, which is the part of the brain that contains the cardiac, respiratory, vomiting and vasomotor centers and therefore deals with the autonomic functions of breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. Rose mumbles softly: "Don''t worry, unhappy little girl, soon you too will find a purpose in life." Rose''s eyes then open! Incredible as it is, they had been closed for just three seconds! More important, now her aura is in the Second Level Initial Awaken! She feels her own aura and then just breaths deeply. At this time her body not only is trembling because of pain but also because of indescribable emotions. Her eyes get wet, and her tears blend with her blood: (At last! At last, there is a wisp of hope. The first real wisp of hope to reach my dream! I''ll be able to become stronger, and also it seems that I have an Arrogant Awakened Skill! So I''ll have the strength to keep Thorn by my side, I''ll have the strength to protect, and I''ll have the strength to fight¡­ it finally showed up¡­ my first wisp of hope¡­) She remains standing in the same place, silently crying. Thorn and Lobup White are flying towards Rose, feeling her Second Level Initial Awaken aura and also feeling extremely dazed. They just had been witnesses of her magnificent martial art, which she had used to kill that Fourth Level Intermediate Awaken rose type vegetable monster even though she was only in the First Level Initial Awaken, and then they had seen how she had a breakthrough in such a short period of time. After reaching a distance of three meters from Rose, they stop moving and just keep on looking at her solitary silhouette. They are stunned by the sight of the standing and crying Rose. This is not because it is a woman crying, they have seen a woman crying before, and that won''t stun them anymore. The reason is the unbelievable contrast between her appearance and her aura. Her appearance is that of an ordinary girl while crying, too defenseless and too fragile, but her aura is so oppressive and so immense. Right now she is giving off the feeling of invincibility. 9 I Canst Just Die In the dining room of the White family. Rose, Thorn and the entire White family are feasting, eating and drinking cheerfully. On the side of the dining room, on a platform, there is the corpse of the rose type vegetable monster, exhibiting itself as a trophy. "That was a really big surprise! I didn''t know before that there is such a powerful martial art on the world!" Lobup White laughs as he holds a pitcher of grape juice. "I didn''t know it either! Rose, why didn''t you tell me that you are very good at hand-to-hand combat!?" Thorn asks seriously curious about that. Rose takes a sip of the drink from a cup full of Thorn''s blood, then says proudly showing her blood-stained teeth: "What can I say? The issue of it simply did not arise. Hahahaha... And of course it is a powerful martial art, after all, it is my creation! Hahahaha..." "Your creation!?" Thorn and Lobup White exclaims spitting out the drinks they were drinking. "Hahahahaha... Your faces are so funny! Is it really that big of a deal? Hahahaha¡­" Rose laughs so hard that begins to clutch her stomach. They spend a good time celebrating and laughing. Later, when they finish having lunch, Lobup White gives a pouch to Rose in which there are twenty gold coins, and he thanks her deeply for her hard work. Having finished everything they had to do here, Rose and Thorn say goodbye to the White family. Rose rides on Thorn''s back, and he starts to fly towards Lurep Village. They then appreciate the beautiful landscape of mountains, meadows, and lakes quietly for quite some time. Until they see in the distance another flying being approaching them. Soon they catch sight of it, it is a dullahan and its light jet black smoke cloud have a shape of three horizontal little rods, he is wearing a black armor with green and red patterns, and he releases a Third Level Full Awaken aura. The dullahan stops in front of them, Thorn also stops and frowns, then Rose exclaims: "You are Dani Zelu, aren''t you!? What are you doing on a place like this!?" "Mmm? Is he an acquaintance of yours?" Thorn asks tilting his head. Rose accounts: "It''s someone I saw a couple of times in the castle, he''s a member of the Zelu family, the blacksmith family, one of the Four Great Families of The Broken Earth Kingdom." Dani Zelu says courteously: "It is a real honor, I wasn''t expecting that Princess Rose could remember who I am. That''s right, I am Dani Zelu. I wonder what is your friend''s name?" "He is Thorn, only Thorn. As for princess, I''m not one anymore. Anyway, what brings you until here?" Rose asks as several possibilities arise in her head. Dani Zelu responds patiently: "I have been sent by the queen to look for you. Inquiring I found out that you had taken a ship to Lurep Village. Very early today I arrived at the village and then I asked around its entrances, so I found out that yesterday you had left the village and that you came in this direction. I didn''t know how long it would take to you to return to Lurep Village or if you were actually going to return, so I decided to fly in the direction you had left... and here I am, it seems that I am very lucky because I had found you pretty fast. Hahahaha..." "Oh... interesting... have you brought a message from my mother or something?" Rose asks another question. "Yes, she told me to tell you: I need to talk with you, come to Nedu Lake. Dani Zelu is a faithful pawn of mine, he will escort you safely to Nedu Lake." Dani Zelu says looking very proud of being called ''faithful pawn'' by the queen. "I see!" Rose says smiling as she nods, and then slaps gently Thorn''s head: "Hey Thorn, follow Dani." "Sure, but how far is that Nedu Lake? You know, I''ve eaten a lot so I probably will need a toilet later." Thorn replies casually. When Dani Zelu listens to this, he feels that the picture of Thorn is very bizarre: (she has a lovely and sweet voice... but her demeanor is totally manly...) Rose answers to Thorn: "At your usual speed, it will take us almost twenty days to arrive there. But, I guess we''ll make some stops on the way through..." "Ugh... Rose, would you mind if I just fly a hundred times faster?" Thorn asks calmly as if what he just said were not the big deal. (This guy... As I thought, he was too calm... With such speed, he could have taken care of the rose type vegetable monster easily...). Rose thinks and then says: "Mmm... I feel that if one of these days you tell me that you can become a hundred-meter-tall giant, I will not be surprised by it." Rose responds somewhat tiredly, and she nods: "If you protect me from the wind, I''ll be fine." Afterward, she points with one of her fingers to the southeast: "Nedu Lake is over there." Meanwhile, Dani Zelu realizes: (... What did they just said? Twenty days... a hundred times faster... a speed to get to Nedu Lake in a fifth of a day? What a ridicul--! Eeh!?) *BOOOOOM!!!* Before Dani Zelu can react, Thorn grabs his hand with his left hand and uses his Awakened Skill to wrap the three of them in a layer of air, immediately afterward he begins to fly at more than four times the speed of sound! That action creates a dreadful explosion of air that slightly shook the mountain that was below them. This makes Dani Zelu utterly speechless, and his light jet black smoke cloud that has a shape of three horizontal little rods shudder. He''s feeling fear: (Such level of understanding of the wind! How could such a height exist!?) Of course, Dani Zelu is scared out of his wit by this, after all, he is also a user of the wind type skill and despite being in the Third Level Full Awaken, he could not reach even the speed of sound, he is very close to reaching it but he still can''t reach it. So how could he not be frightened when he is seeing someone who is more than two stages lower than himself but still can fly at four times the speed of sound even though that someone is carrying two other people!? It is just too difficult for him to believe what is happening around of him right now. But then suddenly, after only five seconds of having been traveling at a supersonic speed, Thorn uses his index finger of his right hand to create a wind bullet, which in an instant he shoots into the throat of the confused Dani Zelu. The wind bullet then goes through Dani Zelu''s liver, kidney, and intestines. *Puuunnmmm!!!* The sound of the impact of Dani Zelu''s body with a prairie reverberates loudly at the same time that Thorn stops flying. Rose sees how all this happens without changing her expression, obviously, she had already deduced that something like this was going to happen. Trembling, the startled Dani Zelu stands up slowly while thinking at full speed: (Damn, they have discovered my facade too fast! I don''t have the time to think about how they did it! Right now I need to focus on searching a way out of this situation...!) At this moment he has discovered that Thorn is much stronger and much more cunning than himself, so he understands that his only chance to get out alive is by escaping, of course, conventional methods would not work. If it turns into a race, he would have no chance. If he tries to negotiate, the other party will not forgive him because he has lied to them before. (There are no other options now, I have to make a bet with my life!) Dani Zelu concludes with resolution. "Tsk! He is still alive... It seems that I need training urgently, I am just too rusty..." Thorn says in a bad mood. Dani Zelu raises his arms and points his palms towards Thorn, then very soon from his palms originates an immense column of fire that envelops Thorn and Rose in an instant! This technique is a combination of two Awakened Skills: The wind type and the fire type. It happens that the Dullahan''s Racial Skill is the power to awake two skills! While using all his Complex Energy to maintain the column of fire, Dani Zelu uses the ankle of his right leg to bring out a capsule from a compartment of his armor belt. The capsule rises slightly, and it then begins to fall, he takes a step back quickly and then gives a blow with his left knee to the capsule. This causes the capsule to travel a parabolic trajectory that ends up entering in Dani Zelu''s throat. Inside the burning column of fire, Thorn is squatted and has both of his palms in front of him, which are creating a complex barrier of air. Being crouched he reduces the area he has to protect, and the reason why he didn''t decide to try to dodge the attack is because he knew that although he could easily achieve it, his opponent could simply change the trajectory of the fire column as easily as moving his palms. So he decided to concentrate on the defense. Rose, who is holding herself on to Thorn''s back and has her legs around Thorn''s waist, looks around impressed. She is really impressed, after all, even though she is surrounded by bright and burning crimson flames, she isn''t feeling excessively hot but actually, she feels a refreshing breeze passing through her skin. This breeze makes her red hair flutter faintly, hair that for instants seems fiercer than the flames themselves. Almost half a minute after the fire column appeared, it begins to fade away little by little. Thorn''s slightly burned palms appear in Dani Zelu''s field of vision, but those palms do not remain burned for a long time, presently they start to heal, and, in the blink of an eye, they return to their unharmed state. Dani Zelu has been surprised immensely twice in this short span of time, but this third surprise, the surprise he is getting when seeing the scene of Thorn''s palms healing, is the biggest one: (He just use Mystical Energy to heal himself!!??) While Dani Zelu is feeling the greatest shock he has ever felt in his life, Thorn, who deliberately had cured his palms at that moment to distract Dani Zelu, flies at a supersonic speed, and in a third of the time it takes to blink, he stops over Dani Zelu. Without wasting time Thorn fires another wind bullet into Dani Zelu''s neck. This time, the bullet goes through Dani Zelu''s heart. *Punm* The lifeless body of Dani Zelu falls to the ground, and without further surprises, blood begins to flow out from his neck. Rose gets off from Thorn''s back, she then lands on the prairie, and, clenching her head because she is feeling somewhat dizzy, she says: "t-that abrupt movement just now has shaken my brain and my other organs really hard..." "Ah¡­ I''m so sorry¡­ I got carried away by the heat of the moment." Thorn apologizes blushing. After a few seconds, Rose recovers from this bout of dizziness, and she says: "well, don''t worry, I think I''ll be alright¡­ Oh! Hehehehe¡­" She approaches Dani Zelu''s dead body while having a big smile on her face and her eyes burning with desire, then without hesitation, she begins to take out his armor from his corpse. Of course, she is not into the necrophilia thing but she is picking up the spoils of war cheerfully because she needs a lot of money right now. While she does that, she says: "When you gave to us such a silly reason to show your strength, I presumed that you had noticed that Dani Zelu was lying and you wanted to ambush him at close range at the moment he were distracted thinking about the astonishing feat that is your understanding of the wind. But I didn''t see you using your Racial Skill at any time, so... how did you realize that he was lying? It was easy for me to do it because I understand very well my mother''s character... but you know nothing about my mother''s personality nor you know how things work in the Clouds Cutter Castle... that''s why I am curious about how you could have found out that Dani Zelu was an enemy even without using your Racial Skill¡­" Thorn says as his blush becomes deeper: "Yesterday when we were entering in Lurep Village, although it seemed that I was quite calm on the surface, actually, inside, I was very excited, so much that my eyes couldn''t help but look around earnestly, and I carefully memorized all the details of what I saw. At that time, for just a moment, in the distance, I saw Dani Zelu. However he has said that he had arrived at Lurep Village today, so I assumed he wanted to hide the fact that he was following you." Thorn stops speaking for a moment, and continues with a serious look on his face: "Besides, it''s irrational for your mother to have asked him to protect you secretly and to hide from you the fact that he was doing so, after all, his behavior wasn''t the behavior of someone who was protecting you from the shadows... but rather it was the behavior of someone watching you from afar, and just watching over you, not protecting you... I also took into consideration the fact that he waited until this moment to act. Then there''s also the fact that he did not intend to kill you, rather he wanted to take you somewhere through deception." Thorn raises his right index finger as he smiles and says proudly: "So I came to the conclusion that he was following and watching you find out whether or not you have someone protecting you from the shadows, and when he discovered that you haven''t, he acted and tried to kidnap you! After all, you were a princess, so it would not be a surprise if a few criminals popped up to try to take advantage of the powerless you." When Thorn finishes his explanation, Rose also finishes collecting everything of value from Dani Zelu''s body. Actually, she left his corpse with only his underwear. At that moment she says calmly: "¡­ Oh... yes, thanks for the long speech but¡­ you just needed to tell me that yesterday you saw him, with that I would have understood everything¡­" Thorn crosses his arms and grimaces angrily due to Rose''s unmotivated response. Seeing this, Rose recognizes that she has hurt his feelings, so, in a hurry, she raises her thumb and says smiling nervously: "b-but you are really amazing! Your speed to think has left me completely impressed!" After a few moments, Rose realizes that what she has said just now could not be considered a good compliment, and exclaims shaking her hands: "But! I mean, I''m not that impressed by it! After all, I already knew you''re smart!" With his mouth slightly opened, Thorn motionlessly looks at Rose while she is justifying herself, after some silence, he says: "Yes, yes... let''s just get out of here, okay?" "No. Wait a moment! Don''t you think that we should at least hide his corpse?" Rose asks while she points at Dani Zelu''s body. Shrugging, Thorn says: "well, I suppose so." He then digs with his bare hands on the place where Dani Zelu had crashed when he fired his first wind bullet. Soon he creates a ten-meter deep hole, in which he buries the body of Dani Zelu. Afterward, Thorn flattens the floor with his feet. "Very well, I doubt that someone could find his body easily..." Thorn says nodding and shaking off the dust from his hands. "Mmm... if Dani Zelu has been sent by someone to kidnap me, when that someone finds out that Dani Zelu has disappeared, at that moment he or she will not have the guts to try to kidnap me again because he or she will assume that I actually have someone who is protecting me from the shadows..." Rose thinks out loud. After Rose climbs on Thorn''s back, they fly to Lurep Village with no further worries. Currently, even though Dani Zelu is dead, his Third Level Full Awaken aura can be felt. This is because his Complex Energy body has not died, yet. Since he has not yet stepped on the Essence Metamorphosis stage, for his Complex Energy body to die, first his mental body has to die, and for his mental body to die, a certain period of time must have elapsed since his body of flesh has died. This period of time depends on the strength of the mental body, the weakest ones last only about five seconds, the strongest ones, on the other hand, last up to ten minutes. It has been only six minutes since Dani Zelu''s body of flesh has died when the capsule that he has swallowed starts to leak out some black liquid. It is a top-level medicine. The medicine runs through Dani Zelu''s body as if it were alive, and in just a minute it manages to heal all his internal wounds, soon his heart begins to beat strongly. And finally, he awakens. *fumm!* Dani Zelu leaves the hole in which he had been buried, and he then murmurs emotionally: "¡­ I can''t just die¡­" 10 Caroline Darrel *Tabdak!* *Tabdak!* *Tabdak!* *Tabdak!* *Tabdak!*¡­! Under the awe-inspiring lights of the starts; four black horse type monsters, all of them having scarlet glowing eyes, are running powerfully and side by side in a row, at a speed of 80 km/h on a silver E-class zenanium road. They are pulling a 4 m x 9 m red and white D-class zenanium carriage of eight wheels. Even though it seems impressive as a mean of transport, in this world, it is just one of the poorest ones. Within the carriage, there are fifteen individuals including the driver, who is an old goblin, and two mercenary escorts, both of them middle-aged war elves. The escorts are in the early Intermediate Awaken stage, and everybody else is in the early Initial Awaken stage or in the Without Awaken stage. There are four humans, two monster humans, three gargoyles and three gorgons amongst the passengers. The gorgons all have the same kind of snake on their heads: The white snake; and as their white snakes, their eyes are entirely black, too. Of course, they share similar characteristics because the three of them are members of the same family, the Darrel family. They are: Cara Darrel, a 30-year-old-looking middle-aged female, she is a peaceful mother who always awaits his husband to come back home from the war; the next is Kawan Darrel, an 18-year-old-loking young male, he is the kind of person who wears a consistent and gentle smile even in the darkest days, but he isn''t just an optimistic fool, he does it because he wants to make his mother and his sister feel that everything will be alright just as his father did at all times when he was with them; and the last is Caroline Darrel, she looks like an 8-year-old girl and she is an 8-year-old girl, her cultivation is in the Third Level Without Awaken stage, and the word that describes her the most is ''shy'', because she loves to live within her own world and hates to talk with everybody but herself and her family. Kawan Darrel looks at his two blood relatives and sees the tiredness in them, thus he says, smiling as ever: "Don''t worry, we''ll stop to rest very soon." Cara Darrel smiles softly and says turning her concerned gaze to her daughter: "Luckily, yes. Caroline is still too young and too weak, she must be the most tired of all us after traveling for three days straight from Stormy Cloud City." Feeling the vibration of the carriage under the loud horse type monsters galloping sounds, and wearing a simple black one-piece dress, Caroline Darrel just keeps on staring at the immense night sky through the window silently, expressionlessly, and with large and deep bags under her eyes. Kawan Darrel speaks again happily: "At least the trip was worth it, after all the wedding of the aunt Ellen Darrel was just wonderful." "It''s true, it was." Cara Darrel says recalling pleased. Even Caroline Darrel slightly nods at the words of her brother. A while later, the horse type monsters slow down and get off the road. Shortly, the carriage stops on a grassland covered by a few trees of harmless eucalyptus type vegetable monsters. The old goblin driver gets off the carriage and begins to take care of the horse type monsters, while everybody else starts to set up their camps. Once the camp of the gorgons is ready, Caroline Darrel let her body fall on a blanket, and in no time she falls asleep, and even all her little and cute white snakes fall asleep at the same time as her. Cara Darrel and Kawan Darrel can''t help chuckle at this sight, and soon they also lay down to sleep. After finish feeding the horse type monsters, which are creatures in the Fourth Level Initial Awaken stage and have the Steady Gallop Racial Skill, the old goblin driver says to the mercenary escorts: "Robert, Daniel you both won''t fall asleep, right?" Robert, the taller war elf, responds seriously: "Of course. We had taken turns to sleep in the carriage through the trip, that''s why we''ll be alright." Daniel adds tapping the small shoulder of the old goblin: "You don''t have to worry, we are very competent mercenaries! I assure you that no matter what we absolutely won''t fall asleep!" Seeing the confident gazes of these war elves, the old goblin nods and says: "Alright then, I''ll go to sleep calmly." And as he finishes speaking, he gets in the carriage to sleep in his little bed. The mercenaries sit by the side of the improvised encampment and start to talk of random stuff while doing their job. And like that, two hours pass without any issues. At that moment within the tent of the Darrel family, a pair of eyes open weakly. (I need to piss¡­) Caroline Darrel says in her mind sulking. She gets up and looks at her mother and brother. (I should be careful to not wake them. They had been worried about me but they must be really tired as well.) She comes out from her camp and walks toward a region slightly more occupied by eucalyptus type vegetable monsters than other surrounded regions. Obviously, Robert and Daniel notice this and they exchange looks, they found a severe expression on each other''s face, their eyes showing fighting spirit. In the blink of an eye, they raise their right fists and start a wild competition of rock-paper-scissors. After eighty-nine superfast bouts, in the end, Daniel breaks the constant flow of draws with scissors. "Je." Daniel utters a single ''je'' with a half-smile, he then follows Caroline Darrel. Robert lifts his eyes up and listless sighs: "*Sigh*¡­ What a boring job¡­" Caroline Darrel feels someone following her, so she stops and turns to face at Daniel. He also stops and asks: "What''s wrong?" She lowers her head and says timidly: "¡­ Don''t follow me¡­" Then she runs toward where she was heading to. Daniel remains without knowing what to do for a while, finally, he shrugs and returns with Robert. "Hahaha¡­ it seems the girl feels safer alone than being with you." Robert says laughing at the depressed Daniel. In response to this, Daniel grabs a stone from the ground and throws it at Robert while whispering angrily: "If you can''t shut up, just put this stone in your throat, you fucker. There are a lot of sleeping folks around us¡­" Blushing, Caroline Darrel keeps running. *Sigh* *sigh!* *sigh* *sigh!*¡­ And after near three kilometers, panting, she stops. (¡­ I think I have exaggerated a little with the running¡­) Before long, she finishes what she wanted to do, and starts to walk slowly toward the encampment. On the way, she feels the fragrant and fresh smell of the eucalyptus type vegetable monsters, and after walking for a short while, she begins to feel sleepy. Although she tries to not fall asleep with all her willpower, soon, she drifts into sleep. Her body then hits the grassy ground, and the fall, rather than waking her up, it gives her a soft bed to sleep more comfortably. Meanwhile, a few kilometers from the campsite, seven characters wearing deep green capes are standing and observing at the war elf mercenaries. They are middle-aged individuals, and they are in the mid Intermediate Awaken stage. The leader is a 40-year-old-looking elemental elf, and due to his Awakened Skill being earth type his hair and eyes are yellow. He is holding a portable telescope, which he is using to stare at Robert and Daniel. "This is perfect. Let''s get this done." The leader says and nods at a bald human. After receiving the authorization, the bald human opens his mouth wide and uses his Special Awakened Skill. Afterward, from his mouth comes out a colorless and odorless gas, which is transported by the whistling wind toward the encampment. Robert and Daniel are sitting silently, and they are quite angry with each other, especially Robert who has a bump on his forehead. Suddenly, Robert realizes that Daniel is drowsy, then a light of an idea pass through his eyes. He quickly and silently grabs a stone, of course, bigger than the stone Daniel used to hit him, and he then strikes Daniel with it. The blow sends Daniel flying straight to almost eight meters away. "You seemed so sleepy, I had no choice." Robert says shaking his head, and without hiding his happy expression. "Hejeje¡­ jeje¡­ jejejeje¡­ Don''t worry about it. It was my fault, I was supposed to be focused on my surroundings." Daniel says while returning staggering to where he was sited. After some minutes of time, even though Robert is trying really, really hard to not lose his awareness, he still closes his eyes for more than an entire second. Obviously, immediately afterward, a rock smashes his face heavily. In this way, they forget the purpose of being in this place, and simply they just keep watch over each other with bloodshot eyes, and at the moment someone is about to fall asleep, the other one mercilessly throws a rock at that someone. This doesn''t last for long because the point comes where they are about to fall asleep at the same time, so they just nod off. Once this happens, the seven beings that were watching them come close to the encampment. The leader glares at the swallowed faces of Robert and Daniel, and says snorting coldly: "How was it possible for such a pair of morons to reach the early Intermediate Awaken stage?" The gas that the bald human has released was actually a powerful sleeping gas! Without delay, two of the seven put Robert and Daniel in sacks, while the bald human takes out a dagger. Almost immediately, he uses that dagger to chop a tent, and then he uses his Special Awakened Skill to make the sleep of the gargoyles inside the tent deeper. After doing this, he goes to another tent to do the same. The others just concentrate their efforts on putting the sleeping beings in sacks. In no time, there are fourteen sacks with someone in each of them. "Our boss will be very satisfied with this quantity of ''food''. Fellow bastards, time to return." The leader says. They then swiftly disappear in the distance. Some hours pass. At that point in time, one of Caroline Darrel''s little snakes wakes up leisurely. Seeing that everybody else is sleeping, that snake decides to bite softly the nose of its owner. This action causes Caroline Darrel''s eyes to abruptly open. She exclaims inwardly: (Where am I!?) She stands up anxiously, and cautiously looks at her surroundings. (Oh, I was¡­) After seeing the eucalyptus type vegetable monsters around her, she quickly remembers how she got here. (I have to get back to the camp.) She thinks. Shortly after, she is surprised: (Where those mercenary escorts went? Are they slacking off on their job?) She reaches her tent, and, at that moment, her body freezes. And mutters in her head: (It is empty¡­) She quickly search through the entire encampment and after a while, she finds no one, just empty tents. She ponders frowning: (Is this some kind of joke? Or perhaps¡­ am I still dreaming?) After a few minutes of time without finding any signs of this being a dream, she inspects the tents again, and by doing this, she discovers a suspicious cut in each tent. *Sigh*... She sighs deeply fondling her own forehead, and wonders about: (What is going on?) The more she thinks about it the more horrific assumptions she makes. In the end, she just keeps standing there, looking at the empty tent her family used, and, inevitably, tears begin to flow out from her eyes. And an instant later, her little snakes star to cry as well. The thought of losing forever her most beloved family assaults her, and it cruelly drills a heart-shattering pain direct into her soul. 11 The Reques It is morning in Lurep Village. Rose and Thorn are heading to a branch of Zelu''s Blacksmiths to sell Dani Zelu''s armor. Besides his armor, he had 230 gold coins with him. Evidently, Rose is happy about this, considering that these spoils of war will speed up her plans by a few weeks of time. "You''ll have enough money after selling that armor?" Thorn asks. After remembering how many gold coins she has to accumulate, Rose responds somewhat downcast: "I wish it could be that cheap to contract a great ship designer. *Sigh*¡­ We need at least 50 000 gold coins¡­" "50 000 gold coins. We''ve received just 20 gold coins for a day of job¡­ It will take us quite some time to reunite such quantity¡­" Thorn says calmly, he actually doesn''t mind it. They arrive at a beautiful eight stories high building that has the shape of the torso of an impressive white armor, and they go directly at the eighth floor because, in the eighth floor, there are the best blacksmiths of Lurep Village. Once there, they choose a random shop and go into it. The shop isn''t that big but it is full of B-class zenanium suits, armors, and weapons. In it could be found suitable equipment for any Civilized Race. The owner of the shop is a dullahan blacksmith who is wearing blacksmith clothes, and his light jet black smoke cloud has the shape of the plus sign. Seeing that some customers have entered his shop, he says with the characteristic dullahan''s vibrating voice: "Welcome to Tom Zelu''s Shop, are you searching for something in particular?" "Well, actually we just want to sell this." Thorn says giving a big sack to Tom Zelu. This doesn''t surprise him, there is a lot of occasions where something like this happens. After placing the content of the sack on a table, he inspects carefully the armor that appears before him. A while later he says impressed: "A noteworthy A-class zenanium armor in perfect conditions, this is a rare sight in Lurep Village." "How much are you willing to pay for it?" Rose asks with a businesslike expression on her face. "Umm¡­ before that, I need to ask, why there is a blood stain on the armor?" The shop owner asks nonchalantly while pointing at a very small red mark that the armor has. Without losing her cool, Rose says: "Oh, there is indeed." Then she puts on a thoughtful expression: "What could it be¡­? Oh! Perhaps¡­" She quickly grabs Thorn''s hand and secretly uses her nail to cause him a tiny wound in one of his fingers. "Just as I thought! You must have hurt yourself by accident when you put the armor in the sack!" Rose exclaims, and then she turns her gaze toward Tom Zelu, and says smiling innocently: "Well, mystery solved!" Tom Zelu: (To who is this woman trying to deceive!? Really what a shameless scoundrel! Is she looking down on my brain? Is she actually looking down on my brain!? Hehehe¡­ She doesn''t need to recur to such means! Because doesn''t matter where they have got this armor since I have the Zelu family backing me! So whatever its provenance is, there shouldn''t be any issues if I just buy it¡­ Unless that this armor belonged to a Zelu family member, but that is impossible, after all, how could they have the guts to rob and offend the Zelu family, and above all, the guts to sell what they robbed from the Zelu family in the Zelu family''s territory! Jajajaja there is not enough courage in the world to do such a thing, not with that pathetic level of cultivation of them!) After thinking up to this point, he says: "I''ll be fair, 500 gold coins. I won''t pay more than that." "Ok, yes, it is fair enough to me." Rose doesn''t bargain because she has grasped that her lame excuse has been seen through it with ease. She takes the money and without looking back, she gets away from the shop with Thorn. After some time of walking, Thorn can''t hold his curiosity back anymore and asks: "Why was he wearing blacksmith clothes? I mean, it is just a shop and not a blacksmith factory." "Ah, it comes with the job. Usually, the customers have the preference to buy their equipment from someone wearing blacksmith clothes rather than from someone wearing another kind of clothes." Rose responds showing off her knowledge. Thorn says smiling: "Oh! It makes sense." But then he frowns: "Wait a moment, doesn''t that means that he uses devious psychological tricks to sell his goods? Humph! What a shameless scoundrel!" