?


    It had been a week since that conversation with Life. Throughout that entire week, nothing of real significance changed about his training. It remained as boring as usual, the only difference being the fact that he no longer had someone to break his bones, so he had to do it himself.


    *Woosh*


    Ss descended at high speeds before eventually smashing into the ground and injuring most of his lower body.


    Grasping at air, Ss pulled down, causing the enormous boulder to shoot toward him before letting go of his control over it.


    The boulder descended 200 meters in the blink of an eye.


    cing his hands above his head, Ss put all his strength into his arms before-


    *Swoosh*


    *BOOM*


    The impact of Ss'' hands and the boulder colliding kicked up an enormous dust cloud while the blood-curdling crunch of his bones breaking echoed throughout the forest.


    When the dust cloud finally dissipated, Ss'' tiny figure could be seen holding up an enormous and extremely dense boulder, covered in hundreds of cracks that spread throughout it all.


    Ss was still holding the boulder up, but barely. Every breath made him feel excruciating pain, but at this point, he was almost used to it.


    Of course, being used to it didn''t mean he didn''t feel the pain.


    No, he definitely did feel it. Every time felt like it might be the worst pain he had ever felt, yet he kept doing it over and over again.


    Ss let out a loud roar as he threw the boulder away with what remained of his strength before finally copsing to the floor.


    A few secondster, Ss sat crosslegged and took a deep breath filled with mana that quickly turned into life energy when it hit his mana core.


    The life energy coursed through his mana channels before going into his blood vessels, coursing the could energy into every inch of his body in pursuit of healing it back to its peak.


    ''Hmm... Maybe I should return to the city? I wonder if they have announced themander''s death yet.'' Ss asked himself when he eventually healed fully; however, instead of returning to the city, he cultivated for a few more hours before eventually returning to the tform.


    As the tform slowly lowered itself toward one of therge root-like bridges, Ss finally saw the aftermath of Judgement''s death.


    "Holy shit..." Ss'' mouth was left slightly agape.


    The best way to describe the city would probably be "chaos." People seemed to be rioting for something?


    Others were chanting a certain name while lifting a man sitting on a throne into the air.


    "I''m assuming you''re new." A man jumped onto the bridge from his own tform.


    "How did you know?"


    "Well, you wouldn''t have the reaction on your face if you''ve been here for thest one." The man chucked.


    He was a middle-aged man with a goatee and a ponytail. His hair with mixed with shades of grey and ck, and in a way, he looked a lot like the chief of dia... Or at least before he died. Now he''s just ahead.


    ''He doesn''t have the bulk though.'' Ss looked at the man''s athletic figure before narrowing his eyes when seeing an awakened mana core.


    "Thest what?" Ss questioned.


    "Thest election."


    "These people have elections?" Ss seemed genuinely surprised, even though Archie told him about this before.


    "Of course we do. We''re not barbarians. Unlike those Xylem kingdom bastards. How much I would pay to see all of them ughtered." The man pped his hands together and prayed silently.


    "So... What are they electing exactly?" Ss asked.


    "We found out themander is dead so we''re electing a new 7th general and a newmander."


    "I thought themander chooses who the generals are."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Technically, they can. When the Architect became the Architect, themander chose him for that position.


    However, it was much easier to do that since the Architect didn''t have a faction. Judgment does, so we wait for them to choose their next general." The man exined, causing Ss to raise a brow while inwardly cursing Archie.


    "What if themander chooses someone as Judgement that the faction doesn''t vote in." Ss asked.


    "Well, themander usually never does that, but technically it had happened before." The man scratched his goatee.


    "What did they do?" Ss questioned.


    "They fight to the death if the general role is strength-based. To be Judgment, you need to be strong. Though, I did hear that there is another candidate the temporarymander is going to choose." The man shrugged.


    "Is that man over there the prime candidate?" Ss asked while pointing at the man on the throne.


    "Yeah. He''s pretty strong." The man crossed his arms and nodded.


    "Alright... Nice meeting ya." Ss waved before increasing his pace.


    "Oh, wait! Kid!" The man shouted.


    "What?" Ss turned around slightly to make eye contact.


    "If you''re looking for a job, you can go to the mercenary hall."


    "What gives you the impression that I need money?" Ss tilted his head.


    "Your clothes..."


    "My clothes?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Ss looked down at himself before sighing.


    "Sure. Thanks," Ss waved onest time before fading into the crowd; however, he didn''t go to the mercenary hall.


    Ss opened his apartment door with a low click before walking in.


    Turning on the light, he ced a small bag on the ground filled with yellow and browny-orange crystals before walking to the furthest wall from the door.


    Arge chalkboard could be seen ced on it, essentially taking up most of the wall''s surface area with its width and height.


    Everything on it was written in English to keep all the information he had a secret.


    The names of all the generals could be seen written, with their known strengths and weaknesses. Their real names, affinities, knowledge, threat level, family, and heritage.


    Everything about each and every one of them was there, and it wasn''t had to find out either.


    The only two Ss didn''t know anything about were Eclipse and Archie. Sure, Archie seemed innocent on the surface. Everything about him was public knowledge since he grew up in this city. However, Ss knew that there had to be more about him.


    However, Eclipse was apletely silent individual. No one even knew what he looked like... Or at least until now.


    "I thought you''d be better at hiding, but in the end, you came to me." Ss smiled while recalling the man with the goatee.


    "Now that I know what you look like, finding who you are will be a lot easier than I first thought it would be."


    ------------------------


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