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Lurep Village''s Library The name of the elderly gargoyle librarian who wears a white librarian uniform, the gargoyle which attended Rose some days ago, is Blan Ton. He is sited at a chair reading a fist-thick book with the demeanor of a sage. "Hello." Suddenly, a voice interrupts his concentration. He cast his gaze upward slowly. (Oh, she is that girl from a few days ago. Mmm!? Second Level Initial Awaken!?) Chuckling, he says: "Hehehe¡­ Hello. It seems that you manage to breakthrough, congratulations!" Of course, that girl is Rose, and Thorn is by her side. She beams proudly: "Well, actually it was very easy. Hahaha¡­" "Was¡­ it?" Thorn murmurs indolently. At that moment, Rose puts on a solemn face: "Anyway, today I am here to buy a copy of The Mountain of Rose, by Lin the Lonely Adventurer." "Mmm? There was a book by Lin the Lonely Adventurer with that name¡­? Wait here please, I''ll go to look for it." Blan Ton then walks to the stairs that go at the underground of the library. Within the underground of the library, there are copies of every single book that the library has. After walking for some time flanked by immense bookshelves, he finally finds the book Rose is searching for. "It truly exists! It seems that I am a big shame as a librarian!" He critics himself, feeling incompetent. It must be known that Lin the Lonely Adventurer is one of the top three best writers of this era, so his feelings are well-founded. He grabs the book and immediately after that, his hands start to quiver. This is because the book has a blue mark of a feather on it. That mark means ''there is a request from the author regarding this book''. "A request from Lin the Lonely Adventurer!" He exclaims, loosing completely his demeanor of a sage. He then starts to run wildly toward a classified room of the library. With his speed, he reaches that room promptly. The room is full of neatly arranged big boxes, and a pair of numbers are inscribed on every box, in this way: 348 598 to 489 232. He looks at the blue mark on the book and sees on the feather a number: "6 238 724!" He then searches for the box he needs right now. Soon, he finds the box and opens it. Inside it, there are D-class zenanium papers. After a while, he pulls the 6 238 724 paper out of the box and earnestly reads it. Written on it is: "I am leaving my Energy Signature on this note, so please, contact me if you suspect that the mystery of The Mountain of Rose has been solved." This leaves Blan Ton trembling in fear an excitement: "T-the Energy S-S-S-Signature of Li-Lin the Lonely Adventurer¡­" Right now, he is holding that piece of paper with utmost care and nervousness, after all, he hasn''t held, in his one hundred fifty years of life, something more precious and valuable than this Energy Signature. After some time, he manages to barely calm himself down. "Oh, right! The mystery of The Mountain of Rose, I need to read this book!" He then opens the book and starts to decipher every word in the book. After finish reading, he exclaims: "That girl must have found that legendary plant!" His breathing becomes unsteady as he wonders: (What should I do? What should I do!?... This is just too much for my old bones to manage¡­ Ah! I''ll just follow the instructions mindlessly, after all, that style of life has allowed me to reach my actual age¡­) Five minutes later. He enters The Butterfly Room of the library, it is a huge room where butterfly type monsters are hovering about aimlessly. They are really beautiful, and most of them are blue, and there are a few green, and a single red. Of course, the butterfly type monsters of better quality are fewer. He doesn''t hesitate to call the red one with a grain of a special food. After the red butterfly type monster finishes eating, it stands on the Energy Signature of Lin the Lonely Adventurer for a few seconds. After that, it catches a small piece of paper from Blan Ton''s claw. And it then disappears into thin air. (It is done. Now, I have to make a copy of the book to give it to that redhead girl.) He thinks. Another five minutes later. "Here it is, by the way, just for curiosity, do you live in Lurep Village?" Blan Ton handovers the copy of - The Mountain of Rose ¨C to Rose, and asks that. "No. But I think I''ll hang around Lurep Village for quite some time. Are you sure that you are asking that just for curiosity?" Rose responds while giving two gold coins to Blan Ton. "Oh, well, I suppose I''m a little curious about the person who made me learn about another book of Lin the Lonely Adventurer." He responds with his usual demeanor of a sage. "Hahaha¡­ If that is the case, I do understand you very well! Hahaha¡­ What can I say about myself? Right now, I''m just a novice mercenary. My team consists of just me and my sister." She says pointing at Thorn. "Other than that¡­ Um! Lately, I have grown rather fond of the money. Hehehe¡­" She then keeps laughing shamelessly about it. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Mercenary''s Guild Thorn and Rose arrive through the main entrance. Thorn says amazed: "Oh wow. So thanks to that book you found me. Really what a big chain of coincidences." "Right? Anyway, I''ll need Lin the Lonely Adventurer to join us in the future, and I was thinking that this book could be a good excuse to make a connection with her." Rose explains her ''little'' plan. "Mmm? Will you need more than one person to join us? I have assumed that you just need that ship designer." Thorn asks concerned about how many more she needs. "I don''t know who will be the ship designer. And including Lin, I have in mind, four persons. So I''ll need five, but of course, if we meet someone who could be very useful to us, then I''ll ask that someone to join us as well." Rose responds without giving many details about the other persons that she has in mind. Thorn then says with a sigh of relief: "*Sigh*¡­ Five. I was afraid you''d say without a hint of shame something like ''a trillion''." "Eh!? Do you think I am a shameless scoundrel!? Why!?" Rose asks, so shocked that she doesn''t notice that she is shouting. Thorn just shrugs. "Here you were! I need to talk to you!" Suddenly, someone says this loudly. That is a familiar voice to Thorn and Rose, so they turn around to look at the owner of this voice. It is Vei Dal! "Hello, what is it?" Rose asks somewhat puzzled. Standing before them, Vei Dal says fired up: "I was wondering if Miss. Thorn is interested in participating in the Lurep Village Mercenary vs. Adventurer Novices Tournament." 12 Lets Star "She''s interested!" Rose doesn''t hesitate even for a second to affirm this. "..." Thorn opens his mouth slightly wanting to say something, but finally, remains silent. "I''m glad to hear that! Normally our guild doesn''t have many proficient rookies, so we need all the help that there is." Vei Dal says this as he begins to write Thorn''s name on a paper he has in his hands. "All right, all is settled. Now all you have to do is to be, at the seventh hour, in four days, at The Zelu Mansion in Lurep Village. I''ll be waiting for you there." Having said that, he retires to look for more participants. Thorn looks at Rose, somewhat confused, and asks: "Why do you want me to participate in that tournament? Right now we are busy trying to get gold coins, we should not waste time on something as banal as a tournament." Giggling, she responds to him: "If we talk about tournaments, of course, we also talk about prizes! Maybe it''s a very good prize that could save us several days of work!" "So, in these times, they give prizes in the tournaments... Okay, leave it in my hands, with my strength there is no doubt that I will be the winner of this tournament with ease, hahaha..." Thorn laughs confidently, with pride in himself. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Four days later. The richest area of Lurep Village. The Zelu Mansion in Lurep Village stands arrogantly surrounded by a large garden full of beautiful plants and vegetable monsters. The sweet-smelling whiff of flowers fills the atmosphere with glamour, and the exquisite sculptures of the greatest blacksmiths of the Zelu family adorn both sides of the road from the entrance to the mansion. The mansion itself is only six stories high, but it is immensely spacious, 2 km x 3 km wide. And its design is, of course, related to the smithy. Some of its towers are shaped like large blacksmith''s hammers, and others are shaped like towering swords. As for the main building, it has the shape of a sophisticated silver-smith anvil. At this moment the main road of the mansion is filled with beings of all Civilized Races, Thorn and Rose are among them. Right now, Rose is wearing her red hair as a mask because she has learned that the governor of Lurep Village will attend this event. For the reason that every so often every village governor and city governor has to go to the Cloud Cutter Castle, on one of these occasions the governor of Lurep Village saw Rose''s face. So she has decided to hide her face to cause no unnecessary troubles. Although, due to her current appearance, having her face covered with her red hair and only showing her green eyes, she is receiving a lot of curious glances from every direction. Looking at the impressive statues, Thorn says: "Surely, they have done a great job. These statues almost look alive!" "Yes, for some reason those of the Zelu family have always been very good at manufacturing things." Rose responds completely depressed. Thorn sighs, seeing Rose in that state: "*Sigh*... come on, do not tell me you''re still in a bad mood because of what happened in our last job." "Of course I''m still in a bad mood because of what happened in our last job! Do you know what the odds are of bump into a giant golden beetle type monster!? *Grrr* If we had caught it alive, right now we could have been drowning ourselves in gold coins! But that will not happen because you killed it straightway the moment it showed up!" Rose says, scolding. "You can''t blame me for doing that. Certainly, I killed it the moment it appeared, but it was because I had felt it before it appeared and it was clear that it planned to ambush us. So it wasn¡ät my fault." This is the third time that Thorn explains this, but it seems that Rose can''t get rid of the thought of losing all those gold coins. They continue walking and soon enter the mansion. The main hall of the mansion is ready to be used for the Lurep Village Mercenary vs. Adventurer Novices Tournament. In the center, there is a platform with the shape of a circular shield with a diameter of 100 m, it seems like a giant shield stuck on the floor. To the east and west sides of this platform are the majority of the seats, there are almost fifty thousand of them, and several of these seats are already being occupied by enthusiastic spectators. In the northern part is a large platform with only four flamboyant seats on it. And in the southern part, there are exactly one hundred seats reserved for the most important guests. Thorn and Rose sit on the east side and wait there for the tournament organizers to explain the rules. Before long, the seats of the east and west wings are filled up completely. Most of the occupants of these seats are wearing casual clothes, and there are a few wearing armor and weapons. Obviously, the latter ones will participate in the tournament. Suddenly, a female dullahan with a very seductive body slowly climbs to the shield-shaped platform. Her light jet black smoke cloud has the shape of an ''S'', and she is wearing a brown leather-looking S-class zenanium battle armor. She also carries on her back two dangerous-looking black S-class zenanium swords, which are showing off their sharpness. Somehow, her ready-for-battle appearance is igniting the fighting spirit of everybody. At that moment all the audience turns silent. The female dullahan then says with a vigorous voice: "Welcome to the twenty-first Lurep Village Mercenary vs. Adventurer Novices Tournament! My name is Lenna Zelu and today I''ll be your master of ceremonies!" *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! The loud and vibrant applauses sound in the great hall. "Hehehe... I see that today everyone is very excited to witness this show of combat skills. Since that is the case, let''s start quickly with the presentations of our important guests who will be playing the role of our secondary judges in this tournament!" Lenna Zelu then points her finger towards the southern part and says: "I present to you Crok Alch head of the medical center of Lurep Village and his most capable doctors." *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! As soon as her voice falls, from a large door that is behind of the one hundred seats, fifteen individuals of different races come out, obviously, they are led by Crok Alch a middle-aged human, solemn look, black and disheveled hair. They silently wave to the audience and then sit on their designated chairs. "Now it''s time to introduce to you the best blacksmiths of the Zelu family in Lurep Village." Lenna Zelu continues. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! This time the fifteen individuals that come out are just dullahan race, they all wear casual clothes. "Look there is Resh Zelu, the son of the best blacksmith of Lurep Village Ramph Zelu, rumors say that very soon he will surpass his father''s abilities." Someone in the audience comments to his friend while pointing at certain dullahan who has his light jet black smoke cloud shaped like a chain link. The dullahan of the Zelu family also greet the public and take a seat. "Captain Fou Tre of the kingdom''s military forces, and the best knights of Lurep Village." Lenna Zelu says, respect in her voice. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! The leader of this group of fifteen is a middle-aged, blue-skinned gargoyle, wearing the armor of the kingdom like the other fourteen who come with him. "Now, let''s welcome the veterans of one of the guilds participating in this tournament, the veterans of the Adventurer''s Guild!" Lenna Zelu exclaims with excitement. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! The fifteen veterans of the Adventurer''s Guild are of all kinds of races, and all wear sophisticated costumes. It should be known that usually, in the Adventurer''s Guild, only creatures with great economic resources can join in their ranks. "From the other group participating in this tournament, let''s welcome the veterans of the Mercenary''s Guild!" Lenna Zelu''s voice sounds once again. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! The beings that come out this time are also of all kinds of races but their clothes are completely varied in sophistication. And among the fifteen veterans of the Mercenary Guild, Vei Dal is also there. "Finally, welcome the members of the house of the Governor of Lurep Village, the gentlemen, and ladies of the Alch family!" Lenna Zelu shouts with a very faint hint of fear in her voice. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! Fifteen humans, of different sexes, sizes and ages appear. Most of them have blond hair and blue eyes, the rest have black hair and black eyes. All white skinned. Among them stands out a young man who seems to be fifteen years old, he is blond and has blue eyes, his face is perfect like of those young singer idols that can turn intelligent ladies into crazy lunatic fans. And he dresses as a king. But he doesn''t stand out because of his clothes or appearance, but because despite being so young, his aura is already in the Six Level Advanced Awaken stage! "It''s Arnold Alch! The greatest genius of Lurep Village!" Some girls exclaim excitedly. The Alch members are not the exception and also they greet the present public, and they then just sit down. "Very good! They are all the secondary judges. And as you can see, there are left ten seats empty. You don''t need to worry about them because these seats are reserved for later." Lenna Zelu explains cheerfully. "And now, it''s time to present the four main judges of this tournament! The first one is who lent us his house to do this event: the best blacksmith in Lurep Village, the great Ramph Zelu!" Lenna Zelu applauds and directs her gaze to the north side of the enormous hall. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! The door behind the platform with four seats opens at this moment, and from the inside comes out a dullahan in white armor, and his light jet black smoke cloud has the shape of a pentagon. He sits on one of the four ostentatious seats and calmly says: "It is an honor for me to receive you all at my house, I hope you enjoy this special occasion. And I wish good luck to all the participants of this tournament!" *Clap!* *clap!* *clap!* *clap!*...!! "You''re great Ramph Zelu!" Someone in the audience exclaims spiritedly. "The second main judge is the highest authority of the Adventurer''s Guild in Lurep Village, our beloved idol Delia Adver!" Lenna Zelu says without hiding her tone of admiration. *Clap!!!* *clap!!!* *clap!!!* *clap!!!*...!!!! Immediately after, she appears, a 25-year-old-looking beauty, an elemental elf with a very strong heroic aura. She is wearing a priceless-looking golden armor. And as proof that she is a Fire Type Awakened Skill user, she has long bright red hair, which is in a ponytail. "Aahh¡­!!" "Ohh...!!!" "Wowowow! The Fire Goddess of Lurep Village!" The reaction of the public is truly passionate and fervent. This was to be expected since Delia Adver is not only the strongest person in Lurep Village but also a princess candidate for Guild Master of the Adventurer''s Guild! She takes her seat and calmly says: "Well, precious folks, try to surprise me." *Clap!!!* *clap!!!* *clap!!!* *clap!!!*...!!!! "You''re great Delia Adver!" Someone in the audience screams, his eyes full of passion. "We have to give all of us to make a great show worth the time of The Fire Goddess of Lurep Village!" Some participants cry out excitedly. After a few moments of waiting for the masses to calm down. "The next main judge is Arger Dal, the highest authority of the Mercenary''s Guild in Lurep Village!" Lenna Zelu continues the presentations. *Clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*...! The person that appears this time from inside the north door is a middle-aged shadow human, wearing casual clothes that have drawn on them several times the symbol of the Mercenary''s Guild flag which has the form of two arms crossed and with hands forming fists. In addition he has brown eyes and black hair, really like Vei Dal, only he is somewhat older, of course, this is because Arger Dal and Vei Dal are brothers. He sits next to Ramph Zelu and says: "Thank you for your presence, esteemed public. And participants, do your utmost, and give more than what you have! Why!? Because the prize this time is more plentiful than ever before!" *Clap!!* *clap!!* *clap!!* *clap!!*...!!! "Yes! That''s what we wanted to hear! You''re great Arger Dal!" Someone in the au¡ªnot, wait, this time Rose is who speaks. Arger Dal gives Rose a forced smile and thinks: (Why is this weird woman so excited? With her cultivation she doesn''t even have the necessary qualifications to participate, right!?) "The last main judge, the governor of Lurep Village, Cley Alch!" Lenna Zelu says this time with the loudest voice since she began with her presentations. *Clap!* *clap!* *clap!* *clap!*...!! Obviously, for being an Alch, he is a human. He looks old, and have blue eyes, white mustache, and white hair. Cley Alch wears simple pants, a t-shirt, and a cape, all dark blue and with gold lines. Regarding his aura, he gives off the impression of being kindhearted, however, he actually is quite a cruel character. He sits on the last empty seat of the north platform, and says with a slight smile: "What are we waiting for!? I''m already here, let''s start the Lurep Village Mercenary vs. Adventurer Novices Tournament!" 13 Donst stop touching the platform "Your words are our commands, governor." Lenna Zelu bows elegantly [western style]. "Have you heard that? Come on competitors! Get on the arena!" Lenna Zelu orders pointing one of her fingers towards the platform under her feet. All those who signed up for this tournament begin to get on the platform. Some of them can''t even hide the excitement on their faces or the nervousness in their hasty steps. All wear armor or some other combat costume, as for weapons, there are almost all types and sizes: axes, swords, crossbows, spears, clubs, hammers, knuckles, etc. As for their cultivation levels, there is not one that is lower than the Early Intermediate Awaken stage, and there is not one that is higher than the Early Advanced Awaken stage. Thorn climbs to the arena with a serene expression, his whole body giving off confidence. Though, because he is unarmed and the clothes he is wearing are made just of E-class zenanium and have the appearance of being completely casual ones too, several viewers are wondering if he is an idiot, a clown or maybe, just maybe he is someone really strong. Suddenly, Thorn observes the face of a certain war elf among the participants. (It''s that bastard!) He exclaims in his mind with great surprise reflected in his violet eyes. Yes, the one who made fun of his skirt and then made a pathetic withdrawal a few days ago. A sinister smile appears on Thorn''s face. (Hahaha ...! This will make you cry in pain, little fool.) He then approaches stealthily towards that war elf. When all the participants are in the arena, it can be seen that in total there are 378 of them. "If you stop touching the platform, you lose! Only 50 participants will pass to the second stage! Start!" Lenna Zelu shouts these words without warning. All the participants stay frozen for a moment, until... "AARGHH¡­!" *Bump!!* Someone''s scream echoes and a certain war elf hits the floor beautifully with his face. They all turn their confused eyes to that war elf who was unconscious and with almost all his teeth out of his mouth, his entire body lying on the floor out of the arena. Immediately after. *Boom!* *susshhh!* *grumble!* *rumble!!* *crack!* *slash!!* *slap!* *ripple* *splash!!* *swoosh!* *crush!* *moan!!!* *crackle* *zzzzzttt!* *clash!!* *smack!* *bang* *roar!!!* There are explosions of fire, thunders caused by lightning, cracking of shattering ice, howling of wind, splashes of water, silent darkness, resounding punches and slaps, clear sounds of the wind being torn apart by edge weapons, excited roars and painful moans. All of that at the same time. And while Lenna Zelu watches 360 degrees around her, she sends with her fists powerful blows of wind to anyone whose body stops touching the arena. These blows of wind expel, with one hundred percent of certainty, anyone who is reached by them out of the arena. As for Thorn, he is surrounded by three male participants, a muscular gargoyle, a delicate gorgon, and an ugly goblin. The gargoyle throws a stake of ice, the gorgon shoots with his crossbow an arrow of fire, and the goblin throws transparent shurikens. Of course, all that is directed to Thorn, why? Well obviously because he seems easy to defeat. In the face of such an attack formation, Thorn shows no sign of fear. He calmly dodges [matrix style] all those attacks without his clothes getting any damage. The three participants who attacked him are amazed by Thorn''s speed of movement. And then an unavoidable mass of wind hits all three of them at the same time. They are suspended in mid-air for less than a second until three almost simultaneous wind blows from Lenna Zelu pulls them out of the arena. Thorn watches Lenna Zelu calmly. (Probably, I''ll need all the power of my ''second form'' to be able to beat her...) He concludes after a quick calculation. After this, he moves carefully between the loud explosions of thunder and blazing flames. Meanwhile on the north platform. "Delia Adver, I ask you: who do you think will win this tournament?" Arger Dal, the head of the Mercenary Guild of Lurep Village, asks. "Mmm? Why do you ask me that? The four of us already know who exactly is going to win." Delia Adver, the head of the Adventurer''s Guild in Lurep Village, responds nonchalantly. "Hahaha... Well, I thought you could have hidden some monster stronger than ''her''." Arger Dal explains. "A monster stronger than her!? Do not joke around, Arger. It is almost certain that on all over the world there are at most five in her same cultivation stage that can defeat her." This time it is the Lurep Village governor, Cley Alch, who speaks. "Yes, Cley is right, just look at her! Look how she is strolling on the arena as if strolling on her own garden! Hehehe..." Laughing, Ramph Zelu, the best blacksmith in Lurep Village, points to a certain individual with his finger. Arger Dal then laughs mischievously: "Hahaha... That is for sure, the disciple of The Fire Goddess of Lurep Village is just too amazing." "I just thought that if it is you, Delia Adver, maybe you could surprise us with someone stronger than your disciple." Arger Dal continues speaking, this time more slowly. "Because even I was able to find... someone of her caliber." On the arena. Thorn keeps walking carefully, and from time to time, he dodges some attack and counterattacks with a gust of wind, in this fashion he easily continues to kick all those who dare to attack him off the arena. Everything is fine for Thorn, until suddenly... *Rumble* An electric arrow pierces the wind shield around his body. The arrow then penetrates Thorn''s t-shirt and soon penetrates the skin of his waist, it is clear that whoever shot that arrow was pointing towards Thorn''s center of gravity. The reaction of Thorn is immediate, he uses a gust of wind to hit himself avoiding in this way to fly by the thrust of the arrow. Due to this action, the arrow pierces his body easily and shoots out from the other side of his waist. After this, he uses a light blow of wind to turn his head to look at the one who shot the arrow. Normally he would not have to hit his head with the wind to be able to move it but at this moment he can''t control his body because he is completely numb from the electric shock that the arrow caused him. Turning his eyes in this way, he observes that not too far away there is a rabbit type monster human about to shoot another arrow with his bow. (That''s a nice bow, Mmm?) He was going to hit himself with another blow of wind to avoid this second shot but then he sees that, abruptly, a shadow with a female humanoid shape comes out of the ground and with a kick makes the archer fly. (Oh, it must be the power of some shadow human... anyway...) He thinks as he secretly uses his Awakened Skill to heal his internal wounds. Meanwhile, that shadow fades into the ground, and soon on the place where that rabbit type monster human was standing, there appears a girl, who seems to be seventeen years old, walking casually and with both of her hands in her pockets. She has a pair of sexy thick lips, short black hair that only reaches the middle of her neck, white skin, and light brown eyes. She is wearing a black light armor that completely covers her body except for her head. As soon as Thorn stops bleeding and begins to gain control over his body, his gaze meets the calm eyes of the girl with sexy thick lips. Seeing her, Thorn thinks: (They have the same silhouette, she must be the owner of that shadow.) Silently, a shadow arises out of the ground behind Thorn. The shadow becomes bigger and bigger until it has the silhouette of the girl. And just when that shadow begins to prepare to kick Thorn in the ass, it is torn apart into hundreds of shreds by blades of wind. (Do you think I''ll fall with a trick that you just showed me? Really?) Thorn says with disdain in his mind while a slight smile appears on his face. Predictably, on the face of the girl with sexy thick lips appears an expression of complete surprise. It should be understood that she is in the Third Level Advanced Awaken and Thorn is in the Second Level Intermediate Awaken, which means she is more than five times stronger than him. In addition, the shadows created by her Racial Skill are physically as strong as her. So, seeing how Thorn shatters her shadow so easily, she inevitably is flabbergasted for a few seconds by that sight. Her eyes then turn serious as she mutters: "Your understanding of the wind... Let''s have some fun then." In the next moment, ten shadowy figures appear surrounding Thorn. (5, 8, 10! The shadow human''s Racial Skill was definitely not that powerful back in my day!) Thorn sighs as he wraps his body with a thin cap of air. At the same time, different weapons made of shadow appear on the hands of the shadowy figures: swords, daggers, crossbows, and spears. Thorn doesn''t pay any heed to this and just smiles as he uses his wind type skill to move with an explosive speed. At that moment the girl with sexy thick lips forgets how to breathe for a second, because, suddenly, Thorn appears standing less than twenty centimeters in front of her. (T-teleportation...!?) She could not help but consider such a thing. 14 A Good Plan Thorn gently punches her stomach, sending with his fist a strong wind blast. But, surprisingly, she is moved only slightly by the attack and does not fly away like is supposed to happen. (Eh! Her weight shouldn''t be that much!) Thorn opens his mouth slightly in surprise, then looks at her body to try to figure out why she did not fly away. (What!? Those shadow hands weren''t there a second ago!) At some point, six hands of shadow have come out of the ground and began to hold the legs of the girl with sexy thick lips. He looks at her eyes again and this time he notices a clear trace of ferocity in them. (She... definitely isn''t a weakling...) Soon, more shadow hands begin to come out of the ground and they surround Thorn. He quickly slices two of those hands using wind blades creating in this way an opening which he uses to escape in the next instant. After having increased the distance between him and her by about ten meters, he stops. (I can''t slice all the hands that hold her, not at the same time, not without severing her legs in the process... and I don''t know if that''s allowed... mmm... maybe I can scare her a little...) He, again, uses his control over the wind to move. Appearing only a few steps in front of her, he crouches down and uses his index finger to draw a small horizontal arch that creates a wind blade more than capable of cutting her legs and those shadow hands together. But, of course, such a signal and obvious movement are not so difficult to dodge. Thorn is just making this attack to scare her and disturb her concentration. Unexpectedly, and contrary to Thorn''s expectations, she just smiles softly. (Are you trying to scare me? The fact that you underestimate me so much makes me really angry, it seems I have to show you who should be scared.) Just at the moment when Thorn''s wind blade is about to cut the first shadow hand. *Boom!* That shadow hand explodes releasing abundant white flames! This causes Thorn to hold his breath. (Stupid! The flames can consume some part of the wind and weaken it but that will not be enough to stop my wind blade from cutting your legs! You were supposed to dodge that atta- Eh!? It disappeared!?) In a blink of an eye, Thorn''s expression went from worry to complete shock as he saw how his wind blade was completely devoured by those white flames. Seeing his expression, the girl with sexy thick lips slightly raises her head and smiles smugly. Thorn, who was squatting, slowly gets up while trying to calm himself down. (Can my luck get any worse!? Special Fire Type Awakened Skill, fire that can consume air wholly. And what is even more frightening, is that she just used her Awakened Skill through its shadows that are a product of her Racial Skill, Arghh... I feel like I''m having a headache right now...) The ten shadows that used to have different weapons not too long ago, at this moment, all of them are holding crossbows. They point to Thorn and shoot shadow arrows which in the midst of the air turn into arrows of white fire. Thorn doesn''t delay in using the wind to move, avoiding those arrows just in time. When he stops, Thorn feels some pain coming from the soles of his feet, he looks down and notices that the soles of his shoes had disappeared and that his feet are bleeding. According to the rules of this phase of the tournament, if he stops touching the arena, he will lose. Because of this, when he used the wind to move, he had to drag his feet. And actually, the shoes he is wearing are of low quality, so they have ended up broken pretty fast. Thorn puts on a frustrated face as he watches his blood. (Another annoyance... Oh¡­ wait... perhaps...) As if he had just realized something, Thorn laughs and says: "Hahahaha...! You know what? I just come up with a good plan!" Then he waves his hand towards her and disappears in a gust of wind. While searching for Thorn''s aura, the girl with sexy thick lips is shocked by Thorn''s strange behavior. After a few moments, she finds his aura and realizes that he is far away from her. Facing this fact, she laughs with arrogance and murmurs: "I see, your plan is running away. I guess if I am your opponent, running away is the best plan that could be found. Hehehe..." She then undoes the shadow hands that were grabbing her legs and begins to stroll around the battlefield casually once again. But, before she could take the sixth step, she feels an aura suddenly appear behind her along with a kick in her butt. Kick that makes her fly. While in the air, she turns her head with an expression of complete anger and meets a smiling Thorn. "A good plan, right?" Thorn says happily. "That was dir--!" Before she could finish her sentence, she is hit by a gust of wind and carried off the arena. "Of course, that was dirty, it was on my mind a second ago after all." Spreading his arms, Thorn explains seriously to nobody. In the meantime. "What''s up with that expression? Didn''t you imagine that this guy you boasted about was of her same caliber would end up beating her? I understand that it is impressive, but, I do not believe that someone of your status should make such an indecorous face in public just for that." Delia Adver comments expressionless, looking at the face full of astonishment of Arger Dal, in truth a face that seemed to have just seen the ghost of his beloved ancestor in broad daylight. Of course, almost everyone else who managed to observe Thorn''s fight has the same expression. "Ah, ahh... No, uh... He''s not the guy I was talking about." Arger Dal says flustered. Delia Adver raises her eyebrow slightly. "Oh, seriously? But that does not explain why you''re so surprised. " "A better question is: why are not you surprised? Your disciple surpasses him by a complete cultivation stage but even so, he could defeat her. The strength that he has is not at the same level as his cultivation. Since when is that ordinary!?" Arger Dal asks in distress. "Hahahaha...!" Cley Alch, the Lurep Village governor, laughs after listening to Arger Dal. "Oh, I assure you that isn''t normal. But it will happen when your understanding is one step away from reaching the level of Control of the Skill and your cultivation is very low." Cley Alch explains. "What!? But that is too shameless! Such an expert getting into a novice tournament... *sigh*" Arger Dal shakes his head sighing. "This may be disrespectful to such an expert but, should we kick him off?" "No, we shouldn''t. After all, he is not breaking any rules." Delia Adver responds with a weak smile. "Also, I would like him to owe me a favor. It happens that, coincidentally, I need someone like him to solve a small affair." Even though she seems to treat this ''small affair'' lightly, she is actually quite nervous and excited on the inside. (Can my luck get any better? To bump into such a rare cultivator just when I was looking for one.) "Okay, if you''re okay with that then¡­ there''s no problem." Arger Dal says, clearly showing some reluctance. After a few minutes without any major incident. "Stop!" Lenna Zelu orders loudly. "Congratulations! All fifty participants left in the arena have passed to the second phase of the tournament!" *Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!*...!! The public and judges congratulate the participants who remain in the arena with a round of applause. "Very well! You can go to your seats now, we will have a short break of thirty minutes before we start with the second phase. In the meantime, all those present can enjoy a small appetizer that we have prepared." Lenna Zelu says as she points out with her right hand a large door that begins to open. From the door, several employees of The Zelu Mansion come out pushing wagons filled with drinks and food. While the participants return to their seats, the employees of The Zelu Mansion distribute the appetizers. As Thorn sits next to Rose, she says worriedly: "Do you think you''ll be able to win? It was just the first phase and you''ve seen yourself in a great difficulty, thought your shamelessness has saved you this time, but if you face another opponent like that, maybe you will not be so lucky¡­" "Hey! I don''t want you to talk to me about shamelessness! But don''t worry, I''ll get the prize even if I have to use my ''second form''. Although that will attract unnecessary attention..." Thorn says seriously with his arms crossed and lowering his head slightly. "Mmm? ''Second form''? What is that?" Rose asks with confusion written all over her face. "Would you care for an appetizer?" A short gargoyle, an employee of The Zelu Mansion, offers drinks and food to Thorn and Rose. "Oh, let''s see, let''s see." Thorn says smiling and rubbing his hands excitedly. "I want a little of this, of that, of that and also of this other. Oh! Of this one, I want two." He grabs food and drinks enough to fill seven bellies without a hint of embarrassment on his face. A little scared, the short gargoyle says: "T-take care, don''t choke yourself..." He then withdraws while pushing the wagon. Thorn observes that Rose did not take anything and asks: "Mmm!? Why didn''t you grab something to eat? Are you thinking I''m going to share my food with you? That is very naive! I was pretty sure you were smarter, Rose!" Rose grumbles while hitting the back of Thorn''s head. "Don''t speak so much rubbish! To eat I would need to put aside my hairy mask! At this moment, for me, keeping my identity as a secret is more important than some snacks!" Sometime later. The short gargoyle appears again in front of Thorn and Rose, this time pushing a big trash can. Thorn throws the disposable plates and cutlery into the trash can. "D-do you really ate all that?" The short gargoyle asks with a trembling voice. "Yeah, it hurts a lot but I don''t have regrets." Thorn responds slapping gently his big belly. The short gargoyle is about to walk away when suddenly he hears Thorn''s voice. "Wait, I almost forgot these." Thorn takes his broken shoes off of his feet and then he throws them into the trash can. "It was a hard battle..." He explains. The short gargoyle gives her a forced smile: "Hehehe... have a good day." After the short gargoyle left, Rose says: "Later I''ll get you another pair of shoes." "Oh, there is no need. I feel more comfortable in this way, besides, it''ll be easier to control the wind with my feet." Thorn says nonchalantly. "O-okay." Rose nods. A few minutes later. Lenna Zelu descends on the center of the platform and starts with her speech: "I will explain the rules of the second phase." "Listen." She holds up a finger and continues. "I will call by name two participants and they will go up to the arena and they will have to fight, the winner will stay in the arena and will fight with another participant I''ll call, the winner of this second fight will stay in the arena and will fight with the next participant I''ll call, and so on until forty-nine participants are defeated." She then lowers her finger and continues explaining. "It looks like, in this way, there will be only one winner at the end, but in reality, it is not like that. There will be ten participants who will pass to the third phase and they will be selected by our secondary judges. So make sure to not hold anything back even if you suspect you''ll definitely lose against a certain opponent!" "Also, before fighting, each participant who climbs into the arena will have to announce their Awakened Skill. In this way, both opponents will know the skill of each other." Lenna Zelu laughs a little and ends her announcement of the rules with the following words: "And you''ll have more freedom when fighting in this second phase, you will not only be able to use the arena as a battlefield but also the airspace above the arena! But be careful, if you touch the roof, you will lose, and of course, if a single centimeter of your body leaves the airspace of the arena, you will also lose!" 15 Sneak Peek "I hope everyone has understood the rules." Lenna Zelu gets out of the arena and calls: "Ana Li and Harl Rora!" Ana Li is a tall and strong-looking human and Harl Rora is a silver-skinned goblin. They get on the arena, and then they stand facing each other. Holding a heavy sword with both hands, Ana Li says: "Special Awakened Skill, when used, it makes my physics capabilities three times stronger." "Earth Type Awakened Skill." Harl Rora says emotionlessly. Though, it is evident he is an Earth Type Awakened Skill user since he is carrying a heavy-looking backpack where he keeps all kinds of energy minerals and zenanium. "Very good! You can¡­ start!" In the moment Lenna Zelu''s voice falls, they start their fierce battle. The seats of Thorn and Rose. "¡­ I wonder if my turn will be soon¡­" Thorn murmurs lazily. "Who knows¡­" Rose answers without thinking. Suddenly, she remembers something and says: "I remember now, you were talking about some ''second form''. What is that?" "Mmm¡­" Thorn hesitates a few seconds, and finally he sighs: "*Sigh*... I suppose if we''ll going to work together, it''ll be necessary that we comprehend the abilities of each other." He gives a solemn look at Rose and continues: "So, I''ll explain to you how strong I am right now." He stops talking for a moment, gazes his surroundings sneakily, and then says: "But first of all, you should activate your Awakened Skill." Whit curiosity in her eyes, Rose emanates her Complex Energy and uses it to cover the space around them, then she actives her Awakened Skill. Rose smiles broadly, and nodding strongly, says: "It is done, nobody will hear us, come on now tell me how strong you really are!" "You already know that I have to suppress my cultivation in Mystical Energy to avoid a disaster, and that I am only using my superior understanding on my Awakened Skill to surmount the difference in cultivation stage with the other competitors." Thorn mentions. "Yeah, I know. Your understanding is in the peak of Use of the Skill. Because of this and that your Awakened Skill is elemental and you are in a low stage of cultivation, in practice, you have the combat abilities of someone in the Early Advanced Awaken stage. And if your cultivation in Mystical Energy wasn''t suppressed, you would have the combat abilities of someone in the Early Full Awaken stage. This is why you could defeat Dani Zelu." Rose summarizes. "That is half right, but come on Rose! Even though until now, I have only used the peak of Use of the Skill in front of you, you don''t really think that is my limit, right? I mean, even you, little monstrosity, have reached Control of the Skill!" Thorn scolds. "Hahahaha¡­" Rose laughs sweetly. She isn''t surprised at all by the fact that Thorn knows her level of understanding. Indeed, she has been using and even is using right now her Awakened Skill with a level of understanding in Control of the Skill. Without doubt, she is a genius devoid of rival in the entire world when it comes to speed of understanding. Of course, it is a shame that her Awakened Skill isn''t meant to be used in direct combat, otherwise she could surmount two stages easily. That being said, her understanding still reduces the amount of Complex Energy she needs to use her Awakened Skill and allows her Awakened Skill to be used far away from her, different at when her understanding was just in Use of the skill which only allowed her to use her Awakened Skill within her body and on the surface of her skin. Rose ends her laughter and explains: "Well, to be honest, yes, it seemed to me weird and very¡­ very disappointing that you, who have lived for over a million years, have an understanding just in the peak of Use of the Skill. I had the theory that this was because you were restrained and deprived of your cultivation in Complex Energy." She glares at him with sparkling eyes. "Then, your understanding is in Control of the Skill too?" "My ''second form'' is me using the peak of Control of the Skill." Thorn affirms. It must be known that a cultivator can pretend to be in an inferior level of understanding, for example a cultivator in Control of the Skill can pretend to be in Use of the skill. But a cultivator can''t pretend to be in an inferior sub-level of understanding, for example a cultivator in the peak of Use of the Skill can''t pretend to be in the start of Use of the Skill. "Peak!?" Rose turns her mouth into this shape: O. "So you are already in the highest level of understanding that can be reached in this world!" Thorn laughs arrogantly and asks: "Do you think I named it ''second form'' just for nothing?" "I thought it was because you wanted to look interesting." Rose responds as saying ''obviously''. "Haha." He gives a dry laugh. "I don''t need tricks to look interesting. Anyway, when in ''first form'' I am using Use of the Skill, when in ''second form'' I am using Control of the Skill, and when in ''third form'' I am using that level without name that is beyond Control of the Skill." Thorn doesn''t have a reason to lie in such a way, so Rose believes in Thorn''s words. Completely perplexed, she just murmurs softly: "Memory of the Skill¡­" Now, it is Thorn''s turn to be perplexed. "Memory of the Skill? Such a befitting name¡­" Rose explains: "There is a legend, very, very few know about it. The legend states that there is indeed a level beyond Control of the Skill and its name is Memory of the Skill, also it describes the characteristics of that level. Though, it is sad that probably nobody believed such a thing is possible, even I didn''t believe it." Thorn now understands: "Oh¡­ Well, now you do know what I meant by saying all that about using my ''second form'' if it is necessary to win the prize." "I see¡­ It''s true that you absolutely can''t use your cultivation in Mystical Energy just to win this tournament. But, although it will cause some troubles, you can use your ''second form'', as last resort that''s it." Rose concludes. Meanwhile, on the arena, Ana Li and Harl Rora are still fighting, it seems they are in a stalemate. Ana Li is destroying Harl Rora''s range attacks with brute force while trying to shorten the distance between them, of course, unsuccessfully. "It looks like they will take a long time... I think I should go to sleep¡­ Please, protect me from the noises, and wake me up when it is my turn." Thorn says, and closes his eyes folding his arms in front of his chest. He then enters in the dream world in just a second. That is a veteran dreamer for you. Rose says to the sleeping Thorn: "As you wish." Evidently, she has gain quite some respect for him since she learned that he has reached Memory of the Skill. A lot of time later. "Thorn!" Lenna Zelu''s voice is heard in every corner of the hall. Rose hits the back of Thorn''s head with a gentle slap as she says: "It is your turn!" He quickly opens his eyes and gets up. Just like that, in an instant, he turns from being deeply asleep to being completely awaken and aware of the situation he is in. Thorn then walks towards the arena analyzing his opponent. It is a gargoyle with big muscles. There isn''t a single wound on his body. He must have defeated his previous opponent with ease. At that point, Rose cheers Thorn up while moving her little fists: "Thorn you are the best! Beat all of them up, don''t dare to lose!" At the same time, on the southern seats. Arnold Alch, that good-looking young guy, gives a sideway glance at Rose. (That person¡­! P-p-princess!? It can''t be¡­ She isn''t supposed to be here¡­ Is my imagination playing tricks on me? No, she is definitely the youngest princess, Rose! The fact that she is covering her face is proof of it!) His face changes from confusion to shock, from shock to doubt, from doubt to amazement, all that within a second. Of the four present individuals that know Rose''s face and ex-position, just Arnold Alch end up recognizing her. There is a reason for this. Once upon a time, he went to Flowing City with his foster father Cley Alch. At that moment, he cross paths whit Rose in a hallway. She was walking alone, drenched with her own blood, and with many of her broken bones exposed. She got enough wounds to put almost every intelligent living thing curled up on the floor quaking in agony, to walk? It would be a true miracle if someone with such wounds could be standing. However, She¡­ She was walking with steady steps, and her clear green eyes were the definition of tranquility. Her face was so at ease that it could have brought the misconception of think that those wounds were just an illusion. He wasn''t captivated by that, the only thing he felt was deep fear, an intuitive fear that came from his very soul. At that time, he kept her eyes and silhouette clearly within his memory. He looks at Thorn putting his palm on his forehead. (Why is she encouraging this participant so fervently? How come he to be worthy of the support of someone of her status? I just see a nameless guy with a low cultivation, the only thing that standout about him is that he is as good-looking as me. Mmm¡­ I didn''t pay much attention to the boring battles of the first phase, so perhaps he is actually¡­ strong?) While he sinks himself in deep thought, following the example of Rose''s action, many members of the public who saw Thorn''s battle start to cry out. "Good luck, Thorn!" "Without doubt, you''ll win!" "You are amazing, Thorn!" "Hahahaha¡­!" The guy who is being highly praised starts to laugh wildly as he climbs up the arena. Evidently, he is weak against flattery, and have just lost a part of his rationality. "I am sorry, but, from now on, nobody will win a battle in the second phase besides me!" He declares proudly standing on the arena. "Uuoohh¡­!!!" "T-that is so imposing! I love it!" "That is a cute voice, so she is a woman after all¡­" The public make an uproar because of thorn''s words. At this moment, Crok Alch, head of the medical center of Lurep Village, that middle-aged human with black and disheveled hair, also reacts after hearing Thorn''s voice. (A woman? Mmm¡­ That is a beautiful one.) Stealthily, he turns his head to his left, and then to his right. After finding out that nobody is looking at him, he smiles maliciously, and activates his Awakened Skill. His eyes then start to emit a faint blue light, and he gains the ability to see through any object he wants. It is really a helpful skill for a doctor. Obviously, this time, he isn''t going to use his skill for a noble purpose, he is just going to peek. These shining eyes fall upon Thorn''s virgin body. In the next second, a naked body appears before Crok Alch''s eyes, and there it is, the picture he''ll never fail to recall. Immediately after, his eyes lose their light, and he just remains there expressionless. (What kind of heartless trap is this?) He wonders bitterly. 16 Miscalculation "Wind Type Awakened Skill." Thorn calmly revealed the nature of his Awakened Skill. "Fight!" Lenna Zelu ordered, a solemn tone in her voice. In the next instant, Thorn, as some kind of ghost, appeared in front of the gargoyle. And before he even had the opportunity to react, Thorn''s wind blasted him away like a canon. "Thorn wins!" Lenna Zelu loudly stated. "F-fast!" That word appeared in almost every single audience member''s mind and mouth. A little stunned, the gargoyle slowly stood up, there wasn''t even a single scratch on his body. The gargoyles'' Racial Skill, Metallic Endurance, allowed them to turn their bodies into tougher ones, which was why it wasn''t easy to hurt them. Nevertheless, this gargoyle''s opponent was none other than Thorn who was very cable of throwing him off the arena without hurting him. "Jef Ter!" The master of ceremonies called out. After which, an elephant type monster human came close to the shield shaped platform. He released out a Second Level Advanced Awaken aura. Most of his body was human-like, the exceptions were his nose and ears which looked like if they were of an elephant type monster. And he used a pair of silver knuckles as weapons. Soon, Jef Ter stood before Thorn, and said: "Water Type Awakened Skill." Unexpectedly, he didn''t seem afraid or nervous. His eyes even expressed ''I got this''. Thorn slightly frowned upon this. "Fight!" Lenna Zelu commanded. Immediately after, Thorn was already 10 cm in front of Jef Ter gifting him a wind blast with his fist. *Fuuu¡­!* Feeling this powerful wind, Jef Ter remained collected. Then a shocking scene played out before Thorn''s eyes: the body of his opponent slowly moved backward and just after 5 cm, it stopped. Thorn''s heart skipped a beat. (Damn! His Racial Skill, Monster Affinity, has already acquired the weight affinity!) In the blink of an eye, Jef Ter condensed with his right hand a drop of water and with a resounding shout, threw it at Thorn. He evaded that drop bullet with ease thanks to his Wind Type Awakened Skill. After which, he clenched his teeth in resignation, and began to throw continuous wind blasts with reckless abandon. As for Jef Ter, he started to madly shoot his drop bullets. Before long, it became evident that the rain of drop bullets wasn''t a threat for Thorn, he could evade them very easily after all, but for Jef Ter, the wind blasts seemed unavoidable. Just like that, little by little, Thorn pushed Jef Ter in the direction of the edge of the arena. Trying to walk against the powerful air current, Jef Ter started to get nervous. He knew that the only way to have the slightest of the chances to avoid Thon''s wind blasts was by deactivating his weight affinity, but if he were to do so, even for a second, he would be blasted away and lose. In the end, Jef Ter could only sigh in dejection as the wind pushed him out of the arena. "Thorn wins!" The master of ceremonies'' voice boomed out, and in the next moment, she proceed to call out: "Huns Luna!" Twelfth Level Intermediate Awaken was the cultivation stage in which the blue feathered harpy that climbed up the arena was at. She didn''t carry any weapon with her, and just wore a light but metallic armor. "Special Awakened Skill, Energy Cloner, it allows me to clone things." She said, a proud smile adorning her beautiful face. "Fight!" In the instant Lenna Zelu ended her shout, Huns Luna made a clone of herself appear in front of her. At that same instant, Thorn started to move like a furious gale toward the harpy. *Bamph!* He collided heavily against Huns Luna'' clone. The impact immediately sent Thorn flying away, but it only made the clone retreat until the harpy intercepted it. It must be understood that the physical strength of Huns Luna'' clone was in the Twelfth Level Intermediate Awaken stage, whereas Thorn'' physical strength was in the Second Level Intermediate Awaken stage, as a result of suppressing his cultivation in Mystical Energy. This was why the outcome of the collision ended up like that. While in midair, shock and blood covered Thorn''s face, his mind trembled in confusion. (Ah!? My calculations were definitely precise! My body was supposed to stop in front of her and not on her! Mmm!? Two auras!? It''s a clone! Can she make clones this quickly!? That must be an Arrogant Awakened Skill!!) He concluded as he managed to stabilize his position with his wind help. As to confirm Thorn''s conjecture, Huns Luna, taking advantage of the short span of time Thorn was out of combat, made 30 more clones! And she even was capable of blending in with them effortlessly, making impossible to tell which ''Huns Luna'' was the real one. Before Thorn''s bewildered eyes, 64 gorgeous blue wings fluttered furiously, creating in this way a magnificent view to behold. At this moment, Thorn regained his composure, and flew extremely quickly toward a ''Huns Luna''. Stopping in front of it, he hit it with a wind blast. ''Huns Luna'' then got caught in the powerful wind and flew away, but a second later, it desperately controlled the wind, and just when its body was about to exit the battle zone, it stopped. Seeing this, he got a headache. (Damn! Her Racial Skill, Wind Control, will be a big nuisance.) He flew again toward that ''Huns Luna'', and this time, his wind blast did throw it out the battle area. After this, that ''Huns Luna'' disappeared into thin air, proving it was just a clone. Turning his head toward the remaining 31 ''Huns Luna'' bodies, Thorn saw how another clone appeared. (This will take me quite some time¡­ At least it seems like 31 clones are her limit.) He thought as frustration emerged within his heart. At the same instant, 32 wind blasts combined into a single super concentrated wind blast which straightaway headed toward Thorn''s position. He barely managed to evade such attack as cold sweat flowed down his face. (What a savage harpy! If I were to be hit by that, I would be already out of the battle zone!) He wasn''t being paranoiac at all, that attack just now had the destructive power of 32 times the strongest psychical attack of a Twelfth Level Intermediate Awaken cultivator! With renewed caution, Thorn proceeded to blast away Huns Luna''s clones, one by one. He did this using the tactic of ''hit and run''. In the end, after a long battle, amidst a chaotic storm of wind blades, Thorn blasted Huns Luna''s real body out of the battle zone. When she got out of the battlefield, obviously, she didn''t disappear into thin air. This demonstrated that she was the real one, so Lenna Zelu announced: "Thorn wins!" "*Sigh*¡­" Exhausted, Thorn let out a long sigh. (This is really bad. There''s only half of my Complex Energy left. And I don''t know how many opponents I''ll have to face. Damn! I got carried away and said those embarrassing words¡­ what a terrible miscalculation. My face is at risk here! There isn''t more options then¡­) While he was making a stupid decision, Lenna Zelu called the next participant: "Ben Kox!" When Ben Kox approached the arena, a weird silence filled the atmosphere. Thorn glanced over at this individual. (He must be a deliaf¡­) He assumed. Out of curiosity, he unsealed his cultivation in Mystical Energy and used his Arrogant Awakened Skill for an instant. (So, it''s as Rose said. It looks like his life force has been torn apart.) Thorn then showed a small smile as he put on a thoughtful expression. (And it seems like my intuition was right as well, the main reason why their lifespan is so short isn''t the damage on their life force, but it''s the damage on their Complex Energy body. After all, in the end, what is harmed the most when one cheats in their Breakthrough Challenge is one''s Complex Energy body.) The person who stood before Thorn had the appearance of a slim eight years old boy, his hair was withe, his eyes were silver, and his skin was as pale as an ill-person''s. He released a Third Level Advanced Awaken aura. "Fire Type Awakened Skill." He said glumly. "Fight!" Lenna Zelu shouted. Shortly after, Ben Kox disappeared and immediately reappeared out of the arena. As for Thorn, he was lazily standing on the same place, a relaxed smile hanging on his face. "What the heck¡­" Lenna Zelu let out such an involuntary whisper. 17 Going All Out with the Second Form "What''s going on¡­?" Baffled, Ben Kox asked in a low voice the same question most spectators were asking in their minds. "T-Thorn wins!" Quite flustered, Lenna Zelu stuttered. The northern seats. "T-that expertise, could it be Peak of Control of the Skill!?" The head of The Mercenary''s Guild in Lurep Village exclaimed in disbelief, his entire body quivering. Such shock was to be expected. Everyone knew that the difference between First Step of Control of the Skill and Peak of Control of the Skill was just like the difference between a common soldier and a mighty emperor. After all, Peak of Control of the Skill was the widely acknowledge highest level of understanding on the world. It was the level nearly every cultivator dreamed about to attain, but won''t reach in their entire lifetimes. To mention that Delia Adver, the strongest person in the hall and a princess candidate for Guild Master of The Adventurer''s Guild, had just recently entered into the Second Step of Control of the Skill. "This little bastard¡­What kind of idiot is she? To show off such trump card just for the sake of some little face¡­" Delia Adver murmured frowning, she was quite shocked as well, but her confusion was deeper. (I cannot discern her actual age, but she is definitely very young. Then, why do she have that level of understanding? I wonder if she is really that smart¡­ But again, the only way to reach such level is by becoming that smart. So, why would she do such foolish thing?) She contemplated Thorn''s expression carefully. (It seems like she isn''t even a bit afraid of the possible consequences of her acts¡­) The public seats. "Can someone explain to me what is going on?" A goblin, unable of suppressing his curiosity anymore, asked looking around in search of a knowledgeable cultivator. "Hahaha¡­" Rose laughed smugly at this question. "Let me enlighten you. Thorn has just now used his Awakened Skill with a level of understanding in Peak of Control of the Skill!" This declaration left everyone who heard it utterly dumbfounded. They were shocked by the fact that there was such a great expert at just a few meters in front of them, they were flabbergasted by the fact that there was a cultivator within such level of understanding who was still in the Second Level Intermediate Awaken stage, and finally, they have been rendered completely speechless by the fact that such a lofty expert had enough shamelessness to participate in this tournament of novices! Still filled with complex emotions, Lenna Zelu called out: "Rey Luss!" Soon, a young male elemental elf, who had green hair, stood up and walked toward the platform. He was unhurried and even had a carefree smile on his face. His aura was in the Fourth Level Advanced Awaken stage. "*Sigh*¡­" Thorn couldn''t help but sigh at this sight. (How am I supposed to defeat this guy¡­?) After Rey Luss took his position on the arena, Lenna Zelu shouted: "Fight!" It wasn''t even necessary for Rey Luss to reveal his Awakened Skill. The color of his hair and his race made evident that he was a Wind Type Awakened Skill user. Thorn tried to move Rey Luss with his Wind Type Awakened Skill. His wind then passed through Rey Luss'' body and clothes as if it were dealing with a ghost or an illusion. (As expected, I didn''t work¡­) Thorn lamented seeing this scene. Due to their Racial Skill, Elemental Body, the elemental elves couldn''t awaken a Special Awakened Skill, they could only awaken an Elemental Awakened Skill or a Special Elemental Awakened Skill. And there were just nine elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Darkness, Light, Crystalloid and Energy [It was Complex Energy for civilized races and Mystical Energy for monsters]. But in compensation for this restriction, Elemental Body made elemental elves invincible against the element of their Awakened Skill. While Thorn was pondering about a strategy to beat his opponent, Rey Luss was already punching at Thorn. (Geez! I got distracted!) Thorn cursed and, in his panic, invoked a powerful wind barrier around his body. *POW!* Despite the barrier, Rey Luss'' fist landed heavily on Thorn''s face unhindered. It was evident that the wind barrier was utterly useless against Rey Luss'' Racial Skill. The punch sent Thorn flying away like a ball. "Ouch¡­!" He moaned as his head spun in dizziness, blood sprayed out of his face. Somehow, relying on his Awakened Skill, Thorn barely managed to stop his body from getting off the combat area. It was at this moment when he realized something. (Fist¡­ Yeah, I can use that too!) Seeing that his attack didn''t finish the job, Rey Luss immediately kicked the floor and controlled the wind to move as fast as he could to follow up with a second punch. He didn''t even try to directly assault Thorn with his Wind Type Awakened Skill, because he understood very well that, with his low level of understanding, his wind wouldn''t be able to represent a threat for Thorn. Just when that punch was about to reach him, Thorn disappeared and reappeared seven meters behind Rey Luss. Feeling Thorn''s aura behind him, Rey Luss revealed an utterly shocked expression, and before he could turn his head to cast a look at his opponent, he felt two fist on his back. *Bummm!* The reverberating sound of Rey Luss'' body colliding against the floor off the arena was heard through the entire hall. Hovering in midair, despite his bloody broken arms, Thorn was smiling satisfied. "Thorn Wins!" This familiar phrase echoed out once again. "Wooo¡­!" "That girl is just unstoppable!" "Even an elemental elf with the Wind Type Awakened Skill couldn''t defeat her!?" "Is she really planning to be the last standing of the second phase!?" The spectators grew emotional after seeing Thorn''s amazing performance. "Cure Song!" Called out Lenna Zelu. Cure Song was a dullahan, his pitch-black smoke had the ''V'' shape. He wore heavy armor. And he was in the First Level Advanced Awaken stage. (At last! Someone who is trembling in fear.) Thorn was elated to see how nervous his next opponent was while walking toward the arena. Once on the arena, Cure Song slipped off his armguard which had covered his entire hand and forearm. "I have two Special Awakened Skills, the first one, Transparency Color, enables me to become invisible." As he spoke out, his hand turned transparent. He then continued while putting on his armguard: "The second one, Finale Accelerator, is a speed booster." Double Essence, the dullahan''s Racial Skill, had this little detail of allowing its user to awaken two Special Awakened Skills or two Elemental Awakened Skills. It couldn''t awaken a Special Awakened Skill and an Elemental Awakened Skill at the same time, it had always to be two of the same kind. *Clap!* After Lenna Zelu clapped, she said: "Okay! You two can star to fight now!" *Crack!* In the next instant, Thorn''s ribbons cracked and his entire person flew away. Cure Song had just now came close to him and punched his chest. He had done that so quickly even the four individuals on the north grasped in astonishment. Spitting up lots of blood, Thorn got so flustered he used for an instant Memory of the Skill to stop himself from getting off the combat area. (So, you were pretending to be afraid.) Thorn stared resentful at Cure Song. On the other hand, Cure Song was absolutely flabbergasted. (There is no way he could have stabilized himself before exiting the combat area! My punch just now wasn''t weak at all, it not only contained all my psychical strength, but also the impulse of my maximum speed!) He thought feeling intense pain from his broken right arm. At that moment, Rose sighed deeply in relieve. (Such strike! Such speed! Yet Thorn wasn''t defeated. Luckily, he used Memory of the Skill and it wasn''t evident, it looked just as if Cure Song''s strike wasn''t powerful enough.) She was also quite happy after seeing the level beyond Control of the Skill, Memory of the Skill in action. Thorn was already high above the arena observing how Cure Song was avoiding every single of his attempts to blast him away. The dullahan was just too quick. Thorn could feel Cure Song''s aura on four or five different places at the same time, and when he attacked those four or five places simultaneously, he felt that his opponent wasn''t on those four or five places anymore, but instead, he was already on another four or five places. For quite a while Thorn was feeling helpless, until a thought flashed through his mind. (There is that funny thing I can now try!) He then ceased his futile attacks and began to gather his Complex Energy in a single point at the center of the arena. *Swiffff¡­!* Following which, the wind from all directions flowed toward that point noisily and visibly. Seeing such scene playing out, Cure Song stopped in his tracks and cursed inwardly: (Damn it!) *BooOOMM¡­!!!* The wind explosion generated by the powerful pressure of the gathering point left Cure Song with no escaping path. The explosion mercilessly and coldly blasted Cure Song out of the combat region. "Thorn Wins!" The master of ceremonies once again loudly declared Thorn as the winner. "W-was it the legendary wind explosion!? The same technique only a few worldly famous experts can unleash!?" A spectator asked in bewilderment, his voice quivering. "It actually was!!!" Another spectator answered, eyes filled with reverence. The public then made an unprecedented uproar, it was the first time all of them had seen with their own eyes the wind explosion technique after all. Enjoying the amazed expressions of the public, Thorn descended onto the center of the arena and waited for his next opponent. He was very pleased with himself. (It really worked!) He was gleefully thinking. Besides that, he was wondering quite confused: (Why does he wear heavy armor¡­? That doesn''t suit his combat style at all¡­ Oh well, he must be just an idiot.) "Jeremiah Tusk!" Lenna Zelu pronounced the name of Thorn''s next opponent. Jeremiah Tusk was a slim and beautiful male, his ears were pointed, his eyes of a sparkling cyan in color, his skin was pink white, and his hair was golden and long enough to reach his waist. He was an elf. Regarding his equipment, he sported a dark golden light armor and a pair of golden swords. When he reached the arena, he said dispiritedly: "Energy Type Awakened Skill." His attitude showed clearly the null confidence he had on the probabilities he had to defeat Thorn. Although an elf and the Energy Type Awakened Skill were a perfect match made in heaven thanks to the elves'' Racial Skill, Energy Gatherer, which allowed them to replenish their Complex Energy extremely quickly; Jeremiah Tusk knew it was useless against Thorn and that he would lose within a second. "Fight!" Lenna Zelu commanded. And just as Jeremiah Tusk had predicted, he appeared out of the arena in the blink of an eye. It couldn''t be helped, Jeremiah Tusk needed at least a pair of seconds to materialize his Complex Energy, time he hadn''t had. What depressed him the most though was the fact that he hadn''t had the opportunity to show off what he really was capable of, this had completely buried his hopes of passing to the third phase. Lenna Zelu announced the winner of this match and immediately after said: "Everyone, let''s be witnesses of the last match of the second phase! Berean Drunnel, come here!" 18 Unexpected Inciden Berean Drunnel was a simple-looking human. He wore a specialized black zenanium armor, which covered his skin very tightly, to say that if his armor were of the same color of his skin, he would seem naked. "Special Awakened Skill, Size Shifter, it allows me to alter the size of things." He said. Well, it was to be expected that he would have a Special Awakened Skill because the humans'' Racial Skill, Special Essence, which for ones was a curse and for others a blessing, forced them to always awaken a Special Awakened Skill. "Fight!" The instant Lenna Zelu''s voice fell, and just when he was beginning to move Berean Drunnel with his wind, Thorn felt a pair of hands grabbing his legs. In this fashion, the human, who was griping Thorn''s legs so hard he crippled them, vigorously threw Thorn to swap the impulse of the wind. Thorn had never thought Berean Drunnel could enlarge his hands this quickly. Now, he had no choice but to hit himself with his wind blast once again to avoid getting off the combat area. *Fuumpp!* This time, the impact made him spat a mouthful of blood, and his internal organs began to shatter. Evidently, his body had already reached its limit of endurance. (Damn! This hurts more than what it should!) Grimacing, Thorn complained inwardly as he began to wrap the body of his opponent with his wind. But while Thorn was doing that, Berean Drunnel didn''t stay quiet, he shot his hands, which looked just like attacking snake type monsters. This time, however, he was viciously aiming toward Thorn''s neck! Thorn had just now experienced the extremely quick assault of those hands, so he was now prepared to face such attack. *SssClang!* *SssClang!* *SssClang!* *SssClang!* Thorn''s wind blades loudly crashed against Berean Drunnel''s armor-covered hands. Although the wind blades weren''t able to cut Berean Drunnel''s hands due to the specialized zenanium armor he wore, they still managed to completely break the momentum and direction of the quick assault. This gave Thorn enough time to completely cover Berean Drunnel''s body with his wind, and to move him out of the combat area. When Berean Drunnel became aware of where he was standing, he was already hearing Lenna Zelu'' pleasant voice. "Thorn wins!" Though, the meaning of her words wasn''t pleasant at all for him. Without caring in the slightest about Berean Drunnel''s sentiments, Lenna Zelu continued: "This ends the second phase. Now, our secondary judges are going to decide the ten participants that will pass to the third phase." As for Thorn, he was about to climb down the platform. Actually, although he was the absolute victor of this phase, the sight of him getting off the arena was the most pathetic and pitiful of all the other participants. Due to the numerous wounds and broken bones he had, he couldn''t even move his body, so he was tragically carrying himself with his wind. It was at that juncture when someone suddenly said: "Miss Thorn, please wait a moment. I have something very important to say to you." As nobody else was making any noise, everyone heard clearly these words. When all looked over in the direction of the origin of the voice, they discovered, to their surprise, that the owner of the voice was unexpectedly Arnold Alch. This young super genius was standing and directing his passionate gaze toward Thorn''s breathtaking violet eyes. "He¡­? Y-yes?" Thorn, holding himself up with his wind, said perplexed. Arnold Alch then smiled handsomely, and began his speech: "Never before had I met a woman as extraordinary as you, nor had I ever feel this way for someone else¡­" He blushed as he paused for a short moment. "What I am trying to say is tha--" "Hahaha¡­!! Au, Au! Oh boy, Oh boy! Hahaha¡­!!!" All of a sudden, a loud and unrestrained laughter interrupted Arnold Alch''s words. When Thorn shifted his gaze, he saw a human with disheveled black hair laughing his ass off as he rolled back and forth on the floor holding his stomach. (Isn''t he the head of the Medical Center of Lurep Village, Crok Alch? Why is he laughing with such abandon¡­? Has a clown kicked his brain or something?)Thorn wondered speechless. Yes, the disrespectful fellow was Crok Alch. He barely managed to stop his laughter, crawled up to his feet, and said with much difficult: "I-I am really sorry for this unwanted scene. P-please, don''t mind me. I just remembered something funny." He took a deep breath, and put on his most solemn expression. He then directed his next words toward Arnold Alch: "Young man, you MUST NOT let this heavenly opportunity pass by. I BEG you, continue with what you were doing. I''ll pray for your success." After finishing his piece, he sat back on his seat, and prepared himself to watch a good show. Arnold Alch nodded at Crok Alch, his face showing some embarrassment. He tried to calm himself down for a pair of seconds, and finally, posed once again his gaze on Thorn''s eyes, it was a gaze which contained a desire so fervent it couldn''t be ignored. It was at this moment when Thorn suddenly understood that the bastard in front of him was going to screw him up. (Holy shitttt¡­!) He cried silently as his heart trembled in fear. Arnold Alch was already done with the idle talk, so he directly said: "I want to earnestly fuck you, Miss Thorn." "¡­" "¡­" After a long period of silence and shock, some spectators began to discuss this matter noisily. "Wow! The always solitary genius of Lurep Village finally has been so impressed he couldn''t help but declare his love so promptly and so decisively!" "Right!? He even bravely took the risk of being rejected in front of so many witnesses and ruin his reputation! " "He certainly has immense guts." "Rejected? Who are you talking about? Arnold Alch''s looks and talent aren''t something a lady can reject!" "But even if Arnold Alch were more handsome and had more talent, would he be worthy of Miss Thorn?" "Of course not. Her understanding is already in the Peak of Control of the Skill after all." "That''s right! It''s now a matter of time for her to become a powerhouse at the very top of the martial world, how could a mere Arnold Alch be worthy of such a woman!?" There were some females glaring invidiously at Thorn, as well as some males desperately wishing they could have big enough gust to pursue Thorn. It must be mentioned that, in this world and era, the phrase ''I want to earnestly fuck you'' actually means this ''Please, marry me and be by my side for the rest of our lives''. Arnold Alch indeed had the guts of an entire army, and of course, a self-esteem just as big, otherwise, let alone to speak to Thorn, he would be too ashamed to even show his face in front of him. At that moment, Rose was staring quietly at Arnold Alch, there was hostility coming out of her eyes. (I know that little brat, I needed just a short glare to scare him into submission back then. Mhm! Just because he got somewhat stronger, he now dares to harbor thoughts on Thorn! He is absolutely asking for humiliation!) Meanwhile, Arnold Alch felt cold sweat flowing down his back, though he didn''t know why. In the end, he carelessly attributed it at the fact that for quite some time now, Thorn was staring blankly at the empty space just like a soulless corpse. (What is it!? Is she shocked speechless by so much happiness or so much disgust!? Or perhaps is it just indecision!?) Arnold Alch asked the heavens, heart about to explode. Just when the man declaring his love was about to stutter something, Thorn guffawed away some madness: "Hahaha¡­!!!" The spectators glanced flabbergasted at such outburst. "Hahaha¡­!!!" The maniac laughter didn''t stop, even though Thorn''s wound had yet to heal. Soon, blood scattered around Thorn, who was spitting some each time a ''ha'' came out of his mouth. This sight sent shivers to the entire hall. Some grasps of fear later. *Puumn* Thorn finally slumped over the floor, completely exhausted, his skin as pale as paper. "You think I am a broken human, right?" He said unexpectedly calmly. Arnold Alch then came back to his senses and hurried to respond: "Yes, yes. You have the exact same appearance of a human but don''t the humans'' Racial Skill after all." At this point, he suddenly realized something and fear appeared on his face, he cautiously asked with a trembling voice: "C-could it be¡­ You are a m-mutant?" "That''s right." The guy lying on the floor replied, his voice emotionless. After hearing Thorn''s confirmation, the public couldn''t help but fervently look Thorn''s body, as if trying to know even how many hairs he had. Well, that was normal, a mutant was as rare as ghost''s flesh after all. Mutants were beings that instead of having the Racial Skill of their parents, they had an entirely different and unique Racial Skill. That was equivalent to say that every single mutant represented a unique race. Arnold Alch''s face fell, he sighed and said resigned: "Such a pity¡­ I suppose fate will always do what it pleases." The scene of Arnold Alch giving in didn''t surprise anyone. It was common knowledge that beings of different races couldn''t have children, because almost a hundred percent of the cases, the baby birthed would born already dead or would be an abomination of nature that wouldn''t live for too long either. And due to this, the sexual intercourse between members of different races was viewed by the world as one of the most disgusting and foolish acts. Arnold Alch suddenly said: "Just to satisfy my curiosity, would you please tell me how your Racial Skill works?" Using his wind to get up, Thorn answered: "It has for name Soul Linking Gaze, it allows me to have a superficial connection with someone else''s soul. While this connection is active, I can tell if the person I am connected with is lying or not. Of course, the other person will also know if I am lying or not. Regarding its limitation, I can only use this skill if the target allow me to." He then suggested: "Would you like to experience it for a bit?" Arnold Alch was taken aback by such proposition, he didn''t expect his curiosity would put him into a situation in which his darkest secrets could be exposed. He pondered his options for a while, in the end, he smiled confidently and accepted: "It will be my honor to experience such interesting skill. Go on then, my soul is yours to take." Regretting his suggestion, Thorn became depressed. (Damn! Damn! What a lovely phrase! ''Go on then, my soul is yours to take''! Damn! Now in the future if a cute girl says to me these beautiful words, I''ll remember that it was firstly flirtatiously told to me by a man! Damn! Damn! Damn!!) Trying his hardest to conceal his urge to beat the bastard in front of him to a bloody pulp, Thorn warned: "Here I go!" He then activated his Racial Skill. At the same time, using Complex Energy as fuel, innumerable tendrils appeared within Thorn''s head, and they connected themselves with Thorn''s mental body. These tendrils were like gentle rays of light, when they came out through Thorn''s eyes, those eyes started to glow like Luminous Spheres. At that moment, the unbelievable happened: Thorn''s eyes became even more beautiful. Grasps of admiration echoed through the hall. Very quickly, the tendrils made their way to Arnold Alch''s eyes. Arnold Alch felt as if he were directly staring at Zura [this world''s ''Sun'']. However, he didn''t even blink and just let the tendrils touch his mental body. After that, both Thorn and Arnold Alch could feel a strange connection between their souls. Without letting Thorn to ask any question, Arnold Alch put his palm on his chest and declared: "Miss Thorn, I would give up both of my arms and both of my legs, and even my very race if with that it were possible for me to be your sexual partner!" A freezing wind blew through Thorn''s spine and it reached his heart. A triumphant smile appeared on Arnold Alch''s face, and he flirtatiously asked: "Was it true or false?" *Cough!* *Cough!* *Cough!* Thorn coughed out the remaining blood inside of his body, and groaned out: "I-it''s true!" At that moment, most spectators were feeling great admiration toward Arnold Alch''s passion and sincerity. Deactivating his Soul Linking Gaze, Thorn just said: "Goodbye." And without giving time for any reply, he carried his body toward his seat so quick it seemed like if his life depended on it. 19 The Title of Veteran Rose was waiting for him with a pair of bottles filled with his blood on her hands. She carefully fed him with them. Of course, this act was mainly a sham so that Thorn could use his Life Restorer skill. With a very concerned and gentle expression Rose asked him: "Will you be alright?" Seeing Rose acting like that, a warm feeling rose up in Thorn''s heart. "Yeah, I''ll survive." He replied, a wide smile forming on his face. But just some instants later, his smile stiffened. (Wait a moment! In the first place, wasn''t she who convinced me to pretend to be a girl!? And in the second place, wasn''t her idea what made me participate in this tournament!? In the end, the main culprit of my wounds and humiliation is she! Damn! I almost let her fool me! I''ll definitely find a way to teach her a lesson later!) Every one of the ninety individuals on the southern seats wrote ten names on a paper, they then handed over those papers to an assistant of the Zelu family. The assistant read all the papers and nodded. He approached Lenna Zelu and whispered to her ten names. After which, the assistant disappeared into some door. *Clap!* *Clap!* Lenna Zelu clapped twice to attract the attention of everyone, and said: "The results of the second phase are out. But before I announce them, I''m going to tell you what will be the prize that the ten participants who are going to pass to the third phase will receive!" After hearing the word ''prize'', Rose''s eyes lit up. The hostess pointed with her finger toward the ten empty seats on the southern part of the hall, and continued saying: "The ten will receive the right to occupy those seats. They all will be ascended to one-star veterans!" The spectators gaped in shock, they though perhaps they had heard wrong. To climb up the ranks of any guild wasn''t something easy to accomplish, it required more than just strength, it demanded to have the trust gained over years of cooperation with the guild. And naturally, to have a higher status within a guild meant to have more benefit from the guild. As for the benefits of having the title of veteran within The Mercenary''s Guild, they were quite generous. Not only the veterans had the authorization to freely use the libraries of the guild, they could also request higher ranked jobs from the guild, increasing greatly their income. Besides these advantages, as individuals of higher prestige and social status, they received discounts on almost every shop, and gained access to certain restricted areas of the world. The title was definitely very valuable and sought-after. And now, this priceless title was being given as a prize! Naturally, the spectators would be stunned. As for all those participants who had a certain degree of confidence in getting into the top ten; except, of course, the clueless Thorn; they were almost jumping up and down from extreme joy. Rose had a radiant smile on her face, she was thinking expectantly: (If this is for the top ten, what will be the prize for the first place!?) The dullahan whose pitch-black smoke had the shape of an ''S'' began to explain the next procedures: "I''ll announce the ten participants who passed to the third phase. If your name is mentioned, please go to the southern seats. There, your novice license will be changed for a one-star veteran license. Then you''ll have to wait for the third phase to start in one of those ten empty seats." Immediately after, she initiated with the announcement of the ten winners of the second phase: "Harl Rora!" A silver-skinned male goblin happily began to make his way toward the southern seats. Thorn''s right eyebrow slightly rose. "Isn''t that goblin the one from the first match? Was he strong enough to get into the third phase?" Since Thorn hadn''t seen the combats before his, Rose decided to give him a detailed explanation: "At the beginning, that cunning little bastard was just saving up his Complex Energy. He made appear it as if he won the first match with much difficult. Then in the second match, something similar happened. By the time he won the third match, it became evident that he was just pretending to be weak so he could ambush his opponent at the right moment. In the end, he won four matches, only in the fifth match he was stopped, but it was only because he was already quite exhausted. His strong point is his mastery over his Racial Skill, Link Control. That together with his Earth Type Awakened Skill make him hard to deal with." He nodded and assured her: "I can handle him." "Chloe Tara!" It was a valiant female war elf, with white skin, golden hair, blue eyes and pointed ears. She wore a menacing red armor, and had a sword and shield, both seemingly made of white crystals. "How about her? What is her strong point?" Thorn asked, his eyes glued on Chloe Tara''s sexy and voluptuous body. Rose ignored Thorn''s pervert nature, and said: "She is quite strong as well. Although her cultivation is only in the Second Level Advanced Awaken, her Racial Skill, Physical Leap, already can enhance her physical strength up to ten times her original strength. So basically, her physical strength can be equivalent to a Fifth Level Full Awaken cultivator''s. And finally, her Crystalloid Type Awakened Skill in cooperation with her proficiency on the sword and shield make her defense and attack even scarier." "Oh, quite the intimidating warrior we have here. Still, I can handle her." Thorn affirmed confidently. "Eli Bullo!" It was a beautiful female gorgon, her serpents were white with black spots, and she wore a luxurious white armor dress. Without waiting for Thorn to ask, Rose said: "She is one of the Bullo twins. You''ll have to maintain a powerful wind barrier around you if you end up fighting her, because not only does she have one of the two rarest Elemental Awakened Skills, the Light Type Awakened Skill, but she can also blend it with her Racial Skill, Poison Control." "No problem, I can handle her." Thorn asserted unhesitatingly. "Derek Niun!" It was a blond male human. His light armor was black. And he exuded a Fourth Level Advanced Awaken aura. On the northern seats. Ramph Zelu commented: "Arger Dal, you sure are lucky, that boy has a really extraordinary skill." Delia Adver also commented: "I hate to admit it, but he probably is stronger than my disciple." "Hahaha¡­ I certainly got lucky. It''ll be interesting to see who will win the tournament now that there are so many talents. Hahaha¡­" Arger Dal said overjoyed, after all, the two with the highest chances to win the tournament were from The Mercenary''s Guild. On the public seats. "Well, here it is, your greatest obstacle to obtain the first place." Rose said, a hint of worry in her voice. After detecting this worry in her voice, Thorn frowned. "Why is that?" He asked. "His Arrogant Awakened Skill is especially incredible. It is called Absolute Reflect and it can create a barrier that can return back anything thrown at it, anything. It is really a powerful skill. With it he won twelve matches, twelve! Even you, after only eight victories, were already at your limit." She explained, it was clear that Derek Niun''s Awakened Skill impressed and intimidated her. Thorn held his breath, he was left without words for a while. Still, in the end, he stuttered: "I-I can handle him." "Allen Bullo!" It was a beautiful male gorgon, his serpents were white with black spots, and he wore a luxurious light black armor. "As you can imagine, he is Eli Bullo''s twin. He also has one of the two rarest Elemental Awakened Skills, the Darkness Type Awakened Skill." Rose stopped speaking for a second. "Well, this ends the explanations. You already know how strong are the next five participants who will be announced as winners of the second phase." "Ehh? S-seriously?" Thorn''s expression couldn''t be more bewildered. "Hehehe¡­ Don''t underestimate me. After seeing the entire second phase, others may not be able to know, with one hundred percent of certainty, who the winners are, but I do know. The five already mentioned, four are participants you fought with, and finally you. Ten in total." She said with a smile. "Oh¡­" Thorn now understood. "Jef Ter!" "Huns Luna!" "Cure Song!" "Berean Drunnel!" "Thorn!" Lenna Zelu ended up calling out the exact names Rose had predicted. Thorn looked over at Rose''s triumphant smile, and thought: (As expected of the little monster.) He walked toward the southern seats, once there, Vei Dal said to him in a good mood: "Congratulations Thorn! You really gave me a tremendous pleasant surprise when you showed your skills!" "Hehehe¡­ You won''t find someone with more talent than me. Hehehe¡­" Thorn said self-assuredly, he looked just like the spoiled daughter of an aristocrat. "Hahaha¡­! That''s for sure. Hahaha¡­!" Vei Dal was in reality quite serious about it. Thorn handed over his one-star novice mercenary license to the shadow human, and received from him a one-star veteran mercenary license. Vei Dal couldn''t help but say: "Seven days, just seven days is the time you took to ascend to one-star veteran from one-star novice. You did that with a cultivation in the Second Level Intermediate Awaken and with no background whatsoever. There just aren''t words to describe the admiration you made me feel for you. Arhg! Enough of this! What I am trying to say is: good luck in the third phase, I''ll be hoping for your victory more than anyone else''s." Hearing Vei Dal''s sincere words, a single slice of ice melted on Thorn''s frozen heart. A genuine smile which couldn''t be contained or suppressed naturally formed on his face. "Thanks. And don''t worry. I''ll definitely win." He said as a light of determination flashed through his eyes. Vei Dal''s heart began to madly pound. Thorn''s expression at this moment was just too mesmerizing. The emotion Vei Dal was feeling was the same emotion a kid would feel for a hero. "Alright. Go take a seat then. You must rest as much as possible to be ready for the incoming battle." Vei Dal recommended. Thorn nodded and sat down on his corresponding seat. He closed his eyes and just rested. An hour later. *Ziiii¡­!* The shield shaped platform began to open up in half. There was an artificial lake under the platform. And on the lake, there were forty small shield shaped black platforms floating about. After the huge platform opened up completely, Captain Fou Tre of the kingdom''s military forces led his fourteen knights toward the center of the hall. They then surrounded the artificial lake in a symmetric fashion. Finally, Lenna Zelu descended on one of the small platforms. Most spectators became confused after seeing such scene. It was at that moment when Lenna Zelu''s voice echoed out once again: "For the third phase we''ll receive the assistance of our respected Captain Fou Tre and his honorable knights. The third phase will be a Battle Royale of ten participants. In this phase a participant will only lose if it is knocked out, in other words, if it loses consciousness. Captain Fou Tre and his Knights will maintain the participants within the combat area. And as you can see, the terrain for the third phase will be slightly different from the two former phases." She then turned her body toward the southern seats and playfully said: "To lift your fighting spirit I''ll inform you all about something you are very interested in: what will be the prize for the first place of the tournament." The participants and even the spectators became restless after hearing Lenna Zelu''s words. She nodded satisfied at this reaction, and loudly proclaimed: "The third place will receive nothing! The second place, nothing as well! And the first place will be granted 4 black coins! Yes! Only the best, the last standing will earn everything!" 20 Third Phase \"4 black coins, that''s 400 golden coins!!!\" \"Arger Dal wasn''t kidding at all when he said ''the prize this time is more plentiful than ever before''!\" \"Although only the first place will win the money, the prize is like the accumulated prizes of two previous tournaments!\" \"Oh dammit! Why didn''t I convinced my cousin to participate in the tournament?!\" The public fervently exclaimed. On the southern seats, the participants glared at each other, their eyes burning with the desire to get savage. Rose was clenching her fists, a very serious expression on her face. She made her Complex Energy reach Thorn''s ears and activated her Awakened Skill. \"Win, even if to do so you have to break through your current level of shamelessness.\" Her voice clear and firm. After hearing this, Thorn was taken aback. He turned his head to look at her, and his eyes met her solemn gaze. At that moment, he smiled, firmly nodded at her, and casually said \"That money is already yours, boss!\" Lenna Zelu ascended and instructed: \"Participants, get on the arena!\" In no time, Harl Rora, Chloe Tara, Eli Bullo, Allen Bullo, Derek Niun, Jef Ter, Huns Luna, Cure Song, Berean Drunnel and Thorn each stood on a different small platform separated by the water of the artificial lake. Their postures and expressions showed how ready they were to fight. The master of ceremonies got out of the combat area, and roared lifting up her fists: \"Let the final battle begin!\" After which, every one of the competitors made their move at the same time. Jef Ter unhesitatingly nose-dived into the lake with a splash. Eli Bullo and Allen Bullo jumped toward an empty platform which was between the two of them. Chloe Tara shot toward Harl Rora, shield pointed at him. Harl Rora used all the energy minerals and zenaniums from his backpack to completely cover himself, he basically took the appearance of a metallic golem. Derek Niun ferociously jumped toward Thorn. Huns Luna made 31 clones and flew with them in the direction of the Bullo twins. Cure Song and Berean Drunnel headed toward the Bullo twins as well. As for Thorn, he just created a powerful wind barrier around his body. Chloe Tara heavily struck Harl Rora with her shield and he shot like a cannonball toward the Bullo twins. Standing on the same platform, the Bullo twins didn''t even blink at the fact that they had become the target of so many participants. They calmly smiled as they took a combat stance. Eli Bullo used her right hand to blast a terrific column of burning light toward the incoming Harl Rora, and used her left hand to blast a similar column toward the incoming harpies. Allen Bullo invoked the darkness to surround himself and his sister. Feeling the approaching aura of Derek Niun, Thorn thought: (Going after me this soon? That''s not good, I would prefer to face you when you are at least a little psychologically tired.) He then disappeared and reappeared a dozen meters above the lake surface. *Bum!* Derek Niun landed with a great momentum onto the platform Thorn had just been standing on as he cast his ferocious glare at the slippery fellow. Thorn playful smiled at him and said: \"Someone so slow doesn''t have the right to touch me.\" He then flew toward where most participants where at. \"Challenge accepted!\" Derek Niun bellowed as his feet leaped in Thorn''s direction. \"Aaaaahh¡­!\" Harl Rora shrieked out as the burning heat of Eli Bullo''s column of light passed through the thick layer of energy minerals and zenaniums that covered his body. When the burning-golem-like Harl Rora was about to reach the Bullo twins, Allen Bullo''s darkness hit him changing his direction. Eli Bullo now used both hands to shot columns of light toward Huns Luna''s clones. \"Arg¡­!\" \"Anmm¡­!\" \"Aaahh¡­!\" One by one, Huns Luna''s clones were falling and disappearing. Eli Bullo''s columns of light were so fast and powerful that, in a second, half the clones were already gone. The harpy didn''t stop creating clones, and she in conjunction with her clones started to send wind blasts toward the Bullo twins. However, those attacks were instantly devoured by Allen Bullo''s darkness the moment they touched it. At that instant, Chloe Tara, Cure Song and Berean Drunnel reached the twins'' platform, and began their assault. Chloe Tara slashed at Eli Bullo. Cure Song''s speed burst while he punched at Allen Bullo. Berean Drunnel''s hands shot toward the two twins with the intention of throwing them into the lake. It was since long ago that Allen Bullo had been prepared to receive this three guests. An instant before the three attacks came into motion, his darkness had already erupted out. The attacks collided with the darkness and were stopped like rain striking earth. At the same time, the darkness disintegrated the surface of Cure Song''s right armguard, Chloe Tara''s sword and Berean Drunnel''s armor with little to no effort. The three of them immediately retreated and looked down at the disintegrated parts in amazement. They could hardly believe how strong Allen Bullo''s darkness actually was! *Punmp* An instant later, Berean Drunnel slumped over the platform, unconscious. When Chloe Tara and Cure Song looked over at him in confusion, they discovered that the armor around his fists was totally disintegrated and blood was oozing out of his knuckles. His armor was too thin, and the poison in the darkness had reached him rendering him unconscious! In the next instant, water devoured Berean Drunnel, and transported him to the side of the middle-aged blue-skinned gargoyle Captain Fou Tre. It was evident that Fou Tre was a Water Element Awakened Skill user, and that he had already stepped into the Control of the Skill understanding degree. Harl Rora was standing on a pile of energy minerals and zenaniums, his face unsightly. He had somehow managed to activate his Earth Element Awakened Skill to alter the materials he had on his body to create an improvised boat while he was in midair. He looked with rage at Chloe Tara and the Bullo twins. Without hesitation, he led his boat toward them. While Chloe Tara and Cure Song were at a loss, Thorn descended besides them and began to glide around through the wind, his smile as carefree as it could get. After which, Derek Niun descended besides them as well, and continued pursuing Thorn. \"Aaahh¡­!\" Huns Luna''s painful scream echoed out. A column of light had just reached her. Inevitably, she fell unconscious and was carried away by the Captain Fou Tre. Eli Bullo then turned her abyssal black eyes to Chloe Tara and Cure Song. They shivered in fright after seeing such menacing glare. But before Eli Bullo could attack them, all of a sudden, a gigantic water column descended over the entire platform! It was Jef Ter! He had been patiently waiting for an opportunity to strike and that opportunity was now when most of the participants were on the same platform. But the participants who had reached the third phase weren''t pushovers. Allen Bullo reacted extremely quickly and used his darkness to protect himself and his sister. Chloe Tara stabbed her sword on the platform and used her shield to cover herself up. Derek Niun just activated his Absolute Reflect skill and the water just bounced off his barrier. Thorn didn''t do much, he had already had a powerful wind barrier around him which protected him from the water quite efficiently. As for Cure Song, he hadn''t had a countermeasure against such a sudden attack and ended up being dragged into the lake. The water column slowly dissipated. It was at that moment when Harl Rora arrived, he stretched out his tiny hand, grabbed the platform, and activated his Link Control Racial Skill. Then, with cracking sounds, the platform shattered into thousands of small pieces. After this, the goblin tried to escape as quickly as he could; but before he could go too far, Chloe Tara reached his improvised boat in a single leap. After the shattering of the platform; Allen Bullo grabbed his sister and made a small platform of darkness under his feet, Derek Niun constantly jumped against the water surface to avoid sinking, and Thorn just flew about. In the depths of the lake, Cure Song began to swim upward like an expert; however, before he could move for too long, water bullets assaulted him. After two bullets reached and wounded him, he used his speed boost to shoot toward his assailant: Jef Ter. In the arms of her brother, Eli Bullo began to attack Thorn with columns of light. Thanks to the fact that Eli Bullo couldn''t aim perfectly due to her brother''s unsteady footing and her awkward position, Thorn was able to dodge her attacks. \"Hey, hey, hey! She is mine to take down!\" Derek Niun bellowed as he jumped toward the Bullo twins. At that point in time, Chloe Tara was fighting with Harl Rora on the boat of energy minerals and zenaniums. Harl Rora constantly altered the boat to break Chloe Tara balance while he threw at her metallic bullets. Chloe Tara cut those bullets with ease. And shortly after, she became more proficient fighting on such terrain, which allowed her to finally close in Harl Rora. Without saying a word, she mercilessly struck his head with her shield. The blow sent him flying away; and, in midair, he lost consciousness pathetically. A giant wave then brought Harl Rora out of the combat area. Inside the lake, Cure Song continued pursuing Jef Ter as he became aware of the fact that he wouldn''t be able to catch him. Their speeds within the lake were almost equals! He couldn''t let this persecution go on because he would run out of oxygen. So, he reluctantly gave in and got out of the water. Seeing Cure Song actions, Jef Ter heaved a sigh of relieve. He had never thought Cure Song would be so quick under water. Only after using all his capabilities and concentration had he managed to barely reach just his same level of speed. After some thought, Jef Ter decided on his next opponent, and headed toward Chloe Tara. Allen Bullo frowned deeply at the incoming Derek Niun as he erected a big barrier of darkness in front of him and moved the platform under his feet backward. Not showing any concern, Derek Niun let his entire body collide against that spine-chilling darkness. Impressively, he wasn''t stopped at all, and passed through the barrier as easily as passing through a thin curtain of water. The reflect barrier around Derek Niun''s body was just too useful! He soon caught up with the Bullo twins and unhesitatingly punched at Eli Bullo. His reflect-barrier-covered fist broke every defense and resoundingly hit her head. Eli Bullo flew out of Allen Bullo''s arms spraying blood out of her head, and lost consciousness. Derek Niun''s strike was twice as strong as a normal strike because his punch not only had the ''action'', but, thanks to his reflect barrier, it also contained the ''reaction'' force as attacking force. \"Aaahh!!\" Allen Bullo cried out in rage, but before he could do anything else, Derek Niun punched his head too. Flying away, Allen Bullo fainted. Both twins then got carried out of the combat area by Captain Fou Tre. Thorn looked over at Derek Niun and chuckled. \"Slow boy.\" Immediately after, he flew away. A vein popped out in Derek Niun''s forehead. He muttered gnashing his teeth: \"Your plan is too stupid. With so few opponents, there''s no way I''ll get tired before I kick your flat ass.\" And he proceed with the persecution. Chloe Tara stood lazily, trying to select a suitable opponent to attack; and then, all of a sudden, the water around her came bursting out of the lake and devoured her along the small boat. She didn''t panic and just calmly looked at Jef Ter. (He''ll do just fine.) She thought. But then, she froze. Jef Ter had, in an instant, transported behind her. When she turned her head, the only thing she saw was an incoming fist. Jef Ter''s fist landed heavily on Chloe Tara''s face. The punch didn''t just have Jef Ter''s raw strength, it also possessed the impulse of the water controlled by his Awakened Skill, but that wasn''t all, it also contained the immense weight of his Weight Powering ability activated by his Monster Powering Racial Skill. The crushing strike sent Chloe Tara directly to the bottom of the artificial lake. When her body roughly hit that bottom, she was already unconscious. Captain Fou Tre could clearly see what was going on inside the water, so he brought Chloe Tara''s body to his side. After noticing that there was only three remaining opponents to defeat, Thorn''s gaze turned serious. (Let''s begin.) He thought as he began to rotate an immense current of wind around Jef Ter. At first, the moving wind didn''t seem like much, but gradually it took the shape of a furious hurricane! This scene startled Derek Niun, Cure Song and Jef Ter. It was the Wind Technique: Tornado! The water was forced to open up, revealing a paralyzed Jef Ter. Without warning, a rain of wind bullets fell upon his head. \"Arhhggg¡­!!\" Jef Ter''s scream loudly echoed out, but after a single second, it ceased. Jef Ter was now unconscious. Following which, his body disappeared in a current of water. Thorn turned his back to the hurricane, and looked at Cure Song with a wide smile. \"I got you.\" He joyful said. \"Ehh..?\" Perplexed, Cure Song involuntary muttered. His body then floated toward thorn''s position. \"Oh, damn it!\" He cursed after understanding that he had let Thorn''s wind catch him. It didn''t matter how quickly Cure Song could move, he still wouldn''t be able to escape the grip of the wind. Thorn put Cure Song in front of him and magnanimously asked: \"Would you like to surrender? Or would you prefer to be knocked out by me?\" Cure Song decisively answered: \"The second option; and please, make it as painful as you can. Just to shake off some of my carelessness.\" \"Hahaha¡­!\" Thorn couldn''t help but laugh out loud. \"You are an interesting fellow!\" He complimented as he threw him toward a small platform. *Boom!* Thorn didn''t stop, he heartily continued smashing him against different platforms. *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* . . . Soon, blood covered every single small platform, and yet Thorn earnestly continued with the thrashing. The spectators were left flabbergasted. (Why do you have to take his words so seriously?!) (Have some mercy for heaven''s sake!) (Goddammit! She is so cute when abusing someone!) These were some of their thoughts. A few moments later, Thorn finally stopped and let Captain Fou Tre retire Cure Song''s bloody and unconscious body. Derek Niun looked over at Thorn, cold sweat flowing down his back. He had never thought that a Wind Element Awakened Skill user could be this terrific. With some difficult, he calmed himself down and thought: (It doesn''t matter. In the end, his wind will never be able to touch me!) \"Hey, do you want to see who can last longer?\" Thorn suddenly asked him, a confident smile on his face. Derek Niun instantly understood his intentions, so he bellowed: \"Bring it on!\" Thorn closed his eyes, took a deep breath and made thousands of wind bullets around Derek Niun''s body. The bullets then battered Derek Niun''s barrier at the same time; still, every single one of them was reflected with ease. Only now did Thorn open his eyes. He handsomely smiled; and then, all of a sudden, screamed out clenching his fists: \"Aaaahh¡­!!!\" Along with the war cry, more wind bullets appeared; this time, however, there were tens of thousands of them! The bullets once again assaulted the reflect barrier. But then, just after the bullets shot, another batch of tens of thousands bullets appeared, and they also shot toward Derek Niun. It wasn''t the end, soon, another batch of bullets followed, and then another, and another, and another; there wasn''t an end to it, the bullets just continued appearing as though they were endless. Every single witnesses of this scene trembled. (Even if one''s understanding degree reached the Final-Star Control of the Skill, is it really possible to muster such insane attack that could bring down an entire army of cultivators of one''s same cultivation base?!) Derek Niun was using his Complex Energy like a madman. Just by doing so his barrier was able to support such barrage. Cold sweat ran through his spine; he knew very well that if his barrier was shattered, he would be reduced to a meat paste in an instant. (She is going too far! Moreover, how come she can do this?! How could she use this much Complex Energy at the same time?! I never heard about such a ridiculous thing!) He complained clenching his teeth. And then, Thorn''s war cry became even louder: \"AAAAAAHHH¡­.!!!\" After that, something incredible happened: behind Derek Niun, in his blind spot, ten thousand wind bullets appeared forming a straight line, even though the rain of wind bullets didn''t stop in the slightest! The spectators gaped in utter shock. The ten thousand bullets shot toward Derek Niun as one. It was like a gigantic spear that could pierce through any defense. It instantly struck the reflect barrier at the back of Derek Niun''s head. At that moment, Derek Niun''s pupils dilated as he felt a single overpowered wind bullet penetrating his reflect barrier. And then, he only saw darkness. Just when everyone was thinking that Derek Niun was going to be turned into minced meat, the wind bullets disappeared in a puff. *Punmp!* Thorn fell over a small platform, completely exhausted. He didn''t even have enough Complex Energy to fly. From the beginning, he wasn''t planning on letting the battle become a battle of attrition where only the one with the highest reserve of Complex Energy would win, and in actually, he was planning on ending the combat as quickly as possible. To do so, he needed to make his opponent distribute his Complex Energy to a great area so the barrier couldn''t get too thick, and then he just had to attack a single point with all his remaining strength. 21 The Murder In spite of how evident it was, the master of ceremonies still announced: \"Thorn wins!\" *Clap!!* *clap!!* *clap!!* *clap!!*...!!! \"Thorn, you are amazing!\" \"Congratulations! And thanks for the amazing spectacle you showed us!\" \"Thanks for making the trip and the entry fee totally worth it!\" On the northern seats. \"Congratulations, fellow Branch Head, for earning the first, second, and third place.\" Delia Adver congratulated Arger Dal, a faint but sincere smile on her face. \"Hahaha¡­ Thanks, really thanks, fellow Branch Head. Still, out of the ten participants who made it to the third phase, seven were from your guild.\" He sighed and shook his head. \"If not for consecutive fortuitous strokes of luck there''s no way I would have acquired so many incredible talents. In the end, when it comes to management skills, I still can''t compete against you at all.\" \"Given my status, I would be really troubled if my management skills weren''t at least this good.\" She replied as a melancholic light flashed through her shining crimson eyes for a short instant. *Ziiii¡­!* The artificial lake soon was once again completely covered by the immense shield shaped platform, and Captain Fou Tre alongside his knights went back to their respective seats. At the same time, Crok Alch expertly treated the unconscious participants. Thanks to this, one by one, they woke up. Still exhausted, Thorn wobbled his way toward his seat. Five minutes later. Except for Thorn, every other participant was quite depressed. They sat in their seats crestfallen and occasionally sighing in dejection. There was a stark contrast between them and Rose who, although had most of her face covered, looked so happy it seemed like she was the one who had won the tournament. Standing on the arena, Lenna Zelu spoke out: \"Thorn, come here to receive your prize.\" After hearing her call, he proudly stood up and sauntered forward. Dozens of thousands of eyes fell on him, they showed deep longing and admiration, almost as if looking at a star in the sky. Thorn was about to climb up the platform when he abruptly stopped in his tracks. The Aura of someone behind him had suddenly disappeared! Frowning, he turned his head back, and asked: \"Has he just now¡­ died?\" He wasn''t the only one who was looking in that direction, every person in the hall was also doing so, but they weren''t as calm as Thorn. They all wore grim expressions, and some of them even had involuntarily stood up. \"S-son!\" A frantic and desperate cry boomed out. It was Ramph Zelu''s voice! He immediately burst into motion; and in an instant, he disappeared from the northern seats and then reappeared at the southern seats. He stood blankly in front of Resh Zelu''s lifeless body. (My son¡­ my dearest son¡­ my greatest hope¡­! I know that from time to time you have indulged yourself in lustful pleasures but that was all! On everything else you were perfect! A perfect son! Someone with the potential to bring our family to new heights! This can''t be happening¡­ This can''t be happening! You were supposed to inherit everything I have! You were supposed to surpass your old dad in the blacksmith art by leaps and bounds! You were supposed to still have hundreds of years to live! How could you just die?! And worse yet, before your old dad?! This isn''t happening¡­!) Seeing such scene, nobody else dared to move or make the slightest noise. \"C-Crok Alch, is there something you can do? Please do something!\" Finally, with a trace of madness in his hoarse voice, Ramph Zelu pleaded. *Sigh*¡­ A heavy sigh came out of Crok Alch''s mouth, he wasn''t unfamiliar with the soul-breaking pain a parent would feel in the face of losing one''s heir. It was something he had personally experienced, after all. He walked toward the corpse, kneeled down in front of it, and activated his Awakened Skill to analyze it. After some time of silence, Crok Alch slowly stood up, a grave expression on his face. He gradually stated: \"Resh Zelu''s two principal vital organs within his chest¨Chis brain and his heart¨Chave been crushed¡­ It was a murder.\" After hearing the word ''murder'', Ramph Zelu''s aura became chaotic; this alone caused the floor of the entire mansion to shake, and the air to tremble. His pentagon shaped pitch-black smoke was so altered it didn''t seem like smoke anymore but pitch-black threads. Irradiating an invisible pressure filled with rage, he quietly swept his vision through the faces of every present individual, and ordered: \"Everybody, don''t move until the culprit is found.\" He then turned his body toward Thorn and accused pointing at him: \"Especially you! You are the most suspicious! Your understanding degree and your Wind Element Awakened Skill make you the only person capable of doing this in front of everyone!\" Gasps of shock echoed out as the public understood that Ramph Zelu''s words were actually very reasonable. \"You have to be the first one to prove its innocence!\" The disconsolate parent demanded. Thorn unhesitatingly decided to cooperate: \"Okay.\" As soon as that word fell, his eyes began to shine, and a connection between his soul and Ramph Zelu''s materialized. Feeling in his very soul that Thorn wouldn''t be able to deceive him, Ramph Zelu sternly asked: \"Do you know who the murderer of my son is?\" \"I have no idea. I don''t even know anyone who had desires or reasons to kill him.\" Thorn answered in a way that made his innocence clear. \"I see¡­ Well, then, would you use your Racial Skill to help me interrogate every single attendee of this tournament?\" Ramph Zelu asked in a tone that didn''t allow a ''no'' for answer. \"I''ll definitely help you.\" \"Good!\" Ramph Zelu exclaimed, satisfied with Thorn''s quick response. Thorn then moved onto the platform, and was about to start with his task; but just before he could do that, he heard Rose''s whisper in his ear. At that instant, his eyes lit up; however, he quickly changed such look into a solemn one, and activated his Awakened Skill eyeing the entire western region of the hall. \"You can all show your thumb up to say ''yes'' and thumb down to say ''no''. To discern the truth, that gesture will suffice. Now, you all, allow me to touch your souls.\" Thorn explained and commanded. Afterward, he activated his Racial Skill shocking everyone. Yes, he was using his Soul Linking Gaze on tens of thousands of individuals at the same time! \"Do you know who Resh Zelu''s murderer is?\" He sharply asked. All the persons who were connected with Thorn''s soul showed their own thumb down in unison, it was quite the amazing sight. Thorn nodded at them, and deactivated his Racial Skill. Turning around, he was now facing the entire eastern part of the hall. This time, he didn''t give any explanation or command and directly activated his Racial Skill. \"Do you know who Resh Zelu''s murderer is?\" He once again asked. And just as the other people, they also showed their own thumb down in unison. He deactivated his Racial Skill and turned toward the south of the hall, whereupon he did the same. Finally, he turned toward the north to once again do the same. By the time Thorn ended with the interrogations, people became restless wondering who the culprit or culprits might be. Thorn, however, had a troubled expression as he turned to face Ramph Zelu. Only after a long moment of silence and suspense did he inform: \"¡­ Nobody here is the culprit¡­\" \"What?! Where did the culprit go then?!\" Ramph Zelu bellowed furiously. Thorn closed his eyes and sighed shaking his head. His posture was clear ''there''s nothing I can do about this''. Ramph Zelu felt helpless, the only possibility left was that the culprit had long since sneakily escaped. \"Wait!\" Suddenly, Crok Alch barked, and once again closely examined Resh Zelu''s corpse! \"As I just thought! The culprit is the death grip monster!\" He exclaimed emotionally. \"What are you talking about?\" Ramph Zelu asked in total confusion. Crok Alch cleared his throat and began to explain like the professional he was: \"Everybody knows that there are innumerable microorganisms that cause diseases, and that there are also a group of terrific monster microorganisms that cultivate and can inflict extremely rare and dangerous diseases. Well, there is a species of monster microorganisms named death grip monsters. It''s one of the rarest monster microorganisms. The important thing is that they can randomly appear practically anywhere, and each of them can only attack a single individual in its lifetime; but the individual once attacked will definitely die! Their victims will have their principal vital organs destroyed as if a griping hand were the attacker; also, some time after the victim dies, the victim''s skin will turn slightly yellowish.\" He then pointed at Resh Zelu''s skin, which had now a slightly unnatural yellowish tone to it. \"As you can see, Resh Zelu''s corpse matches with the characteristics a victim of the death grip monster has.\" Ramph Zelu staggered over and said with a miserable, trembling voice: \"A-are you telling me that my son''s death was caused by the whims of fate¡­? That there is no one to blame but destiny and that I have to just accept it¡­?\" He fell to his knees in front of the remains of his beloved son. His pentagon shaped pitch-black smoke began to crumble, and little pieces of it started to fall down. He was crying, in spite of his status, before tens of thousands of eyes. Yet, nobody dared to look down on Ramph Zelu''s pitiful appearance, or thought he was weak; because everybody had sometime, somehow experienced by themselves how brutal destiny could be. 22 Arranging Future Meetings Eventually, Ramph Zelu, with utmost care, held his son''s corpse in his arms, and after absentmindedly excusing himself, with heavy steps, took away his now dead offspring. What followed his departure was an awkward silence, a prolonged one. It couldn''t be helped, the scene just now had materialized a heavy weight on the spectator''s hearts. In the end, it was Lenna Zelu''s footsteps what broke the silence. She stopped in front of Thorn, and said handing 4 black coins over to him: \"Congratulations. Here it is your deserved reward.\" She then directed her next words toward the public: \"With this, the twenty-first Lurep Village Mercenary vs. Adventurer Novices Tournament ends. Thanks for your presence today.\" Immediately after, she too left. Her quick actions showed how upset she was. Well, her cousin had just died, it was understandable. After which, the gates to the exit of the mansion opened. The spectators exchanged distressed looks, and proceed to leave in an orderly fashion. At that juncture, Delia Adver told Arger Dal and Cley Alch: \"See you later, my friends. I have some business to attend.\" Used to her personality, they just waved at her; and after she disappeared, they began to discuss Ramph Zelu''s matter. Delia Adver suddenly appeared in front of Thorn giving him a little scare. \"W-what?\" He stuttered. \"Since you are a mercenary, you can accept a job from me, correct?\" She asked, her gaze firmly settled on his eyes. \"Oh¡­ Yes, yes! Although our party is still inexperienced, until now, we haven''t disappointed a single client; so you can feel relieved putting your trust on us.\" Radiating confidence, he beamed. \"That''s great. Meet me at the principal headquarters of the Adventurer''s Guild in 457 days. And don''t worry about the money, I''ll give your party enough to spend the rest of your lives in luxury.\" After saying such awesome words, she disappeared from Thorn''s field of vision. *Gasp* Thorn couldn''t help gasp in astonishment. (Goddammit! She almost gave me a boner!) Delia Adver appeared in front of her disciple, the girl with sexy thick lips, and mocked her revealing a playful smile: \"Ashly, that was pathetic: you got your ass kicked really good there.\" Ashly involuntarily put her hand on her chest, pain stabbing her heart, and said grimacing: \"Y-y-you know that it was a shameless, underhanded blow¡­ Why are you adding salt to my wound? As my teacher, you should be trying to heal it instead¡­ \" Still with the playful smile on her face, Delia Adver replied: \"Don''t be silly, Ashly. As your teacher, I have the responsibility of putting enough salt on your wound to kill every bacteria it may attract. And believe me, it requires quite a lot of salt to do so.\" *Grrr¡­* Ashley made such noise as she held her own head with both hands in frustration. \"Forget it, I had never won a discussion against you anyway!\" She then lowered her arms and sighed. After a short silence, Ashly suddenly said: \"I suppose the reason why you are in such a good mood is because he''ll help you with that matter.\" \"Of course.\" Delia Adver immediately admitted. She then started to walk toward the exit as a casual mutter left her rosy lips: \"Let''s go home.\" Not too far away from the teacher-disciple pair, Arnold Alch sauntered to the side of Captain Fou Tre, and said with a hushed voice: \"I''ll ''eat'' tomorrow. Bring just three knights this time. Same place as always.\" The Captain Fou Tre wordlessly nodded and turned to leave. By this point, Rose and Thorn were already chatting. It was a private conversation thanks to her Awakened Skill. \"What did Delia want from you?\" Rose asked, her eyes filled with curiosity. \"She made us a job offer; though, apart from the extravagant payment she promised, she only said that we have to be at the principal headquarters of the Adventurer''s Guild in 457 days.\" Thorn answered. Thorn''s words immediately made Rose''s eyes lit up like golden coins. \"Well, I have no idea why she''ll need our help, but if there''s an organization that is famed for how depth its treasure vaults are, that would be the Adventurer''s Guild! I''m sure the journey to the Monster Human Kingdom will be worth it!\" \"That''s awesome! By the way, speaking of money, here there are the 4 black coins!\" He said handing the money over to her. After Rose put the coins in her pocket, she joyful celebrated flinging her arms in the air. \"We are now so close to have enough to contract a ship designer!\" \"How much are you planning to extort from the murderer?\" Thorn suddenly asked, a wide and malicious smile on his face. In response to Thorn''s question, Rose nonchalantly said: \"Oh, about that, since his Awakened Skill is so useful and so unique, I thought we should ask him to join our party.\" \"W-what?!\" Thorn''s mouth and eyes became completely wide open. \"I know, I know, it''s a risky move; but I think it would be worth it. You must be aware of the fact that probably, in the entire world, there isn''t a second Awakened Skill like his.\" Her look was earnest. \"Yes, probably there isn''t; but a party united by extortion won''t work right; actually, it would be extremely dangerous.\" He tried to change her mind patiently. \"That''s why I said ''we should ask him to join our party'', and didn''t say ''we should extort him into joining our party''.\" She stubbornly replied. *Sigh¡­* After a long sigh, he finally conceded: \"¡­ Okay. If you have already decided it, I suppose I won''t be able to change your mind because, in spite of everything, you are the smartest of the team right now.\" \"It''s a bet, okay? We could receive a disaster or a blessing from him. I just want to take the risk because I believe that, with our combined wits and strengths, we can overcome any disaster he may throw at us.\" She explained in a single breath, eyes radiating deep craftiness. Seeing her confident attitude, he couldn''t help but crack a slight smile on his face. \"Let''s follow him then, before he gets away.\" \"Yes!\" Rose nodded satisfied. Thorn had at last understood her. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ An almost desolate suburban region of Lurep Village. The buildings and streets were constructed with grey metallic rock chunks, the rooftops filled with a variety of domesticated plant monsters: lavender, daylily, maiden grass, etc. *Step* *step* *step* *step*¡­ Steady footsteps echoed out through an empty and dim alley. Under thick shadows and right in the middle of the narrow path, the owner of the footsteps all of a sudden stopped, turned around, and let out a single word in a relaxed tone: \"Why?\" Soon, Thorn and Rose walked into the alley, and stood side by side ten meters in front of the murderer. \"Because I want to befriend you, and I want you to join our mercenary party.\" Rose answered, she too used a relaxed tone. \"Hahaha¡­ Again, why?\" The individual shrouded in shadows gave such a reply. It was evident that Rose''s answer sounded amusing to him. Frowning, Rose spoke out, her voice steady and clear: \"Isn''t it obvious? In the long term, if you join our mercenary party, the strength your Awakened Skill gives you could bring us hundreds of thousands of bigger benefits than the benefits we would have received if Thorn pointed his finger at you at that moment.\" *PUMB!!* The murderer slammed his right feet against the floor, his fists clenched so hard faint cracking sounds could be heard. Thorn''s eyes sharply narrowed. He was ready to use the Final-Star Memory of the Skill at any given moment. As the tension in the air increased, the murderer''s furious shout suddenly rang out: \"So you view ''benefits'' as something more important than ''people''?! You are the kind of trash I despise the most!\" Rose''s frown deepened, and she roared gnashing her teeth in indignation: \"Bullshit! I''m not that innocent nor that softhearted! I''m much colder and crueler than that! I firmly believe that ''people'' are just ''benefits''!\" \"¡­.\" \"¡­.\" As expected, Rose''s declaration rendered Thorn and the murderer speechless. Rose cleared her throat and said: \"A-anyway, will you join us? The decision is up to you. If you don''t want to, so be it. But think about it carefully. I''m sure you have already noticed that Thorn is actually much stronger than what he showed. That''s why if you join us, you''ll have an easier time when working.\" The murderer unhesitatingly replied: \"I''m not interested. Since you are looking for a criminal to join your party, then you two must be criminals too. I had my own reasons to do what I did, and I have no intention of becoming an outlaw.\" Rose smiled. \"We aren''t criminals. It''s just that your skill is so useful I decided to take the risk of allowing a criminal in our party.\" \"I see¡­\" The murderer whispered as he began to consider Rose''s offer more seriously. Some time passed by in silence, and finally, he sauntered closer to the duo. His appearance little by little became clearer as he walked out from under the shadows. First, his heavy black armor became visible, and then, his pitch-black smoke which had the ''V'' shape. He was Cure Song! \"I have my own goals, so I''ll only work with you guys for a while to see if your party suits me. Are you okay with that?\" The dullahan asked, arms folded across his chest. With a radiant beam, Rose exclaimed: \"Of course! Welcome to our nameless party! My name is Rose and I''m the party leader; it''s a pleasure to meet you, Cure Song!\" \"Eehh?!\" Cure Song''s voice sounded beyond shocked. \"Are you telling me that you are stronger than Thorn?! Even though your cultivation base is so pathetic?!\" \"No. Counting you in it, I''m the weakest of the party. But I''m the leader. You''ll have to just accept it.\" She explained as if it were a matter of fact. Cure Song felt dismayed; still not sure if his decision to join them was the right one, he said resigned: \"Ah, whatever. So, party leader, what are your plans?\" Rose, Thorn and Cure Song chatted for a while about different matters and left together the ally. They went to shopping. Thorn''s rags needed to be replaced. It was a tough battle after all. After buying enough clothes, which were of the same style Thorn had been using, they rented an entire flat with three bedrooms and a living room. Once they entered into the living room, they ordered food and drinks to celebrate Thorn''s victory. They sat on comfortable couches to eat while lively chatting. \"Soooo¡­ Rose, how did you figured out that Cure Song was the culprit even before I interrogated the spectators? You don''t know how awe-struck I became when you whispered me ''don''t tell anyone that Cure Song is the murderer!''.\" Thorn at last voiced out this doubt. \"Eeehh?! Did you discover that I was the culprit before the interrogation?!\" Cure Song literally jumped in surprise. Puffing out her chest, fork in hand, Rose earnestly bragged: \"I was worried about someone else noticing it too, but in the end, I was the only one who successful connected all the dots! I even was quicker than Crok Alch in noticing the slight change in the color of the skin of the corpse! Some instants after I saw that change, I understood everything and whispered you that order.\" She drank some juice and continued: \"The most important clue was the fact that Cure was wearing heavy armor in spite of his combat style being specialized in speed. The moment I saw the change in the color of Resh Zelu''s skin, I thought about the death grip monster; but that wasn''t the only thing which came into my mind, I also thought about a nearly extinct cosmetic potion named Yellow Spring, which can change the color of skin just like the death grip monster. Then I remembered Cure said that one of his Awakened Skills was named ''No Color'' and that it allowed him to become invisible; but he didn''t use it in combat, even though he had the chance before attacking Allen Bullo. You know that because we can feel the cultivators'' Aura, the power of invisibility isn''t that useful, but still, the Aura we feel is a single point in the cultivator''s body, so, in a melee combat, the power of invisibility could be lethal, because the power can conceal the trajectory of the attacks. If Cure became invisible, Allen Bullo wouldn''t have been able to put his darkness in the right place to defend himself.\" She paused for a moment to put a greater emphasis in her next words: \"It was evident to me that Cure didn''t want to use his ''No Color'' skill. I asked myself ''why?'' Then, my mind answered me ''there''s something he wanted to conceal, something that could be exposed if he used that skill''.\" A smile from ear to ear slowly formed on her face as she intently gazed at Cure Song. \"The heavy armor, something to conceal in the ''No Color'' skill, Yellow Spring. What does the death grip monster do? If only Cure''s skill wasn''t ''invisibility'' but ''intangibility'', then, with a Yellow Spring, he would be able to do what the death grip monster can do, and with a heavy armor he could disappear one of his arms without anyone noticing it.\" Her gaze still settled on Cure Song, she cheerfully demanded: \"Tell me the real name of your second Awakened Skill!\" Cure Song''s body shuddered, he couldn''t be more shocked after listening to Rose''s words. (So, this is why you are the leader¡­) He understood. Yes, Rose was right: Cure Song concealed the real nature of his skill, and got his hands on a Yellow Spring, and wore a heavy armor; then killed Resh Zelu making it appear as if a death grip monster were the culprit. He finally said, a clear hint of pride in his voice: \"I named it ''No Thing'', as you said, it enables me to become intangible, and it is a perfect intangibility; when I use it, nothing can touch me, no light, no darkness, no shadow, no existing thing.\" \"N-no existing thing? That''s crazy¡­\" Said the million years old monster. Even Rose gaped horrified. She didn''t expect his intangibility to be this incredible. It must be understood that the intangibility toward just two aspects¨Clike for example light and matter¨Cat the same time was already something legendary. 23 Memory of the Skill Thorn, Rose and Cure Song were striding toward the Mercenary''s Guild. \"Hehehe¡­ Now that our party has two one-star veterans, I wonder what kind of jobs we''ll be able to take.\" Rose commented, eyes shining with anticipation. \"You shouldn''t be too excited, although the higher ranked jobs have amazing rewards, their difficulty and the risks involved with them are in a completely different league in comparison with the unranked jobs.\" Cure Song warned. \"It''ll be alright; if the incompetence of the two of you gets us in trouble, I''ll save your pitiful asses.\" Thorn magnanimously promised. \"Mmm? What are you talking about? Obviously when the two of you get in trouble, I''ll be the one saving your lives.\" Cure Song replied using a resolute voice. \"Oh, really now?\" Thorn frowned at Cure Song. Instantly, a heavy atmosphere of hostility materialized between the pair of males. At that moment, Rose cut in with an evident amused smile: \"You two sure are funny. It''s a matter of course that when the time of crisis comes, I''ll be the one rescuing the both of you.\" Taken aback, both males remained silent for a while. Then¡­ \"HaHAHAhaha¡­\" \"HahahaHAHA¡­\" Their unrestrained laughter burst out. Expressionless, Rose saw their laughter hurt their stomachs and swore: \"I''ll definitely shut your mouths later.\" Not too long after, they arrived at the Mercenary''s Guild. Unexpectedly, there was a strange scene playing out at the entrance: Vei Dal was standing with a troubled expression in front of a gorgon kid who was holding a whiteboard which had written on it ''I need a mercenary with a skill related to tracking to track and rescue abducted people. I''m offering four black horse monsters and a 4 m x 9 m D-class zenanium carriage of eight wheels as payment. It''s urgent!'' When Rose''s party approached them, they heard Vei Dal''s gentle voice: \"I really understand your situation, but there''s nothing we can do. Perhaps you don''t know this but to search for a mercenary in front of our gates and not in our Contract Hall is the same as giving us a hard slap on our faces. Please, you must go elsewhere.\" But in spite of Vei Dal''s words, the kid didn''t walk away. She trembled in fear lowering her head, but still refused to give in on her search. After calculating what was the equivalent in money of the payment the little gorgon with white snakes was offering, Rose came closer to Vei Dal, and asked: \"What''s going on?\" Vei Dal turned his gaze to look over at the recently arrived cultivators, and then exclaimed: \"Oh, it''s you guys! Thorn congratulations for your victory! Sorry, yesterday, I hadn''t the chance to congratulate you because of what happened¡­\" \"Don''t worry about it.\" Thorn smiled waving his hand. \"Cure Song, did you join their party?\" Vei Dal couldn''t help but ask in surprise. \"Yeah.\" Cure Song replied, not too glad about the entire situation. \"That''s great! I''m sure your party will become famous some day!\" Vei Dal emotionally affirmed. \"Yeah, it''s a pleasure to see you too; anyway, what''s going on with that little girl?\" Rose asked turning her head in the direction of the nervous and gloomy kid. Scratching his head with some embarrassment, Vei Dal replied: \"She want a mercenary to resolve the mysterious abductions on the roads surrounding Lurep Village. That''s why we didn''t let her in our Contract Hall. She would be just wasting her money with the entry fee after all. But then, she came here with that whiteboard and refused to leave¡­ *Sigh*\" Tilting her head, she asked in bewilderment: \"Mysterious abductions?\" The shadow human replied amazed: \"Don''t you know?! Since almost ten years ago, there had occasionally been reports of people going missing; after investigating, we always ended up finding only empty carriages. We couldn''t find the responsible of the kidnaping, neither could the Lurep Village Adventurer''s Guild Branch, not even the military forces of Lurep Village could. We even contracted tracking experts from the nearest city, Stormy Cloud City, to help with the case, but it was to not avail. It''s a matter that has been troubling us all for quite a long time now¡­\" Rose cast a quick sideway glance at Thorn, and said to Vei Dal: \"Is that so? Well, I''m confident in the tracking skills of our party, so we might as well give it a try.\" Vei Dal got confused, to his knowledge in Rose''s party there wasn''t a single cultivator with a tracking skill. Even Cure Song got confused. She ignored their reactions and looked into the completely black eyes of the gorgon kid. \"Hello, my name is Rose. Your job offer, we are accepting it!\" Deep astonishment flashed through those black eyes, and then tears of joy streamed out of them. The kid wasn''t ignorant about how hard her request was, there had been just too many mercenaries who unhesitatingly refused to help her after all. Smiling gently, Rose asked: \"What''s your name?\" The kid let go of the whiteboard, used her hands to wipe away the tears from her cheeks, and gnashed her teeth to keep her tears at bay. \"I-I''m Caroline Darrel.\" She muttered. Caroline Darrel took a deep breath, and buzzed: \"L-let''s go.\" She then turned and ran toward the west gate of Lurep Village. Knowing that her family might be in danger, she didn''t want to waste more time. Rose''s party followed her, and Rose grabbed her up and carried her on her back as she accelerated. It was the first time for Caroline Darrel to experience the sensation of being touched by a stranger that she had just met, and yet, she didn''t panic. Somehow, she could feel that Rose''s back was safe. Vei Dal stood there, a deep frown on his face. (I hope our suspicious won''t end up being more than that: just suspicious¡­) With Rose leading the group, the three of them dashed through one after another street, shocking the bystanders in the process. Soon, the west gate appeared in their sights. At that moment, Caroline Darrel muttered in Rose''s ear while pointing toward a carriage park: \"T-there is the carriage I promised, we can use it to travel quicker.\" \"There''s no need, we''ll go flying!\" Rose giggled. \"Oh¡­\" Caroline Darrel replied blinking. Once they were out of Lurep Village, still running, Thorn grabbed Cure Song''s hand, and then Rose''s hand. He looked at Caroline Darrel and requested: \"Point in the direction we have to go.\" Caroline Darrel resolutely did as she was told. Immediately after, Thorn activated his Awakened Skill to make the wind around the four of them his own to protect them. \"This is going to be so much fun! I myself haven''t traveled at this speed before!\" He shouted out as he entered into the state of Final-Star Memory of the Skill. The scenery around the four of them then abruptly became a blur. Rose, Cure Song, Caroline Darrel and even Thorn himself gaped in shock! Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets! They were moving at 10 000 times the speed of sound! However, Thorn immediately shook his head, and showed an unbearably smug smile on his tilted up face. \"¡­.\" They could only stare at him in silence, open-mouthed. (So shameless! Could you not change your expression this quickly?!) They grumbled in dismay. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ In a small region of grassland surrounded by a forest of harmless eucalyptus plant monsters stood five empty camp tents. *Swoosh...!* Suddenly, a strong wind blew through the entire region; subsequently Thorn and his companions descended onto the clearing. \"Well, here we are. How do you plan to track down the kidnapers now, party leader?\" Cure Song asked. Thorn patted Cure Song''s shoulder, and smiling said: \"That''s my job.\" Without explaining anything else, Thorn took flight and hovered above the campsite. Looking down, he released his Complex Energy in all directions. Then he did something only First-Star Memory of the Skill and onward cultivators could do: he connected his senses to the domain of his Awakened Skill. Now, he could feel everything the wind caressed. The air itself had just become his second touch sensor! It was an incredible feeling, especially for he could now feel every square inch of Rose''s inhumanly beautiful skin. He had to struggle for a moment there to maintain his calm. Lucky for him, he only needed 2 percent of his brain processing capacity to accomplish this. Considering the 95 percent he constantly occupied to keep his madness in check and the 1 percent he was using to connect his senses to the wind, he had left exactly the 2 percent he needed to do what he had to do next. Stepping once again into the Final-Star Memory of the Skill, he closed his eyes and searched in the ''memory'' of the wind. It felt as though time itself were moving backward. He sensed how moment by moment time dragged him into the past. One day, two days¡­ five days. By this point, he could already see four black horse monsters pulling a red and white carriage. The driver was Caroline Darrel. At that moment, tears were flowing down across her face. She tightly held the reins, her entire body trembling and her teeth fiercely biting down on her lower lip. When Thorn saw her expression, his cold heart thumped restlessly as the memories of his distant past assaulted him. He knew exactly what emotion that expression represented: desperation. That ineffable desperation born out of the powerlessness of watching the world steal everything that matters to you. There wasn''t a worst feeling than that. As the time slowly continued to go in reverse, Thorn saw the entire process of the kidnaping and understood the situation. Taking a deep breath, he finally deactivated the Wind Technique: Memory. Caroline Darrel was standing next to Rose. She had been looking up at Thorn the entire time, and was so anxious that cold sweat was falling down her forehead. (Please, please, please¡­ Discover where my family are. Please, please, please¡­) She fervently prayed. Thorn descended in front of Caroline Darrel, and looked into her shaky eyes. \"Five days have passed since the abduction. I can bring you to your family, but they most likely are already dead by now.\" He mercilessly stated. Rose and Cure Song became angry at Thorn''s cruelty; but, in the end, they couldn''t deny his words. Caroline Darrel slowly lowered her head to hide her teary eyes, and replied: \"I-I know¡­ But I must go anyway.\" Thorn couldn''t help feel admiration for the little kid. However, there was still something he had to ask: \"If we find them dead, what will you do with your life afterward?\" Caroline Darrel put both hands on her chest as pain pierced her heart. She lifted her gaze, and her hoarse and weak voice answered: \"I''ll cry, and cry, and cry, and cry¡­ until my tears run out. Then, only then, I''ll stand up to live on carrying their memories, dreams, and wills with me.\" Those resolute and heavy words opened a small fissure in Thorn''s frozen heart. His eyes involuntarily became gentler. (It seems like she had reached her answer to this question long before I even asked¡­) Affected by such an emotional scene, Cure Song firmly clenched his fists as sorrow weighted down his heart. An unprecedented solemnness on his face, Thorn nodded. \"I understand.\" Immediately after, he took the fragile kid in his arms and said: \"Let''s go.\" Rose and Cure Song each grabbed one of Thorn''s shoulders. Activating his Awakened Skill and glaring in the direction the kidnapers had went, Thorn darted onward. 24 Soul Devourer Early in the morning. Lurep Village. The mansion of the governor of Lurep Village. Dining room. White walls decorated with different paintings of sceneries of important and beautiful cities stood around an elegant and large table. At that moment, the light, which entered through two big glass windows, illuminated the entire room. There, Arnold Alch was in the middle of his lavish breakfast; and across the table, his foster father, Cley Alch, sat holding a newspaper. The governor looked gently at Arnold Alch, and comforted: \"Don''t worry son. With your potential, you''ll definitely find a better girl in the future.\" \"*Sigh*¡­ I know, father. It''s just that, even though she is a mutant, I''ll probably need a long time to forget her. It was¡­ the first time for me¡­ the first time I fell in love. This feeling isn''t something one can start to ignore just because one wants to...\" Arnold Alch said, sadness in his blue eyes and a dejected smile on his handsome adolescent face. Such words made a reminiscent expression appear on the blue eyed, white bearded old man''s wrinkled face. The memory of the only woman he had ever loved began to hover in his mind, and it hurt him for she was now just that: a memory. \"Young man, you''re unfortunately and completely right¡­\" He softly muttered. After a prolonged moment of silence, the old man reluctantly put aside that precious and painful ghost of the past, and said: \"In any case, for now, the best you can do is to put all your thoughts on our ambitions.\" Arnold Alch nodded. \"Rest assured, I''m going to reach the Seventh Level Advanced Awaken stage today.\" \"Good luck with that, and be careful, the Branch Heads of the village guilds have begun to get suspicious.\" Cley Alch warned as a trace of worry flashed through his eyes. \"I understand.\" Arnold Alch firmly replied. Having said all he wanted to say to his foster son and having finished reading the newspaper, Cley Alch left Arnold Alch alone. Silently staring at the door Cley Alch had just closed, Arnold Alch couldn''t help but let out a powerless long sigh. *Sigh*¡­ In actually, right now, he desperately wanted to get into his bed, and then cry his heart out for a few days. Although on the surface he looked crestfallen, inside, he was a lot worse than that. He really needed to vent his depression somehow, but to his misfortune, he didn''t have the right to ask for such luxury. With a heavy heart, he remembered how life had been for him before meeting his foster father. At that time, he was a homeless orphan, a lone four-year-old kid on the streets struggling every day just to survive. He constantly fantasized about reaching the First Level Basic Awaken stage and awakening an amazing Special Awakened Skill, gaining in this way the strength to have an extravagant life, or at least the same life everybody around him had. For the sake of accomplishing such a dream, since the instant his soul connected with the Complex Energy and he stepped into the First Level Body Evolution stage, he started to cultivate in loneliness, tirelessly searching in trash cans discarded books and painstaking putting every cell in his brain into studying. It was a long and hard crusade. After years of punishing effort, he finally reached the First Level Basic Awaken stage; but the heavens refused to be merciful to him and bestowed upon him the Soul Devourer skill. It was a half passive, half active skill which wasn''t that different from a cruel curse. The passive part forced him to not be able to break through to higher levels of cultivation through normal means, and the active part allowed him to assault other cultivators'' souls to kill them and devour them, action which increased his own cultivation. It was basically a malevolent skill that traded lives for strength and forced its user to not gain strength in a different way. Although he desired to have an extravagant life with all his heart, he did not hesitate to choose to sacrifice himself and accept his cruel fate of being a vagabond for the rest of his life; because, even though he didn''t have anyone who loved him and was despised by everybody he knew, he still refused to be cruel or coward. After all, his kindness and courage were the last traces of dignity he had as a poor vagabond, and were the last lights in this dark and cold world. But the world he lived in was darker and colder than he thought. On a rainy day, he met an arrogant and cruel goblin, a young master from some rich family whose cultivation was at the Seventh Level Basic Awaken stage. For some reason, that day, the young master was fuming with rage and after seeing the weak-looking slim vagabond, he thought it was a good idea to vent his anger on him. The young master dragged him over to a desolate alley, not afraid of the fact that it was forbidden to fight within the village; after all, he knew the guards wouldn''t spare a second glance at such a trash of society. Arnold was used to this kind of treatment, so he thought little about it and let the goblin do as he pleased. But that time things proceeded differently. The young master didn''t stop his maddened punches no matter how much blood Arnold lost. (Am I going to die today?) Arnold thought as an unprecedented storm of rage rose up within his heart. (This isn''t fair! Is this how the world pays my kindness?! Is this my reward for my sacrifice?!) Unable to control himself, he suddenly used every bit of strength he had left in his body to heavily press his forehead against the young master''s forehead. At that moment, the wrath in Arnold''s eyes made the rage in the goblin''s eyes seem like a joke. Then Arnold activated his Awakened Skill for the first time in his life. After their mental bodies clashed, Arnold woke up, and the young master''s Aura disappeared. Immediately after, guards surrounded and shackled him. Jailed in the barracks of Lurep Village, Arnold could only wait for his execution. However, when he thought it would be the end, an absolutely unexpected visitor appeared outside his prison cell: the governor of Lurep Village himself. This scene was the definition of contrast, on one side stood the old man with the highest status in the village and on the other stood the young boy with the lowest status. \"Before you die, I''d like to hear your story. Would you be willing to leave the testimony of your life with this old man?\" Cley Alch asked him as he plumped onto the cold ground and reclined on the prison cell bars, his back facing a dazed Arnold. Given that Arnold didn''t have anything else to lose, he narrated his past to Cley Alch. After which, Cley Alch, very interested in Arnold''s Awakened Skill, proposed him to become his foster father and to help him with his cultivation in exchange of the promise that Arnold would raise Cley Alch''s status when he had the strength to do so. Arnold; who was now tired of being trashed, tired of being the only sympathetic person in the whole world, and tired of being the plaything of the heavens; accepted Cley Alch''s offer. He decided to survive. From then onward, both of them committed innumerable crimes. Cley Alch used his economic and social power to create a small syndicate with the purpose of kidnaping ''unimportant people'' to be devoured by the now named Arnold Alch. He even bribed the tracking experts who were hired from Stormy Cloud City into saying that it was impossible to track down the culprits. For years they were careful to not attract unwanted attention, so much so that Arnold progressed in his cultivation just at the same speed a top genius from a big city would. It was difficult but they managed to reach the actual point. So, Arnold Alch didn''t have the luxury to be depressed. There were just too many sacrifices at stake for him to allow himself to delay their plans for even a single day. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The outskirts of Lurep Village. A region covered by tall bushes. Four figures cloaked in black hooded capes stood side by side. Three were at the Fourth Level Basic Build stage and the fourth was at the Eight Level Basic Build stage. Soon, a fifth cloaked figure came close to them. \"Sorry for making you wait guys.\" Arnold Alch''s voice echoed out. \"Don''t worry about it. Lois, we are on your hands now.\" This time, the owner of the voice was Captain Fou Tre. \"Here we go~.\" A lively feminine voice chirped out. A current of wind then surrounded the five of them and raised them up into the air. It was evident that Lois Cae''s understanding degree had already reached Control of the Skill. Well, it was to be expected, after all, to get into the Basic Build stage at minimum one needed to be at the First-Star Control of the Skill. In no time, the cloaked figures disappeared off into the distance. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ An ancient castle made of yellowish metallic bricks could be seen surrounded by imposing and thick trees, as well as hills taller than the castle itself. It had four towers and was six stories high. Although the castle was big, thanks to its surroundings, it was hard to spot. In front of the black gates of the castle, a middle aged elemental elf with yellow eyes and yellow hair was sitting cross-legged, a bored expression on his face, his Aura at the Sixth Level Intermediate Awaken stage. He wore a strange brown armor which looked as if it were made of mud. Suddenly, along with a gentle breeze, five cloaked figures appeared before his eyes. He immediately stoop up and respectfully greeted: \"Good morning bosses!\" The five figures put away their hooded capes and revealed their magnificent and expensive armors. Among them, there stood Arnold Alch and Captain Fou Tre. The other three individuals were Lois Cae, a beautiful female green eyed and green haired elemental elf; Davis Toc, a male dullahan with a ''?'' shaped pitch-black smoke; and Xale Henr, a male red feathered harpy. The three of them were knights. \"Ral, give me your report.\" Arnold Alch ordered the male elemental elf. \"No unexpected incidents happened, and we got fourteen souls.\" Ral Bal expressionlessly informed as he opened the gates of the castle. Arnold Alch nodded at Ral Bal, and led the group into the castle. Inside, six mid Intermediate Awaken cultivators were waiting for them while keeping an eye on fourteen shackled individuals. The fourteen had their mouths covered by metallic masks, and fear could be seen within their eyes. When the captives saw Arnold Alch and the others, they were greatly surprised. Captain Fou Tre, Arnold Alch, and those knights were famous characters in Lurep Village that even they could recognize. Arnold Alch''s cold gaze slowly analyzed the captives, then it stopped on the weakest of them all. Under such intimidating stare, the female rabbit human monster trembled. Instants later, her eyes became dull, and her body slumped over to the floor, her Aura already gone. \"!!!!\" The scene terrorized the captives. Next, Arnold Alch gazed over at a female middle aged gorgon who had white snakes and whose eyes were teary. Yes, she was Caroline Darrel''s mother, Cara Darrel. *Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!*¡­ A loud metallic clatter of chains suddenly sounded. It was Kawan Darrel struggling with all his strength to come closer to his mother! Slightly bothered, Arnold Alch glanced at Kawan Darrel only for an instant before returning his gaze back to Cara Darrel. The Soul Devourer skill was about to be activated once again when, all of a sudden, Captain Fou Tre and the knights moved their heads to look up at the same time in surprise. This confused Arnold Alch, so he looked up too. Moments later, three Auras closing in at an astonishing speed reached his senses. \"Did they follow us? But, how?!\" Arnold Alch shouted evidently shaken. \"Holy shit, something''s wrong! Those bastards aren''t slowing down in the slightest even after feeling our Auras! To dare to head direct at us in this lawless place with their levels of cultivation, they must have some kind of absurd trump card!\" Lois Cae cried out in alarm. *CRUMBLE!* *CRUMBLE!!* *CRUMBLE!!!* *CRUMBLE!!!!* *CRUMBLE!!!!!* *CRUMBLE!!!!!!* In extremely quick succession, six ceilings were destroyed into innumerable fragments; and from within the debris, Thorn and company fearlessly emerged. After seeing who the intruders were; Arnold Alch, Captain Fou Tre and the three knights got so shocked they couldn''t help but wonder whether their eyes were still working properly or not! \"So, who wants to die first?\" Thorn asked, a menacing smile on his face. 25 They are lunatics! Lunatics I say!!! The inside of the hall had been dim and gloomy, but now that there was a huge hole in the ceiling and that warm light descended upon Thorn and company, the hall was a lot brighter. Rose''s party stood a few dozens of meters away from Arnold Alch''s gang. Thorn wasn''t surprised to see Arnold Alch, Captain Fou Tre, and the knights because he had seen them through his wind a little early. Rose and Cure Song, however, were flabbergasted, they couldn''t pinpoint the reason for such lofty individuals to kidnap normal civilians. In Thorn''s arms, Caroline Darrel looked over at her family and was so happy to see them alive that tears of joy flowed down her face. The Basic Build cultivators heaved a sigh of relief after making sure the intruders didn''t represent a threat to them. Lois Cae even giggled, her breasts slightly bouncing. \"Hehehe¡­ Oh, little Thorn, you really think you can defeat us? Could it be that you have accidentally filled your head with air? Hehehe¡­\" Thorn placed Caroline Darrel on the floor, stepped forward, and prepared himself to do violent battle. Cure Song didn''t stay idle either, he skillfully took his heavy armor off and revealed his powerful muscles and white skin. Now, the only clothing that could be seen on his body was his black shorts. On each of the both sides of the shorts, there was a silver Ryyk Blade. After grabbing the hilts of his weapons, he looked ready to dart into battle at any given moment. Off to the side, cold sweat appeared on Rose''s forehead. (This is bad, really bad. Even though we would have enough problems just from facing enemies with higher cultivation, they outnumber us and we have to protect these many civilians; not to mention we don''t have experience fighting as a team, but our opponents surely have¡­) The fight was about to erupt when all of a sudden, Arnold Alch shouted: \"Wait! Wait! Wait! W-we can solve this in a pacific way, can''t we?!\" All gazes settled on Arnold Alch, seeking further explanation. Arnold Alch got nervous and embarrassed after being stared by Thorn in such a context. \"S-since you were carrying that little gorgon with you, it should be correct to assume that all of you were contracted to rescue the civilians, am I right?\" \"That''s exactly what happened.\" Expressionless, Thorn nodded. Arnold Alch cleared his throat and continued: \"Then, wouldn''t it be simpler if your party and the civilians promise that you won''t tell anyone what happened here nor would you interfere with our business in the future? That way we could promise that we''ll let you go and won''t pursue the matter any further.\" Arnold Alch''s offer surprised all of them, but then, the people who were present in the tournament yesterday remembered how much love Arnold Alch had shown toward Thorn, and this caused odd expressions to appear on their faces. Thorn and Rose contemplated the matter for an instant and reached the same conclusion: (Fair enough.) They weren''t heroes, but pragmatic bastards. Killing Arnold Alch and company wouldn''t be easy, and if they could end the job without wasting that much time and energy, then they would gladly accept the offer. But just when they were about to nod their heads, Cure Song spoke out: \"Thorn, Rose, I''m sorry. It seems like we''ll have to part paths here.\" \"What?! But we just started to get acquaintances, did you get scared of my godly strength or something?!\" Thorn asked agape. (What''s wrong with this rascal all of a sudden?) He wondered. \"¡­\" Rose stared at Cure Song, a worried look on her face. She could easily imagine what was going on with him. After all, she had already grasped some traits of his personality. \"I can''t accept Arnold''s offer.\" Cure Song clenched his hands into fists fiercely. \"I just can''t bear egoist people who think that, because they are rich or have a higher status, they can trample on the lives of the weak and poor!\" His infuriated voice made clear how serious he was. *Clap* *Clap* Thorn and Rose slapped their foreheads in frustration. Their new companion''s naivety made them feel ashamed. Cure Song continued: \"So, you two don''t need to get involved with me anymore. You can accept Arnold''s offer, but I''ll definitely kill some of them today, and then I''ll escape by myself to execute the rest of them another day!\" Complicated emotions surged in Arnold Alch''s heart. (Oh, you have no idea how much I had wished to meet a person like you back then.) Closing his eyes, he lowered his head, and softly asked: \"¡­ Are you sure?\" \"I don''t need that disdainful consideration from a trash like you. And let me give you a little spoiler, today you''ll regret your actions.\" Cure Song said confidently. *Sigh*¡­ Rose sighed deeply, and began to walk toward Ral Bal and the rest of mid Intermediate Awaken cultivators as she put on her black fist guards. \"Thorn, protect our backs and the civilians''. This is a good chance for you to get used to your Third Pace. Cure, with your two Awakened Skills, you should be able to defeat the Captain. Since I''m the weakest, I''ll play with the small fries.\" She said calmly, having finished her calculations of their probabilities of victory. Looking at her small back and listening to her words, Cure Song was taken aback, and then, his respect for Rose reached an unprecedented level. (So, you are unwilling to let go the benefits I could bring you. Is this what you meant when you said ''people'' are just ''benefits'' to you? The logic is indeed cold and cruel, but¡­ somehow¡­ it feels warm...) He drew his Ryyk Blades and strode toward Captain Fou Tre without a hint of fear. Thorn shrugged and said: \"Our party leader has spoken. Savor the last moments of your lives guys.\" Afterward, he closed his eyes and remained unmoving. Arnold Alch, Captain Fou Tre, the knights, Ral Bal, and the mid Intermediate Awaken cultivators stared in utter shock at Rose and company''s actions. Arnold Alch: (What the hell is wrong with their heads?!) Captain Fou Tre: (Are they even feeling our Auras?!) Lois Cae: (They are lunatics! Lunatics I say!!!) They had seen how powerful Thorn and Cure Song had been in the tournament, and they were sure that such strength was far from being comparable to theirs. As for the young girl with red curly hair, she was at the Second Level Basic Awaken stage! She was basically a common civilian! It was absolutely no wonder they would view their actions as pure madness. By that point, Thorn ended his preparations. *Swiiish*¡­ In an instant, all the captives appeared behind Thorn and around Caroline Darrel, unshackled! \"!!!\" When Arnold and company looked at this scene, their hearts trembled in fear and disbelief. The speed of the wind Thorn had just controlled to transport the captives had reached a level they couldn''t react to! And he had soundlessly and instantaneously broke the chains that only Basic Build or superior cultivators could damage! At Final-Star Control of the Skill, one was ten times stronger than at Final-Star Use of the Skill; but at Final-Star Memory of the Skill, one was a hundred times stronger than at Final-Star Control of the Skill. And normally, cultivators at the Basic Build stage had an understanding degree at either the First or Second-Star Control of the Skill. Using his cultivation in Complex Energy and his cultivation in Mystical Energy at the same time with the Final-Star Memory of the Skill, Thorn''s Awakened Skill could unleash a power superior to an ordinary Ninth Level Basic Build cultivator with an understanding degree at the Second-Star Control of the Skill. Even though he was at the Second Level Intermediate Awaken stage! In other words, he was surmounting almost five entire stages of cultivation! Naturally, Arnold and his gang found this as ridiculous as lighting falling from a blue sky. After all, even the most powerful Arrogant Awakened Skill could at most boost the strength of something up to 100 times, which was a surmount of about two entire stages of cultivation. (The gravity wasn''t the main propulsion of the high speed at which they fell!) They promptly came to this realization. When Cure Song was five meters away from Captain Fou Tre, he abruptly became invisible, and then charged forward, his Berserk Speed skill bursting into activity. A frown appeared on the Eight Level Basic Build gargoyle. (It was actually an Arrogant Awakened Skill! It seems like he didn''t use its maximum potency in the tournament. Now that he boosted his speed 100 times, this kid is much faster than me! But it is only speed, what has he up his sleeve to be this confident to face me?!) He flapped his demonic blue wings and flew up. It wasn''t safe to fight the invisible Cure Song in melee combat. Big bubbles filled with water one by one appeared around him, and they then began to shoot water bullets like Gatlings toward where Cure Song''s Aura was at. But, to the gargoyle''s amazement and terror, his water bullets passed unhindered through Cure Song''s Aura! (Oh, damn it!) Instantly, Captain Fou Tre activated his Metallic Endurance Racial Skill like if his life depended on it! Only now did he comprehend the nature of Cure Song''s second Awakened Skill! However, the weak parts of his body splintered anyway! His eyes, his veins, his thin tendons, and even his spinal cord! Cure Song had just now attacked Captain Fou Tre with his Ryyk Blades, which were S2-class zenanium armaments with the feature of changing their length when swung at high speed. The property of his armaments and his No Thing skill turned his attacks ranged and able to pass through any defense! Furiously flapping his wings, Captain Fou Tre managed to exit Cure Song''s attack range, but his wounds were already so severe he even spat a mouthful of blood. Gnashing his teeth, Captain Fou Tre began to assault Cure Song with a barrage of water spheres which resembled cannon balls and had an even greater destructive power. \"Let''s see for how long you can keep your intangibility skill active!\" He bellowed in rage. It was at that moment when Lois Cae, Davis Toc, and Xale Henr sprang into action. They were now aware of the severity of the situation they were in. The opponents in front of them wouldn''t be easy to deal with, and if they let a single one of them escape, they would face terrible consequences. After all, for any knight, the punishment for putting in risk the lives of their own kingdom''s civilians was the capital one. With that in mind, they unhesitatingly used their Awakened Skills to attack Rose, Thorn, and the civilians! The harpy Xale Henr engulfed Rose in dazzling flames. The dullahan Davis Toc made the ground around Thorn shoot out yellowish metallic spikes. And the elemental elf Lois Cae sent wind blades at every single civilian. Yet, neither screams echoed out nor blood sprayed out, not even the scent of burned flesh wafted out. The flames had been totally extinguished, and Rose continued sauntering forward as if nothing had ever happened. The wind blades had been completely nullified the instant they appeared, and the civilians hadn''t even noticed that they had been attacked and protected. And the metallic spikes had been utterly pulverized before they could even touch Thorn''s body. The scenes left the three knights shocked to the core. When they saw the imperturbable figure of the standing Thorn who had his eyes closed, they felt as if every inch of their bodies were being closely watched and they were naked. Unavoidably, terror seized their hearts. Knowing that this wasn''t the moment to think about how could Thorn be this ridiculously strong, the three of them slowly nodded at each other, and began to perform a combined attack. The ceiling shattered into hundreds of big chunks, then the chunks were set ablaze, and explosively fell impulsed by powerful wind blasts. The picture was exactly like a meteor shower. *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!*¡­ Deviated by Thorn''s wind, the ''meteors'' slammed heavily into the ground, away from the civilians. Close to Thorn, the little girl without cultivation had already been hugging her mother, both of them shedding sweet tears. After the booming sounds entered into her ears, Caroline Darrel slowly lifted up her head, and her eyes caught sight of Thorn''s back. At that moment, her entire soul became calm. Somehow, his back seemed manly to her, and gave her the feeling that, in spite of the villains'' presence, she was already completely safe, and that it didn''t matter what the villains could do, from now on, they wouldn''t be able to hurt her, or her family¡­ or anybody else. 26 A Clash of Souls Rose stopped in front of the seven mid Intermediate Awaken cultivators, chest puffed out, hands on her hips, chin stuck up, and an evil smile on her face. \"You guys shouldn''t be this lazy when your friends are fighting for their lives. You should have charged forward instead of waiting for me to come, shame on you.\" The ridicule in Rose''s tone set ablaze the rage in the seven cultivators'' hearts, but they didn''t abandon their rationality and attack. Since Rose''s companions were that powerful, the seven didn''t doubt that she as the party leader was equally dangerous. Ral Bal signaled with his gaze at a bald human to use his Awakened Skill on Rose. In response, the bald human immediately let out a concentrated somniferous gas from his mouth. Rose snorted coldly upon Ral Bal''s signal and the obvious actions of the bald human, she had no idea what kind of gas that cultivator was releasing, and still she wasn''t even a bit afraid of it. Her Awakened Skill allowed her to control the smell, which, in essence, was the product of certain mix of substances carried by the wind reaching the chemical sensors of one''s nose. So, when she used her Awakened Skill to conceal her smell, she was basically manipulating chemical substances! Of course, her control was very limited in strength since it was meant only to conceal smells and flavors. Moments later, the bald human revealed a shocked expression. \"Impossible! My somniferous gas has been completely stopped before it could reach her! For a Wind Element Awakened Skill user to be able to do this, it must be at least at the Full Awaken Stage!\" He then turned to look in disbelief at Thorn who was only at the Intermediate Awaken stage. It must be known that for a Wind Element Awakened Skill user to be able to control all kinds of gases; that is to say, to have control over every matter related to one''s Awakened Skill; the user had to first reach the Full Awaken stage. Of course, Special Awakened Skill users not always follow this rule; for example, Rose. *Pow!!* With a loud reverberation, Rose''s punch slammed into the distracted cultivator''s face! The strike was so powerful it broke that human''s neck! *Pun!* His body fell, dead. \"I stopped your attack.\" Rose said, evidently annoyed by the bald human''s disrespect. He had dared to look elsewhere when his enemy was her, even though she had been right in front of him! *Gasp*¡­ *Gasp*¡­ *Gasp*¡­ Clear gasps of astonishment could be heard coming from the remaining six cultivators. They now knew that they shouldn''t let her close in on them. All of them retreated backward while Ral Bal dragged the corpse of his comrade. \"Someone, give him medicine!\" Ral Bal shouted as he set up an earth wall between them and Rose. A male shadow human quickly took out a bottle with medicine and started to treat the bald human''s heavy injuries. Based on the speed of the healing, it was evident that it would take several minutes to repair that broken neck. It wasn''t certain whether or not the bald human''s soul would last long enough for his body to recover. At that moment, Rose looked down at her broken, bloody fist and frowned. (It doesn''t matter how amazing my martial arts are, my body still can''t handle them.) Suddenly, that fist began to heal itself, and, in the blink of an eye, it returned to its best condition! Rose''s eyes unconsciously turned toward Thorn who was being madly attacked by the three knights, a faint smile then appeared on her face. Around this time, Arnold Alch was pulling out his hair in frustration, without knowing what to do but knowing that he had to do something! (They are monsters! I can''t even start to understand the real strength of their souls!) In the end, Arnold Alch gritted his teeth and, casting his enraged stare at Rose''s eyes, activated his Awakened Skill. (I should be at least strong enough to defeat her!) At that moment, Rose''s vision turned dark. Thorn abruptly opened his eyes. (Damn it! Arnold has invaded Rose''s soul!) Worry could be seen in the depths of his violet eyes. (My understanding on souls is still too shallow. I can''t help her. If I forcibly interfere, I may put her in greater danger¡­) *Sigh*¡­ A helpless sigh escaped out of him, and he once again closed his eyes. (I''m sorry, Rose. You''ll have to overcome this on your own.) By now, the darkness had already vanished from Rose''s line of sight. Rose''s soul had appeared within a white marble room. In front of her was Arnold Alch, looking at her coldly. \"Rose, why are you risking your life working as a mercenary? Shouldn''t you be within the safety of the walls of your castle?\" He asked, a hint of confusion in his voice. Feeling like her chest were being tightened by the bizarre situation she was in, she answered: \"I got expelled from my family.\" Her own words greatly surprised her. Unexpectedly, she couldn''t lie right now. Since that was the case, she tried to discover whether or not Arnold Alch was in the same situation. \"How does your Awakened Skill work?\" She probed. He stayed silent for a moment; and abruptly dashed toward her, showing a fierce expression. Rose immediately understood Arnold Alch''s physical strength and took a defensive stance, a sense of foreboding welling up inside of her. *Pow!* His punch bumped on her forearms and, just as Rose had expected, she was sent flying backward. The exchange caused Arnold Alch to sigh in relief. (Her bones are soft. My soul is much stronger than hers.) He then followed up with a second dash. Rose''s heart began to pound harder. (The damage is different! My soul has been directly hurt. There is no further doubt now, if I lose this soul fight, I''ll die.) Making a whistling sound, Arnold Alch''s fist tore through the air as it headed toward Rose''s face. This time, Rose used her footwork to dodge the attack. Her counterattack was swift, her fist struck his stomach with all her strength and martial knowledge. *Thud* After this soft sound echoed out, her pupils fiercely contracted. Her attack had just now made her feel terrible pain throughout her entire arm, but it didn''t hurt him at all! With a vicious look in his eyes, he used a reverse kick to hit her back, sending her flying tens of meters off to the side. Spiting blood, her vision turning blurry, she heavily landed on the solid floor. (Damn it! His soul is too tough! Will I die today¡­?) Despair started to grow in her heart. As she tried to get up, he closed in on her in an instant, and mercilessly kicked her head. While she spun in the air, losing blood and feeling like her head might explode at any moment, her thoughts raced in search of a way to survive. Her martial arts weren''t strong enough. Her Awakened Skill won''t help her in this fight. She couldn''t rely on zenanium armaments in this place. And worst of all, her soul had finally reached the limit of what it could endure, a single attack more and it would be shattered. Just when she was about to hit the floor once again and her mind was about to be swallowed by an abyss of hopelessness, sparks of enlightenment suddenly shone within her eyes. Without hesitation, she skillful landed on her feet. Firmly standing, she revealed a defiant smile! \"Come closer, little boy, I just got a gift for you.\" Although there was blood oozing out of her mouth when she weakly said that, Arnold Alch shivered in foreboding facing the menacing expression on her face. Seeing his reaction, she actually praised: \"Good instincts!\" After which, she fearlessly dashed toward him. Initially, Arnold Alch stepped backward, heart pounding in uneasiness. But in the end, he gnashed his teeth and leaped forward, his fists firmly clenched at chest height. Without warning, Rose''s arms turned crimson, as though burning magma. They then punched at Arnold Alch at almost 10 000 times per second! He felt like ten fists were slamming into his body at the same time, every instant! Arnold Alch flew far away, his body a total bloody mess. *Pant* *pant* *pant*¡­ Rose''s breathing was ragged and loud, her face showing a very unsightly expression. She was the only one who could understand what kind of absurd pain was biting her soul right now. What she had just done was an extreme outburst of her martial art, a theoretical move that couldn''t be unleashed under any circumstance by a real body of flesh. After all, the real cells couldn''t be ordered to burn their energy in such a complex and through way. It was just now that she had, under extreme pressure, discovered that her soul body''s cells could be actually controlled to such an extent. Gradually, her bright crimson arms became dull and black, and eventually turned to dust. As they dusted away, what remained of Arnold Alch''s body finally hit the floor. The only intact part left of his face was a single eye, everything else was broken beyond recognition. His four limbs and most of his internal organs weren''t with him anymore, they now laid scattered across the floor. Still, to Rose''s surprise, Arnold Alch didn''t seem resigned. That eye of his kept on staring at her, refusing to lose its light. (Amazing¡­ his desire to live is almost as immense as Thorn''s¡­) Although admiration toward his unyieldingness grew in her heart, the thought of sparing his life never made its way into her mind. She immediately walked in his direction, a merciless and cold light flashing through her eyes. Without wasting any more time, she lift up her right foot and smashed Arnold Alch''s head with it. *Punn!* Blood sprayed out as that single bright eye of his dimmed a little. Of course, Rose wasn''t done yet. She continued with a powerful second stamp, then with a third, a fourth, a fifth¡­ Anyone looking at this scene would naturally feel dread and think that Rose was just too brutal. Such thought couldn''t be more right. She had always deemed herself as someone extremely cruel and cold, an unfixable villainess. It didn''t take long for Arnold Alch''s eye to lose all its light, his soul now silent and lifeless. But she didn''t put her guard down and continued with her relentless assaults. That fearsome were people like Arnold Alch, people who had such a strong desire to live. Her foot only stopped when Arnold Alch''s head was no more than a puddle of blood and gore. 27 From Support Type to Combat Type The battlefield had a quite different aspect in comparison to how it looked like before the fighting started. The entire castle had been turned into just piles of rubble, the floor was uneven, fire could be seen almost everywhere, and even the surrounding towering trees were sliced into pieces. By this point, Cure Song and Fou Tre were battling each other in the middle of the forest, far away from where everybody else was. Although the disparity between Cure Song''s and Fou Tre''s cultivation was big, the dullahan had yet to receive a single wound. On the other hand, the gargoyle was hovering between life and death. In fact, his body was already dead and only his soul was still hanging on. Yes, Fou Tre continued fighting even though he was now just a corpse. At the Ninth Level Energy Core Evolution stage, one''s Complex Energy core became a soul container. Basically, a second brain, but this could only control one''s Complex Energy body and not one''s physical body. It wasn''t eternal though. At the Ninth Level Energy Core Evolution stage, this second brain could survive for only 1 minute after the physical body death. At the Basic Build stage this time increased for a few minutes. Fou Tre was at the Eight Level Basic Build stage, so he could last quite a long time. However, through the entire combat, Fou Tre had been growing weaker and weaker, so much so that since quite a while ago he had lost even his capacity to flee. This was because his wings and legs had been crippled. Another reason was that the Water Element Awakened Skill wasn''t suitable for boosting his movement speed in the middle of the atmosphere. Due to all of this, Cure Song had him within his grasp. Fou Tre desperately threw water attack after water attack at the invisible dullahan. He knew very well that such actions were of no threat to his opponent, but he couldn''t think of anything else other than to deplete Cure Song''s Complex Energy while using the impulse of his attacks to move his crippled body. Cure Song once again slashed at Fou Tre with both of his Ryyk Blades. As always, neither the trees nor the air could slow down his attack. His blades traveled through everything unhindered. When the tips of the Ryyk Blades reached the inside of the gargoyle, they materialized and severed yet more arteries within Fou Tre''s brain. While it was true that those attacks were meaningless since Fou Tre physical body couldn''t be deader, Cure Song didn''t want to give him any leeway. After what it seemed like an eternity of torture to Fou Tre, his Complex Energy core finally broke. The ruins of the castle. Thorn was still worried about Rose''s situation. She might be a troublesome burden to him, but he was in debt to her and couldn''t help but think that the reason for her to make the reckless decision of starting a fight with Arnold Alch''s gang was his presence. So he felt responsible for the dangerous situation she had gotten into. As his worry began to show on his face, Rose finally woke up. At the same time, Arnold Alch''s Aura disappeared. *Sigh*... It was Thorn''s soft sigh of relief. After which, Thorn felt that the situation was amiss. (What''s wrong with me? Getting worried to this extent¡­ when did she become so important to me? This has no sense. We''ve met each other for only a couple of days!) He shook his head in self-derision. It was at that moment when he suddenly noticed something. (Mmm?! H-her Complex Energy core, i-is evolving¡­?) Thorn was so shocked he almost fell head-butt right there and then! When one reached the First Level Basic Awaken stage, one''s Complex Energy core would start to form. Thanks to this, the cultivator obtained an Awakened Skill and its Energy Signature. At the Full Awaken stage, this core was completely formed; and at the Ninth Level Energy Core Evolution stage, the core evolved to gain the capacity to contain a soul. However, the evolution Thorn was witnessing wasn''t this evolution. It was a more specific evolution that could be a Complex Energy core evolution or a Mystical Energy core evolution. This specific core evolution didn''t give the core the capacity to contain a soul, but transformed one''s Awakened Skill! It was indeed possible to evolve one''s Complex Energy core in this way, but such a thing was far too rare and far too incredible. Considering the entire world, it might only occur once in between dozens of millenniums, and that was if there was luck. And yet Rose was doing precisely that right in front of him! Although Thorn''s surprise was immense, Rose''s was greater. After all, she was the one experiencing this change with her own Complex Energy core; in addition, her understanding of the implications of a Complex Energy core evolution was deeper than Thorn''s. The entire evolving process only took a few seconds. After which, Rose began to asses her condition. The first thing she discovered was that she couldn''t feel nor move her arms. She knew this had nothing to do with the evolution. (It seems like the damage to my soul will be permanent¡­) Although this situation saddened her a little, it didn''t surprise her too much. Next, she tested her Awakened Skill. She used her ability to conceal the heat to cold down the fire around her. *SSssszz¡­* *SSssszz¡­* *SSssszz¡­* The result was amazing. Her skill not only cooled down the fire, it completely devoured it in an instant! A wide smile appeared on Rose''s face as her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. (My Awakened Skill has evolved from support type to combat type!) *Boom!* She was so excited she wholeheartedly kicked down the wall between herself and the Intermediate Awaken cultivators! As the wall crumbled; spikes of ice, bullets of energy, needles of solid air, crystal darts, metallic shurikens releasing lighting, and even a huge blanket of mud were approaching her at high speed! It was evident that, from the instant Arnold Alch''s Aura disappeared, the six cultivators were waiting in ambush for Rose. Still, Rose''s expression didn''t change at all. She easily dodged the attacks using her ghost-like footwork! Obviously, thanks to her acute hearing senses, she had perceived those attacks long ago and had been prepared to avoid them. *Brrrkk* *mmss* *zzzz* *crack* *rumble*...! The attacks crashed noisily behind her. Shockingly, not even a single strand of hair of hers had been damaged, and even the happy and relaxed look on her face seemed harder to erase now. The only attack left was the slowest one: the big mud blanket. To defend herself against it; Rose manipulated the air and created a spherical, spinning barrier of wind around her. She could now control chemical substances in such a way! The mud blanket fell heavily, like a sky-covering wave with the might to completely pulverize an iron battleship; but the only thing it could accomplish was to block Rose''s line of sight for a few seconds. The instant her barrier finished throwing off the mud, Rose saw among his opponents a shadow human holding up a gigantic dome made of crystal. *Pom!* The dome fell onto the ground, successfully trapping Rose within. The other cultivators then moved like one to firmly hold the dome down. They were totally sure that not even Rose''s mind-blowing martial art could outmatch them in strength when they all were working together. Activating his Crystalloid Element Awakened Skill, the shadow human, little by little, turned the crystal dome thicker and smaller. Inside the transparent dome, Rose could clearly feel the pressure of the air becoming stronger and stronger. She also knew that, with her strength, her martial art wasn''t enough to lift up the dome or break the crystal it was made of. And yet, her calm smile never left her face, not even for an instant. Such fact raised a sense of foreboding in every one of the six cultivators'' hearts. Rose sauntered forward, and stopped in front of the shadow human. \"I let you trap me on purpose.\" She softly confessed. Although the shadow human could not hear her words, due to the insolation effect of the dome, he still could read her lips. \"Eh...?\" He muttered, his expression utterly dazed. In the next instant, the space around Rose''s right foot vibrated violently. She then performed a Side Kick, her foot drawing a trail of blood-colored mist. *Crack!* The crystal in front of her was shattered into fist-sized chunks by the strike. The shadow human did not even have the time to react. The crystal chunks slammed into his body and penetrated deep into his muscles and bones. There was even a long fragment that perforated his throat. *Thud* His corpse collapsed to the ground, his eyes still opened and his face still dazed. From the corpse, a puddle of blood started to expand little by little. Watching this scene, the other five cultivators couldn''t help themselves from remaining paralyzed on their places while holding their breaths. They could not comprehend how Rose had been able to destroy the dome so easily. To understand how it was possible, it must be remembered that sounds were vibrations, essentially, mechanical waves. Rose''s Awakened Skill, which had control over sounds, could now use these type of waves to exert overwhelming destructive power! And the vibrations were especially effective against crystals. When Rose''s intimidating gaze turned toward a little goblin, he almost fainted from the scare. Stumbling backward, he instinctively raised his little green hands and started to make a translucent energy barrier. But before the barrier could materialize, Rose was already charging toward the trembling goblin. And, just as the barrier was about to appear, Rose''s kick dispersed the goblin''s Complex Energy and smashed his head, turning it into hundreds of fleshly chunks! *Pum!* The goblin''s headless corpse collided heavily with a nearby half-broken wall. Facing this sight, the remaining four cultivators abruptly came back to their senses. After which, they coordinately turned tail and, shrieking in despair all the way, ran in different directions! Rose unhesitatingly gave chase to the elemental elf who seemed to be the leader, Ral Bal. After one second of persecution, Rose calculated that with her actual speed it would take 1.23 min for her to catch up to the elemental elf. Obviously, after such a long time, the other three cultivators would have already escaped far away. She couldn''t allow such a thing to happen! Suddenly the elemental elf felt as if his body had plunged into the coldest abyss of the sea. His movements became extremely sluggish and slow. He could not even breathe properly! Of course, Rose''s Awakened Skill was responsible for this. She had cooled down the space around Ral Bal and used the air around him to obstruct his movements. But that wasn''t all. After restricting her opponents'' movements, she used her Awakened Skill to boost her own movements! Rose''s sprint left afterimages. Two seconds, just two seconds was all the time Rose used to get right behind Ral Bal. The elemental elf knew everything was over when he felt a foot pressing the back of his neck. *Bam!* His face hit the floor with so much force that on both the ground and his skull appeared spider-web like cracks. His throat was now totally crushed. Thorn was looking at her fight utterly flabbergasted the entire time. He had heard only legends about the Complex Energy core evolution and never actually thought it would be this shocking. Since Cure Song ended his fight and Rose was about to finish hers, Thorn decided that it was about time for him to kill the knights. He did not even bother to perform a gesture with his hands and just mentally controlled his wind to attack. The three knights felt as though the air around them was turning heavier. In no time, the weight was so great they could not move at all. \"Aaahh¡­.!\" \"KhAarrgg¡­!\" \"Guaa¡­!\" As bloodcurdling shrieks echoed out from their mouths, their bodies became smaller and smaller, crunched by the cold and merciless air pressure. In the end, these proud knights weren''t able to show the slightest resistance and turned into three small balls of organic trash, and even their Complex Energy cores were destroyed. Their armors and armaments then fell unscathed. They were just decorations in front of Thorn''s powerful wind control. With that out of the way, Thorn turned all his attention toward Rose. There were only a gorgon, a swordfish monster human, and an elf left. As Rose closed in on the swordfish monster human, he activated his Special Water Element: Ice Awakened Skill to desperately make ice walls behind him. Seeing this, the ex-princess didn''t slow down in the least. She calmly invoked her Awakened Skill and used her control over the temperature to melt the ice walls. The ice user looked over his shoulder and discovered to his dismay that his ice walls were completely useless against Rose''s absurd Awakened Skill. He hastily made ice spikes and threw them to Rose. When Rose dismissed the ice spikes with a single wave of her hand the other party stopped in his tracks and remained solemnly still, as if staring death itself in the face. In the next instant, he received a kick on the chest that sent him flying. Rose did not even spare a look at the result of her attack as she charged toward the gorgon. *Pum!* The moment the swordfish monster human fell, he was already dead, his internal organs destroyed by mechanical waves. A blue translucent barrier protected the gorgon. It was a powerful and complex barrier formed by his Special Wind Element: Solid Air Awakened Skill. *Crack!* It shattered under Rose''s Axe Kick, but the kick didn''t seem like it had lost any of its momentum! \"Arghh...!\" The gorgon screamed whilst his serpents died crushed and his head broke to pieces. Then, Rose''s piercing gaze fell onto the running elf. She unhesitatingly jumped forward! Feeling the incoming merciless redhead, the elf''s bloodshot eyes became redder, his heart heavier than ever. He gnashed his teeth so hard they almost broke as he activated his Thunder Element Awakened Skill throughout his body. (Let''s see if you''ll dare to touch me and die with me!) He cried inwardly. Unfortunately for him, Rose''s kick still came, unhesitatingly like the lethal scythe of death. *Crack!* The elf''s chest burst open as Rose''s foot came out of it! Looking at the fallen elf, Rose shock off the blood of her boot, and snorted coldly. (Even though I am now just an ex-princess, my clothes have still the quality and endurance intended for the use of a real princess. How could they not possess at least an electric-proof feature?) Since some time ago, Cure Song had been watching Rose''s fight. There were complicated emotions in his mind right now. He came closer to Thorn, and asked: \"What''s wrong with Rose''s arms? They don''t seem wounded though.\" Glancing sideways at the dullahan, Thorn said: \"Arnold damaged her soul.\" His reply left Cure Song feeling guilty and at a loss for words. Cure Song certainly had not considered that Rose could get into such a dangerous situation even under Thorn''s protection. When Rose came closer to the duo, she looked up at Thorn and nodded. \"That''s right, it was his fault. I have to admit it, Arnold''s Awakened Skill was something terribly dangerous. Oh if only you could have seen that soul fight, you would have been so sure I was going to die. Hahaha...!\" Thorn and Cure Song did not ask anything about the details of Arnold Alch''s Awakened Skill and just remained quiet. Only after a few seconds did Rose finally perceive the awkward silence. \"What? Is there something wrong?\" She asked, confusion written all over her face. Cure Song''s voice answered her, apologetically: \"Due to me, you have forever lost your arms.\" There wasn''t medicine that could heal souls, after all. \"Oh! Hahaha¡­!\" Rose laughed uproariously. \"Shouldn''t you be happy for me instead? They are just arms. It''s actually a light price compared to what normally costs to be careless in a life-or-death situation. Hahahaha¡­!\" Thorn and Cure Song gaped in shock. They never thought Rose was this carefree. \"*Sigh*\" Suddenly, Rose sighed deeply, and her expression became solemn. \"Besides, even if Arnold had killed me, you shouldn''t have to feel guilty about it.\" Cure Song was flabbergasted. \"Why?\" She gave him a contemptuous glare as if looking at a fool who doesn''t even understand the simplest matter. \"Living beings end up dying, their egos becoming nothingness. There are no exceptions. No god, no miracle, no science, nor even a fantasy can change that fate. So, in the end, it all comes down to this question: what would you die for? My answer is: my dream. If I borrow your strength, I''ll be a step closer toward my objective. In short; my selfishness and my purpose made me risk my life, not you. That is why even if Arnold had killed me, you shouldn''t have to feel guilty about it.\" Thorn''s eyes flickered with a cold light. (You''re wrong, Rose. Whatever it takes, I''ll never die!) Clenching his fists, Cure Song thought: (Hypocrite lass. Openly looking down on me, mocking my naivety. But, did you try to change my mind? No, on the contrary, you approved my decision with your actions. And now, you''re even trying to shoulder all the responsibility¡­) Meanwhile; a trembling Caroline Darrel stood nearby looking at Rose, her eyes filled with unconcealed admiration. 28 The Rewards The landscape in front of Caroline Darrel changed every second. Lakes, rivers, meadows, forests, mountain ranges, and farms; all under the bluest sky and the withiest clouds. Before, she was too worried to appreciate such a scene, but now, it was the only thing her eyes could see. (The world is so beautiful...) She thought, however, her look was not warm; in fact, there was a sliver of ice in her heart right now. (But... at the same time, so cold.) After hearing Rose''s words and witnessing for the first time people dying, her perspective on life has changed. There was now a sense of urgency inside of her. (The day I finally found my dream was also the day I gave up on it. I did wrong. It never was about whether or not it was possible to fulfill my dream, it was about having something to fight for, something to make this fleeting life worth living...) Her eyes then became much less cloudy. (It''s all about striving.) Some time later, Lurep Village walls appeared within the line of sight of the flying group. Thorn was the first to descend at the village gates, followed suit by Rose, Cure Song, and the fourteen civilians. The carriage driver goblin and the two mercenary war elves came to a stop in front of Rose''s party and looked at them with grateful smiles. It was the goblin who represented everyone to say: \"Let me thank you all again for your timely help.\" Taking a deep breath, he continued: \"Thank you.\" He then handed a pouch to Rose. \"All our money is there. Although it''s just double the amount of money my carriage is worth, we hope it''d be enough to show our gratitude.\" Putting the pouch away, Rose sternly reminded: \"Don''t forget, the best you guys can do to thank us is keep your mouths shut about our real strength and about what happened to the knights. Okay?\" \"Yes, yes, of course.\" The other party nodded ceaselessly. At that moment Caroline Darrel suddenly tugged Rose''s jacket, taking Rose by surprise. A confused look on her face, Rose asked: \"What?\" In response, Caroline Darrel looked around warily, then grabbed one of Rose''s fingers and dragged her toward a nearby tree. Behind the tree, it was with a gentle smile that Rose asked once again: \"What?\" \"W-what you said before... it made me understand something very, very important...\" Struggling with her own words, Caroline Darrel fidgeted. \"T-that''s why... I want to know what your dream is.\" Only at the end of her sentence did Caroline Darrel looked up directly at Rose''s eyes. Rose did not turn her own eyes away but gazed back, her expression thoughtful. As a fresh breeze made the tree''s leaves rustle, and washed over the two standing girls; Rose''s look turned solemn. In that instant, Caroline Darrel realized that she could not hear any sound anymore, as though Rose''s gaze alone could silence the whole world. \"*Gasp*...\" Caroline Darrel involuntarily gasped as her heart skipped a beat. Rose''s lips slightly parted, but did not move afterward; and still, they let out a sound that only Caroline Darrel could hear. Listening, the little gorgon stumbled two steps backward, her entire body shuddering and her eyes almost popping out of their sockets. Breathing raggedly, Caroline Darrel remained speechless for a long time. She finally understood why Rose had to put her everything on the line at every step. Putting anything less will never be enough to even have the slightest hope of reaching such a dream. Caroline Darrel closed her eyes, her heart pounding hard. (To think that there is someone who views my impossible dream as a mere first step...) \"... 012 382 F...\" She muttered. It was now Rose''s turn to get surprised. \"An address?\" \"My family owns an inn. It''d be nice if your party could visit us someday. I''m sure my mom will be happy to give you all our best services for free.\" Caroline Darrel smiled. \"Eh...\" Rose could not help but smirk. (She didn''t say it''s impossible, instead tried to help me... Oh, I like this little girl so much more now.) \"Due to what happened with Arnold, it''ll be troublesome for us to stay in Lurep Village for too long; so I''m leaving tomorrow. Besides, it''s hard to predict whether or not I''ll come back to this village.\" Rose turned toward her companions, and walked as she said: \"It''ll be only for one night but I''ll make sure to enjoy in full your hospitality. See you there later, I have something to do first.\" With that, Rose''s party departed. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Lurep Village Mercenary''s Guild Branch. Branch Head Office. At his desk, Arger Dal sat staring with a frown at his younger brother, Vei Dal. \"I can''t believe this. You really didn''t know who she is?\" The older brother asked. \"Of course not, how could I have guessed that she was THAT Rose? If I knew, I''d have been too nervous to even speak in her presence...\" The other party seemed both confused and shocked by the whole situation. Arger Dal''s eyes suddenly narrowed. \"You don''t look afraid enough. Why?\" Taking a deep breath, Vei Dal slowly answered: \"Well, someone of her status definitely has a protector. She''ll be alright.\" \"Don''t just assume the best-case scenario right off the bat!\" \"*Sigh*... But you are assuming the worst-case scenario. In the first place, we don''t know for certain if those two Alchs are behind the disappearances. And secondly, how could Rose and her party find the culprits so easily?\" The younger brother calmly said, refusing to believe his luck could be that bad. It was at this moment that a lady''s worried voice suddenly came in from behind the door: \"Branch Head, a mercenary named Rose is insistently asking for a meeting with you. What should I do?\" The brothers exchanged glances for a second, and finally Arger Dal''s frown disappeared as he said: \"Let her in!\" Just as his voice started to fade away, the door was flung open and Rose barged in. \"Is it true?! Just because of some formalities we won''t receive the accumulated reward for the M rank job?!\" Her words left them both so astonished their expressions became comical. This branch had only one M rank job. \"D-did you complete the job successfully?\" Vei Dal asked word by word. Rose pretended to calm down a bit and attempted to dig some dirt on them as she had planned. \"Mmm? Those funny faces... so you knew Arnold Alch was the culprit?\" The brothers once again exchanged glances, this time horror could be seen in their eyes. They had let a princess take a dangerous job already, they couldn''t afford to let her know that they had an idea about who the culprit was. Feeling cold sweat on his back, Arger Dal did not dare to delay his explanation: \"No, no. We couldn''t be more shocked by the news, Arnold? Of all the people¡­ How could have we known? It''s just that it has been years and nobody has completed that M rank job, that''s why we got so surprised earlier¡­\" \"Oh¡­ is that so?\" Rose looked at them intently, making the brothers even more nervous. Seeing their reactions, Rose understood the truth. A trace of an evil smile then appeared on her face. \"Ah, whatever. I won''t delve deeper into it, of course, as long as the complete reward is properly delivered.\" It was with great emphasis that Rose said the last sentence, not giving any room for negotiation. \"*Sigh*¡­\" \"*Sigh*¡­\" Arger Dal and Vei Dal couldn''t help but sigh ruefully and shake their heads at the same time. Branch Head slowly got up, went in front of Rose, and solemnly bent the knee. \"I''m sorry.\" \"What are you apologizing for?\" Asked Rose. \"Even the Guild Master can''t break the rules of the Mercenary''s Guild arbitrarily. I''m so sorry.\" A vein popped out on Rose''s forehead. \"If you are really that sorry, then why not just give me the money from your pocket?\" Her voice was so calm and cold it sent shivers through Arger Dal''s spine. Cursing inwardly, Arger Dal wondered how could a Second Level Basic Awaken cultivator make a mighty Fourth Level Basic Build cultivator like himself feel like passing out just with words. However, to his misfortune, he had no choice but to plaster an ingratiating smile on his face and meekly say: \"I''d like very much to do so but the accumulated reward isn''t something my measly personal income can compare to¡­\" (This shameless old fox! He prefers to lose face rather than money!) Burning anger surging within, Rose began to plan a suitable counterattack. But before she could even open her mouth, Branch Head''s eyes flashed with craftiness. \"However, there are other things that I can do to make it up to you. Although M rank jobs have incredible rewards and are jobs that we desperately want to complete to raise the reputation of our guild; we don''t allow just any mercenary to take them. Obviously, we don''t want them to die pointlessly. But seeing that you got the ability to make an M rank job seem like nothing special, I can give you a recommendation letter for another M rank job that surely will bring you immense wealth once you complete it.\" One of Rose''s eyebrows rose slightly. But she remained silent, not completely convinced that the compensation was good enough. Understanding Rose''s silence, Arger Dal added: \"And of course, I''ll give you a one-star veteran party license!\" Only now did Rose nod in agreement. \"Mmph! You can feel proud of yourself for you''ll witness the foundation of Rose''s Mercenary Party!\" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Rose and her party walked through the streets of Lurep Village. \"Hehehe¡­\" Holding in front of her a golden card with ''Party leader: Rose'' written on it, she could not stop giggling. \"What''s so special about it anyway?\" Thorn lazily asked. Cure Song: \"You don''t know?! Have you been living under a rock your entire life?\" \"Yeah, you can say that.\" Thorn sounded even lazier. Putting the golden card away, Rose said: \"It''ll be very useful to our purposes later.\" \"Humm¡­ If you say so.\" Glancing sideways at Rose, Thorn continued: \"By the way, there''s something that has been bugging me the entire time. Since Arnold had at his disposal those knights, Cley Alch must have been backing him up, correct?\" Rose: \"Correct.\" \"But you ordered us to hide the knights'' corpses, which means that there''s no evidence of Cley Alch''s involvement in the kidnapping now. Won''t that let him off the hook and allow him to retaliate against us later on?\" \"Yeah, but it''s more important for us to keep our real strength hidden. Besides, he won''t be able to retaliate openly, so he will be forced to use the Assassin''s Guild.\" Rose''s voice was extremely calm, as though there was nothing to be afraid of. \"Oh, so that''s how we''ll deal with Cley Alch! Rose, you definitely are the smartest person I had ever met! Hahaha¡­\" Cure Song couldn''t help but laugh heartily. \"*Sigh*¡­\" Thorn looked at them irritated. (What the hell are they talking about?! Won''t it be too dangerous to have the Assassin''s Guild trying to kill us?!) \"Don''t worry about it, Thorn. We''ll be alright.\" Rose then proceeded to explain in detail the situation to Thorn. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Later that night, Lurep Village Mercenary''s Guild Branch released the news about what happened to Arnold Alch and the M rank job. Since nobody obtained the accumulated rewards from the Mercenary''s Guild or the Adventurer''s Guild, the money was returned to the people who had given it. One of those people was Derek Niun! At the lobby of the Mercenary''s Guild, he stood unmoving facing a board where the notice was announced. There was a big pouch on his hand filled with the coins that had been reimbursed to him. His expression was unreadable as memories of his little sister came back to him. Slowly a tear formed in the corner of his eye. \"At long last¡­ you have been avenged. I hope¡­ you can rest in peace now¡­\" He whispered. 29 The Perfect Prison It was a cold night, one with almost no stars in the sky. Laying on the rooftop of her inn, Caroline Darrel did not notice such things. All her thoughts were somewhere else. (They are so strong¡­) She put her tiny hand in front of her. (And I''m so weak¡­) Her eyes closed. (But I really want to join their party. If I pursue my dream with them, my chances of success will be so much higher.) The memory of their fight reaffirmed that thought. Especially Rose''s fight. Although Cure Song and Thorn''s fights surpassed Rose''s in many aspects, one was not visible to her and the other was so fast and complex she had just a vague idea of what happened. In contrast, Rose''s fight was still in the realm of what her senses allowed her to understand, albeit barely. (I wonder when will I be strong enough to stand by their side? Will I ever be¡­?) *Sigh*¡­ There was helplessness in her weak sigh. (No! I can''t let my pessimistic thoughts decide my destiny any longer.) Suddenly, she sat up and took a deep breath, her resolve steeled. It was with this newfound resolve that she attempted to cultivate, or rather, to establish a connection with the Complex Energy, which was completely invisible and intangible to her. The main requirement to take the first step onto the cultivation path was to attain the ability to soul-bound Complex Energy. Nobody really knew how this ability came to be or how to train it, it just arbitrarily appeared in people''s brains between the ages of 4 to 10. Caroline Darrel was 8 years old. So the ability to start cultivating could appear in her at any time now. Unfortunately, her attempt failed. She couldn''t feel the Complex Energy at all. This development depressed her, unsurprisingly. Still, she didn''t give in just yet. Closing her eyes, she focused completely on sensing her brain and tried to soul-bound Complex Energy once again. It didn''t work. Reluctant to accept this, she tried again, again, and again. (I quit quitting and decided to go after my dream. I''m just starting!) With that determination, she continued with her endeavor and only stopped after almost an hour had passed. She had to stop because she had succeeded! It was as small as a speck of dust, but it was there! Complex Energy that was under her complete control! The feeling was like having a tiny star inside her brain. An incredibly tiny, almost imperceptible star. Caroline Darrel''s emotions were in tumult, so much so that she almost forgot what the next step was after soul-bounding one''s first Complex Energy particle. Almost. She unhesitatingly ordered that particle to fuse itself with her physical body. Immediately after, the particle exploded! The explosion expanded and soon covered her entire body; but it stopped there, refusing to get out of her. (Hot, hot, so HOT!) Every bone, muscle, and organ within her seemed to be ablaze. The scorching pain made her sweat through every pore. In no time, she looked as though a torrential rain had completely washed her. *Shhh*¡­! *shhh*¡­! *shhh*¡­! ¡­. Even her little white snakes weren''t spared from the searing pain as they hissed at the sky in agony. With tears on the corners of her eyes, Caroline Darrel gritted her teeth and endured. She endured, endured, endured, and endured. The longest five minutes of her life passed in such a way. Almost emaciated, skin dripping-wet, she finally felt the pain slowly recede. It was exactly at that moment that she suddenly opened her eyes and gasped desperately for air! Although her body was lighter now, she still felt as though she were submerged under water. Only after calming herself a bit did she realize that what she was feeling was just ownerless Complex Energy. The entire world around her looked different to her now, for she had not only obtained the capacity to sense Complex Energy but also acquired the Aura Perception ability! \"Hehe. Hehehehe¡­\" Caroline Darrel was exhilarated. Slowly waving her hands in the air, which was much thicker than usual, she commented: \"To think that the Complex Energy could feel this real¡­\" She had heard about Complex Energy innumerable times, but it had always been something illusory to her and had never thought one could actually touch it. After a couple of seconds, she focused on the little stars that twinkled within a radio of 200 m around her. The ''light'' of these stars varied greatly in intensity from each other and could be ''seen'' even if there were walls or any other physical obstruction between her and the stars. \"Auras¡­\" Still, she didn''t understand yet the exact correspondence between the Aura intensity and the cultivation stage it belonged to. Well, that was not so important at this moment. There was something more crucial she had to do right now¡­ \"Yay!\" She jumped really high, almost 5 m, with a big smile on her face, eyes sparkling beautifully. She had reached the First Level Body Evolution stage! Her strength and lifespan had been significantly upgraded. She could now lift 200 kg and reach 120 years of age with absolute ease! That wasn''t all, from now on she could use her Racial Skill too! Which reminded her that she needed Complex Energy to use it and that she didn''t have any left. (Right. I should soul-bond all the Complex Energy I can.) With that in mind, she sat down cross-legged and focused her attention on the ownerless Complex Energy within her brain. This time the process went a lot smoother than before thanks to her previous experience and the fact that she could now feel the Complex Energy. In just 15 minutes she had already 10 particles of Complex Energy under her control. (It''s just like my mother told me: At the First Level Body Evolution stage, controlling 10 particles at the same time is the limit. (Anyway, I wonder what kind of poison I got.) There was only one way to find that out: Activating her Racial Skill. She would automatically understand the most basic characteristics of her skill the moment she used it thanks to the Complex Energy Laws of Cultivation. The foundation of one''s Racial Skill was one''s body, the union of one''s Complex Energy body and physical body to be precise. So to activate one''s Racial Skill, one needed to fuel one''s body with Complex Energy. Caroline Darrel infused a single particle of it into her body and suddenly her soul received a strip of images that explained how her Racial Skill worked. This information made her abruptly stand up, and left her standing there dazed and speechless for a long, long moment. When she came back to her senses, she still didn''t know what to think. Looking at the nearby rooftop of the building across the street, she was assaulted by a negligent and crazy idea. And even after a while, it didn''t go away. In the end, she succumbed and decided to try it out. In the next instant, the entire world around her changed. Before her eyes was now her family''s inn and her feet onto her neighbor''s rooftop! Flustered, she hastily used another Complex Energy particle to activate her Racial Skill, and instantly returned back to her initial position. (I-it should be fine. Mother told me that First Level Body Evolution Auras are so small that one has to actively search for it to feel it. Nobody should have ''seen'' it yet¡­ probably.) Only after making sure that the Auras around her hadn''t reacted to her movements did she finally heave a sigh of relief. With that out of her mind, she slowly looked down at her own hand, and muttered in a quivering voice: \"A mutant¡­ a mutant¡­!\" Evidently, her Racial Skill wasn''t the gorgon''s Poison Control Racial Skill but a skill that allowed her to teleport! The only explanation to it was indeed that she had actually been a mutant all along. What an incredible and scary discovery it was! Incredible because of how rare and unlikely mutants were, and scary for this implied that she was the only one of her kind and that her future wouldn''t be like how she had thought it would be and was now completely uncertain. It took her quite a while to calm herself and accept what had just happened. Eventually, she raised her head and took a good look at the dark clouds in the sky. (If I use this skill wisely, good things will come out of it¡­ definitely.) She kept staring at the sky hopefully for an undetermined amount of time. Then, all of a sudden, her body trembled, her eyes widened, and her breathing became ragged! \"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!\" Shaking her head furiously, she struggled to dismiss the insane idea that had just now popped up in her mind. \"I said no!\" Fuming, she strode toward the stairs to the fourth floor of the inn. But it was useless. It was completely useless. The idea was just too preposterous to be shrugged off so easily. Before reaching the stairs, she stopped and sighed ruefully, head hanging low. \"Let''s hope this doesn''t kill me¡­\" Muttering this, she abruptly vanished. At an altitude of 315 000 km above sea level, a place devoid of Complex and Mystical Energy. The first thing Caroline Darrel did after appearing was to hold her breath, and the second was to get utterly amazed. No painting could possible capture such vastness, complexity, or beauty. Drifting clouds of varying tones, misty seas, towering mountains, lands of almost every color, and even the floating island of the Scientist''s Guild were all part of the scenery Caroline Darrel beheld. From this place, she could view the entirety of the Continent of Civilized Races. The Broken Earth Kingdom looked like a giant prairie with hundreds of forests and lakes, and riddled with innumerable ''cracks''. She knew these ''cracks'' were immense rivers, and that because of them this kingdom was named ''Broken Earth Kingdom''. The High Mountain Kingdom, the Monster Human Kingdom, the Shadow Human Kingdom, and the Harpy Kingdom were all clearly differentiated from each other thanks to their unique geographical characteristics. Even the Dead Land, the Civilized Race War battlefield, was completely within her sight. Due to how dazed she was, she nearly asphyxiated for being at that height for too long. She was forced to teleport back to her rooftop in a fluster. *Pant!* *pant* *pant!* ¡­. Caroline Darrel gasped for air greedily for almost half a minute. \"T-that was¡­ absolutely¡­ awesome¡­\" When she recovered, she breathed in and held her breath, then teleported again to where she had just been. This time she didn''t look down, but up. There was only the satellite Blue in her line of sight, but it alone was beautiful enough to accelerate her heartbeats. There were so many stars, so many there was more light than darkness. Caroline Darrel only gawked at the sky for a brief period of time before shaking her head. She hadn''t come here to do that. Although she was pretty high, the gravity should still be strong enough to pull her down; but she wasn''t falling at all. There was obviously a reason for that to happen. Gingerly, she stretched out her hand toward the sky. First, the tips of her fingers disappeared, and then her entire fingers. Caroline Darrel didn''t seem surprised at all as her hand slowly vanished. She knew that the cause of this phenomenon was the invisible barrier that covered the entire almost-spherical world. Caroline Darrel continued inserting her arm into the barrier, and, sensing that nothing was amiss, nodded to herself. Knowing already that it was safe, she teleported 2 m in front of her. What she saw next were the satellites White and Red along with countless stars. It was the sky looked from the other side of the world! Although she had heard of this before, experiencing it herself was still exhilarant! Gravity was almost zero around the World Barrier, that''s why Caroline Darrel wasn''t falling. It was reasonable for this to be the case since at the World Barrier gravity pulled with equal strength from both sides. Due to this barrier that was to date impossible to bypass¨Ceven teleportation didn''t work¨C, the planet Tifitia was often referred to as The Perfect Prison. Caroline Darrel looked down. Clouds; and beyond them, a mirror-like ocean that if Caroline Darrel didn''t know any better, she would confound it with the sky itself. Turning her gaze around, she soon found a dome made of raging wind and thick clouds so massive it enclosed an area two times the size of the entire Continent of Civilized Races! The Forbidden Dark Lands. After gawking at such beautiful scenery for a couple of seconds, she couldn''t hold her breath any longer, so she reluctantly teleported back. *Pant!* *pant* *pant!* ¡­. It took her a long while to stabilize her breathing. (Perhaps, being how I''m now, they''ll accept me in their party¡­) Thinking about how amazing her Racial Skill was, a hopeful light flared in her eyes.